He stood on the roof of an old apartment building with his sister, both dressed the same. Black hoodies with their hoods up, stitched black masks to cover their mouth and nose, jeans, a spray can attached to their belts, and tennis shoes. A one-strap backpack, in which they had the strap across their chests. Their hands donned black fingerless gloves, a common selection for the freerunner.
“Reggie, you sure I can make that jump?” The male asked his female companion, who was busy looking at the large gap between their roof and the next.
“Ya kiddin’ me? I taught you how to do this. I know you can handle it.” She commented as she took her place next to him.
“Yeah, but the building’s old... The roof could collapse under me when I land.”
“Stop being a pessimist and run!” She pushed him, giving him an unwanted head start.
But he didn’t stop like he wanted to. He kept running, and made the jump when he reached the edge... But he wasn’t going to be landing on the roof at all. He jumped too early, and was heading straight for a wall.
“Xan!” Was all he heard before he crashed through the wall, and almost continued to fall down the hole in the floor of the building. He had outstretched his arms, allowing his hands to grip the remaining floor.
“I’m okay, Reggie! Just find another way down!” He called out to her, deciding to do the unthinkable and look down. He regretted it.
Below him was a drop that spanned several floors. The building he jumped from was about ten, and this building was nine... So he had a drop of about six or seven floors. He had told Reggie that this was a bad idea, since the building she wanted to jump to was condemned. She didn’t care.
He was brought back to reality by the sound of wood floor breaking. Upon looking at where his hands gripped, Xander noticed that it was infact the floor breaking...
“No... No no no!”
Snap!
He fell.
~~~~~
Reggie wasted no time as she slid down the drain pipe. It was wet from the rain, but she didn’t care for that. Xan fell. As soon as she saw him jump early, she bolted for the way down. Maybe if she could get there in time, she could use the biotics to-
“No... No no no!” She heard Xan cry out.
The doors were defenseless against her brute force, opening as if they were blown off their hinges. She saw Xan falling, and he was just about to hit the floor. It was too late to use the biotics.
But when he hit the floor, a strange sound rang throughout the air. The shattering of glass. And joining that sound was a peculiar sight. The ground broke just as glass would, leaving a hole in the ground... Which patched itself up as soon as he was through.
“What the fu-?!”
~~ Four hours prior - Equestria ~~
The robed and hooded four legged figure was trotting at a great pace through the majestic halls made of a light grey stone. Torches adorned the walls, majestic etchings carved into the enchanted wood, also allowing for the normally unlit corridor to be clear of darkness.
It kept its pace through many more corridors and flights of stairs until it reached its destination. The top of the Archmage’s tower. This figure was infact Archmage Nexus, one of the most powerful unicorns in all of Equestria. She was honored when Princess Luna asked her to join her in the castle, and perform research into all things magical.
She smiled as she finally opened the doors into the inner sanctum of the tower. Tables filled with glowing archaic etchings, being fueled by enchanted gems. The tables served to help enchant items and other things that the user wished to modify.
She stood on the platform in the center, her snow white eyes looking at every book and journal known to ponykind on magic. An entire section of the wall was a rather large bookshelf. There was a ladder, but that was for the previous owner. An earth pony assistant who left to work at a university dedicated to the subject.
“Mistress.” Called a soft voice behind Nexus.
Nexus smiled and turned around, “Spectrum. You always manage to sneak in without me hearing you.”
Spectrum was a light grey pegasus with lavender eyes. Her long and gentle purple mane flowed free, since she kept her robe’s hood down. Her robe was, just like her coat, a light grey, but with red lining.
Spectrum returned the smile, “Magic isn’t the only way to get in a room. Neither is walking.”
“Honestly, I don’t know why they put you as my assistant. You’re such a great flier and combatant...” Nexus began as she hurried over to her desk, already levitating three spell books and skimming through them for the spell she was assigned to cast.
“Protection, and company. Those, and the fact you tend to leave a mess...” Spectrum chuckled at the remark. The Archmage tended to be messy when she was deep into her work.
“My fault entirely, but when Princess Luna asks you to get something done... Speaking of which, we’ve been given a task.”
“You mean you have.” Replied her assistant, who was already cleaning up the enchantment tables.
“Perhaps, but we are a team. Princess Luna wishes for us to generate a teleportation spell that will allow travel between continents, countries, even cities. To be honest, I couldn’t agree more. That trip to Saddle Arabia...”
“I remember it well. Awful. Just awful. Well, the ten hours to get there were awful.” Commented Spectrum.
“Either way... I’m to bring an object that the Princess left in Prance. It’s about as far as she was willing to go. It will take at least three hours to create the spell, and possibly another hour to cast it. We’ll work out the kinks later, make it shorter...”
“Yes Mistress. Please try not to strain yourself, though.”
“Thank you for caring about my well being, but no one but the Princesses are more fit for the job. I can handle a little stress.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
~~ Present ~~
Xan looked up at the hole, watching as each piece of ‘glass’ replaced itself, becoming a ceiling of a... large room. He wasn’t falling anymore. In fact, he was floating. Emphasis on was, as whatever was keeping him up, just dropped him to the ground, forcing him to land on his back rather roughly.
“...Bloody tartarus, what is that thing?” A gentle, feminine voice asked.
He flipped himself onto his stomach, and proceeded to get up. The room was purely of stone, and not concrete. It all seemed so... Old timey. Like something from a few hundred years ago. But stranger, were the talking ponies.
“Remarkable...” Said the hooded figure. “This is definitely not the item from Saddle Arabia, but it is definitely more worth the failure...”
“Mistress, we don’t even know what it is, or if it can speak... Let alone understand us. For all we know, it’s immensely incapable of higher levels of thought.” Said the light grey mare.
“...You calling me stupid?” Xan said, taking an offended expression as he crossed his arms.
The two ponies recoiled after hearing him speak.
“...It just... Spoke...” Began the light grey mare.
“...It spoke Equestria, Spectrum.” Finished Nexus.
“Uh, no. I’m speaking English... I must have blacked out and this is a dream. Only explanation...” Xan’s words rang true through his head. His sister saved him, but he was rendered unconscious. Why else were there talking horses in the room with him?
“A dream? No, this is quite real. Spectrum, write a letter to the Princesses. This will be the greatest discovery since... Well, anything, really.” Nexus commanded.
Spectrum flew off towards a desk (small, but this was okay with her, apparently) and began writing two letters down with a pencil... Which she held in her mouth.
“That’s not weird at all... Now, uh... Prove this isn’t a dream.” He was determined to prove it was just a dream. If so, he could gain control. Maybe get his biotics working, or at least, in here they’d be.
“Well... If you insist.” Nexus replied, a faint cyan light emitting from under her hood. She launched a spell at Xan, one he definitely wasn’t fast enough to dodge. He was struck with a large bolt of lightning, rendering him unconscious, yet again.
~~ Pony Perspective ~~
The strange creature was launched back by the bolt of lightning, it obviously being too strong for it to handle. It collided with the magical barrier that was accustomed with any teleportation spell. The only reason this one was still up was because she didn’t know what to expect.
“I’m finished Mistress. But, I do think you applied too much mana in your spell...” Commented the pegasus, who was flying by the window.
Nexus put a hoof under her chin as she inspected the creature, “Yes, I suppose so... It’s out cold. This would be the perfect time to test that spell for the science department...”
“The scanner spell?”
“Exactly that one. Looks like you’re not my test subject today, Spec.”
“Thank the goddess...” Spectrum whispered before flying out of the window.
Nexus began casting her spell, but seemed intrigued by the anatomy of the creature. Two legs, fingers, hair only on its head (among other places she didn’t feel comfortable looking towards)... It was an almost exact replica of a dragon.
Stranger, though, was the pieces of metal inside of its brain. She noticed how they were placed, and realized any attempt to remove them could be lethal... She’d have to ask it when it woke up. But she also wondered if the creature had any magic. She recalled her entrance exam to Celestia’s institute for gifted unicorns...
“Come now, Nexus. Just a little farther...” Said the elderly voice, strangely soothing in tone. He was leading a blindfolded filly into a locked room, the only other thing inside said room being a thick, one way window.
“Are we there yet?” She asked, and was brought to a halt. The sound of a door shutting and locking was playing from behind her. She removed her blindfold and immediately panicked. She hated being alone. It scared her. She ran to the door, hoping her ears lied to her when the locking sound occurred. They didn’t lie.
“H-Hey!” She shouted. “Let me out! T-This isn’t very n-nice!” She continued, but her pleas went unheard... Or so she thought. On the other side of the glass were the ponies in charge of her getting in.
“Are you sure she is capable? This is thick glass...” Commented one of the higher ranked teachers of the institute.
“Oh, she can do it... Turn out the lights.” Commanded the same old stallion who brought her to the room.
The lights began dimming, and Nexus was becoming ever more scared. Scared, alone, no one to help her... These feelings mixed for an extremely unstable result. The lights were fully out, and she began to cry.
“It’s not working... This is cruel, Star. We should stop. Give her the dragon egg instead.” Repeated the voice of reason.
“No. She can do this. See?” Star said, smiling.
Nexus’s horn was beginning to glow that cyan color. But it didn’t stop. Several layers of magic developed around her, and when she let out her shriek from being overfilled by her magic... The glass shattered.
Had Star not expected this and threw up a defensive shield, the shards would have impaled and wounded, if not killed, every instructor in the room.
He approached the little filly, still floating in the air, magic running wild, and he smiled.
“Everything is alright... You passed. And you got your mark...”
This snapped the filly out of it. She immediately cocked her head around to look at her flanks, smiling wide at her mark. A unicorn horn overlapping an open spellbook.
“You’re going to go far, kid...”
She smiled at the memory of her old mentor. And he was right. Archmage is no easy accomplishment to achieve. But with the creature in front of her, she may have found something that could outweigh even that. All she had to do was put it in the room...