I wake up in the field, and surprisingly, I do so of my own volition. I sit up and enjoy the sun on my skin. In fact, I take off my shirt since it’s so warm. I should still have a few minutes before I head to work. I think about what happens when I Spark. My body goes somewhat see-through, so...

I look down at my bare chest, and Spark up. What I see is really cool. It seems my body just turns into energy of some sort, as my upper body has less of a shape, but more of a suggestion around a white pulsing core. I realize the core is where my heart is, but it’s pulses are much more smooth and slower than my heartbeat. Cool.

I put on my shirt and head off to the train station. I grab the shovel, but after a while I just end up tossing coal in. I start thinking about how I can Spark or grow but not both. They seem to be separate abilities, I ponder what other powers I might have if any. I Spark up and look at my hand. There’s no coal dust on it. I revert, and there’s still no dust, as if Sparking just cleaned me off. Of course my clothes are still filthy, but my skin is perfectly fine. Weird.

I pick up a lump of coal and toss it into the furnace. I decide that it’s rather slow so I grab a handful... but I just end up holding a single lump. I swear I... Woah. I’m holding at least five lumps, but they weigh almost nothing. I know for a fact that coal is denser than this, no matter what world you’re in.

I pick up the entire pile. It weighs nothing. No way. Celestia and I already tested my strength. Thinking about it, I thrust a fist into the side of the train car as hard as I can.

*CLANNNNG*

“Sonofabitch that hurts!”

Okay, I’m not any stronger. But then... how did I lift the entire pile of coal. I pick up a medium sized chunk and inspect it. I squeeze my fist around it, and it starts to crumble. I close my fist, and when I reopen it, there’s nothing but black powder. All I can think of is how that pile of dust used to be a solid chunk of coal. And as I think it, the dust forms back into a solid lump once more.

“Woah...”

I look at my clothes. They’re coated in coal dust. I wave my hand over my shirt, and all the dust lifts off, pooling into my hand. I reform the dust into lumps once more. I look to the pile once more. I hold out my hand, and I command a lump of coal into my grasp. The lump floats up and then lowers itself into my palm. I aim my hand and the coal at the furnace, and the lump flies into the inferno. This is incredible. Wait... the inferno... I take another lump and focus on it. It’s main use as a combustible energy source. Combustion. Fire...

The lump ignites! I can actually burn and manipulate coal at will!

I turn my focus to the rest of the pile. It floats up into the air. All of it. I then crush the entire ensemble into dust, and swirl it around me. Then, I form it into one giant ball of solid coal. I then try more. It becomes a perfect sphere, then a cube. Multiple polygons later, I realize just how much control I have. I don’t know why it only seems to work with coal, but it’s so amazing I honestly don’t care.

I notice that my shift is up, and so I head home, but not before pocketing a lump after converting the floating cubicuboctahedron into the pile it used to be. I didn’t want anyone to walk in and find any complex polyhedra lying around.

I walk down the road, levitating the lump of coal above my hand, repeatedly converting it from dust to solid. Suddenly, an idea hits me. I ignite the coal. I make it burn hot. Hotter. Blazing heat radiating from it. Soon, it’s white-hot. Perfect. I apply pressure to it mentally. As much pressure as I can. I focus on the carbon that is the coal’s atomic makeup.

Pressure. Heat. Pressure. Heat. I start to sweat from exertion. I ignore it. I keep my focus. Soon, I can’t put any more energy into the process. I drop the glowing lump on the ground and catch my breath.

I take another look at the lump. I cool it down, and realize my success. A diamond. It’s rounded and sort of mashed like the lump it used to be, but this is fantastic.

I stand up and raise the diamond above my head, examining it in the light of the sun.

“What in the world?”

I see my new trinket has gathered the attention of a certain white unicorn. This route must be one she takes often.

I respond. “It... it’s a diamond.”

“May... may I see that?”

I hand it to her, she levitates it. “The shape is negligible, but nevertheless... this is amazing. Where in Equestria did you find this, Anthony?” She seems to have completely forgotten her utter hatred of me.

“I made it.”

“Really? How long did it take you?”

I check the clock tower and make an estimate. “About three minutes.”

“Anthony, I’m serious.”

“So am I. I’m just as shocked as you are.”

She looks at me. “You... you really aren’t lying...”

“I need another lump of coal. I have to show Twilight!”

I grab the diamond back and put it into my pocket. I Spark up and think about how I ran when I was racing Rainbow Dash.

It only takes a few moments this time before I burst forward. I then realize my chance. I’m going to run another test. I look ahead and see a few ponies moving some piece of furniture. I head right for them, I act as though they aren’t even there. The ponies freak out as they see me coming, I’m most likely just a blur of radiating cyan light. Nothing will stop me. And it doesn’t.

I dash straight through the couch. I’m an untouchable glow of extreme speed. I realize I need to turn a corner. Uh oh. I think fast and hope my plan works. As soon as I reach where I need to change direction, I angle my body to the side and kick the ground, pushing me to the side. I’m launched down the road and I straighten my path. I’m sure doing that made me lose a lot of speed, but so far, I don’t care. I do know from previous experience that stopping suddenly ends badly, so I accept that if I plan on stopping, I’ll have to slow down first.

I’m approaching the library, so I calm my pace down to a rapid trot and then just a fast walk. I power down and enter the building.

“Twilight! Get your notebook, I have new powers!”

“What!?” The response came from the upper room. I jump up the stairs and open the door to her bedroom.

Once she sees me, she looks furious. “Don’t you ever knock!?”

I ignore her and pull the diamond out of my pocket. The sight of the gem shuts her up rather quick. She’s stammering. Then, she explodes in anger.

“You stole a diamond!?”

I’m almost blown back by her outburst, she is practically foaming at the mouth. I am honestly scared for my safety. I swear her mane is smoking.

“N- no, I didn’t. I made this! I Swear!”

She is hyperventilating, eyes wide. It’s not until she drops to the ground that I realize she had been levitating. She must have been quite angry.

“Anthony... please. Just... what?” Her hyperventilating has calmed down to ragged breathing.

“Sit down, Twi. I’m gonna tell something that’s gonna freak you out.”

“So... you can manipulate coal, set it on fire, and turn it into diamond?”

“Take a look.”

She levitates the diamond closer to her face. “Well... there’s not much denying this used to be a lump of coal, given the shape, but I’d expect a bit more deformation...”

“If I can get some coal, I could show you.”

“I’ll see what I can do, but I’m sure the princesses would like to see this as well.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“What in Equestria is so important that I must be woken up at this abhorrent hour, sister?” Luna asks with a yawn.

“Anthony has something to show us.”

“I’ve already seen what he is capable of.”

I cross my arms. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

“Forgive me if I *yawn* withhold my enthusiasm...”

“Forgiven. Now take a look at this.” I hold up a lump of coal Twilight provided me with. At the moment, she is off to the side armed with parchment, a quill, and protective goggles. Smart girl, that one.

“It is coal.” Luna says, visibly annoyed. Then I turn it to dust and swirl it around her head. I stop the swirling and form it into a cube. “Amazing...” Luna seems hypnotized.

I then grab the cube in my thumb and index finger, and squish it back down into dust. I throw it up into the air, and stop the dust in midair, the particles hovering in the air like an inverted night sky. Luna and Celestia stare at the display in speechless shock.

“Would you kindly bring me more coal?”

Celestia numbly casts a teleportation spell, summoning a bag of coal in front of me.

“Now I’ll do something interesting.” I pull up a bunch of coal, and add it to my own, and make a perfectly round orb. I continue showing a bunch of shapes. Curves, faces, angles, twists. I return it to a sphere. I toss it into the air and it starts spinning. It splits into two and, as dust once more, I pull it around my hands, where it solidifies. I have made a nice set of gauntlets.

I grab the rest of the coal from the sack and form a thick, round barrier around me which tessellates into a mass of thin, sharp blades. The blades fly up and whirl around in the air, and become edged wheels, flattening further into saw blades. At this point, Twilight has moved to her third ink well. The blades combine, becoming dull and long. I grab it and give my new baseball bat a few heavy swings. The bat thins out and lengthens into a sword. I hold the blade up, pointing it’s blade toward the ceiling, then bring it down with a rapid slash. There’s still some coal left over, so I use it to fashion myself a buckler as well.

Celestia approaches me. “Anthony, that’s... fantastic! You-”

I hold up my hand to stop her. “If you would please step back, I will continue.”

Celestia backs up once more. Luna is too amazed to say or do anything. I feel so incredible. The immortal princesses of Equestria are awestruck by me. Me!

I remove the buckler, and focus on the sword. It bursts into flame, causing gasps of surprise from all three ponies present. I swing it around, a trail of flame following the blade with each slice. I then compress the sword into a pair of balls of fire. I toss them around, controlling their movements through the air, like small meteors, blazing around the room at high speed. I then have them slam into each other and burst like a firework, flaming coal pebbles rain from the explosion. I then form them into a giant ring of fire overhead. I put it out and bring it down, compressing it along with more coal into a solid crescent moon shape. Luna walks up to it, but I stop her.

“The finale is not over yet.” I pause. “If you don’t have protective eyewear, I’d suggest you stay far back.”

Both princesses back up, not taking their eyes off my sculpture. I focus on what I did with the other lump of coal. If I can make a diamond that retains it’s shape...

My equine audience stares on as I heat it up. I repeat the earlier process. Sweat beads on my forehead. I wipe it away, putting more effort into the conversion. After a while, I’m worn out. I don’t remember falling, but I’m on my knees anyway. The white hot coal cools, revealing a stunning formation. The diamond is in a perfect moon shape, exactly as it was as coal. I’m so tired.

Luna approaches me once more. I hand the jewel to her. She thanks me just before I black out. Next Chapter: Chapter 15 Estimated time remaining: 32 Hours, 40 Minutes