Chapter 5: Friendly Bouts and Read-Abouts

“Darling, you look positively wiped!” Rarity gasped when she saw Gearhead come in for dinner. “Whatever could you have been doing to exhaust yourself so?”

“I am engaged in training exercises with the princesses and a member of the guard,” Gearhead said, which was true enough.

“That’s awesome!” Rainbow Dash said. “Of course, it would be at least twenty percent more awesome to train with the Wonderbolts.”

“I am not certain my core system could keep up with the Wonderbolts at its reduced capacity. Besides, I am almost certain they would frown upon it as being assisted flight.”

“Well, it’s not as if a pony can just go and sprout wings, now can she?”

“In my experience,” Gearhead said, “thinking of oneself as one thing when you are another can be the true limit.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that because I thought of myself as an Earth Pony I could not access some of my abilities. A shift in my perspective seems to have been all it took to open up a path that had been available to me for years.”

“This is over my head,” Sweetie Belle.

“That’s okay. I’m not sure what he’s talking about either,” Rarity said.

“Gearhead has been studying magic theory for at least ten years,” Princess Celestia said. “Until recently, though, all he could do was study the theory. He couldn’t actually use any of the spells, as an Earth Pony. But unravelling one of the mysteries of his own heritage lets him use a different version of that ability, as a Unicorn.”

“You’re a Unicorn?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I have, in part, some of each of the three pony tribes. In the future I may be able to ‘sprout wings,’ but for now I shall leave it to my gadgets to do that for me. Princess Celestia called me here to Canterlot because she knows the importance of refining one’s skills. With the level of power at my disposal on any given day, it would be unfortunate if I was ever to lose control over it. That is part of what my training will address, I believe.”

“Ooh, ooh! What about me?”

“You have a very special way about you, Pinkie Pie. One nopony else does, which escapes definition. It’s unique, and entirely yours,” Princess Celestia said.

“Yay for being me!”

“Does studying for years mean you could be as powerful as Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“It means I have the knowledge to cast an advanced set of spells, most of which have to do with manipulating energy. Many of my most powerful spells are combat-related as well. But I do not have the ease that a normal Unicorn has with magic, because I only inherited a part of a Unicorn’s abilities, and it was twisted. It was intended to be an impediment in my life as a farm pony, so it is as though it got twisted enough to actually work.”

“So you can use Unicorn magic?” Sweetie Belle, who could not despite being a Unicorn herself, asked.

“I cannot use the version of magic that most Unicorns can, where they mentally focus their power around the proper incantation, ingredients, and movements in order to cast a spell. I require an activation key to ‘open’ my magic power, and a full incantation, spoken for the moment, although I have read about delayed and unincanted spells in this style as well. The older the language used in the spell, the more powerful the spell. The oldest by far is thought pictures, though, which makes me wonder if that is how modern Unicorn magic works.”

“Think it, huh?” Sweetie Belle closed her eyes in focus, but nothing happened. “Maybe I need an activation key,” she said.

“You could certainly try, later, however it will take time to get your tongue around the words. You would have to practice it for some time before you could get that right, and then you could move on to the spell’s incantation. From personal experience I can tell you that it takes a long time to memorize the incantations.”

“I won’t mind, if it would help me use magic,” Sweetie Belle said.

“I bet the princesses are impressed with what you can already do,” Rarity said. Along with the others in the Elemental Six, she had seen Gearhead use Magic Arrows against Discord, although from a distance.

“Indeed, very impressed,” Princess Celestia said. “Enough so to say that while he might use a different version of magic and cast in a different way, he could become as powerful in magic as Twilight. That assumes the continuing opportunity to grow as a mage, of course.”

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash said, “that is pretty awesome.”

“Twilight Sparkle is very special as a Unicorn, being able to use multiple kinds of magic in turn. It almost seems as though she can use any spell she sees being done, so she doesn’t have the limit that most Unicorns do of having a few types of magic relating to her special skill and cutie mark – unless you count ‘magic’ as being both of those at once,” Princess Celestia said.

“Gearhead is also unique, since, as he said, he has some of a Pegasus and a Unicorn in him, and he was born as an Earth Pony. Gearhead’s family has a long tradition of being extremely potent farmers, which means strong Earth Pony growth magic. If, as he has theorized, a pony only has a limited amount of his genes committed to the magic of his tribe, Gearhead potentially has a high amount of magic at his disposal, but instead of Earth Pony magic, he has Pegasus and Unicorn magic – but different.”

“Wait a minute, Pegasus magic too?” Rainbow Dash said.

“I have not checked it yet, but perhaps I can do some weather manipulation,” Gearhead said. “Also, that I can fly with the help of a gadget of mine may indicate that I am unconsciously helping to manage my weight and aerodynamics with Pegasus magic. I would have to focus more on it the next time I put my core on to fly, to verify it.”

“Can you build something to help me cast spells?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“First we should do some research, to see how my gadgets might help, because if they would not help, or if they did harm instead, it would not be worth it.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Sweetie Belle said.

“The biggest problem with my style of spells is the time it takes to incant them,” Gearhead said. “Modern Unicorn magic can already be disrupted by anypony alert and close enough to the caster to do it.”

“Yup,” Sweetie Belle said. “It’s as simple as flicking your sister’s horn.”

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity admonished her, blushing. She did not want the other ponies, especially the princess, thinking that the sisters had such a rough relationship, but then it was hardly a secret. But the ease by which one could negate a Unicorn’s abilities might be secret to some.

“That’s alright,” Princess Celestia said. To Gearhead she said, “Say on.”

“If an alert pony can disrupt a Unicorn’s spellcasting even when it cannot be heard to be going on, what about incanted magic? Without the ability to shield myself, a smart opponent could defeat me as easily as if they had flicked my horn. And most of the more powerful spells have longer incantations, meaning longer vulnerability. That is why incantation time is such a big problem.”

“You could always try adapting the incantations, to make them shorter,” the princess suggested.

“I have looked at different resources, and the spells I have seem to be as short as they come. Cut anything out, and I may risk losing some of their potency, which would not be desirable against a powerful opponent. But it may be worth a try anyway, considering my opponents may not always wait for me to complete an incantation, so it is better to complete a less powerful spell than to not complete one at all.”

Princess Celestia nodded her approval of Gearhead’s analysis. “In any case, please enjoy the meal. Tomorrow you continue your training.”

“Can we watch?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I’m sorry,” Princess Celestia said, “not at this stage.”

“Aww,”

The following morning, Gearhead rejoined Princess Cadence and Shining Armour in the practice room, rested and ready to begin anew. The couple had apparently spent a very productive night and morning coming up with a plan that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna could approve for Gearhead’s continuing education.

“Today we’ll have a match,” Armour said. “We’ll aim spells at each other to see what we can all take, and what we can do when the situation is closer to combat conditions. This means that interrupting and disrupting spells are permitted. The match ends when one side is unable to continue for any reason, including voluntary surrender. The match is restricted to this room, and it will be Princess Cadence and myself against you.”

“I feel overwhelmed and honoured,” Gearhead said. “I can only hope to survive the first bout.”

“We’ll see,” Armour said. “Take up a position three meters from the wall opposite us.” When Gearhead had done so, Armour spoke again. “We’ll begin as soon as you start any initial incantation, so whenever you’re ready.”

If Gearhead was to hold his own, he would have to choose his first incantation wisely, or it would leave him dreadfully exposed to his opponents’ preliminary countermeasures.

There were plenty of good reasons why Shining Armour was Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guards, and thus primarily responsible for the princesses’ safety. If he was not quite as versatile as his little sister, as a mage, he was almost certainly higher-ranked as far as pure power was concerned. Armour was trained to be fast and strong, and he was a skilled strategist and leader, otherwise he would not have earned his position. Since getting split up in the caves above Canterlot, the Unicorn had been in charge of every expeditionary and diplomatic group to venture back in. Underestimating him would cost Gearhead the match.

Gearhead could not underestimate Princess Cadence either: while she was not born into the royal family like Prince Blueblood, Cadence was far more competent than her cousin, and not just because she could fly. She had shown her skills in healing, protection, and attack magic in the caves. Her special ability could be describes as ‘spreading light and love,’ and as such it fit that she would be able to empathize with others, making her a born leader as well. As far as skill went, she was closer to Armour’s level than that of Blueblood, whom Gearhead had defeated at the Gala, and back then he had only been able to use his geomancy to do it.

Fighting off both Cadence and Armour would require a great deal of agility, as well as some proper defensive measures. Gearhead had to buy himself the time to put those into place, or he would be immediately and definitively sunk: it did not matter that he had powerful spells at his disposal if he did not have the time to deploy them, or if they missed their targets, or if he got taken out before he could strike. Gearhead had precisely the weaknesses he had pointed out to Princess Celestia and the others at last night’s supper.

Armour and Cadence, meanwhile, could cast their spells the modern Unicorn way, by willing them to happen. They may not need incantations, but they still needed the time to charge up their spells, plus line-of-sight to make them hit their target. Provided he could buy enough time, Gearhead knew how to turn the situation entirely to his advantage.

Gearhead drew his dagger, and in the same instant, began. “Cantus de Proelio,” he chanted, and his magic aura burst forth around him, reinforcing his physical abilities. “Deflexio,” he continued as he leaped to avoid the converging blasts from both his opponents, and his shield was in place around him, to take a subsequent hit. Still, he kept moving, zigging and zagging and doubling back on his path when he found that a blast was not on its way to where he had been, but rather to where he might be going next if he should continue.

“Aperite portas quoniam tempor elit. Inveniet tua potentia.” Cadence and Armour oriented on the direction of his voice as soon as they heard Gearhead using his temporary activation key, because now it meant he intended on using a higher-level combat spell. He kept up his random movement so they could not cut him off. “Veni Spiritus Aqua, Spiritus Ignis, et Spiritus Vento. Misce et coalescunt et inimici mei impediant. Ventus Draco Scriptor!” A vapour ball coalesced at the end of Gearhead’s expanded sword, and then it expanded in all directions, its fog filling the room and temporarily blinding his opponents. But the Dragon’s Wind spell was Gearhead’s, so his vision was still clear. Even without it, he could get a read on Cadence’s and Armour’s positions every time his hooves touched the floor. Even so, Gearhead could not predict how long it would be until someone blew the fog apart.

“Aperite portas quoniam tempor elit. Inveniet tua potential,” Gearhead whispered. “Spiritus Fulgor, evoco ex vacuo et percutiam me inimucus. Fulgor Securis.” Wanting the attack to be a surprise, Gearhead even spoke its name quietly. The single lightning strike lanced out from his upraised sword and smashed into Armour’s raised barrier, pushing him back a few paces. Cadence, seeing the lightning flash through the fog, threw a trio of magic blasts in the direction of their origin, causing temporary rifts to open up in the fog as she did so. But Gearhead had already moved on in anticipation of the counterattack.

“Aperite portas quoniam tempor elit. Inveniet tua potential,” Gearhead spoke while moving into position at Cadence’s outside flank. “Veni Spiritus Fulgor septuaginta unum. Consinnant sagittas meas complebo. Percusserit me inimicus. Magica Sagitta 71 Fulgor.” Each Lightning Arrow would not be terribly powerful, but the higher number would be harder to dodge, deflect, or otherwise ward off. That was the advantage to choosing Magic Arrows over the more condensed version of the same level of offensive spell, Magic Javelin. Being made of lightning meant they would also carry a stunning side-effect if they did hit.

The Lightning Arrows streaked toward Cadence’s open flank, and then Armour was there, facing the barrage head-on – and Gearhead had not even seen him coming! Armour released an answering magic blast from his horn, and it was powerful enough to deflect the arrows that glanced off of it, and destroy the one that hit it directly. Without enough time to fully evade the counterattack, Gearhead diverted as much magic energy as he could into his own magic barrier. Just before it hit, though, he got an idea. He jumped at the moment of impact, and got shot back into the fog. He did not see whether his own attack broke through Armour’s barrier.

Gearhead fetched up against a far wall and slid down a few feet to the ground. He took a moment to recover and reorient. He could still see his targets through the fog: Armour was acting as a guard between him and Cadence, although he had begun to roam in anticipation of any movement Gearhead might make. Cadence was spreading her wings, in preparation to take off.

If Cadence was about to use her weather manipulation magic to clear the fog, Gearhead only had a couple of minutes to set up his end-game manoeuvres. He had to move before Cadence and Armour could remove the advantage represented by Dragon’s Wind.

The way Gearhead saw it, he could go for a big-blast finish, or he could try out something he had never tried before, a series of delayed spells that might not work at all. His opponents had already seen, and been suitably impressed by, the most powerful spells in Gearhead’s spellbook. They would expect him to use Jove’s Tempest or Earth Gale. That left the delayed spells.

The way delayed magic worked was that during the incantation the caster set the limits for the spell’s activation, so it would not launch immediately after the chant was completed. Most commonly this was done by placing a time limit on the activation, so that as long as the spell got launched in time, it would be successful. Unfortunately, the maximum amount of time anypony had ever been recorded as using was a mere thirty seconds – not a lot of time if one fouled up. The other way to use delayed magic was to set it up to respond to a key phrase. This was harder, because the caster had to hold focus over the spell until it was cast. Falling asleep with a spell forgotten and stored was hazardous, at best. The safest starting point was easily the time-delay, but the circumstances would probably not allow Gearhead to do everything he wanted to set up for a thirty second cast.

Already, Cadence was airborne and pushing the sticky fog back from the center of the room. That meant it was time to get to work.

Shining Armour kept his guard up as he scanned the area all about him. Part of his attention followed Cadence as she started to push the fog away from the center, where Armour planned to force Gearhead to make his move. If he did not attack before the fog was gone, he would be revealed, and his advantage completely gone for the few seconds it would require to finish this fight: after the show Gearhead had just put on, Armour had absolutely no intention of allowing the former to complete even one more incantation.

As Armour kept turning and scanning, he thought he heard the clop of a hoof or a whispered word, but he could not be sure. He could not even tell the source’s direction, the fog was doing such a good job of muffling sound and confusing the senses. He hated to admit it, but Armour and Cadence were both stuck waiting until the fog was peeled back, revealing Gearhead’s hiding place… and whatever surprise he surely had in store for them.

Finally Armour spotted a growing blue-green aura at ground level to the left of where he had last seen Gearhead vanish into the fog. And another to the right and behind him. And a third seemingly between those points. Three simultaneous moves? Armour whistled to Cadence, and she flew in closer.

Three different volleys of Lightning Arrows arced toward the two ponies. They were barely able to erect overlapping protective barriers, which immediately became stressed at the three points of sustained impact. Armour tried to focus on all three points, but he also knew that if he let his attention flag for a moment, one part of his shield would become weaker, and an attack might break through it. He could not allow it!

Gearhead came flying at the barrier from the left, and connected with one hoof, supercharged with another round of lightning magic. The barrier bent, began to crack, and then shattered. The Earth Pony continued spinning, bringing his sword to bear. Armour was still trying to deal with the sudden sting from the loss of the shield, and he suddenly hoped that Gearhead did not have another round of the same magic stored within that sword of his.

“Venti Corbe,” Gearhead said as he swung the sword around, gently grazing Armour’s horn with the pommel. Threads of wind magic wound themselves out from the point of contact, wrapping their way around Armour until he was tied to the ground with them… and completely incapacitated because he could not gather enough focus to blast them away, or even gather magic to his horn. Armour groaned: he was out of the fight.

As Gearhead leaped for what scrap of cover remained, Cadence climbed, a greater distance plus the high vaulted roof keeping her out of Gearhead’s physical reach. Now the match was a duel, with both combatants having spent a significant amount of magical energy. Armour hoped Gearhead was out of delayed spells.

Cadence knew as well as Shining Armour did that as long as she was flying high enough, she was out of Gearhead’s reach as far as physical attacks went. She was also fairly confident that she had enough space to react and dodge any spell he shot off at her. Still, she could not be fully certain of anything, considering what he had just pulled off in order to incapacitate Shining Armour. Cadence would try to free him if she knew Gearhead would not take the opportunity to attack her, and if she knew how many spirits he had called to tie up her partner. She did not, and neither did Shining Armour. Only Gearhead himself knew for certain, and Cadence could not take the risk of using overwhelming force and harming Shining Armour in the process.

Cadence was on her own, but she was also capable in her own right. Even as she searched for Gearhead, she was also pushing his fog back toward the edges of the room. Cadence could continue to take shots at Gearhead whenever she saw him, all the while watching out for his own shots so she could counter them effectively. Her only concern was the uncertainty as to whether her shield would hold out if Gearhead succeeded in hitting her. Wait and see. Be patient and don’t act rashly. No need to waste any energy, Cadence counselled herself.

An approaching cluster of golden lights wrenched Cadence back to the present. Here, Cadence knew, was only Part 1 in a multi-part plan, and yet she could not see anything other than this one round coming at her. She easily identified them as Lightning Arrows, and evaded them by flying higher, and then she continued to watch the arrows out of one eye because they could be guided back to her.

Suddenly Part 2 became highly visible as Gearhead launched himself up at Cadence with a wind spell. Cadence could not hear him, but even as he leaped up at her, she could see him gathering more Lightning Spirits. They swirled and collected all about his sword blade. Cadence started to let loose a string of countering attack beams, but Gearhead’s own shield absorbed them and he kept coming, only slowing slightly with each hit.

Gearhead was still climbing when he flipped his sword from his tail to his mouth, and pointing the blade directly at Cadence, released the Magic Arrows in a more compressed form. The lead arrows reached Cadence far faster than they should have, and on impact with her shield, Cadence realized that they were Light Arrows, so their speed was greater, their impact purely concussive. The second impact from the Lightning Arrows caused Cadence’s shield to buckle, just as her joint shield with Shining Armour had earlier, under the weight of those multiple rounds from before.

Unwilling to give in, Cadence closed her eyes and focused all her efforts on reinforcing her shield. Despite her doubts that it would hold out longer than the sustained round of Magic Arrows, she kept pouring her magic energy into her efforts. She did not want to be bested by a trick that was only slightly different from what had taken Shining Armour out earlier.

And then the pressure was gone. Cadence opened her eyes. There were cracks spiderwebbing all over her shield, but the stream of Magic Arrows was gone. Cadence looked around for Gearhead, and found him beneath and ahead of her, having just landed. He looked like he was out of delayed spells, and he was caught out nearly in the middle of the room, the few scraps of remaining fog too far away for him to reach – and probably too small for him to use as cover anyway. Cadence saw his lips moving, although he was being quiet enough she could not hear him.

Cadence absolutely could not allow Gearhead to finish that incantation! She chose to focus her energy on an attack round of her own, instead of on her shield. She relaxed her hold over her defences and collected magic power to her horn. She ignored the cracks deepening over her shield even after it shattered, and the shards began to fall toward the ground, leaving her completely defenceless.

Gearhead obviously saw all of this too, but rushing could make him foul up or bite his tongue, and either of those events would cause him to lose his spell. Still, he probably figured he had time before Cadence could unleash a spell powerful enough to put him out of the fight. Which meant that Cadence had just ran out of time.

Princess Cadence unleashed a stuttering salvo of magic blasts down at Gearhead through the still-falling and spinning shards of her shield. She expected the blasts to pass right through the energy shards. Instead, they got refracted and redirected into each other at the center of the falling formation. And then, with a high-pitched scream, the single blast lanced out and hit the target before Cadence could even blink.

The spell died on Gearhead’s lips when he saw the shards acting as a focusing array for the smaller beams. It was similar to how the five necklace-mounted Elements of Harmony focused their power, and that of their Bearers, into Twilight and the Element of Magic.

Gearhead did not have enough time to complete his spell, or move out of the way of the supercharged, super-speedy blast anymore. The impact was sudden and jarring, pinning Gearhead, shield and all, to the unyielding floor. Gearhead’s shield shattered as he bounced up against the top of it, and then he was thrust back into the ground at the head of the blast. The pain was excruciating and spread everywhere in an instant, and then Gearhead knew darkness.

Gearhead did not dream, but he thought he was in a dream because the pain he expected to experience was gone. It was only when he became aware of himself and dared to try opening his eyes that he realized that he had lost consciousness. He looked up and recognized the concerned faces of Princess Cadence and Princess Luna standing over him. “How long was I out?”

“Fifteen of the longest minutes of my life,” Shining Armour’s muffled and strained voice came from over Gearhead’s shoulder. “If you can tell us how many Spirits, we can get me out of this thing!”

Gearhead looked up and back to glance at Armour, and heard Cadence and Princess Luna gasp in concern. “What is it?” Gearhead asked.

“You shouldn’t be able to do that yet,” Cadence said. “Your spine… I was so sure I’d broken it. Sorry.”

“For all that you do great healing work,” Gearhead slowly got up, testing his legs.

“It wasn’t me, at least not entirely,” Cadence said.

“Your Highness?”

“My niece speaks true,” Princess Luna said. “It seems a major portion of your recovery was done by yourself. It was troubling, as even we, with out ability to enter dreams, could not ascertain your condition.”

“I did not dream,” Gearhead said, walking gingerly over to Armour. He touched a hoof to one of his Magic Arrows of Binding Wind where it met the ground, and they all unwound and flowed into him through that same leg. Armour would have fallen on his face if Gearhead and Cadence did not rush forward to catch their friend.

“My legs have fallen asleep,” Armour explained lamely. “But I didn’t expect it to be that easy.”

“I had to be conscious to do that sort of thing,” Gearhead said. “In any case, being out for a full fifteen minutes, it was clearly my loss.”

“No, it was a fluke and I lost control of my magic. You had a good chance to beat us,” Cadence said.

“If I am unable to adapt to the circumstances, then it can only be my loss. I did not have a counter prepared against such force, nor did I have the speed to dodge the resultant blast.” Armour was moving his legs to get the feeling back into them. “Two more reasons why I lost the match, although speaking of which, Armour, did you teleport beside Cadence to block my flanking attack before?”

“No, it was a form of instant movement – a physical energy-type technique I’m training the rest of the Royal Guard to use. Did you want to learn it?”

“If at all possible, yes.”

“I’d be glad to teach you, if you tell me how you pulled off three delayed Magic Arrows in the thirty second time limit. Because I had plenty of time to run the numbers, and they don’t add up.”

“Indeed, the fastest I could incant a single round of Magic Arrows is twelve seconds, including the activation key – I really need to register a shorter one. In any case, I could do two rounds, but not three, in that time. So I did not do three rounds, or even two.”

“A single round, split into three parts? That’s two hundred thirteen.”

“Yes, except..?”

“It’s no longer a prime number,” Cadence, who had studied some of the ancient magic alongside Gearhead, said. For whatever reason, the spirits upon which mages called for their spells seemed to favour prime numbers, or no number at all. “You have to add some on to make it work. The next one in the sequence is…”

“Two hundred twenty-three. Ducenti viginti tres,” Gearhead said.

“You end up with time and arrows to spare,” Cadence said.

“Both of which you could put to use in the salvo you delivered personally. Plus that wind cage you set to a keyword trigger. Well then, here are some basics for you to practice. First, gather what energy you can to all your hooves. Second, while pumping your feet as hard as you can from a standing position, or even while in motion, send the energy out explosively in the opposite direction from the direction in which you want to go. As you’re launching, aim and judge your distance with all of your senses. Third, gather energy under your hooves prior to landing to cushion yourself. Land stably and either launch into your next step or stand and exit. My legs are almost back to normal, so I can show you.”

“I would appreciate that, thank you.”

“Now that things are under control,” Princess Luna said, “we will return to our rest. We are thankful nopony is hurt.”

“Yes, we are,” Cadence said, smiling.

“Thank you for your concern,” Gearhead said, bowing. Princess Luna nodded in acknowledgement, and left Gearhead and Armour to practice their movements, with Cadence following along.

“So…? How did it go?” Pinkie Pie asked at lunch.

“Do you mean the training session?” Gearhead asked.

“Hm-hm-mm!” Pinkie nodded enthusiastically.

“We had a match, two-on-one. I defeated the guardspony.”

“That’s awesome! You know, unless he was really just bad,” Rainbow Dash said.

“No, he is quite skilled, and will not be caught by the same strategy again.”

“Well then, could you beat him again?”

“With a different strategy, or at least one he would not expect, yes.”

“Weren’t there ‘two’ against your ‘one?’ Seems kinda unfair, though,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Oh, you mean the Princess? She defeated me,”

“You fought against one of the Princesses and expected to win?” Dash asked.

“I hope you didn’t actually hit her,” Rarity said.

“Oh no, she hit me quite solidly before I could do anything of the sort.”

“Not for lack of trying, though,” Princess Celestia said. “Gearhead is quite clever and powerful. It took everything they had and something they didn’t know they had to defeat him.” She grinned, going along with Gearhead on avoiding any mention of Princess Cadence and Shining Armour.

“So what’s your afternoon going to be like?” Rarity asked.

“I will practice some new techniques, and then study some new spells,” Gearhead said.

Princess Celestia nodded. “Gearhead has earned unlimited access to the spell libraries. Anything he can find, he can study. Whether or not he ends up using the spells he learns is completely up to him.”

“What will all of you be doing? I doubt there’s much more of Canterlot to tour at this point,” Gearhead said.

“Well, it’s not as if I’ve shown you everything I’ll be showing them,” Princess Celestia said. “After all, there are one or two dozen things for fillies that a stallion cannot appreciate.”

“I will accede to that,” Gearhead dipped his head respectfully.

“By the way, I have a query for you from your shopkeepers,” Princess Celestia said, floating a letter down the table to Gearhead, who read it before composing a reply.

Early on the second day, Fluttershy and Twilight ran into a problem in sales: they had sold nearly the entire inventory that was for sale. All they had left were five or so items still for sale plus the display items. Twilight had Spike send a letter to Gearhead through Princess Celestia asking what they should do.

They did not get a reply until after lunch, and until then they kept the shop closed. Neither mare wanted to go on a supply run for Gearhead, and they would have had more trouble than him locating the materials he usually dug up. And they would have to dig it all up. The reply said to sell what they could, and then they could keep the shop closed, just coming in to check if everything was secure. Gearhead also wanted the pair of mares to keep him posted on the egg’s status.

Sale of the display items went quickly, but it took nearly the whole day for the five remaining items to be sold, at which time Twilight was able to close a mostly-empty shop. Fluttershy was away, tending to her animal friends. Twilight spent the time between sales continuing to read through the books recovered from the Castle of the Two Sisters – except for the ones Gearhead had taken with him to Canterlot, including the mysterious volume he always seemed to keep in one of his own saddlebags.

Other than the occasional customer who wanted a replacement for an item he or she had bought at Barnyard Bargains, the shop was fairly quiet, and Twilight got a lot of reading done. As she closed up, she wondered how the others were doing in Canterlot. She wondered how her brother was doing.

“Look here,” Princess Cadence said, sliding the book she was reading in Gearhead’s direction. “It’s a shorter version of the Song of Battle that you use.”

“So it is ‘Cantus Bellax’ instead of ‘Cantus de Proelio.’ That is certainly shorter. What about the other spells?” Gearhead asked.

“Not here,” Shining Armour said, looking through three different books at once. “I’m starting to think you were right in telling Princess Celestia that you had the shortest possible versions of each of the spells you use.”

“If that’s the case, couldn’t you create your own version of a spell that ends up being shorter?” Cadence asked.

“I think the result would be the same as Lightning Axe is to Jove’s Thunderstorm: It is significantly faster, even than Lightning Arrows, to cast, but it is also less powerful than Jove’s Thunderstorm.”

“But more powerful than Lightning Arrows?” Armour asked.

“Yes, unless I use a higher number of Spirits…”

“What?”

“It could be that if I summon enough spirits and then shape them, I could bridge the power gap. Theoretically that would permit me to use a low-level spell as a mid-level spell.”

“Or as more,” Armour suggested as he offered Gearhead a look at another book. “Is this Greek?”

Gearhead perused the entire incantation and description before he offered a response. “I can understand much of it, but not every word. I will transcribe it to my spellbook for further study. Yes, this spell is written in Greek. The length and the portions of the spell I can understand indicate it is high-ancient magic. I think… it is an Ice Magic spell, and that could prove difficult as I have never cast one before.”

“I’m sure you could master it if you wanted to,” Cadence said.

“She’s right, you know. If anyone can master elemental magic, it has to be you.”

“Elemental, huh?” Gearhead could not help thinking about the Elements of Harmony. Powerful Artifacts that they were, no other single Artifact, amulet, or spell of which he knew could match their collective power, or even the power of one of them should there be a way to use one without the others. Perhaps not with the existing Elements, but Gearhead was certain he could do something about that. His thoughts returned to the question at hoof, and recalled that he had already used a variety of elemental spirits in his spells. “Elemental Magic could indeed be my specialty,” he said.

The three spellcasting ponies continued to peruse the collection of spellbooks and scrolls. As Princess Celestia had promised, Gearhead now had unlimited access to Canterlot Castle’s entire archive and library on all things magical. Under instruction from the Princess Sisters, Armour and Cadence had opened up the doors to the deepest and most secure parts of the castle library. These consisted of massive rooms with vaulting ceilings absolutely filled, top to bottom, with books and scrolls of all descriptions.

Reading anything in the library was complicated by the fact that there were not any ladders or lights, so it had clearly been set up so that only spellcasting ponies like Unicorns could read the material, or even get to them – unless they flew. Anyone who wanted to read the material would have to supply their own light, one which would not degrade the paper or ink. To guard against further mischief, none of the original material could be removed from the complex of vaulted rooms: According to Princess Celestia, attempting to do so would result in a barrier being raised that would trap the material inside, while the fleeing pony would be on the outside, still trying to hold on to the book or scroll, and would therefore be just as trapped.

In this case, neither of the three had any problems retrieving material with their magic, or summoning lights by which to read them. Cadence could even fly up shelves to look at book and scroll titles before they brought them down, and while Gearhead had been forbidden from bringing his core system in for fear of what the light particles would do, he could just as easily raise himself on a pillar of earth or light fashioned into his own set of wings. Even Cadence had to be careful so as not to disturb the material with the downdraft from her wings.

In the process of their research, the curious trio came across spells by various notable Unicorns. Most of the spells’ authors were court mages who held the title ‘Magister Magi’ while serving either of the Princesses, or both. The title simply meant ‘Master Mage,’ but since it was in Latin, many of these individuals probably were familiar with the type of spell Gearhead was learning.

Twilight Sparkle would have been in Heaven, being able to learn spells personally penned by her personal hero, Starswirl the Bearded, also known for being the Father of the Anamorphic Spell. Other notables included the Princesses themselves, Clover the Clever who was Starswirl’s protégée, and somepony else of whom Gearhead had never heard with the odd name of ‘Spring Onion the Fieldmaster.’

Spring Onion had developed a series of disarmament spells that stripped the target of her or his armour and armament, as long as they were not secured with metal. The very existence of such a spell was curious, as a Unicorn could cast spells without needing anything other than her or his horn, which was (more or less, as Discord had proven) attached to the caster’s head. Gearhead could only conclude that the Exarmatio spells were for combat against warrior ponies, and ponies with special equipment – or perhaps conditions for casting, like Gearhead himself.

Fortunately the spell itself only required a rudimentary understanding of how it worked, and the correct few words. Vento Flore Exarmatio would summon a wind. Flos Exarmatio would do the same with vines. Flamma Flore Exarmatio would burn armaments away. Using Glacies Flore Exarmatio or Aqua Flore Exarmatio would freeze and shatter or flood out the extra gear.

The latter two were of interest to Gearhead because the spells indicated that there was both Ice and Water Magic. If Gearhead could not use Ice Magic, he should be able to use Water Magic. Gearhead decided to memorize the Flower, Windflower, and Waterflower versions of the spell.

He also found that Spring Onion had been interested in combat spells and techniques that could enhance his abilities in battle to the point where he would not need a partner to run interference against physical injury, and from that loss of casting ability. Besides various levels of invoking Cantus Bellax, Spring Onion was able to take his spells into various parts of his body to enhance his combat skills. He was a master of delayed magic, and he even had a spell that would give him a more dexterous form.

According to the description, the form the spell gave the caster (or his target) would be reshaped to maximize his or her ability to manipulate objects, as well as adding some agility. At the same time, most of the form’s senses were dulled and the muscles became weaker in some ways and specialized in others. In place of one’s coat, there was a thin cloth covering that got added. The critical ingredient was an image of ‘strength,’ but the incantation was also telling, as it called on various Spirits for aid.

One of the Spirits was Jupiter, who was also called ‘Jove.’ Gearhead had used the name in Jove’s Thunderstorm, but it was also the Spirit upon whom healers called. Jove represented the Wind.

The second Spirit was Terra, also called Demeter. Responsible for the state of the earth and soil, the harvest and even drought, Terra represented the Earth, as its name implied.

The third Spirit was Neptune of the Sea, Lord of the Aqua Spirits. Its domain would be all things to do with water, thus it could be just as responsible for a hardy life as the others.

The fourth and final Spirit was the Lord of Flame, whose name was only said aloud by those who could master Fire Magic and obtain a complete contract with the Master of Destruction and Rebirth. Of course, this reminded Gearhead of Philomena, who as a Phoenix personified the Lord of the Fire Spirits, Vulcan, or Hephaestus the Forger.

Calling all four Spirits together would cause the transformation to take hold, only to be released upon the spoken trigger for reversion, which was set in the incantation as well. All of this had been thought out well enough that the casting should be flawless, and the results hard to miss.

An untried, high-level spell like this would undoubtedly be tricky, but Gearhead would not know if he could master it, or if it could be useful to him, unless he tried it. He transcribed it to his spellbook. Once that was done, he walked around to where he would have more space without tables, chairs, or shelves to interfere. He took a deep breath, and then began.

As Gearhead proceeded with the incantation, four petals, one made of each of the four elements, sprouted from the floor and engulfed him, like a flower closing. Illuminated only by the light of the Fire petal, and with his vision of the outside world blocked, Gearhead could only focus on the spell and the tingling sensation that spread throughout his body. The transformation was beginning.

When the petals opened, releasing him, Gearhead stumbled forward a step. He noticed immediately that he stood higher up than he was used to, and when he looked down he saw he was reared up on his hindquarters. He braced with his forelegs, but when he did not fall forward, he took to examining his new form more carefully.

Gearhead’s legs were strange and gangly, twisted in directions that were all wrong for quadrapedal travel. His hooves were covered in shoes similar to those he wore against his geomancy leaking, but shaped significantly differently. When he focused on his hooves, he could wiggle something inside his shoes, and he almost lost his balance and fell. Fortunately, waving his forelegs a bit saved him the embarrassment.

Speaking of embarrassment, Gearhead’s coat was indeed gone, although his mane remained. To avoid being entirely bare-skinned, the spell had given him a plain black tunic of a simple cut, green pants with large pockets, and a belt with many pouches. Gearhead turned slightly to look back at Armour and Cadence, and was startled by two things.

One thing was that Cadence looked more brilliantly pink than before. Even in turning his head and watching the world seem to move around him, Gearhead could tell that his vision had changed – better in some ways, and worse in others.

Gearhead watched Armour and Cadence tracking his forelegs’ movement as he touched his shortened snout. He noticed, too, the strange wiggly parts at the ends of his former-hooves. Touching the padded parts against his nose revealed that they were soft and unsuitable for walking, let alone running. If his hooves were similar, then it was no wonder the transformation came with shoes. The top portions of the wiggly things were hardened, and pressing them against his nose or the main part of his hoof hurt slightly. But these cuticles also had too much give to be used as claws.

As Gearhead wondered what good this form actually was, he continued to wiggle and turn his hooves and the wiggly things in fascination. Then he realized that he could rotate his hoof where it met his foreleg, and that the offset wiggly thing met the base of one of the others when he bent it. If he curled them together, they formed a grip similar to the one Spike made to grip a pencil or quill to write letters or checklists for Twilight. In fact, apart from the complete lack of scaled armour or hardened nails, Gearhead’s hooves were more similar to Spike’s claws than to his main form’s hooves.

Curious, Gearhead drew his non-magic dagger. He noticed that the transformation spell had also changed its hilt to be more cylindrical. When he gripped the dagger in one claw (no, that is not quite the right word, is it?), it fit comfortably. Gearhead made several slow swings and thrusts, trying to approximate an attack pattern as he would with his mouth or tail. It seemed his new forelegs had a longer reach and arc, and if he rotated the joining part he had noted before, he could manipulate his dagger more precisely. This was interesting.

But in trying to move closer to Armour and Cadence, Gearhead quickly tripped and fell. “This shall take some getting used to,” he said. To which Cadence giggled. Fortunately, it seemed, he could still speak and understand the common language. That made sense, since Gearhead had not changed the way his brain worked. He spoke the phrase and returned to equine form. Next Chapter: 6. Marching Forward Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 22 Minutes