My Little Tactics

Chapter Nine: A Knight’s Return.

The too familiar feeling of waking up after passing out unnaturally permeated his mind and his body moments before the slight throb of his head followed suit. Dustan silently made a mental note to have a MRI the moment he had one available for possible brain damage that he has suffered so far. The worst part was always trying to piece together the moments leading up to when one was knocked out.

‘Ok let’s take it one step at a time.’ He prepped himself as he slowly opened his eyes finding them on a white ceiling along with a nice bit of cool air blowing in. The smell of disinfectant also told him where he was. ‘I was captured by goblins; bastards snuck up behind me and clubbed me or something. Then I was a slave for a while though how long I honestly couldn’t tell as with no light to tell me the days it all blurred together.’ He then ran over in his head the moments leading up to his ‘execution’ before being saved.

After that the rest of the memories flowed out quickly filling in the gaps before finally ending on how he was KO’ed. “Oh that sonva bitch is going to get it.” However as he started to rise up he winced and quickly lay back down. While his captivity left him with minor wounds, none of which would leave anything lasting upon his body, the struggles of the mines and slavery combined with the overall effort his body put into the ending fight really had taken its toll on him.

Admitting defeat for now he lifted up the sheet of the bed he was in. Spying no catheters or anything meant he had not been in the hospital for long. Seeing as he was going nowhere he decided to look around the hospital room. Equestria had no source of electrical power, but used the thaumic fields of the world to generate power. As such anything that ran on energy was given a rechargeable crystal or had a large thaumic generator that pulled in and stored power very efficiently.

Amazing what a basic magic book would teach someone. That had been most of what the book was about sadly the practical usage and application of magic as well as some basic tips one could use for casting. That being said he had magic now himself. He had felt it twice, once when healing Yodel, the calm peaceful feeling inside of him, and the second when his rage overfilled him at the murder of the goblins.

Question is could he do it on will now that his body had experienced magic? He started to calm himself mustering up his will or at least trying. He had never done this before knowingly and he spent over an hour before he felt something responding inside of him. He started to draw it forth and was about to mutter the words of the spell when the door opened causing his concentration to be broken.

As he felt the spell fleeing him he looked to see who it was that was coming in and spied more than a handful of ponies. The ones he recognized off the bat was Zecora first and foremost who full out galloped when she seen he was awake and gave him a surprising hug. He hesitated to return it at first as he was caught off guard but quickly did so. The others he recognized were the mane six though Twilight and Fluttershy came out quickly from the group to check to see how he was.

Both of them were throwing questions left and right at him while Zecora was muttering something in her native language that he couldn’t for the life of him interpret as the final two ponies came in to see him. Only one of the two he recognized which was Nurse Redheart a pure white earth pony with a very light pink mane and tail that was wrapped up with her red cross cutie mark that had four heart interlaced between the lines making up the cross. The other pony was a unicorn of a beige color with dark brown mane and tail complete with an ECG machine mark on his flanks.

It felt he should know this pony but he couldn’t place it. “Ah I see you are awake, good. This makes the check up that much simpler.” As the doctor came closer he spied the mares and coughed gently to make most of them move, though it took a polite poke to Zecora to get her out of the way. “There we go, now tell me young human, how do you feel?”

For now he would let the young part slide as the doc was no doubt trying to do his best and use his normal speech patterns on an unknown. “Well honestly like I have been trampled. Though with how often I keep getting hit in the head I am worried about the brain damage I might get cause of it. Oh let’s not forget the possible dain bramage I got from being knocked out again.” He knew he spoke wrong on purpose and said that twice to be funny but it seemed the doc wasn’t up for jokes even if the laughter of Pinkie Pie in the background showed that his joke was obvious.

“Well it’s good that you have your humor with you, shows that there are good signs to the road of recovery for you.” The doc came up and touched his cheek with a glowing quill making him wince at the touch and realize something was covering his cheek. “Ok then, there was a hoof mark here and a sign of a small crack to your bone, not sure what you humans call it though but it seems to be healing fine though it will likely leave a scar.” Dustan saw something move in the corner of his eye but couldn’t tell what it was before his attention was called back to the doc. “Your head injuries also seem to be healing ok as well.” The doc then started to lift up his bed sheet to start inspecting him further.

“WHOA THERE!” The knight called out quickly pulling the sheet down. “Not sure if you know this doc, but my people preferred to be clothed and not nude around others. You are an exception since you are a doctor and doing your job same with the nurse pony there, but there are others in the room.”

“Oh stop being a silly filly Dusty.” The suddenly to his right pink pony said startling him. “All stallions are nude in front of each other so we don’t care if we see your dingle dangle.”

“Ok one: never call it a dingle dangle ever again.” Dustan said quickly to the party pony slowly moving her from being in his personal bubble. “Two: I am a human not a pony, there are a few things that are different about me from ponies. Three: please respect my privacy on some subjects please. Especially, if you want me to answer your questions later Twilight.”

There was the sound of magic and a light popping of teleportation before she answered quickly. “I didn’t have anything to take notes with anyways.” The nervous laughter told him all he needed to know about what was poofed away even if he was currently looking at Pinkie and had no way to prove her words.

“Okie Dokie Loki.” Pinkie pronked away slowly towards the door. Leaving Dustan to agonize on how easy that was.

After she vanished his feelings of being watched quickly rose up and he looked out the window only to see the party pony there being held up with balloons and having binoculars out. “Pinkie!”

“Oh alright fine.” She rolled her eyes and tugged on what looked to be a draw cord before she slowly lowered.

‘Yeah, not going to talk about that one.’ Turning to the others he saw them filtering out though two ponies lingered longer than normal, Rainbow Dash and Zecora.

One was obvious on why she lingered as Zecora was his friend and roommate and likely was worried judging by the hug he received earlier. Rainbow Dash however, the echo’s of their last conversation came back making him even wonder why she was here at all. He thought he saw her wince for a moment before leaving.

“Ok then, they are gone now, let us proceed unless there is anything else we should know of about humans and their customs.” The doc sounded impatient for sure and if it wasn’t just him from the slave colony here then he likely was very busy.

“Good to go doc.” With that his exam began.

All her friends were talking amongst themselves or two each other about how good it was to see their friend was recovering though as she heard the doc talking about some of his visible wounds though she knew about the hoof mark. The fact it would leave a scar on his face meant every time she talked to him, the mark of her betrayal would be visible and that fact alone kept pushing the aerial ace deeper and deeper into her own depression.

“-alright, Rainbow Dash?” The voice called to the mare gently and soothingly though with a hint of worry as her oldest friend gently shook her from her thoughts. As she gave a questioning hmm Fluttershy repeated herself. “I was asking if you are alright. You seemed to be lost in thought and about to cry.”

Rainbow Dash swallowed hard before looking at her friend feeling tears well up in her eyes again. _{“I did it.”} She must have surprised her friend who leaned in closer.

“I am sorry Rainbow Dash, but I couldn’t hear that. You were quieter than me normally.” Fluttershy seemed to think that was an insult as she quickly followed up her statement. “Oh not that it’s a bad thing, it’s just usual for you to be so quiet.”

Gritting her teeth together she closed her eyes and told her. “I am the one who hit him on his face!”

There she told somepony, no pony would ever know now. “You did what?” Zecora spoke as the echo of Dash’s not so quiet declaration rang out in the halls. “I had seen he had come home with a hoof mark but the owner was not so clear-cut.”

“Sugarcube that can’t be right.” Applejack also said as Dash was looking at each of her friends now in turn as she slowly realized how loud she actually said that. “What would make you go and do that for anyways?”

All eyes were on her now, she couldn’t fly from this, and she couldn’t hide it anymore as she felt her eyes misting up. “It was cause of Gilda; she came back to my place before the party was announced, her beak scratched deeply and a cut across her cheek.” From the looks of everypony they all knew what she was talking about. “Apparently Dustan did that to her to defend Fluttershy. However what Gilda told me happened was that he attacked her for no reason except she was a griffon. At the time Dustan and me weren’t exactly the closest of friends and when one of my oldest friends came back with blood on their cheek and a was telling of a hairless diamond dog looking thing attacking her for just being the race she was born…I lost it.”

She thought her friends would berate her for what she told them, she thought for sure they would all tell her that she was in the wrong. However she never expected a physical confrontation from one. That is what she got however in the form of a stripped blur tackling her to the ground speaking in a language no pony there understood aside from her.

“Whoa there girl!” The voice of the farm pony called out before a rope started pulling the zebra back away from her friend. “Ah am as miffed as you but at the same time Ah can't blame Dash for acting like she did. If Ah heard about somepony attacking one of my friends cause of the reasons RD gave then Ah would be more then nettled myself Ah reckon.”

Zecora was the calm zebra from a nation that was unknown to the pegasus was red faced as she spoke swiftly. “You didn’t see what I saw upon a face streaked with more than one tear. So much did he not enjoy what happened to him was that he went to the Everfree as a willing volunteer.”

Confirmation upon that he was trying to flee her, hearing it said out loud brought more and more tears to her own face. “I’m sorry. I would take it back in a heartbeat if it could. Once I found out the truth I wanted to apologize right away but then got cold hooves then got called away to Cloudsdale and couldn’t. By that point he was missing and I thought I caused it. I thought I made him run away.”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t see it but the mare’s face visibly calmed as she watched her. What she didn’t know was that each one of her friends had come by Zecora’s at some point seeking something that would help the mare sleep. At the time Zecora thought it was simply pride that kept the pegasus from seeking her before and her friends taking matters into their own hooves but seeing the guilt ridden face she herself couldn’t help but feel as if the mare had made her own punishment and suffered through it.

That being said though Zecora couldn’t let this go. “For a while, if you wish to visitation. One of your friends should come with you in case damage needs to have mitigation.” As she turned to see the doctor telling them to stop causing noise and that the patent was ready to see visitors again she started to head to the room but not before one last thing. “If it is forgiveness you wish to seek. Then you have to talk to the one whom you hurt and not be lurking out of his vision by being a sneak.”

She felt the comforting hooves of all her friends helping her up but she knew the shaman was right. This wouldn’t be over till she sought forgiveness for what she did. Looking at her friends she nodded as they all slowly went back inside the room.

“So overall beyond a bit of wounds here and there, most of my problem stems from fatigue and a bad case of exhaustion.” He told his roommate as he spied the others coming in. “Oh hey, long story short, I got a clean bill of health, just have to take it easy for a while.”

Zecora gave off a smile though it was the animal caretaker who spoke first. “That is great news.”

“Indeed it is, though I suspect that the one who will be most happy for your return is your ward.” It only took him a moment to realize who she was talking about before chuckling. “I myself would have brought her, but the hospital says no pets, so for now it’s something for you to look towards as you take your time to be restored.”

One by one all the mares came up to him to tell him how great it was that he was back, and it was honestly a joy to hear and see that they meant that. However the line of mares slowly retreated one by one till the one to face him was the cyan mare who had clocked him one good one across the face.

For a moment it seemed like she was going to back out but she slowly opened her mouth to speak. “I’m s-”

“Dustan!” Whatever it was she was going to say was cut off by a familiar voice. Soon a black spotted yellow earth pony ran in. “I heard you were brought to Ponyville hospital as well so I have been looking from room to room looking for you.” As soon as Mystic stepped in the doorway and seen all the ponies though he quickly became embarrassed. “Is this a bad time?”

“Na, it’s never a bad time for more friends.” Because he was looking at Mystic he missed the wince of a certain pegasus. “How have you been?”

“Great actually.” He had a smile on his face that confirmed his statement as the pony continued. “Well in a way it’s great. Before I really wasn’t sure where to go with my thesis and my research but now I have talked to a few ponies and I know what to do. I even got some grant money from the Princesses themselves.”

Hearing that, Twilight couldn’t keep her excitement to herself. “Oh what is it you are studying and what made the Princesses interested enough to give you a grant?”

Suddenly he became self conscious about things as the speckled pony rubbed his other foreleg. “Well I am a Magister in training.”

“Well good luck then, it will be tough work since you aren’t a unicorn though.” The most faithful student of Celestia’s support must have meant the world to him, even if it was obvious that he wasn’t aware of said status, as that brought a smile, a blush, and a chuckle to the fore.

Rubbing the back of his brick red mane he continued to chuckle. “Well my goal is to find a way or a type of active magic that anypony and any race can use freely without the need for a horn.”

Rarity brightened at the idea and smiled. “That is quite a tall order but a noble one nonetheless for sure. If you do indeed make a breakthrough you must let us know darling.”

The wording got to the earth pony however as his yellow coat became orange with a blush. “D-Darling?”

“Just an endearing term I assure you.” Mystic’s blush calmed at the fashionista’s claim.

He did take a second to calm his breathing before continuing. “W-well yes as a matter of fact I do have a breakthrough, or at least I have a lead that I believe could lead up to one.”

The fine hairs on the back of Dustan’s neck stood up but he wasn’t sure why, he only knew a can of worms was about to open up that would affect him. “Oh what is it? This could revolutionize not just Equestria but the world.”

Mystic simply pointed to Dustan. “Him.”

A mixture of ‘him’s’ were all exclaimed in some shape or form from every pony in the room in confusion. “Wait, me?”

To the Knight’s question Mystic just nodded. “Yes. You have no horn and no training in our spell casting arts. That much I could deduce from our interactions together. So when you cast those spells in the mines I was beyond surprised.”

Just like the ‘him’s’ of before now every pony exclaimed a massive. “WHAT?!”

Sheepishly rubbing the back of his head he chuckled and looked at them all. “I suppose that did happen didn’t it?”

Before he could even say much of anything else the same magical popping sound came as a floating ink well, a quill, and a stack of papers appeared. “You, magic, now, explain.” Was all Twilight could say before Applejack chuckled.

“Ah think y’all done broke her with your prank there sugarcube.” For a moment they all looked to the farm mare before she chuckled. “What, y’all think that he isn’t pulling a prank. Ah mean magic without a horn? It’s a nice dream and all but let’s be practical y’all.”

Dustan could feel the air stir, this was his chance. Twilight was looking disappointed everyone was starting to chuckle thinking that she was right. He could play it off and agree and keep his abilities secret. He could hone is craft in peace with maybe Mystic being the only one to know here.

Sighing though he knew what his only true choice was. “It’s not a prank Applejack.”

Everypony whom was chuckling including the earth mare herself slowly stopped their amusement as she looked at him in disbelief. “You must be pullin’ my leg there partner.”

Just looking around the room he could tell they were all siding with the Element of Honesty thinking he was pulling a prank. He needed to show them. He wanted to show them, to show that Mystic’s goal wasn’t a pipe dream. If that meant more focus on him to make someone he considered a friend complete their dream goal, then so be it.

“Everyone quiet please.” Dustan told them simply as they all looked at him seeing he was serious. For now they complied but it was obvious they were waiting for the punch line.

Slowly just like before he searched for that calm feeling, this time though it seemed more readily available, as if touching it once before made it recognize the one calling upon it. That said, it still took a good minute or two before it joined with his will like it had before.

As he opened his eyes he could see things in stark clarity. Mystic was waiting with anticipation written on his face, Zecora and Fluttershy with concern, Rainbow Dash was looking at him with a bit of anxiety for some reason. There was also Twilight looking at him with both curiosity and amusement as she was no doubt waiting for said punch line and how it would come about. Rarity had a calculating look to her as if judging things to see how they would play out, while Applejack was looking on slightly unamused as in a small way she had been slighted at what she claimed was a joke. Then there was Pinkie who seemed to be having a full body shake as his power rose to the forefront.

Feeling the magic take shape, he KNEW the words both mentally from the game, and in a way that almost was frightening to him. “Life’s refreshing breeze, blow in energy. Cure.”

He held out his hand palm up and for a moment no pony said anything. They did however make a noise when a glowing blue orb started to appear from his hand and circle around him. The noises ranged from an excited horse noise from Mystic that couldn’t be explained in words, many gasps of disbelief, as well as the errant ‘whoa’ from Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

Some of his wounds shrank before their eyes and some vanished completely. When it was over and done, the light vanishing, virtually all of those in the room had their mouths hanging open.

Giving a smile he chuckled and asked. “So yeah, I can apparently do magic.”

Thud.

The sound came from the body of one overloaded mind of Twilight Sparkle as she fainted cold away from what she had just seen. “Too much?” Dustan asked simply.

“Oh so that was what the doozy was.” Pinkie said without regard to anyone seeming to care at the moment about her Pinkie Sense as they went to fetch a doctor.

They didn’t get a doctor but they did get a nurse who confirmed that she had just fainted likely due to a shock and that she should get some rest as should the patients.

With that they all headed out after saying their goodbyes and giving promises to visit. The last ones left were Mystic and Dash, the former whom stated that he was going to be put up in a room at an inn run by a pony nearby and that he should visit once he gets out.

The other one though. “What were you going to say earlier Rainbow Dash, before you were interrupted?”

For a moment the pony opened and closed her mouth a few times each time starting to say something but nothing coming out. “Just that I am glad you are ok.”

The way her body held itself he knew that it was a lie in some ways, but the ears of the pony he could tell by how they were canted that she was sincere about that. “Thanks, you should get some rest as well.”

“Y-yeah, thanks.” The clip clopping of hooves on tile slowly faded away.

Soon it was Dustan left with only his thoughts of which he wondered what she was going to say originally now. “Oh well.”

Stretching his limbs they had finally let him go after three days of being cooped up for tests. He had repeatedly told them he felt fine but they were not taking chances and were taking things slow because of how different his body was then what they were used to. It had finally come down to him telling them the longer that they kept him there the more he would suffer as he was an omnivore and needed some protein in his diet to stay healthy.

The word of the tall creature that ate meat must have put the paperwork into high gear as he was promptly released just an hour and a half later. That being said it took another hour and a half to get his gear back not only from the doctors but the guard who wanted to keep his axe and his armor for themselves.

That being said he simply smiled and asked them. “Fine then. If you can pick it up with your bare hooves then do so. Otherwise it was useless to them. As for my armor…one of you try to put it on and stay comfortable, I will wait till you are begging not to wear it for much longer if needed.”

The armor wasn’t much of a problem as they could all see how much trouble that would be, both the leather and the bronze. The axe though, that became almost an Excalibur type of event. It was brought out in cloth where he took it in possession and sank it deep into a stump of a felled tree. What proceeded from there was guardspony after guardspony trying their luck on pulling the weapon from its hold.

What it came down to was a purple armored stallion coming to the event, one whom he knew from the show. “What’s going on here?”

“Captain Armor, we are trying to take back possession of the confiscated Harmonium axe.” One of the guards said to him as he saluted while looking sweaty and out of breath from his own turn.

Shining Armor looked at him with his light blue eyes. The white stallion unicorn was wearing a stripped down version of his battle armor that consisted only of the breastplate. His two toned electric blue mane looking to be too long for his station but then again his station likely could afford things like that.

“Is that so?” The guard nodded to him as Shining Armor turned towards Dustan. “Tell me, was this axe yours before or after coming to be a prisoner?”

“Before. It was long since abandoned and rusted from misuse likely after many generations.” The calculating look on the unicorn’s face said something was up as Dustan explained himself. “I managed to get it all cleaned up and crafted the handle myself. Your officers want to keep it but honestly it’s useless for most from what I have come to understand.”

For a moment he thought Shining was going to say something negative about what he said but ended up just smiling. “Ahh I see, well then.” Striding over to the axe the stallion promptly pulled it from the stomp and hoofed it over to Dustan. “Here you go, use it well.”

Dustan took it with a smile on his face but inwardly his mind was cursing the stallion. ‘Oh of course you can fucking lift them you show off prick.’ “Thanks, good to see someone understands the problems with this kind of thing.”

There was a moment when he took the axe that Shining stared hard at him for a moment before smiling. “Good to see you aren’t lying, but then again my lie detecting spell would have gone off if you had.”

‘Shifty bastard.’ Still smiling all the while Dustan just said. “Well again, thanks for helping me out here.”

“No problem.” Dustan put the axe in its loop before a glow came into his vision. “However that isn’t the only reason I have come here. The other is to give you this invitation from the Princesses themselves to come to Canterlot for a variety of reasons, all of which are explained in the letter. The date for this is a week from now. They were going to reschedule with you if you weren’t out of the hospital by then, but when I heard you were released I came here knowing you would want your effects.”

‘Well at least you aren’t as dopey as the show made you out to be and are actually competent so far from what I can tell.’ “Thanks Captain. I will do my best to show up, but I have to ask, does this cover train fare to get there?”

Armor just laughed and nodded. “There should be a slip in there that is a pass. That should cover it.”

“Thanks again Captain, I will be on my way now.” As Dustan started to leave he could hear Shining start to call out to the troops saying that if they were lazy enough to try their hooves at the sword in the stone gag then they had enough free time for PT.

Dustan just grinned at the groans of those who tried to keep his axe and armor. Honestly he was looking forward to getting back to the hut. He had missed the privacy that it afforded him, and there was also the fact of the letter and his missing equipment. Well not so much missing as hidden, thankfully he had did so or the goblins would have had the Zodiac Stone. The Knight shivered for a moment at the thought and made it a point to remember to go get his belongings today.

As he got into the hut he called out to Zecora. “I’m back!” However as he turned to looking into the room he saw there was no need for him to call out as there sat Zecora, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash.

Before he could even be welcomed back to the hut the purple pony stood up and pointed a hoof at him while smiling with glee. “Dustan I need your body.”

Every single being just stood there and looked at Twilight. Dustan’s own mind was busy shutting down to devote full processing power to comprehend the statement that the unicorn just gave. Well not all of it, as there was one part of his mind that was still very much active.

That part was the anime enthusiast in him so it took control of his body, specifically his mouth, to respond to the statement. “Nani?”

Seems no one in the hut knew what it meant as they all cocked their heads only for the scene to be broken up when a bundle of fluff came in kweh’ing her heart out. “Oh and I would like to talk about that.”

Dustan leaned down to pick Boko up with a smile on his face as he noticed she had a bit of a growth spurt since he was gone. “Looks like you might be too heavy to ride on my head anymore Boko, instead I have to carry you.” The chick had a way around that though as she bounded up his body expertly only giving a terrified flap every other jump to try to keep her balance before landing on his shoulder and snuggling up to his neck. “Guess that works too.” Looking over to Twilight now he finally had enough brain power to respond properly. “Ok, so…want to run that by me again on what you need from me?”

“I said I need to examine your body.” She said it as if it was a matter of fact and not a request, something that bothered Dustan just as much as her previous wording bothered him.

“Ok, so you might want to word things better in the future as you said something TOTALLY different a second ago.” The pony in question looked to the others only for them to nod as well.

For a moment her head tilted to the side and her eyes went upwards as she thought about it, her mouth slightly open before her ears canted forward. “Oh. O-oh. Oh!” each time she repeated that word the scarlet of her face took dominance more and more till it looked as if her natural coat coloration was pure red along her face and well down her neck.

Nodding a bit he started to chuckle as he spoke. “Yeah, please think about what you say before you-”

He didn’t get to finish what he was going to said as the purple and red pony cut him off. “I mean how would that even work, you are a lot taller than me so would you have to bend down or would I have to be propped up while you insert your-”

“TWILIGHT!” Every person and pony in the room shouted, even Zecora who didn’t even rhyme.

Again realizing what she was saying her blush took over her whole body that time. “O-oh sorry. I’ll…I’ll just shut up now.”

Rubbing the bridging of his nose with one hand Dustan sighed. “Twilight’s powerful need of my body aside.” The statement caused the purple unicorn to groan and try to hide her face behind her forelegs as well as causing the pegasus in the room to snicker. “Why do you need to examine me purple smart?”

The magister just groaned again for a moment taking a moment to collect herself even if she didn’t move out from behind her legs. “Mystic Quandary’s discovery as well as your magic has left some questions that need to be answered. When I watched you perform magic I could feel that magic you did but I couldn’t at the same time.”

“Come again?” Dustan asked innocently though Rainbow Dash just started to laugh.

“We all know that is what Twilight wants you to do.” Zecora managed to chuckle at Rainbow Dash’s statement as Dustan groaned along with the embarrassed unicorn who seemed to mutter about moving back to Canterlot to avoid this embarrassment.

Joking aside Twilight did lift up her head still red but not as badly now as she continued. “When a unicorn performs magic we use a bit of energy inside of ourselves projecting it out and mixing with the thaumic field of the world combining our magic with its. It is why when two or more unicorns perform magic in the same area, if they aren’t on the same wavelength or make attempts to synergize with each other, their spells will go into conflict and often either one will take dominance canceling the other out or they both will back fire.”

“Ok that makes sense.” Dustan could see that in his mind now. “So unicorn magic is a mix of your magic and the worlds to suspend the laws of physics.”

Nodding and getting into her element the purple pony smiled. “Exactly, it is also the planet's thaumic field that has caused many things to be changed that normally wouldn’t be because of the tampering of a chaotic spirit called Discord in ages past.” Her horn lit up and a chalk board appeared as she moved over to it. “His magic changed the signature of the planets thaumic field in many places and its why weather needs to be manipulated to some degree. True it could be left on its own to do as it pleases.” Said thought left the pegasus in the room to shudder. “Problem is that we don’t know what would happen. Studies have been conducted that say the weather would all converge into various locations making only the weather of that type there, others say that the world will be like places where the field has been left intact like the Everfree and then there are theories that mix the two saying that the weather would flow free again, but because it was messed with natural disasters would destroy the world.”

That didn’t make sense to Dustan at all mostly cause of one reason. “What about the weather in other parts of the world, parts that are not Equestria?”

Rainbow Dash seemed to pick up the talk from here as she got up. “Griffonstone reports show that they managed their weather just like we do, but we get no reports from the parrot lands, the cat lands, Zebrica, and the Dragon lands so it’s kinda hard to say.”

Zecora who had been listening idly while sipping her tea put her cup down as she spoke up. “The noble land of my birth, has found little in the way of weather manipulations worth.”

“So Zebrica is a natural weather area.” Dustan couldn’t see dragons manipulating weather nor did he remember any examples of that from the show. He had seen the My Little Pony movie and he guessed Capper and Celaeno were part of the cat and parrot race respectively. If the parrots were like griffons then it was possible they did weather manipulation and the fact they did have airships, though the cats he was skeptical on. He shook the thoughts from his mind as Dustan realized he was speculating on things he had little knowledge of.

“Regardless.” Twilight said as she teleported the chalk board back. “Equestria has become so used to manipulated weather that it is very doubtful we could turn back to a country of natural weather if we tried.”

“While talk of the weather is all good and fine.” Zecora spoke again this time for a good reason. “But wasn’t there a reason you were explaining this or was it all benign?”

Trust the shaman to see to the heart of rambling and get them back on track. “Oh right.” Teleporting the chalk board back in Twilight cleaned it and drew a crude unicorn and human on it. “We already explained unicorn magic and it being a process of inner magic and the world’s magic.” Twilight added an addition sign beside the unicorn and another crude drawing of the world then made an equals sign before another drawing of the unicorn with their horn glowing. “However when you used magic all I felt from you was your magic. You were not interacting with the world at all.” Twilight drew the same drawing for the human except where the world figure was there was a question mark. “I don’t know what you are doing to make it possible.”

“Oh, that’s easy.” While it was true Dustan had just discovered magic, he knew what his skills told him as well as what he felt and he knew what Twilight was missing.

“Oh yes please tell!” The unicorn practically skipped over to him as papers and quills were brought out. “Tell me the secret on what you are doing with the world to make it hidden like that.”

“The answer is.” Dustan left it hanging there loving the look on the purple pony’s eager face. “Nothing.”

“Huh?” The confused and almost disappointed look on Twilight’s face was worth it, not only as it was adorable but because it was as if she had been counting from one to ten only to realize she missed a number along the way but not sure which one she missed. “But that makes no sense. What do you mean nothing?”

“I mean I am not interacting with the world at all.” His armor creaked as he sat down reaching up to make sure Boko didn’t become dislodged while he did so.

“That still doesn’t make sense!” Twilight exclaimed as her horn lit up to levitate her quill over to him. “All magic comes from within and then goes to mix in with the world to create an effect. You can’t perform magic without the world’s help unless it’s passive magic.”

“You’re wrong.” Dustan could see that his wording had the wrong effect as she looked angry now. “Sorry not wrong, misinformed I suppose is the better word.”

“Ok then if you are such an expert on magic, explain what you are doing.” The words were laced with a bit of heat to them showing that she still had not gotten over the wrong comment.

Sighing and looking to her he spoke. “I never claimed to be an expert Twilight, I can only tell you what I experience and do.” Touching his chest he felt for his magic. “I look inside of me depending on what type of magic I want to use, find the feeling I remember associating with it, and just…will it to happen. My will plus my magic mixing allows me to do the things I need. That and maybe faith.”

The student of Celestia had tilted her head at the last bit. “Faith? What does that have to do with it?”

He wasn’t sure if it was his knowledge of the game that led him to what he was talking about, or some inner knowledge he gained from coming to Equestria with the abilities but he knew the thought he was about to share was real. “You have to combine your magic, along with an unshakable will together then have absolute faith that what magic you are about to perform will actually work. If you think it will fail it will. Then again it might be part of your will to make it happen but it’s hard to say.”

Sighing and rubbing the bridge of her nose, similarly to how he did earlier, Twilight spoke without looking. “You realize that makes no sense. You can’t just WILL something to happen.”

“Well I do.” Dustan told her just stating it like a fact.

“And I say you just don’t know what it is you are doing enough to make that judgment call. That is why I want to study your body while you perform magic.” While he could admire the studious nature of Twilight he didn’t like her assured attitude in the matter. At the same time he couldn’t blame her though as it was possible he was wrong.

“You know what, ok.” Twilight’s face lit up as he said that before holding out a hand with a single finger. “On one condition.”

“Name it, anything at all!” The need to learn was strong with the unicorn as anyone could read just by looking at her.

“Someone else is already researching me, Mystic remember?” When reminded of the earth pony Twilight nodded. “Well consider him lead researcher, anything you want to do has to be agreed to and or supervised by him.”

“B-but he is working to BE a magister. I am already one.” Twilight whined. “Surely I would be a much better choice to lead the research on you right?” However the look on his face remained adamant and the unicorn sighed in defeat. “Fine.”

“Good.” Dustan smiled as he felt Boko lean into an affectionate scratch before looking over towards Rainbow Dash. “Now that Twilight is done, what brought you here Rainbow Dash?”

Having attention called to her the pegasus fluffed up a bit and looked around nervously. “I…well I… um that is to say.” She started to cough for a moment before closing her eyes tightly and shouting. “Icametoaskyoutoforgiveme!”

Hearing that, the knight had only one thing to say. “I see.”

Author's Notes:

"Hello everyone and how are you all doing today, good, good." *Looks left and right.* "Ha they aren't here, so how did you like the cliff han-"
*Sounds of teleporting were heard*
"-gliding. Its such a rush to go to a cliff and hang-glide right everyone?"
*The mysterious figure pulled up his hand stuck out two fingers to their eyes then pointed them at him before vanishing in a teleport.*
"Anyone else think that is creepy?"

For those wondering what 'Nani?' means. It is Japanese for 'What?'.

On a separate note: I would like to thank Finalmagnus for all the help they have given me, helping me to fix mistakes and make you all have a better read of my work. If you see them in the comments section, which is very likely, be sure to give them lots of positive words for their help.