Just a normal day...

[Shanza]

Headmaster Draldoth was under a tree as Malgo approached. He was either feigning sleep or was dosing, it seemed. Malgo raised an eye, then whispered, "Hey, you dead or something?"
Draldoth snorted, but didn't open his eyes. "Hey," he said in a near imitation of the unicorn's voice, "you ever going to learn to let me sleep?"
"You weren't sleeping."
"I was dozing, thank you very much."
"You're welcome!" Malgo replied with a flourish.
"Impertinent colt," Draldoth smiled as he said it, looking over at one of his favorite former students.
"You called?"
"Yes, I did."
Malgo waited for a reply, and when none were forthcoming, he sighed. "You're going to try to make me beg, aren't you?"
"Not quite."
Malgo raised an eye at the headmaster, tilting his head to emphasize the point.
"OK, OK, I give!" Draldoth chuckled. "You look completely ridiculous when you do that! Follow me."
Malgo complied, thinking that it would be much faster just to use his ability, but knew that asking would be fruitless. Draldoth was very fond of his walks along the lake shore. Which was where they were now.
"Ka'Orit had a vision," the headmaster quietly said. The waves were lapping against the shore, and Malgo thought he had misheard. Ka'Orit was known to very few, and he didn't have visions often. At least not important ones.
"He came last night, when no one would know he was there," Draldoth continued in that same low tone, and Malgo had to catch up to hear clearly. "He was in a panic, complete breakdown. I know he's slightly out of his mind already-"
Malgo snorted, "Try completely loopy."
"OK, so he's crazy. You would be too if you saw what he's seen."
Malgo sincerely doubted this, but as he knew the headmaster deeply respected the insane seer, he didn't say anything.
After a moment, Draldoth continued. "From what I gather, he saw it in real time- they're much more powerful that way- and it was a couple of weeks ago. It was somewhere in the Helargar mountains, and it was with a herd of Zvon pegasi."
"I thought most of them lived in the forests."
"I did too. I'm thinking that this herd was built up of outcasts and rouges that gradually found each other in the mountains."
"Which means that they will be difficult to deal with."
"Correct, and..."
"And what?"
"And after this last incident, they will most likely be afraid of magic."
"Oh," Malgo turned that over for a minute before asking, "What happened?"
"I'm not exactly sure. Unlike Ka'Orit's other visions, this one he conveyed as terrifying, even beyond that. I quote, 'Rot in hell, sink into the deep abyss, drown in air, cannot escape! Run, fire, burn, Burn, BURN! Freeze, death without release, terrible quaking terror, TERROR! TERROR! Ledge without wings, falling, falling, FALLING! Can't stop! Pain beyond life! Pain transcending death! Hissing lightning strike, still alive, lungs burning, BURNING ALIVE! Death! Cannot escape! Run! Not fast enough! Fall! Death! Wings won't work! Dashed against mountain side, fall! Not die! Eaten alive! TERROR! TERROR! Pure and total consuming enveloping FEAR!'"
"Wow."
"Yeah, that's what I thought. After he calmed down again, I found out he knocked himself out to escape the vision. He hasn't done that before. One more thing; Ka'Orit doesn't have wings, so I'm guessing all that about the wings was a reflection of what the herd was feeling."
"Do we know who has this, or what it is?"
"I think it's some sort of mental power, probably specializing in fear."
"Sounds like it."
"When you go, be careful. I think that the main strength this power has is that it captures your mind, and doesn't let you think. If you can't think, you can't get away. Or attack."
"Well, it makes sense."
"I think that it might even disable you."
"Doubt it."
"Just be careful, OK?"
"Sure. Aren't I always?"
This time it was Draldoth who snorted. "You leave in the morning. And Kinshasa comes with you."

[ϞSymreeϞ]

Late that night Malglo awoke in a cold sweat. The cannon on his left foreleg throbbed with a venegance. It seemed determined that he would have no sleep tonight.
swallowing a grunt of pain, the stallion stood, eyeing his reflection in the decievingly calm waters of the lake. He breathed deeply, stubborn as the day was long, he would sleep tonight. The past three days had seen him to the end of exactly five hours. Not enough. Not nearly enough.
He sighed, trying to divert his mind from the image of Alvi's disraught face, her eyes pleading him to take her along. he forced the lies he told her out of his mind, but could not escape the most stubborn. He knew that she would not be killed if he agreed to take her along. His crap about caring about her too much bothered him almost as much as her accusation of him leaving her for another mare. How could he? She was all that he had been able to think of for weeks- no months and it had begun to show in the quality of his work. In other words, Jormax had complimented Malglo on his wonderful sense of propriety. Whenever Jormax compliments someone, it means that they are living up to a shred of his perfectionistic expectations. That was an aspiration of some of his poor defenseless students; but Malglo knew better. A compliment from Jormax was a one way ticket to hell...
Today however, had put things back into balance. If that particular unicorn was annoied and miserable, all of the rest of the world was happy and well. Sad, but true. A smile on the face of a dragon ensures poor hunting for all. and Jormax was a dragon, the worst kind. Instead of meat, he fed on the dispair of his poor victims that poured thier souls into the papers that they delivered by hoof to thier destructuion. All of those hours spent wasting away infront of blank parchment, only to get it back and decipher a scarlet letter F through the flames.
Malglo smiled; it was a miracle that he passed Jormax's class. Even five years ago when he took it, the dragon had been as cuddly as a cactus. The homework as well. Try building a raft by magic using only toothpicks in less than three minutes . Heres a hint: your not supposed to succeed.
Malglo's mental rant softened a bit as a breeze blew into his face. For a moment he tasted bliss, pure mental blankness.
Fire erupted in his foreleg. He cursed aloud and without thinking, thrust it into the shallows of the lake. Sweet relief momentarily grasped him, then something else did, and pulled his whole body into the water.

[ϞSymreeϞ]

Malglo struggled for breath as his head was yanked beneath the surface of the lake. The blue gray water stung at his eyes, along with the colorful red of a unicorn's coat. Vaguely he wondered why he didnt just invoke his gift, then he remembered that it required the use of his legs and lungs. Breathing and turning underwater without drownding would have made a wonderful addition to Jormax's list of homework.
The unicorn pulled him deeper and deeper into the lake. Why wast he fighting? his mind asked sluggishly. Well, he was already too light headed to win anything of the sort, and he was rather curious where this unicorn was taking him... and how he was holding his breath for so long.
What seemed like an eternity later, the unicorn started heading for the surface. it was incredible how fast they were going, but Malglo had little power of obsevation to appriciate it with. The most that his brain had to offer for the underwater vista was 'oh, pretty colors...'
with an explosion that nearly knocked him out, thier heads broke the surface. His jello legs almost let him sink right back under, but he took a gasping breath of air and managed to keep afloat. He blinked the water from his eyes and found the chestnut form, much lighter than he had first thought, drifting peacefully in the moon's reflection.
Malglo swallowed the last of the water and asked, totally exausted, "Alvi?"
She turned, examining him critically. "Two weeks on your own and already you've forgotten how to feed yourself? Pathetic."
He sighed with relief, at least he wouldnt have to worry about who would be replacing him for Draldoth's mission.
Alvi glared at him, "I just insulted you and you dont have the decency to even look offened!"
Malglo laughed and replied with a flourish, "Maybe i would be offended if you came up with better insults."
She muzzled his cheek with open affection. "Malglo, i love you, my life is boring now that your gone."
the blood bay snorted. "You've learned to be a fish and your bored."
She shrugged carelessly, "i've always been able to do this."
He chose to ignore that, "how did you find me?"
She frowned, "Pure luck mostly. You're almost impossible to track down. It 's lucky that you dipped your leg in the water, otherwise i never would have found you. I can find things that are in water." She explained quickly.
He made a mental note to never touch the lake again if he could help it. If she could find him, he didnt want to know what else could. He had been warned from foalhood not to get too friendly with this lake.
"Now come on, Malglo, i'm miserable without you, come back to the mountains with me."
It would be a lie to say that he was not tempted; but the desire was short lived. "Alvi..."
"I know, i missed you too, but it's time that you came back, my father is willing to give me away." The last part sounded as though it didnt belong.
Malglo glanced up at her sharply, "What?"
She grinned shyly, "I asked my father to consider you as a suiter!"
The blood bay froze as though he were terribly frightened.
"Malglo... he said yes."
He forced himself to breath naturally and cleared his throat, horribly annoied that he had not heeded Draldoth's warning.
"Please say something." she begged.
"Alvi..." He said slowly, "I cant come back with you."
She stared at him blankly, "But we can get married! Malglo, it's the perfect match! A highly respectable match! it would mean so much to me, please say wou'll have me?"
Malglo's jaw clenched, and he knew that there was only one way that he could dislodge her. He had to do it, he wasnt like every other stallion in the world, and she had to understand that before she could let him go. He couldnt tell her anymore lies. Stars, he knew that she really would prefer the lies.
"Alvi, what i'm about to tell you is for your ears only, if you tell anyone else all of this truth, or any fraction of it, your memory will be erased by a friend of mine and so will the one that you tell. Do you understand?"
She nodded, looking confused.
He imagined that it was the last response she'd expected to a marriage proposal. Malglo took a deep breath, " I am a tracker for the Academy. I find unicorns with sufficient magical abilities and smuggle them there to learn what they must. That was the only reason i was at your herd, Alvi. I am not a unicorn of respectable birth from the Penninsula. I'm an orphan from this very forest. my mother died when i was a yearling, and my father tried to drownd me in this lake. The headmaster, he wasnt then, but he pulled me out of the water and the healers at the Academy saved my life. I had a lead that you might possess the abilities required to attend the Academy. The lead was wrong, even in light of this new revelation of yours with water, your case has closed, i'm afraid you wouldnt be accepted."
Alvi's gaze narrowed in disbelief, "You... your joking."
Malglo shook his head," Dont look at me like that. I ''ve never cared about anyone as much as i have you, but i cant marry. Not you, not anyone."
"Why not?" she snapped.
"Why not." he repeated scornfully."Because i dont deserve you! Or Anyone! I am good at my job, Alvi, you know why? because I'm not afraid of death! my curiosity of everything on this planet outweighs any fear or caution i may have for the unicorn that i persue. my job, Alvi, is not something i can walk away from, and nor do i want to. Marrying someone who's not like me, not pushing the bounds of death every breath they take- it wouldnt be fair. You... you are not like me, Alvi. Dont come looking for me again. My answer will be the same."
Without warning, her horn flashed across his face, leaving a nearly invisible gash against his blood red coat.
"I...I will hunt you till your dieing day, Malglo."
He smiled creully, " I wish you luck on that endeavour, as you can imagine, i dont step into water much- hydrophobia." He studied her angry face and ,with some difficulty, turned and vanished, appearing back on the shoreline, sopping wet.
he shook some of the water from his coat and glanced up to see the tiny figure of Kinshasa and the early light of dawn shining warily behind her.
So much for sleep.

[ilenrock]

Last evening, I had been wondering whether or not I could finish my homework. Now, I was wondering when and if I would ever get it again. Looking up, as always, at the large (hey, he wasn't a giant!) form coming out of the lake, I was curious as to how long he had known that he would be working with a pony.
"So, ya ready?"
"What else would I be?" I'd take that as a yes. The amulets hung around my neck seemed to almost shiver with excitement as they sensed that magic would soon be released. And yes, amulets do sometimes take on their own personalities.
I streched out a foreleg so that he could take us where we needed to go.
Then I noticed the mare.

[ϞSymreeϞ]

Malglo followed the mare's gaze and swore loudly, startling both Alvi and Kinshasa. He was in a horrible mood and wasnt about to explain a word of it to a mare he'd only met - or had he met her? it didnt matter, he decided.
"Stop following me!" He shouted to Alvi, simultaneously tapping the pony's hoof and yanking them both away from the lakeshore.
He didnt know where he would end up until they re appeared infront of Draldoth's office.
He gave a snort of laughter and frowned, trying to supress his rather jittery and insane mood. His magic always did seem to remember where he needed to go.

[Shanza]

Draldoth looked up from the papers he was grading and through the open doorway. "Something amusing?"
Malgo shook his head, and Draldoth had the sence not to press the matter further.
"How was your first travel?" He asked instead, looking at the small mare.
"Fine," she said, a little breathless. Draldoth thought she looked slightly flustered.
"Instuctions?" Malgo pointedly said.
Draldoth raised an eyebrow, amused. "I'll take my time, thank you very much."
Malgo grumbled slightly, which sent the Headmaster to laughing. That, in turn brought an annoyed expression to the younger stallion's face, which provoked even more laughter from the Headmaster. Gradually, Malgo lost the annoyed expression and grinned. "Fine, you win. Done yet?"
"Um, are you going to make me laugh again?"
Malgo cocked his head, looking at Draldoth with slight impatience.
"Fine, then I guess I'm done." He sighed, looking out though the doorway. A soft breeze closed the door behind them with a soft click.
"Ka'Orit's vision placed the magic user in the ocean sides of the mountains. Be careful. We don't know how dangerous the unicorn or pegasus is, so work out a plan that won't catch either of you unaweres? OK?" He held both of their gazes for several seconds, then nodded. "Anything else? If not, you can go."

[ϞSymreeϞ]

Malglo fought a silent battle inside himself, he wasnt sure if Draldoth should know about Alvi, but he knew that if he kept everything to himself, he'd explode. "there is one thing. There is a mre outside by the lake, probably expecting me to return. Would you mind politely escorting her off the property? Or maybe not so politely?"
He knew that Draldoth was immensely curious, but he couldnt tell about Alvi yet and retain his ability to laught it off with the headmaster. Draldoth would understand that.

[Shanza]

Draldoth eyed him curiously. "That shouldn't be a problem. I'll get Jormax on it. He loves ordering unicorns around. Anything else?"

[ϞSymreeϞ]

Malglo nodded his thanks to Draldoth and shook his head. "No , that's all. thankyou, Headmaster." he then turned to Kishasa and smiled a bit apologetically. "You ready?"

[ilenrock]

"As always," I half-smirked.
I was prepared, at least this time, for the traveling that would come soon. I stretched my hoof out and looked up at Malglo.
"See you," I then said to Draldoth, and we went.

[ϞSymreeϞ]

Jormax was having the best day ever.

[Shanza]

"Kathridge!" Jormax snapped.
The torak mare awoke with a start. The professor's eyes were on her along with the rest of the class's. "Did you enjoy your nap?" he asked, dark eyes narrowed in dislike.
Kathri hid her head in embarrassment, "no sir,"
"No? Why not?"
Unbidden, her legs trembled slightly from the combined pressure of the eyes that lingered upon her. " I -I didnt mean to..." Please stop looking at me! she begged inwardly. her goal for every school day was to get through it unoticed. today she had already failed miserably.
Jormax snorted, " I dont care, no one sleeps in my class, Kathridge. I want a thirty page essay, due next monday."
"On what?" She asked quietly.
Jormax grinned almost hungrily at her, "Suprise me; but keep in mind that i also wish to be both impressed and inspired by anything that you hand into me for grading. If it doesnt hold my attention, I'll find some way to destroy it , and i'll look forward to doing so with your essay."
Kathri tried in vain to supress a shudder as she nodded.
Jormax turned back to his lecture and THWACK! One of the student's textbooks hit him in the back of the head. Kathri glanced at the stallion next to her before her gaze went back to Jormax.
The professor looked furious, "Detention!" He shouted, "Miss, Kathridge, you will atttend my detention after school and you will tack on another sixty pages to your essay! Still to be due Monday!"
Kathri's jaw dropped, "But i didnt-"
"No excuses!" Jormax roared as the bell rang for the end of class.
She glared at the student next to her and almost snapped at him, but for some reason she held her tongue. the stallion only smirked and gave her a silent salute, his thanks for her taking his punishment. He then flicked his tail and left the room, giving a whole new meaning to her definition of unfair.

[Shanza]

Draldoth watched Jormax wander out of his classroom after the students with an irratated expression on his face.
"Going good?"
Jormax looked at the headmaster with exasperation. You're starting to sound like the students. "Going good?" He imatated Draldoth's voice. "What the crazy notion does it mean anywhy?"
"How's life, how are you, is life good, are you feeling well-"
"Ok, ok, I get it."
"So..."
"So?" Jormax looked irratated again.
"My question?"
"Oh. Nothing. Everything's fine." Jormax looked thoughtful. "I did give a student a ninty page essay, due Monday."
Draldoth laughed, "What in the world for?"
"She hit me in the head with a book," Jormax growled.
"Wow. Stuents seem to be bolder now, don't they?"
"Definitly."
"Or maybe we just have selective memory and just don't want to remember ourselves acting up in the past."
"Don't burst my bubble."
Draldoth laughed again. "Fine, see you later. Make sure you get something for that bruise!"

[Shanza]

"Maybe Enjori would like to enlighten us," the teacher said softly. I looked up, rather terified, but tried not to show it. "Come on now, what's the incatation for movement?"
I should know this. I did know this. "Ca- caverydum?" What's the point in knowing something you can't pronounce?
The teacher shook her head. "Try again."
I didn't want to try again. I didn't want to have everyone staring at me. "Caventhyum?"
"No, sorry. Greth?" she said, looking at her favorite pupil.
He nodded, saying "Caventhyimum."
"Very good. See, not hard. Enjori, maybe you should study more. Get a tudor." She turned away, not seeing Greth and his friends mouth the word at me.
She said that every week, at least once. I should be used to it by now, but I wasn't. And I was trying! I just couldn't speak in front of them. Unfourtunatly, I shared most of my classes with Greth, Syben, Andrark, and Narlanv. The teachers loved them. I let a small sigh escape, thinking that luckily next was lunch and then one of the classes without them. I couldn't wait for this period to be over.

[Shanza]

{Enjori}

I ran through the waving grasses, glad to be away, however temporarily. The arrogance of those sceaedhona! The problem was that I didn't want to be here, didn't want to grovel at their feet. Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice. It was here or have no where to go. Renounced by family, not trusted by friends; I had been invited to this place, to learn the intricacies of "magic!" I spat the vile word from my mouth, felt it's ashen promises muddy my mind.
The only reason I was here was, as I have already stated, I had no where else to go. My life was thrice cursed, my wyrd set. I might as well go along with it.
I came to a stop in a clearing well ringed by trees. If only they knew... if only... they knew.... I stood for a long while, wasting the grazing break, ingoring the next summons for class. Then the trembling started, an uncontrollable shaking that started at my withers, continuing down my shoulders and across my body until I was completely consumed by the wild shaking.
Slowly, the fit passed. I turned, and heavily made my way to my next class.