Hazy took a breath, still a bit nervous despite his own pep talk. This was it. All his training and now he’ll finally get to the next step in his training.

“Are you ready, young Sky?” His mentor asked, her voice echoing through the air and reverberating through his soul. He suppressed a shiver and nodded.

“I’m ready! Lets do this.”

“Good, now take a deep breath and focus inwardly.” She instructed, circling around her student. “Let the mist and your magic flow together in peace and harmony. Harness that.”

Hazy did as she instructed, though it took him awhile to get to the peace and harmony part. Seeing his struggle, WiTcH dOcTor chuckled to herself. Her ever huffy and violent protege always had trouble with the more calming aspects of magic conjuring. But he would need to learn if this was to work.

“Now the next part is the most important step and you must stay focused.” She warned, holding up a crudely sharpened knife in front of him. Long ingrained instincts had him close to disarming her but her curt scolding stilled him. “Don’t lose focus!”

After a minute of reassuring himself that there was nothing to be scared of, he took hold of his briefly lost focus and closed his eyes. That was the only way he was going to keep calm with a blade so close to him.

“Hold out a hoof and make a wish.” She said, her voice seeping deeper into his mind than usual, though he paid this no mind. He held out a hoof and waited for it.

It came quick, a swift and clean cut, slicing though his fur and muscle. Blood seeped from the wound as pain raced through him. Through it all, he quickly made a wish.

“Pray, olden gods who rest in darkness, heathen spirits that quell the lost, heed my call and grant me mercy.” He chanted quickly before panic set in. “This unworthy soul prostrates itself to thee and beseeches thee to grant to me a servant to fulfill my oath. Blood for blood and oath for oath, I present myself to you. Grant me a spirit strong in magic and vast in knowledge, so that I may fulfill my duties. So sayth I, Hazy Illustrious Sky of the House Sparkle.”

The room filled with heavy light and thunder. The realm shook and trembled as the spirits whose names had long since been forgotten heeded his request and granted him…

A pony?

Within the familiar summoning circle, a pony floated from the ground, only to be unceremoniously dumped on the ground. Hazy stood there, shocked as he stared. The pony was alive, since it was breath but… Why was it a pony?!

“Oh my, you got this one?” His mentor chuckled, trotting passed him. “It’s been a while since he’s been paired with someone. You must be special indeed, Young Sky.”

But why-” He started only to be cut off as the stallion opened his eyes.

“Familiars are any creature that cast their souls into the abyss.” WiTcH dOcToR explained, looking pleased with the result. “It should serve to reason that the odd pony would do so, right?”

*****

Before you ask, yes, Hazy study’s occult magic but no, he is not a evil pony.

Many years ago, he was approached by a spirit (he assumes since she says she can’t reside in the world of light) and made an offer. Be her protege and allow her to train him in magic lost to time. Hazy, wanting to be strong, agreed. Since then, he’s been secretly meeting up with his master, WiTcH dOcToR.

On this day, Hazy is finally ready to summon his own familiar, a spirit meant to assist him and serve him. In exchange for their absolute loyalty, he will grant his familiar its own desire. Easy stuff generally and those in charge (gods forgotten by mortals and time itself) have a good track record of pairing compatible souls.

Yet Hazy was given Crossroads, a unicorn with a near permanent smirk and a major drug habit. He isn’t sure how useful this guy could be but at the moment, he’s more concerned with having a stallion like this by his side.