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// 37 - Late Entrant 
// Story: Ghost of the Everfree 
// by David Silver 
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"You are all here, this I doubted. It is so good to see you all with eyes unclouded." Standing in the doorway was Zecora, her eyes a bit wide.

Twilight climbed to her hooves quickly. "Zecora! Welcome. I didn't even think to invite you. You don't practice Everglow magic, do you?"

Apple Bloom waved a small hoof at her book. "She taught me the start of potion makin' that ah took to the next level! Ah bet she could do alchemy if she wanted."

Zecora's harried look softened at Apple Bloom. "You I missed most dearly." She gestured beside herself. "Come and join me nearly. I have learned the ways of this Everglow world, my very fate feeling furled. My potions take a new and strange angle. Perhaps you can help me to untangle?"

Tree Hugger slowly listed her head. "Woah. You've been there? Far out, zebra mare. Do you have a cookbook, like Apple Bloom? They're collecting them." She turned her head at the collection of books set up.

Zecora frowned at that. "I have many books with many more recipes. Though I was called more for battle than my usual remedies." She put a hoof on Apple Bloom's head. "But I'm glad I am back, this world far more sedate. I am still getting my head on straight."

Twilight perked an ear. "I don't remember picking you up. How did you get back, if you were there?"

Zecora buried her face in her hooves. "I may never have left, always where you know me, but I ventured far and wide and that world did I see."

Rose raised a hoof. "Twilight rescued me and the girls." The others nodded in agreement on that.

Tree hugger was seated in a meditative stance. "I rescued myself, with the help of some local friends. It was righteous. Sounds like you pulled yourself back, zebra mare. Far out, and totally cool. That shows some real inner strength." She inclined her head faintly. "And your chakras are so brilliant. I love it."

Twilight put a hoof behind her head. "Fascinating... You were able to adjust the recipes you already knew... Fascinating!" Oh, how had the club paid off. "And I'm quite glad to hear you're safe. Please, join us. This club is for ponies who use Everglow magic, which you are now a member of?"

Apple Bloom hugged her striped mentor. "C'mon! I wanna see what you've learned. We can compare Everglow recipes." She began tugging Zecora away to do just that.

Zecora pulled back. "Are we not missing a pony, a certain apple mare? She's been there more than once, for friends and childcare."

All three crusaders blushed. Diamond put a hoof against her face. "Really? Of all the ponies in Equestria, I'd think you'd know if Applejack qualifies or not.

Dry thought back to the battle he had seen Applejack in. "I didn't see her cast anything..."

Apple Bloom folded her arms, giving up on guiding Zecora. "She knows some magic. She just don't cast it like some ponies do. She prefers to 'just be an earth pony.' So she casts things that makes her better at it. So she won't be throwin' elements like Scootaloo." Who looked proud at the naming. "But she does know some spells... Ah invited her, really, but she ain't real big on that part of thin's."

Dry perked an ear. "If she was invited, then it's her choice. This is a club. You don't have to come here. That wouldn't be very friendly."

"By the quill." Silver shook her head firmly. "That would defeat the entire point. We're here, like, to celebrate and share! It's exciting to see so many ponies dipping their hooves in this new kinda magic with us."

Twilight took a quick note with a floating quill. "Was that a Luminace saying?"

Silver Spoon colored faintly. "Y-yes. An interjection she approves of, or more specifically the ponies that follow her. I don't think she personally cares too much about that... but even a god may have need for, like,  a good interjection."

Twilight considered as she looked around. The flower mares were chatting with Tree Hugger. What about? She wanted to find out. "I'll stop monopolizing you about Luminace a moment." She slipped over to the eagerly chatting druids.

"That's freaky." Tree Hugger inclined her head. "I never got an order." She raised a hoof to her chin. "But I wasn't given the formal intro package either. Just me, feeling my way through life." She waved her hooves as if inspecting some unseen ball. "I made it through, my way."

Lily waved at her pet beaver. "But you could end up with an awesome animal friend!"

Daisy allowed her hooves to smolder with the hint of a fire without combusting outright. "Or speak to the unbridled fury of flames."

Rose shrugged. "If you're expecting some fancy show from me, too bad. Stone doesn't do that. That's why I like it so much. I make art and keep ponies from messing up the land while they're around."

Tree Hugger blinked softly. "Radical... I can dig it. Nopony ever taught me about any of that." She shook her head slowly. "I get along with animals just fine. I get along with plants just fine. I get along with the elements... I can't say just fine. They'd roast me if they had a chance. Wouldn't even feel bad about it."

Daisy nodded at that ."It's true. I love fire, and it would cook me and barely notice along the way if I got careless. We're ponies, we get to have opinions and stuff."

Rose noticed Twilight standing and listening. "Hey, Twi. You don't do any primal magic, do you?"

Twi shook her head. "I'd love to... but I'm already being pulled in so many directions... Every 'tradition' of magic approaches things in such a novel way." She threw her hooves wide. "I love it, but I also don't have time to learn all of it." She twirled to where the foals were chatting. "Diamond Tiara there uses the 'occult' tradition, a creepy name, and one somehow shared with bards? I'm still trying to get this all figured out... But then there's divine magic." She shared a little wave at Dry, their eyes meeting a moment. "Calling on higher beings. Then there's arcane." She pointed to herself. "Magic magic, I like to call it. Do the right thing, and the universe reacts. Magic." She was on a roll, pointing back to the druids. "And you have primal magic, natural magic, bending and controlling the forces of nature itself. Some Equestrian ponies have that working for them already. I'd challenge you to say any Pie member isn't an avid primal magic user without thinking about it. Pegasi make use of it to keep our weather straight, and other earth ponies help make the fields vibrant and fertile. Primal magic is easy to understand."

Tree Hugger nodded sedately. "One kind of magic's already plenty for me. Druiding is where it's at." She put out her hoof, to be met with firm clops from the flower mares. Agreement was there. "Maud Pie isn't a wizard, of any kind, but she is a real good fighter. Real talented. Don't have a name for it, but I was blown away." She sank to her haunches. "I'd hate to be a monster that got on her bad side."

Rose frowned, imagining Maud. "Did she have a sword?"

Tree shook her head, but Twilight answered first, "Maud is very good with her hooves. She can pound solid rocks into dust."

Rose's ears flipped back. "Wow... Remind me not to bother her."

Diamond was staring at Scootaloo, peering at her, into her. "Let yourself go," she bade. "Just let me take over for a moment."

"You'll make me do something dumb," grunted out Scootaloo. "No way..."

"No is not an answer I'll be accepting today." She brought up both her hooves, clopping them smartly in front of Scootaloo. "Stand up." Scootaloo obeyed Diamdond's command. "Turn around in a circle." The filly did just that. "And there, full control. Now, I'm not a bad filly. I won't make her do anything too bad..."

Dry watched with wide eyes. "Wow... You can't make friends with that though... You can't command someone to be your friend."

"With the right tricks..." Diamond winked at Dry. "Or you can just talk to them, I guess. Scootaloo, still listening?" Scootaloo nodded without a word. "Tell us your absolute favorite icecream flavor."

"I like to say chocolate, but I like tutti frutti for a treat." She licked over her lips, perhaps dreaming of that ice cream.

Diamond waved. "And there you go. I think my control is proven. Scootaloo, snap out of it."

"This is dumb." Scootaloo crossed her arms. "You'll never get control of my mind! I'm way too strong for you!" The room filled with giggles of the ponies watching. "What? She won't!" But it began to dawn. "She already did... What'd you make me do?!" She checked herself over quickly for any kick me signs or marker doodles. "Girls!"

Sweetie giggled musically. "She didn't do anything awful, promise."

"Yeah." Apple Bloom gave a too dramatic wink. "We'll go for ice cream after the meeting."

"Tutti frutti," suggested Sweetie, barely restraining her giggles.

Scootaloo began to color. "Hey!" She pounced at them, inspiring a moment of wrestling.

Silver Spoon shook her head. "Let's not make that a habit, but it is an interesting ability."

Diamond rolled her eyes. "You weren't complaining when it saved us a few times."

"True..." Silver waved at Twilight. "Did you have more Luminace questions?"

"A few dozen." Twilight sat beside, Silver Spoon, invited. "I had asked Dry Whisper, and he said you're the expert in this matter."

Silver Spoon buffed her chest with a hoof. "Thank you, Dry. Now, how can I help?"

"Well! I'm curious... Now, for you and Dry, the relationship is quite clear. If a pony isn't practicing divine magic, is there a reason for them to even think about Princess Luminace?" Twilight brought a floating quill into position, ready to write.

Silver adjusted her glasses. "That's a silly question. You don't use divine magic, but here you are, asking about her. You were thinking about her before you even knew either of us did divine magic. She touched your life, more directly than, like, most ponies, but you don't have to be getting spells to have a reason to think about her."

Dry bobbed his head quickly. "She is the light in the eye of any eager scholar. She is the tremble of a pony's lip just as they reveal their findings with the world!"

Silver swatted at her boyfriend. "You wax all poetic when you talk about Luminace, you know that?"

Dry colored darkly. "Is that bad? She... Everything about her is so amazing... The only pony that could even try to compete is you."

It was Silver's turn to darken terribly. "Dry! Cut that out." She grabbed him in a firm hug and smooched his cheek, to his delight. "He's not, like, wrong. She has a lot of things to take after. Think of it like Princess Celestia. Nopony's getting spells from her, and we don't deal with her directly often, but everypony knows her, and she shapes how we think, a lot."

Twilight raised a hoof to her chin. She had dealt with Celestia personally a lot! But she was not a standard case. She tried to think of the average pony, never seeing Celestia day to day. "I... Hm..." Her quill busily jotted down her thoughts. "Fascinating. Then, if you think Luminace has so many positive qualities, are you going to try to spread the word of her around to other ponies?"

Silver pointed at Dry. "Got one."

Dry smiled awkwardly. "She ensnared me, and showed me Luminace's glory. Now I have two mares that I can't stop thinking about."

Diamond snorted softly. "If this was anypony other than a god, I'd be real jealous for Silver Spoon."