I awoke with my heart racing to keep up with the rain pattering outside my window. Sweat drenched my bed and I was shivering, even under my thick covers. I glanced out my window to see Canterlot blanketed by low, grey clouds and bombarded by millions of watery arrowheads. “Shining Armor, it’s time for breakfast!” Dad called from downstairs. I groaned, remembering suddenly that it was a school day and stumbled my way to the kitchen. The sweet smells of apples, cinnamon, and alfalfa greeted me once I managed the stairs to see Dad had made his patented apple clusters. “It smells good,” I managed to mumble as I sat down at the table.
Mom glanced up from the local section of the Canterlot Chronicle with a smile and said “Good morning dear, help yourself.”
Dad kept suspending the weather page through magic as he said “Do you plan on taking your umbrella this time? It looks like the Cloudsdale Weather Factory has rain planned all day today.”
“Nah, you know me, I like the rain in my mane,” I responded, taking a bite of a particularly large cluster. The juice ran down my chin as I reached for a napkin. Mom levitated it up to my face before I could finish reaching for it. “Thanks Mom,” I said.
“You’re as stubborn as your mother,” he said smirking and lowering his paper. “Very well, I’ll cast the waterproofing spell on your bags again, but be careful out there,” he finished.
“And make sure you use that stubborn streak for something wonderful son,” Mom said, tossing the napkin into the trash can at the other end of the kitchen.
After breakfast was over, I trotted my way out to the front porch and took a moment to take in the showers falling around me. I smiled despite myself and began cantering out to the path that lead to school. Despite the rain, there was still a good amount of hoof traffic as ponies began making their way to their various morning destinations. A forest of umbrellas disrupted the otherwise smooth streets of Canterlot and each pony who noticed me stared blankly at the lack of any protective tree of my own.
I was lost in thought when I heard a soft splash ripple through the puddle next to me, kicking up some water onto my legs. I turned to see the same white pegasus filly from yesterday. “Hey, I didn’t think I’d see you until I got to school,” I said.
“I’ve flown over you a few times before,” she admitted. “Sometimes I wanted to throw water balloons on your head since you never look up,” she finished.
I chuckled a bit despite myself. “Maybe you should stick to walking on a day like this. It must be pretty rough to fly,” I said.
“Eh, I like the rain in my mane, and pegasi are supposed to make rain anyway right? I figured I should get used to it,” she responded.
“Heh, I’m a big fan of rain myself,” I said, smiling.
“Yeah, I’ve always loved it. I hope that someday I can make the best storms. Large ones, with lots of lightning and BOOMing thunder!” she said quickly.
“That sounds cool, I wish I could do something like that,” I said.
“Me too…” she replied softly. We kept walking for a time with no sound but the pattering of rain against pavement and the occasional clap of thunder off in the distance. I looked over at my new friend and saw her staring up at the sky with a pensive expression on her face.
“If it makes any difference, I’m not all that great at magic,” I admitted.
“Huh?” she turned toward me.
“Well, I can barely lift rocks, and I only get sparks when I try to cast a light spell,” I said with a half-smile. “I get the theory behind them, but I can’t seem to pass any practicums. I guess you could say I’m bad at being a unicorn.”
“Wait, what?! How could you possibly be bad at magic?!” Twilight asked. “I mean, you can catch wayward kites, split apples precisely in half, and fix up Smartypants. How is that possible?!”
“I had a lot to learn Twily. Magic depends a lot on the pony using it,” Shining Armor instructed.
“Right, Princess Celestia taught me the same thing. What I don’t understand is how there can be such a shift in magical ability…” she responded.
“Well, I think it’s less that my ability switched and more that…I understood it better I guess,” her brother conjectured.
“Wait, are you suggesting what I think you are? That you can…fail to utilize or even deny magical talent?” she asked, staring more at the table than her brother.
“Well, yeah,” he answered shrugging. “I mean, I’m not a scholar on the subject or anything, but I think that may be the case. Stress also seems to be a factor from what I can tell,” he explained.
Twilight continued to stare at the table in front of her but shortly thereafter simply nodded once. “Well, I guess I’ll ask what the Princess thinks about that. I’m sorry about the interruption,” she said, smiling sheepishly.
“Don’t worry about it Twily. Let’s continue…”
After I told Lightning Bolt about my problems with magic, she seemed to smile a bit though her eyes were still distant. “I can fly well enough, but I can’t seem to touch a storm cloud without electrocuting myself,” she admitted. “I guess you could say I’m bad at being a Pegasus,” she said, lifting off to float by my side.
We made it the rest of the way to school chatting about classes and teachers for the most part. It was nice to have somepony to talk to for once. “So, I guess I’ll see you at recess then,” I said as I started making my way to class.
“Uh, you forgot we’ve got detention for the next week during recess, haven’t you?” she asked with a frown.
“Oh…right,” I responded. “After school then?”
“Yeah, I’ll see you then,” she said, nodding before trotting toward her class.
Clover Elementary School was a particularly large school, boasting ten main classrooms, science, music, and art enrichment rooms, a gym, and a gigantic playground. It was a beautiful building, complete with marble columns, vaulted ceilings, and a number of colorful paintings depicting young ponies studying and a few great inventors or thinkers. Clover the Clever had designed the school though apparently it was not built for many years, after Canterlot was thoroughly established. It supposedly was the style of education that Clover felt fillies and colts needed but educational doctrine wasn’t all that exciting for me.
The first half of the day was pretty normal. However, it was science day, and I always loved science day. That day, we were continuing to raise our butterflies, and they had reached the pupae state since the week before. The “bugs” freaked out a lot of my classmates, but I always thought they were kind of cute, in a weird sort of way.
“All right class, get your petri dish from the shelves,” Miss Chain Reaction said. From there, a small herd made their way over to begin collecting the pupae from their assigned spots. We made our way to a bulletin board to see who our partners for the day were and I made my way over to the assigned table. Moments later, a large earth pony with a red coat and brown mane delicately deposited his petri dish on my table before glancing up at me. I winced as I noticed the bruises clinging to his side.
“Uh, I don’t think I can work with him Miss,” Red declared as glaring eyes stared only at me.
“I don’t think you have much of a choice Flash Fire,” our teacher retorted as she trotted off to look at another student’s pupae. For my part, I tried to organize my paper, pencil, dish, and then repeated the process while I fumbled for something…anything to say. “You’re…really fast,” I managed to mumble.
“Yeah, you’re…pretty strong,” he mumbled back. We started doing the first part of the assignment, which was pretty much measuring and writing down changes like color, shape, and eating habits. For the most part, we each did our best to pretend the other was invisible, and did an admirable job. Still, it didn’t prevent me from getting a quick glance at Flash Fire’s paper as he flipped it over.
“Olive?” I asked, wishing I hadn’t.
“So I named her, what’s it to you?” my partner asked, his eyes daring me to respond.
“It’s fine, just…I didn’t expect…” I stammered.
“I like bugs,” he said. “It’s not a big deal OK?” he asked, stressing the last word. “You won’t tell anyone.” It wasn’t a question.
“That’s fine, it’s, uh, it’s a good name for her,” I responded, wondering if I would get detention for a fight I didn’t start.
We continued on with the project in relative silence except for the instructions necessary to measure our subjects and pencil scratches. Time continued to stretch on and on and as we were getting toward the end of our work, I could barely contain my desire for lunch. Finally, it was time to put away the pupae which I did with as much speed as I could muster. Flash Fire almost seemed to be racing me as he sped to put the cover back on his petri dish. He turned much too fast as he bumped into the table with more force than I thought possible. The table shuddered sideways and the cover he had been holding in his hoof fell and rolled into the petri dish, knocking it and Olive off the table.
“No!” was all he could manage.
I could do little else but stand and watch as this future butterfly fell to meet its destiny on the floor of some classroom. In the grand scheme of things she didn’t matter much, save to Flash Fire, but I still wished there was anything I could do. Time crawled at a slower pace than before as Olive continued to tumble until she finally came to a rest…about five inches from the ground. It was then I realized that it wasn’t time that slowed down, it was the bug. It was also the first time I noticed a faint purple glimmer around her. I must have been as surprised as the class.
I grunted, trying to bring Olive back up to the table without crushing her as she slowly ascended. Flash Fire snapped out of his confusion and lifted her up with his hoof. I stopped concentrating, panting heavily as he put the insect back in her dish and closed the lid. “Thanks,” he said, nodding slightly.
“Yeah…no…problem,” I offered in between breaths.
Without another word, he made his way to the line forming for lunch as I continued collecting myself. After another minute or so, I managed to get my dish back to its spot as well and made my way to the back of the line. Miss Chain Reaction led us to the cafeteria and dismissed us for lunch though she was quick to remind me that I was serving detention in her class instead of going to recess.
I looked around for Lightning Bolt during lunch, but I couldn’t find her. She might have been serving detention already, or maybe she was eating in a classroom instead. Sighing, I made a note to ask her later and made my way to the science room again after finishing my meal.
“Ah, Shining Armor. You’re here earlier than I expected. You can start your detention by cleaning up some graduated cylinders over there,” she said, pointing toward the containers by the sink. I moved in front of the sink and began setting about my assigned task. All things considered, it didn’t seem all that bad. Most of them were just dirty from old food dye or a few mixes for silly putty.
“Miss Chain Reaction…” I began.
“Yes?”
“You knew Flash Fire and I fought yesterday. Why did you pair us up for today’s assignment?” I asked while scrubbing.
She sighed and said “I know you don’t start fights Shining Armor but you seem to be very good at escalating them. Did you learn anything about your partner today?”
“Well…yeah, but you can’t let anyone else know, ok?” I pleaded.
“Of course,”
“Ok, well, he really likes bugs, like me, and he named his butterfly…” I started, wondering where this was going.
“Olive, I know, I grade his papers after all,” she said with a wink. “Flash Fire has had a hard time fitting in here with all the unicorns at this school Shining. I’m fairly sure he doesn’t have any friends,” she finished.
“But that doesn’t make any sense! He was with three other unicorns yesterday,” I protested.
“It’s far more complicated than that Shining. I think it would be best if you heard it from him. Next time you two work together you should find a way to learn about it,” she suggested.
“Wait, I have to work with him again? He barely talks to me and I know he’s mad about yesterday,” I said, incredulous.
“Yes,” she said, though her eyes seemed to command.
After waiting for her to continue, I sighed, “Ok, what should I do next then?”
She smiled and said, “That’s the spirit! Next you can set out the scales for my younger class. Be sure to get all the weights out for them as well.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know,” she responded, her grin seemingly doubling in size.
The rest of detention went swiftly enough. There were a variety of small odds and ends to collect, clean, store, or set out and by the time I was done, I felt pretty tired. Class continued after that on into the afternoon but I couldn’t get my new assignment out of my mind. I concentrated only on my task and the steady beat of water driving against the pavement outside. My thoughts seemed able to race the rain for speed but they accomplished just as much to solve my problem. I never heard the bell go off but after I turned to notice all my classmates had left, I shook my head, gathered my things, and followed.
I was still contemplating my next move when I looked up to see Lightning Bolt waiting for me right by the front door. Her mane looked disheveled and I could see a few singed hairs on her coat. Her face dropped all thoughts of Flash Fire from my mind as quickly as a chill running down my spine.
“What happened?” I asked, speaking as softly as I could.
“A stupid dare,” she replied, in a nearly inaudible attempt to beat my voice. While there were no tears on her face, her eyes were still slightly puffy.
“If you want to talk about it, I want to listen,” I replied.
“I… I tried to move…a small storm cloud. There were some pegasi and they…”
“It’s ok, you can tell me,” I said, as reassuringly as I could.
“They said a small one was easy and that I could…push it back to the storm… and…and,” she stuttered.
“It wasn’t easy was it?” I finished.
She slowly shook her head and then stared down at the floor. “I got up to it…and hesitated. I touched it and, there was a big flash and I just plummeted, straight down. I thought…I thought I was going to die.”
“I…” I wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that. “Did you see the nurse?” was the only relevant thing I could think of.
“I…um, yes. I managed to get my wings under control at the last second and only crashed into some mud,” she replied blankly. “Anyway, she said, well, I’ll be fine, but it still kind of stings.”
“I, is there anything I can do to help?”
“Explain why they laughed at me,” she whispered. I could see some of the occasional glint of tears as they welled up into her eyes. “I got hurt, and they laughed at me, they always laugh at me.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, wishing I could think of anything else to say. “It’s not funny, and I don’t know why anypony would think it is,” I concluded.
She nodded, as if that was what she expected to hear and then took a deep breath. “No, it isn’t. But don’t go trying to beat them up Shining Armor, I won’t have either of us getting any more detention,” she said in a much more composed voice.
“Aw, but I just love cleaning beakers, I think it might be my special talent,” I replied, trying my best to grin. It felt like more of a half-smile.
“So, a pipe-cleaner cutie mark then? That’s not all that great,” she replied.
“Well, maybe not, but we both know I’ll never get one for cleaning clocks,” I retorted.
She groaned and said “or telling jokes.” We both chuckled at that and started making our way out the door. “Hey, thanks for hearing me out, and, well, for cheering me up,” she said.
“Eh, I may not have many friends, but I treat mine well.” We continued on in silence for a while, though I found it a natural pause. After a while, I turned to her and said “Hey, do you think maybe we could practice sometime?”
“Practice…what?”
“Well, magic in my case I guess, and weather in yours. We could help each other out, and maybe it’ll be slightly less dangerous than practicing alone,” I explained.
“Well, with a pitch like that, how could I say no? Still, it’s not your worst idea, and maybe it actually could help,” she answered, staring back up toward the sky.
“Well, how about tomorrow after school? We could go to the park nearby,” I mused.
“Sure, I’ll tell my dad. I’ve got to head east up ahead here, so I’ll let you know tomorrow morning,” she answered.
“Right, until then.”
“See ya.”
“Wait, so you just got your spell through practice?!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Huh? No, that’s not the end of the story,” her brother responded, as his eyes glanced to the side.
“Yeah, but it’s been a long story and unless that’s how it happened, we won’t finish it tonight,” she responded, her eyes narrowing.
“Well, what if it wasn’t a single story, and more of a…lecture series,” Shining Armor said in a halting voice.
“So, like an advanced course, like home-school or an independent study?” she asked.
“Sure, why not?”
“Wow! You’re the best B.B.B.F.F.! Should I call you Professor Armor?” she replied.
“Um, sure,” he responded in the same tone a pony would use if asked by Princess Celestia to record her court proceedings for a day.
“Excellent. I think I memorized today’s lesson, but I’ll come prepared with parchment and quill for tomorrow. You can count on me Professor!”
The stallion sighed and looked down at his sister’s smiling face. “Alright, class will start thirty minutes after breakfast tomorrow. I’ll expect you in your place and ready to learn. Is that fair?” he asked with a smirk.
“Very. I’ll report in tomorrow,” she replied, turning and beginning to head to her room. “Race you upstairs,” she said, cantering off. Her brother, used to such indulgences, dutifully cantered after her.
End of Chapter Two