The dark, damp stone cell was a sight that managed to evoke a feeling of misery; there was no bright coloring, a wet-dog smell seeped out from between the rotting wall slabs, and mice ran as they willed. An infuriating sight, it was; the mice had free will, while the cell's resident was held captive.
The two captives laid, each on a simple canvas bunk riddled with fleas.
"Rise!"
The two figures sat up slowly, cracking their necks and turning slowly to see who had interrupted their sleep.
"Ugh..." One of them said with a snort. "What do you want?"
"Yeah, and when'll we get some room-service?" The other said. "I wouldn't even throw the two little twerps in here! Not my worst enemy!"
"You are lucky you aren't our worst enemy," the figure outside the cell said. "We can do much worse than minimal nourishment and a cell forty-five floors below the surface."
"We are so honored," the first said sarcastically.
"SILENCE!" The figure shouted. "You are to know that a significant event will occur soon. You are to cooperate, and not cause trouble."
"How about we tell you about our plan to esc... AAAAHHHH!"
An arc of electricity flew past the iron bars of the cell and struck the two prisoners.
"If an escape is so much as joked about, you will become my worst enemies."
"Fine then, Luna," the prisoner said rudely. "We'll play your game for a while longer."
"Wise decision, Autumn Star," she replied. "Wise decision."
"Come on, you can do it!"
Aqua cringed and groaned as he tried to perform a simple task - levitating a paper cup. It was quite reminiscent of Stereo and Frisky's first time, but was a pure coincidence, Twilight had said.
"Keep trying," Twilight said. "You're close, I can see it!"
"Remember the steps, Aqua," Stereo added. "Feel the cup in your mind, and grab it!"
"I-I... I can feel it, but I can't touch it!" Aqua cried. "It's so hard!"
"Here," Twilight said, levitating over a jug. "Have some water and take a break. I need to write a letter, so take your time."
"Thanks," Aqua said gratefully, panting as the entire jug was surrounded in a pale blue-green and floated right up to his mouth. As he took a few refreshing gulps, he heard a clank, followed by total silence.
Aqua moved the jug away from his face to see what was going on... or what wasn't, as the case was. Both ponies were completely still, their jaws hanging slightly open. Twilight appeared to have dropped her writing supplies onto the floor.
"What is it ?" Aqua said worriedly. "C'mon, guys! You're actually scaring me!"
"Y-y-y-you..." Stereo began, raising a hoof. "You... jug... how?"
"Wha?" Aqua said confusedly, before putting two and two together. He glanced at the jug, finally noticing it suspended in a blue-green glow near his face.
"WHAT? How the... Am I?"
Twilight shook herself out of her shock, putting a grin on her face and walking towards the foal.
"Congratulations!" She said. "You did it! You levitated the jug!"
"Really?" Aqua asked in unwarranted disbelief.
"Well, it's floating next to your face, so probably." Twilight said.
"But..." he began. "But how!?"
"You tell us," Stereo said. You're the one doing it."
"I agree," Twilight added. "There's almost no way to figure out why you suddenly began using magic after almost two hours of unsuccessful intensive concentration."
"I... I just can, I guess..." Aqua said thoughtfully, before nodding. "Yeah, that's just it! I just can!"
"Now try it with the paper cup," Stereo said. "You know... just to make sure it's not cursed or something."
"An anti-levitation curse performed on an ordinary paper cup is unlikely," Twilight said. "But still, why not?"
After a few seconds of concentration, the cup was lifted by that same blue-green glow as was the jug previously.
"That's funny," Aqua said thoughtfully. "It weighs about the same as the jug did!"
"Required energy output doesn't change with such small differences in mass," Twilight said. "You would notice the difference when trying to lift, say, a cart after lifting a cup, but not a jug."
"Oh..." Aqua said. "Can I get some water? I'm still kinda thirsty from before."
"Oh, here!" Stereo said, levitating the jug over and pouring some water into the waiting cup. As soon as he did, the cup flew up to the ceiling at an incredible speed, before being crushed against the solid surface. All of the water fell down, and was somehow all caught by aqua and compressed into a ball.
Two sets of eyes landed on Aqua.
"Um... beginners luck?"
"...And then Aqua caught it all! Isn't that amazing!?"
Rainbow Dash listened to the end of Stereo's epic retelling, and, once confirming that it in fact had ended, responded simply by saying, "yeah, that sounds awesome!"
Aqua grinned at the exchange, knowing that Rainbows enthusiasm was, of course, at least somewhat forced. Don't get me wrong, Rainbow was happy for the kid; but a dramatic retelling on her off day when all she wanted to do was sun-bake on the shore of the reservoir was just bad timing. Maybe the day before, or that night... oh well.
Aqua dived back beneath the surface. Water, he had discovered was just so much easier to manipulate than solids. And solids were easy; water was just extra-easy.
"Hey Stereo!" He shouted once he had resurfaced.
"What?"
"I re-challenge you to that water fight!
"You're on!" Stereo replied. "How about you, Rainbow Dash?"
"What was that?"
"A water fight, me, versus you, versus Aqua, versus you."
"I dunno..." Rainbow said. "It is my off-day."
"Or maybe you can't take us!" Stereo taunted.
Rainbow removed her black shades. "I can take you both, with one hoof tied behind my back!"
Stereo gave a little laugh. "You are SO on!"
And then the battle began, colts versus mare. Rainbow used her wings to propel water towards the two boys. They got wet, but definitely weren't ready to forfeit. They levitated small globes of water. Stereo launched them at Rainbow with not-so-deadly, but nonetheless impressive accuracy. Aqua hadn't quite gotten the hang of levitation, and sort of dropped the balls on her head. She retaliated by launching herself into the air, grabbing a nearby cloud, positioning it above them and stomping on it as hard as she could. As it began to rain, Aqua brushed it off by tilting his head upwards and drinking it, while Stereo just smirked.
"Really, Dash?" He said tauntingly. "It's gonna take more than just..." A crash of thunder was heard, before the rain sped up. Stereo's horn lit up, and all of the rain began to slide around them instead of on them. Aqua looked mildly disappointed.
"As I was saying," he continued. "It's gonna take a lot more than some rain."
"And what are you gonna do to make me quit?" Rainbow said. "You can't make it rain!" She flew back down into the water, ready to fight some more.
Stereo winked at Aqua. "Oh, yes we can make it rain!"
Two separate balls of water floated out of the water, one about ten feet in diameter, held by Stereo, and one about twenty feet, held by Aqua. Aqua took both balls forcibly, and Stereo looked on in as much surprise as did Rainbow while Aqua effortlessly floated the ball of water of Rainbows head and released it. Rainbow just looked forward with a grim expression as the water washed over her.
"Okay," she said afterwards. "You win."
"That was amazing, Aqua!" Stereo cried. "Let's go get dried off and go to sugar cube corner."
"Sorry, kid," Rainbow said. "But we've got plans. We need to get you some equipment for school tomorrow."
"I have school tomorrow and you tell me now?"
"Yeah," she replied, giving a stretch to express her nonchalance. Basically, she was telling him to deal with it, and to get used to it.
"It's gonna take a few hours since we need to get everything, so I wouldn't make any plans."
"Ughh..."
"And you left the book shopping until the last day?"
Twilight gave a long-suffering sigh, giving a similarly described look to Rainbow Dash.
"Fine," She said. "I'll collect your books. You can all just look around the library."
Stereo looked at his friend. Thank goodness Rainbow had let him tag along; Being able to spend the last few hour with Aqua made them a little less dry. No pun intended.
"Hey, look at these!" Aqua cried, before running towards a nearly empty box. It contained several books, and was marked 'RETURNS - MEMBER NUMBER FOUR THREE - RARITY, MISS.'
"It's Miss Rarity's book returns!" Aqua said. "And they're all..."
"Written in Prench and Istallian!" Stereo finished.
"You can read this?" Aqua asked.
"Hey, I'm from Cloudsdale!" Stereo replied. "Not a single pony lives there that doesn't speak Istallian." Stereo levitated a particularly thick book, holding it at eye level.
"Cinquanta Tonalità di Grigio," he read. "You don't wanna know."
"Hey, do you two want some water?" Rainbow called out, making them both jump.
"Y-y-yes ma'am!" Aqua called out. A moment later, two cups of water were handed to them. Or rather, they levitated them out of Rainbow's hoof.
Aqua took a sip. "Hmm..." He said. "It's a little warm."
"Yeah, I agree." Stereo said. "Rainbow, where did you even get this from."
"Just the... Aqua, what's happening!?"
Stereo looked at Aqua, then at the cup.
"Uh... Twilight!" He called out in a slightly panicked tone. The water in Aqua's cup had dropped slightly, and a few ice cubes had formed.
"What is it?" Twilight said, carrying a stack of books with her.
"Aqua complained about the water being warm," Stereo said. "And then ice started forming in the cup."
"That level of magic is a bit advanced for somepony of your magical experience..." Twilight said. "And that's the last piece of evidence I need. You have an average level of magic, but with intermittent 'bursts' of extra power and, somehow, spell intricacy. The common factor has been the chemical compound hydrogen dioxide, commonly known as H2O; or water in either a liquid, solid or gaseous form."
"So..." Aqua began, choosing his words carefully. "I could swim strokes before I could walk, and hold my breath for five minutes, but only under water. I can swim faster than any foal my age, and get a magic boost when I use it on an object with water. I can also make it into ice."
"You could say that you were made to play with water," Rainbow teased.
"Or that it's your special talent," Twilight suggested."
"Hey, I never thought about that!" Aqua said excitedly. "I bet it really is water!"
"I'm actually certain," Twilight said, extending a hoof to Aqua. "Congratulations, Aqua!" She wore a huge smile. "You just got your cutie mark!"
"Really!" Aqua said, jumping up and down. He looked around to his flank, seeing a single blue ice-crystal, similar in appearance to Princess Cadence's cutie mark; but shaped like a rain drop instead of a heart, and lacking trim.
"I have to go and organize your cutecinëra with Pinkie Pie," Twilight began, before being interrupted by her own screams as Pinkie Pie jumped out of Rarity's return box.
"Did somepony say CUTECINËRA!?"
"Pinkie, I did," Twilight said with practiced calm. Lots of practice. "Aqua got his cutie mark in the ability to temporarily reside in an environment comprised of hydrogen dioxide in liquid form, while willfully being able to manipulate it between..."
"You can breathe underwater!?" Pinkie cried, facing Aqua.
"I... uh... maybe?" He said. "I haven't tried, but I can stay there for a really long time."
"And you can turn it into ice and steam!" She cried. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I WISH I COULD DO THAT!" She continued excitedly."
"Um... three seconds?" Aqua guessed.
"Ooo, and you're smart too!" Pinkie said. "Anyway, c'mon Twilight! We have a party to plan!"
Against her will, Twilight was dragged behind Pinkie and into a nearby ink well.
Rainbow blinked a few times in confusion.
"What the hay just happened?"
What to get, what to get? Stereo thought to himself. He looked around the busy market, straining his still very limited knowledge of the town to try and think of a place to buy for his friend an appropriate gift.
Maybe I should explore the north side of town, he thought. Ugh, but the cutecinēra's tonight!
"Hey, are you okay?"
Stereo shook himself out of his reverie, and noticed a white pegasus stallion with a dark blue mane.
"Oh, sorry sir," Stereo said. "I was just trying to figure out what to get me friend for his cutecinēra."
"Oh, well congratulations to him!" The stallion said cheerfully. "What did he get?" Stereo noticed that his accent seemed slightly different than the average Ponyvillian. But, that wasn't a problem.
"He can manipulate water, basically."
"Oh," the Stallion said. "Well, I honestly have no idea what you could get for him... sorry I couldn't be much help."
"That's okay, Mr..."
"Just call me Snow," he said.
"Well, thank's anyway, Mr. Snow," Stereo said, before both of them turned and parted ways. He got about four feet, before he got called out to again.
"Yes, Mr. Snow?" He acknowledged.
"I'm new here," Snow began. "Can you direct me to a bakery, or a patisserie?"
"Sure!" Stereo said. "Follow me!"
"Thank you so much," Snow said. "My wife and kid are at home unpacking, and I thought I would surprise them with some food."
"Were did you come from?" Stereo asked.
Snow hesitated for a moment. "Caneighda."
"Really?" Stereo said. "I've never been. What's it like?"
"Uh... cold." Snow said. "But beautiful. My son was pretty upset to leave, especially now that everypony's making fun of him for being Caneighdian."
"That's not nice," Stereo said in a voice that showed that he was very disappointed with Equestrian ponies. "Caneighda sounds like a great place!"
"Yeah, but the colts and fillies think that Caneighdians are... well, Caneighdian." Snow said. "It happens for no reason, and it'll pass for him eventually."
"How old is he?" Stereo asked.
"Twelve."
"Oh, so just like me!" Stereo said. "Is he going to school tomorrow?"
"Sure is," Snow said. "I you see him, though, don't talk about Caneighda. He gets hostile after all he's been through."
"Don't worry, Mr. Snow!" Stereo said, before pointing to sugar cube corner. "That's the bakery. Talking about Caneighda gave me an idea for Aqua's gift, so I need to go. See you at the party!"
"What party?"
"Pinkie Pie works at the bakery," Stereo explained. "Your family's new to town, and she throws a party for every new pony that comes here."
Pinkie Pie then proceeded to suddenly emerge, head only, from a crack in the bakery's threshold.
"Did somepony say PARTY!?"