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// Ch.1 - A Strange Occurrence 
// Story: A Change of Weather in Ponyville 
// by MLPDavester 
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Alright, I guess from what I’ve seen so far, this story went over better than my last attempt at a self-insert. Here’s my newest chapter, and the basic start to the story. Please remember to Rate and Comment, as I’m still getting used to writing fanfiction again. And thank you to everyone that has already read this story and quite possibly tracked it as well. Much appreciated.


~Canterlot, 2 weeks later~


“Focus your energies students!” The teacher, Moonbeam Razor declared. “You must have complete and total focus if you wish to master your unicorn magic!” He trotted up and down the rows of desks, examining each student’s attempt at turning the apple on their desk into a rock. “You have already learned how to move small objects with your magic, but how many of you can easily grasp the concept of transmutating these same objects you moved not one week ago?”

Maghus was at his desk, panting and sweating as he concentrated on the apple in front of him. He desperately wanted this lesson to end, so that he could go take a VERY long nap. The first week had been simple, with the ponies being tested to see what they knew of basic spells such as small orbs of light or voice projection. Many of the students had thought it beneath them to do such mediocre spells, having been raised in “snooty, spoiled families” as Maghus’ father Cyclone had put it. Maghus couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as he glanced over at one of these very ponies, seeing sweat bead and drip off of the unicorn’s horn and face, condensing into an already hoof-sized puddle on their desk.

Mr. Moonbeam, as he had requested the class to refer to him, noticed Maghus’ sudden loss of focus as he passed along the opposite side of which Maghus was looking, but was surprised to see that the effects the young colt’s magic had on the apple did not falter. Many ponies would have lost all the energy and had to start over in his situation, but he somehow managed to keep his magic going, even when glancing away. What he didn’t notice was the smile on Maghus’ face, which was brightening his mood even as he looked away from the target of his magic, compensating for the slightly lowered focus.

“Very interesting…” Moonbeam raised one hoof to scratch his stubbly brown beard in contemplation. He had seen a few rare situations in which the pony’s magic was tapped into their subconscious, but in what way that it was happening for Maghus was beyond his grasp. The sudden sound from opposite him startled Maghus however, and this DID result in him losing his focus altogether, finally losing his magical grip on the apple. The magic had done some work however, as the apple did not look quite like an apple normally would. There was a slight problem however, as the apple had not transformed to look slightly more like a rock. It was still shaped like an apple, and would likely taste exactly like one as well. No, the problem that Mr. Moonbeam and Maghus both realized with a bit of a shock from both of them was that the apple…

…Was now a multi-coloured rainbow apple, exactly the same colours as the famous Zapapple’s from Ponyville’s own Sweet Apple Acres!

Moonbeam resisted his urge to dive upon the imitation of the one treat that he would go to Ponyville for once a year to stock up on, while Maghus had a frazzled expression on his face similar to that of a puppy that discovers it has a tail, then chases it to realize this strange new object won’t stop moving! Maghus didn’t want to chase the apple, no, but he did want to figure out why the apple had gone rainbow in the brief moment he had looked at the other unicorns in the room.

“I…I guess I messed up, huh Mr. Moonbeam?” Maghus hung his head in defeat, positive he had failed this lesson and would soon be heading home, having been the only pony in the room to completely lose his magical attachment to the apple. “It’s definitely not a rock, unless rocks are supposed to be striped and colourful…”

Moonbeam shook his head with a small smirk, which confused and hurt Maghus’ feelings more, worried that the teacher would laugh at him in front of everyone, turning him into the laughing stock of his class. He prepared for the worst…when he was shocked to receive a strong pat on the back, looking up to see his teacher looking between the apple and Maghus, a smile just visible to Maghus on the corner of his face.

“Maghus, might I ask where exactly you are from?” Moonbeam requested of the confused colt in front of him, understanding the oddness of the situation. Most unicorns would have still gotten marks for trying, albeit lower than those that succeeded in turning their apples to rocks. But it had never occurred that the apple had been recoloured, with no other physical alterations.

“Where I’m from, sir?” Maghus was confused, how did him being from Manehatten have anything to do with his turning an apple into an imitation Zapapple? It made no sense!

Moonbeam couldn’t help but chuckle lightly as he saw Maghus’ expression to become even further confused. It was an odd request, but if he was right, it could help to explain why the apple had changed in colour and nothing else on the outside. He definitely was NOT going to try and eat it only to break his teeth on something that didn’t look like a rock, but was as hard as one. No, he had to know if this pony’s home had something to do with it.

“Manehatten, Mr. Moonbeam.” Maghus had to think about it for a moment, still lost in his bit of confusion from the previous question his teacher had posed. “But why does that matter to why the apple is a rainbow-apple?”

“Apparently nothing my boy.” Moonbeam scratched his beard once again, pondering other possibilities for the apple’s odd change. He pondered like this for a few moments, leaving Maghus to look about sadly at how the rest of the apples were still levitating and VERY slowly starting to look like rocks after a half an hour of intense focus by each of the students. He was snapped back to reality though when Moonbeam smacked his forehead lightly, the form of an idea beginning to shape in his head. “But your parents might.”

This did nothing to help Maghus’ confusion any better, as was quite apparent to Moonbeam. “What’s the matter…Maghus?” The young colt’s name had slipped his mind for a moment, only to come popping up as he remembered the young colt being one of the first to complete the basic spells in their first week. “I didn’t offend you or anything did I?” Moonbeam suddenly became slightly self-conscious, as he worried he may have hurt the colt’s feelings with an inappropriate question.

“No! Nothing like Mr. Moonbeam!” Maghus shook his head fiercely, his short-cropped mane getting slightly messier. “You didn’t say anything wrong at all.” Maghus paused however as he thought about what he was going to say, I mean, how hard could it be to say that you’re a unicorn colt to Pegasus parents? He made up his mind however that it couldn’t be that strange. “But I don’t see how my parents being pegasuses has anything to do with  this either?”

“Pegasi, Maghus. That’s the proper term you were looking fo…” Moonbeam face-hoofed himself as he finally caught what Maghus had said. Pegasi parent’s to a unicorn! It made perfect sense! Everyone knew that the vast majority of pegasi were weather ponies! It made sense then why the child’s apple had turned a rainbow colour! He had a slightly rare, though not any more powerful than normal type of magic. Weather magic! “Maghus, your parents being pegasi is EXACTLY why your apple became an imitation Zapapple!” He then proceeded to pat the colt on the head, leaving Maghus even more confused than before and with a slight blush on his face due to the sudden attention he and the teacher were receiving from the rest of the class.

“I’m not sure I understand sir.” Maghus scratched his head, still confused as to the situation while trying to hide in his now too-short mane from the prying eyes of his class. This was even worse than if Mr. Moonbeam had just laughed at him in the beginning!

“I’ll explain to you after class alright? We need to move on with the lesson after this little distraction.” Moonbeam patted Maghus head before trotting up to the front of the class, gathering all of the apple-rocks and rock-apples as well as Maghus’ rainbow apple-which received a few odd looks from some of the students, especially a purple-coated, purple maned unicorn in the desk closest to the front of the room.

“Mr. Moonbeam?” The filly raised her hoof up high, trying to get his attention. “Why is that apple so colourful? I thought we were supposed to turn our apples to rocks, not change their colour?” It was apparent to everyone, especially Maghus and Mr. Moonbeam that she didn’t understand, more so than the rest of the class.

“You are correct Miss Sparkle.” Moonbeam nodded his head, placing said apple in the front middle of his desk for the entire class to see. “The point of the lesson WAS to turn the apples to rocks.” He paused for a bit of dramatic effect, something most teachers did for filly’s to draw their attention even further. Which worked quite well, as the entire class was staring straight at him with fixed looks, the purple filly nearly falling out of her seat trying to get as close to the apple as possible so as to examine further herself. “But sometimes some very interesting and unexpected things can happen when we are attempting very simple magic. As a matter of fact,” Moonbeam paused to turn to the blackboard on which he wrote two words in chalk using his magic. The two words very clearly read WEATHER MAGIC. He then turned back to the class, noticing a few excited looks, as well as a few utterly stupefied expressions. “have any of you ever heard of Weather Magic before?”

The purple unicorn in the front shot her hoof up immediately, not surprising the teacher in the slightest. She was here as the Princess’ personal protégé after all. Her knowledge of magic was to be expected. “Yes Miss Sparkle? Would you like to come forward and say what you know in front of the class?” He beckoned to the space right in front of his desk openly, expecting the knowledgeable pony to hop right up and speak. He was surprised once again however, as this last statement cause the pony to immediately take a more hidden position in her very public, very visible seat. He had expected the young filly to bound up with the same exuberance she had when asking questions.

“Oh…I…um…never mind…” The young filly crowded back into her seat, now very anxious for class to end so she could go back to her books and possibly a chance to visit with Princess Celestia.

“No?” Moonbeam looked around the room, expecting another hoof to be raised. He saw none however, which meant he would be the one speaking about the rare form of magic. Oh well. “Very well then. Weather Magic is a rare, albeit useful form of magic in Equestria. It is no more powerful or weaker than ordinary unicorn magic, but it does have some adverse properties.” He cleared his throat slightly, taking the moment to recall his own memories of the magic when he had started teaching in Canterlot. “All unicorns have a form of weather magic within them, but only very special situations actually cause the magic to come forth and actually present itself in the pony’s magic.” He then attempted a crude drawing of a small unicorn with two unicorn parents, much to a few giggles and laughs from a few of his students. He then drew another small unicorn, but this time left the space behind the pony blank. “Can anyone guess what one of these special situations might be?” He glanced around the room, hoping for one pony in particular to raise their hoof and guess. They were a smart pony, he just hoped that they could piece together the bits and pieces of information he was feeding them.

Maghus looked back and forth between his hooves and his sides as he waited for Mr. Moonbeam to stop talking and just finish the lesson already. He had been listening to the lecture, and had glanced up to see the crude drawings, but he didn’t really think much of them. That is however, when he looked at his sides then back up to the board in his random gestures and a thought clicked in his little colt mind. Maybe…maybe this was what Mr. Moonbeam had meant!

Moonbeam continued looking about the room for the next minute, his hopes slowly fading. He was about to give the class the answer, when a navy-blue hoof a few seats back from the purple unicorn was raised. His spirits lifted higher than they had before that day, as he signalled the student to speak. “Yes Mr. Uncorn?”

“Is…Is it when the unicorn has pegasus parents?” Maghus asked, half –convinced he was wrong, and that he would have to wait even longer for class to end and to find out why his apple had been so colourful.

“Precisely Mr. Uncorn!” Moonbeam clapped his front hooves together, both as a show of respect for Maghus’ quick grasp, and also for the joy he felt as this would make speaking to the young colt after class all the more enjoyable. “Since most ponies know that pegasi are weather ponies, no one really considered what that would mean if pegasi had a unicorn for a child. Many believed it impossible: pegasi could fly while unicorns could use magic. It didn’t make sense to some ponies,…” He paused to let this information sink in with the class. After noticing most of the students looking between the apple and the images on the blackboard and seeing faces of realization appearing throughout the room, he concluded his lecture, “…but some believed that it was possible for some of the weather-related traits and magical traits to mix. It happened very infrequently however, as families would have to be quite mixed in their lineage to have a unicorn be the child of two pegasi. When it did occur however, it resulted in ponies with very unique magical talents.” It was at that exact moment that the class bell rang for the end of the day, resulting in the entire class completely forgetting all about what had just transpired in the room and charge out the door to go home for the rest of the day.

Maghus had stayed behind however to speak with Mr. Moonbeam further about the apple, a strong idea firm in his mind and a smile on his face. What Maghus didn’t notice however, was that one other student had not left as soon as the bell had rung. When he did snap out of his trance and look towards the front of the room, he recognized who the pony was that had stayed behind.

It was the purple unicorn from before that had gotten shy suddenly just before she would have said what weather magic was. He couldn’t quite remember her name. What was it again? Shimmer? Twinkle?...No, those sounded odd. He didn’t notice the quiet conversation that Mr. Moonbeam and the filly were having luckily.

“Is everything alright Miss Sparkle?” Mr. Moonbeam asked as he helped her get out of the uncomfortable position she had put herself in after getting stage fright in front of the class. “You seemed like you were all prepared to explain what weather magic was to the class. Did something happen?”

“No…” The purple filly answered quietly, a small twinge of fear evident in her voice. “It’s just…I don’t really know anyone since I’m reading all the time. So when you asked me to speak in front of the class I…I didn’t want them to judge me…” She hid her face in her mane, a tear falling from her eye and landing on her books that she held tightly to her chest. “Anyways, I should probably get back to the castle and the Princess. See you tomorrow Mr. Moonbeam…” She quietly got up and trotted out of the room, Maghus only just snapping back to this world to notice her get up and leave, a slight dip in her head as she left trotting away rather quickly. He passed it off as nothing however, as he desperately wanted to know more about his magic. It had him very excited to finally understand what had happened earlier today!

“Mr. Moonbeam?” Maghus asked as he trotted to the front of the room, his saddlebag of books hanging over his right side lightly. “You wanted to talk to me after class?”

Moonbeam snapped to attention when he heard his name spoken. He turned to see Maghus awaiting what he likely expected to be an explanation on the day’s events. He had nothing to say however, as he had pretty much summed up everything in class when Ms. Sparkle had asked about the apple. Thus he had to disappoint the young colt slightly with his next comment.

“I’m sorry Maghus, I really am. But I pretty much said everything I know during class today.” This was partly the truth, as what he had said today had been what young unicorns could understand. The rest was very scientific knowledge that the colt would never understand for a couple of years at least. He did have an idea come on however, which he was very quick to share with Maghus. “But I’ll tell you what…”

“What’s that sir?” Maghus listened intently on the knowledge he might receive instead.

“I know tomorrow is Saturday, but I’d like you to come here tomorrow afternoon and meet someone I think would be very helpful in explaining the situation to you. How does that sound?” Moonbeam finished, awaiting the obviously eager unicorn’s response.

“OK? But who am I going to meet?” Maghus was all for the idea of meeting someone new and learning more about himself. But on a Saturday? It seemed rather strange. Mind you this entire day had felt like it was going to be strange, so he just went with it.

“Well you’ll have to come tomorrow to find out. How does 2 o’clock sound?” Moonbeam asked with raised eyebrows, hoping the unicorn before him would be ok with the odd timing.

“Ok Mr. Moonbeam.” Maghus nodded as he trotted towards the classroom door. “2 o’clock tomorrow!”

Just as he was about to leave, Moonbeam thought of something that might be useful to multiple parties. “Oh, and Maghus?”

“Yes Mr. Moonbeam?”

“If you happen to see Ms. Sparkle-the purple filly from earlier?” Mr. Moonbeam asked the polite looking colt in front of him. “Could you try and be nice to her? I don’t believe she has any friends here.”

“Ok Mr. Moonbeam. I’ll remember to do that.” Maghus then walked away, a little confused that his teacher would bring up that purple mare so randomly. But oh well, tomorrow he was going to learn more about himself! What could be better than that?!