***Day 7, just after noon***
Man I needed this trip to the library, side project or not I get bored if I don’t have something to do and at work the options are very limited. Though, thanks to that little incident where Specter was sparring with Manila with the stethoscope I’m fairly certain of what I want to get him as a costume for Nightmare Night once it comes around. All hail the squirrel knight, wonder if he’ll make himself a fortress at the house while I’m out...
I chuckle as I walk my way over to the treehouse/library, an impressive feat for those two to even be considered to be the same entity. I knock on the door since it is technically Twilight’s house. Of course, one doesn’t usually expect small bipedal reptiles to answer doors, but rumors had been going around Canterlot while I was in school about Twilight’s assistant so it wasn’t as much of a shock as it could have been.
The little reptile looks at me with a bored face, “Hey, can I help you?”
I nod, “Um, yes, I was wondering if I could browse for some books.”
“Come on in, and for future reference, you don’t need to knock if you come for the library.” He says as he opens the door and goes back up the stairs.
I walk in to see a familiar librarian reading a book, imagine that, and taking some notes over at a desk.
The tales of her studiousness appear to not have been exaggerated. Must be a dream for her to live in a library of her own. She doesn’t seem to be too into her book so I would assume I can let her know I’m here without startling her.
I keep my voice low so I don't surprise her, “Twilight?”
She looks up, “Hmm? Oh, hello Rhino. What brings you here?”
I gesture towards the bookshelves with my head, “I was hoping to check out some books and was wondering if you had a basic directory for where the different book types are.”
She rattles off the different types and genres of books like it was ingrained into her head… Does she sort these herself or does she just read them that much? I suppose both are possible. I thank her and work my way to the fiction section since I don’t have any particular subjects interesting me in non-fiction at the moment.
I spend the next hour browsing through the books, coming away with a very good hall of novels such as Bastion, Chrono Trigger, and the Fable trilogy. I ask Twilight what I need to do to check these out and she just asks me to walk over to the large official looking desk near the wall. She takes the books from me and writes down my name and the books on what look like three separate checklists.
A little overkill on redundancy there Twilight.
Sweetie Belle walks in about a minute later after Twilight has gone back to… whatever it was she was doing, the girl’s focused I’ll give her that. Sweetie Belle looks around to see if anypony else is around before she motions me to the other side of the room from Twilight. As we got there I lay myself down on the floor to get comfortable as Sweetie does the same about five hooves in front of me facing me.
I let a moment of silence pass before asking the big question, “So, Sweetie Belle, you said yesterday you wanted to ask me something about my Res spell?” Though I wonder why she couldn’t ask this in front of her friends.
The little unicorn scuffs her hoof against the floor and drags it in small circles avoiding eye contact, “Well, actually… it’s kind of embarrassing but, I mean, I’ve asked other ponies but they haven’t helped much… and you seemed nice and I thought maybe you could help.”
Beating around the bush a bit. “I’d be happy to help, but first you need to tell me what you need help with.”
She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, “I need help… with my magic.”
I take a moment to process this, “Ah, you said you’ve asked other ponies?”
She nods, “I asked Miss Cherilee but she said she didn’t know much about using magic only the basics that she had to teach students, Rarity tried to help but I don’t think her magic and mine work exactly the same plus she kept referencing to sewing and fashion and that just confused me. I tried asking Twilight too but she gave me a stack of books, none of which really made sense or helped.” She’s looking down and twirling her hoof in a circle on the ground again as she finishes talking.
Sounds like all these attempts are starting to get to her.
I wait for her to make eye contact before I ask, “So why me?”
“Well, you’re nice, you’re a unicorn, and when you said you made Res on your own I thought that might mean you know a lot about magic. I understand if you don’t want to.”
Heh, reminds me of giving advice to my little unicorn cousins back home whenever they were first starting to use their magic. Oh did they get into some trouble… still convinced that tree they made walk off didn’t get put back exactly where it was originally.
I smile reassuringly at her, “I’d be honored to help you out Sweetie Belle, but be sure to tell Rarity so she doesn’t get worried or anything.”
She perks right up, “Ok! Umm so what do we do first? I told the girls I’d meet them at the clubhouse later so I’ve got a little time right now.”
I cast an appraising eye, “Hmm, well, what spells can you do so far?”
She's back to looking down again, “To be honest, the only thing I can really do right now is shoot a few sparks out if I really concentrate.”
I nod, “Alright, let’s just start from the beginning then.”
I tell Sweetie Belle about how the different pony races sense the world around them best. I had talks with Hydro about this before and he had explained to me that earth ponies can sense things through their hooves that the other races couldn’t, the same goes for pegasi and their wings, and for unicorns, we sense with our horns. Most ponies simply do this sensing on a subconscious level, or only when meditating or in similar states of quiet. Unicorns have to know this early on but it soon becomes a reflex. The farther away something is the harder it is to sense, if it’s moving it’s harder to sense as well, but that’s what the other sense like sight are for. Each unicorn can perceive the world through their horn differently than other unicorns can, normally those with similar cutie marks will be closest to each other but none seem to be exactly the same. Being able to sense the world around you is the first step to using magic.
“Alright Sweetie Belle,” I float a piece of paper over from a desk and set it between us, “what I want you to do is to try and grab this piece of paper with your magic, you don’t have to do anything with it, I just want to see if you can sense it with your magic and envelop it in your aura. Don’t try to make it happen, just close your eyes and try to feel the paper and simply touch it with your magic.”
“Ok.” She closes her eyes. I can see a very faint glow from her horn as she senses around her. “I think I see it.” Her horn glows a little brighter, similar to a unicorn preparing to levitate something. “I think I have it!”
I look down and notice something, “ Sweetie Belle…”
“It’s hard to hold on to!” Brighter.
“Sweetie Belle.”
“I can do it!” Brighter.
Her actions cause my voice to change to a nasally version, “Sweetie Belle.”
She opens her eyes at the voice change and looks at me, “Huh?”
I motion down at what her magic is currently holding, “Do me a favor and let go of my nose.”
“Oh!” She blushes a little as she ends the magic.
“Much better,” I rub my nose a little, “Well your aim needs a little work, but you can definitely do the basic sensing and my nose shows that you can cover things with your magical aura.”
She beams, “Wow, that’s more than I’ve ever been able to do before! Thank you!” She looks at the clock on the wall. “Oh I should probably get going, I can’t wait to tell the girls. Bye Rhino, can’t wait for next time!” She runs out the door.
Cute kid, glad I’m able to help her. Heh, I almost feel like a magic tutor, but she just needs a little guidance nothing too big. I find it’s better for them discover their own way of interpreting and using magic.
While I’m lost in my thoughts Twilight walks over to me, “She was right you know, you seem to know a lot about magic, is it your special talent like mine?”
“Not exactly, from what I’ve heard, your talent is magic itself including an enormous amount of it and a talent for learning great varieties of it. My talent lies in precision and ingenuity as well as an increased effect of my emotions on me. I don’t have your raw power, but I can use one spell in different ways if I know enough about it.” I normally wouldn’t give that much of an explanation but I’m still in an explanatory mood after helping Sweetie Belle.
“Hmmm, oh, speaking of magic I was wondering if maybe you and the others would want to help me with a new spell I’ve been learning.” She gets a bit of an excited look on her face when she starts talking about this new spell of hers.
I raise an eyebrow at her, “And by 'the others' you mean…”
She clarifies, “Hydro and Voltage, I already sent Spike out to fetch the girls so they should be here soon.”
Must have been while I was teaching Sweetie, I was kind of in the zone there. Oh well, guess it’s a helping kind of day.
I get up and stretch my back a bit. “Alright so you said you wanted Volt and Hydro?”
“Yes-”
*CRASH*
A loud crash comes from the other side of Twilight’s door, interrupting her.
I look at Twilight then walk over to the door and open it to find a slightly singed Volt lying in a heap on the doorstep. I call back over my shoulder, “Twilight! I got Volt. Mind if he comes in?”
I levitate him in and set him on the floor where he sits up and groans as he rubs his head. I ask the all-important question: “So… what happened?”
He chuckles lightly, “Well, suffice to say I now know which of the underground wires is the high voltage one.”
I shake my head at him, “You’re lucky you have that natural electrical resistance you told me about the other night, otherwise you’d be in the hospital right now.”
Twilight asks him what he was doing, apparently he was investigating the towns power system again. Guess there’s quite a few parts to take a look at. She asks him a few more questions as I remember I’m supposed to be going to get Hydro.
I look towards the librarian, “Hey Twilight, do you mind watching Volt while I go fetch Hydro?”
She smiles, “No problem.”
I turn and open the door to find Hydro about 20 yards away headed for the library.
Mission complete, and I didn’t even have to go anywhere.
Hydro stops in front of me with an annoyed look, “Did Volt just land near here?”
“Umm yeah, he’s inside.” I say, gesturing towards the unicorn in question.
Hydro and I walk back inside, him going up to Volt, “Mind telling me why half of the systems in my dam suddenly overloaded?” He asks glaring at Volt.
Volt just looks at Hydro sheepishly while Hydro just narrows his eyes at him.
Ok time to break this up before it goes anywhere violent.
I speak to them to get their attention, “Actually it’s good you two are here, I was actually going to come fetch the two of you for Twilight here. She wanted our help with a new spell.”
She nods in agreement, “Correct, but I’d like to wait until the girls get here to explain-”
*knock, knock, knock*
I turn to the door, again, and open it to find five familiar mares and a dragon at the door.
Well, isn’t this just all kinds of convenient.
I turn back to Twilight and raise an eyebrow at her. She giggles a little, “Well I guess we can get started then.”
In short order Twilight has us sit in a circle on some cushions she provided and has explained to us that she will be trying a simple spell to skim our surface thoughts and project them for others to hear. Spike opts out at this point and heads upstairs. She asked us all here to get a good sample size and variety of participants. She also won’t tell us who she’ll be scanning next so we, as participants, don’t anticipate it too much.
I think test subjects might be a more accurate word but kudos to her on tact, I’m sure this will be interesting at the very least.
She starts off with Rainbow Dash, her horn and the target pegasus glow a moment before we hear the flier's thoughts as if someone clicked a button to turn on speakers in her head.
*Click*“No way this spell will work, I could be training for the Wonderbolts right now! I was thinking if I could somehow combine my Bucaneer Blaze with the Sonic Rainboom maybe I could-” *click*
Twilight looks over at Rainbow who only just notices that her mind got read, “No way it could work huh?”
“Eh heheh…” Rainbow rubs the back of her head.
Applejack is next.
*click* “Gotta make sure the APPLES from the south orchard get harvested soon, also make sure those APPLE fritters get made, make sure APPLEbloom doesn’t sleep in before school, les’ see what else... APPLE buckin, APPLE bakin, APPLE shakin-” *click*
Hydro quips in, “Got apples on the brain there Applejack?”
Applejack rolls her eyes as Rarity gets to go next.
*click* “and then maybe a bit of orange to go with the mane, ugh, it’s so hard to think of good designs for suits, they don’t leave much to work with at all! Now maybe if I can get Voltage Surge into a nice sundress I can-”*click*
Pinkie takes this one, “Ooh, I think you’d look really pretty in a sundress Volty!”
This gets a good laugh out of the group while Twilight aims at Fluttershy.
*click* “I mean he is good with animals but I don’t know if he feels that way and if he doesn’t then what do I do… Ok Fluttershy just focus on something else, oh I can’t forget to buy some fresh seeds for Elizabeak and -” *click*
Everypony just stares at Fluttershy in silence.
Was she talking about me-
My thought is cut off after Twilight chooses Pinkie as the next target.
*click* (The sound of the party cannon is heard with the sounds of eating in the background) *click*
Twilight gives Pinkie a look, “Ok let’s try that again.”
*click*“eatsleepmakefriendspartyeatsleepmakefriendspartyeatsleepmakefriendspartyeatsleepmakefriendsparty” *click*
*click* (We hear this) *click*
*click* “And so I was thinking instead of having Applejack come in here in chapter 15 we instead have Rainbow Dash show up and save Applejack’s appearance for chapter 17 when-” *click*
Ok, nopony is sure what to think while Twilight fires up the spell at Volt next.
*click* “Wow, this town has some good looking librarians, and why do I like purple more now. Wait a minute they can hear me, wait a minute I can hear me! Umm, this has been a weekly test of the Equestrian Radio system, we now return you to our regular programming of smooth jazz-” *click*
Volt breaks the silence that follows, “Well, this is awkward.”
Hydro hits him on the back of the head breaking the tension, “And now it’s not.”
Apparently Twilight took that as Hydro volunteering.
*click* “(the sound of water flowing is heard in the background) totally deserved that… gotta reboot the systems… set up some precautions… acquire apples… power draw is too high to sustain… where did I leave my wrench…” *click*
I make a comment, “Having a little trouble focusing there? Always knew you were a bit wishy washy.”
Volt gets in on it too, “With all that water in there, bet he has a lot of wet dreams.”
The entire room facehoofs.
Guess that leaves me.
*click* (This is what they hear) *click*
Twilight looks over to me, “Music?”
I shrug, “Believe it or not that’s actually pretty accurate, I tend to hear music in my head all the time even if it’s in the background. Everything else just tends to be images and feelings. Take another look, try a different spot or something.”
*click* A cacophony of voices from my own to any of the others comes through, all of them unintelligible from being simultaneous.*click*
I scratch the back of my head with a hoof, "Sorry, I was thinking of the possibilities."
Pinkie jumps up, “Oh! Twilight, Twilight! Next time we go on a trip you should cast that spell on Rhino so we can have music!”
I deadpan a response, “So, I’m essentially a really good radio that takes requests… I’m surprisingly okay with this.”
The whole room chuckles again.
Twilight delivers her findings, “Well this spell seems to work, though it’s amazing how different everypony’s mind is. I don’t think I’ll be using this spell that often except maybe for Pinkie’s idea of having Rhino be our radio.”
After putting away the cushions we all start to work our way back to our respective homes. I almost forget my bag but I go back and grab it, while I’m there I see Twilight looking at the slightly ashy spot where Volt was sitting earlier.
Guessing she’s wondering how she’s going to clean that up… or maybe she’s thinking of something else…