Chapter 6: Saturday!
Aptitude
MLP:FiM
By: Kestrel
Morning came once more to the sleeping form of Blizzard and Flathoof in their beds. Blizzard had been having troubled dreams about what had happened earlier in the week in his first weather class. He only managed to show token focus in his classes for the rest of the week, probably not doing as well on his first few quizzes as he would have liked. But to him, his strange and hazy vision from several days ago took precedence in his mind. It had been his first chance to be something more than a burden or outright danger to those around him.
However, over time that Friday night, Blizzard eventually fell to sleep. Not even the sun could wake him and his alarm clock had been mercifully deactivated, and promptly tossed into a drawer.
By the time Blizzard Warning came to, it was long past morning, with the sun hanging tall in the sky. His stomach rumbled in want of food, and Blizzard realized he must have missed breakfast. A single sniffle escaped his nose and he held back tears as he took his daily shower and brushed his teeth.
He had already wasted a huge amount of time in bed, so it was time to go out into campus and have some fun, and get something to quell the pain in his stomach. Flathoof had started stirring in his bed, but Blizzard Warning assumed that he wouldn’t have any trouble finding him on his own.
Maybe he’d see if he could meet some of the others. If he was lucky, he’d see them at lunch.
Sadly, there was no food up for grabs in Enchantment Hall, since the cook staff didn’t work weekends. So that left the main cafeteria in the center of campus. When Blizzard arrived through the door, there were a lot less ponies around than he would have thought. He looked around for Strata, Double Dose, and Merry Weather, but they were nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, a hoof waved him over, a genuine smile on the lips of the waving unicorn. Regal Virtue was sitting with his buddies at a table. Blizzard returned the greeting with a smile and went to go get his own food before joining the older colt and his friends.
The first thing that Blizzard noticed almost immediately was that Regal’s entire group consisted of unicorns. Most were older than Blizzard, but there were a few around his age. After introductions, he learned a few of their names and that they were all from Canterlot.
The ponies flanking his seat were a brother and sister named Argent Blaze and Sable Promise who shared the same black coat, but had strikingly different manes. Argent’s being a fiery orange while Sable’s was a muted grey, and they had the same sort of gemstone motif in their cutie marks, both being shields with a single gem encrusted on it. A diamond and onyx respectively. Blizzard also noticed the cutie mark adorning Regal’s flank, as he had never actually looked before. It was a scroll with a crown atop of it, which fit, given his immense knowledge of things and his apparent skills in leadership.
“Welcome to the cool kids, Blizzard!” greeted Argent. “Stick with us and you’ll be the toughest, coolest colt in the school by the end of the year.”
“Sure, but not by hanging around you,” Sable retorted, propping her head on a hoof. Argent reached across behind Blizzard and tried to smack Sable’s nose, but Sable was too quick and smacked his hoof. The two devolved into tumbling on the floor, playfighting with one another. Regal laughed at his friends’ antics as he shook his head.
“You two are a couple of jokers!” he stated, looking between the brothers and sisters. “Things are never dull when you two are here.” A sickly green unicorn with a brown mane whispered into Regal’s ear. Regal dismissed him with a wave of his hoof and replied with a quiet tone that Blizzard almost couldn’t pick up.. “Nah, nah, he’s cool. After all, he’s a descendant of one of the greatest ponies to ever live, even better, a unicorn.”
The green unicorn seemed to accept this and brushed his mane out of his face with a hoof. He had yet to speak where Blizzard could hear him. His cutie mark was the image of a green hammer. For some reason, he felt that this little hang-out was a test of some kind.
“Hey, you guys want to go play a game to practice magic?” Regal asked the group. The sibling unicorns ended their tussle and stood up straight and saluted.
“Absolutely!” they exclaimed in sync. Blizzard was admittedly intrigued. Practicing magic sounded cool, as long as he didn’t cause any problems. Merry had seen what happened on Tuesday, but she hadn’t put together that he had caused the funnel cloud to appear. She just recognized that he saved his life, and to be honest, he preferred it that way.
A stack of dirty dishes formed in a collections tray as the group of unicorns departed the mess hall and made their way toward an open practice field meant for hoofball, which wasn’t set to start practicing for another week.
In the distance sat a little shack full of supplies for sports teams for the school. Sports weren’t the greatest attraction of this particular school since academics were what most students came for, but the magical sparring team had an intense rivalry with Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Most of the time, Starswirl Academy lost out, but both teams were always close.
“So practice for magical sparring starts up in about a month,” Regal Virtue began. “Who wants to put in some practice before tryouts?” A murmur of agreement went up from the other four ponies in the group as they all set about doing some basic stretches and mental exercises.
Regal Virtue finished his stretches early and took Blizzard off to the side to talk.
“Hey Blizzard, you’re new here, so I won’t force you to participate if you don’t want to,” he said kindly. Blizzard Warning shook his head confidently.
“No way, it sounds cool! I wanna join.”
Regal smiled at Blizzard’s enthusiasm and directed him to sit down and watch while the others practiced for a bit before he joined. It wasn’t a complicated game, but Regal insisted that he sit out to learn the rules and such.
“Now Blizzard,” Regal began as he stepped out onto the field with Sable while Argent and the green pony faced them on the opposite side. “In magical sparring, you are limited to three basic spells: a knockback beam, a shield spell, and a blinding flash. Any other spells are illegal, as it could give ponies with certain cutie marks unfair advantages. So we’re gonna show you how it’s done!”
All four of the ponies dropped down to a fighting stance, with a fair distance between them. Argent charged as he let out a roar, happy to be in the fray. His horn lit up with a fury as he launched a beam at Regal, who simply sidestepped the shot as he returned his own fire. The green pony reacted quickly, throwing a shield spell in front of Argent, the thin wall protecting him from the beam of light.
Several more vollies of magical energy spurred forth from both sides as they aimed for each other, casting protective shield walls to defend against the opposing onslaught.
Suddenly, a flash burst forth from Sable’s horn and everypony who was looking had their vision white out for about a second. Argent rubbed his eyes to get the lingering light out of his eyes, and when he came out of it, he tumbled to the ground, pushed back by a beam from Regal Virtue.
The green pony fired off another beam headed for Regal, who was exposed from taking aim and blasting his target back. Sable moved in front of Regal to block, but was hit by the beam before she could cast the spell, knocking her into the colt behind her. Argent was sitting out unhappily, as he got knocked out of the agreed upon boundaries. Both Sable and Regal were down, but not out, so they were still in the game, and still targets.
Relentless flashes of light surged from both downed ponies and the green pony covered his eyes and cast a shield spell instinctively. When his sight returned, he saw Regal jumping off of the hooves of Sable and ascending high into the air. Regal’s horn started to glow with energy for his next spell, and the green pony cast another shield spell to guard against the oncoming attack, only the attack came from Sable! It was a diversion! The green pony tumbled back, but regained his hooves in time to be beset by a follow-up attack from Regal, knocking him out of the ring.
“Nice try, Emerald!” Regal shouted out. “Looks like we got you that time. That should be a move we use against Celestia’s school!”
Blizzard looked at the green pony, now knowing him to be Emerald, and saw his scowl. Yikes, he didn’t like losing.
“So, I think that should be a good enough demonstration,” Regal Virtue said with panting breaths. “You want to try?”
Blizzard Warning needed no second invitation. He trotted out onto the field and was placed on a team with Argent Blaze and Sable Promise against Regal and Emerald. When firecracker they were using as a starting whistle popped, Blizzard was immediately knocked out of the ring by a blast from Emerald. Sable and Argent put up a good fight, but Regal and Emerald were in perfect unison, perfectly countering everything the brother and sister could toss at them.
The next several matches went just as badly and Argent Blaze started to get annoyed, even trying to kick Blizzard into gear with somewhat harsh words, only to be shot down, literally, by his sister.
Boom!
Off went the next signal firecracker, and Blizzard began with an immediate shield spell, successfully blocking the quick draw attack from Emerald, who seemed to have a particular penchant for attacking him. Argent and Sable laid down suppressing shots, forcing the other two to adopt a more defensive strategy. Blizzard decided now would be a good time to try a blinding spell. He flashed out light from his horn, but Regal was ready, and turned away.
Emerald threw up his shield while Regal dove to the side, unleashing a blast, knocking Sable out of the arena. The young mare tossed up her hooves in dismay. Even her patience was coming to an end in the face of repeated defeat. Blizzard and Argent pressed on, covering each other.
Both Emerald and Regal nodded to each other as another beam of light bounced off a shield spell in front of them. Two flashes bursted forth and blinded both Argent and Blizzard. But Blizzard Warning kept a cool head as he thought things through. He had seen this just happen! He whispered to his teammate quickly.
“Don’t shield!” he hissed. “Aim for them instead!”
When the light of the flash faded and was replaced by the light of day, Regal was once again in the air as Blizzard fired off a beam of light at Emerald, surprising the green stallion and sending him back across the boundaries. Genuine surprise showed in Regal Virtue’s eyes as Argent’s attack failed to find its mark.
With his teammate down, Regal should have been worried, especially now that Blizzard was starting to get it. The pair fired an onslaught of magic at Regal, who showed off his superior athleticism and training by dodging each shot, and soon managed to start firing his own shots.
His movements were nearly mesmerizing as he perfectly evaded each blast by nothing more than a hair’s breadth. Distracted by his form and expertise, Blizzard ended up on the wrong side of a blast of magic, sending him out of the ring. Argent followed soon after.
Regal Virtue held up a hoof to stop. His team was undefeated in their little scrimmages, but he looked exhausted.
“Whew…” he panted. “I didn’t think that last one would be so close!” Emerald shot a hate-filled glare at Blizzard. He was the only one on his team to even be knocked out once, and Blizzard was the one who did it. The colt was beginning to think Emerald didn’t like him so much.
After a rest period of about ten minutes, the teams were mixed up and Blizzard was paired with Regal and Argent. He still didn’t do to well, but he managed to hold his own fairly well for a new player.
A few more matches later, and they stopped for good. Regal came over to Blizzard Warning to say his goodbyes for the day.
“That was some really good play, dude!” he said. “I hope I can count on you to join the team this year. With a bit of polish, you could be a pretty great asset to the team.”
Blizzard nodded enthusiastically, too tired to form an actual response that involved words. Regal smiled back at him, but his smile faded as he looked over Blizzard Warning’s shoulder.
The group of griffons that seemed to have some hard feelings toward ponies came to the field, a hoofball in one of their claws.
“Hey, ponies. Get off of our field! We’re about to practice, and we don’t need any pointy-headed pansies getting in the way. This is our turf!” the leader said. Regal’s face, still soaked by sweat with his body heaving in exhaustion, turned into a defiant, violent scowl.
“You mangy griffons!” he retorted loudly. “We were leaving anyway, this isn’t your ‘turf’ either. So quit acting like you’re so tough, you’re not impressing anypony.”
The leader griffon’s wings flared out in anger as he scratched at the ground with a talon. He was ready to rumble, and Regal was willing to fight back. Regal’s friends took charge of the situation.
“Not now, Regal, don’t start anything,” Sable said. “They may be dirty, rotten stinkers, but you’re too weak and tired to fight. They’ll hurt you. We should just go.”
She and her brother had to physically restrain the angered Regal Virtue. The griffon leader pounded a claw to his chest, showing his dominance. Regal snarled and gave up, allowing himself to be hauled back by his friends as they exited the field.
Outside of the field, back closer to campus, Regal’s temperament hadn’t improved.
“I swear… next time those griffons try to threaten us, I’ll be ready to stand my ground,” he said distastefully. His friends nodded. “That just sets my nerves on fire! They think that they’re better than us, but ponies have shown time and again that we’re just as good or strong as anything else.”
More agreement from his friends followed. Blizzard went with the flow and nodded his head in agreement. He admired Regal’s passion, and would be willing to help his friend stand up to the griffons, after all, it wasn’t like they were about to try to make friends with him.
“Well,” Blizzard said, doing his best to excuse himself and interrupt the rising heat emanating from Regal. “It’s getting late and I’m hungry. I’m gonna go see if I can find a few of my other friends. See ya later, bye!”
He rushed off without awaiting a response. If he turned around, he would have seen Regal’s contorted face soften into something like a smile emerge. He mumbled under his breath some praise for the young colt.
“Come on guys, let’s go eat.”
Back in the cafeteria, Blizzard slicked back his sweat matted mane, and was slapped on the back by the strong hoof of Double Dose. His back stung like he had just gotten a shot… He winced and a small whimper escaped his lips. Double Dose gave him a look that suggested either pity or amusement. Blizzard couldn’t really tell past his solid expression.
“Nice to see you too,” Blizzard said in a deadpan. “Where were you all day? I didn’t see any of you guys around today. I was out playing on the hoofball field.”
“I’ve been out exploring in the forest with Strata. I’m not sure where Merry Weather or Flathoof were all day, but I found our trip to be rather productive,” Double Dose responded.
“So what did you guys do in the forest?” Blizzard asked, intrigued.
Double Dose opened his mouth to speak when a much higher voice filled the air around them.
“They probably were busy making out all day,” Merry Weather said, coming up from behind Double Dose, earning her an amused expression.
“Well, that’s farther than you would have gotten with me,” he retorted.
The pegasus filly crossed her arms and climbed onto Double Dose’s back. She reclined and made a silly face at Blizzard Warning, who returned it by sticking out his tongue and pulling down the skin below his eye.
“Ha ha, very funny, DD,” she replied. “Come on, I’ve got better stallions to go for than you if I wanted. I’m not that desperate yet.”
“But still pretty desperate…” Double Dose said under his breath into his drink. Merry’s ears perked up and she started to kick at Double Dose’s neck, much to his amusement. While that would definitely hurt Blizzard, Double Dose just always seemed to enjoy the punishment, as if he didn’t feel it.
“Booo!” Merry complained, flitting over to be next to Blizzard. “I don’t like you anymore, now Blizzard’s gonna take your place as my best friend. Too bad, so sad!”
Double Dose feigned distress. In an exaggerated manner, he placed a hoof over his heart.
“Oh, I don’t think I’ll ever get over it,” he said in his best sarcasm.
The two ponies were about to get into a full-on play fight when a misty-eyed Flathoof walked into the cafeteria, smacking his lips together.
That’s right, Flathoof had been missing all day too. Blizzard wondered what he had been up to all day.
“Hey guys…” he managed to get out. “What’s up? I was asleep allll day.” The yellow pegasus let out a huge yawn as his mane fell over his face, covering his eyes. As he got his food and sat down next to Merry, she let out a little squeal.
The filly leapt up from her seat and dove to the other side of Blizzard, pulling up one of his hooves to cover his nose for him while doing the same for herself.
“Ewww!” she exclaimed. “You stink! Did you even shower today!?”
“Nope,” came the expected reply. All the ponies at the table slumped their shoulders in disgust as they scooted down the bench subtly. Flathoof continued to eat undeterred by their reaction.
“Hey, it’s a Saturday, I can be lazy if I want to.”
“No skipping showers!” Merry, Double Dose, and Blizzard yelled at him simultaneously, the combined force of their voices knocking him over.
Much of the remaining meal was spent in silence until all the food was gone and the dishes were stacked. The four ponies were left to talk casually.
“So…” Blizzard began. “Where’s Strata? Why didn’t she show?”
Merry began to bounce her eyebrows at the colt suggestively at the mention of Strata’s name, but before she could open her mouth, Double Dose did the favor of covering it for her, electing to provide an actual answer.
“She wanted to study and headed back to her room,” Double Dose said matter-of-factly, completely ignoring the unhappy filly he was gagging.
“Oh…” Blizzard said disappointedly. He knew that they couldn’t all be together all the time, just like he had been with Regal and his friends, but he felt like he had missed out on her company too. “Well, maybe we can all meet up tomorrow and do something together! The five of us!”
Double Dose looked to Flathoof, who slowly nodded while Merry Weather finally managed to defeat the offending hoof over her mouth.
“Yes, yes, yes! Let’s go swimming!” she shouted. Flathoof looked completely disheartened by the idea.
“Noooo, I don’t want a bath!” he whined. Blizzard’s mind was officially made up.
“Yeah, we’re going now,” he said, narrowing his eyes at his roommate. Considering how much that pony ran around collecting his ‘notes,’ it surprised Blizzard that he’d be too lazy to shower and actively fight it on weekends. Apparently, a few ground rules needed to be set out. Blizzard wasn’t a terribly clean pony, but he at least respected hygiene.
Double Dose seemed to be pleased by the idea. Knowing him though, he would probably just end up sitting on the sidelines rather than get wet himself.
Merry Weather smiled brightly at the (mostly) agreement going around the table.
“Awesome!” she shouted. “Everypony grab your swimsuits, I’ll tell Strata when I get back to the dormitory. We’ll meet by the entrance of the school at about ten. See you there!”
The pegasus zipped out of the cafeteria in a purple and blue streak. Swimsuits? Well that’d be interesting. He had managed to learn how to swim, but something gave him the feeling that Merry just wanted to see the colts in swim trunks.
For now though, the problem of a passed out roommate took precedence. Seriously, Flathoof had fallen asleep right onto the table, leaving a puddle of drool for some unfortunate custodian pony to clean up.
Double Dose bid farewell as he went off to his own dormitory, claiming that he had to go look for his swimsuit before he went to bed, leaving Blizzard alone with the sleeping pegasus colt. He debated leaving him there and going back by himself, but ultimately decided against it.
Blizzard tried poking at the colt, but he barely even registered the existence of life beyond steady breathing. After trying to carry him for about five minutes, Blizzard lost his balance and his friend crashed to the ground, still not breaking his slumber, and Blizzard Warning resorted to pulling him by the tail.
He’d better not be like this tomorrow…
After twenty minutes of dragging Flathoof by the tail, he finally arrived in the dormitory and threw him into the shower. The yellow colt’s coat was now smudged with dirt stains from his little trip, and Blizzard smiled evilly as he turned on the cold water and left, locking the door to the bedroom.
“Whyhyhyhy!” a distraught scream rang out from the bathroom.
Blizzard smiled to himself and laid down for bed, patting himself on the back mentally for a job well done.