Perchance to Dream

by David Silver

32 - On the Road Again

We got ready for a new day. I felt like a million dollars. Did massages translate over, or maybe just being so relaxed? Either way, I felt limber and stress-free as I practically bounced towards the van.

Kevin had a bit of a smile as he followed. "Travelling really agrees with you. Those beds weren't that comfortable, were they?"

Shoot. "I'm just keeping a positive spirit about the whole thing."

"You're succeeding. You can have the first driving shift." He hopped up into the passenger seat. "I'll navigate us towards some breakfast before we put in the major miles."

I took my place without complaint. "I'm in the mood for eggs." I smoothly pulled the van out of the parking lot and our great journey continued.

We admired a cave to break up the monotony, and it was a sizable one. I hadn't ever visited one like it and admired the colors on display in the various minerals in the wall. We got to disobey any diet we were on with road food provided as we went, but such trips were not the time to be completely strict about such things.

I was in stone. I had fallen asleep while Kevin was driving along. I heard a soft bell, then a sort of fwoosh I'd learned to associate with magic.

"Did it work?" came a muffled female voice. It was Starlight. "True? Are you awake?" She rapped on my head and broke right through the stone.

There was no point not breaking free, so I shook off the rest of the rock to see I was seated beneath a bell with wires running down to a pedestal I had been placed on. "You can tell when I wake up?"

"Twilight and I thought it up," said Starlight with some pride. "It's not nearly as complex as you likely think. We just used our heads. Ponies are not as heavy as rock, so as soon as you get lighter..."

I got the gist. "So it goes off when the weight goes down."

"Precisely. Consider it also a True Shot burglary alarm, in case somepony tried to make off with my student." She rolled her eyes. "I'd have a few words for such a pony. So! How are you? Aren't you up early? This is the shortest petrification period we've recorded so far."

I raised a hoof to my cheek. "Well I hadn't meant to go to sleep, it just happened. We were just driving and I got bored, and--"

"You alright, Linnie?" I was suddenly awake and Kevin was talking to me.

I felt a rush of emotions. I was embarrassed to be 'caught', even if it was natural to nod off on such a long trip. "What? Just took a little nap is all."

"I thought you were talking to me." He shrugged. "I didn't know you spoke in your sleep, but I guess I was pretty beat last night."

I tensed a bit. How much had I said? "Oh, well..."

"No big deal," he assured, eyes on the road. "Two more hours, then maybe grab some dinner?"

That sounded like a better topic. "That sounds great. Any other tourist spots on the way?"

"Not on this leg of the trip."

I didn't want to sleep again, not with Kevin right there, and knowing I had made some interesting noises. I worried a little about Starlight and hoped she would understand.

I resisted all urges to sleep until we actually bunked up at a new motel for the night and crashed into our beds, ready for some real rest after a day of being locked in a van. The bed wasn't the softest ever, but compared to the seat, it was good enough.

The bell rang softly outside my stony shell. I didn't even bother waiting, I just wriggled and broke the stone away even as Starlight appeared.

She landed lightly and nodded. "There you are. Are you back for longer than a second this time?"

I nodded quickly. "Back, for real this time." My eyes darted around. "Twilight also awake?"

Starlight rolled her eyes. "Miss Princess is staring at stars at the moment."

"Then why isn't she staring at you? You're the best star in the area." I had meant it as a little joke, but the moment it finished escaping me, I realized how it could be taken as so much more.

Starlight went a bright red and pivoted in place away from me. "I hope you're ready for lessons!" she said in a strained voice. "We have plenty to go over..."

I wanted to apologize, but there wasn't an obvious way to do so that I saw. Instead I followed after her. "What are we going over today."

"Tonight," she corrected. "Let's see you glow to start." She opened a door with magic and stepped inside a smaller room. It was lined with books. That seemed common in Twilight's castle. "Go on."

I focused on making light and it came. In fact, it came easier and smoother than before. "Huh... Aloe and Lotus really do know what they're doing."

Starlight blinked at that. "What did they do?"

I pointed up at my glowing horn. "She pressed down near the base of my horn until something... gave, and a headache I didn't even realize was building went away."

Starlight's expression darkened a little before a bright smile returned. "She's quite knowledgeable, for an earth pony. I can only presume she's had special training in unicorn anatomy." She circled around me slowly. "That glow is good. Now, blink."

I blinked.

"Not that blink!" She thrust a hoof up at my horn. "Make it go out, then back, as quickly as you can. Show me your control."

I crossed my eyes a bit as I snuffed the light, then tried to resummon it. The first time went well enough, but as I snuffed it again, I could feel things getting... backed up for lack of a better word.

Starlight put a hoof on my shoulder. "Relax. Feel that? That's what happens when you try to get magic to move more precisely than you're able. Practice can improve that, but it's important to recognize it and avoid it in the future. Let it get too backed up and you're in for one trip to pain city." She walked past me, tail swaying lightly. "Understand?"

I did, and said as much. "Am I ready to learn a spell?" I was a little excited to do that.

That got a smile on her lips. "You remind me of somepony..." She sat down. "Well, let's see how you handle this one. It's one of the earlier ones I learned." Her magic glowed and pulled a book down from the shelves. "It's a cleaning spell. All you need is cleaning supplies, and it does the rest." She gestured and a little closet opened, revealing sudsy water, brushes, mops, and other things. "I was hoping today would be the day."

I glanced over at the supplies before looking back at her grin. "Alright... how do I get to work?" I willed the mop to dunk itself in the bucket. That wasn't hard.

Starlight gently bopped my horn. "We're not using brute telekinesis, oh no." She floated the book over and it had strange writing in it. "I want you to read this."

"I can't," I said bluntly. "This is not in English or any other language I'm even aware of."

Starlight nodded. "Stop trying to read it, and read it. Let it soak in. Just admire it like a painting until it clicks."

I gave her a squint before trying to look at the page and relax. Maybe it was like one of those 'cross your eyes just so' puzzles to see something in three dimensions I could never do. Whatever it was, I owed Starlight a try and I stared... and stared... "Should something be happening?"

"Relax."

Being told to relax was remarkably unrelaxing, but I tried, and got bored. My eyes started to slide off the page and my mind wandered and suddenly... there it was. They meant something. I had no idea what they meant, but they meant something. I felt my bulb of magic itching in my skull and could feel it in my horn. "What is this!?" I squeaked out in surprise, and the feeling faded.

Starlight looked overjoyed. "You saw it? Excellent." She snapped the book shut. "You're better than one unicorn I know."

I blinked at that. "Which?"

Starlight waved it off. "Don't worry about that. He's a dear stallion, but he's more of a reader and less of a doer, in the end. Still, a valuable example. He had considerable magical reserve, but he couldn't do magic, not the spell you just saw a glimpse of. All that, for telekinesis, poor-- Nevermind that!" She opened the book. "Back to looking. When you feel that itch, I want you to scratch it. Let your magic flow along right where that itch is like it was a soothing cream."

And so we did, and I made quite the mess. The first time I tried that spell, the mop surged into motion and knocked the soapy pail right over. Brushes flew randomly and much more of a mess was created than had been fixed. Despite that, Starlight was full of praise and encouragement.

Then she had me do it again. And again... and again...

It felt like a dozen or so attempts had been made. I was tired, sore, and had a headache. "One more time," she insisted with clenched teeth.

With a sigh, I stared at the page and closed my eyes as I felt the magic flow up. I was too tired. That had perhaps helped me. I didn't have enough energy to get in the way of where things wanted to go.

I heard a little giggle and cracked open an eye to see a mop dancing along, cleaning dutifully. Brushes were hard at work on the very mess I had made. I was too surprised not to ruin the whole thing. Everything crashed to the ground, but I had done it!

Starlight quickly repeated that fact as she hugged me right around the neck. "I knew you could, my student." She flashed a big smile. "Now aren't you glad you got a good teacher, hmm?"

She was fishing for compliments, and not even very gracefully, but I obliged. "Thank you. Your lessons are really paying off."

Starlight's horn flashed and all the mess was sent away. "You can relax now. I have somepony to talk to!" She vanished with a bright fit of sparkles, leaving me in the suddenly quiet room.

I was too beat. I looked around for a bed, failed to find one, and staggered out and around until I managed to find my own room. With a smile I collapsed on the bed.

I awoke. I was still sore and headachy, and it was time to get up. Damn it all to hell!

Kevin was watching me as he had the morning before. "Huh, these beds didn't work out for you?" I muttered something vile in response. "I'll take driving first this time."

Author's Note:

The road-trip continues!

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

Lets start with the Sorcerers Apprentice, then move onto The Apprentice once you dont trash the castle every day.

[Daremo]

stress free - stress-free

where that itch it like it - where that itch is like it

head-achy - headachy

---

Kevin is no dim bulb, I have a suspicion that he suspects that something is suspicious with Linda's somnolent speech.

Hmmm... and pony magic is something that you learn to do instinctively? All the same, the way of discerning and deploying the dweomer is decidedly dream-like.

[badninja]

Maybe Starlight should hold off on the lessons until the move is finished. Traveling is not a good time for this type of lessons.

[tsaukpaetra]

Someone isn't letting on that they're catching on. It will be interesting to finally know what Linda's body actually does when she's on the other side.
Good old Starlight, competing against even Earth ponies....
Keep going! ;)

[David Silver]

7931141 I hadn't considered that, but it feels very true.

[Warrior Kitten]

Yeah, Kevin knows something's up. The fact that he was watching her as she woke up kinda gives it away.

[RadicalDishonesty]

I can't tell if I like the implication that Sunburst could still overcome his magic problems with a realignment of some theory... or if I'm annoyed he spent a large part of his life feeling useless over something he could actually fix.

Probably depends on whether or not he has an actual chance to fix it.

[wlam]

"Twilight and I thought it up," said Starlight with some pride. "It's not nearly as complex as you likely think. We just used our heads. Ponies are not as heavy as rock, so as soon as you get lighter..."

I got the gist. "So it goes off when the weight goes down."

"Precisely. Consider it also a True Shot burglary alarm, in case somepony tried to make off with my student."

I like this. It really makes eminent sense. I had been wondering about this, you know. Like, did the bench Shot was lying on during the spa incident collapse from suddenly having a massive hunk of rock where a pony should be? It seems like it ought to.

[Luckyfanisaac]

I nodded quickly. "Back, for real this time." My eyes darted around. "Is Twilight also awake?"