A unicorn from the town of Manehatten is accepted to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
Maghus Uncorn is your average Manehattenite unicorn. He dreams of using his magic to help others and to make a difference in Equestria, but how much of a difference does he actually make? To Equestria and its citizens? Will add tags for major characters as they appear in the story. Maghus is my own self-created pony, with a few traits of my own. If you would like to use him, please ask me first and I'll let you know depending on the type of story.
Shipping included as well as some OC's I've gathered from some generous members of the FIMFiction community. This is my first solid attempt at a fanfiction in years, so hopefully the criticism and praise I receive will help to progress this story along for a while.
Ok, my last attempt at this failed poorly, so I'm hoping that this time goes better. Will be a slightly longer prologue on it's own, I want to know people's opinions on the story itself before I keep it going. And once again, constructive criticism is much appreciated after the trainwreck I attempted earlier today. Rate and comment with your opinions PLEASE.
~Manehatten~
"Are you serious Dad?!" Maghus squealed like a little filly, prancing about in circles before regaining his composure and clearing his throat. He had never meant to act like that, let alone in front of his parents. "I actually got accepted into the School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot?! Yippee!!" Maghus' little colt body could barely handle the raw emotion he was feeling right now. His horn glowed softly, levitating him gently off the ground a few inches before he realized what was happening from the excitement he felt at that very moment.
"Calm down son!" Maghus' father Cyclone chuckled as he patted the excited unicorns head, calming Maghus enough to rid him of his sudden levitation. "Just because you got accepted doesn't mean your a shoe-in to join. If I remember correctly from some rumors I've heard, you need to pass and entrance exam before you even start classes there." Cyclone ruffled his son's mane as Maghus continued quivering with joy, slightly less so now that he knew there might be the possibility of a test before he could even start. "You're going to need to make sure you know how to control your magic before you start running about zapping things!" Cyclone rubbed a slightly blackened spot on his rump that had never fully healed. "We both know what happened last time you tried using magic when you were nervous."
Maghus dipped his head slightly with a frown on his face, still a bit remorseful for the accidental mini-lightning bolt he had shot at his father when he was trying to cast the same levitation spell he had accidentally used moments before. "Sorry dad. You know I didn't mean to zap you..." He left his head hanging as he turned to head back home, stopped however by the gentle hoof placed on his shoulder by his father.
"I know you're sorry Maghus." Cyclone replied as he pulled his boy in for a hug. "But regardless of that you're still proving why you deserve to go to the school in Canterlot." Cyclone smiled proudly at the unicorn he had raised for the past 10 years, growing up into the polite and proud young colt he saw before him. "But you still need to practice keeping your emotions under check. Celestia knows what crazy things can happen when a unicorn loses their head." Cyclone shook his head, remembering a few months back when Maghus had badly sprained a hoof and created a raincloud over his head with magic as he cried in pain. As much as it was rude to laugh at a child's misfortune, it was funny how magic tended to pick up on your emotions and manifest them.
Maghus saw the familiar smirk on his father's face and rolled his eyes as he stood up straight, looking at his father with a slightly annoyed expression. "You're not remembering the sprained hoof AGAIN are you Dad?" Maghus couldn't help but chuckle a bit however, as he remembered his father showing him the cloud he had made when he was crying. It had been a little funny and strange realizing how much his magic was a part of him, and not just simply something used for a tool like a hose or a shovel.
"Nope..." Cyclone calmed himself down as he fluttered his wings slightly to ease out the stress HE felt being the pegasus father to a unicorn colt. "Nothing like that son. Just remembering how your mother and I first met."
"Dad, EWWW!" Maghus groaned as he galloped off to the house, leaving his chuckling father behind at the post office.
"Works everytime." Cyclone snorted to himself with a smirk as he followed after his slightly melodramatic son. If there was any way to avoid the subject of a conversation with Maghus, it was to start talking about love.
Uncorn Household, later that afternoon
"How was your day sweetheart?" Maghus mother Blizzard asked as she nuzzled her son's auburn and white mane. "Did you get anything interesting in the mail today?" She already knew the answer before even asking however, due to the shining pupil's of Maghus' eyes. "Anything at all?"
Maghus was practically leaping around once again as he repeated what the letter said to his mother, who was also a pegasus. Many ponies wondered how Cyclone and Blizzard had managed to have a unicorn for a son, but it was easily explained by the fact that both of Maghus' grandfathers were unicorns themselves, an uncanny coincidence as many liked to believe. Cyclone and Blizzard thought of it more as a test, trying to live the life of a pegasus and an earth pony at the same time. Her attention was snapped back rather suddenly however, as Maghus horn accidentally poked his mother in the chest during his tirade of joy throughout the kitchen, having already finished his explanation of the letter.
"Ouch...Maghus Uncorn." Blizzard snapped quickly, bringing the unicorn to a stop mid-jump, resulting in him splatting his face on the floor the moment that gravity took effect. This resulted in a small fit of giggles from his mother as Maghus pulled himself onto his hooves, turning to look at his mother who gently calmed herself after seeing the spectacle in front of her. "You know what I've said about being careful with your horn sweetie. It could hurt somepony a lot if you're not careful." She patted her son on the head though, which caught Maghus completely by surprise. Usually a scolding ended with him being sent to his room. His mother noticed the confused expression her son wore and smiled to him. "But considering the circumstances, I think I'll let it slide this time...Only once though!" Blizzard raised her right hoof in an effort to show Maghus how lucky he was to not end up in trouble for the fourth time that week concerning his horn. "Now go wash up, I want you to help me with getting dinner ready. I might even let you try to do something with your magic if you think you're up to it." This last comment immediately resulted in a blur of blue, as Maghus shot upstairs to clean up.
"How did we ever manage to have a unicorn for a son Blizzard?" Cyclone asked as he walked in, his mane slightly windblown due to the mini-blur he had almost had run into him moments ago.
"I like to think we got lucky Cyclone." Blizzard replied as she gave her husband a peck on the cheek and a quick hug. "Besides, he's nearly a pegasus himself, with the speed he has sometimes, and how interested he seems in how the weather works. He didn't end up with a sparkly raindrop for a cutie mark for nothing."
"Yeah, yeah. I know." Cyclone smirked as he recalled the shiny blue mark on his son's navy blue coat. "I still find it a little weird sometimes though, even with both of our fathers being unicorns and all." He couldn't help but smile however, as having a unicorn for a son allowed them to bond in a way that was unique to their family.
"You didn't nickname him Lightning for nothing after what happened 6 months ago." Blizzard retorted as she gave a small tap to the still blackened spot on her husband's rump, causing a small groan of pain to escape Cyclone's muzzle. "It may have been an accident on his part, but for his first spell to be even remotely attached to the weather means something." Blizzard smiled as she walked over to the cupboards, pulling out dishes for supper as she heard the sink stop running in the upstairs bathroom, signalling Maghus' immediate return. "He may be a unicorn, but he's still going to end up being a weather pony, one way or another."
"And you know what?" Cyclone smiled as he walked over to Maghus, who had just arrived in the kitchen. He then ruffled his mane for the umpteenth time that day, much to Maghus' annoyance, but still eliciting a grin from his son considering the mood in the room at the moment. "I don't mind that one bit."
Ok. I hope that went better than the last mess I attempted at. Give feedback on things that need work, like thoughts or something. Otherwise, let me know if I should keep up with this story, I definitely have few better ideas to keep things more realistic this time around.
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?!
Alright, sorry everypony for how long it took me to get this done, got a little behind on this thanks to university and other things. Here's the next chapter and I hope you all enjoy it. Remember to rate and comment with your opinions and constructive criticisms, they really help.
~Canterlot, Saturday morning~
Maghus was sleeping peacefully in his bed, a slight twitch on his muzzle every few seconds as the smell of freshly baked food wafting in from down the hall. He had been only moved into the Canterlot residences for out of Canterlot students. But he had taken to the comfortable beds as if he was still home- falling asleep easily every night, and waking up completely prepared for the day. Today was a little different however, as Maghus would soon find out.
Maghus’ head throbbed slightly as a faint buzzing sound began near the vicinity of his bedside desk. As he tried to bury himself under his blankets in annoyance the buzzing only seemed to increase in intensity, until it finally reached a point that Maghus had to look over to turn off his infernal alarm clock. What he saw however caught him off guard enough to wake him up just the same. His alarm clock looked like a small greyish cloud, with small sparks of lightning coming from it every few moments, which is what had caused the buzzing sounds when they hit the table.
“What in Equestria?” Maghus rubbed his eyes with his hooves, hoping that when he moved them the cloud would be his alarm clock again, and he had just been in a bit of a dream-state still upon waking up. He was disappointed however as the cloud only seemed to spark more, almost seeming to brag about being there beyond his hopes. “Where the hay did my clock go? And why is a CLOUD floating on my desk?”
His mind was still racing as he heard a tapping sound on his door followed by a barely audible voice from behind it, “Hello? Are you ok in there? You’re making quite a bit of noise in there. It’s kind of hard to read with the noise actually.”
“Huh?” Maghus thoughts left the cloud temporarily as he wondered what pony would be up reading on a Saturday morning. He was about to look for his clock to see exactly what time it was when he facehoofed, remembering the “cloud clock” on his desk in its place. “Be right there, just…just gimme a sec.”
Maghus looked around his room, trying to find something to hide the cloud in, when he suddenly heard his doorknob start to turn with a purple glow in it. Whoever was coming in was a unicorn…maybe they’d understand what happened to his clock during the night? His mind was still locked in combat when the door fully opened, but Maghus was too focussed on trying to decide what to do to notice a purple unicorn mare walk a bit into the room and stare with wide eyes at the thundercloud on Maghus’ desk, and back to Maghus.
“Ummm…” The purple mare tried to get Maghus’ attention to no avail however, as Maghus continued to tap his head with his hoof in an attempt to discern the situation. The purple mare slowly walked towards him in an attempt to get his notice, but not so fast as she was quite shy talking to somepony she didn’t know. She wouldn’t have been here at all if it weren’t for the interruption in her reading of a book on the history of Starswirl the Bearded by an incessant buzzing sound coming from the next room. “Excuse me?”
Maghus finally snapped to attention at the question, having finally given up on trying to figure out what to do. He was a little shocked to notice a pony already in his room looking oddly at him and the cloud…the cloud! Maghus quickly dove over his bed, his first instinct to grab the cloud and throw it into his open closet. He was denied this option however, as he received a slightly painful zap to his hoof when it came in “contact” with the cloud, causing him to collapse next to his desk, sucking on his hoof in his muzzle to relieve the pain.
“Ow…that smarts…” Maghus whined as he took his hoof out of his mouth from a few moments of sucking the burn spot. He looked up when he heard a small fit of giggling come from the purple mare in his doorway.
“You know, trying to grab a thundercloud isn’t really the best idea.” She continued giggling as Maghus got up, a frown apparent on his face. The frown didn’t last long however as the giggling got to him and forced him to smile and chuckle a bit himself, realizing how silly it must have looked to see a young colt jump across his bed and shock himself on a miniature thundercloud.
The two of them were actually finding the moment so funny as a matter of fact, that they completely missed the moment when the thundercloud suddenly stopped buzzing and became a passive white cloud. When one of them did finally notice however, it was the purple mare, who stopped giggling all the sudden and stared wide-eyed at the cloud. “You…your desk!” She pointed her hoof at the white cloud, which Maghus turned to and looked at, equally surprised as the mare.
Until she had pointed out the suddenly changed cloud, Maghus had started to recognize the purple mare as the one from class earlier that week who had gotten stage fright the day they had attempted altering apples. He had just been about to ask her name when she had pointed out the cloud on his desk. All he had expected was the cloud to have sparked a bit, but as he turned he noticed the lack of a buzzing sound and was as equally surprised as the mare to see a white cloud on his desk instead, not making a bit of noise.
“What the hay is going on?” Maghus slowly reached his hoof towards the cloud, expecting at any moment to be shocked by a stray spark once again. He was even more caught off guard when his hoof simply sunk into the white cloud without dispersing that a normal cloud would do when touched by a non-pegasus. The cloud felt moist, yet cool, with a gentle touch almost like velvet on his hoof. He never expected to be able to feel something so nice, let alone even feel a cloud in his life. Not without a cloud-walking spell at least, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever be skilled enough to use one.
The purple mare was equally surprised at this, but then her eyes suddenly lit up in realization as the class earlier that week came back to her. “It’s you!” She jumped with a joy a bit at this exclamation, much to Maghus’ confusion. She continued her train of thought however as the readings she had done came back to her. “You’re the one who made his apple look like a Zapapple!”
Maghus nodded his head slowly, still not sure where this conversation was going. “Yes…but I don’t see what the apple has to do with this.” Maghus pointed his other hoof at a basket of apples sitting on a shelf, then back to the cloud with a confused look on his face. “One’s an apple that became a rainbow colored apple, and the others a cloud that used to be a watch.”
“Exactly!” The pony nodded her head, already clued in to what had happened and waiting for the navy blue colt in front of her to figure out the hint she had dropped. “They both were ordinary objects, that became something else. But think about what happened in the change. Think about what’s different about them. I’ll be right back.” She then turned and galloped out of the room, off to retrieve a certain book from the special library attachment that Princess Celestia had put in her room to boost her studies in magic.
“What happened in the change…?” Maghus was still lost as to what she meant. She mentioned the apple from class randomly and claimed that it was connected to this cloud somehow. But how could a rainbow apple and a used-to-be-watch thundercloud have in common. The more he thought about it however, the more it managed to piece together into a coherent idea. He voiced his thoughts aloud in little more than a whisper to himself as the pieces of the puzzle shifted into place. “Is this more weather magic?” He thought about how the apple had gone rainbow after he had looked at his other classmates, the thundercloud when he woke up, and the now passive cloud that had taken its place after talking to…Shimmer? Was that her name?
~About an hour later, around 10:30 AM~
“I’m back!” The purple mare exclaimed as she trotted in levitating a rather large blue leather-bound book beside her. “Did you figure it out yet?” She asked as Maghus shook himself out of his nap groggily. “I’m so sorry! Were you asleep?” To Maghus she looked slightly miffed at herself as she gently placed the large blue book on his desk next to the cloud he had long since removed his hoof from and fallen asleep at his window a bit thereafter.
“No…no…I was just…” He yawned a bit while he stretched out his back, a little stiff from the awkward position he had fallen asleep in with a small book of his own resting on his horn. “Just taking a nap while I waited for you. I thought you would have been back sooner to be quite honest.” He quickly remembered his manners after everything that had gone on this morning. He levitated the small book off his horn and placed it on a nearby shelf then cleared his throat to speak, “My name is Maghus by the way. Maghus Uncorn. I believe yours was…something Sparkle?”
“It’s um…Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.” She said a little nervously, a little caught off guard by his sudden polite attitude. She had all but broken into his roomed and practically interrogated him and yet he was politely asking her name and acting like nothing was wrong with her being there. She hadn’t expected that considering the day’s events thus far. This colt was much different from most ponies she’d met. Most just spoke briefly to her and then ignored her due to her constant reading and isolation. “Maybe we should get back to your little…cloud issue though before we talk about each other?”
Maghus chuckled a little at this, “Yeah, a little out of place I know. But my parents raised me to be a good pony so I thought we should know each other’s names at least before we find out how I’m somehow using weather magic in my sleep and during daydreams in class.” He was a little surprised however when Twilight’s expression turned to that of one of half-confusion and half-understanding, if such a look had ever existed before in all of Equestria. “Something up?”
Twilight nodded her head a bit, a little surprised at what Maghus had just said. “You mean the apple and the cloud-clock were both accidents? You didn’t mean to do it at all? That…kind of makes sense actually.” Twilight then turned to the large blue book and opened it to a page she had marked with her favorite bookmark. On it showed a unicorn with a glowing horn and a cloud surrounded by a magical aura the same colour as the unicorn’s glowing horn. “This book I have describes how weather magic works, and ever since I had read about it I had always been interested. But I never thought I’d ever encounter this type of magic in my life!”
“Uh, Twilight?” Maghus brought her out of her trance with a wave of a hoof in her face, snapping her back to reality and taken aback at how close Maghus had gotten while she had been looking at the book. She backed up a few steps, slightly nervous about his proximity to her. “Oh! Sorry about that.” Maghus shook his hoof apologetically, not realizing his error in moving so close. He hadn’t noticed it because he felt so…comfortable around Twilight for some strange reason. “I was just about to say, I’m going to see Mr. Moonbeam about my magic later this afternoon in his office actually. I figured I’d wait until then to actually learn about it.” Maghus rubbed the back of his head a bit, a sheepish half-grin on his face. “Sorry about that Twilight.”
Twilight scrunched up her face a bit, a little curious about what Maghus had just said. “What time this afternoon?” She patiently awaited Maghus’ reply, hoping that it wasn’t a mere coincidence.
“About 2 PM. Why’s that?” Maghus tilted his head slightly to the side, curious as to why Twilight had asked such an out-of-the-blue question. “Something else happening then that students need to be at or something? Because I’m pretty sure Mr. Moonbeam would have mentioned that to me.”
“No, it’s not that.” Twilight shook her head as she magically closed the blue book. Her confused look deepened slightly as she chose her next words carefully. “It’s just that Princess Celestia-” She was suddenly cut off by Maghus’ jaw practically smacking the floor.
“You know Princess Celestia?!” Maghus was dumbfounded at this latest statement.
“I thought everyone knew that I was her personal student that she had taken in during the entrance exams?” Twilight looked a little taken aback when she realized that perhaps no one else in the class knew this. Maghus jaw also literally hit the floor as his hooves gave out from under him in surprise. “Anyways, before you cut me off, the Princess had invited me to Mr. Moonbeam’s office for that same time.”
“The Princess is coming to see me about my magic?!” Maghus literally fainted at this, in shock and awe that the most regal pony in all of Equestria was going to meet him! Of all ponies!
“Oh dear…” Twilight shook her head a little as she giggled. “I need to remember how ponies react to me mentioning my connection to the Princess sometimes. I hope he wakes up soon for that meeting.” She continued giggling as she sat down at a chair near Maghus desk, continuing to examine the small cloud on Maghus’ desk.
Sorry it's been such a large gap between my latest update everypony, school and stuff got me kind of sidetracked and I forgot temporarily to update this. Here's the latest chapter and hopefully I remember to update a little more often. Remember to rate and comment, really helps my confidence in this story a lot.
~Canterlot, 11:45 AM~
“Ugh…my head…” Maghus groaned as he slowly came to, rubbing the back of his head with his hoof. “What is that now? The third time I’ve woken up this morning?” Maghus rubbed his eyes slowly as he stretched his back, hearing a few popping sounds come from some of the vertebrae in his spine due to the awkward position he had fainted in.
“Boy do you sure like to sleep…” Twilight giggled as Maghus looked around the room, surprised to see the purple mare sitting at his desk. “I thought you would have woken up a while back already.” Twilight got up from the chair and opened the window a crack, letting in a gentle breeze that caused her mane to flutter slightly as it blew into the room.
“Wow…She’s really pretty…” Maghus thought to himself as he saw the breeze catch her violet mane with the pink stripe down the center. He shook his head a bit at this thought however, slightly disturbed he could be falling for somepony so quickly after meeting them. “You just met her you dunce. Don’t make things awkward now by telling her you’re falling head over hooves for somepony you just met this morning.”
“Uhh…Maghus?” Twilight had her head cocked slightly to the side, looking at Maghus with a look of confusion and worry apparent on every inch. She was slightly worried that he was going to faint again, as he had a bit of a sheepish and half-awake look on his face. “Are you gonna fall asleep again?”
Maghus shook his head once again to clear his thoughts so as not to accidentally blurt out something awkward. “No, no, no, I’m fine Twilight. Still just getting my bearings.” Maghus got up on slightly shaky hooves, slowly gaining his balance as he looked around. Nothing looked different in the room, but it just felt…warmer for some reason. He decided to see if Twilight thought anything was up. “Does anything feel weird to you right now?”
“Why do you think I opened the window silly?” Twilight giggled slightly as she motioned to the open window that Maghus had only just noticed in since coming out of his trance. “The room felt kind of warm, so I thought I’d open the window a bit to let in…well that’s strange.” Twilight suddenly changed topics as she noticed the cloud on Maghus’ desk. It was still a calm white cloud, but it’s shape had altered slightly since the last time she’d looked at it. Now it looked more like a…heart? Since when do clouds look like hearts?
“What is?” Maghus followed her line of sight to the heart-shaped cloud. His caused Maghus to blush slightly though he had no clue why, thus he quickly attempted to hide the apparent colour change on his muzzle to avoid Twilight’s line of sight. He quickly changed the topic by pointing out the clock that had somehow ended up next to the cloud on his desk. “When did the clock get here? As far as I remember before passing out the book and the cloud were the only things on my desk…speaking of which, where is the book?” Maghus scanned the room once over, worried that the book had somehow gotten lost amidst all of his possessions.
“Don’t worry about the book Maghus, I took it back to my room while you were out.” Twilight motioned to the now closed door with one hoof while still cross-examining the cloud. “And I brought the clock over from my room so we wouldn’t lose track of time and miss the meeting with Mr. Moonbeam.”
“Wait, you’re actually going to come?” Maghus looked slightly taken aback with this last remark, which Twilight noticed in an instant with a bemused expression on her face. “From talking before it sounded like you didn’t want to. Why the sudden change of hea…er, mind?” Maghus quickly reworded this last question so as to avoid a possible return to the cloud topic, which now made him slightly awkward.
Twilight gently shuffled one hoof back and forth on the floor as she looked down, suddenly shy once again in another pony’s presence. “Well I…I didn’t want to at first…but…” Twilight’s voice caught in her throat as her shyness once again took hold of her tongue and thoughts, leaving her to look like a bit of a nervous wreck standing in the middle of Maghus’ room.
Maghus quickly took care of the problem however, as he quickly changed the subject towards something a little more current. “Never mind, forget I even asked that. It’s not really my place to know.” Maghus then looked around, trying to find some new topic to get their minds on. His eyes passed over the clock, noticing the time was 12:00 PM. This gave him a perfect idea to get both of their minds going again without any awkward tension, plus from the empty feeling in his abdomen he could really use some good food right now. “Hey Twilight! We should go get something to eat!” Maghus blurted this out within the few seconds of his noticing the clock, snapping Twilight’s attention back to the real world and out of her secluded state.
“Um…yeah! Good idea.” Twilight nodded rapidly as she quickly levitated the clock of the desk and trotted over to the door in a hurry, anxious to get away from the tension in the room and back to her reading which she had long since forgotten about. “I guess I’ll see you this afternoon then…maybe…?” Twilight felt her cheeks go slightly red at this, causing her to squeak on her last word as she rapidly opened the door and galloped out in a hurry to avoid being spotted by any other passing ponies. She didn’t want to be teased about blushing or anything on her way to lunch.
“Ok…I guess…” Maghus slumped his head slightly as he trotted out of his room, disappointed and frustrated at himself for making things so awkward between the two. “Smooth move genius. How do you think Twilight feels about us now? She probably thinks we’re some weird stalker.” Maghus ended the battle in his mind with a quick statement however, pressing the matter to the far corners of his memory. “Why should I care about that? Twilight’s a nice mare and I think I just went too far in asking personal questions.” Maghus face hooved as he descended the stairs to the cafeteria below the rooms. “This is gonna be a weird day, that’s for sure.”
~Canterlot, 1:50 PM~
“Alright, which one of these was Mr. Moonbeam’s again?” Maghus scratched his mane with his hoof, trying to remember which room they had been told to visit about school-related matters when they weren’t in class. It was down this hallway, Maghus was positive of that. Now the problem was trying to remember which one. “Dang it, if it hadn’t been for that dumb cloud issue this morning I wouldn’t be so scatterbrained right now.” Maghus chuckled to himself slightly, realizing the size of the words he had been using lately. His parents may have been pegasi, but they had raised him to be quite the smart pony, even for a unicorn colt. Some ponies had even jokingly asked if he was actually a wise old pony that had found a source of eternal youth at a few places his family had visited in Manehatten. He knew they were joking, but it was kind of funny to see the slightly shocked expressions on their faces when he understood a lot of the conversations that the adults had. His joyous recollections of Manehatten were stopped however, as he had absent-mindedly walked headfirst into one of the office doors.
“Ow…” Maghus groaned as he rubbed his head. “What is with me and getting hurt by stuff today? Sometimes I wonder if my cutie mark should have been a banana peel instead of this silly raindrop and sparks cutie mark I have.” Maghus looked up at the door he had walked into and silently did a little dance in his head. Of all the doors to walk into, he had luckily walked right into the door to none other than Mr. Moonbeam’s door. He gently knocked on the door, hoping that he hadn’t made too much noise upon walking into it.
Maghus was quickly brought back to the world around him however as the doorknob suddenly got a silvery-white glow around it as it turned. Maghus was slightly confused by this, as he had seen Mr. Moonbeam’s magic had more of a blackish-green colour since that was the color of his coat. Maghus’ thoughts as to who was opening the door were quickly sated however, as he gazed upon the most regal figure in all of Equestria- Princess Celestia.
“P...p…p…Princess Celestia!” Maghus practically dove on to the floor in a bow as he caught full sight of the ruler of Equestria. He shook violently on the spot as all of the awe and amazement he felt in this moment threated to tear his young body apart. This was also apparent to the Princess and Moonbeam as his body slightly levitated and sparked with energy, unbeknownst to Maghus himself.
“Calm down my little pony.” Celestia said in her gentle yet regal voice touched with a splash of amusement at the young colt’s excitement in front of her. “You seem to be letting your emotions get the better of you little one.” Celestia smiled as Maghus opened his eyes and look at the floor below him, realizing he was floating without a way to get down. She let a small portion of her magic flow through her horn and into Maghus so as to calm him down and gently lower him to the floor, now no longer sparking and shaking with excitement.
“Now you see what I was talking about, you r Highness.” Moonbeam chuckled a bit as he trotted towards Maghus, helping him to gain his balance and guide him towards the Princess. “He has quite the peculiar form of magic, wouldn’t you say so?” Moonbeam looked at the Princess, awaiting her response to the young colt before her.
Celestia had expected another outburst from the colt as Moonbeam had brought him closer, but instead she laughed gently to herself as the pony simply stood before her on slightly wobbly hooves, his muzzle agape and his eyes wide in awe. She chose this moment to speak therefore, so as to avoid an awkward silence in the room. “So my little pony, you’re Mr. Moonbeam’s student whose name is Maghus Uncorn, correct?”
Maghus opened and closed his mouth a few times before realizing that not a single sound was coming out. He therefore relied on a rapid nodding of his head that threatened to dislocate his neck if not for a gentle hoof on the head by Celestia.
“And you’re from Manehatten, son of Cyclone and Blizzard Uncorn?” Celestia continued to smile as Maghus continued to simply nod his head, albeit less dangerously to his own health. “Mr. Moonbeam tells me that you have been showing some interesting signs in class, is this true?”
Maghus nodded his head once this time, still in a state of wonder but now slightly confused as to what the princess was getting at. Mr. Moonbeam had obviously mentioned his “weather magic” as he called it, but it couldn’t be this special as to involve the ruler of Equestria herself, was it? His thoughts were quickly interrupted however by the sudden approach of hooves in the hallway followed by none other than Twilight gasping for breath in the doorway. She looked almost like she was about to collapse from exhaustion, yet Maghus was slightly worried about why she had come so rapidly. Was something wrong?
“Sorry I’m…late…Princess.” Twilight gasped in between deep breathes. She quickly regained her composure and galloped up to the princess, gently nuzzling her a bit before backing up even with Maghus and Mr. Moonbeam, Maghus looking slightly confused and worried at the same time. “Please don’t send me back to magic kindergarden for being tardy!” Twilight suddenly begged aloud, causing Maghus to do a double take and Mr. Moonbeam to suddenly burst out laughing on the spot, both reactions causing Twilight to blush slightly at their reactions.
“My faithful student, I’ve told you before,” Celestia laughed as she nuzzled Twilight’s mane. “Being a little late for something isn’t a big deal. Today is simply a somewhat casual meeting between colleagues. There’s no need to be quite so formal.”
“Um…Princess?” Maghus suddenly spoke up amidst all the confusion and chaos much to everypony’s apparent surprise. He had finally worked up the courage to speak, even if it was something meek and small. “You said this was a casual meeting between colleagues? Do you and Mr. Moonbeam know each other?”
“I make a habit of getting to all of the citizens of Equestria in one way or another Maghus. Mr. Moonbeam is a teacher here, so I have to be on a well-known basis here since I made this school myself.” Celestia smiled once again at the confusion and wonder in the colt before her, as he reminded her a bit of Twilight in her sense of constant questions and logical understanding. “But yes, I do know him.”
“Then did he invite you here about…me?” Maghus asked incredulously, slightly worried he may have come across as arrogant to the ruler of Equestria. That would be a great first impression to give to somepony that decided how the country was run.
“Actually yes.” Celestia nodded as she levitated a book completely identical to the one Twilight had brought into Maghus’ room that morning in front of her. “I assume he has already told you what weather magic is?”
“Actually your Highness,” Moonbeam rubbed his hoof in his mane with a sheepish grin on his face, slightly embarrassed about not mentioning in sooner. “I was going to mention it to him today during this meeting if that was alright with you?” Moonbeam had meant to tell the Princess when she arrived, but they had heard a bang on the door which Celestia had opened with her magic to reveal Maghus only moments after she had arrived herself.
“That’s even better actually.” Celestia smiled as she opened the book to the exact same page Twilight had marked in her copy. He page showed an image of a unicorn using it’s magic to do things such as create small, temporary clouds, manipulate them in the same way as pegasi do, and even run faster than most ponies. “This book has all kinds of knowledge on magic, from levitation, to transformation, all the way to weather magic. This is a very rare and special form of magic, this being the reason for a good portion of this book being dedicated solely to the applications and use of weather magic.”
Maghus nodded his head as the princess spoke, partly paying attention to her words while the rest of his mind focussed on reading different captions about different spells he might learn, different techniques to using them, and other useful applications to this special branch of magic.
His attention was brought back to the group as Celestia spoke a final comment very clearly as she had noticed Maghus’ growing focus on the book and not the conversation. This made her laugh to herself slightly as she finished in a way to regain his attention. “This magic is incredibly rare and unique though. Because of this, I am going to have you take lessons with Mr. Moonbeam in the afternoon after classes to get acquainted with your magic? Is that okay?”
“Why Mr. Moonbeam though?” Twilight finally spoke up, much to the surprise of Maghus. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for someone like you to teach him princess?” Twilight had tilted her head to the side slightly, revealing to all her sense of confusion in this scenario.
“It would my dear Twilight,” Celestia nodded her head as she levitated the blue book to the ground in front of Maghus. “If he had a great and powerful potential with magic.” Celestia smiled at Maghus so not to make him feel like he was weak compared to other ponies. “His magic does make him more special than most ponies, but it does not make him stronger. It simply gives him more variety with his magic beyond what normal unicorns can do. He will be able to grasp normal magic quite easily as a matter of fact, but that is because his magical abilities allow him to learn a more advanced form of magic that is only possibly to learn through lineage.”
“Could I learn weather magic princess?” Twilight’s eyes sparkled slightly at this question she had posed. If she could have something else to learn she would be ecstatic.
Her exuberance was cut short however by the truth. “I’m sorry Twilight, but only ponies like myself or unicorns born to pegasi parents can ever use this type of magic. You could try to learn it all you wanted, but you would never be able to use this form of magic even if you desperately wished to. I’m sorry.”
“Oh…that’s okay princess.” Twilight bowed her head in disappointment, leaving Maghus feeling slightly responsible for ruining a possibly great moment in Twilight’s life.
Maghus didn’t want to see Twilight so sad, so he attempted to cheer Twilight up in whatever way he could. Unknown to all four of the ponies in the room, Maghus horn had started to glow softly as Maghus began to talk, “Hey Twilight, don’t let that rain on your parade. I bet you just need something awesome to cheer you up right now…like chocolate milk! That always cheers me up!”
At this final remark however, Maghus horn began to glow a brilliant blue, causing a small white cloud to suddenly appear in between him and Twilight. Twilight and Maghus looked at the cloud both with a bewildered look on their faces as it shook slightly, suddenly beginning to rain…chocolate milk!
Celestia and Moonbeam both suddenly burst out laughing, albeit the Princess having a more composed laugh with a hoof hovering over her muzzle while Moonbeam was on the floor practically crying in his mirth.
“Are you sure you’re up for this Moonbeam?” Celestia asked as she looked at Twilight and Maghus each taking a drop of chocolate rain on their tongues, both gaining suddenly excited looks on their faces as they recognized the taste.
Moonbeam got up, wiping his eyes with his hoof as he noticed Maghus completely dunk his head under the cloud, filling his mouth his delicious chocolate rain as Twilight looked on giggling and holding her sides. This nearly put him over the edge again as he replied, “If I don’t, who will teach him how to control his magic and apply it? I don’t think we need places all over Equestria suddenly being rained on with melted chocolate.”
Celestia looked at the two excited foals in front of her, both simply enjoying the moment they were sharing together laughing and drinking chocolate milk. “No, probably not.” She laughed again as the Twilight and Maghus began jumping around in the chocolate.
Alright everypony, sorry it took so long to get this latest chapter out. Have had some midterms exams in university the last couple days, and have a couple more later next week, but I’ll make up for that by posting around 2 new chapters this weekend, possibly not including this chapter tonight. And after the rest of my tests I’ll have a whole week off of classes so I might end up making a week of daily updates depending on how my train of thought on the story keeps going.
Plus I’m doing this off of what I believe is an appropriate timeline, with Twilight and the group actually being closer to older teenagers/adults throughout the show, makes continuing my story a LOT easier. If you don’t like it I’m sorry, but it’s the only way I can keep this story going without hitting a roadblock. Shipping *may* start ensuing in this story soon, so be prepared for what I do with that. Anyways, enjoy the newest chapter!
~Canterlot, 6 years later~
“Are you ready Maghus?” Moonbeam inquired his student as they stood in an open field outside of the school. Moonbeam looked and felt a little reluctant to be attempting this spell so soon, as was apparent by the deep crease in his brow. Maghus had made great progress over the years of “private” lessons he had been given- private being relative since all the students by now had heard about the unicorn with “weather magic”. “You’ve done terrific thus far, but this is going to a difficulty that would leave nearly any unicorn exhausted and drained for quite some time upon failure.”
“You say almost because you know that someponies could handle this spell if they knew weather magic though, right?” Maghus concentrated on the cloud above them simply hanging there, innocent and not at all a victim of this particular spell…not yet at least. “And I can already tell you that as long as there’s even a glimmer of hope that I can do this, I will keep trying!” Maghus’ face was scrunched up as he focused the advanced spell to the front of his mind, pushing back everything else to allow full access to his magic. His horn began to glow as the free space to focus was now completely free to concentrate.
Well…almost free. Moonbeam noticed the change in Maghus’ demeanor as the spell’s power began to escalate and sparks began leaping from Maghus horn as he focussed harder and harder on the cloud and whatever else he was focussing on. Suddenly a beam of blue magic burst from Maghus’ horn, tearing the pristine cloud into little water droplets all suspended in midair. What happened next was completely expected by both Maghus and Moonbeam.
The water droplets next began to move in on each other and crystallizing into ice as they did so, slowly creating icicle gems in the air. This was supposed to be as far as the spell got, with the ice crystals next slowly drifting to the ground and gently melting back into water as they warmed in the afternoon sun.
It didn’t stop there however.
The next thing Moonbeam and Maghus knew, the ice crystals, now released from Maghus magic, began to take on a different shape, slowly drifting together once again into an even larger body of ice that looked almost…diamond-like with the light reflecting off of it just right. As the pieces began pulling together, a shape was beginning to take form amongst the crystals.
Maghus feared suddenly for what was happening, given how in the past his feelings and emotions had accidentally caused his magic to misfire like when he had made the chocolate rain cloud when he had just started at the school at the age of ten. He and Twilight had both enjoyed it so much that day that they had both needed a good bath to wash all of the chocolate out of their coats and manes later that evening. He suddenly had a flashback about what he had been thinking about prior to releasing the spell and hoped to Celestia that the spell would actually fail before it finished reshaping itself.
“Uh, Maghus?” Moonbeam finally broke the silence to ask a very quick and specific question. “Why in Canterlot is the spell going further? I thought that this would be a simple make ice crystals from clouds and then let them fall.” Moonbeam pointed his hoof forcefully at the ice mass in front of them. “You did great in that part, but why is it still going?!”
“I don’t know sir! I really don’t!” Maghus was beginning to sweat now, making Moonbeam begin to wonder if Maghus was telling the truth about what was happening. His thoughts were pushed aside however, as the ice mass suddenly cracked in half and collapsed into a pool of water, signifying the collapse of the spell and the mystery of what happened still left unsolved.
“Well I guess we won’t know what happened I guess…” Moonbeam began, hearing an almost hushed gasp of relief from beside him, causing him to interject suddenly, much to Maghus’ dismay. “…until we practice this spell again and see what happens next time. Again Maghus, and stay focussed this time!” Moonbeam turned to Maghus with a look of both frustration and sympathy so well put together it made Moonbeam look indifferent to the situation thought he was psychologically recoiling from this latest session.
“Are you sure Mr. Razor?” Maghus asked nervously, a slight twinge of regret apparent in his voice. Maghus was worried that whatever happened would go on again, so he was attempting to move on to something else that could take his mind off of this near catastrophe. “I mean, you said yourself that I preformed what I had to perfectly…so why make me redo it if I can do it already?”
“I’ve told you Maghus, just because you know my last name and I give you personal lessons now instead of your normal classes, I still want you to refer to me as Mr. Moonbeam.” Moonbeam facehoofed slightly at this, remembering the day that Maghus had caught a glimpse and been so in awe of the name he couldn’t stop saying it for a whole hour! The boy had slipped up every now and then, but it seemed to be on purpose as a way to get Moonbeam’s mind on something else.
Maghus was slightly anxious to see if his ploy had worked, if Moonbeam had slipped and was going to move on to something different for them to do. He was sadly mistaken however. “And don’t try to pull that trick on my again you slippery stallion. I may have fallen for that when you were a colt, but you have GOT to stop trying that as a grown pony! It just doesn’t work as well as you hope anymore. Plus you know full well why we’re going again.”
Maghus dipped his head slightly in an apology, “Sorry sir. I just…don’t really know if that is such a good idea right now. I haven’t been as focussed as I used to be since…you know…” Maghus could feel his left eye starting to get warm as a tear began to form, which he quickly stopped before Moonbeam got a glimpse of Maghus’ situation.
Much to Maghus’ actions however, Moonbeam had noticed the quick hoof to the eye and pieced together exactly what Maghus was referring to. He put a comforting hoof on the young stallion’s back. “Maghus listen, I’m sorry if I came off a little grumpy there, but you know as well as I do that you need to stay focussed if you want to graduate next year! I know that you’re still broken up a bit over what happened, but you’re a grown pony! You should have bounced back from this days ago almost right after it happened!” Moonbeam was slightly worried that the situation may be more serious than he previously believed. Continuing their lessons today could be a lot more difficult than he previously led himself to believe.
“Fine Maghus, you win…” Moonbeam patted Maghus on the back, who looked over to him slightly wild-eyed and surprised that he was actually off the hook. “For today only though! I think you need some time to yourself to think some things through right now and clear your head. Come back by my office tomorrow morning at the usual time to continue where we left off…alright?” Moonbeam looked curiously at Maghus as he finished, hoping to see some signs of life in Maghus’ eyes after seeing them so empty these last few days. He was greeted with a slight glow to them as Maghus thought about this last statement and a small smile appeared on both of their faces.
“Yeah, that sounds perfect right now.” Maghus straightened himself out and gave Moonbeam a pat on the back to show his appreciation. “Thanks…Razor.” He let off a slight smirk as he finished and trotted off to the students rooms on the school grounds.
“Watch it Maghus!” Moonbeam yelled as the young stallion started to get out of normal earshot. “Or you’ll be learning more than ice crystal spells tomorrow!” Moonbeam mulled it over in his mind a little and then smirked as he yelled out in a parting comment, “Bring a towel or two tomorrow just in case!”
Maghus chuckled to himself as he walked through the doors to the residence, heading off for his comfortable room.
~Maghus’ Room, 1 hour later~
Maghus let out a deep sigh of boredom as he lay on his bed, figuring out what to do with the rest of his day. He could always go to the library and pick out a good book to pass the time, but…books didn’t feel like a good idea right now.
“What about practicing goofball?” Maghus thought to himself as his mind began to wander. “Do you want what happened today to happen again tomorrow? And the day after that? And then what? Keep going through this train of constant mess-ups until you get kicked out for failing to actually do better?!” Maghus was mentally beating on himself for giving in so easily now that he had time to reflect. He had messed up today and had only gotten out of it because Moonbeam had felt sorry for him.
“Damn!” Maghus swore under his breath, venting his frustrations quietly enough so as not to alarm anyone outside or down the hall. The last thing he needed was another pony feeling sorry for him and asking him if everything was ok. “Everything isn’t OK though, that’s the thing!” Maghus was almost driving himself into another quiet rage when his shifting on the bed knocked over a picture on his desk-dresser, now larger to accommodate for the special books and objects he had received since starting his private lessons. He got up from his bed and trotted over slowly, fearing that the picture may have gotten damaged or the frame cracked during the small accident. What he feared most though was which picture he had accidentally knocked over. As he flipped the frame over to stand it back up, his breath got caught in his throat for a moment as he looked upon the image before him.
It was a picture of Twilight, Spike and himself, taken the same day he had started to lose his concentration on his studies.
~One week earlier, the day Nightmare Moon returned~
“Twilight! Calm down!” Maghus exclaimed. He was worried about Twilight given how nervous and frustrated she had been lately. She had told him about the letter she and the princess had exchanged, Maghus thankfully not fainting again given his now slightly more comfortable stand on how close to Celestia Twilight was. “I thought you trusted Celestia the most above anypony else?” Maghus was confused why Twilight was acting like this, it wasn’t like her at all.
“I do! But I still don’t think she’s taking this seriously enough right now!” Twilight could barely contain her annoyance at her current predicament. She wouldn’t refuse what the princess was requesting of her, but it didn’t feel like it was the smart thing to do right now! She had read the book, and she had a bad feeling that Nightmare Moon would return tonight! “I just don’t understand why the princess isn’t taking this seriously! It’s just so frustrating!”
“Twilight, enough already!” Maghus put his hoof on her back, snapping Twilight out of her current state to realize that Maghus was giving her a hug. Why would he even do that? They were just…friends!
“Maghus, what are you-?” Twilight backed away and gasped to see tears in Maghus’ eyes. “W-Why are you crying?!” Twilight had never seen someone express these kinds of emotions when she was around so she had no clue how to deal with the situation.
“Y-you know…you’re really smart and all but…*sniffle*…you really aren’t all that smart when it comes to personal feelings are you Twilight?...You really are an egghead sometimes.” Maghus wiped his eyes with his hoof to clear them and regained his composure. He needed to be strong so that Twilight didn’t go off the handle again before he could contain it. “You know as well as I do that besides Spike you and I are the only friends we both have.” Maghus smiled slightly as he continued, Twilight’s face starting to show signs of recognition as she started to understand what Maghus was saying. “You leaving with Spike is gonna leave me all alone here. I’m crying because I’m going to miss you being around Twilight…” Maghus tried to keep his cool, but couldn’t hold back a few tears that escaped his eyes and stained his coat around his muzzle slightly. His dark coat hid the tears well, but the bloodshot eyes would instantly give away he had been crying to anypony that took a look at his eyes.
“I’m so sorry Maghus, I completely forgot about you in all of this…” Twilight bowed her head in disappointment at herself. She and Maghus had only been friends a couple of years now, getting to know each other bit by bit as they had been in very special situation due to their different magical studies than most students. “I never thought about how this would impact OUR friendship, if you could even call it that…I guess.” Twilight thought about how close the two of them were: they had both met under…unusual circumstances and both grew up in a special setting, but they hadn’t gotten to know each other a lot given both of their slightly shy personalities.
“Twilight.” Maghus’ voice being calm so suddenly snapped Twilight out of her reminiscing and convinced her to raise her head to look at the now calm and serious look that had appeared on his face while Twilight had been finishing her last comment. “We may not know each other a lot, but I will ALWAYS consider you a friend.” Maghus smiled, knowing that a simple sign of happiness would be enough to cheer Twilight up. It did, and that was enough to bring the two of them into one last hug as Twilight’s ride to Ponyville approached the two of them.
They broke the hug just as the two armored pegasi landed, and smiled at each other one last time as Twilight and Spike climbed into the chariot. “I’ll miss you Twilight.” Maghus said simply as he waved his hoof, no longer able to express anymore emotions than he already had.
Twilight however had not finished as a single tear escaped her eye and travelled down her purple muzzle. “Goodbye Maghus.”
Alright, there is the first part to how things happened on the day the first episode happened with my OC involved.
I'm also looking to *possibly* include some other OC's to this story in the future, not sure how soon or far off on that one for either possible relationships with the others of the show that don't end up with Maghus-yes he will end up with one of the main characters- or as just additional characters to add to spice up the story. But to do that I will need a very solid description of the OC being written in. I can't promise when it will happen, but I will only accept VERY solid bios on the OCs so that I don't accidentally write them up in a bad way.
For this I will need solid info like names, race, personality, and I will also promise that as I include these OCs I will message a preread of the first few chapters they are written into to make sure I get the characters right. If you would like in please send a very well worded bio in a PM to me and I will let you know if things will work out for the character. I can't take many so that the story gets overwhelmed with characters and I start mixing them up, but I can handle about 3-4. So within the next couple of weeks or so I will look at submitted OCs and let you know if things will work out. I'm sorry to those that won't be included, but I promise that if I do write more after this story is done (whenever that is) I will try to see if I can include neglected OCs into those stories I do, it depends mainly on how long I stay in the fanfiction biz for MLP.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and my somewhat lengthy author's notes this chapter, but I promise another chapter either later tomorrow or Sunday sometime with possibly a second one during the weekend, we'll see what time permits me.
Alright everypony, here’s the latest update to my story, gonna try and get better and frequent updates every couple of days or so, but I’m making up for missed time with some catch up this weekend. Enjoy the latest chapter.
~Canterlot Castle, 1 hour later~
“I’ve gotta find the Princess!” Maghus thought to himself as he galloped towards Celestia’s royal chambers. “If not for Twilight’s sake, but to satisfy my own curiosity about this whole situation! I need to know the truth!” Maghus was putting all of his effort into reaching the Princess as fast as he could, racing down the hallways faster than most ponies could even attempt to run. Having two fit pegasi parents raising him to be polite was one thing, but having them raise him to be fit and agile like a pegasus was one luxury that he was granted growing up. If anypony was able to spot Maghus in the blur of speed he was, they would notice his horn sparking and his cutie mark glowing slightly.
Princess Celestia may be the ruler of Equestria, but anypony from Canterlot or pony that frequented Canterlot knew that the Princess spent much of her time in her chambers if there were no pressing matters to attend to. This was Maghus’ destination as he continued racing down the halls in his desperation.
“Almost…there…” Maghus gasped to himself as his magic began to weaken and his pace began to slow. He had mastered the agility spell weeks ago from his lessons with Moonbeam, but it still depended on the pony’s endurance as to how long the spell could last. Maghus could feel his leg muscles screaming in pain, but his mind was elsewhere, forcing himself to keep going until he had made it. As he rounded a corner, he could see the Princess’s chambers ahead, guarded by two large ponies in the custom royal armor that all of the guards were given. “Just…a little…further…”
As Maghus was about to reach the two ponies to seek access, his magic suddenly quit on him, and Maghus could feel himself sinking into darkness.
~Canterlot Castle, 30 minutes after Maghus’ collapse~
“Huh…” Maghus groaned as he opened his eyes a crack, closing them tightly after a blinding light that pierced his eyes. He tried again, this time able to open them enough to get a rough look at his surroundings. When he had begun to lose consciousness, he had seen Celestia’s chambers open slightly and a small light glow drift towards him. As he looked around now, he realized that he was laying on a rather large bed with comfortable silk blankets and a soft mattress that nearly put him back to sleep. What struck him even more was the rather large pony standing next to him, with a slight look of worry on its face. “Wh-where am…I?” His voice was slightly raspy, as the last 30 minutes had allowed his body to catch up to him in the strain he had put on himself in his mad dash.
The large pony spoke in a gentle, yet regal sounding voice that sounded slightly familiar to Maghus from a few rare encounters. “It’s alright my little pony. You’re just tired at the moment. You put quite the strain on yourself in your efforts to reach this room. Now why is that?” As the voice finished, Maghus’ view came into better focus and he gasped as he now recognized who was speaking to him- Princess Celestia, who had a slight smile on her face as Maghus came fully awake.
“P-Princess!” Maghus yelped as his eyes shot open, shock and fear both apparent as he worried about how Celestia would react to him being here. “I-I’m so s-s-sorry that I c-came running here so f-fast!” Maghus began to hyperventilate as he feared the consequences of his being here. Would he be kicked out of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns? Would he get exiled from Canterlot? Or worse, would he get banished to the moon?! “Please don’t banish me for being here!” Was he last thing he blurted out before Celestia silenced him with a gentle hoof to his muzzle.
“Calm down little one.” Maghus instantly relaxed at this last comment. Normally he would be very grumpy about being referred to as a little one, but from the Princess it was very calming and soothing for his restless body at this time. Celestia laughed slightly as she removed her hoof. “You remind me a bit of Twilight when you say things like that. She always did get worked up about the slightest thing. But I’m sure you know about that.” Celestia winked at Maghus at this last comment, causing him to blush slightly for some reason he wasn’t quite sure why.
“Yeah, I guess…” Maghus sheepishly reached a hoof slowly behind his head to give it an awkward scratch out of embarrassment. Then he suddenly remembered why he had come here in the first place. “Twilight!” He suddenly leaned forward in the bed and looked straight at Celestia with wide eyes as he spoke. “She’s why I came to speak with you Princess! It’s about the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville and why you sent her!”
Celestia’s face lost a bit of its joy as she realized what Maghus was referring to. She quickly regained her composure before Maghus noticed however and spoke. “I sent her because I think it’s good for her to get out of the castle and simply relax for a day or two. She’s been studying quite hard lately.” Celestia hoped that Maghus would believe this last remark, as she did not wish to speak the truth about what she feared for tonight to anypony.
Maghus however saw right through the cracks in the comment and ripped them open as gently as he dared so as not to anger the Princess. “Princess…please tell me the truth…” Maghus dipped his head slightly as he continued. “Twilight’s my friend and I…I want to know why you made her leave so suddenly after mentioning to you about Nightmare Moon and the 1000 years it’s been since she was banished.” Maghus looked back up and gasped to himself slightly when he noticed Celestia’s face void of all happiness and a small tear descending from one eyes down her muzzle that she quickly wiped away after Maghus gasped.
“I wish I could tell you the truth Maghus.” Celestia turned and looked out the window towards the sun halfway in the sky. She sighed deeply as she prepared himself to continue. “But I fear there is too much to say and too little time to say it to satisfy your curiosity.” Celestia turned around to notice Maghus had silently climbed out of the bed amidst his aching muscles and was sitting rather awkwardly nearby with a patient, yet serious look on his face.
“Princess.” Maghus spoke with a mature tone that defied his age. “I don’t want the whole truth if you can’t give it. I just want to know why you chose Twilight and not anypony else.” Maghus concluded his statement by shifting slightly in place to get more comfortable as he prepared for the Princess’ denial of telling him.
He was caught off guard as Celestia accepted however, “Very well. But know that this is beyond you and that I do not want any of this information to leave this room.” Celestia regained her serious and regal composure as she continued. “Is that clear?”
Maghus sat straight and raised a hoof to his head unconsciously as he replied, “Yes Princess.” He then noticed his raised hoof and lowered it with a sheepish grin and blush as the Princess began her tale of Nightmare Moon and this year’s Summer Sun Celebration.
~1 hour later~
The story went well, as throughout the tale Maghus’ expressions went from shock to understanding and finally to sadness and disappointment as the Princess concluded her tale.
“But what if Twilight can’t do it Princess?” Maghus worried about Twilight most in this entire discussion as most of this new event revolved around her success. “She’s not the most talkative pony in the world, you know that more than anypony!” Maghus nervously twiddled his hooves as he continued, a slight frown of worry on his forehead. “She and I only became friends through a stroke of luck more than anything.”
Celestia smiled at the worry this young stallion showed for his friend and wished more than anything to ease his pain and worry in this situation. “I understand your worry Maghus Uncorn. But you must trust me with this.” Maghus looked up to Celestia quizzically as the Princess continued. “I know that Twilight is capable of great things through her profound skill in magic. But to be able to save Equestria she must make friends before tonight. I will not be able to help her in this situation, and neither will you.” This last comment brought an even greater look of concern to Maghus’ face as he thought about what Celestia had said.
“W-what do you mean we can’t help her?” Maghus’ hoof began to shake out of worry as a few beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He was now even more worried for Twilight’s safety than he had been when she left for Ponyville. Knowing now that she would be in serious danger did nothing to help since the Princess said they couldn’t assist her. “There must be a way to help!” Maghus practically yelled this in his desperation to find an answer to the problem at hand.
“I really wish there were. I really do.” Celestia shook her head solemnly, her multi-coloured mane billowing slightly as she did so. “But Nightmare Moon would never allow someone I knew or had close at hand to stop her.” Celestia finished this last statement with a solemn bow of her horn, awaiting Maghus’ reply.
“But then why would she let Twilight even get involved?” Maghus feared for his friend more and more the further this conversation progressed. “Twilight is one of the closest ponies to you in all of Equestria! That would make her a prime target for Nightmare Moon after yourself!” Maghus began looking about the room frantically as he looked for some sign, anything that could help Twilight’s predicament.
“Not if Nightmare Moon doesn’t know about her.” Celestia’s last comment struck quickly to Maghus’ thought processes as he suddenly swivelled his head to look at her with a perplexed expression.
“What do you mean by that Princess?” Maghus sat down and looked at Celestia with a confused look, anxiously awaiting her reasoning behind this last statement. “Why wouldn’t she know about someone so close to you?”
“Because Nightmare Moon has been trapped in the moon for one thousand years.” Celestia knew this would not be enough to sate the stallion’s curiosity and therefore continued. “She would simply come to Equestria and immediately prevent myself, anypony in Canterlot, and anypony that knew me 1000 years ago that still exists from stopping her.” This obtained a slight look of realization from Maghus, but not enough to cheer him up enough to calm down. Celestia therefore decided to tell one last truth about why this year’s celebration was in Ponyville. “And nopony in Ponyville knows me personally that is alive from 1000 years ago. That is why chose such a quaint little town to host this year’s Summer Sun Celebration.”
Maghus began scratching his chin with one hoof as he began putting the pieces of Celestia’s story together. As he placed different parts of the puzzle into different places, his face cleared up of the anxiety and fear he had experienced only moments before, though it did nothing to rid him of his worry about his friend. Celestia did not expect such a thing to occur however, as she knew much about the friendship that Twilight shared with this stallion. She was pleased however to see that her speech had calmed Maghus down considerably upon the beginning of their conversation.
Maghus smiled slightly as he nodded his head politely towards Celestia. “Thank you Princess. All I needed to know was that Twilight would be alright.” Maghus’ smile shrunk somewhat, but did not go away entirely. “I know that she is still at risk, but knowing that she isn’t in absolutely terrible danger is good to know. I just hope you’re right about her being capable of doing this.”
As Maghus began to leave Celestia’s chambers, the princess replied back to him, “As do I my little pony. As do I.” Celestia finished this comment as she looked out the window to see the sun beginning to dip below the tops of the hills as night approached.
“For Luna’s sake.”
Alright, there’s part two to this portion of the story. Will likely upload the third and final part to this tomorrow, and then the story will most likely proceed more towards Ponyville in my hopes. We’ll see what I do after the next chapter. And so far I’ve only received one PM about OC’s, so there are still a few spots open after I judge the submissions in a week or two’s time. No real rush on that at the moment. Have a good weekend everypony.
Alright, here's the latest chapter to my story. I was going to make it longer and conclude the Nightmare Moon part and move on towards the Ponyville part of the story finally, but I felt that this shorter piece needed to be written before I began to wrap things up in Canterlot. Hope you all enjoy this new chapter, and look forward to the conclusion to the Canterlot part of the story within the next few days or so. Happy reading.
~Canterlot Royal Gardens, 10 PM, the night before the Summer Sun Celebration~
Maghus looked around as he relaxed in the beautiful foliage surrounding him. It wasn’t often that he came to the gardens outside the castle, most times being only to think about things and just let his emotions out. Tonight was different however, as tension and fear could be felt from all around with the coming events of the following…morning.
“Why did it have to be Twilight?” Maghus groaned to himself as he let the tears descend down his face. His body was shaking with the emotions he had kept bottles inside as he had spoken to Princess Celestia. “She’s the only friend I ever had…and now she might not even be around anymore if tonight doesn’t go well!” He stomped his hooves in frustration and anguish as the ground around him began to get wet with his tears.
Maghus had long since mastered most of his emotions hold on his magic, but tonight he needed a way to let it all out. This led him to allow his emotions to flow through his magic, creating a dark cloud above him that began to pour salty rain. His magic not only allowed him to let his emotions flow through his magic, they also allowed his emotions to alter the normal properties of what his magic produced. This is what caused the rain being completely identical to the tears now flowing freely down Maghus’ muzzle towards the ground in a rapid torrent.
“If only my magic was powerful like hers is!” Maghus cried out from the pain in his heart. “I’d be able to go to Ponyville and help her!” Maghus began pounding himself on the head in an attempt to try and toughen himself amidst his weeping. “Why do I have to be such a weakling?!”
This last cry of pain was not meant to come out so loud, but Maghus’ emotions had once again taken hold and had magnified his voice in his frustration. This caused his last comment to drift through the air all the way up to Princess Celestia’s balcony as she glanced towards the moon hanging peacefully in the sky.
“I’m so sorry Maghus.” Celestia spoke gently, more to herself than anything, as a few tears escaped her eyes. Unbeknownst to Maghus, Celestia had been watching him ever since he had left her chambers. She had seen his emotional breakdown during their conversation only hours ago, and knew that he had regained his ‘composure’ far too quickly for it to be normal. She wished more than anything to be able to reach out a hoof and tell him everything would be alright, but that would be a lie. She had no way of knowing how the morning would unfold. She had the greatest of confidence in Twilight’s abilities, but a part of her feared for how strong Nightmare Moon might have become in her thousand years imprisoned in the moon. She would be weakened, yes, but Celestia wasn’t sure exactly by how much that would be.
“Please be safe Twilight.” Celestia whispered to the wind as she felt a dark presence begin to pull her into unconsciousness. “For the sake…of those that…love you…” This last comment came out as a whisper, as the Princess descended into a deep sleep that would only be fixed upon Nightmare Moon’s defeat.
~Canterlot Gardens~
“Why am I crying so hard for Twilight?” Maghus spoke quietly to himself amidst the damp grass. “She’s just my friend…right?”
Maghus had long since stopped crying, having cried himself out of all the pain and fear he felt. Now he could only feel confusion and frustration as he began to think about his feelings.
“I mean, we’ve only really known each other for what? Four years?” Maghus thought about the moments they had shared together as classmates and friends and realized that it had taken them nearly three years to admit to the friendship the two of them had grown to enjoy. But now Maghus felt something different, something he had never felt before in his entire life. It felt like every time he thought about Twilight, with her purple coat, her mane with the pink stripe in the middle, and the big smile she gained whenever something excited her, he felt his heart flutter and his whole body go weak. It felt like…
Love.
“But…I can’t be in LOVE with Twilight…can I?” Maghus thought to himself as he began to wander back to the student buildings at a slow trot. He wracked his mind for any clues as to his situation, but could find nothing as this was an entirely new situation to him. “I mean…she’s a great pony, that’s true.” Maghus thought all about the things he knew about Twilight. “She’s nice, polite, a little uptight at times, even if it is kind of cute-” He put his hoof to his mouth the moment he spoke ‘cute’, fearing that he may have been heard by somepony nearby. Did he really feel about Twilight that way? His entire mind and heart were at war with each other, an epic battle going on inside of him as he tried to come to terms.
As Maghus’ war in his mind continued, he didn’t realize where he was until he walked into the door to his room. “Oof…Oh, I guess I managed to find my way back after all…” He sighed as he pushed open the door, closing it gently behind him so as not to disturb anyone else in the building by mistake. He slowly trotted over to his desk, picking up the picture that had been taken that morning of Spike, Twilight and himself, all smiling and happy before they had heard the news of Twilight’s departure for Ponyville.
Maghus looked carefully at the picture, examining the smiles on all of their faces, the hooves and claws around each other shoulders, and the all-around happy feeling that emanated from the entire photograph. He was so caught up in the picture that he never noticed a tear fall from his eye and hang suspended in the air from his magic.
When he did notice the blur in front of him, he gasped inwardly as the teardrop began to change shape. As it twisted and turned gently, it slowly descended towards the photo, crystalizing slightly as it fell. When it did finally land on the picture, it’s shape had been completed and what sat on the glass framing told Maghus everything he needed to know.
It was a heart. A small, crystalline heart that spoke everything Maghus' needed all at once. What really stood out were four simple words that made his heart soar with joy: He. Loved. Twilight. Sparkle.
Maghus smiled the largest smile he had ever felt, gently putting the picture back on his desk as the crystal heart evaporated into the air. He turned towards his window and looked outside as he saw a dark misty blur fly off in the direction of Ponyville. But when he saw this, Maghus felt no fear, no sadness, no bad emotions in the slightest.
All he felt: was love and joy. Because he knew that no matter what happened next, he knew everything would be alright in the end. He could feel it in his heart.
Well, things have moved a bit ahead of schedule I guess. Had a good chunk of spare time today, so I figured I'd get the newest chapter up since tomorrow may not have as much time as I would have preferred to write. Who knows though, may update tomorrow as well to give people time to think about what's coming up and what they might want to see. Remember to rate and comment as it helps me fix where I may be going wrong, other than that, enjoy my newest installment.
~Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, 1 year after the Nightmare Moon incident, 2 PM, a week before the next Summer Sun Celebration~
“Are you completely sure Moonbeam?” Celestia inquired the elderly pony before her, a look of curiosity and confusion on her face. “Has he really progressed that quickly that he’s ready to learn on his own? I know he’s been here for 7 years now, but after what happened last year, I didn’t expect him to bounce back so suddenly like he had.”
Moonbeam nodded his head slightly as he looked over his files on ‘said’ ponies accomplishments. His eyes skimmed over reports of successes and failures, taking in all the details of how they had gotten to this point. He looked up to the Princess as he closed the folder. “I’m positive. He’s shown great potential as well in the past few months, actually figuring out the spells I’m trying to describe before I’m even done speaking. He’s either gotten very lucky, or something has caused him to take his studies much more seriously.” Moonbeam got up from the floor as he began to leave Celestia’s office situated in the school that was only used in such circumstances.
Celestia raised a hoof as Moonbeam turned to leave, signifying him to wait a moment before departing. “I trust you’ve already worked on arrangements for his departure then?” She continued to go over the logic behind this situation as Moonbeam spoke.
“Not entirely.” Moonbeam shook his head with a look of disappointment. “I’m not sure where exactly he would go. I mean, I know he’s from Manehatten.” Moonbeam paused as he thought about places the stallion had mentioned in the past. “But he never made any mention of ever wanting to return. As he told me, his parents were very accepting of him leaving and were already treating him like a grown stallion at ten years of age. He’s quite mature for a pony of his time.”
“I see.” Celestia mulled over the possibilities as she looked at the few pictures she had in her office. Most were images of herself and Luna since her return a year before, with the exception of one image she kept on her desk. It was an image of Twilight Sparkle taken during the one lesson Celestia had deemed appropriate to be remembered in such a way. The look of joy on the young filly’s face could be felt radiating from the image when Twilight had completed her first advanced spell at such a young age of 14.
As Celestia continued to think to herself, Moonbeam realized that his presence had been forgotten as he slowly placed a paper he had been keeping in the folder on the Princess’ desk. The sound of the door closing with a slight click brought Celestia out of her trance as she noticed the form in front of her.
She read the form to herself as the pieces of the puzzle in her mind began to come together. “Form of departure and future residence…” Celestia suddenly had a brilliant idea as her eyes flitted once again over the image of Twilight. She smiled as she levitated a quill to the paper, filling out the required information as to the pony’s future living accommodations. She smiled to herself as she completed the form, filling out the last piece of information on the form as to the pony’s name.
The form could be read for the unimportant parts such as age, race, gender and such, and the Princess’ royal insignia on the bottom, the two pieces of information that stood out the most were the destination and the name of the pony being moved.
The two lines read as follows:
Said pony is requested to be moved to the town of:
_Ponyville_
Pony’s name having completed studies and departing to said location:
_Maghus Uncorn_
~Student Residence, 1 hour later~
“Ugh…” Maghus groaned to himself as he wondered what to do with his suddenly free afternoon. Mr. Moonbeam had only told him moments before the class through a quick scroll by dragon-fire that today’s lesson had been cancelled. Maghus had been looking forward to doing their lesson on making wings from clouds, having already read ahead and memorized the next section of the book when he had received the strange letter.
His thoughts of boredom and confusion were quickly interrupted however, as he heard a light knocking on his door, which he quickly trotted over to answer as not many ponies tended to wish to speak with him. He was caught quite off guard when he opened the door to see Princess Celestia of all ponies standing before him with a look of wonder as to if she could enter his room.
Maghus stepped aside and motioned inwards as the Princess entered. Maghus was both baffled and amazed that the Princess happened to pick today of all days to visit him a day before the next Summer Sun Celebration, said to be occurring in Ponyville again this year. Many ponies believed that it was to commemorate the return of Princess Luna at the last celebration in Ponyville, with only one pony in all of Equestria knowing the real reason as to why it would be occurring there.
“Princess!” Maghus remarked when he could finally find his tongue amidst his surprise. “It’s such a pleasure to see you here! Although I wasn’t expecting it all, and I found it kind of strange that you would visit me here with the Summer Sun Celebration coming up soon and all and I just figured that I-” He continued to ramble on as his nervousness and surprise began to confound his thoughts into one sentence, much to the Princess’ amusement.
Celestia raised a hoof to silence Maghus before his rambling cost him the breath in his lungs. She chuckled softly as Maghus silenced himself with a hoof, a look of confusion now ever present on his face. “Calm down Maghus.” Celestia had grown quite comfortable to speaking to Maghus in person, given his special circumstances in the school and Moonbeam’s occasional presentation of his talents to the Princess to show her his current progress. “I simply came to deliver some good news to you is all I am here to do today.”
“OK. But what for?” Maghus tilted his head, questions bouncing around in his mind about what the Princess was here about. It had been many months since a lesson had resulted in something broken, and as far as he knew his studies had been going very well as of late. “I haven’t done anything wrong have I?”
“You forget that I said ‘good news’ Maghus.” Celestia smiled as Maghus continued to look on in confusion. She then began her report of what moonbeam had told her an hour before. “Moonbeam tells me you have been exceedingly well in your lessons lately, particularly in being able to go ahead with the lesson before he has even finished describing it. Would you happen to have any explanation for this?”
Maghus continued to look on in confusion as he attempted to explain. “Well he mentioned that we would be following the book in order from front to back and lately I just decided to look ahead and know in advance what we would be doing. It’s been going quite well lately as he’s just had to sit back and watch as I finish reciting the lessons and risks to the spells and then performing them. They haven’t gone perfectly, but they haven’t ended in complete chaos either.” Maghus shuddered slightly as he remembered the giant bowling ball accident he had had once during a lesson years ago. How he had managed to turn a little puddle of water into an unstoppable object of destruction he didn’t know.
Celestia laughed softly as she noticed Maghus’ shudder at remembering something, she continued so as to put their conversation back on track. “That’s very good, and as a matter of fact is exactly why I’m here to speak with you today.” She then levitated a brown envelope towards Maghus that he had somehow missed before, which he proceeded to open. What caught Maghus’ eyes first of all were the words “Form of Transfer”.
“’Transfer’?” Maghus tilted his head as he lowered the envelope to look at the Princess questioningly. “Are you sure I didn’t do something wrong your Highness?”
Celestia laughed at the question slightly before speaking. “Keep reading Maghus, I’ll explain why I’m showing you this in a moment.” Celestia’s smile grew slightly as Maghus raised the form to block his face once again, a curious look on his face at the Princess’ expression.
“Requested movement to new location…dahdahdah…Pony moving to new location, Maghus Uncorn, uh huh…” Maghus paused a moment, thinking to himself why the Princess was having him moved to a new place of study. His smile faltered as he thought to himself, “I must have done something wrong! She’s just trying to make it sound so bad…Well, should probably see where she’s sending me off to first…Here goes nothing.” Maghus stole himself for the worst as he slowly moved his line of sight towards the bottom of the paper. “Destination to be moved to…PONYVILLE?!”
Celestia couldn’t help from laughing at his outburst, the papers dropping from his magical grip as he stood paralyzed in shock, a look of half-horror and half-joy on his face. Celestia stopped when she noticed his expression, quickly composing herself to continue their conversation in a more dignified manner.
She cleared her throat as she spoke her reasoning to Maghus. “Moonbeam told me he has officially put your name on the list of graduating unicorns for this year. He said great things about your studies and has requested that you be done your studies here and be free to move on to wherever you wish. However, he had no idea where you would wish to go, as you had never made mention of returning to Manehatten after finishing here.”
Maghus shook his head to try and regain his senses as he spoke. “I…well I just…I mean…I never really figured I’d be going back that is.” Maghus coughed slightly to clear his suddenly dry throat as he looked around for a glass of water which he quickly levitated over and took a deep drink from. “I mean, my parents were expecting me to visit them every now and then in Manehatten, but other than that they just expected me to go where I pleased after leaving here. They raised me to be a mature, adult pony from a young age I guess.” Maghus curiosity got the better of him however as he finished with a question. “But why Ponyville of all places? I mean, why not here in Canterlot, or back to Manehatten even if I didn’t live with my parents?”
Celestia smiled as Maghus just stood there confused. “Because we both believed that you needed to make a visit if just for a little while to catch up with an old friend. Does that bother you?” Celestia giggled silently to herself as Maghus blushed slightly.
“Well…n-not exactly. But I… just d-didn’t figure that it would be my…” He gulped loudly as he composed himself, scratching the back of his head slightly with one hoof. “I didn’t think it would be my first stop after finishing here.” He straightened himself as much as he could, attempting to hide his embarrassment and nervousness about the coming trip. “How long until I leave?”
“We are leaving in five days’ time, to arrive in preparation for this year’s Summer Sun Celebration. And Princess Luna will be accompanying us for her first celebration in one thousand years.” Celestia smiled as she began to leave the room. “As of now you are officially done your studies at my school. Please be ready for our departure in the afternoon five days from now.”
“O-Ok Princess.” Maghus stammered as he closed the door, looking around his room at all of his belongings. He sighed to himself as he thought about the coming trip. “This is going to be a long week.” He groaned as he began an early packing job for his moving day.
~Ponyville, 2 days before Summer Sun Celebration, 4 PM~
“Careful girls! Everything needs to be done in time for the celebration and if anything breaks that gives us even less time!” Twilight spoke anxiously as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash moved some decorations into place high above in the banisters of the Town Hall.
“We got this Twilight! We’ll be done so fast that we’ll have days to spare before the Summer Sun Celebration!” Rainbow Dash yelled down to the purple unicorn as Fluttershy struggled with decorations on her own. “Don’t worry about it! By the time they’re done, they’ll be twenty percent cooler than last year’s decorations!”
“Um…help…” Fluttershy squeaked as she began to slowly descend under the weight of all the banners and hanging decorations she had been left to carry.
“Hehe…Oops, my bad ‘Shy.” Rainbow Dash sheepishly spoke as she helped the timid yellow pegasus back up to continue hanging decorations. “Lost my focus for a second there.”
“It’s okay.” Fluttershy spoke softly as she proceeded to hang some streamers from the rafters above. Fluttershy carefully moved around, placing decorations in a way that would rivalled Rarity’s own skills. Rarity would have gladly taken this job had she not been swamped with orders for outfits by ponies for the Summer Sun Celebration. Fluttershy had no problem taking on the job however, as the birds were still very well versed in the songs they had sung last year and needed very little practice before the actual ceremony.
The doors to the Town Hall suddenly burst open with a loud bang, scaring the yellow pegasus into a corner with a squeak as she and Rainbow Dash descended to the floor to take a quick break. The pink pony that had opened the doors bounced into the room suddenly with a look of pure glee and excitement on it.
“Girls! Girls! Come quickly!” Pinkie yelled as she turned to begin bouncing outside.
She was quickly stopped by Rainbow however, who flew in front of Pinkie to slow her down. “Whoa, whoa, whoa there Pinkie Pie. What’s got you into such a hurry?” Rainbow Dash questioned, curious as to how the pink pony in front of her could be even more energetic than usual today.
“I figured you of all ponies would be as excited as me Dashie! After all, who wouldn’t be with who’s arriving right now!” Pinkie then jumped over Rainbow as Twilight yelled after her amidst all the excitement.
“What do you mean by ‘who’s arriving right now’?” Twilight asked with a look of confusion on her face.
“Why the Princesses silly! That’s who!” Pinkie yelled as she bounced out of the building, quickly followed by an equally excited Rainbow Dash and a nervous Fluttershy.
“The Princesses?” Twilight spoke to herself as she galloped out of the town hall. “But they’re a day early! Why would they come to Ponyville so soon before the celebration?” Twilight’s questions were put on hold by Applejack and Rarity, both passing by the Town Hall with confused looks on their faces. “Applejack! Rarity! Where are you two headed?”
“Why, to the town square darling!” Rarity answered as she and Applejack came to a sudden stop in front of the purple unicorn. “Where else would we be going with the Princesses arriving so early?”
“Ah’ just don’t understand why they would need to be so early.” Applejack spoke as the three friends continued at a gallop towards the town square where a large carriage was currently parked, following 6 royal guards. “And why in tarnation they would need to bring so much a for a simple visit to Ponyville.”
“Well I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” Twilight spoke as the three of them came to a stop behind Pinkie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, all eagerly watching the carriage that was now slowly opening its passenger door. “Look!”
Everypony bowed gracefully as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna disembarked from the carriage. But suddenly whispers could be heard throughout the crowd as everypony looked oddly at a third pony exiting the carriage.
“Who the heck is that?” Rainbow Dash asked as Twilight raised her head last, her jaw suddenly dropping as she burst out in shock, “MAGHUS?!”
The blue unicorn looked around suddenly, looking for the sudden outburst with a shock until he found Twilight’s face. He smiled as he recognized his friend amongst five other ponies he assumed were the friends she had made in Ponyville that Celestia had made mention to him about.
Alright, went on more of a spree than I had previously intended. Could feel the creative juices going all weekend, and I've just needed to write to prevent myself from going crazy from the lack of a way to release it all. So as an added gifts to all of my fantastic readers, here's the newest chapter. Enjoy.
~Ponyville~
“Hey Twilight, long time no see.” Maghus said with a smile as he levitated his bags from out of the carriage to land neatly beside him. As he turned from the bags however, his vision was completely filled with a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane. “Um…hello?” Maghus asked with a confused tone as he wasn’t sure what this mare in front of him was about to do.
“How do you know Twilight?” Rainbow Dash snapped at the strange blue unicorn in front of her. She didn’t know this stallion at all, and the fact that he somehow knew who Twilight was bothered her. “Are you some kind of creepy stalker fanboy or something?”
“Whoa!” Maghus replied quickly as he backed up a bit to regain his personal space. “Calm down already, geez.” Maghus wiped off some dirt that had ended up on his muzzle before he continued. “Guy arrives in a new town to visit an old friend from school and ends up interrogated with dirt in his mane. Lovely.” He proceeded to levitate a towel from out of his bag as he conjured up a cloud above his head.
The sudden appearance of the cloud completely threw everypony in the area into a state of shock, none of them having seen this type of magic before. Maghus was completely oblivious to this however, as he was humming to himself under the cloud that rained on his mane to wash out the dirt. As the cloud stopped and then disappeared into thin air, he quickly toweled off his mane, allowing the natural breeze and waviness of his mane to take over in the styling process.
Everyone gathered in the square practically had their jaws on the ground in surprise save for Twilight and the Alicorn sisters. Twilight laughed slightly as Maghus finished drying himself off. “Never did like getting dirt thrown at you that much, did you Maghus?” She giggled as she looked at his sheepish grin as he repacked his towel into one of his bags. “Kind of funny when you don’t mind the rain or chocolate or anything like that.”
Maghus chuckled as he remembered the chocolate rain cloud from 7 years ago. He had used the spell a couple times throughout his life, but not often due to it not being anything found normally in nature. “If it’s something wet, I can dry it out. Something solid and clumpy, that’s just a pain to deal with. You know how I am.”
“Um, excuse us. But who are you exactly?” Rarity asked politely as Maghus finished. The fact that this pony was mildly interested in appearance seemed quite…refreshing to her, given her present company.
Maghus turned quickly and gave a polite nod of his head to the white unicorn he could only assume was obsessed with fashion and looks given her very intricately curled mane and tail. “Sorry about that. My name is Maghus Uncorn. I’m actually kind of surprised Sparkle has mentioned me to anypony here to be honest. We did know each for what? Four years was it?” Maghus put on a smirk as he looked over to Twilight who now had a bit of a blush from when Maghus had spoken her nickname.
“I told you before goofball.” Twilight said as she trotted forward to give her friend a quick hug, “I hate being called Sparkle. And you know it.” She trotted back over to her friends as she smiled back to him. “But it is good to see you again.”
“Sparkle? Goofball? Four years?” Rainbow Dash asked quickly as she fidgeted next to Twilight. “What’s gotten into you all the sudden Twilight?”
“I must agree with Rainbow, darling.” Rarity nodded her head slightly to show her shared confusion. This wasn’t much like Twilight at all. “This…” Rarity glanced over to Maghus before she continued. “…polite stallion here comes from no where and mentions he knew you for four years and you’re acting like a completely different pony. What’s this all about?”
“It’s…a bit of a long story girls.” Twilight spoke sheepishly as Maghus moved towards the group due to the more relaxed feeling in the air.
“Apparently long enough to completely hide a part of your life from us I see.” Rarity huffed as she tilted her head away from Twilight in a mock attempt to coax the truth out of her.
“Rarity, knock it off.” Twilight sighed as she poked Rarity in the side with her hoof. “It really is a long story, and I never thought it was important to tell you girls about it.” Twilight groaned as she slumped to the ground in frustration.
“Oh, so I’m not important enough to mention huh?” Maghus said as he put on a mock-sad face. “I thought we were friends Twilight? How could you?” Maghus threw some puppy dog eyes and a quivering lip in just to add to the hilarity of the predicament Twilight was in.
“Oh you knock it off too.” Twilight snapped as she raised her head from the dirt, a slightly frustrated look on her face that immediately snapped Maghus to attention. He had gotten that look in the past and knew what would happen if he pushed further.
“Alright. I get it.” Maghus chuckled as he put his normal expression back on his face. This expression quickly turned to surprise as a pink pony with a cotton candy mane appeared out of nowhere in front of him, their muzzles almost touching. “WHOA!” Maghus quickly tipped backwards onto his rear in surprise at the sudden appearance.
“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! And you’re new! That means I get to through a Welcome to Ponyville for the New Pony party! And a Princess Celestia, Princess Luna welcome party! This is going to be so fun!” Pinkie practically shrieked out of joy, nearly blowing Maghus’ eardrums in the process.
“Hi…Pinkie Pie…” Maghus groaned as he rubbed his head from the sudden headache he now had. He looked around with a smirk as he looked for help from the crowd. “Anybody got some aspirin?” He rubbed his forehead as he trotted back over to his bags, now eager to get them to his new home and sleep. A lot.
“Well serves you right for picking on me you jerk.” Twilight snorted as she and the rest of her friends regained their composure from Pinkie’s sudden outburst to the new resident of Ponyville.
The rest of Twilight’s friends proceeded to introduce themselves to Maghus, all of them quite willing except for Rainbow Dash.
“Hello. My name is Rarity.” Rarity smiled as she gestured to her home. “I run the Carousel Boutique here in Ponyville and my door is always open should you need anything.”
Next was Applejack who was very eager to meet this new friend of Twilight’s, so much so that Maghus could barely feel his hoof afterwards. “My name’s Applejack. My family here runs the local apple farm Sweet Apple Acres just down the way. Any friend of Twilight’s a friend o’ ours.”
Next was Rainbow Dash, who was still unsure of the new pony given how he had picked on Twilight almost immediately after arriving. “I’m Rainbow Dash, the Best Flyer in all of Equestria. And I don’t like ponies picking on my friends.” She moved in really close to Maghus once again as she whispered menacingly in his ear. “Got that?” She backed away in surprise however as Maghus was clutching his sides from laughing so hard.
“I’m sorry,” Maghus spoke amidst laughs as he tried to speak. “It’s just that the whole tough-pony attitude cracks me up every time I see it. It’s not your fault, really.” Maghus then proceeded to topple over in his mirth, flailing his hooves as Rainbow’s face began to get red from both frustration and embarrassment.
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow then flew off suddenly in search of the first thundercloud she could find.
Maghus slowly got back to his feet as he wiped tears of joy from his eyes. As he calmed himself, he noticed a yellow pegasus standing amidst Twilight and her friends, looking very unsure of what to do at the moment. Twilight and the others noticed almost immediately, and whispered to the pegasus to step forward and introduce herself.
“Um…h-hello t-t-there…” Fluttershy squeaked as she attempted to introduce herself to the new pony. She had gotten a bit better at introducing herself to new ponies in the last year, but she still had troubles now and again like she was having now. “M-my n-n-name is…Fluttershy…” Her voice was barely a whisper as she tried to continue.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t quite catch your name there.” Maghus attempted to make it seem like his own fault in an effort to make the pegasus feel better. “My hearing isn’t the best sometimes, it’s nothing major. I’m sorry.”
“N-no!” Fluttershy stammered as she attempted to speak up. “I-it’s not your fault at a-all.” Fluttershy took a deep breath to steady herself as she tried again. “My n-name i-i-is Fluttershy…” She gasped for air as she realized she had held her breath for this last sentence.
“Hello Fluttershy. It’s very nice to meet you.” Maghus smiled as Fluttershy squee’d out of nervousness. Maghus then proceeded to look around in an attempt to find the last of Twilight’s friends, the pink one named Pinkie Pie.
“Where did Pinkie go?” Maghus asked as he looked around, now noticing for the first time the lack of a cyan pegasus as well. “And that cyan pegasus too…what was it, Rainbow Dash?”
Maghus continued to look around with a confused look on his face in an attempt to find the two missing ponies. While he searched however, the rest of Ponyville had returned to their normal duties, the excitement of the present situation finally passed. The remaining ponies in the square consisting of Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy all looked up suddenly to spot a dark cloud hanging above Maghus, a rainbow mane and a pink poofy mane both hanging from it.
Maghus noticed their gazes and stole a quick glance up, only to be pelted by a torrent of rain. This caused the entire present company to burst into laughter, albeit the Princesses laughter consisting of some suppressed giggles by hooves to their muzzles.
“So you wanna play it that way huh?” Maghus shouted up to the cloud. He smirked as he looked at Twilight and gave a wink, which she immediately understood and motioned to the rest of the girls too look up at the cloud.
“What do you think he meant by that Dashie?” Pinkie asked Rainbow as the two of them laughed at their prank. Her question was quickly answered however as the cloud began to spin in place quite rapidly, as the two ponies hung out tight to prevent being thrown clear into any nearby buildings or trees. “Whoa! This guy knows how to have fun. FASTER!!” Pinkie yelled this last statement as Rainbow looked at her friend in horror.
“You want it faster huh?” Maghus shouted as his horn began to glow even brighter. He chuckled to himself at the enthusiasm Pinkie showed at this, thinking of it more like a ride than a return prank. “I’ll give you faster. Hang on tight!”
Pinkie and Rainbow could feel the g-forces begin to tug at them as the cloud continued to spin in a tight circle. Pinkie simply cheered with glee at the ride while Rainbow was using all of her willpower to keep her lunch down as well as not get thrown into the next town. She quickly swallowed her pride however as she wanted nothing more than to get off this crazy cloud.
“Alright! I give!” Rainbow yelled at the top of her lungs, the cloud immediately slowing to a stop at her shout of despair. She quickly jumped down to the ground, literally kissing it as she felt solid earth beneath her hooves while her friends laughed.
Pinkie however couldn’t stop spinning as the sheer force of the ride had temporarily thrown off her balance, something very hard to do to the crazy pink pony. She next proceeded to collapse in a heap next to Rainbow Dash, a goofy grin on her face as her eyes spun in their sockets. “So…much…spinning…and…fun…”
The rest of the group couldn’t help but laugh at the two as Maghus levitated his bags next to him, the craziness of his arrival now past. Maghus cleared his throat slightly, an attempt to both gain everyone’s attention as well as attempt to fix the dryness he now felt from all the yelling and laughing. “Now that that’s over with, can someone show me where to put my things?”
“This way Maghus.” Celestia replied as she led the group towards the library. This was not caught without surprise by Twilight and the rest of the group however, as they all knew Twilight lived there.
“Um, Princess?” Twilight asked quickly as she trotted to the front of the group next to Celestia. “You know that the library is where I live, right?”
“Yes Twilight. I know.” Celestia smiled as she opened the door to the tree with her magic. “But it is a very large tree, I’m quite positive that it can accommodate one more guest inside of it.”
Maghus now took his turn to speak, having overcome the shock of hearing Twilight saying she lived in the tree. “You mean this library is a house?!” Maghus jaw could practically be heard slamming into the floor as he continued. “And Twilight LIVES here?! Why am I being put up here then? Why not some random house somewhere else in town?” Maghus’ face was very quickly gaining a red hue from a blush he tried very hard to hide from the rest of the group. He almost succeeded, save for Rarity catching a quick glance as he ducked his head into his bags in a mock-attempt to search for something.
“Hmm…” Rarity thought to herself as she smiled. “Is this a friend of Twilight’s? Or a ‘friend’ of Twilight’s? Maybe that’s why she never mentioned him before.” Rarity put a hoof over her muzzle to suppress her giggles as Celestia explained the arrangements.
“This library is quite large Maghus, I assure you.” Celestia smiled as she motioned to a dark door down a flight of stairs as she turned to Twilight. “I know you have equipment set up downstairs for experiments and tests Twilight. But could you possibly move them upstairs so Maghus can set up downstairs?”
Twilight looked slightly upset at the fact she had to move her things, but she was also quite excited on the inside that her friend would be staying here of all places. It would make catching up on the last year very easy for the two of them. “Of course Princess. I’ll get Spike to start on that right now…Sp-” She was quickly cut off by the purple dragon as he stepped into the room from the kitchen.
“I heard the whole thing while I was getting a snack Twilight.” Spike replied as he walked towards the group, raising a claw which Maghus quickly grabbed for a handshake then quickly pulled him in for a noogie to his scaled head. “Hey Maghus.”
Maghus laughed as he rubbed the purple dragons head with a smirk. “Good to see you too Spike.” Maghus then let go of the dragon who proceeded to stand between him and Twilight in the circle the group had made. “Haven’t burnt any books I hope?” Maghus smiled as Spike groaned playfully at the question.
“Like I haven’t heard that one before.” Spike then turned to Twilight, continuing where he had left off upon seeing Maghus. “I’ll get to work on cleaning out the basement now. Where do you want me to put everything for now?”
Twilight rubbed her chin for a moment as she considered the best place to keep her things. “Just put them in the closet next to the door to the basement is fine. I’ll deal with it later.”
“I really appreciate this Twilight, even though there are other perfectly reasonable places to leave.” Maghus finished as he pointed a half-accusing look at Celestia who simple laughed a bit to herself at his comment.
What Maghus didn’t know was Celestia’s knowledge of his feelings for Twilight. And while it may not have been the smartest idea, it would surely be a way for him to eventually express his feelings. And if things happened to work out, then the two of them would already be close enough to share their time with each other. She quickly shook her head a bit to clear her thoughts as she imagined Twilight and Maghus as a happy couple with unicorn foals jumping around. How and why she pictured these thoughts was beyond her own imagination sometimes.
“Anyways, now that that’s over with.” Maghus replied as he levitated his bags into a heap into the corner. He then looked over to Pinkie as he smiled expectantly. “Didn’t you say something about a party Pinkie?”
Pinkie practically jumped through the roof in her excitement. “Yeah! Let’s all go to Sugarcube Corner and PAR-TAY!”
Everyone laughed as they left the library, Twilight and Maghus sharing another quick hug as they tailed the group. They were both very happy to see each other after a long year and were very eager to speak to each other and catch up. One of them was a lot more eager than the other however as they made their way to Sugarcube Corner for the party.
Maghus smiled as he looked up into the beautiful sky above. Things were going to get a lot more interesting in her life. He could just feel it.
Alright, let the temporary writing spree continue as the story has now finally moved to Ponyville. This chapter is meant to be a little more comedic as I haven't really had a chance to throw some fun little comedy sketches in. Hope everyone enjoys my latest chapter and the possibility of another one tomorrow depending on hos things go.
~Sugarcube Corner, the next morning, the day before the Summer Sun Celebration~
“Ohh…my head…” Maghus groaned as he groggily opened his eyes, shutting them immediately as he was blinded by the late morning sun shining in from a nearby window. His head felt like a dozen Pinkie Pie’s were jumping on his brain and yelling at the top of their lungs while his chest burned hot as the sun. He sighed as he pulled himself up from the ground, rubbing his temples with his hooves as he stretched. “I am NEVER drinking five cups of hot sauce on a dare from Pinkie EVER again.”
Maghus slowly trudged over to the nearby table that had mysteriously ended up in the middle of the room. Since when did Twilight have a table in the library? He had only been in it for maybe thirty minutes talking, but he still had looked around at his new living arrangements. That’s when it suddenly hit him as to where he was. His head shot back and forth, looking at the storm of a mess thet had landed right in the middle of Sugarcube Corner. “Is this from last night?!”
Maghus groaned as he looked down at his wrist. The watch he had owned for the last 7 years read 10:45 AM. His wrist under the watch happened to sting a little too, he noticed, as the watch had an alarm currently set for 9 AM every morning. The watch was no order timepiece after all, it being the alarm clock he had turned into a cloud his first month in Canterlot. He had changed it into a watch for convenience’s sake, but apparently it didn’t help wake you from a hot sauce induced coma.
Maghus looked around slowly, noticing all of the decorations and food lying all over the floor, walls, and some on the ceiling somehow. What struck Maghus as odd was how there weren’t any other ponies there beside himself. Had everyone just left him there when he had passed out the night before?
“Now you’re awake you silly filly!” Maghus turned a little too quickly, clutching his head as another wave of dizziness passed, to see Pinkie smiling her trademark smile at the top of the stairs leading to where Pinkie and the Cakes slept.
“Pinkie…” Maghus groaned as he continued to rub his temples from her shrill voice. “…could you tone down the volume a bit please? My head won’t stop throbbing…” Maghus trotted over to a nearby couch as he curled up in the fetal position, wanting nothing more than for last night to have never happened.
“Now why would I do that when it’s the middle of the day and there’s sooooo much to get finished before the celebration tomorrow?” Pinkie giggled as she gave the couch a kick, knocking Maghus on to the floor in a heap. “It’s going to be so great! With streamers and fireworks and balloons and singing and…” Pinkie trailed on as Maghus looked up from the floor almost threateningly at the pink mare as he considered which form of magic to quiet her with.
His thoughts were quickly cut off by a familiar white unicorn however, as Rarity entered Sugarcube Corner and stare appalled at the mess in front of her. “What is all of this?!” Rarity finally shrieked as Pinkie finally stopped her list of things the next day.
“…and birds and the Princesses! Oh, hi Rarity!” Pinkie exclaimed as Rarity’s mouth hung agape looking at the mess in front of her, Maghus lying right in the middle of it. Pinkie then followed her gaze and giggled as she answered Rarity’s question. “Oh, that mess. That’s just leftovers of the awesome party from last night from when everypony left and the new pony fell asleep on the floor. Not a biggie.”
“Not a big deal?!” Rarity snapped as she turned to glare at the food and decorations laying everywhere, finally landing her gaze on a sheepishly grinning Maghus. “YOU! This is your doing! You came in here and made this…this…horrible disaster of a mess!” Rarity finished as she levitated Maghus to his feet rather forcefully, Maghus nearly falling back over as he attempted to regain his balance that was lost the night before.
“I didn’t do ALL of this!” Maghus snapped as he conjured up a small tornado that began to vacuum up all of the food and decorations. “But it makes sense that I clean it up since I was technically the last to leave.” Maghus sighed as he moved the small vacuum twister about with his magic, letting it linger on the places around the room that had more junk piled on them.
Rarity was completely caught off guard by his last statement and the small twister as Maghus cleaned the room. “H-how are you doing thet?” She finally managed to ask, her surprise very apparent in the way she spoke. “I have never seen magic of that kind before!”
Maghus smiled slightly as he turned the twister into a see-through cloud thet somehow managed to hold all of the trash inside of it as he levitated it over to the nearest trash can. “That’s because it’s not ordinary magic. Not even Twilight could use it if she tried.” Maghus then proceeded towards the door to Sugarcube Corner with his mind set on returning to the library immediately.
Rarity placed a hoof in front of him however just as he was about to pass her and leave. “And where do you think you’re going?” She was not about to let this new pony simply ignore her like that and just leave to go about his own business after appalling her in such a way.
“The library? Where else would I go to sleep?” Maghus replied, sarcasm practically dripping from his mouth as he spoke with a deadpan stare at Rarity.
“Not looking like THET you’re not!” Rarity exclaimed as he began to drag him with her magic towards the Carousel Boutique. “You’re coming with me to get cleaned up properly and so that I can make you a new outfit for tomorrow!” Rarity proceeded to open the door to her home with own hoof while Maghus struggled against her surprisingly strong magic.
“But I can just clean up at Twilight’s!” Maghus exclaimed as he looked in horror at all of the dresses and fancy clothing inside the store. “And I already have something for tomorrow!” Maghus dug his hooves into the ground as Rarity dragged him into the Boutique. He then yelled in horror to anypony that could hear him. “HELP ME!!”
Everypony that was within earshot sighed and bowed their heads in respect to the new stallion that had just been pulled into Rarity’s lair.
~Ponyville Library~
“Where do you think he is Spike?” Twilight asked as she paced amongst the bookshelves, a look of worry on her face as Spike sighed and shook his head.
“Twilight, you said yourself that he passed out last night at Pinkie’s.” Spike continued as he walked over to the purple mare, giving her a reassuring pat on the back. “He’s probably still out of it now from how wild he got last night with the dares and the dancing and everything.”
“But it’s already eleven in the morning! It’s too late for anypony to be asleep still with the Summer Sun Celebration happening tomorrow!” Twilight continued to pace frantically while Spike groaned at his failed attempt to calm her down about her missing friend.
The two of them were suddenly snapped out of it however when they heard a long scream for help come from in the direction of the Carousel Boutique. The two of them briefly shared a shocked look before quickly leaving the library towards Rarity’s home.
~Ponyville Square~
“Calm ‘yerself Rainbow!” Applejack said as she practically had to jump on top of Rainbow Dash to get her to stay still. “This panickin’ ain’t gonna help nothin’ when that storm comes. What’s so bad about this one anyways?” Applejack inquired her pegasus friend as she looked around frantically.
“The pegasi up in Cloudsdale forgot they had a big storm planned tomorrow so they had to move it to today so it wouldn’t ruin the celebration.” Rainbow Dash began to struggle against the rope Applejack had used to tie her to a tree to slow her down and explain. “But if I don’t warn everypony in Ponyville now then everything will be ruined anyways before tomorrow even comes. Now let me go!” Rainbow continued to struggle while Applejack just looked at her friend with a confused look.
“Well why don’t they move that there big storm to the day after the celebration? Makes more sense tah me then tah move it tah today.” Applejack continued as she began to loosen the ropes around her friend. “Besides, wouldn’t it be easier tah just send some pegasi tah that storm cloud that’s ah’ comin’ and just break it up?”
“We would if we could AJ.” Rainbow groaned as she finally puller free of the ropes. “But for one cloud this thing is impossible for anypony to get close to without getting zapped. They’ve already sent a few to try and move it, but anypony thet’s gotten close has had to take leave for the next few days from their injuries. It’s just not possible to stop it.”
“Maybe not fer any of the’ pegasi, but maybe Twilight has somethin’.” Applejack replied as she galloped off for Ponyville with Rainbow close behind.
~Carousel Boutique~
Maghus cowered in the corner as he awaited Rarity’s return and the continuation of his terrible punishment resumed. He had already been forced to go through four baths to make sure every scrap of last night had been erased from his body. He was a little scared at how soft his coat felt whenever he touched it. Rarity had been quite adamant about his cleanliness that it scared him a bit. This crazy mare belonged in one of those high society spas in Canterlot, not here in Ponyville!
“Maghus?” Rarity called from the room adjacent to the dressing room where Maghus was currently held up. “Are you still there?...Don’t make me come in there and make you take another bath…” She last the last word hang in the air a moment to allow Maghus time to let it sink in.
“I’m here! I’m still here Rarity! Not going anywhere! Nope! Not planning an escape or anything!” Maghus replied with fear in his voice. He glanced around the room, looking for anything he could use to undo these ropes Rarity had put on him to prevent him from leaving.
Maghus continued this for nearly ten minutes when he facehoofed himself in his stupidity. In all of the commotion, he had completely forgotten about his own magic in his fear. His horn quickly gained a light blue glow as he untied the ropes thet bound him and silently began to trot to the door that led to his freedom from this mad-mare. His freedom was quickly stolen however as the door suddenly burst open to two strangers wearing cloaks in the rain that had begun to fall on Ponyville.
“AAAHHHH!!” Maghus yelled as he backed away, his flank bumping into something soft. He turned his head to see Rarity, a confused look on her face and a measuring tape floating next to her head. “YAAHHHHH!!” Maghus quickly bounded over to the nearest corner, anxiously waiting for his final moments at the hooves of two mysterious ponies and a crazed fashionista. His screams of fear quickly turned into a look of confusion and surprise as the three figures in front of him all toppled over backwards laughing their hearts out.
“What the…what’s going on?” Maghus asked cautiously as he slowly moved towards the group, his horn glowing slightly in preparation for a surprise attack from any of the group in front of him.
“Oh…oh my…it’s too much…” Rarity could barely contain her mirth as she clutched her sides with her hooves in her laughter.
“I…I knew he was a goofball…but this…this is better than Hearth’s Warming…” the larger of the two cloaked figures gasped out in an all too familiar voice to Maghus.
“T-Twilight?!” Maghus exclaimed as Twilight magically lifted her’s and Spike’s hoods away from their heads while they caught their breath. “W-what are you doing here?!” Maghus couldn’t help but feel his jaw drop when his friend removed her hood to reveal her purple and pink mane and a smiling face of relief and joy.
Twilight cleared her throat softly as she wiped a few tears of from her eyes from her laughter. “Looking for you, you foal. You never came back to the treehouse after last night and I was worried you’d gotten lost.”
Maghus blushed slightly at the mention of her missing him. Twilight and Spike were completely oblivious, but once again Rarity caught the small sign of embarrassment as her curiosity about this stallion grew. She would have to poke into this a little in the future and find out the truth of the relationship between these two. She quickly turned to Maghus as she stretched out her measuring tape, beginning to take his measurements.
Maghus noticed the slight movement of the tape, and quickly backed away from it in a show of fear. “Get that thing away from me!” Maghus snapped as he instinctively covered his neck with one hoof. “Don’t even try to choke me with thet! I have magic!”
Rarity then proceeded to fall over once again laughing while Twilight looked at Maghus like he was some giant buffoon. “What the hay Maghus? It’s just a measuring tape.” Twilight continued to look at her friend with a confused expression as Maghus spoke his crazy thoughts aloud.
“Just a measuring tape?! She made me take four baths to get cleaned before I she dragged me down here! My coat has NEVER been this soft before, Twilight! Never!” Maghus motioned to his side with one hoof as Twilight’s face lit up with realization, which she then proceeded to facehoof herself as she turned to Rarity.
“What did you do Rarity?” Twilight asked her unicorn friend, who was slowly regaining her composure amidst her tears of mirth. Rarity giggled a little to herself as she replied.
“I don’t a have any clue whatever you’re talking about, darling.” Rarity covered her muzzle as she continued to giggle. “I just saw the mess he had made at Sugarcube Corner and then dragged him over here to get cleaned up and to make some fabulous new clothing as a welcome to Ponyville.”
Maghus jaw could literally be heard hitting the floor as well as the rest of him as he replied to this last comment, both mares looking at him in surprise. “What?!” Maghus exclaimed when he could finally find his tongue. “You put me through all of thet scary torment to get me cleaned up and suited?! Why didn’t you just ask?!”
Rarity cleared her throat softly before she proceeded to explain. “Well you were lying in the middle of the messiest room I had ever seen in years, and after you were about to simply leave after so politely cleaning up thet whole mess without a single complaint I had to do something nice for you.”
Maghus’ eyes could almost be felt staring daggers at Rarity as he got up from the floor. “Then why put me through that huge scare over nothing?”
Rarity laughed slightly as she finished. “Because it was hilarious, darling.” Rarity simply smiled as she proceeded to complete Maghus’ measurements, his jaw open and one eyes twitching, before retracting her tape and placing it on the nearby table. “There, all done. Your suit will be ready later this evening for you to pick up.”
Maghus regained his composure as he gave a defeated sigh. “Well no sense going back to bed now that I’m wide awake from that crazy mare…” Maghus groaned as he walked towards the door to the Carousel Boutique. He was quickly knocked aside with a bang as the door once again burst open, this time in his face, to reveal a soaking wet Applejack and Rainbow Dash whose eyes lit up when they spotted Twilight. Their looks of joy turned into looks of confusion as they noticed the worried look on her face.
The two mares followed her line of sight to spot an unconscious Maghus lying next to the open door, his back hoof twitching occasionally while he mumbled under his breath.
“What happened to him?” Rainbow Dash asked amidst laughter as she gazed upon the pony who had gotten revenge on her the day before with her cloud prank.
“It’s…hard to explain.” Twilight sighed as she trotted up to her two friends. She looked at the two of them attempting to catch their breath, obviously in a hurry to or from somewhere and proceeded to ask what they were doing here. “What’s got you two so out of breath?”
Applejack was the first to respond after she had fully caught her breath. “There’s a big storm ah comin’ and we need us a way tah stop it before it ruins everything for the celebration tomorrah’.” Rainbow simply nodded her head in agreement as she recovered from her laughter at Maghus’ expense.
Twilight thought about the different options they had to stop the oncoming storm. She smiled as an idea came to mind, which turned into a frown as she glanced over at Maghus’ unconscious body. “I have an idea girls, but we’re gonna have to wait a little bit before we can do anything about that storm.”
The three mares all looked at Maghus, anxiously awaiting his return to the land of the non-sleepers. He was completely oblivious to the current situation however as he dreamed of parties and dances and hot sauce filled cupcakes.
Alright everypony. I promised some new chapters this week since I have no classes in university, so here is chapter 10. And just a newsflash for those that have been wondering about the OC proposals I've received, I'm coming to conclusions as to the 3 OC's I add into the story. There's a also a very distinct possibility of one of them being in chapter 11. But you'll have to keep reading to find out.
I also want to apologize in advance for the shorter than normal chapter. Made the odd decision of pulling an all-nighter last night relaxing, and trying to stay focused today was just down near impossible. Hope the story still turns out well.
~Carousel Boutique, 2 hours later~
“Mmm…” Maghus sighed as he stretched and smacked his lips. His eyes remained closed however as he moved to get out of what he thought was his bed. He was in for a shock however when his hoof didn’t descend any lower than the rest of him, and he cracked open one eye to see if he’d rolled on to the floor again in his sleep.
“Nice of you to finally wake up Maghus.” Twilight said with a slightly bored tone. This worried Maghus a bit, as it usually took something REALLY boring to get her depressed.
Then he remembered Twilight’s comment about waking up, and decided to probe a few questions to figure out what happened. “Hey, Twilight?” Maghus asked with a note of hesitation. “What did you mean by ‘finally wake up’?”
“You don’t remember?” Twilight’s jaw dropped slightly as she had a flashback of Maghus head getting pounded by the door as Applejack and Rainbow Dash barged in. She couldn’t help but giggle a little to herself as she remembered the goofy look on his face while he was out cold. “You seriously don’t remember Applejack and Rainbow Dash knocking you out with a door about two hours ago?”
“You’d think I would.” Maghus replied as he shrugged his shoulders. “But I guess not, must have been a pretty solid crack on my noggin to make me forget it.” He then took a moment to shake his head to clear any remaining drowsiness in his system. His motions stopped rather abruptly however as he noticed a distinct lack of any of Twilight’s friends.
Before Maghus could ask about her friends whereabouts however, he could feel a hoof dragging him by the neck out of the store into the rainy wet outdoors of Ponyville. Maghus took a brief moment to look around before the wind and rain forced him to lower his eyes once again. What Maghus saw worried him slightly, as he knew a fair bit of storm clouds and such considering that’s what his magic was based off of.
“Uh…Twilight?” Maghus asked with a VERY obvious tone of confusion at the current situation. “Why is it raining hard enough to flood Ponyville right now? And why is nopony doing anything to stop the Summer Sun Celebration things from getting ruined?”
Twilight groaned, for she knew that this question was going to come up sooner or later, “The weather factory in Cloudsdale forgot about a storm they had scheduled for tomorrow, but then they moved it to today so it wouldn’t ruin things during the celebration.”
“But that’s just as likely for the decorations being ruined before the celebration even happens then!” Maghus jaw practically hit the floor once again as he scanned the book, using photographic memory to allow him to figure out the solution.
While Maghus considered possible options for assisting everyone, Twilight couldn’t help but look over towards Sweet Apple Acres where the rest of her friends were attempting to prevent the tree from snapping out of the ground.
~Sweet Apple Acres~
“Buck faster girls’!” Applejack bellowed as she and the rest of her friends, save for Twilight, attempted to buck as many apples as they could from the trees before the gusting winds and pouring rain ruins everything. “The storm’s a pickin’ up and ah don’t wanna have to worry ‘bout no soggy, ruined apples coming morning.
“We’ve been doing this for a couple of hours AJ!” Rainbow yelled over the rush of the wind. She was used to the wind in her mane, but not in a situation like this where she was working on a very windy day. “This is a waste of time and effort to try this! The storm’s just too strong!”
Applejack turned towards the complaining pegasi, a deep frown apparent on her brow. This caused Rainbow Dash to shudder slightly as she caught a glimpse of it and motivate her into working without constantly blabbing her thoughts to the hills and beyond.
As the five friends continued to work, they did notice a small change in the weather, which was most confusing to Rainbow Dash seeing as how she had to help make this storm that was bearing down on them.
“What the hay?” Rainbow said more to herself than out loud to anypony else. “What’s going on with the weather now?”
Rainbow’s question was quickly answered however by two unicorns trotting down the path to Sweet Apple Acres. As they got closer, Rainbow was able to distinguish both ponies very clearly: one of her friends Twilight Sparkle, and the new pony Maghus Uncorn. Rainbow’s first thought was to take a barrel of apples and just buck it right at the egghead, but she decided against it as she was busy with more strenuous things at the moment.
The silence that fell as Twilight and Maghus approached was quickly broken by a statement from Maghus himself. “So I heard that you guys needed a way to calm this storm huh?” Maghus smirked as he paused a moment for dramatic tension. “Well it just so happens I have the solution,” he motioned to his horn, “right here.”
Yeah, I mentioned the chapter would be shorter, but I'm slightly disapponted in how short it actually turned. I promise the next few chapters will hopefully make up for the sad update I did today.
Alright. Sorry about the long wait everypony. The last week I was supposed to get up a few chapters for everyone, but my train of thought just wasn't in my story due to the week off having no creativity on my side, and also partly to do with all of the Mass Effect 3 hype going on. Speaking of which I will be attempting to get a good 3-4 chapters out this week if I'm lucky since ME3 is going to end up taking some of my previously pony-filled spare time for the hype of its release. Sorry about that. Anyways, here is the newest chapter, minus the terrible sleep-deprived train of thought.
~Sweet Apple Acres~
“I’ve got your solution right here.” Maghus gestured towards his blue horn as he concluded his short speech.
Everypony save for Twilight all stared at Maghus as if he were crazy. They all had confused looks on their faces as they all wondered how one unicorn that had just happened to arrive in Ponyville the day before could possibly solve such a big problem. None of them could even consider what to say save for Pinkie, who of course blurted out the first thing to come to mind.
“What are you talking about silly filly?” Pinkie giggled as she was suddenly inches in front of Maghus, giving his horn a gentle poke with one of her hooves. “You can’t get rid of clouds with that! You’ll just make your head go ‘POOF’ right through them without doing anything, duh.” Pinkie then just as suddenly was back over with the rest of the group, casually bucking apples while the others turned their confused faces on her while she hummed to herself.
“O….k?” Maghus said as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. Twilight and the others couldn’t help but laugh a little as Maghus had yet to get used to Pinkie being…well Pinkie. He shook his head slightly to clear his mind as he proceeded to explain. “What I meant was that my magic is the solution Pinkie.”
“Oh, I know what you meant.” Pinkie giggled as she continued to buck the tree she was standing under. “I just think it’s funny to look at the looks on everypony’s faces when they don’t understand what I’m doing or saying.” She continued giggling as she then glanced at no one in general. “Right everypony?”
“Uh…Pinkie?” Maghus tried to attract the pink mare’s attention as she started laughing for no apparent reason. Maghus’ head continued to tilt sideways slightly as he tried to even remotely understand the strange resident of Ponyville that was such good friends with Twilight. “I…wait…huh?” Maghus then slumped over to rest on his flank as his mind went into overdrive trying to figure out what was going on.
“Ah think we lost him girls.” Applejack replied as everypony except Pinkie laughed a bit at Maghus’ expression. Everypony laughed while Twilight gave Maghus a gentle nudge in the side to snap him out of his trance.
“Huh?...Where was I again?” Maghus asked as he shook his head, still trying to make a little sense of the current situation.
“You were just about to mention your big problem-solver Einstein.” Rainbow Dash replied while she flew from tree to tree, shaking branches free of their apples while Fluttershy caught them in barrels below with the help of some animals from her cottage.
“Haha, very funny Rainbow.” Twilight retorted as her friend shrugged her shoulders as she proceeded to fly through the trees. She then turned to Maghus to try and get things back on track amidst the stormy weather around them. “You were mentioning something about how your magic would help, remember?”
“Right, right.” Maghus replied as he scratched his chin with his hoof, quickly composing himself for his explanation. He had never had to really explain his special situation with magic before, save for when he had the meeting with Princess Celestia, Moonbeam and Twilight 7 years ago. He wasn’t quite sure how to explain. He then turned to Twilight, a slight glimmer of hope in his eyes. “You mind helping me out with this Twilight?”
“I…I guess?” Twilight replied, a little confused as to why Maghus needed her help to explain something as simple as magic unless…of course! He needed a little help explaining how HIS magic was going to help. Twilight then nodded her head to show that she understood what Maghus was getting at.
Maghus then turned to face the others, who were mostly paying attention to Twilight and Maghus while still focussing enough to save as many apples as they could before the storm could possible ruin them. He took a deep breath as he proceeded to explain his solution in as simple words as possible.
“You all know about magic of course.” Maghus waited a moment, not at all surprised by the looks he received from everpony that said ‘Really? You’re asking if we know what magic is?’ He then channeled a small portion of magic through his horn, enough to create a small white cloud directly above his head. This quickly produced a few gasps of surprise from the group, the loudest happening to come from Rainbow Dash.
“How are you doing that?!” Rainbow screeched as she flew forward to attempt to place a hoof on the small cloud as a test to see if it was a real cloud or not. As nature would dictate, her hoof stayed put once placed on the cloud, and she proceeded to give the cloud a slight nudge to test its movement as well. Once this was done, she then landed a few feet in front of Maghus and Twilight, a confused and suspicious look on her face as Maghus continued.
“In simple words. Magic.” Maghus stated matter-of-factly. This did nothing to sate anypony’s curiosity however, making Maghus give Twilight a small look that said ‘Help?’
“What he means is that his magic, like mine, is special.” Twilight stated to her friends. The ever present looks of confusion prompted her to continue explaining however. “His magic is special because it can actually control and manipulate the weather itself.”
“Weather magic?” Rainbow crossed her hooves against her chest, sitting on her flank as she did so. Her face quickly turned to an expression of denial and disapproval as Maghus stepped forward to continue speaking.
“Yes, Rainbow Dash. Weather magic.” Maghus nodded his head slightly. “That was what allowed me to spin you and Pinkie on that cloud that you rained on me with yesterday, remember?” Rainbow’s look of realization gave Maghus the opening he needed to make a slight crack at her expense. “What? Did you think I just used normal magic to spin the cloud like that? I know for pegasi it’s possible if you fly fast enough, my parents have shown me once or twice. But for unicorns it’s practically impossible. Watch.” Maghus then used his magic to spin the small cloud ever so gently, leaving a small white mist around while the moisture inside spun around on the spot. “Now you try Twilight.”
“Huh?” Twilight asked, slightly confused why her old friend would ask her to do such a strange thing. It was a small cloud that was only slightly larger than her own head, how hard could it possibly be? “O…Ok, I guess.”
Twilight then proceeded to concentrate on the small cloud, gently flowing more and more magic into her horn as no results were even slightly apparent in the fluffy object in front of her. Her horn began to glow a very bright purple as the magical buildup began to rise slightly higher than was safe.
Maghus noticed quickly enough however, having seen the results of such a buildup plenty of times in Canterlot when he and Twilight were younger. He placed a hoof gently on Twilight’s shoulder to calm her down as he expression began to turn to a deep scowl of frustration. “It’s alright Twilight. You can stop now.”
Twilight’s horn then lost its bright colouring as everpony looked dumbfounded at Maghus like he was an alien, all of them having completely lost all thought on continuing to buck the trees.
Maghus then turned back to the group, chuckling slightly as he looked at all of their faces. “Yes, I know. I’m a weirdo because I can do something nopony else can. Yippee for me.” Maghus shook his head slightly, laughing a little to himself as everypony else regained their composures, now more eager to hear what Maghus had for a solution to the weather problem.
“So what’s your big solution then weather-brain?” Rainbow asked, still in the mood for cracking jokes at Maghus after what had happened the day before.
Maghus smirked as he prepared his reply to Rainbow’s question. “Simple. I move the clouds somewhere else, duh.” Maghus couldn’t help but fall back laughing as Rainbow’s jaw dropped, her joke completely ruined. He then climbed back to his feet, clearing his throat slightly. “At least I wish it were that simple.” Maghus groaned inwardly as he took a glance at the dark storm clouds approaching the farm. “Those clouds came over the Everfree forest, right?” Maghus asked Rainbow, quickly coming to the assumption that she worked for the Weather Factory in Cloudsdale in some way.
“Yeah.” Rainbow nodded, a little confused at the obvious question. “It wasn’t meant to though, it kind of happened by accident since they had to gather so many for the storm.”
“Great, just great…” Maghus groaned as he shook his head in frustration. “This is going to complicate things a bit.”
Rarity then spoke up, having been quite the entire time. “Will it take long? My mane is already soaking wet, so the sooner I can get cleaned up and fix it, the better.”
“That’s just like you Rar’. Always worryin’ ‘bout yer mane whenever the weather gets nasty.” Applejack retorted, the two quickly about to go into a relapse of the sleepover a year ago.
“Girls!” Twilight snapped, quickly getting a handle on the situation before all chaos broke loose amidst the group. “Let Maghus finish!”
Maghus blushed slightly at Twilight’s determination to keep things focussed on him. He quickly composed himself, though once again his blush was caught by Rarity’s quick eyes. “The thing is, it’s not going to be easy to move this storm. Simply moving it from one place to another won’t protect anything from the storm itself. So I’m going to have to attempt to actually teleport the storm to the other side of Ponyville, therefore leaving all the decorations intact.”
“But you said yourself that you have the ‘special’ magic to do stuff like that. Why would this be so hard?” Rainbow inquired as the others trotted over to form a semi-circle in front of Maghus, all caution about the trees thrown to the wind(no pun intended).
“Yes I did.” Maghus nodded his head. “But the fact it came over the Everfree Forest makes it slightly more unpredictable and harder to control. As things are, I’m going to have to break up the clouds into sections, and then teleport them individually instead of as a whole group.
“Well then, what’re we waitin’ for?” Applejack replied as she stepped forward. “Let’s get started!”
Everypony save for Maghus put there hooves together in a circle, ready to tackle to problem. They all looked at Maghus with confused faces however as he bit his lower lip slightly out of anxiety.
“Something wrong dear?” Rarity asked as the group lowered their hooves to the ground. Maghus looked like he was hiding something important, something that was very crucial to how he was going to get rid of the storm.
“I…guess you could say that.” Maghus replied as he looked at the six mares standing in front of him, all with worried or confused looks on their faces. Maghus sighed as he prepared for the inevitable. “The thing is…you all have to leave while I do this.”
Everypony stepped back in shock as he spoke those words. Fluttershy of anypony was the first to ask the question on everypony’s mind. “But why?”
“It’s very unstable magic I’m dealing with. Dealing with a raincloud or two or simple enough…but…” Maghus looked down at the ground, taking a shuddering breath as a few tears dropped from his eyes. Everypony gasped at the sudden change in his attitude, realizing that this was a bigger deal than they previously imagined. “This storm is already dangerous enough as it is. When I attempt to break it into parts it’ll become very wild and hazardous to anypony nearby. Once it’s all teleported it’ll be fine, but until then I have to ask all of you to go home and take shelter.” Maghus then turned to Applejack, since her home was going to be very close to what he would be performing. “Applejack, you need to take everyone from your home and get them somewhere else in Ponyville. It won’t be safe here, even in your house should a stray bolt of lightning or something hit the house while I’m breaking the storm apart.”
Applejack nodded her head solemnly in agreement knowing that now was not the time for petty arguments given the circumstances. Everypony else then proceeded to trot off towards Ponyville and safety.
“Hold on a sec Twilight.” Maghus said as he placed a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight looked at him quizzically while she gestured towards the others to keep going. Everyone except Rarity continued back, while Rarity hid in some bushes to see what she believed to be something important to Maghus given the small blushes she had seen him give Twilight since he had arrived.
“What is it Ma…” She was quickly cut off by Maghus’ lips attached to hers, not in a forceful way, but with a gentle touch that came quickly. After a moment, Maghus broke the kiss, looking at Twilight with a half-loving, half-terrified expression on his face. Her face was completely emotionless, her mind blank after what she had just experienced. “Maghus?”
Maghus just simply smiled slightly as a few tears escaped his eyes and travelled down his muzzle. He knew from her tone that she didn’t hate him for what he had done, but that she didn’t know what to think about what had happened. He was slightly surprised however as Rarity climbed out of the bushes towards them, a smile and a tear on her face as she guided Twilight back to Ponyville with a nod from Maghus.
Everything now taken care of, Maghus turned towards the oncoming storm clouds, a new sense of determination and courage in his heart as he had finally confessed his feelings to Twilight after so long apart.
“Alright then, let’s save us a celebration.”
Alright, so I was going to do this in one part, but realized that it would end up being a much longer chapter than most. So I'll leave it on a cliffhanger for now, and then update later this evening with the second half, as well as the introduction of the first of four OC's to enter my story. Cheers everypony.
Here's the second part to Song of Storms, as promised earlier today. Hope you all enjoy it. And I'm sorry if any of you happen to tear up a bit in this chapter, I swung a little of the sad loop into the story here in a song about halfway through. I actually teared up a bit myself while writing it while listening to the music, hopefully none of you burst into streams of tears because of the emotion in this chapter.
~Ponyville Library~
“Are ya’ll positive that it’ll be alright?” Applejack asked her friends as they all sat in a circle in Twilight’s treehouse, waiting for the storm to pass with Maghus’ help. Applejack had just recently arrived from Sweet Apple Acres with Granny Smith, Big Mac and Applebloom in tow. None of them had been very comfortable leaving the farm the way they did, but at Applejack’s urging they came willingly if only to calm their family member.
“It couldn’t be as bad as he said, could it? I mean, if Sweet Apple Acres is ruined then you’d have to leave Ponyville, Applejack…” Pinkie whimpered slightly at the thought of losing one of her best friends to a meanie-storm. Her mane deflated slightly, leaving a little waviness to it but otherwise straightening out considerably. The weather seemed to be affecting even Pinkie’s optimism, which didn’t deem well for Applejack’s previous question.
“It’s just a storm you guys.” Rainbow Dash put a hoof around each of Pinkie’s and Applejack’s shoulders in an attempt to calm both of them down. “I’ve taken care of plenty in the past and this one is no different.” Rainbow put on a false smile in an extra attempt to alleviate her friends’ woes. In truth she had no clue how things would turn out. This storm was different given its size, and its trip over the Everfree Forest made the situation even less predictable. “It’ll be fine…”
Fluttershy could only sit by and just give reassuring smiles to her friends as she was worried about the storm as well. It wasn’t quite as big a deal for her as it was for Applejack and her family, but the storm could be quite hazardous for all of the animals at her cottage if things got out of hand.
Rarity and Twilight however were off in their own world as Twilight was attempting to make sense of the farewell Maghus had given her before Rarity took her back to Ponyville.
“…I mean, he’s a nice colt and all, but does he really like me like that?” Twilight sighed as she stomped her hooves lightly in frustration. These thoughts and feelings she was experiencing were completely unfamiliar to her, and she had no books that could help her out of this mess.
“Twilight, darling.” Rarity spoke soothingly as she patted her friend’s back. “I thought it was rather obvious that he felt something.” Twilight looked up at Rarity with a slightly shocked look on her face.
“You knew?”
“Well, not exactly. But I had my suspicions.” Rarity replied as she thought back to the few instances that she had seen Maghus attempt to hide a blush whenever Twilight said or did something that put the focus on him. “I saw how he reacted to your comments a few times in the last day, dear. It’s obvious that he feels something for you. Now how much he cares is something only he knows. If you want to find that out, you’re going to have to ask him yourself.”
Twilight sighed in resignation. Her friend, though often prone to fits of drama and over-analyzing things, this was a situation in which her personality was the best at trying to reconcile things. She took a deep breath as she looked out the window, the growing black clouds crackling with sparks of lightning as they approached Ponyville and all of her friends’ homes.
~Sweet Apple Acres~
“Come on Maghus, focus!” Maghus groaned as he focused his magic on the oncoming storm clouds. He had already succeeded in getting a link between his magic and the storm, the trick now was to attempt to sever that link in multiple places at once and then quickly teleport each part separately in an attempt to get the storm clear before it did any lasting damage.
The clouds could be seen rippling with energy in specific points at all times, as though someone were poking the clouds with a needle, causing them to spark in protest. The more Maghus focused his magic, the more the energy seemed to crackle and spring outwards, nearly turning into lightning bolts that would descend on the farm and forest surrounding it and leave only destruction behind.
Maghus body groaned in protest as he put all of his power into ripping the clouds apart. He had never attempted such a feat of magic in the past. The furthest he had ever come to such a trial was when Moonbeam had made him simply take a bunch of small white clouds above Canterlot and break them into pieces. He had never experimented with storm clouds for the very reason he was so cautious now- the dangerous side effects of breaking apart these unruly pieces of weather.
Maghus sighed and sat back for moment, taking in the sights around him as his magic continued to pull at the seams of the storm. He could see rows upon rows of apple trees swaying in the strong wind, the sweet scent of apples being carried off of them in all directions. Then his eyes turned to the barn and the house further along the way. This was Applejack’s home, the place she had lived all her life, and where her sister, brother and grandmother also lived as Maghus had noticed while Applejack had brought her family into Ponyville. All four of them had had looks of doubt and unease strongly apparent on them as they had all nodded to Maghus as they passed.
Maghus’ expression turned into a deep frown of determination. He was NOT going to let some storm ruin the life of somepony that Twilight was such good friends with. He had received the occasional letter saying how she was having a good time in Ponyville, and asking how he was doing in Canterlot. He had always wanted to write saying how he had missed her and wanted more than anything for her to come back to Canterlot or for him to somehow go to Ponyville.
It had all been selfish dreams however. He could never dream of taking Twilight away from the friends she spoke so highly of, and he knew going to Ponyville would ruin his chances of understanding his own magic better. So he had simply written letters saying he was doing fine and wishing her well in Ponyville. He had wished more than once that he could have pulled up the courage to at least confess to her his feelings that he had felt the day she had left one year ago. But he knew it would only serve to have the same effects of either Twilight coming back, him going there, or worse yet, resulting in the ruining of their friendship.
He had known from the first instant at looking at the storm that he was putting himself very high up for a chance at failure. He had never experienced a situation like this, never been trained for something like this…or had he? Maghus then proceeded to think back to the different lessons he had with Moonbeam in the last few years as they had progressed into more advanced weather magic. They had dealt with cloud physics, cloud manipulation, all kinds of different magical aspects of clouds that he could tap into and exploit for the purpose of creating or destroying clouds.
That was when Maghus had an epiphany. His new plan would be much riskier on his own body than his previous solution, but it was much less dangerous on the surrounding environment save for his general vicinity amidst the forest beyond the farm. Maghus proceeded to change his focus on the clouds themselves, and averted his magic towards to instability and contents of the clouds themselves.
What Maghus was about to attempt was change the clouds into a bunch of gentle rainclouds, while absorbing the lightning and other hazardous aspects of the clouds into himself like a sponge. It would exact a terrible toll on his body, worse than his fears than he had felt when sending Twilight and the others off with his original plan. But it was better this way. He couldn’t bear to see everypony’s face as he absorbed so much instability into his small body.
Maghus took a deep breath. He closed his eyes to the world around him as he thought about his friends, his family and Twilight…and sang.
As Maghus sang, he gently probed the clouds, gently taking in the different aspects of the clouds that could bring harm and destruction to anything they passed over. As he absorbed these different parts of the storm he channeled them through his own body slowly, releasing them to his general surroundings at a slow pace so as not to rush the storm all into one concentrated burst around him. His body was slowly working against him however as it tried to deny the access of the storm as it damaged different parts of his body all at once.
Maghus scrunched up his face in pain as he opened his eyes and continued to sing while glancing at the storm above the forest, now mere minutes from reaching Sweet Apple Acres. He pushed a sense of renewed vigor through his bones and muscles, not willing himself to give up just for his own personal sake. Even if it costed him his life he would not let somepony else lose their home and way of life to a storm.
What he also noticed about the storm as it approached was that the clouds were gently brightening and the danger and ominous feeling about them was slowly fading. He closed his eyes again and continued his work amidst the pain, knowing that his plan would work out for everypony else, even if it didn’t for him.
~Ponyville Library~
“Does anypony else hear something?” Pinkie asked suddenly while everypony else sat in solemn silence. As they all focussed a little more on their surroundings, they could all hear a gentle voice in the air, a sad tone to it as a tune and a song were carried through the air around Ponyville. “Girls! Looks outside!” Pinkie had just now noticed the brightening of the clouds, and called everypony’s attention to it.
While everypony else walked over to gaze in marvel at the change in the weather, Rarity couldn’t help but notice the tears falling from Twilight’s eyes in a gentle flow. Rarity whispered gently to her friend so as not to attract everypony else’s attention. “Is something the matter Twilight?”
“It’s Maghus…” Twilight whispered amidst her gentle sobs. Rarity’s confused look told her she had to explain further. “That’s Maghus’ voice…”
Rarity couldn’t help but gasp as she glanced towards the others who had just now noticed their crying friend, sensing something was amiss. They could all tell that something was wrong, but what it was they couldn’t tell. Everyone except Pinkie with tears in her eyes as well, who nodded at Twilight to show she understood as Pinkie did in times like these.
~Sweet Apple Acres~
Maghus sighed inwardly as he looked at the scene in front of him. The clouds were now a clear white, no sense of danger or foreboding to them any longer. The area around Maghus and on his body was different however. Many trees around him had toppled over from the energy he had released from his body. A few nearby were still standing, but only barely.
As for Maghus himself, his body had multiple bruises and sores on it as though he had been in a terrible fight. His mane and tail were even more dishevelled than usual, with hairs pointing in every direction. His body was also wracked with inner pain as a lot of the energy had done some damage to many of his vital organs. None had been rendered useless, but Maghus’ body was in the worst shape many ponies ended up in without actually passing away.
Maghus smiled as his body flopped to the ground, fatigue and pain finally setting in. His body contorted into the fetal position as he whimpered in pain, still continuing his song. His body slowly began to fade into sleep, working its way up from his hooves into his lower torso, then his chest, and gradually into his head and mind.
As he drifted into unconsciousness he could feel his body being gently picked up by magic. The last thing he saw and heard was the voice of a white stallion with a star-studded cape and cherry-crimson eyes as he gently trotted towards him.
[Finish listening to song here if you haven’t finished it already.]
“Let’s get you to a hospital, friend. You deserve a hero’s welcome after what you’ve done for this town today.” The mysterious stallion smiled as Maghus drifted to sleep. “It’s the least of what you deserve at this point…” The stallion’s expression went grim as he trotted back towards Ponyville, Maghus drifting nearby due to levitation magic.
I`m very sorry to anyone that may have cried at this chapter, but it was going to happen eventually that something big would happen. I teared up actually reading this myself as I wrote it and listened to the song. So I won`t be surprised if a few others tear up as well at the emotional aspect of the chapter. As for the story itself, I`m hoping to get out another chapter or two during the week, but we`ll see how that goes considering I have a few things coming up in my university courses that will interfere with writing a little bit. We`ll see how things go. Other than that, goodnight everypony and have a good week.
I know it's a little late in the day, but I figured if I didn't do this today I wouldn't really get a chance later this week to write this. So here's chapter 13 with the official introduction of the first of four OC's the enter into the story. Bon appetit.
~Ponyville Hospital~
“Almost there…” Moonstone grunted as he approached the large double doors of Ponyville General Hospital. His back and leg muscles were incredibly sore from the trek between the hospital and Sweet Apple Acres. Had he not happened to be examining the storm to see if it would affect his travels, he wouldn’t have been there to bring Maghus in on such short notice.
A few nurses gasped as they saw Moonstone clamber through the open doorway with a very injured Maghus on his back. One with a red cross for a cutie mark immediately ran off to find a gurney, to which Moonstone lowered Maghus onto gently. The moment Maghus’ body was settled onto the makeshift bed he was immediately wheeled off to the first available room so that his injuries could be assessed.
Just as Moonstone was about to leave however he was stopped by a doctor who quickly trotted up to him from the same direction Maghus had just been wheeled off to. “Excuse me sir? Would you happen to know anything about why the unicorn you just brought in is in such a terrible state?”
Moonstone scratched his chin for a moment as he considered his next words carefully. Just as he was about to reply however, one of the nurses he had seen previously came darting down the hall, startling both him and the doctor. “Doctor!! Come quickly!”
“What is it Nurse Redheart?” the doctor exclaimed suddenly as he noticed the look of shock on Nurse Redheart’s face. “What’s happened?”
“The unicorn that just got brought in has starting seizing!” Redheart exclaimed as she turned and galloped back to Maghus’ room. “You must come quickly!”
“It seems our conversation will have to wait.” The doctor stated to Moonstone matter-of-factly. He gave Moonstone a very serious look as he quickly decided on what to do with this unknown helper in the hospital. “Come with me, quickly.”
“If you insist doctor.” Moonstone replied as the two galloped of in Nurse Redheart’s direction, shooting down the hallways until they came upon an open door through which the sounds of struggling and grunts of pain were very clear.
“Quickly, in here!” the doctor exclaimed as he turned into the open room. Moonstone quickly followed after, only to stop dead in his tracks as he saw the dark blue unicorn he had just carried miles to get him here spazzing on a bed as doctors and nurses alike looked for some way to restrain him.
The doctor quickly trotted over to a cabinet, from which he quickly levitated out a small needle filled with a light green liquid. “Hold him steady!” He exclaimed as he gently applied the needle to one of Maghus’ hooves thanks to the assistance of about half a dozen employees of the hospital. Maghus’ body slowly began to calm down as the anesthetic took effect on his mind and muscles.
The doctor let out a relieved sigh as he fell back on his haunches. The other doctors and nurses slowly left the room in single file except for Nurse Redheart, who watched over Maghus’ body with a concerned look in her eyes. This pony looked oddly familiar for some reason…
Her thoughts were quickly averted from the unicorn in front of her as Moonstone cleared his throat. Nurse Redheart gave a polite nod in Moonstone’s direction as she trotted over to the doctor to help him up.
The doctor coughed slightly as he got up, his older body not used to sudden bursts of exercise on most days. He shook his head slightly to clear his mind as he looked over to Moonstone. “As I was saying before…How do you know this pony?” The doctor pointed a hoof at Maghus as he finished, to which he was shocked at Moonstone’s shrugging of his shoulders at his last question.
“I have no idea who he is or where he’s from to be quite honest, doctor.” Moonstone gave a small smile of reassurance however as he proceeded to explain how he had come across Maghus and the events that had unfolded at Sweet Apple Acres…
~Ponyville Library, 2 hours earlier~
Twilight and the others slept soundly in their circle as a gentle breeze blew in from an open window. All of them had dried tear tracks down their muzzles, but none more so than Twilight as it had been her only friend from Canterlot who they were all worried about. None of them truly knew Maghus, even Twilight had forgotten about him slightly over the last year.
Spike was the first to wake for once, having fallen asleep much sooner than the rest of the group amidst the calming storm. He glanced over at Twilight and the others and took a deep sigh as he remembered the conversation he had heard hours before. He remembered taking a peek through a crack in the door to see what the conversation was about. What he had seen had nearly broken his heart.
Twilight had been crying her eyes out, explaining to her friends who the voice they had all heard belonged to and then proceeded to tell about her years in Canterlot as they had all come flooding back in a wave of memories. By the end of her recollection up until the last Summer Sun Celebration, all of her friends were crying, the last to be Rainbow Dash as she still held a bit of a grudge against Maghus after the last couple of day’s events. Her grudge had gradually crumbled during the story as she heard about the good times he and Twilight had shared and finally breaking into tears herself as Twilight mentioned the farewell she had received before being guided back by Rarity.
“We were almost inseparable when we were younger…” Twilight had started when they had first truly met the morning Maghus’ clock was a cloud. She smiled as she remembered the chocolate rain he had accidentally made to cheer her up with.
“Well of course it would cheer you up silly!” Pinkie had exclaimed with a toothy grin at Twilight’s mention of the accident. “Who wouldn’t be happy from a cloud of chocolate rain?”
“This was different from when Discord woke up Pinkie.” Twilight had stated with a serious face, managing to calm Pinkie slightly. “He never meant it to happen, it was an innocent mistake that ended up helping a lot given the circumstances.”
“But it still helped though, right?” Pinkie had asked, raising her head slightly as she had asked her second question.
Twilight had chuckled to herself slightly as she remembered that day. “Yes Pinkie. It did.”
“I knew it!”
Twilight had then gone on to talk about the years in between, mentioning a couple of months were a lot of other unicorns and residents of Canterlot had thought Twilight and Maghus were a couple, much to the two unicorn’s embarrassment. Even Princess Celestia had made a joke or two at their expense just to elicit an embarrassed blush from Twilight. It had all been in good fun however, and every time it passed as their friendship continued.
When Twilight had reached Maghus’ farewell only hours before, the entire group save for Rarity had gasped in astonishment. None of them had seen the faces Rarity had seen, they had all assumed that Twilight and Maghus’ were just good friends.
“How long do ya’ll think he felt about ya that way Twi’?” Applejack had been the first to ask as he friends all tried to find their own way around this mess of memories and emotions. “Do ya think it mighta been somethin’ recent?”
“I don’t know…” Twilight had whined as she wiped another tear from her eyes. She had never had a stallion or colt show feelings for her like that before and still had no way of figuring out how to deal with them.
“Well once the storms all gone we can have a Twilight-and-Maghus-are-coltfriend-and-marefriend-party!” Pinkie had exclaimed with a series of hops around the room, gleefully singing a little tune to herself. “Twilight and Maghus sittin’ in a tree…Hey! You two would be sitting in a tree!” Pinkie had made this realization herself as Rarity had facehoofed amidst the ruined romantic moment Twilight had described.
“Do calm down please, Pinkie dear.” Rarity had spoken rather bluntly. Pinkie had continued to bounce around for a few more moments as she came back to her original spot in the circle.
“Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie had cheered as she planted her flank on the treehouse floor once again, albeit with much twitching and shaking on the spot amidst her glee.
Twilight had silently shed more tears during this conversation as she had not mentioned the look of acceptance and sadness she had seen in Maghus’ eyes before turning back to Ponyville with Rarity’s guidance. “That might be a problem, even if I did have feelings like that for Maghus…”
“What do you mean Twilight?” Fluttershy had asked, wiping at tear from her eyes as she had been watching Twilight intently the entire conversation. “What would the problem be?”
“He looked…” Twilight had sniffled as she choked back more tears before she had continued explaining. “He looked like he was ready for something…Like he was prepared for whatever would happen next…even if it meant he might…that he might…” Twilight had broken once again into a fit of tears as she slumped onto her stomach, her shaky legs finally giving in under her emotional turmoil.
Even Pinkie had sensed the seriousness of the situation as her mane lost all of its poofiness. “Even if he…died?” Pinkie had almost been unable to say that final word as Twilight had finally broken down, releasing all of her pent up emotions she had been feeling since returning to the treehouse.
“I d-don’t want him t-t-to d-die!” Twilight had sobbed amidst her tears, the rest of the girls all gathering closer to try and comfort their emotional friend. “He…he had just…just come from Canterlot…to…to see me…to see us…after all the letters I sent him…”The rest of the girls had been unable to hold back their tears at this point as Twilight’s sobbing had become more and more gentle. Rarity had been the first to notice that Twilight had cried herself to sleep amidst the warmth of her friends.
It was then that Rarity had suggested they all get some sleep, to calm their nerves and possibly be able to wake up to happier circumstances when the storm passed.
Spike had shed a few tears of his own during the entire conversation, not because of Maghus, but because of the emotional state Twilight had been in the entire time. As Spike was about to silently open the door to the treehouse however, his foot caught on a loose floorboard and he tripped face first creating a loud banging sound as his face impacted with the floor just in front of the door.
“Hmm…?” Twilight had mumbled as the sound had woken the six mares up. She opened her eyes slightly as she caught a glimpse of a purple rump in front of the door. “Spike?...Where are you going?”
“I-I was just going out for a walk, that’s all.” Spike had quickly replied as the rest of Twilight’s friends had woken up, the last of them being Rainbow Dash.
“Why would you go for a walk in the middle of a st- wait a minute…” Rainbow Dash soared out the doorway that Spike had started to open and gasped as she saw the sight before her eyes. “Girls! Get out here, quick!”
As the rest of the group had quickly galloped outside all of their jaws dropped when they saw how clear and beautiful the sky was. There were no signs of any damage to any buildings or decorations, and it didn’t even look like it had rained anywhere. Yet a group of clouds shaped identically to that of the storm clouds were sitting just off to the side of Ponyville, a cheerful and peaceful feeling coming off of them as compared to the dark foreboding feeling they had about them only hours before.
“He did it!” Applejack exclaimed. “That new pony Maghus actually did it! He stopped the storm!” Applejack did a little dance on the spot before galloping back inside to retrieve the rest of the Apple family.
“Yeah…he did…” Twilight smiled as she looked about the town. Her smile quickly turned into a frown of worry as she realized that something was missing from this scene of peace and happiness. “Wait…has anyone seen Maghus anywhere?”
Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash all shook their heads at Twilight’s question, while Pinkie had begun twitching on the spot. Everypony turned their gaze to Pinkie as her shudders came to a stop and she flopped to the ground, her mane once again straight and tears coming out of her eyes.
“Pinkie…” Twilight managed to whisper amidst her worried feelings as she glanced at her grief-stricken friend. “Is everything alright?” Twilight silently begged to herself that this Pinkie-sense had no connection to Maghus, but given the circumstances her hopes weren’t very high.
Pinkie shook her head silently as she slowly got up, wiping tears from her eyes with one hoof. Her voice shuddered as she spoke, fear and worry in her voice. “It’s Maghus, Twilight.” Everypony seized up at these three simple words, all knowing that something was terribly wrong. “He’s not doing so well…”
Everypony was frozen to the spot as they all looked at Twilight’s suddenly grief-stricken face. Her pupils were as tiny as ants and her eyes were open as wide as saucer plates. Her legs gave out once more as she collapsed to the ground amidst another rush of tears and sadness.
“Well then, what’re we waitin’ for?” Applejack said as she trotted out of the treehouse while Big Macintosh, Granny Smith and Applebloom quickly galloped back to Sweet Apple Acres. “Let’s go find him.”
Pinkie shook her head her head lightly at this last statement, her Pinkie-sense having already told her where Maghus currently was. “He’s already at the hospital. Somepony already brought him there after the storm not along ago.” At a confused glance from her friends she quickly explained. “Pinkie-sense, duh.”
This was enough motivation as anything for Twilight and the others as they all quickly got up and galloped as fast as they could towards the Ponyville General Hospital.
~Ponyville Hospital, present time~
“…and that’s how I got him here.” Moonstone concluded his tale of his passing through Ponyville and finding Maghus while investigating the strange storm.
The doctor sighed deeply as he looked as his papers. “So you’re telling me you saw this pony channel the very storm that threatened this town hours ago through his own body in an effort to stop it?” He shuddered slightly at the thought of the immense pain any pony would feel in such a situation. “It’s a miracle he’s even alive then! Any other pony attempting this would have been killed outright!”
“So is there anything you can do to help him then?” Moonstone asked politely. His travels throughout Equestria had taught him that situations like these demanded respect and patience, otherwise things would never get done. “His injuries don’t look too bad after all.”
Moonstone was just about to poke one of Maghus’ bruises when the doctor raised a quick hoof to stop him. “His outer injuries, yes. But having the very power of a storm travel through your body does terrible things to the internal organs. As I said, lucky to be alive at all…”
“Well there must be something!” Moonstone’s patience was beginning to wear thin amidst the questions and state of the pony he had just seen save all of Ponyville. “He saved the entire town! There must be something you can do for him! It’s less than he deserves for what he’s done!”
“Sir, I assure there that we will try everything in our power to help, but this is a case the likes of which we’ve never seen here before!” The doctor was beginning to get very frantic and defensive in the presence of this increasingly agitated stallion. “Now could you please leave so that we can continue tests?”
Moonstone sighed deeply as he obliged. His exit was quickly halted y six mares however who came bowling into the room at high speeds despite a shriek of protest from a nurse down the hall.
“Where is he?!” Twilight nearly barked at Moonstone and the doctor, who both instinctively backed into different corners at the sight of this crazed mare. They quickly calmed down however as Twilight spotted the mass atop the hospital bed. She slowly trotted over to it, tears in her eyes as she reached a hoof forward to tap his forehead.
Maghus’ eyes slowly fluttered open at the familiar touch, his eyes first resting on the anxious looks of Twilight and her friends. His eyes then turned towards Moonstone and the opened further in recognition as he slowly began to realize where he was.
“Twilight…I…I did it…I saved Ponyville…” Maghus was a raspy whisper as he slowly lifted his right hoof amidst painful throbs to gesture towards Moonstone. “And he…he saved…me…” With that Maghus’ hoof dropped back down to the bed, his head slumping to the side as he slipped once again into unconsciousness.
“Maghus? Maghus! MAGHUS!” Twilight’s voice gradually escalated in volume as her friend remained unresponsive. Her worst fears began to rise to the peak of her mind, her tears beginning to brim over with tears once again. “No…please don’t…don’t be…”
The doctor quickly gained his composure amidst this sudden turn of events to calm the frantic mare next to his unconscious patient. “Miss, please. I assure you he isn’t dead.”
Twilight turned her head sharply to come face-to-face with the doctor. Her eyes had a steely look to them, as though any lie spoken to her would end in very dire results. “How do you know that?”
“Look at his chest for one.” The doctor gestures towards the very gentle and slow rising and falling of Maghus’ chest. Twilight calmed down noticeably at this, one of her worst fears past.
Twilight then turned her eyes to Moonstone, determination once in them amidst the tears. “He mentioned you saved him. What did he mean?”
Moonstone bowed courteously to Twilight, earning a slightly interested look from Rarity in the process. “Forgive my manners. He said exactly as he meant. I saw him in the woods after he stopped the storm, and I immediately carried him here to be helped. It’s the least he deserved after saving the town after all.
“You did that for a pony you didn’t know in the slightest?” Rarity asked inquisitively. This stallion was not like others she had met before. He was more polite, and didn't come off at all like somepony out for himself. She would have to keep an eye on this stallion for a few days and find out more about him. He would make a very good friend should they get to speak more. She then gestured towards each of her friends, introducing them in turn. "These are my friends by the way, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. And my name is Rarity."
"My name is Moonstone. It's a pleasure to make all of your acquaintances." Moonstone said with a nod of his head. He was slightly taken aback by the politeness of this Rarity he was speaking to. She seemed to be quite interested in others, more so than herself it almost seemed, save for the way she styled her mane and made a noticeable habit of keeping herself well looked after.. It reminded him a lot of himself in terms of personality. He couldn't care less about looking well-groomed half the time, but maybe staying in Ponyville would be a nice change of pace for a few days rather than continue his travels through Equestria. Only time would tell however.
Applejack cleared her throat rather sharply, quickly grabbing Moonstone’s and Rarity’s attention away from their conversation and back to the real reason they had all gathered here. "Excuse me Applejack, I completely forgot what we were here about. You'll have to forgive me Moonstone for cutting our conversation at all."
"You're here for a friend. I understand the importance of all of you being here. We can always continue our conversation later if it works out better for your friends." Moonstone trotted over to another part of the room as the doctor continued explaining Maghus' condition.
“…the problem is that we have never seen a case like this before.” The doctor finished explaining. His brow deepened as he chose his next words carefully. “We’ve never had a patient like him before, I’m not even sure if we CAN treat his injuries.”
‘Oh Luna, not now. Not after all he’s done here…’ Moonstone silently prayed to himself as the doctors words began to ring true throughout the group.
“You mean you might not even be able to help him?!” Twilight’s rage was beginning to build, objects around the room beginning to levitate in a purple aura as Twilight’s fury built up inside her horn.
She would have decimated half of the hospital as well, were it not for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna trotting into the already slightly crowded hospital room. Everypony gasped as Celestia and Luna trotted through the group to examine Maghus. Moonstone practically slammed his own jaw into the floor at the very sight of Princess Luna herself. In the same room as him. RIGHT NOW. He looked around for a glass of water so as to avoid fainting in shock and awe. It's as though his prayer to Luna had been answered in mere seconds as she had entered not moments after he wished for a better alternative to the situation.
“I fear it is worse than I had previously imagined, dear sister.” Celestia turned to Luna with a frown.
“It really cannot be as bad as thou say it is, can it sister?” Luna inquired as she too gazed at Maghus’ outer and inner injuries with her magic. She gasped when she noticed the deep scar on his chest, just above his heart where a large amount of lightning had struck Maghus during his magical performance in the woods.
“Princess?” Twilight nearly whispered as she stepped next to Celestia to get a better look at her tutor and her friend. “Is he going to be alright?”
“His body is very weak and broken right now, Twilight.” Celestia bowed her head slightly at this statement. Twilight’s head dipped once again and it could be seen by everyone that she was crying once again with the sharp lifting and falling of her shoulders. Celestia put a hoof to her chin, causing Twilight to look up at Celestia with tears in her eyes as she continued. “But there is a way to save him.”
Twilight’s eyes brightened as she heard those glorious words escape Princess Celestia’s throat. “I’ll do anything to help! Anything at all!”
Celestia smiled at this. “Then if I may…Can I ask one simple question of you?”
Twilight nodded sharply, though slightly confused what the question could be.
“Do you love Maghus in the same way he loves you?”
Twilight’s eyes shot open and her jaw dropped at this question. Everyone else in the room including Luna all had shocked looks as well as they awaited Twilight’s answer to this astounding question.
Twilight silently thought to herself about all of the moments she had shared with Maghus, all of the fun times, all of the arguments. But most of all she remembered the last few days since his arrival in Ponyville, and the happiness it had brought both of them to see a familiar face after so long apart. She raised her head to look fully into Celestia’s face as she gave her answer.
“I don’t feel exactly the way he does.” Everypony in the room gasped at this statement, all looking at Twilight as if she were some heartless beast that had impersonated the real Twilight Sparkle. Their fears were quickly diminished as Twilight continued her explanation. “But I do have feelings for Maghus. And who knows…maybe with time…maybe they will become the same feelings he has for me.”
Celestia smiled at her pupil’s response. “That is a fine answer Twilight Sparkle. And it is reason enough for me to help you this one time.”
Celestia then lowered her horn gently to Maghus’ chest as her horn began to glow with a white magical aura. As she touched Maghus’ chest and scar, his visible bruises began to heal, his coat returning to the normal navy blue it was comprised of. She kept her horn on Maghus’ chest as her magic spread through his organs, healing the damage that the storm had done. His breath slowly became less ragged, his body visibly relaxing as the pain faded into nothing.
As Celestia lifted her horn away, she frowned slightly as she was unable to heal the scar on Maghus’ chest for some strange reason. She quickly brushed it aside however as Maghus began to stir, his eyes gently fluttering open once again.
“Wha…” Maghus groaned as he stretched his stiff muscles in his legs and back. He looked around the room and gave the large group around him an odd look before commenting with a smirk, “Is there a party going on or something?”
Twilight instantly dashed to Maghus’ side, wrapping him in a tight hug as Maghus came to realize where he was. The rest of Twilight’s friends all proceeded to join the hug as well, all equally grateful to Maghus for what he had done. Maghus looked to Princess Celestia and gave a silent nod of thanks as a tear escaped his eye. Celestia nodded her head as she and Luna turned to leave. Moonstone gave a gentle bow to Celestia as she passed, to which she returned with a nod of her head. His bow deepened as Luna passed however, to which she replied with a bow of her own after the shock of such a gesture.
Maghus smiled as he looked out the open window into Ponyville. The trees could be seen gently swaying in the wind, birds could be heard chirping in their nests, and a peaceful aura surrounded the town as Maghus looked on at his new home. He smiled while his new friends hugged him as he gave a nod to Moonstone, who simply sat nearby with a smile of his own on his face.
The two of them could tell that things were going to turn out just fine.
I am deeply sorry to everyone for the lack of an update in the last...two weeks, my god...but things backed up. I have now forced a few things around in my schedule so that I can still manage an update for all of you fantastic readers. I hope people found some other good stories to read and such while I was away, and I hope you all enjoy my story's continued progression into more OCs appearances. Happy reading!
~Ponyville Town Hall, Day of the Summer Sun Celebration~
“Twilight, knock it off!” Maghus whined as Twilight and her friends continued to focus on him after the previous day’s events. It had only been a few hours since he had left the hospital with the rest of them, and already nearly all of Ponyville knew about what he had done. All Maghus wanted now was to get the celebration over with and then head back to the treehouse and sleep. He hadn’t really had a chance to relax since he had left Canterlot, and the constant running about doing things was beginning to wear on him.
“But you’ve got that terrible scar on your chest from what you did to help us, darling!” Rarity of all ponies couldn’t help but draw attention to the scar that clashed so openly with Maghus’ dark blue coat. “At least let me make you a jacket or a vest of something that at least works better for your complexion to cover it with!”
“If it’ll get you all to stop fussing over me then I’ll do anything!” Maghus practically yelled as he quickly searched for a way to stop all of the attention he was receiving. “Just please give me some time to relax. I need to just sit down and take a breather right now. You’ve all been practically smothering me over one simple thing.”
“Simple? Ain’t nothin’ simple ‘bout what you did for ma’ family, Maghus.” Applejack stated pointedly as the other nodded their heads in agreement. “You stopped a storm that woulda forced us to leave town and move on to someplace else to make a livin’. You deserve some respect righ’ now.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie exclaimed as they all gave their own praises to Maghus. “You came to Ponyville like ‘Hi!’ and then you were all ‘Bam!’ Stopping the storm and everything from wrecking Ponyville. You deserve like a…a Hero-of-Ponyville-Party!” Pinkie squealed as she thought about all of the decorations she would need for the party she already had planned earlier that day unbeknownst to the rest of her friends.
“That’s fine, whatever. I just wanna relax right now. Please.” Maghus gave a defeated sigh as the others nodded their heads in contemplation of what they would each do to thank Maghus in their own way. Maghus silently excused himself for the cider bar while they talked about vests and apple treats and party decorations everywhere they could think of.
Maghus groaned as he grabbed a mug of apple cider from atop the counter with a nod from Big Macintosh as he gave a small smile that said hello. He sighed as he trotted over to a slightly more open spot in the town hall, only to bump into Moonstone without realizing where he was going.
“Oh…hey Moonstone.” Maghus sighed as he sat down next to the one pony he wasn’t worried about making a big fuss over things since he wasn’t from around Ponyville. His hopes were dashed the moment Moonstone started to speak however.
“So how’s being a big hero treating you Maghus?” Moonstone asked as the blue unicorn groaned in protest.
“Not you too.” Maghus took a large drink of cider to clear his head as he thought of different ways to suddenly become anonymous in Ponyville even to Pinkie Pie. Maybe a fake name and mane-style…no, Rarity would likely see right through it given her attention to detail Twilight had mentioned in a few letters in the past…maybe a new home in the sky high above Ponyville…that wouldn’t work either. Somepony would notice the new cloud home and then on of the pegasi would come up to find Maghus hiding from everypony’s attention. Maybe he could ask the local mailmare Derpy Hooves to secretly mail him to the Griffon Kingdom or something…but that would be very uncomfortable and much more unpleasant of a living situation than this.
Moonstone chuckled as he watched Maghus ponder his options of escape. “You do realize that everypony just wants to thank you for what you did for the town right? It can’t be all that bad.” Moonstone smiled as he looked around the inside of the Town Hall, smiling and chuckling to himself as he saw a few small fillies and colts play tag amidst the adults, squealing and giggling as they ran about the large room.
“I never wanted all of the attention though!” Maghus exclaimed as he gave up on trying to hide from the attention. “All I wanted to do was come to Ponyville and just relax in a new life and show Twilight how much I...” Maghus quickly stopped as he realized that some of his more private thoughts were being spoken aloud in public.
Moonstone laughed as he caught Maghus’ trip up in speech. “So she’s an old friend you have a crush on, huh?” Moonstone gave Maghus a nudge in the ribs playfully like two colts would do when one of them had a crush on a filly. “Well why don’t you tell her how you feel? It can’t be all that bad can it?”
Maghus sighed as he lowered his head, realizing he had once again let slip his feelings. “You don’t understand the whole situation though Moonstone.” Maghus lifted his head as he looked back up and motioned to the scar on his chest. “Remember when Princess Celestia healed me yesterday and all that was left was this scar?”
Moonstone nodded as he began to think about what Maghus was getting at. “Uh huh. I know about it. I WAS there after all.”
“Yeah. Anyways, the point is that I could just barely hear what Princess Celestia and Twilight were saying right before I was healed. It was the only thing I could hear and I wanted so badly to just wake up and tell Twilight how I felt.” Maghus sat down on his flank and sighed deeply again as he looked up at the ceiling. A single tear left his eye and hit the floor as he continued. “I heard Twilight say she didn’t love me, just that I was a close friend. The idea that she ‘might’ fall for me was a little reassuring, but it still hurt knowing the feelings I had for her weren’t mutual. Even after I kissed her before they all took shelter in the library here in town.”
“Waitwaitwait.” Moonstone shook his head at the last statement. “You kissed her?! Without any warning at all?” Moonstone was impressed at the guts this stallion had at approaching love and feelings. “You did kind of rush it though Maghus.” Maghus looked over to Moonstone as he continued. “I mean, you had no idea how she felt about you, and then you show up in her life again after like a year or whatever and kiss her? Of course she’s not going to be totally in love with you right away. You have to give love a chance and take it slow if you want it to get anywhere.”
“I wish I had known that sooner.” Maghus replied as he finished his mug of cider. Maghus looked over to Moonstone with a smile on his face. “You know Moonstone, you sure do know a lot about romance and proper relationships. I bet Twilight’s friend Rarity would be pretty into you.”
“What, the white mare with the purple mane and tail? Nah…” Moonstone stated a little too quickly as Maghus chuckled to himself at the familiar reaction. “She probably likes more refined ponies like royalty or ponies from Canterlot of Manehatten.”
“You seemed a lot like that yourself yesterday at the hospital like that. What makes you so different?” Maghus inquired as Moonstone chuckled to himself amidst his minor embarrassment at the topic of their conversation.
“It was a hospital. Of course I had to be polite.” Moonstone stated matter-of-factly to Maghus. “Though my travels to Canterlot and Manehatten as a travelling minstrel did cause me to pick up a slightly over-polite personality that I guess I went into yesterday. Oh well.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. Hay, you just gave me a pep talk about taking things slow and gently, what’s wrong with you doing the same thing?” Maghus asked with a smirk as he countered with Moonstone’s own advice.
“I’m a ‘travelling’ minstrel.” Moonstone retorted quickly. “I never stay in one place very long so a relationship would be next to impossible.”
“Everypony needs to eventually settle down somewhere you know. It’s not like Ponyville wouldn’t be a bad place to live.” Maghus tried to sound as convincing as possible to try to reassure Moonstone.
“I’m barely in my twenties Maghus. I’m waay too young to ‘settle down’ already.” Moonstone gave a look to Maghus as if to say ‘What were you thinking?’
“So?” Maghus replied. “I’m 17 and I already have a feeling I’ll be spending most if not all of the rest of my life here in Ponyville with people I know. So what’s stopping someone in their twenties from staying since your soo old?”
“Ha-ha. Very funny, Maghus.” Moonstone remarked as they both turned their attention to the balcony as a loud royal introduction began courtesy of some birds trained by Fluttershy. “Maybe we can continue this debate later. Looks like the big moment is finally here.”
Everypony in the building turned their attention on the balcony where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had just walked out on to. Everypony cheered loudly for their rulers as the moment they had all been waiting the past week for was finally here.
“Greetings everypony!” Princess Celestia began. “Today is, of course, the day of the Summer Sun Celebration- the longest day of the year!” Everypony cheered at this statement as they awaited the big moment of beauty they had stayed awake the last 24 hours for while most of the younger ponies finished playing tag, oblivious to the adults.
“But today the sun is also being risen as a thank-you to a very special pony that saved Ponyville yesterday. For if it has not been for their quick thinking and actions, this celebration would have never been possible!” Celestia’s horn began to glow as everypony saw a bright light ascend beyond the horizon. The bright orb of the sun rose up into the sky and shone a bright beam of light directly on to Maghus, whose jaw had just gone slack and his entire body had frozen in shock at being addressed by the ruler of Equestria in front of everypony in Ponyville.
“Today the sun is risen also in honor of…Maghus Uncorn!”
Everypony cheered loudly as Maghus’ was teleported on to the balcony by Princess Celestia, where he waved weakly to everypony in the Town Hall as he tried his hardest not to faint and look like a big coward in front of all of these ponies he would eventually get to know in his stay in Ponyville.
Twilight and her friends cheered along with the rest of the crowd as their friend was given a special place in the world on this special day. They all cheered louder than anypony else, an this did not go unnoticed by Maghus, as he began to blush and attempt to wave a little stronger to the large crowd in front of him.
Fluttershy out of all of them spoke up loud enough for the others to hear, causing all of them to burst out laughing at the comment from their timid friend.
Hey everyone. Sorry about being so long with an update, got stuck in a rut and didn't really give enough thought to what to do next. Finals and everything coming up are making thinking about stories a little tricky. So besides this update I will be trying to get out 1 or 2 more this week, hopefully if time allows with other final projects and tests coming. When the end of April rolls around though I'll have a LOT more time to write until I figure out a part-time job for the summer. Once again I am really sorry to those of you that have patiently waited for me these past few weeks, hopefully you don't have to wait much longer for the story to get rolling again. Have a good Easter Break everyone!
~Ponyville, one week following the Summer Sun Celebration~
“Maghus…Maghus…MAGHUS!” Twilight practically screeched out the last call as she nudged her sleeping friend’s side with her hoof. The lack of a response nearly every time she tried to wake him was beginning to drive her up the wall.
“Whowhatwhenwherewhy!” Maghus blurted out as his head snapped up, slamming his horn against Twilight’s forehead with enough force to send her back a few feet in surprise and pain. “OW!” Maghus’ eyes were half open from sleep and frustration as he gently rubbed his horn. He didn’t notice Twilight sprawled out on the ground unconscious as he snapped at her, “What’s the big deal Twilight? I told you I don’t like being woken up before noon, sheesh…Twilight?” The lack of an answer or even recognition of him had Maghus puzzled.
As Maghus opened his eyes to look around, his vision passed over his cloud clock, which read that it was in fact noon. He sheepishly scratched his mane as he chuckled a little to himself, now fearing what Twilight may do to him after his outburst when it was in fact exactly when he would normally wake up. As he turned to apologize however, his words got caught in his throat as he caught sight of his unconscious friend on the ground a few feet from his bed. “Twilight!” He quickly jumped out of bed and proceeded to levitate Twilight onto it in his place. As he lowered her gently under the sheets, he noticed a small dent in her forehead just below her horn where he must have made contact. “Buck! Twilight I am so sorry! Please Twilight, wake up!”
As Maghus frantically went about the room looking for something to help his childhood friend, Spike ambled into the room rubbing his eyes groggily. “Hey Maghus, what’s the big hurry? Got somewhere you need to be or something? I…” His train of thought was immediately stopped however when he caught sight of Twilight slowly waking up in Maghus’ bed. “Twilight?! What are you…How…Maghus! What the hay is going on?! Why is Twilight in your bed?!”
Maghus never bothered to look at Spike as he explained, though with a VERY deep crimson blush on his muzzle. “It’s not what it looks like Spike, believe me. Twilight was just coming in to wake me up and I guess I was a little more difficult than most times. She must have yelled at me at some point and it woke me up so suddenly I must have accidentally hit her just below her horn with my horn when I sat up. At least I think that’s what happened since me horn won’t stop throbbing in pain.” Maghus took a moment to quickly apply a tender massage to his horn to alleviate a bit of the pain he still felt. “Man does Twilight sure have a thick skull…”
“At least I wake up when I’m supposed to…” Twilight groaned as she too rubbed her forehead, noticing the bump below her horn while she did so.
“Twilight!” Maghus’ head snapped around at a speed that a few very audible popping sounds came from his neck, making Twilight and Spike cringe slightly. “You’re awake! Oh Celestia, thank goodness!” Maghus let out a deep sigh as he slumped down to the floor, utterly exhausted from his brief panic attack. “I am so sorry about hitting you like that! I don’t usually find it that hard to wake up in the morning…or I guess afternoon since it’s past noon already…” Maghus chuckled quietly to himself as he looked at Twilight with a pained look on his face.
“Maghus…It’s ok.” Twilight replied with a slight grimace. “You didn’t hit me hard enough to do anything serious, I’m fine…At least I think I’m fine. Something doesn’t feel quite right with my magic now that I think about it…” Twilight then proceeded to levitate the nearest book over to herself, which Maghus quickly dove to block since it was a book on magic and emotions. This caused Maghus to get caught in the wave of magic and immediately get levitated straight into Twilight, causing her to once again get knocked on the head by Maghus.
“Oof…hehe, sorry Twilight. I don’t know what came over me, must have seen a bug on the book or something.” Twilight put on a false smile, hoping that Twilight would believe him as she rubbed her horn with a pained and tired look on her face. “Are…Are you ok Twilight?”
Twilight shook her head sadly as Maghus climbed off of her. When Maghus looked closer at her face after climbing down, he noticed a few tears in her eyes. “Twilight?” The lack of an answer as her mane fell over her face made Maghus fear the worst. Had he just ruined the only friendship he had since he was a child? Had he somehow hurt Twilight in some way that was irreparable? The fear of doing something terrible to Twilight had Maghus completely up in arms with himself as Twilight slowly cried a few tears on the bed sheets.
“Maghus?” Twilight spoke softly, her voice barely more audible than a whisper. Maghus’ head instantly snapped towards Twilight, hoping that whatever it was Twilight wanted, he could help her somehow.
“Yes Twilight? What do you need?”
“Can you help me get to the hospital? I don’t think my magic is working…” As Twilight finished, Maghus’ eyes shot wide open in fear. He immediately proceeded to levitate Twilight out of bed onto his back as he shot by Spike towards the door out of the library.
Spike had been completely forgotten in the chaos of the moment, and only narrowly avoided being squished like a pancake by a frantic Maghus as he carried a half-awake Twilight Sparkle on his back. As he heard the door slam shut, he quickly followed the same path to the door, making sure to spread the news of the mornings events to Twilight’s friends.
~Ponyville Hospital, 20 minutes later~
A few nurses jumped in fright as Maghus bolted through the doors, immediately noticing the unconscious mare on his back as he panted for breath. One nurse in particular walked up to Maghus immediately, the same nurse who had helped see to Maghus’ injuries when he had been admitted about a week and a half ago.
“Follow me, I think I know who can help Ms. Sparkle.” The nurse immediately galloped down the hall, motioning to Maghus to follow as she did so.
Maghus immediately followed, recognizing the nurse, though not remembering her name. As he galloped after her, he heard doors opening behind him as Twilight’s friends burst through the doors with Spike on Pinkie’s back. Spike had been busy it seems since he had left with Twilight.
As Maghus continued to follow the nurse, a few ponies poked their heads out of a few rooms to see what the commotion was. The sight of a unicorn stallion carrying a very well-known unicorn mare on his back made nearly all of them uneasy, as bad things didn’t tend to happen to the six mares that had saved Equestria twice in the past year.
“In here!” The nurse quickly motioned to Maghus before she turned into an open room nearby. Maghus immediately sped up his pace, eager to see who it was that would be able to provide assistance to Twilight in her condition. He immediately froze upon turning and entering the room however as he caught sight of the “somepony” that would be able to help Twilight.
“Hello Maghus. What can I help you with?” Princess Celestia asked as she looked up from the desk she was currently sitting at. As she finished though, she immediately caught sight of Twilight lying unconscious in his back. “Twilight!”
“Princess Celestia!...But I…how...what?...” Maghus’ mind would not allow him to form a coherent sentence as he gaped at the older of the Alicorn sisters quickly trotting over to him to examine Twilight. When she had reached his side and had levitated Twilight onto a couch, his thoughts finally allowed him to form a clear sentence. “What are you doing in Ponyville?!”
Princess Celestia’s eyes never left Twilight as she replied curtly. “I’m doing some rounds to some of the major towns and cities of Equestria to check up on medical facilities, and I figured I would come to Ponyville first.” She blushed a little in embarrassment before continuing. “…and I also forgot to bring your medical files when we came a week ago. So here I am.” She then took her eyes off of Twilight to fix them on Maghus, who know began to quiver at the intensity of the look she gave him. “Now please tell me what happened to Twilight.”
“I think we would all very much like to hear this.” Rarity replied as Spike and Twilight’s friends entered the room.
Everypony’s eyes were now very intently trained on Maghus, who couldn’t help but shake under all of the eyes that were now focused on him. “Well, you see…Everypony needs their sleep, right?” This did nothing to satisfy either Celestia or Twilight’s friends as they continued to look at him accusingly. “Fine…But it’ll take a bit of time to explain. Can somepony get Twilight an ice-pack before I start?”
“Allow me.” Princess Celestia trotted over to the desk as she lifted out an ice pack and cracked it, letting the mixture inside begin to cool the bag. Maghus cringed slightly as he thought about how that could just as easily be his back should he say the wrong thing. The last thing he wanted was to look like the bad guy in front of Twilight’s mentor and her friends. There would be no way he could stay in Equestria after that, let alone Ponyville.
“Ok…This is what happened…” Maghus began.
~10 LONG minutes later, with some arguments throughout~
“So you’re sayin’ that Twilight’s sleepin’ right now ‘cause you knocked her on the head twice? That’s it?” Applejack asked with a confused and angry look on her face. She was currently resisting the urge to buck this stallion against the opposite wall of the room. He was not making a good case for himself.
“Yes…wait I mean NO!” Maghus quickly replied as he realized his mistake. He had been sweating the entire time he had been recollecting the afternoon’s events upon his waking up, and so far he had made himself sound like he had beaten up Twilight over being forcibly woken up. Not a good way to look like a nice guy after how long he had been here. “It was an accident!”
“I don’t see how it’s an accident, darling.” Rarity replied as she thought about what Maghus had told them. “The first time, yes. But the second time you hit her? It sounds more like you were trying to prevent her from reading something and that caused her to levitate you right into her instead of the book. How is that NOT an accident?”
“Yeah! Plus you asked her to wake you up then! So why is it NOT your fault she’s hurt right now?! Huh?” Rainbow Dash snapped as she got right up in Maghus’ face. A look of pure terror and rage was apparent in her eyes, and Maghus was doing all he could to avoid breaking down into tears and curling up into the fetal position right on the spot.
Princess Celestia had been silent the entire time, thinking about what Maghus had said as well as the way he had said it. It was apparent he was sorry for what had happened, but what book would have been so important, unless…It must be the same book that she had given to Maghus before leaving, giving him a wink as she did so. She had known about Maghus’ infatuation with Twilight, and she had told him that that was part of the reason she had brought him to Ponyville with herself and Luna. The book was supposed to be a way for Maghus to better control his magic while thinking about her, as magic tends to get a little unpredictable when ponies are in love. She couldn’t help but laugh to herself, though she had hoped it had been quieter, as everypony was now looking at her with a confused look on their face.
“What’s so funny Princess?” Rainbow asked as she cocked an eyebrow at Celestia. She then proceeded to point a hoof accusingly at Maghus as she continued. “This guy basically beat up Twilight and expects us to believe that it was an accident? I don’t buy it.”
Maghus’ temper began to rise as Rainbow accused him of hurting the pony he loved on purpose. “You think I wanted to hurt Twilight?! Why the hay would you think that!” Rainbow proceeded to back away from Maghus a bit in his rage, the rest of her friends looking worried at what Maghus might be about to do. “You honestly think that I would hurt the one pony that I was friends with back when I was a colt?! I always cared about Twilight as a friend, and I still did even after she came here! I don’t care that nothing I say may convince you otherwise, but I WILL say that I would never hurt Twilight on purpose! I would rather DIE first!”
“Because you love her.” Celestia finished for Maghus, who proceeded to drop his jaw at the blatant explanation of his feelings for her. Everypony proceeded to look back and forth between Maghus and Celestia as they all considered Maghus’ behaviour since his arrival.
“Now that you mention it, he did seem rather fond of the idea of having Twilight around when I was making some suits and outfits for him earlier this week.” Rarity put a hoof to her chin as she thought back to earlier that week. “And he never did take his eyes if of Twilight when I convinced her to model a few outfits.” Maghus blushed at this comment as the others all turned their looks to Maghus once again.
“Yeah! And he ordered the same thing as Twilight when they came by Sugarcube Corner yesterday. He really enjoyed it, but he was looking at Twilight a lot while he was eating it, smiling while Twilight just enjoyed her cupcake.” Pinkie skipped over to Maghus and gave him a pat on the back while producing an identical cupcake as the ones Maghus and Twilight had the day before. “Do you want another one?”
Maghus’ blush deepened as he politely refused the cupcake. He desperately wished that he had gone with a long mane that he could hide behind like Fluttershy tended to, he just wanted to disappear so badly right now.
“Is that true?” Rainbow asked as she collected herself after Maghus’ enraged outburst. “Is that why you yelled at me like that?”
“Yeah…I guess.” Maghus shook his head as he stood up taller. “No. It IS why I yelled at you. I’m very sorry that I did, but it just made me so mad that you would even think about me hurting Twilight on purpose. Or did Rarity not tell you guys?”
“Tell us what, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked as the others proceeded to turn their focus on the purple-maned fashionista. “What did Maghus think you told us?”
“Well girls, you see…” Rarity looked at Maghus with a questioning look on her face, to which Maghus sighed and gave a gentle nod of his head. “You all know about what Twilight said and all before Princess Celestia helped Maghus about a week ago, right?” Everypony immediately nodded, to which Maghus’ innards tightened as Rarity approached what had happened the day the storm had been over Ponyville. “And how Twilight had been in tears when she said that the voice we had heard a day earlier was Maghus?” Another set of nods.
Princess Celestia looked over to Maghus in shock at the mention of the voice belonging to Maghus. She and Luna had been relaxing in the cottage they had been staying in when they had heard the music. They had both found it quite peaceful and relaxing, and the tone had an upbeat vibe that spoke of a better day tomorrow, to which both of them smiled as they saw the storm pass. They had originally believed that the Elements of Harmony had somehow been involved and Maghus had been hurt assisting them, but hearing what had really transpired made a lot more sense. Maghus blushed slightly at Celestia’s surprised look at him upon this revelation.
“It was because Maghus had kissed her.” The set of gasps was enough to set a ghost on edge, as the others proceeded to slowly turn their heads to Maghus, whose blush was now deep enough for his entire head to look purple instead of its deep blue.
Rainbow Dash was the first to speak. “Really?! You kissed her? Way to take the first move buddy!” Rainbow playfully gave Maghus a shove on the side, to which he sheepishly looked away and attempted to hide the blush he now realized was on his face.
“Ooh! Ooh! I know what this calls for!” Pinkie exclaimed. “A party-”
“NO!” Maghus quickly blurted out. The sudden sad look on Pinkie’s face shock Maghus however into altering how he said it. “I mean…not yet. I don’t know if Twilight even feels the same way, or if there’s even a chance that a stallion like me is worth it for a mare like Twilight.” This was followed by a pair of ‘aw’s’ by Rarity and Fluttershy, who at heart were both true romantics. “We can through A party when Twilight wakes up…let’s call it a…We’re-Glad-You’re-Not-Really-Hurt-And-We-Hope-You’re-Still-Our-Friend party…If that even makes sense.”
“It makes perfect sense! I’ll go start on the party decorations and everything!” Pinkie was about to bolt from the room when she was stopped by Fluttershy, who gestured at the now sleeping Twilight. “…After Twilight wakes up that is…”
“I’m just glad everyone understands now.” Maghus replied. “Even if it did make me embarrassed enough to bake a cake with how red I got.”
“I’ll say! You were like the colour of Rarity’s mane! It was so awesome!” Rainbow replied as she laughed on the floor.
“Do you find something about my mane funny Rainbow?” Rarity asked with a glare as Rainbow ‘s eyes shot open upon realizing her mistake.
As Rainbow attempted to find an apology fitting, Twilight slowly got up from the couch amidst the chaos. “Can you all keep it down please? My head is killing me right now.”
“Oh look, Twilight’s awake! Looks like she’s fine. See ya later guys!” Rainbow then proceeded to bolt from the room to avoid the wrath of Rarity.
“It’s so good to see you awake and okay Twilight. I’m really sorry for causing this whole mess.” Maghus bowed his head in an apology, ignoring the giggles from the rest of her friends as he bowed.
“It’s fine Maghus. Just next time, put an alarm on that clock rather than having me be your wake-up call. For both our sakes?” Twilight asked with a grin, to which Maghus smiled sheepishly as he nodded.
Celestia chose this moment to cut in and do an official diagnosis on Twilight. “You mentioned painful headaches, was there anything else, Twilight?” As Twilight shook her head, Celestia nodded her’s in acknowledgement. “Good, but I would strongly advise not suing any magic today, as well as getting some rest to avoid the headaches getting worse, okay?”
“But Princess I…” Twilight was immediately cut-off by Maghus interrupting her to save her flank in the situation.
“…Would be happy to do that while Maghus takes care of everything I was going to do today as well as give Spike the day off since he won’t be needed. Is that all, Celestia?” Maghus replied as the others stared at him, dumbfounded.
“But Maghus, you don’t have to…” Twilight began, only to be cut-off once again by Maghus.
“Worry about you?” Maghus asked with a cocked eyebrow. “After everything that happened to you today because of me, I think it’s only fitting. Besides, how hard could it be to do everything you do?” Maghus smiled as he spoke, a chance to make up for his mistakes now clear on the horizon.
“Well…” Twilight looked at her hooves, unsure about the turn of events. “…Alright. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Oh, calm down Twilight. What’s the worst that could happen?” Maghus said as the other all looked at each other with sheepish grins on their faces.
A/N Alright, so I know a bunch of you have been waiting much longer than I would have liked, so tonight I bring you......The newest chapter to A Change of Weather in Ponyville! It may not be all that terrific given how it's been a while since I last wrote anything for this fic. But it will help me get back into writing again. I make no promises for an exact date for updates anymore however, as work, family, and university around the corner making time for other things slightly tricky on some days. I also don't want this to feel like another thing that I have to do. his story was originally created as a way for me to convey my interest in the show and some of the parts of the fandom that I love, not another thing that feels more like a job or a chore that has to have a tight schedule to be done for. So I will promise to be better about getting updates out compared to the last few months, but it won't be like every day unless I've got a few days off from work and have the ideas for the next chapter clear in my mind. I've got a good chunk of the Adventure tag all lined up, it's simply a matter of working in new characters, wrapping in some arcs for them, and then gradually working towards the Adventure rather than a cliched "Now that you know everyone, let's go do something exciting and dangerous all of the sudden." Enjoy.
“Come on Twilight,” Maghus spoke gently as Spike patted Twilight’s back. “So you can’t really use any magic for one day. How bad could it be?” Maghus put on an awkward smile, hoping that Twilight would bounce back quickly instead of having another of her extreme panic attacks that always caused more harm than good.
“How bad, huh?” Twilight whimpered as she half-whined, half-snapped at Maghus. “Well let’s see. Discord could break free again, Crysalis could attack Equestria with her changeling army, the apocalypse could happen, or various other catastrophes that I might be needed to stop?” Twilight’s voice had slowly increased in volume, her composure gradually changing from depressed and defeated to angry and determined within moments. “Was that really supposed to be a helpful thing to say?”
“O-Ok, first off,” Maghus stammered slightly as he quickly gathered his courage in the face of one of his most intimidating and difficult challenges ever. “Discord won’t break free after how you and your friends froze him in stone; Crysalis was beaten by Cadence and Shining Armor, not you; and as for an apocalypse…yeah I got nothing.” Maghus shrugged as he failed a retort to one of Twilight’s disaster scenarios. “But don’t you think you’re overblowing this juuuust a bit?”
Twilight grunted as she crossed her front hooves in frustration. “…Fine. Maybe I was being a little over the top.” Maghus smirked as Twilight admitted defeat, but only briefly as Twilight shot him a glare. “But don’t deny that something different could happen today.”
“Alright, alright. You’ve got me there.” Maghus lifted one hoof in defeat. “Even so though, I just single-handedly stopped a crazy weather system by myself. What could possibly happen that I couldn’t do anything about?” Maghus and Twilight eyed each other in a mock competition.
Just as Twilight was about to continue their roundabout debate, Spike interjected before the entire day was spent pointlessly arguing. “Hey! Get a room you two!” Spike blurted out the first thing that came to mind, albeit a strange and awkward statement.
Luckily, the intention behind the remark stuck, as it shocked Twilight and Maghus right out of their conversation and into an awkward silence that seemed to hang in the air like week-old molasses (not much thicker than fresh molasses, but just slightly thicker than normal). The two of them stared at Spike with looks of shock, Twilight staring daggers into Spike at the choice of words, and Maghus’ mouth open like a void as he failed to remember how to breathe.
“Umm…I mean knock it off?” Spike said awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head with a claw. After a moment he began to paw at the ground sheepishly as the looks that Twilight and Maghus were giving him were starting to drive him halfway between the roads of floor-laughing and fetal-position-corner-hiding. Not a fun intersection to sit at. Ever.
“IthinkimgoingtogolookaroundtownwhileMaghuslooksafteryoutodaybye!” Was what Twilight and Maghus heard a split second after a sudden breeze appeared out of nowhere and the smokey-silhouette of a young dragon slowly faded.
“Uh……” Maghus remarked intelligently as he and Twilight just glanced at each other briefly with a look that said ‘Are we dreaming? Or is today just really weird for some reason?’ “Ok. Well.” Maghus stammered with the highest point of his intelligence as he trotted over to the kitchen to get a drink. Who knew that today would be so hot and he would need water so badly already, huh?
“…Yeah.” Twilight replied sagely as she cantered over to the nearest bookshelf to find something read. Maybe today she would finally get started on that new magical series Celestia had recommended in her last letter. Maybe it would hold some form of cloning? Or permanent wings? Or gender-changing…wait, why would she need that? Well doing a study between mares and stallions could be interesting and maybe-
“Twilight!” Maghus exclaimed as he suddenly dashed into the room to Twilight’s surprise, an empty glass somehow upside on his horn. His face was filled with shock as she looked at him with a puzzled look. It didn’t last long however, as her head suddenly began pounding like a twelve-piece marching band was practicing right next to her eardrums.
Just as Twilight was about to get knocked on the head with a rather large tome of magical studies wrapped in a quickly fading purple glow, it stopped inches from her forehead as it sat in a deep blue glow as Maghus gasped for breath after noticing Twilight’s unconscious use of magic.
“Twilight. Celestia said to avoid using magic today, what were you thinking?” Maghus stammered worriedly as he levitated the book back on to its shelf next to various other large and heavy looking books. “And how did you manage to lift that book anyways, it weighs a ton!” Maghus grunted as he sat down next to her.
“I must have been unconsciously using my magic to lift it down.” Twilight shrugged with one hoof while rubbing her forehead with another. “I guess I just do it so often it comes naturally. That’s not a big deal, is it?” She looked at him through one eye with a puzzled look on her face.
“Uh, yeah. That is a bad thing.” Maghus stated matter-of-factly. “If you can do stuff like that without really knowing, then we need to get you out of the house for today so that you don’t push yourself.” As Maghus turned towards the library door, he quickly remembered something and turned back to Twilight, who had by now lost most of her migraine and was now content with just massaging the lump at the base of her horn. “I still don’t know how you managed to lift that book at all, and why it didn’t hurt you till a little after you started. Any explanation for that?”
The first question Twilight had a very simple, yet sophisticated way of clearing up with a smarty pants look. “Element of Magic, duh.” The second question required more finesse and clarity to make sense. “My magic isn’t inaccessible today, it just seems like the bump on my forehead,” Twilight shot Maghus a quick glare which he quickly passed along by urging her onwards with a hoof, “acts sort of like a magical block. Anytime I use magic, it causes a magical backlash that spikes back along my nerves to my brain, causing sudden and intense headaches and/or migraines.” She finished with a quick poke to her forehead with a hoof, quickly regretting that choice as she proceeded to once again massage her bruise.
Maghus chuckled lightly as Twilight massaged her forehead once again. “Well it’s good to know that the bump on your head didn’t alter your brain at all. Who knows how things would turn out then, huh? Amnesiac unicorn with almighty powers at her hooves.” Maghus laughed as he and Twilight began to trot towards the door to the library. “Yeah, that would end well.”
“Oh watch it, mister.” Twilight snapped once again as Maghus politely opened the door with a mock bow. He raised his head with a well-rehearsed look of despair, which almost had Twilight convinced if not for the dramatic antics of one white unicorn mare. She scrunched up her eyebrows in an attempt to look intimidating. “I know where you live.”
Maghus faked a gasp of fear as they began trotting through Ponyville. “Surely you jest madam! I had meant no ill by my statements! Surely you must see that?...” Both of them proceeded to continue looking at each other for a few moments before collapsing in a fit of laughter, one that drew the attention of a few passersby, one very distinct one from above who proceeded to fly away giggling slightly to herself before flying off towards a very unique and elegant building.
“You never lost that fake Manehatten accent and way of talking huh?” Twilight gasped through her tears as they both up righted themselves. The two of them took a moment to catch their breath before continuing onwards through town.
“Born and raised for 10 years.” Maghus stated proudly with a hoof to his chest. “My granddad would always say, ‘Once a Manehattenite, always a Manehattenite!’ Guess it was truer than I thought back when I was 5.” The two of them shared another brief laugh as their journey took them towards Sugarcube Corner.
“Oh look, want to get something to eat?” Twilight asked as she gestured to the home of the town’s resident party pony. At a nod from Maghus, the two of them turned towards the swinging doors, continuing their chat as they reached the counter.
“Nothing with hot sauce though, alright?” Maghus asked quickly as he held Twilight back with a hoof.
“I thought you liked stuff like that?” Twilight asked with a confused look after giving an apologetic look to Mrs. Cake for having to wait on them.
“I do, but after taking that hot sauce dare from Rainbow I wanna let my digestion get regular again first.” Maghus said as he rubbed his belly gently to a disgusted look from both Twilight and Mrs. Cake. He caught the looks of both mares and quickly apologized for his lack of manners. “Sorry.”
“Fine by me. Never liked the stuff anyways. I don’t see what you, Spike and Pinkie all see in that stuff. It burns!” Twilight exclaimed as they trotted the last few feet towards the counter.
“But that’s the best part! The kick that it adds to the flavour! !he satisfying tingle it puts in your throat as you swallow!” Maghus groaned slightly as his stomach rumbled angrily. “Only if you have it in moderation though, ugh.”
Twilight rolled her eyes as Maghus rubbed his belly, regretting his moment to go into details about something. “Just be glad you didn’t get offered to do the cinnamon challenge by Pinkie too.” Twilight and Mrs. Cake both shuddered at the memory of Applejack taking the challenge lightly. She would never look at apple cinnamon the same way again after that tragic day.
“The cinnamon challenge?” Maghus cocked his head to the side at the sight of the two mares shuddering. “What’s-” Twilight and Mrs. Cake both shook their hooves frantically in an effort to get Maghus to stop his train of thought. Sadly it was met with no success. “-that?”
“Celestia save him…” Mrs. Cake whispered lightly as the sound of hooves on wood could be heard from the second floor rapidly approaching the stairs. “Save yourselves! I’ll hold her off!” Mrs. Cake proceeded to brace the door with her body as it rumbled on its hinges. A high pitched giggling could be heard from the other side as whomever or whatever was trying to gain access to the main floor. Twilight and Maghus both gave each other fearful looks before galloping towards the entrance.
Yet just as soon as the door had begun shaking, it stopped. Mrs. Cake could no longer feel a weight pushing from the other side, and Maghus and Twilight both froze as they looked to her for any idea as to what was going on. The looks of confusion and curiosity all quickly changed into frozen faces of shock as a pink mare bounced in through the front door in the next moment. “Hiya!” At this outburst, everypony present in the room proceeded to tip over onto their sides like a startled goat, faces frozen like a deer in headlights(whatever headlights are).
Pinkie looked around the room with a smile on her face before gasping as she recognized the two ponies frozen right in front of her on the floor. “Twilight! Maghus!” Pinkie exclaimed as she pulled the two of them into a tight hug. “Did you come to visit me today?! I thought Twilight was supposed to be resting? Is she ok? Is her head hurting? Does she need Auntie Pinkie’s help for something? Because I’ve got all sorts of fun little doctoriffic things up in the bathroom!”
This last statement instantly snapped Mrs. Cake out of her trance as she looked at Pinkie both accusingly and fearfully. “What kinds of things Pinkie?” She asked suddenly, drawing everyponies attention to the now serious mare on the staircase.
“Just some stethoscopes, magnifying glasses, aspirin, mouthwash, floss, toothpaste, toothpicks…” Pinkie proceeded to ramble on and on about things up in the bath, slowly decreasing the space between Maghus’ jaw and the floor and the knowing looks on Twilight’s and Mrs. Cake’s faces. “…and oatmeal!” The last item caught all of them off guard however, as oatmeal served no medicinal purpose whatsoever. The reason Pinkie would even have that in a bathroom would be absurd, even for Pinkie.
“Nu-uh! Not if somepony gets hungry while they’re taking a shower or something and wanna heat up some yummy oatmeal with some of the hot water! Oatmeal can be very good in an emergency!”
“Umm, Pinkie?” Twilight asked curiously, still a little frazzled about the oatmeal in the bathroom comment. “Who are you talking to?”
“Oh, nopony important Twilight.” Pinkie replied gleefully as she snuck a cheeky grin to nothing in particular.
Hey!
“…Whatever.” Twilight shook her head to gain composure of the few brain cells she currently had at the moment that hadn’t either gone off to Candy Mountain or dropped into her stomach after the horror scene. “Where were you just now?”
“Oh, I was upstairs helping Mr. Cake feed Pound and Pumpkin when I had a Pinkie sense that meant somepony doesn’t know about the cinnamon challenge!” Pinkie gasped as she clued in and looked at Maghus, who now wanted anything more than to be back in the treehouse arguing the library to the ground in a blaze of comebacks and rebuttals. “Maghus! You’ve never done the cinnamon challenge?!”
“Uh…no?” Maghus answered as Twilight and Mrs. Cake facehoofed. Today was about to get even more interesting.
****************************
“Never…make…me…do that…or mention…that………EVER!” Maghus coughed out as little clouds of orange dust constantly pooled out into the air. Twilight was giggling loudly as the two of them trotted through another section of Ponyville, a VERY large jug of water levitating next to Maghus that was already half empty after 10 minutes of torture as Maghus would put it.
“Well you mentioned it.” Twilight shrugged with another giggle as Maghus deadpanned ahead, pain written on his face and he chugged another copious amount of water only to spit it out with an orange tinge to it. “You kind of had it coming. It is-”
“Pinkie, I know.” Maghus groaned as he spat out the last of the cinnamon in his throat and mouth. The jug was already over half empty, so he decided to simply chug the rest and then pop it back to the counter in Sugarcube Corner, much to the delighted surprise of Pinkie and the shock of Mrs. Cake.
“I guess he liked it then! Maybe I should do that again on his birthday!” Pinkie squealed to herself while Mrs. Cake shook her head in amusement.
*****************************
“Hey Twilight?” Maghus asked as the two of them were approaching the outskirts of Ponyville, preparing to return to the library since it was already approaching the evening with the sun only halfway above the horizon.
“Yeah Maghus?” Twilight looked at her friend with a confused expression before following his line of sight to a large ring of stands and bleachers all setup in what looked like preparations for a show. “What is that?”
“That’s what I was about to ask actually.” Maghus replied. The two of them stole a glance at each other before looking back towards the setup. “Wanna check it out? Or gather the others and check in the morning?” Maghus gestured back to town as he finished, a little tired and looking forward to a nice, soft bed at the moment to possibly take a nap in.
“No need, look!” Twilight gestured back towards the ‘stage’, where a large group of ponies they had previously missed were filing into the seats around the circular platform laden with all sorts of bars, objects and obstacles for what looked somewhat like a flight course. “The girls and Spike are already gathered over there with a few empty spots for us…and who’s that stallion with them?”
Maghus followed Twilight’s hoof to recognize the 7 individuals gathered in the crowd. “Oh, that’s Moonstone.” Twilight’s continued look of confusion made Maghus chuckle slightly as he continued. “The stallion that picked me up at Sweet Apple Acres after the storm and brought me to the hospital.”
“Right!” Twilight tapped herself on the side of the head with a hoof, frustrated at herself for forgetting about someone that had saved a close friend of hers. “I wonder what he’s still doing here in Ponyville though. He looked like he was just as ready to leave town the day after the Summer Sun Celebration.” Twilight scratched her chin with her hoof as Maghus chuckled to himself.
“I don’t have the faintest idea…” He whispered to himself quietly enough to not catch Twilight’s attention.
“I guess we’re going to see what the big fuss is all about then. The girls, Spike and…Moonstone are already waiting…” Twilight and Maghus began trotting towards the group as Maghus sighed in defeat, not gaining access to his comfy bed just yet.
“Hey guys!” Pinkie yelled over the noise of the crowd, waving furiously at Maghus and Twilight.
“Pinkie, darling, whatever are you yelling for? This is no time to-” Her train of thought was quickly cut off at the notice of the two approaching ponies. “Twilight, darling! You look well! And you brought Maghus with you, how lovely!” Rarity winked at Maghus at the last comment, causing a light blush to appear on his muzzle as he and Twilight slid in next to the group. He breathed a sigh of relief when Twilight didn’t notice the wink and followed to shoot Rarity a glare before turning his attention to the centre stage.
Rarity simply shrugged as the others began to calm themselves and all look towards the podium, the crowd beginning to shush as a black pegasus stallion with a grey mane trotted onstage.
The black stallion cleared his throat before switching on the headpiece he was wearing and flew up to a good viewing spot for the entire crowd. “Hello everypony!” He waved both hooves as the crowd stomped their hooves in excitement. “My name is Storm Blitz and welcome…to Equestria Tricks!!”
Alright, so there it is. It turned into a nice 3000 word chapter, even if a lot of it seemed a bit like filler. I wanted to work something in for a few laughs and just to get myself comfortable with my story once again. Hopefully you all enjoyed it!
And for anyone interested in that cinnamon challenge, and for those that have seen various versions on the internet, here's a link to a personal favorite version of mine that makes me laugh every time. Cinnamon Challenge!
