Bon Bon trotted through town with a smile. It was a beautiful day and it was starting to look like it will be a beautiful night soon. She took in the scenes as ponies around her were talking, enjoying each other’s company, or just basking in the daylight. As she walked, she found a scene that brought a smile to her face. Grimoire and Vinyl were sitting at a café table. To some, this would be nothing impressive. But, just three days after their meeting, they were already on another date? That was excellent news to the matchmaker.
However, after a second glance, she saw that the scene was a little different. Between them wasn’t a pair of pastries nor a shared shake. Resting on the table between them was a large blueprint. Vinyl was watching Grimoire and Grimoire was scanning the floor plan.
Bon Bon had to know what was going on, so she trotted up. “Hey you two! What’s going on?”
Grimoire looked up from the paper. “Hey Bon Bon.” He returned his eyes to the paper, but continued, “Vinyl asked me to look over the floor plan for her new club in Canterlot.”
Bon Bon looked over to the DJ, “You own a club in Canterlot?”
“She’s Co-owner, apparently. Just bought an old club and wants to make sure it’s ready for operation.” He never took his eyes off the plan, “Vinyl,” after the DJ turned her head back toward Grimoire he continued without looking up, “If this is the current plan, I see an issue.” He marked a series of locations. “The electrical system running the lights in the floor are old and inefficient. This would eat your profits in electrical expenses. I’d suggest that you get that fixed. Granted, it would keep the club out of operation for a while…”
Vinyl’s expression turned a little sour before giving a reluctant sigh and nodding.
“Okay. There should be plenty of contractors in Canterlot. Shouldn’t take more than a few days. However, there is also some structural issues you’ll need to deal with before opening. Minor things, shouldn’t be terribly difficult to fix. I’ve marked them as I’ve seen them. It would be best to get this reviewed by a professional.”
Vinyl nodded and took the print and placed it in her saddlebag. Once their business was done, she hopped down from her chair and trotted off toward the train station.
Bon Bon watched her trot away for a moment before returning her attention to Grimoire. “So… this wasn’t a…”
“No. It wasn’t. She asked for my help, so I helped her. Nothing else to it.”
“But… I thought you were…”
“You thought wrong. I told you before, we are friends now. That’s something, but nothing more.”
“Dang… I thought you two had hit it off.”
“Doesn’t matter.” He dropped down to the ground.
Bon Bon sighed. “Alright… Is there any possibility that she might be your special somepony?”
“Doubt it. Then again, I won’t know unless it happens.”
“Huh…” Before Grimoire could trot away, Bon Bon draped one of forelegs around his shoulders. “Alright. I have failed you as a matchmaker. So, now I’m going to make it up to you.”
“What?”
“I made a guarantee that I would find you a pony with the potential to be the special somepony. Though you two became friends, I have failed in my task. So, I have to make it up to you.”
“No. No you don’t.”
“Too bad! I’m a professional, I made a guarantee, and I failed. Now I have to pay up!”
“I thought you sold candy, or something…”
“Not the point. Meet me at the train station in one hour!” With that, she rushed off.
Grimoire just shook his head, “This can’t end well…”
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An hour later, he did arrive at the train station out of a sort of morbid curiosity. Waiting for him was a smiling Bon Bon with a pair of train tickets. She gave him one and rushed him onto the train. After around half an hour, they stepped off onto the Canterlot streets. Grimoire was dragged around town for ten minutes before the Dark Mage lost his patience for the situation.
“Okay, stop.” He pulled back and finally stopped Bon Bon’s rush. “Where, exactly, are you going with this?”
Bon Bon trotted up to a board and waved toward it, “Tada!”
The sign read, [Theories of Magic in the Three Types of Ponies. A seminar with guest speaker Grimoire Maleficarum.] As Grimoire took in the sign, he turned to Bon Bon, a look of disbelief on his face. “What? How did…”
“I have connections. Now, your lesson beings at 6:30. So, get your stuff together for it.”
“Let me get this straight… You, through a series of connections, were able to set up a seminar, get it approved, and get a room dedicated to the lecture in around an hour?”
“It helps when the newest Equestrian princess is living in Ponyville and was a top student in the academy. Knock ‘em dead!”
As she trotted away, Grimoire was left to his own thoughts.
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Grimoire sat at the front of the room in silence. He watched as ponies entered the room and took their seats. Most of the seats were filled with fifteen minutes before the seminar started. He could tell most of the ponies were students. Some of the ponies in the audience were teachers, some of which he recognized. Whether they recognized him as the expelled Dark Mage, he couldn’t tell. Well, he could, but that would require using Dark magic to break into their mind; and he wasn’t going to use Dark magic for something so petty.
That said, he certainly thought about it. This was a new feeling for him. He was nervous. Anxious. It was his first chance to teach so many ponies at once. This was his dream; and now that he had it, he was starting to have his share of doubts. His history made it difficult to expect them to take his words at face value. The Dark magic thing doesn’t help when speaking to anypony in Canterlot, after all… He took a deep breath and looked over to the clock. 6:20. He wanted a way to diffuse the situation in his mind.
A thought went back to his time in the academy and one of his professors. “Okay!” He stood up and cracked his neck while he spoke, “Now, I know it’s still a little early. But I would like to welcome you all to this seminar. Now, I would like to ask, how many of you have had Professor Bronze Hoof?” As a series of hooves were raised, Grimoire noticed that the very teacher he referencing was in the seats. Grimoire had to keep his focus, though. “Okay. Well, for those of you that never had the good professor, here’s the deal. If anypony walks through that door after we start, I want all of you to stop whatever you’re doing and stare in their direction until they take a seat.”
One of the ponies in the seats raised her hoof.
Grimoire smiled, “We haven’t started yet. You don’t have to raise your hoof.”
“Oh… well, I wanted to ask why we would have to stare.”
“Simple. This is a lecture and somepony showing up late can be distracting. The stares of an entire room will often lead to some embarrassment for the pony in question, leading to increased punctuality to avoid the feeling.”
“And… if they just stand there to run the clock?”
“Then they’ll be robbing you of valuable learning.” The clock ticked forward again. 6:30. “Alright. Let’s get started.”
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After an hour and a half, the lecture ended and the ponies started to leave the room. A few stayed behind to ask general questions about the material. Some welcomed Grimoire to the campus. One happened to be Professor Bronze Hoof.
The professor trotted up and smiled. “It’s nice to see my teaching style has made an impact.”
Grimoire smiled. “Yeah… well, it should work with the current students just as well as my year.”
“So, how have you been doing since the academy?”
“Um… fine. I guess.”
“Oh? So your expulsion didn’t affect you too badly?”
“You… you remember that?”
“Kind of hard to forget your star student getting expelled for using Dark magic.”
Grimoire chuckled nervously.
“I’ve been meaning to ask if I ever got the chance…”
Here it comes. The ‘why would you ever go near Dark magic?’ Grimoire had been used to that question from his self-imposed exile.
“Why did you leave?”
Grimoire blinked in disbelief. “What?”
“Why did you leave Canterlot? You didn’t have to. So, I’d like to know why.”
“Oh… Um… Sorry, I’m not used to answering that one… I guess, I left because I didn’t have a reason to stay. I wanted to learn as much I could, and I wasn’t going to be able to do that in Canterlot anymore.”
Professor Bronze Hoof smiled. “I guess that’s an acceptable reason.”
“Huh… I’m not used to ponies being able to get passed the whole Dark magic thing…”
“Yeah, well… there’ll likely be more than a few ponies so stuck up their own butts that they won’t. Anyway, it was nice seeing you again.” With that, the professor trotted off.
Grimoire, having answered all the ponies’ questions, walked back toward the train station. Today was the best day ever!