//------------------------------// // A Kind of Magic // Story: Welcome to Batstralia // by Damaged //------------------------------// Language check. Anything wrapped in < > in this chapter is spoken English, everything wrapped in [ ] is spoken in dream-speak, and everything else is in Equish. The night after the big flood of magic, the Rainbow Serpent, and Joyce's new "friend" showing up was exciting to Dream. She fairly buzzed in anticipation of sleeping. What she had gotten each night was lessons. School during the day, and school at night. It hadn't been surprising that she felt more tired earlier in the day. Morning was full of yawns. Afternoon was a struggle to pay attention, and evening was full of "bat naps." But Dream wasn't alone. When she looked around the classroom, she noticed that every single one of the bat pony converts was going through the same thing. At last, after a week of dealing with more and more growing tiredness, she cornered her mother and Joyce together. "Mom, this is all wrong." It was a Thursday night, and the last of the week's homework was done, but she needed to confront particularly her mother about this problem. "What is, dear?" Candela had been planning out the last few months of the school year, and had papers scattered over half the table, leaving the rest to Joyce. "I'm tired all day, you can't have missed that." Dream watched her mother, and saw recognition in Candela's eyes. "And it's not just me. All the bat ponies are getting tired during the day." She looked over at Joyce. "Bats are nocturnal, maybe we are too?" Pulled from her work, Joyce couldn't stop a yawn that proved Dream's point. "That does make a certain amount of sense. What about changing the timetable?" She looked over to Candela. "I really am loath to change things this late in the school year." Heaving a deep sigh, Candela shook her head. "Okay, a compromise. Dream, dear, you and Robin will have late evening classes for the next week, here. If this works out, I will have to see how things can be adjusted to better suit all my students." "You're the best, Mum." Wrapping a wing around her mother's back, Dream Thunder wrapped both forelegs around Candela and squeezed. At that moment, from the backyard, a deep thrum of bass notes started, and three sets of ears in the kitchen turned to focus on the window. Lyra was sitting out the back, playing her music. A soothing tune, and more so when a dancing acoustic guitar wove a rhythm around the deep bass. "It really does keep Chompy calmer. The old saying is true." Joyce tapped one hoof in time with the catchy tune, and hers wasn't the only hoof tapping. Dream closed her eyes, still hugging her mum, and let out a tiny sigh of contentment. For nearly ten minutes every creature that heard Lyra's song just stopped what they were doing to listen; it wasn't just a catchy tune, it spoke to the core of a being. As the music faded, Dream felt more alert and a lot less tired. She also felt more than a little silly-happy, a wide smile creasing her face without her realizing it. "Wow. She's good." Joyce's own smile looked to be equal parts the direct work of the music and pride in her daughter. "She is. I wonder if that will be her thing, in Equestria." It was the first time anyone had brought up Lyra's plans for a week, and all three of them looked around at each other. "She will have the chance to do quite literally whatever she pleases. Princess Celestia's school is known for turning out unicorns who are the pinnacle of whatever field they choose to study." The pride of any teacher for their students shone through Candela's words. "I'm thinking of going with her." Joyce's words were soft, almost lost at the end of Candela's. "Hang the contract. Robert can't expect to uphold that during this. And if he does, well, I lose some pay." Lifting her head, her words gained more force behind them. "But there is a problem." "Robin." Candela reached a hoof over and put it on Joyce's. "I could look after her, we're pretty much one big family now." "How did that even happen?" Trying to get into the conversation again, Dream was genuinely curious. "And isn't there supposed to be a ceremony?" Joyce and Candela both looked at each other and blushed at the same time. "We're not—" Joyce began, but cut off her words. "What Joyce is trying to say, dear, is that we aren't quite that kind of family." Candela lifted a wing-tip to tickle her daughter's tufted ear. "Stressful events can galvanize the most distant of acquaintances into a tight friendship. Packed in together, and looking after all of you half the day, I couldn't help but spread my wings just a little further." Dream couldn't help herself. "Well, there is a family resemblance now, too." Disengaging from her mother, she moved around the table to stand beside Joyce. "See?" "And you're getting our side's sense of humor." Stretching one of her wings out, Joyce crossed it with the incoming one from Dream Thunder, so they were each hugging the other. "See? Practically twins!" "Sisters at the very least." Candela raised an eyebrow, reminding Joyce that she had lost of a lot of apparent age in the process of becoming a bat pony. "Are you sure about this, Joyce? Moving, that is." Joyce nodded, and opened her mouth to reply when a loud knocking came from the front door. Drawing her wing around Dream a little tighter at first, she quickly freed the limb and got to her hooves. "I'll get it." The knocking came again, more urgent a staccato this time. Dream poked her head around the doorway into the hall to snoop on the visitor. Opening the door with one wing, Joyce used the other to hide a smile. "—" "!" The young man at the door had been in the house before, when his team had scoffed at Joyce Robertson's diagnosis. "!" "." Dream could see panic plain as day on the man's face—panic, and a pair of tufted ears. "?" "Dream Thunder! You will apologize this instant." Her tone sharp, Candela hauled her daughter back into the kitchen. "Now you put the kettle on, the poor man will be out of his mind with panic. Not everypony is going to take this as well as Joyce, Lyra, and Robin." "Yes Mum." Dream felt a little bad, but the man had been a little rude. "He called me a horse." She used her clever wings to quickly lift the kettle to the sink, fill it, and put it back on its cradle to boil. "Nothing excuses bad manners." Candela started packing up her work, judging the opportunity to do such at an end. "Joyce, dear. We are just putting the kettle on!" "." Joyce gestured to Candela and Dream in turn, introducing man named Roy to her little family. "." "." Roy shook as he spoke, not from cold, but clearly from shock. "!" Joyce waved a wing at Doctor Pendleton. "?" The question had a focusing effect on Roy, and he narrowed his focus down to just Joyce. "." "?" Joyce used soft, calming words, and when she heard the kettle start to boil, one tufted ear flicked towards it. "?" "—" Roy cut short his reply when he saw Joyce's look. "." His answer was more readily accepted when Joyce nodded to Dream. "!" Dream was about to speak up about swearing at the table, but a glance at her mother showed her that Candela was holding back her own rebuke. She sobered a moment, and finished preparing the tea as requested. Walking back to the table, Dream set the big coffee mug full of tea before Roy. "." She didn't wait for praise, figuring if the man was willing to swear before strangers, he was likely not going to thank her. "." Roy looked surprised at having remembered to thank Dream for the drink. It had been a normal thing to do. He wasted no time reaching out and lifting the mug up and sipping from it. "." He gestured to his head. Back to the bench, Dream reared back up and started making more cups up. She knew just how her mother, and her "other mother," liked their tea. As she made up three more cups, she noticed the light outside was completely gone, and realized that would mean everyone would come inside. Turning for the hallway, she head the back door swing open. "I'll tell Lyra and Robin to keep their distance." "?" Roy turned to look at the retreating bat pony. Joyce turned her attention to Dream for a moment. "Thanks, dear." She then focused back on Roy. "." Dream got to the back door just as Lyra and Pinkie Pie were coming in. "There's a new person turning into a pony. They're super jumpy about it, and I figured it would be best not to surround them with more ponies." "Good idea." Lyra turned to head down to her bedroom. "I'll just put my gear away and we can work out something to do instead of watching more TV." "We could take a better look at the edge of town again." Pinkie Pie bounced up and down, her frizzy mane floofing out wildly. "It's really strange. I get the feeling that something really odd is happening there. I know the Rainbow Serpent is technically there, but I can't feel him while I'm awake." Flexing her wings, Dream Thunder remembered back to flying to and through the barrier. Lyra didn't take long to put her things away. She came walking back down the hall. "Any ideas on what we could do?" Pinkie Pie grinned widely. "We're going to go poke at the borders of reality!" She let it sink in for just a moment. "Wanna come too?" Dream looked at Lyra, and they both shared a grin at Pinkie Pie's phrasing. "Would I ever!" Lyra followed Pinkie and Dream out the door and closed it behind her, tentatively with her magic. "You're getting better with that." Dream had watched Lyra close the door with her golden magic. "How are your classes going?" "In magic?" Lyra moved up to flank Dream with Pinkie Pie. "I have been working through that foal book Candela got me, but trying to get all my assessment tasks done so I can graduate. I know Princess Celestia would probably let me go to her school anyway, but I want to finish this." Pinkie giggled. "I'm dropping out of school at the end of the year." The bombshell dropped, Pinkie Pie looked at her friends. "What?" Lyra was first to chime in. "Pinkie Pie, you're just a filly still. You need to learn about—" "I need to learn about making parties, and helping everypony be happy. I was thinking of visiting a few towns in Equestria and finding one that needs an awesome pink pony." Pinkie Pie nodded, as if her mind were made up and it was the most logical thing ever. Dream used the tip of one wing to cover Lyra's snout. "Stop, Lyra, this is pretty normal for ponies. Pinkie just wants to find a place to fit in, where she can do exactly what her cutie mark is telling her." Lyra shrugged Dream's wing off her snout. "But this is school. If she doesn't finish school, then she—" Lyra stopped herself from going further. "Pfft. Silly billy. Of course I won't end up as smart as you, or Maud, but that's alright." Pinkie reached into her mane and plucked out three cupcakes. She passed one to each of her companions and then ate the last whole. "In case you didn't notice, I'm not exactly doing that great at class anyway." Taking the offered cupcake, Dream Thunder bit into it happily. "Dis's reary goo!" She gulped down her mouthful. "Thanks, Pinkie." The smile that lit up Pinkie Pie's face was so pure and perfect that it was instantly contagious. Dream felt happier, and when she glanced at Lyra she saw her sister was smiling too. Dream tilted her head back to Lyra. "If Pinkie needs to leave to follow her cutie mark, she really needs to. Cutie marks are important." "Yup!" Pinkie was bouncing even more energetically. "I just know there is a town out there that needs me. That there are ponies that aren't getting enough parties. It would be really silly to think two ponies could get lucky enough that their cutie marks keep them here." "Two ponies?" Lyra sounded lost in the conversation, although the cupcake was helping make up for it. "Yeah. Mine." Dream looked to the side and back, eyeing her cutie mark and sighing. "It's awesome, but I wish more of you could stay with me." Excitement at the future—and being part of it—warred with Dream's knowledge that most of her friends would have to go to their own lives. "I guess. I don't know why, but I just want to go to Canterlot. It seems right." Lyra looked down at the ground for a moment. "Is that the same for me? Is my—my cutie mark making me leave?" Dream wrapped a wing around Lyra from one side, while Pinkie Pie practically threw herself in from the other. "Lyra, nothing would make you do anything you don't want to." Squeezing Lyra for all she was worth, Pinkie ended up falling on top of Lyra and Dream. "Your cutie mark is part of who you are, not the other way around. You're going to Equestria because you want to be there." Lyra, pinned between Pinkie Pie and Dream Thunder, squirmed a little before letting out a defeated groan. "If I hug you both, will you get off me?" "Will you smile?" Pinkie was relentless. Giggling, but relentless. Dream laughed at Pinkie's demand. "A big smile!" "There should be a law about friends making you smile." Lyra nonetheless was smiling. "Pinkie Pie, I'm smiling now. Can you get off." "Okie dokie lokie!" Jumping back up, Pinkie Pie pulled Lyra and Dream to their hooves. "Oh look, there's the edge!" Sure enough, Dream looked up and saw the edge of the towns, where the Rainbow Serpent was stopping any magic from escaping. It was different from the ground. Taking a few steps forward, she got as close as she could without touching it. "Whoa." "What is it?" Lyra walked up beside Dream Thunder, and reached out with a hoof. The hoof kept going, of course, and was unimpeded by the border. "Huh. So we can just walk through it?" Dream nodded. "I guess. People have probably been going in and out fa—" "CANNONBALL!" Pinkie Pie launched herself past the barrier, leaping for all she was worth. "Where'd she go?" Terror rose in Dream. She looked at the barrier, and tried to focus past it, but could only see the same grass trailing away. Lyra turned her head, looking much more calm. "What do you mean? Pinkie is just over there." She pointed at the border. "I can't see her. Something really strange is going—" Dream stopped talking the moment she realized Pinkie Pie was back through the barrier. "Pinkie!" "That's really freaky! I could only see Lyra. Where'd you go, Dream?" Pinkie Pie looked between her friends. Lyra formed a golden hand in the air, held up like a stop gesture. "Hang on. Pinkie, when you went out, what did you see?" Pinkie giggled. "Equestria of course. This is really close to the rock farm." "Dream, what do you see when you go through?" Lyra pointed the golden hand at the barrier. "Uh, when I flew through it I just saw the world stretching out." Dream was a little confused at the questioning, until her brain caught up with Lyra. "This world. Earth!" "Right!" Lyra bounced a few times. "You see Earth because you are a bat pony. Pinkie Pie sees Equestria because she is from Equestria. So I…" Lyra took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Equestria." The word rolled off Dream's tongue. She looked, but couldn't see Lyra at all. When her sister walked back through the border, Dream caught Lyra up in a big, batty hug. "This is really strange. So the town—towns—are still here, but people from different places can only leave to their own place?" "Seems that way, unless someone can do something…" Pinkie Pie waggled her eyebrows at Lyra. "… magical." "No." Lyra shook her head, refusing the challenge. "The book said I shouldn't try any spells, and I shouldn't try to do anything to anypony—anyone. Remember what happened to that banana I grabbed yesterday?" "Pinkie, relax. Lyra is still learning her magic, that is part of the reason for going to Canterlot." Dream pressed herself between Pinkie and Lyra, compelled to defend her sister. Dream Thunder froze, and it felt like a rush of cool scales played over the tip of her nose. She breathed in, smelled snake, and curved her mouth into a smile. "[Whoa. Okay, it isn't Lyra who needs to do this]." "What did she say?" Pinkie Pie was staring at Dream like she had just spoken in another language. "[I said, I think I might be able to do something here. Whoa this is really strange]." Dream walked closer to the border, lifted a hoof and touched it. Sparks of energy sprayed where her hoof touched, and she let out an excited kee. "[That's it! I can just twist it so you go a different way]!" "Dream!" Lyra walked around beside Dream, making sure she got in her sister's peripheral vision. "Dream! We can't understand you!" Lifting a hoof, Dream looked Lyra right in the eyes and grinned. "[Boop]." She poked Lyra on the nose with the hoof, and twisted reality. Standing perfectly still, Lyra stared down her snout at the hoof that was still pressed there. She giggled at the silliness. "Enough, Dream. If you can understand me, try to talk in Equish, English, or even Spanish." Dream blinked, some of the crazy magic that had filled her fading. "You know Spanish?" She drew her hoof back from Lyra's nose. "Duh." Lyra cleared her throat, and affected a high-pitched, faux-Spanish accent. "The llama is a quadruped which lives in big rivers like the Amazon!" Looking at her dorky big sister, Dream Thunder groaned. "We really can't take you anywhere, can we?" She booped Lyra on the nose again. "I think Mr. Snakey helped me out. Try going through again." "For real?" Lyra looked from Dream to Pinkie Pie, the latter giggling and shrugging, while the former just nodded. "Okay. Well, here goes nothing." Dream watched Lyra step through the border, and could plainly see her standing on the other side of it. "There! Per—" "Where'd she go?!" Pinkie Pie looked through the border, and when she obviously couldn't stand to not see Lyra anymore, she jumped through only to reappear again as she jumped back. "She's gone!" At that moment, however, Lyra stepped back through. "Oh wait. There she is." "Whatever you did, worked, Dream! When I left, I was back in Australia." Lyra began to bounce on her hooves in excitement, and soon Dream and Pinkie Pie joined her, laughing and cheering. It took a few minutes for all of them to calm back down, but Lyra finally managed to steady herself. "Okay, now try setting me back to Equestria." She offered her snout, a big smile on her face. "You know, as far as magic goes, this might not be the most flashy stuff." Dream lifted her hoof and twirled it in the air. "But the delivery is literally the best!" She pressed the hoof forward, scrunching up Lyra's snout a little in the process. Pinkie Pie gasped in shock. "You didn't say the magic word!" With her hoof still pressed to Lyra's nose, Dream Thunder snorted. "Oh right. Ahem… BOOP!" Lyra fell backwards with a bad case of the giggles. Thankfully, as a pony, falling backwards just meant she sat down. She stared at Dream, laughing too hard to be able to say a word. For her part, Dream just stood there, hoof raised, still braced where she had booped Lyra. Schooling her features, Lyra managed to get her silliness under control. She took a deep breath, and started letting it out. "Boop!" Dream reached out and booped Lyra on the nose again, and this time her big sister collapsed and started to roll around laughing. "That just leaves one pony left…" Dream turned around and looked at Pinkie. Knowing the way such gags worked was important. Pinkie sat down and looked right at Dream. Lifting one hoof, she tapped the side of her nose. "This is my snoot, and it is for boops." She delivered the words as seriously as she could. Dream, like the fruit-predator she was, pounced on Pinkie Pie. "Boooooop!"