//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 - Duties and Distractions // Story: Off The Mark // by Goldfur //------------------------------// It was a particularly nice day and I was settled in a garden chair in the shade of the gazebo at the rear of the castle, overlooking the gardens and the hedge maze. Steady Flight had brought us both cool drinks and I was sipping at mine between playing my guitar. Oh, yeah – did I mention that I’d recently come across a shop that sold musical instruments and I had spotted this on display? Of course, I was intrigued by how a pony could possibly play one with hooves, but I really should have known better. I’d seen cello and violin playing done, so I had to know there was a trick to it, but still… I queried the shopkeeper about it. Although he was a little surprised at the question, he did give me pointers. Turns out it’s mostly about focusing intention into the magic touch of one’s hooves. Just as I was able to manipulate table cutlery by not thinking about it and just doing it, the same was true for selecting chords and plucking strings. Naturally, I had to practice a little to do it right, but it didn’t take me long to get up to my normal degree of proficiency. Of course, that did not make me a virtuoso. My talent was definitely modest, but Phil and I used to have a lot of fun singing around the campfire, me strumming my guitar while he laid down some beats with a couple of sticks and a log or a bucket. Once in a while, we attracted other campers and had a great time with the impromptu band. Right now though, I was introducing Steady, Trixie, Twilight, and anyone else who was prepared to listen to songs from Earth. Music seems to run in the veins of these ponies, and I was a hit. Maybe I should go commercial? Nah – too much work. I had always played for the fun of it, and I wasn’t about to change that. This gazebo had become a favorite place for me to play if I didn’t want to attract too much attention, or I wanted to rehearse a new song. It was great for seeing the world pass by too. More than one session had been brought to a halt while I watched Twilight practicing flying. Honestly, aside from my power-handling problem, I was currently a better flyer than the young alicorn. She had been devoting so much of her time to her studies and her Element of Magic responsibilities that she rarely took the time for flying lessons. She had managed to overtake me in incurring the wrath of the groundskeepers for all the damage she did from crashing. Nevertheless, I envied her the earth pony fortitude that she possessed because she shook off incidents of the kind that had me begging for a healer, and of course she had perfect control of her magic flow. I took my laughs while I could. Today though, I was a little introspective. A couple of weeks had passed since the incident with the plunderseeds, and I was assessing my life in Equestria so far. My aptitude at using the Element of Magic before I surrendered it to the Tree of Harmony had shaken me. It put me on a level that I felt I didn’t deserve, but more to the point, it had made me inextricably a part of this new world – a pony in a land full of magical colorful equines. What was happening to the human? I was now used to walking around butt naked, but instead, I was having to deal with the unexpected attention of several mares. Thank the heavens that they were all considerate of my stallion sensibilities, although Fluttershy tended to push the boundaries. Who knew that such a timid pony could be so assertive in these affairs? The reversal of the male/female status quo had been a little odd at first, but at least they could deal with a male who played hard to get. And believe me, I was going to be really hard to land. No female, human or equine, had tempted me yet from the joys of being single. On the flip side, I had gained far more friends in these past weeks than I had ever possessed before. I missed Phil and my life back on Earth, but I was genuinely enjoying my stay here. Then again, I’d been regarding my residence in Equestria as a transitory thing – a sabbatical, if you will. Twilight was still researching ways of recreating the portals to get me home, and of course get the alicorns back, and while that hope remained, I could only regard this as a temporary arrangement. Tomorrow, Twilight might find the answer and I’d be back in my bedroom and my old life at last. I looked over to Steady who was nibbling on a pastry that he’d brought with the drinks, and I wondered what I would be giving up. Besides my new friends, there was also flying. I hated to admit it, but after my very successful emergency flight to Ponyville, albeit with a less than stellar touchdown, I had grown in confidence and found myself losing the fear of heights that had plagued me originally. When I had mentioned this to Steady, he had scoffed knowingly and said, “Pegasi gotta fly”. How could I argue with that? There was something to be said for gliding through the sky under your own power that could only be poorly imitated by humans. I should know. Before I gave up on any activity that got me more than a couple of yards above the ground, I had tried sports such as skydiving. I’ll never do that again, but now I had wings and damned if I didn’t like them! If only I could lick the flight-magic regulation problem. Yeah, I had it pretty good here in Equestria, so why was I feeling so melancholy right now? And where was Trixie? She should have joined us a while ago. This was her afternoon off while Twilight Sparkle took Day Court’s second shift. Another quarter hour passed before the Great and Miffed Princess Lulamoon arrived. “Hi, Trixie! Grab yourself a drink to cool off and tell me about it,” I said when I saw her expression. The blue unicorn grabbed the whole jug of iced tea and carried it and a tumbler over to a chair. She poured out a full glass and drank most of it before topping it up. “Trixie is having regrets over asking Sparkle to be her co-ruler.” I sighed. “Let me guess – she was late again?” “Of course, she was late!” she said with exasperation, dramatically sweeping the jug through the air and spilling half of its remaining contents. “The Princess of Books had lost track of time while studying again. Her lack of responsibility is irking.” This wouldn’t be so bad if it was the first incident, or even the second or third. Unfortunately, just as I had judged before the Alicorn Challenge, Twilight was a student of magic first and the Element Bearer second. Running a nation came a distant third, despite her intention to do her best for Equestria. The purple alicorn had more than once gotten lost in her studies or had gone gallivanting about the country with her friends for one reason or another. All were legitimate activities, but it had shifted the burden of running the nation back onto Trixie too often. Even though she had previously ruled on her own, Trixie was peeved that she still had to do the majority of the work despite having willingly surrendered half her authority to Twilight. What had started as a pretty fair and friendly partnership was slowly degrading with incidents like these. It didn’t help that Twilight was regarded as the more popular princess even though most of those in the government knew that Trixie was responsible for the majority of the hard work. Twilight had started a few pet projects and her focus was on those. It was a pity that Spike was still in Ponyville, looking after the library whenever the alicorn was in Canterlot. The hard-headed and sensible young dragon could usually keep her on time and in focus. Seriously, that little guy had all my respect. And he made the greatest pancakes too. I never forgot to bring him the latest comics as soon as they hit the stands here in Canterlot. I wished the problems with the diarchy were so easily solved. Recently, Twilight and the other former Element Bearers had gone to the Rainbow Falls tryouts for the Equestria Games. As important as they were to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as competitors (and didn’t the latter surprise the heck out of me), they weren’t something that required one of the nation’s rulers to attend. Of course, I did not think that she had to devote every moment to the business of being a princess. That concert by the Ponytones had been fun, and I had been truly impressed by Rarity’s singing (and stunned at the usually taciturn Big Macintosh’s bass virtuoso performance), but at least it had been in support of a charity event. That was definitely on the list of royal-appropriate duties and I was glad to have been invited. I planned to try to get to another recital if there was a corresponding break in my schedule. “I will have a talk with Twilight after Day Court is finished,” I promised. “Trixie would appreciate that, though she has little confidence in Twilight Sparkle listening,” the blue mare replied with an air of resignation. “You just have to know how to handle her,” I replied with as much confidence as I could muster. Trixie loudly scoffed at that but said nothing more, preferring to concentrate on her drink instead. It was too nice an afternoon to let her spend it simmering in frustration, so I said to Steady, “How about we practice a few landings?” He looked at me dubiously. “Are you sure, sir?” I couldn’t blame him for his hesitation – they were still my worst ability discounting the power-control factor. I leaned my head in Trixie’s direction and winked. Steady caught on and nodded. “Very well – let’s start with a short-runway drill.” I followed the stallion out of the gazebo, girding myself for the challenge. If I couldn’t cheer up Trixie with words, a few pratfalls were guaranteed to make her laugh. Twilight didn’t turn up at the dining room after Day Court, but that was hardly unusual. I knew exactly where to find her though. I headed directly for her research laboratory – site of many a failed experiment in portal creation and other undertakings. It was the latter that I had come to dread lately. Upon noticing me enter her lab, Twilight came bouncing up to me, happily waving a forehoof while carrying a hypodermic needle in her aura. Despite the fact that it was a standard-sized needle, I still flinched back. “No, you may not play ‘Science’ on me today. Go back to your play blocks and Erlenmeyer flasks.” She laughed. I was a bit relieved that it was the ‘Twilight is happy’ version and not the ‘Twilight is in manic science mode’ one. “Oh, Mark. You know just as well as I do that no one really uses Air-land-mare flasks for science. Their shape and glass thickness just aren’t designed for rapid heating and cooling. Mostly, they are props to make everything look all science-y.” She levitated the needle directly between us. “No, I was wondering if I could get another blood sample. In fact, I’d like to get one on a weekly basis.” I instantly regretted my choice not to eat raw garlic this morning. “Away, vampire! You won’t be draining me dry of my precious bodily fluids!” This earned even more delighted laughter. Inwardly, I cringed a bit. There was no hope of dissuading this mare if she didn’t take anything I said seriously. She smiled at me. “No, no. I’m not a vampony, and honestly, that’s probably not a good word to say around here. The thestral contingent of Luna’s Night Guards might take offense.” She sat down and tapped the floating needle with a forehoof. “You’ve inspired me to start another research project! Do you remember the discussion we had about the maladies ponies can have with magic and the cells in their bodies? Some on the other end of the spectrum from your condition can leak out magic almost as fast as the background field provides it. Others can only keep extremely small stores in their bodies. I’m researching a way to use a small sample of your blood as a mana battery to alleviate those conditions. Probably in an amulet that can be worn.” The purple alicorn winked and nudged me with a forehoof. “I was thinking of naming the product after you.” I snorted. “The ‘Zero To Klutz Amulet’?” Twilight put a hoof in front of her mouth as the skin at the corner of her eyes wrinkled. “The ‘Never Take Stairs For Granted Again Good Luck Charm’?” I offered. She snorted and closed her eyes. “Maybe the ‘Interstellar Flight Aid… No Guaranteed Returns… Space Suit Not Included Talisman’?” The Princess laughed out loud. After that petered out, she said, “Actually, I was thinking the ‘Minute of Arc Organelles Magic Aid.’ ” I shook my head. “Not you too! And you’re really reaching there.” She gaped in pretend shock. “Don’t blame me if my mangling of your perfectly fine name is science-oriented.” I thought back on something that sounded off. “So why ‘Magic Aid’ instead of ‘Flight Aid’ or ‘Pegasus Magic Aid’?” Twilight’s enthusiasm turned back up to eleven and I could tell lecture-mode was fully engaged. “Well, I already knew that your blood could do something previously only achieved by alicorn cells: namely process and store more than one kind of magic – wild Everfree and pegasus. What are the special properties of your makeup that allow this, and can that be adapted to suit the magic of the other tribes? Theoretically, there’s no reason to believe it isn’t possible.” She smiled. “Did you know that your cells are also opaque to dragon magic? I sealed a pipette with a few drops of your blood inside, placed it inside a scroll and had Spike try to transport it to me on the other side of the room with his dragonfire. The blood was the only thing not teleported! It absorbed the heat but not a bit of the magic, and all that was left was a little cloud of fully-oxidized blood cells!” She gave me the smile only a successful experiment could make on a mare passionate about her research. I shrunk back reflexively and held up a hoof to protect myself. “Please assure Spike that I will not forget his request for back issues of Power Ponies Generation Z.” She laughed a bit maniacally. “Anyway, I’ve made some progress. I think there’s hope that your cells can be adapted to restore earth pony magic to quadriplegics and unicorn magic to those with cracked or broken horns. Right now I’m investigating the idea of using a catalyst to bridge the gap between types of magic.” “What about Chaos magic?” I blurted out. Twilight’s eyes widened. A scroll and quill popped out of nowhere and the latter started scribbling furiously. “I hadn’t thought of that. I wonder if I can talk Discord into donating a few cells, or at least try to charge some samples for me?” “Maybe you can ask for Fluttershy’s help on that.” I thought of something else. “But isn’t all of this experimenting incredibly dangerous? What if the amulet shatters? Or with even a single blood draw sample, you’d have enough explosive to level half of Ponyville, wouldn’t you?” Twilight shook her head. “Barely a quarter, actually. Did the math.” I glared and didn’t feel the need to speak. “There are barriers, both magical and physical, that will eliminate that danger. Also, I don’t plan to store any of your cells charged. I’ll just put them in time-stasis for preservation until they are needed. But if the research proves fruitful, even if it is just for pegasi, the demand will be extreme. I’d rather provide amulets to everyone from samples slowly donated over time rather than asking for a wing and a leg all at once.” I nodded then glared at her suspiciously. “No super-sized needles.” “I promise!” She smiled back. “Oh, and the other reason I wanted to meet with you today.” She fished around in her mane, frowned, then searched from the other side with the opposite forehoof. “Ah!” Twilight pulled out a green wristband (or was it a pastern-band? A fetlock-band?), then she levitated it in between us. Then it was surrounded by one of her shields. “During my experiments, I realized that you really have only a binary method of determining how much magic your cells have absorbed: either perfectly fine or smithereens!” The purple alicorn gave me a big smile but then it drooped a bit as I hadn’t found her joke to be all that funny. Twilight sighed and continued. “See the middle third of the band? That is a luminescent strip that repeats four times along the circumference. It turns on for three seconds if you touch it with a hoof or if the cells inside it are over 25% of their maximum capacity. I’ve put some cells inside the band to show you how that works.” Her horn glowed brightly and after a few seconds, I saw a brighter green glow appear as a rectangle in the middle of the band. The rectangle grew outwards on both sides, the entire shape shifting to yellow and then to red as it stretched further across the surface. Eventually, it came to a stop as red sections from further around met up, now making a full, glowing red stripe across the entire surface. After several more seconds, there was a pop, a puff of smoke, and the band returned to its normal green hue. After the shield dropped and Twilight floated the wristband closer, I allowed her to put it around my left forehoof. It shrunk in place and fit snugly but comfortably. It matched my light green coat color exactly and the edges were mostly hidden by my fetlock hairs. Curious, I touched it with my right front hoof and saw a very thin line of darker green appear. Maybe two percent. I’d already used up my excess magic that afternoon. I looked up. “I noticed that you still had to put in more magic after the band was fully red before my cells blew up.” She nodded. “100% safety margin. Still, I would not recommend going higher than what the band indicates. While your cells will spread out the magic charge across them fairly evenly, this still takes some time. Getting hit by a lightning bolt will be safe up until the band turns fully red.” I blinked. She looked a bit abashed. “Well, as safe as it ever is for a pegasus to be hit by a lightning bolt.” I looked at the band and grinned. “This will be quite useful and reassuring. Thanks, Twi.” The purple alicorn smiled happily. “You’re welcome, Mark.” “While we’re on the subject of magic research, I was talking to Trixie about it this afternoon…” “Uggh! When will that mare start taking her magic lessons seriously? She hasn’t been practicing nearly as much as she should be, nor following the study courses that I’ve laid out for her. Now that she’s mastered teleportation, I don’t think she cares about getting better at anything.” I sighed. It seemed that Twilight was determined to hijack the conversation I wanted to have with her. Better to let her get it off her chest, I suppose but try to steer her in the right direction. “You do realize that she has to spend extra time on royal duties whenever you go gallivanting off with our friends, don’t you? There’s little time left in the day to relax and unwind, let alone study.” “All those occasions were for the benefit of Equestria,” Twilight replied with a pout. “And she makes me do extra Day Court sessions after each of them, so I don’t know why Trixie is so upset. She could still find time to do studies on those days. And after all, she had already been doing Day Court every weekday before my coronation, so she has to have plenty of spare time now.” I was beginning to get exasperated with the mare. “Don’t you see, Twilight? You’re making time for your magic studies and are constantly arriving late for Court, dashing off on a mission, or some other excuse. You even found time to tend to Discord! If you can’t manage your responsibilities to be on schedule, why do you expect Trixie to be any better? I won’t let you overwork her even if you think she should be doing more.” “She’s a Princess of Equestria – she should be working hard for the benefit of the nation!” “Do you think Princess Celestia wasn’t glad to have her sister relieve her of some of the burden of ruling when Luna finally returned from exile?” That hit the young alicorn hard. I didn’t like using the absent princesses against Twilight, but she had to see something other than her own narrow point of view. However, as the peacemaker between the two current rulers of Equestria, I had to utilize whatever means I could think of, and as I wasn’t a professional diplomat, sometimes I wasn’t as subtle as I would have liked. “I… suppose you’re right, Mark. I’ll try to not be tardy and to give Trixie her time off. I just hope that she will spend some more of it on her studies. It’s what Princess Celestia would have wanted.” I counted that as close to a win as I was likely to get. “Okay, I’ll have a chat with her about that. Now, how about you put away your mad scientist gear and come have dinner? Growing alicorns need their nourishment.” Twilight giggled. “Another thing that I let slip. Thanks, Mark.” She went to put away a few items and then joined me. As we headed out the door, she said, “By the way, Rarity says that the Ponytones are playing their final engagement for the season tomorrow at the Ponyville Town Hall, and she would like you to be there for it.” “Hmm, I was thinking of visiting anyway. I have a bundle of comics to take to Spike. When’s the event?” From my spot behind Pinkie Pie, I had a great view of the stage. I was both surprised and pleased by the enthusiastic performance that Big Macintosh was putting into his singing. Frankly, I had not seen this side of him before. The audience was certainly into it with him. Then everything came crashing down – literally. I don’t know who was more stunned to see a certain butter-yellow pegasus belting out the words in the manliest bass voice I’d ever heard, but there were more than a few jaws scraping the floor, mine among them. It took a long moment for Fluttershy to realize that the rest of the group had stopped singing and the audience was staring at her. She froze and didn’t seem to notice when every pony started cheering and hoof-stomping in appreciation. No, it was classic stage-fright that overwhelmed my friend. I started to head up to the stage to try to calm her, but she raced off before I could get there. Applejack immediately started grilling her brother about the incident, and the truth quickly came out. Then we all hurried over to Fluttershy’s place. It took a bit of doing and a chase around Ponyville, but we managed to convince Flutters that not only weren’t ponies upset with her, but they had loved her performance. Of course, we understood how she felt about singing in front of an audience, but we pointed out how she should now have more confidence in facing a crowd. Having learned about how poison joke had affected the quiet pegasus, the only thing that surprised me was how pleasant the result was. I was also intrigued by the fact that apparently the blue flower changed someone exactly the same way if re-exposed. I made the tactical error of mentioning this to Twilight and Rarity overheard. “Darling!” she exclaimed. “You know this means we simply must do another modelling session. I was inspired to create so many more designs for Princess Celestia after your previous fashion show.” I arched an eyebrow at her. “What is it with you girls wanting me to be a mare so much?” I complained. “I thought you liked me as a stallion?” That’s when I learned Rarity swung both ways. I was doomed. # # # # # # # # #