//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: Feeling the Need... // Story: That Time I Became a Friendship Bomb // by Carmine Craft //------------------------------// "Alright, now if I just put this symbol here... a couple lines here... and provide power..." for a moment, nothing happened, then there was a fizzling sound, and my horn lit up, a small, blob of magic forming just a little bit in front of me. I moved the viewpoint around the room until the spell revealed my desired target, Spike's secret gem stash. "Alright! It works, but the picture is a bit fuzzy, did I copy it wrong?" I looked between the spell structure in the book, and the one I had just cast in my magic vision, looking for any errors. "Hmmm... no, it looks like I did it right, so why does it look like that? Maybe some element of the spell has been lost to time?" I guessed, scanning the page on which the spell sat, it was an old book, so perhaps some finer print had simply worn away. "This is the spell that they mentioned in the Diamond dogs history book, but the range is so limited that it hardly seems useful. Am I missing something? Or has magic just improved that much since then?" I tapped my chin in thought. "Perhaps one of those magic guides Twilight gave me can help me spruce it up a bit?" I switched spells to one that simply provides light as I looked under my bed, scanning the titles of the books. "Magic for Foals, no... Innate Abilities of the Three Tribes, nope... Magic Tricks for Parties not that one... ah! Here we are, Magical Compendium: Volume three, I think I remember there being something about search spells in here..." I said as I dragged the book out into the light. "Now let's see here..." I flipped through the pages till I found the section titled Tracking and Detection Spells. "Perfect! Here we go." Tracking spells got their first major upgrade by the scholar Trace Element, Yet another spot on name... "Well, that answers one question." when he introduced the three criteria that are now found in any modern detection spell; Precise search sub structures, the blacklist, and refined control runes. "Alright then, let's just start up a new structure then." I muttered as I snatched a blank piece of paper and started scribbling down the basic structure of the gem seeker spell. "So I need to add this whole sub structure from the graph in its own circle here... The range is set by these runes here and here... with these between them... apply these changes to improve the efficiency... and, done! Now to test it." I copied it over in my magic vision and cast it. Unlike the prior version this one lit up immediately, and when I had it over Spikes gem stash, it was less like looking through muddy water, and more like the wall simply didn't exist, just the field of my magic that tinted the pile ever so slightly more blue. "Awesome, now with just a wee bit of fine tuning this can be used practically!" What I was left with was a total three ring array, chalk full of symbols I only half understood. It was twice as big as the original spell, three times as complex, yet took around twenty five percent less magic to maintain. I took a moment to commit the spell to memory, then turned to leave, it was around dinner time if my stomach was as punctual as it had been in the past. I stopped mid step, because a purple mare was staring at me with stars in her eyes. "Uhh..." "You built a spell all on your own!" She cheered, taking a few steps towards me. "...hhh. what? No, I just put together pieces from the books over there." I dismissed with a flick of my tail in the direction of where I had been. ...I didn't mean to do that, controlling a tail is wierd. "You found an old spell, modified it with modern techniques, and got it to work on the first try!" Twilight said, holding the scrap of paper I had drawn the spell on infront of me. "Yeah?" I said cautiously, lifting a foreleg in a defensive position. Suddenly the world's hold on me loosened as my vision was tinted by Twilight's magic, I was yanked into a hug seconds later. "I'm so proud!" She said, nuzzling my cheek. Feh, more pony clinginess! I squirmed to free myself of her grasp, but alas, magically charged hugs are much harder to break. Quick change the subject! "Uhh, hey, did you finish those readings the princess gave you already?" "Hmm? Oh, no, not yet, I'm on break. Spike told me you were home and I wanted to ask how your day went." She set me down, allowing me to take a few calming breaths. "It was, fine. History was actually interesting, hence why I went and started reading up on the history around diamond dogs, which is how I found the old spell and got here." "And?" "And what?" "Did you make any new friends?" She said knowingly. "No." She tilted her head in confusion. "But Spike said-" "I introduced a few fillies I knew to eachother, but I didn't make any new friends." "Oh, well who are they?" "Applejack's sister, Rarity's sister, and an orange filly named Scootaloo." "Do you enjoy hanging out with them?" "Meh?" I tilted my hoof back and forth in a 'so-so' manner. "They're okay to be around I guess, but I think they might have inducted me into their secret society without my knowing." "Sounds like your day was pretty busy today, when did you have time to make this?" She inquired, floating a paper figure into view. "On the walk back." "I would say your skill is improving." She complimented. "These things still aren't at the level I used to do, anyway, what are we having for dinner?" "We are having hayburgers." Is hay just in everything? "Sounds good." I said, closing and piling up books I was using. "Do you have plans for the weekend?" Twilight inquired as we made our way to the kitchen. "I think I agreed to something, but I will probably just stick around here and read." "Err... I'm glad that you are enjoying reading, but, if you made a commitment to your friends, you really should go meet them." "But it's so cozy here!" I complained. "Plus I'm not even sure I actually agreed to anything, or if it was just part of an automatic good bye, they might have just realized that tomorrow is the weekend," I backed up my argument. "Well, I suppose that could be true... but would it hurt to make sure?" "They didn't set a time to meet them, or any particular location, so how exactly do you propose I do that, wait outside all day?" "Well, no, that wouldn't be very practical... but I could confirm for you." She offered, sitting down at the table. "...huh?" I was not prepared for that. "Sweetie Belle is Rarity's sister, and Apple Bloom is AJ's, so I could just confirm when the playdate is supposed to be." She said, levitating over a glass of water to go with her meal. "Oh, uhh. You don't have to do that, I'm fine sticking around here really." "Nonsense, I'm not about to just stand by and let you go through your entire foalhood without friends, I all ready did that, and looking back, I could have had a much better time if I had just went out to play once in a while." I tore a chunk out of my hayburger to avoid furthering the conversation, prompting Twilight to dig into her own meal. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the flavour of the vegetarian patty, I had already tried hayfries, but the way this thing was prepared made it taste wildly different. I could taste the pleasant flavour of hay, and a taste of something so close and so vastly different from the flavour of beef, but there was also the ketchup, which is easily ten times better than any mass produced brand back home, cheese, pickles, lettuce. All in all, it was an amazing dish, and I had devoured it before I realized it. Why is pony food so friggen amazing? I wondered, happily munching on my fries. The meal continued uneventfully, and I excused myself. It wasn't untill I had put my muzzle on the pillow that something occurred to me. What has Night Strider been up to? She has had plenty of time to get me back for dinnerbone-ing her sheep. Now I'm a little worried. I came back to my being in Night Strider's castle, muffin was waddling around the room, on his feet. "Aww, she figured it out? Oh well, nametag pranks aren't exactly high effort pranks." I shrugged. "Wonder if she got me back yet?" I trotted outside to the balcony to find out. From this distance my house looks fine, plus I don't really get the griefer vibe from her. I Thought, nabbing a dreamcloud to float over on. Peering over the edge showed no signs of the landscape being deformed in any way. "Maybe she just hasn't gotten back on yet?" That idea was quickly tossed in the trash once I came into close proximity to my place, a large quantity of the structure was replaced with mushroom blocks. All the grass was mycelium, my walls were stalks, the roof was red mushroom caps, and so on. "Oh, okay then." "Hah!" Shouted the pegasus beside me, I had no clue when she climbed aboard my cloud, but it made for a good startle. I was ashamed of the loud "eep" that escaped my mouth. "D-dont, do that!" I shouted back, but she didn't seem the least bit fazed, she was currently wearing a rather smug look. "...What are you so proud of?" "Thou hast a most adorable scream." Dammit, in hindsight, it was kinda cute sounding, unfortunetly. "So, what possesed you to fungus my home?" "Tis revenge for Muffin!" She said with a raised forleg in my direction. "Yeah, I knew that, but why mushrooms?" "Oh, we found an isle consisting of these materials, so we thought it wouldst make for excellent revenge." She informed, an adorable "evil" cackle finishing her thought. "Cool, I suppose it isn't bad for your first prank in this game." I complimented, hopping off the cloud to see if she messed with the interior at all. "Not bad? This is a marvelous prank!" "Sure sure." I placated, running my wrist against the surface of my house, it was leathery and cold, not to mention all around wierd. "Egh, that needs changed back, immediately." I shivered. "Thou only says that to make us feel better... as if thine pranks are better than ours." The pegasus grumbled. "Is that a challenge? Cause I have no qualms about starting up a prankwar with you." Night Strider plopped down on my couch. "Thou wilst most assuredly loose." "Okay, prank war it is!" I booped her muzzle, which she apparently took great offence to. I went panning my next strike for the rest of the night, while Princess Nighty Light simply watched from various pieces of furniture while I fixed my house. "Hey, where is Argent?" Scootaloo asked. "I dunno, Twilight said she wasn't at the library, so I figured she musta come to meet us here." Apple Bloom supplied. "Well then, where is she?" Sweetie Belle looked around, trying to catch sight of me, but I had a low tier concealment spell cast, plus I was in the bush right behind them. This is gonna be great! I quietly chuckled, rubbing my hooves together in anticipation. "Hey what's this?" The farm filly asked, picking up an envelope. Targets finally noticed the package. my ears swiveled forward automatically while I waited for them to open it. "'Rattle snake eggs?' Is this for real?" Scootaloo asked, a note of worry in her tone. "Only one way to find out!" Sweetie Belle lifted opened the envelope with her magic, relieving just enough pressure that the surprise could make itself known. The package let out a loud buzzing noise and shook in the filly's grasp. The three screamed in unison and bolted under the nearby bench in the blink of an eye. Unable to stand it anymore my forelegs gave out, and I tumbled out of the bush, laughing all the while. Several seconds of unchecked mirth passed as the fillies put two and two together. "Hey!" "What's the big idea?" "That wasn't funny, y'know that?" They each said angrily at me. "Are, are you sure it's not a little bit funny?" I said between giggle fits. I got three separate glares, that very slowly turned into smirks. "Fine, it was a little funny to watch these two freak out over that." Sweetie Belle said, with a small giggle. "Alright! I got a laugh, I'm happy," I made my way over to them, sitting atop the bench. "So, what is it that you wanted to do today?" They shared a look before scampering out from underneath their temporary shelter. "Nothing too special, just hang out." Scootaloo said for the group. "Alright I'm game, what comes first?" "We could go play at the lake." Sweetie Belle offered, but I had little intention of getting into any large bodies of water, anytime soon. "How about heading over to SugarCube Corner? They just got their order of apples a little while ago, they're sure to have lotsa tasty apple goodies!" AppleBloom suggested. Definitely that one! Although perhaps not right this second... "Oh! What about a downhill race? full of action and stunts!" Scootaloo said, punching the air a few times. "But wouldn't that take a little bit to set up? I mean, unless you mean on foot, er, hoof, then aren't you the only one with a vehicle?" "Who said we would do it right away? I can set up the course while you girls set up your own rides, plus I have a wagon back home that one of you could borrow." "I kinda like the sound of that." AppleBloom said. "Me too!" Sweetie Belle agreed. "Well then, sure, I don't see a problem with that." At least It's not something like tag or hind n' seek. "Then it's settled, I'll start putting together a course on the north side of town, you guys will get to build/modify/borrow your own wheels, and we will meet back here in about an hour, sound good?" She asked, holding her hoof out, The other two fillies were quick to give their assent, pressing their hooves to hers. They looked at me expectantly. This feels familiar. I lightly touched my own appendage to the hoof-hold-thing, "Alright, let's do this." "Yeah!" all three of them cheered, dashing off in different directions. "Now then, who can help me build a soap box car?" I wondered aloud, trotting back to the library. I highly doubt Twilight could actually help, AJ will definitely be helping her sister, Rarity is out, I don't know if Rainbow could help build anything stable, I feel like if I went to Pinkie Pie the car would somehow be made of sweets, Fluttershy probably can't help me... huh, I really dont know that many people. As I opened the door, I was greeted by Spike on his way out. "Hey Argent, decided to stay home after all?" "No, gotta build a soap box car for a race, is Twilight home?" As much help she will be... "Nah, she went out to the park to read." "To the park, to read a book?" "Yeah, anyway, I gotta go pick up some documents from town hall, good luck with your thing!" He waved and hopped out the door. "... But I thought... why the park?..." I babbled for a solid minute before getting myself back under control. "Well, I guess I'm on my own then, let's see if I can scrounge up some wheels." After about ten minutes, I was able to find a wheel that looked like it came off a shopping cart, and one that looked more like the top of an end table. I was also able to find some spare metal dowels, which I welded together into a simple frame. It took a minute to get such a pyromancy spell to work properly, but I got it done. Thirty minutes later and I had what was essentially a big wheel, reinforcement spells that may or may not function properly were set about the craft, a cushion was roughly affixed to the back, and because I could not find a way to make pedals work properly, I attached a wooden block to the front, that had its gravity pulling forward when powered. "This thing ain't pretty, but it should work, maybe..." I got my contraption out the door easily enough, since it was sized for a child. "Time for the maiden voyage." I plopped down onto the seat, and stuck my forehooves into the steering mechanism. I touched my horn to the front bar, just over the wheel, letting a connection be made, and let a steady trickle of magic enter the wooden block. The foremost part of the craft vibrated, then shimmered faintly with my magic, and as I amped up the amount of power it had, the wheel slowly began to turn. Once I was up to walking speed, I tested the steering, learning onto my left hoof made my rickety craft lean in that direction but also tuned the front wheel, prompting a sharp turn, which nearly toppled me and the vehicle. "Well, I could work on the balance a bit more, but I've only got a few minutes to get back, time for a trial by fire." I swallowed and tripled the amount of magic in the propulsion spell, bringing us up to a trot. The ride got progressively less wobbly as I got used to it, and simply learning how much I could and could not turn the wheel made a load of difference. When I did get there, I was the last one to arrive. Scootaloo was drumming her hooves on the handlebars of her scooter, Apple Bloom was cloudwatching in what looked like a modified wagon, and Sweetie Belle was on a chair, just a chair that had wheels. "Finally your he- what is that?" Scootaloo asked, pointing at my two wheeled monstrosity. "Uh, I did my best?" "Are you sure it's even going to hold up at high speeds?" Apple Bloom asked worriedly. Depends on how high... "I've enchanted it to hopefully be able to survive being dropped down a mountain, so yes." I said, cutting off the magic flow propelling me forward. "Doesn't that get taxing, just pulling it along like that? I mean, I only planned on using magic on mine to turn." Sweetie Belle demonstrated. "No, it's just a gravity spell, I'm not using levitation or anything." "Twilight's got you learning gravity spells?" "Yeah?" "Enough magic mumbo jumbo talk, let's get to racing!" Scootaloo passed out helmets, which was the only reminder I had that I was on an experimental vehicle without protection of any kind. "Thanks," I took said helmet happily. "So, where does this course start?" I asked while clicking together the chin, or in this case, muzzle strap. "Oh you have got to be kidding me." Was all I could Say while looking up the cartoonishly steep, yet apparently regularly trafficked, dirt path.