//------------------------------// // The Rooftop Party // Story: My Little Pony: Magic is Everywhere // by ayh //------------------------------// Trotting down the road, a small earth pony with a smaller dragon on her back and two full saddle bags made their way to their destination. They had made the journey from the old town district of Ponyville, with its quaint family stores and modest dwellings, to the market district with all of its hustle and bustle. The constant stream of noise and chatter put the purple earth pony on alert as she focused on the road ahead of her and marched as quickly as she could out of the area. Soon, the various bright window displays as well as the congestion of pony and steam powered cart alike gave way to the new residential area. While thatched roofs and simple homes were still dominant, sprinkled around were the hard-shingled roofs of larger family homes and the occasional multistory apartment. The sounds of this part of town also changed as well; whereas the old town district was distinct in its peace and quiet with nary a steam whistle in ear shot, and the market was a cacophony of clanking gears and clipping of hooves, the new residential area seemed to strive to be a balance between the two. Well-manicured lawns and gardens lined the streets, and small fountain-style bird baths allowed the soothing trickle of water to provide ambient noise. Their styles ranged from simple water falling down miniature rocks, to one depicting a tiny filly joyfully tilting a pitcher into a bowl. Here and there a mail box merrily tooted a small melody announcing that the mail mare had deposited the daily mail into them. Savory smells filled the streets as tuffs of smoke wafted from the many chimneys. Occasionally, a clockwork cart carrying a small family would drive past, but even those seemed to have well-oiled gears and insulated boilers, since they rattled and clanked less than their larger delivery cousins did in the market district. “How come we don’t live in this place? Looks nice enough,” Spike asked as he looked from side to side from atop Twilight’s back. “There was no library in this part of town and having books delivered to me every day would have been too expensive and required me to get a job doing who-knows-what to pay for it.” Twilight responded. “By living at Golden Oaks, I can be surrounded by books all day and be paid for it! I can’t believe you’d want to live anywhere else; I don’t see what’s so great about this part of town.” “Uh huh,” Spike nodded absently as he watched a group of foals playing in a yard, their shrieks of joy filling his ears as he took in the simple scene of childhood fun. But their laughter died down as they saw the tiny dragon riding the small mare. With a startled yelp, all three were soon running back into the safety of their home. “Yeah, I guess there really isn’t anything here for us.” Absently nodding her head, Twilight continued on until she reached a solid looking four-story building. Even from the street they could hear the sounds of ponies gathered together on the roof-top patio as music and chatter floated down to them. Pushing her hoof against the gate latch, Twilight released a small counter-weight, and soon the mechanical gate slid out of the way allowing the two to enter. Once they had passed, a wound spring rolled the gate back into place and reset the counter weight. Pausing briefly at the open front door, the two looked to each other and shrugged as they entered the building and took the lift up to the roof. The wrought iron gate of the lift unfolded and closed in front of them as they got on. The rooftop gardens of Sweet Apple Apartments held a lively gathering as many of the locals came by to both socialize and to view the fruits of their neighbors’ labors. A trio of ponies, known around town as the Flower Trio, eagerly showed off the various strains of flowers they grew. The nectar and pollen of many of the fragrant flowers was sought after by their patrons for use in potions and salves, with a few of the less expensive ones becoming snacks by wandering browsers. Across from them, a small table with various presses and strainers came to life as their inventor joyfully wound their springs and lit the boilers. Bottles and bags, potpourri and pots, and cans and candy were all on display as the air took on a festive feel to it. But the center of attention of this impromptu fair was the box gardens themselves, arranged neatly in a grid upon the roof. Everywhere one looked, they could see the results of months of hard labor. Fruits and vegetables of all shapes and sizes filled each box to overflowing, and the various guests traveled to and fro as they sniffed and gazed upon the various varieties of plants on display. Tall poles surrounded the whole roof as lanterns were strung between them and lit, illuminating the gathering. It was onto this scene that Twilight and Spike entered as they stepped out of the apartment’s lift unnoticed. Quietly shuffling to the side and trying to avoid any attention to herself, Twilight, with Spike still riding on her back, made her way to an empty corner to get a better feel of the area. “Whew! This one’s got a real kick to it!” exclaimed one young stallion with a pair of turnips for a cutie mark. Holding a blade of golden hued grass, he took another nibble, shuddering as if an electric current had just run through his body. “Eh, you better be ready to pay for what you’ve tasted so far Hayseed,” the matriarch of the Apple Stable, Granny Smith, casually warned as she waved her hoof at the offender. “Don’t worry Ms. Granny Smith Ma’am, you can be sure I’ll leave the entire payment with your granddaughter before I leave. I can’t wait to see how you’ll use these grasses tonight.” Nodding her head, Granny Smith headed towards a table at the front of the roof where her grandson Big Mac was already putting the finishing touches to the various bottles, mortars and pestles, and other implements that the older pony would be using. Looking around, Spike took in the atmosphere. “So I take it this is more than just someone’s garden sale? These plants are used for special purposes?” Backing away from the bustle of the gathered ponies, Twilight’s eyes darted back and forth, checking to make sure her entrance was as discreet as possible. “Yeah, everything here is probably going to be used in any variety of tonics. I’m pretty sure those grasses over there can be charred and mixed in with iron alloys to make Damascus steel,” she casually explained as she settled into a nice dark corner with Spike still atop her back. “Wait, what? How does that work?” the dragon asked as he suddenly began reappraising what he had initially taken in as a small hobbyist gathering. The knowledge that these simple weeds could be used to make powerful items caused him to rethink the entire event. Settling down and letting Spike off of her back, Twilight broke with her survey of the area and turned towards her companion. “Earth ponies have a strong connection to the earth, as the name implies. We can channel magic through our hooves into the ground to imbue plants, stone, and other materials with our magic. Plants are especially susceptible to earth pony magic, as they can continuously absorb it throughout their entire life cycle, and even pass on some of it on to future generations.” Blinking owlishly, Spike once again began to reevaluate his roommate and the gathered ponies. But before he could ask anything further, a loud cry broke out as a cheerful mint-colored unicorn with green and white striped mane trotted towards them; Lyra Heartstings, a regular to the library. By her side trotted a sturdy-looking, cream-colored earth pony mare with a unique two-tone blue and pink mane. Side by side, Spike could see that the unicorn was about half a head shorter than her companion, who in turn was about average height for an earth pony. Seeing Twilight wince, Spike tried to intercept the unicorn mare but was caught by surprise when several things seemed too happened at once. A piercing shriek and cry of “Dragon!!” filled the air as suddenly the gathering of ponies exploded into a full riot almost instantly. A mare at the flower stand suddenly fainted while one of her companions cried out in alarm, “The Horror! The Horror!” Her final companion bolted off in a blind panic, over-turning their stand and crashing into the crowd. All around, ponies suddenly began screaming and running wild, their eyes filled with irrational fear as they tried to find some way to escape. Several ponies tried to jam themselves into the lift, the mass of bodies soon overcrowding the device and denying anypony the room to actually pull the lever to operate the machine. Just before several of the ponies could attempt jumping off the roof, an ear-splitting whistle pierced the crowd, while a strong but steady beat of hooves pounded on the roof top, the small tremors vibrating through everypony there. Big Mac, the source of the steady rhythm, strode forward from his grandmother’s side as she lowered her hoof from her lips. Heading straight towards the most panicked looking ponies, he sided up to them and lowered his head to pull them closer, one on each side of him. His steady heart beat and measured breathes calmed the ponies and soon their hurried breaths began to slow down to match his. Continuing to press them close, his large hoof continued to pound out the steady rhythm on the roof, much like a heartbeat, with each pulse traveling up the bodies of those gathered, making them unconsciously relax to match their own body rhythms to the steady pace being set. “Now relax. Nice and easy everypony,” Applejack called out as she approached the mob of ponies at a slow pace, bringing attention to herself so they would not be further spooked. “It’s okay; you’re all fine. I can personally vouch that Spike here is a nice being; a real gentle-dragon once you get to know him.” Seeing a respected member of the Apple Family Stable speak favorably of the dragon helped most of the ponies assembled truly calm down. Trotting up to stand besides Spike, Lyra Heartstings also addressed the crowd. “Yeah, I’ve known Spike and Twilight from way back, they even help me find new stories to sing about for all of you! I can personally assure you that he’s completely harmless unless you happen to be a plate of gems,” she finished with a small giggle. Smiling with gratitude at the unicorn, Applejack once again addressed the crowd. “So you see, there’s nothing to be afraid of. The Apple Stable supports Spike, and even the town unicorn Lyra Heartstings backs him up.” “Yep! That’s me, Ponyville’s own magus!” A gold colored aura surrounded her horn, with a similar one encasing an empty flower pot and lifting it off the ground. Sounds of awe filled the air as many of the earth ponies gathered took in the spectacle of real unicorn magic being performed in front of them for the first time. Off to the side, Twilight heard a snort and turned to look around. To her left she spotted a short earth pony mare in a wide-brimmed hat and light dress turn her nose up at the display and trot away. Her light lavender coat and dark purple mane with light blue streaks disappeared into the mix of ponies. “So feel free to chat it up with him if you like, and continue to enjoy yourselves. Granny will be starting her class soon, so get ready and find a spot to watch from,” Applejack continued as she gave a bow to the assembled crowd. Despite her invitation to do so, no pony came up to Spike to speak with him. Instead, though much calmer now, every pony seemed to give him a wide breath, which caused him to lower his head dejectedly. A warm hoof wrapped around his shoulders, and he looked to see Twilight give him a sad smile. Soon her own hoof was joined by a mint green hoof and an orange hoof patting his back as Lyra and Applejack joined in. Even Lyra’s companion tentatively patted him on his scales. “Thanks guys,” Spike said, smiling a little as he accepted their support. “You got it pal. Me an’ Bonbon here will always have your back. Don’t know why everypony was freaking out like that. I think you’re pretty cool!” Chuckling, Spike’s smile grew larger. “What do you say that, as an apology, I let you and Ms. Sparkle here help Granny Smith with tonight’s lesson?” Gasping, Twilight rushed forward, her hoof still wrapped around Spike and pulling him forward with her. “You mean it? We’d love to help!” Rolling his eyes at the mare’s antics, Spike reached up to remove Twilight’s foreleg from around his neck. “Yeah sure, what’s the worst that could happen?” “All right gather around everypony, let’s get this show on the road.” Standing behind the table set up for her, Granny Smith warmly looked out over the assembled family and neighbors. Off to the side Twilight and Spike stood by, with Twilight’s eagerness to learn blocking out everything else around her as she observed the old matriarch pull out a variety of simple dried herbs and then a pot of fresh lavender. Beside Twilight, Spike dutifully jotted down everything on a note pad. “You’ll need as fresh as you can get for this next part, dried or even day old are just no good.” Gently poking the tip of her hoof into the soil of the pot, Granny Smith slowly traced her hoof up the base of the stem and then up to the upper portions of the plant. The young sapling eagerly fed on the magic provided, growing larger as fresh buds began to form at the tips of its stems before they burst in to full blossoms, and a heady scent of the fragrant flowers was soon filling the air. With a quick nip of her teeth the blossom was snipped off and fell into a waiting kettle joining the other ingredients. Next she placed the kettle upon a copper base, the flat plate of copper in the center being open in the middle with a large circle drawn there. Around the circle was a grid of open ceramic holes, some holding glass vacuum tubes plugged into them while others held various old insulated wires and clay baked resistors with rainbow colored stripes on them. Another smaller flat plate sat just on the lower edge of the entire device. Raising her hoof, she aimed it just above the smaller plate before stamping down and sending a pulse of energy from her hoof to the entire set up. Earth pony magic flowed into the construct and was shaped in turn by the various tubes, each one flaring brightly before the magic filling them shot into the center of the circle and into the kettle. Warming immediately, the kettle gave a cheery puff of purple steam accompanied by a short whistle as the mixture inside congealed and changed from green to white. “Now this cream will really help get the aches out of your joints and give you back some of the looseness you may have lost over the years. Just a little dab will do, but if you plan on going out and need something with a little less smell, let me show you how adding a bit of marjoram and swapping out this trotter’s tube #3 here with a meadow mark 5 will really –“ “Excuse me!” Waving her hoof in the air, Twilight called to the older mare to get her attention. “Excuse me, Ma’am? Mrs. Granny Smith ma’am?” Blinking at the sudden interruption Granny Smith turned to her side to take notice of the pony at the side of the stage. “Er yes, Ms. Sparkle?” Smiling brightly, Twilight pointed towards the Potion Maker's Breadboard ™, Granny Smith’s hoof still hovering above it about to make it’s alteration. “I’d like to get a diagram of your spell matrix before you do anything to it, as well as after.” Chuckling Granny Smith shook her head at the younger mare’s antics. “No need deary, it’s just a simple Spring Trigger’s setup. You can find pictures of them in the front of any recipe book. I’d imagine your library would have it in nearly every book there.” “That’s exactly why I want to get a diagram!” the purple mare exclaimed bouncing on her hooves in excitement. “I want to compare it with the standard variant and determine if there are any measureable variations in thaumatic strength based on differences on wiring choices or in the order in which each thaumatic vacuum tube is installed. I’m writing a paper on the subject,” Twilight finished, looking proud as she stood as tall as she could. Through this exchange Spike had already walked past Granny Smith, and carefully lifted the kettle out of the way to make a sketch of the existing setup before pulling out another sheet of paper in preparation for the minor change Granny was about to make. Blinking, Granny Smith turned towards her granddaughter for some explanation only to meet an equally confused and somewhat embarrassed shrug of the shoulders. “Ah, alright I suppose,” Granny uncertainly replied as she turned back to the table only to meet with Spikes friendly eyes as he gestured back to the magic array. “Right, right. Um, where was I again?” “Replacing the trotter’s tube #3 with a meadow mark 5 tube,” Twilight helpfully prompted. “Right, of course,” mumbling to herself Granny quickly swapped out the vacuum tubes and watched as Spike dutifully laid the second sheet of paper down and began making the second sketch. From where she was standing, Applejack looked apologetically towards all the ponies in attendance as they began to murmur to themselves. Some were confused, while a few were amused by the little librarian’s actions. Behind her Big Macintosh raised an eyebrow. “I was just being friendly, you know, let everypony see the new pony in town. Maybe get to know her better,” Applejack replied to his unspoken question while rubbing the back of her head. The eyebrow remained raised. “So she’s a little … quirky. Nothing wrong with that. Once she’s got her sketches I’m sure things will get right back on track.” A head tilt joined the raised eyebrow. “Now don’t you be like that Mac. Once Granny gets going again we’ll be in for a fun night, you’ll see.” “I know you asked for this thistle but wouldn’t nettle be better for this particular application?” *** “Wait! That’s slightly over the half cup line. Let me get my graduated cylinders and then we can get really crazy with our accuracy." *** “Spike can you rewire this section here on the breadboard while I find the trotters tube 6 and 7? Mrs. Smith, I'm sure you'll find that this set up will increase the efficiency of the thaumaturgy by 0.8% “ *** “Excuse me, but could you explain exactly why you are using juice from a Krim instead of a Brandywine as would normally be done? And how long have Krim’s been planted in this area? As for that matter, the Brandywine’s? Actually, could you just go over the entire history of tomato planting in Ponyville since its inception?” *** “You harvested this from the Everfree Forest!? Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! Is it distinct enough that it would count as an entirely new species or are any changes to its properties entirely due to the environmental conditions within the forest itself?” An hour in and most gathered had expected to have a dozen or so recipes to take home and try, yet currently they were still on the third one as the young librarian interrupted the demonstration yet again. A few attendants had fallen asleep while the rest merely groaned and hung their heads. Seated squarely on her haunches, Applejack held her head in both forehooves. Big Mac just keeping a level stare at his younger sister. “I made a terrible mistake. I’m a big mare and I can admit that. I’ll just go up there and thank Ms. Sparkle for her time and have Caramel help Granny out.” “I’m curious myself, do you normally go into the Everfree to gather ingredients?” It took a moment to register that this new question had not come from the stage but instead from the audience. To hear another voice other than the resident librarian speak was so unusual that Applejack nearly stumbled as her head whipped about to locate the pony. Perking up from hearing somepony else actually express interest, Granny Smith also turned towards the new voice. “What’s this? We got a real questioner for once?” To the side Spike held in his laughter at Twilight’s look of indignation. Lowering a lavender hoof, amethyst eyes met the aged matriarch. “Yes, Starlight Glimmer here,” the new mare introduced herself. “I was wondering, do you normally go into the Everfree? Isn’t it dangerous? I’ve certainly tried looking for anypony here that would venture in, but I couldn’t find any that would." Shrugging her shoulders, Granny gave a small grunt. “Eh, it’s not something I’d recommend to just any ol' pony, but as wild and strange as those woods are, if you know them well enough you can get a good feel as to how to get through. It may change from time to time, but that old beast is as stubborn as they come and not even the tempests can keep the ole’ gal down for long.” “I see,” the new mare smoothed her light dress as she smirked. “So if I were say, looking for the ruins in the middle of the forest, you would know how to get there?” A look of alarm crossed the wizened face of Granny Smith before her eyes narrowed and stared down at the new mare. Off to the side, Twilight was prompting Spike to record the conversation as she ran everything she herself knew of the dangerous forest, hungry as ever for any new tidbits of information. “I think, young missy, that you shouldn’t be chasing after the secrets of the Everfree all willy-nilly. There are things in there that you need to respect; things that wouldn’t take too kindly to an overly curious earth pony poking around in.” “Well, I suppose it’s a good thing I’m not an earth pony, is it?” And saying so, the mare flung off her hat revealing a horn sprouting from the center of her head. “So what do you say now, old mare? How much would it cost to have you take me through the Everfree?” Ignoring the crowd’s gasp of surprise at the sight of another unicorn in Ponyville, Granny Smith grit her dentures and steeled her eyes. “The answer is still the same; no.” Letting out a tired sigh the green senior leaned back as she turned her attention back to the table of ingredients before her. “Now I suggest you kindly settle down as I’d like get on with the night. I promised young Hayseed that I’d show him how to use the flag grass.” “Pity, I was trying to do this the easy way.” Stepping forward a cyan glow began to surround her horn before her view of the stage was cut off by a nervous looking mint unicorn. “Uh, hey there. I really think that you need to calm down now. Let’s just take a deep breath and maybe we can grab some snacks from-whoa!” Lyra yelled as she found herself suddenly flung magically aside. Scattering as far from the hostile unicorn as they could, the crowd of ponies bunched together as they watched the unicorn begin to advance again. “Sorry, as I was –“ But before she could continue the whole world changed, the garden roof top becoming a dark cave, torch light flicking wildly off the walls of the cavern. Looking around her, the unicorn saw shapes emerging from the shadows; tall bipedal figures lifting clubs and spears above their heads as they advanced on the lone pony occupant of the cave, a shivering melody pricking at her ears. Rolling her eyes, Starlight waved her horn and the melody, as well as the illusion, shattered, a cry to the side revealing Lyra looking shocked at the broken strings of her lyre. Smirking, Starlight lit her horn again, this time peeling the light dress off her herself and revealing a starburst cutie mark with a pair of two-toned cyan ribbons floating up from it. “You’re out of your league little ‘magus’,” Starlight gloated as she reveled in the look of comprehension and horror on the other unicorn’s face. Unbeknownst to her, Twilight and Spike’s eyes also widened at the sight. Not wanting any more interuptions, Starlight’s horn lit once more, a cyan glow encasing both her and Granny Smith and levitating them up off the surface of the roof by several feet. “Granny!” Bolting across the roof top, Applejack charged ahead, several other earth ponies following in behind her as they raced towards the unicorn, only to see her blast off with Granny Smith in tow, the two sailing off into the night sky in the direction of the Everfree forest.