//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Odd One Out // Story: A Twist of Fate // by Slireon //------------------------------// “I should have stayed on that cave,” Spike scowled, arms crossed and held aloft a few metres off the ground. “Silence, please. I need to be fully focused, or the spell might fall apart!” Twilight admonished him, making a grimace as the magical aura on her horn struggled to hold on. “At least I could have brought a comic book,” the baby dragon grumbled, shooting a glare at Sweetie Belle, who was comfortably laying on the grass outside the Boutique, leisurely reading The Silmarellion. Noticing the dragon’s frustration, the filly directed a toothy, cheeky smile at him. “I miss those.” While usually Twilight would be thrilled that Spike wanted to read (even if it was just a comic book), now was not the time. She had allowed herself to slip up a little too much on her magical exercises, what with the fate of the world being at stake every consecutive week since that fateful night, being homeless and sitting out the apocalypse for five days. At least she had been able to regain some of the lost time on these last two weeks with no incidents. Indeed, Spike had only just returned to Ponyville yesterday, after the Cutie Mark Crusaders happened to come across him while trying to get their cutie marks at cave exploration. The poor baby dragon had been hiding, with only a large, round rock he had named “Wilson” for company. The Ponyville he had returned to was one on the slow but sure road to recovery. Twilight had moved indefinitely into Elusive’s Boutique, the most spacious of their friends’ houses, until the Reconstruction Commission granted them their new home. All things considered, Elusive’s couch was rather desirable, especially given that the alternatives were sleeping in a barn, what amounted to a shoddy dog’s house beneath a mansion made of clouds, or sharing a bed with whatever eldritch creature Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All was. Okay, so perhaps Butterscotch did have a point when he said that he was ‘a very good boy’, but dammit if he didn’t make Twilight’s skin crawl with his mere existence! Although Opal, Elusive's cat, tried to scare the intruder off her couch at every turn, but it was only a nuisance. Besides, it allowed her to keep a close eye on Sweetie Belle and the Crusaders; Mayor Mare was nearing her breaking point, so the last thing they needed were a rogue trio of fillies bringing doom to the town… again. And now that Spike was back, she could resume using him as an ambiguously willing test subject. “I already told you, Spike,” Twilight explained, struggling to talk at the same time she kept her spell alive. “I want to see how many things I can lift at the same time! Simultaneous telekinesis at a scale like this isn’t easy, and I’m not sure I can deal with the extra weight. Just be patient, please?” A pause. “And silent. I really need to focus, okay?” Spike let out a groan. “You’re literally lifting every single thing in the garden without breaking a sweat!” She was. Joining Spike high in the air were rocks of many different shapes and sizes, every single picket of the fence by its own, and the mailbox into which Derpy was currently struggling to stuff letters. “It’s not like a single comic book is going to make any difference!” “Spike.” “Fiiiiiiine,” the dragon rolled his eyes, annoyed. He waved at Derpy as she flew away, her job done. Good. Now, with some peace and quiet, she could focus… “Avengers?” Sweetie Belle asked. Twilight grimaced, but tried her best to block their voices out and concentrated on casting her magic. “Yep!” “What issue?” She failed miserably, and could feel her patience starting to wear thin alarmingly quick. “Uhhh… I’m not that up-to-date to be honest. Hundred Forty-two? Hundred Forty-three? Hundred Forty-something, I guess.” “Is that before or after Thaynos kills Spider-Mane?” “HE WHAT?!” “Before, then,” Sweetie Belle grimaced. Rubbing her neck, she laughed awkwardly. “Sorry.” “YOU MONSTER!” Spike roared with a hint of the savagery his kind was infamous for, desperately twisting and turning in the air, trying with all his might to jump on Sweetie to take revenge, but to no avail as he was firmly kept in place by Twilight’s magical aura. The filly leaned away from the baby dragon, despite being more than a few metres apart. “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” “SPIKE!” Twilight barked. “I need you to be quiet!” “But Twilight—!” “‘But Twilight’ nothing!” she snapped, her patience pushed over the edge. “How many times have I told you, Spike?! I need complete and total silence so I can focus when I’m studying, reading or practicing magic! It has been like that since day one, Spike! That’s my one rule! No speaking when magicking! And what do you do?! You start parroting over and over again!” “Uhm, Twilight?” “And it’s not the first time, either! In what language do I have to ask you to be quiet?! Herdman?! Russarian?! Cathayan?! Because I can!! ‘Ān jìng’ ! Are you happy now?! Come on, Spike, it’s not that hard! You’re eleven years old, you’re old enough to follow simple instructions such as ‘be quiet’! You’re my Number One Assistant for a reason, so please act like it when I need you to! If you want to, later we can talk Avengers and eat a hayburger and whatever, but right now I! Need! To! FOCUS!” “Twilight!” “Do you not know how volatile an unicorn’s magic can be if they lose focus?! Have you not witnessed said volatility first-hoof many times?! If I ask you to be quiet it’s for your own safety, not because I want you to be miserable!” “TWILIGHT!!!” Twilight shut up. Spike’s voice came from far, far above. With a gulp, the unicorn slowly raised her gaze. High in the air, far above the top of Ponyville’s tallest buildings, Spike was waving his arms around like a mad-dragon, being twirled on place by her own magic. Floating near him were not only the items she was levitating prior to her rant, but also chunks of earth, a bench, Elusive’s flowers, a terrified Sweetie Belle who was trying extremely hard to not look down and a very bristling and seething Opal. “... Oh.” Twilight slowly began to lower them to ground level. Spike dropped down to lay on his back immediately, while Sweetie Belle remained wobbly on her hooves, her mouth a perfect ‘o’, and Opal ran away at full speed. “Sorry about that.” After a moment, she coughed, and stated, “But that just proves my point! Can you imagine what could’ve happened had my spell broken down? You’d be paste right now!” “Jeez, Twilight, I get it, I get it. Sorry,” Spike looked away, abashed. “That. Was. AWESOME!” Sweetie Belle suddenly shrieked in excitement, sounding quite a bit like her best friends. “Can you teach me how to do magic like that? Please? Please? Please?” “O-oh, uhm…” Twilight was taken aback. “Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!” In all honesty, while the idea of taking a young apprentice under her figurative wing appealed to Twilight, she didn’t feel she was up to the task at all. To oversee the magical development of a young filly was an enormous responsibility, and one she felt wholly unsuited for. Why, she was still a student herself! Maybe one day, years down the line, she could teach and educate the bright minds of tomorrow. But right now, she reckoned it would be like the blind leading the blind. Before she could answer, though, Sweetie Belle’s eyes wandered to something behind her, suddenly widening. The filly shrieked in terror, then dived to hide underneath the nearest bench. Blinking in confusion, Twilight turned to see what had scared Sweetie. Wearing his feathered great helm, his tail vibrating wildly, Phil Pie was peering out from underneath a low balcony, being on the lookout for… something. Twilight and Spike shared a confused glance. “Sweetie Belle?” Elusive’s voice rang out, as the stallion opened the Boutique’s door. “Is everything okay? I heard a scream.” “Yeah,” Twilight replied. “Phil is being extra Phil today and probably just creeped her out. His tail is vibrating, for some reason.” “Phil’s tail... vibrating...?” Elusive trailed as his eyes came to rest on the pink stallion, his gentlecoltish moustache shivering. Then he gasped in horror, and with a unseemly scream of “Sweetie Belle, move your flank and make some space!”, he joined his little sister in cowering under the bench. Twilight was stupefied. “... What.” “Hey guys!” the pink stallion himself waved at them, now currently taking cover underneath the scaffolding across the street. A workmare peered downwards, curious. “Phil, what is going on?” “Twitchy tail! A-twitch a-twitchin’!” Phil shouted. The workmare immediately bolted out of the scaffolding, hiding inside the building she was working on. There was a beat. “Is that supposed to mean anything…?” “Oh, right, new on Ponyville and all that. It’s my Pinkie Sense! And whenever my tail starts a-twitchin’, it means stuff is startin’ a-fallin’!” “You heard the stallion! We’ve got a twitchy tail, take cover!” somepony down the road shouted. “What are you talking about, Phil? The skies are completely clear!” Twilight paused, then narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “A bit too clean.” Right on cue, Rainbow Blitz dropped like a stone from the air, smashing himself against the ground at terminal velocity. Or he would have, had Twilight not been standing right there to cushion his crash. It hurt. A lot. “Holy crap! Twilight, are you okay?” Spike jumped. The purple unicorn gasped for air. “My ribs…” After a few seconds wheezing, Twilight pushed Rainbow Blitz off her. The stallion was unresponsive. “I’ll be okay,” she waved Spike off. She had been practicing healing spells recently, after all. She had it all under control. “Better check Blitz, I think he’s unconscious.” Spike turned towards the knocked-out cerulean stallion. “Yo, Rainbow Blitz!” Twilight glanced at Elusive, who had just grabbed a stick with his magic and was poking Blitz with it. “You alright?” The pegasus didn’t answer. Phil glanced at his still tail. Then, with a satisfied huff, took off his helmet. “And that’s that!” “What was that?” asked Twilight in confusion, while Elusive and Sweetie Belle crawled out from underneath their bench. “My Pinkie Sense, silly! And boy, it’s being hyperactive today!” ‘Pinkie Sense’. Okay. Right! Fine. So it’s just Phil being Phil. Nothing out of the ordinary here. There’s no question whatsoever to be had, because there are no answers. Insisting is futile. So just nod, say ‘that makes sense!’, and let’s get back to practicing our spells. “Your what?” Celestia-damn it, girl! her brain exclaimed in frustration. “My Pinkie Sense! You know, like Spider-Mane’s Spidey Sense? It allows me to kinda predict the future by having random things happen to my body at random times.” He whistled in relief, swiping his forehead. “For a moment there I thought I had lost it during the transition! I’m getting my groove back, bay-bee!” As soon as he finished talking, in short succession Phil’s ears flopped, then his knee twitched, and finally his eyes fluttered. “And what is that supposed to mean?” Spike asked, glancing up from Blitz’s still body. “Ear-flop, knee-twitch, eye-flutter? That means a beautiful rainbow is about to appear in the sky!” Twilight gazed at the sky. The sun shined brightly, not a single cloud on sight. “Doubt it.” *WHOOSH* “... That was a cheap guess.” How did he get back into the air so fast, though? Phil shrugged. “Eh, I don’t get to choose what my Pinkie Sense picks up. Sometimes it’s something obvious, sometimes not. Like, I get this weird shiver down my spine when there’s danger. At times it’s something pretty obvious, like a murderous alligator hiding in the bushes further down the road! And sometimes, somepony is sneaking up behind me in the dark and about to hit me in the head with a rusted crowbar.” Twilight blinked. “That’s awfully specific.” “Yeah,” Phil said with a sigh. “My sister Limestone is very protective of the farm where I was born and raised. One night, she mistook me for a burglar and… well…” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. That explains so much. Twilight was quickly approaching her Phil-limit of the day. So far, the only thing that made any sense was Phil apparently naming this “sense” of his ‘pink’ after his own coat and mane colour. But everything else was even a bit too much, even for the pink stallion’s standards. “Alright,” she sighed, rubbing her temples. “Alright. Well, this has been a very informative encounter,” she said, trying to sound polite by hiding her frustration and annoyance, “but I’m actually busy practicing magic, so if you’ll excu—” Phil’s tail twitched again. Without a single word, he slammed his helmet back on, then dived for cover, leaving Twilight standing there with her mouth open. Sweetie Belle immediately dived under the bench again, while Elusive ran inside the Boutique, whimpering girlily. “Okay, that’s it,” Spike said dryly, crossing his arms in bemusement. “I’m calling bullshit. There’s no way you have your own Spidey Sense—” “Pinkie Sense!” the stallion interrupted. “Pinkie Sense, whatever,” the dragon rolled his eyes. “Ain’t a thing. Ponies don’t have that. I mean, the closest thing there is to what you’re talking about is magic, and that’s an unicorn-only thing! It’s just lucky guessing.” Twilight felt her chest swell with pride at Spike’s healthy skepticism in the face of what was nothing more than mere circumstantial evidence. “Rainbow Blitz falling is an easy one, because he sucks at staying in the air. The ‘beautiful rainbow’ is even more obvious. Come on! There’s literally noth—” *CRASH!* Twilight had to do a double take, utterly unable to believe her eyes. Right on the spot where Spike was talking mere instants ago now stood a large, wooden blue box, half-buried into the ground where it had crashed thunderously. She could vaguely make out the voices of a mare and a stallion arguing. *Vwoorp! Vwoorp!* Then, just as sudden as it had slammed into Spike, the blue box started fading away from existence, slowly revealing the dragon stuck to the ground, bruised and splattered flat as a sticker but none the worse to wear. “No more twitching!” Phil announced happily, then turned tail and left, cheerfully jumping away. “La la la la la~” Spike gargled in agony. Hemsday, 3 of August, 1613, 23:37. Dear Professional Scientific Journal, You thought I had forgotten about you, didn’t you? I apologise sincerely, but real life got in the way. While I would love to regale you with the account of the shenanigans that have ensued since my last entry (long since transcribed from your makeshift incarnation into you, my dearest, Professional Scientific Journal!), there’s a different matter weighing rather heavily on my mind. I believe I have mentioned my friend and co-bearer (E. of Laughter) Philippos Demian Pie, more commonly known as Phil Pie or just Phil. He is fun, kind, and always ready to make you laugh. As he has declared, it is his life quest to make everypony smile, and their happiness is what makes it all worthwhile. And, in his very own way (unlike, say, Rainbow Blitz, who is just really obnoxious), he’s also the most infuriating stallion to have ever lived. I dearly appreciate Phil as a person and treasure his friendship, but the thing is, there is something deeply inexplicable about him. Something I’ve wilfully ignored until today. Something outright wrong, and that is not a sentence I use lightly. I’m willing to suspend my disbelief regarding how random he is, because, as I’ve been told, he’s always been like that. And you know, fair enough, each pony is wired differently. And so, while it can be confusing at best and downright mind-melting at worst how his brain seems to operate on his very own, extremely alien length wave, I don’t believe it to be that much of a problem, although it does make him a, to quote Rainbow Blitz, “complete [expletive] weirdo”. But in a good sense! He’s fun and unpredictable! Sidenote: Hmm, I’ve mentioned Rainbow Blitz a bit too much in so short an entry. How annoying. End sidenote. But earlier today, something… weird happened. I’m not sure what even are the right words to describe it. Perhaps the best words for this are his own (if paraphrased): ‘It’s my Pinkie Sense! Like Spider-Mane’s Spidey Sense! It allows me to predict the future when some random stuff happens to my body at a random time!’ If that puzzles you, dearest Professional Scientific Journal, then rightly so. Because that makes utterly zero sense. Apparently, when his tail twitches, it means stuff is going to fall from the sky. Once again, makes no sense. Closest thing to a, quote, ‘Spidey Sense’, end of quote, would be how unicorns are able to pick up each other’s magical auras if they’re strong enough. Certainly not a sense an Earth Pony is able to develop, and certainly NOT a sensitivity to unrelated matters, such as the action of gravity on another body. Yet, his tail twitched, and Rainbow Blitz pulled a muscle and crashed into the ground (or, more precisely, me). His tail twitched again, and Spike was splattered by… something. The least I think about it, the better. If it weren’t for his dragon resilience, he could have died! And the weirdest thing is that other ponies in town actually seem to believe in Phil’s so-called 'predictions'! Elusive and Sweetie Belle took cover the instant Phil’s tail twitched. I’d expect it from Applejack, who’s a pretty superstitious stallion, but Elusive? That’s what really got to me, my dearest Professional Scientific Journal. Elusive’s usually very down to earth and skeptical. There’s just no explanation for his body having a random reaction in correlation to events outside of his own control that have yet to occur! Unless he somehow causes said events by having said previous ‘reaction’ (think of his body as a ‘catalyst’, such as unicorn magic and our horns), but even that would be far too outrageous, even for Phil Pie. … Would it? After all (and my heart bleeds as I write the following words), the laws of physics do not seem to apply to him. In fact, he seems to be able to bend reality to his whimsical will: he can freeze in mid-air without being affected by inertia or gravity, teleport from one place to another without any visible use of magic, or pull out devices from non-existent spaces. And all of this with no use of magic, since he’s an Earth Pony. I’m sorry, but a party cannon literally larger than your own entire body cannot fit inside your puffy tail, it’s just not scientifically possible! And yet, I’ve witnessed him do it, time and time again, and it’s driving me up the FUCKING WALLS! Well, my dearest Professional Scientific Journal, enough is enough! I, Twilight Sparkle, have decided to put my hoof down! I will get to the root of all this nonsense, and prove that this so called ‘Pinkie Sense’ is nothing but an odd coincidence! Or, worst case scenario, that there’s some perfectly plausible explanation behind it! With my brilliant mind, and with Spike’s assistance, there is no way this can possibly go wrong! “Absolutely fucking not!” “Spike! Language!” “‘Language’ my ass! A fucking blue box appeared out of fucking nowhere and splattered me against the fucking ground! If I were not a fucking dragon, I could have fucking died! There’s no way I’m getting into whatever the fuck is going on! I don’t fucking care, and I don’t want to know! So how about you shove your ‘language’ bullshit up your fat fucking—!” Unfortunately, Spike was not all that enthused to be part of my research. Sidenote: He’s grounded. Like, for life. Side-sidenote: Am I fat? I don’t feel like I am, but maybe I should see a nutritionist. Just to make sure I’m healthy. Fortunately, Sweetie Belle happened to be interested and eager to take his place as my assistant. “Oh! Oh, pick me! Pick me! Please pick me! Me! Please! Please! Please pick me! Pi—” I have to say, her eagerness is endearing, and she has a good head on her shoulders (if a bit absent-minded, but then again, she’s just eight years old). I can only hope our partnership has good results. In the meantime, Elusive is going to keep Spike company. Hopefully they won’t be too bored. Or burn Ponyville down. We’ve still got over half the town to repair from last time. Meanwhile, we, the real heroes (heroines?), will bring peace and stability to Equestria for once and for all by finding out the scientific, empirical truth behind the enigma that calls itself Philippos Demian Pie! The Pinkie Sense, the Party Cannon, and his flagrant violations of the laws of physics, all shall be revealed! For Science! Signed, Twilight Sparkle, MPhil. Bearer of the Element of Magic. Personal Protégé of Princess Sovereign Celestia of Equestria. P.S.: On second thought, forget about the Party Cannon and any other physics-related inquiries. There’s no way in Tartarus I’m touching that. Given recent experiences, I have developed a newfound value for my sanity. Science will understand. “So, uh, what are we going to do, Twilight?” Sweetie Belle asked her, as they settled upon their chosen spot to observe Phil’s daily routine: the third floor of an empty guard tower reinforced with scaffolding not too far away from Sugarcube Corner. Now that was the question of the century. What were they going to do? She didn’t have a lab at her disposal to strap Phil down to and run neuronal mappings, as well as to try and catch his stimuli on action. Sure, she could ask the Princess for resources, but she didn’t have the space to place them in Elusive’s home, and it would raise far too many questions. Plus, there’s no way she was going to bother Princess Celestia for what, in all honesty, was merely satiating her scientific curiosity. Her mentor was the ruler of all of Equestria. She had better, more important things to do. Which left her, well, empty-hoofed.  Sweetie Belle was looking up at her expectantly. “What do you think we should do?” Twilight asked the filly kindly, trying to hide her own uncertainty underneath her best ‘encouraging teacher’ voice. It was an old trick her mother (and later on, Twilight herself with Spike) used to play when they were completely out of ideas: let the one who makes the question provide the suggestion. The white filly scrunched her face in thought. After a moment, her eyes lighted up. “Shouldn’t we be following the scientific method? Observation, formulating an hypothesis, research, uh… something, something, profit?” Sweetie Belle said. “Very good!” she praised her. Although she was going to have some words with Elusive about the ‘profit’ part. She was no authority on telling other ponies how to raise their younger siblings, but the purpose of science was most emphatically NOT profiting from it. “On what step do you think we are now?” “Hmm, observation, maybe?” the filly asked. Before Twilight could reply, Sweetie Belle continued talking. “But we already did that yesterday when Rainbow Blitz crashed and Spike was run over by the blue barn. What’s our hypothesis, Twilight?” “We are aiming to prove that Phil’s so called ‘Pinkie Sense’ is unrelated to the events it supposedly predicts, and is just a coincidence with no relation whatsoever.” “Do we have a fallback hypothesis if it turns out he really has a Spidey Sense, though?” Sweetie Belle asked, tilting her head. Twilight nodded at the filly, eyeing her with approval. Underneath her ditzy manner, the filly evidently packed a sharp brain. “In the extremely unlikely case his ‘Pinkie Sense’ somehow happens to be real and consistent, our new hypothesis would be that it is perfectly explainable within the known parameters of arcane science.” Just as she finished talking, the door of Sugarcube Corner opened, Phil Pie standing in the doorframe. “There he is!” Twilight exclaimed, rising a pair of binoculars to her eyes. The stallion was bouncing down the road with a smile on his face, greeting every single pony as he passed them. “Sweetie, take notes! At this instant, he’s bouncing down the street in typical Phil fashion. Just… bouncing.” There was a second of silence. “Uhm…” Sweetie Belle’s voice began. Twilight didn’t hear her. “Still bouncing…” “Twili—” “Wait!” Phil had suddenly stopped, his eyes fluttering for two seconds. He then stood silently for one second, before suddenly looking at a passing butterfly with suspicion. “Oh, that’s brilliant! Write it down, Sweetie Belle!” Two more seconds passed in complete silence. Meanwhile, the butterfly was flying closer and closer to Phil. “Is it you?” he asked in a low voice. “Uhm, Twilight?” The filly asked again. “Yes?” Twilight asked, but kept her binoculars directed at Phil. The butterfly landed on his snout, prompting him to sneeze violently, his mane and tail extending comically. “I, uh… I can’t lift the pencil,” she said with a strained voice. “Just use your magic,” the purple unicorn replied absentmindedly, still focused on Phil. The pink stallion suddenly giggled and said “Oh, you.” “Yeah, you see, that’s the problem…” she trailed off. “What do you mean?” Twilight took off her binoculars, turning her attention towards the filly. Something in her voice sounded off, almost sad. “I’m not, uh… the best unicorn at magic.” There it was again, the strained voice, the downward gaze, the sad frown. “I understand, Sweetie Belle. But it’s just a pencil, it shouldn’t be a problem,” she prodded with what she hoped was a comforting, helpful tone. Sweetie Belle looked down, not answering. After five seconds of complete silence, she closed her eyes, breathed in, breathed out, focused with all her might… and used her magic. Her horn lighted up with the smallest, dimmest magical aura Twilight had seen in eleven years. Furthermore, the sound itself was wrong; magical auras, when not concealed by their user, emitted a soft, harmonic, almost musical hum. But this… this was off in so many levels that even a learned scholar like Twilight lacked the words to describe it. The filly’s face was scrunched in concentration, her voice was strained, and her entire body was shivering and sweating from the effort… but the pencil remained still, unmoving, untouched by any magic. Suddenly, Sweetie Belle screeched in pain, at the same time that a spark violently exploded from the tip of her horn. The filly was thrown back a few feet, falling down on her haunches, her horn smoking slightly. The pencil had not moved a millimeter. Twilight felt her insides go cold. Oh dear. Sweetie Belle had claimed she was “not the best at magic”. Now, of course, the magical abilities of unicorns were very uneven and varied wildly from pony to pony: there were some very strong magic users, and there were also unicorns who could only perform basic telekinesis. One thing was ‘not being the best at magic’. Another entirely different beast was ‘not being able to perform even the most basic of spells’. Sweetie Belle was the latter. But they should get back to the matter at hoof. Phil was on sight, and they needed to write their observations down, stat! Twilight tried to steer their conversation back to their research. “But… uhm… Surely, you at least know hoof-writing? I mean, how else do you take your written exams at school?” Normal schools do have written exams, right? She supposed they did, but then again, rural schools were… quaint, to say the least. “Well, yeah, but it’s not that,” Sweetie Belle said, still sitting on her haunches, still gazing downwards. “It’s just that…” She trailed off. Despite the urgency of their research, Twilight waited; it was clear that the filly was trying to force herself to say something she had trouble dealing with, something she had trouble admitting. Hurrying her up wouldn’t help at all. So she waited. “What kind of unicorn can’t do magic?” Sweetie Belle eventually breathed out, her voice breaking. Twilight could feel her sorrow. “What kind of unicorn am I? Is there something wrong with me?” she asked, her eyes welling up with tears. “Sweetie Belle,” she said sternly, lowering her face at the filly’s eye level. “Listen to me closely. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You hear me? Nothing.” “Then why I can’t do magic?” she croaked. “Even foals have more magic than I do…” “Some foals have more magic than you do. Most foals’ magic is actually little more than a pretty light show, nothing really substantial. It’s not until they’re around three or four years of age that foals begin to develop basic telekinesis, the one spell that all unicorns share. And even then, most unicorns never really develop any further magic, aside from whatever pertains to their special talents; for example, a unicorn with a special talent in music will be able to perform spells that help them to play music in one way or another. Only those truly gifted at the arcane arts are able to use magic with almost carefree abandon.” “Like you,” the filly said, sniffing. She dried some of her tears with a hoof. “Well, yes, like me,” Twilight said abashedly. “But…” She looked to her right, the to her left, and leaned in. “Can I tell you a secret?” she stage-whispered. Sweetie, her eyes red from crying, looked at her and nodded. “I wasn’t always this good.” “Wh-what do you mean?” she asked. “I am very good with magic now… but I was actually something of a late bloomer.” “Oh?” she dried her eyes with her hoof. “How old were you when you first did magic?” Twilight looked up as if to ensure nopony was looking or listening. “Seven years old.” Sweetie Belle’s face fell immediately, new tears welling in her eyes. “That’s not late at all! I’m eight!” “No no no no,” Twilight interjected before Sweetie Belle could start crying again. “What I meant was that before I was seven I could not do any magic. Like, at all. Aside from using it to poke my brother, Shining Armor, when he least expected it, my horn was pretty much decorative.” The filly was speechless, her mouth wide open. “But… But you’re Princess Celestia personal student!” Twilight giggled. “Crazy how life works, huh?” “But how did you even get into the Princess’ School if you couldn’t do magic?” “Heheh, that’s a funny story,” Twilight scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. “You see…” It all goes back to the Summer Sun Celebration of ‘01. I was barely six years old, and my parents decided that I was old enough to handle the big crowds that gather at Canterlot’s Arcadian Fields for the occasion. I was given very explicit orders to remain close to them, to not wander off; you know, the usual things every parent tells you. So, naturally, I got lost in the crowds when they gathered to watch Princess Celestia raise the sun. Hey, you can’t blame an excitable filly for being curious! I snuck up to the front lines, and saw the most beautiful, wonderful thing ever. I doubt words could ever make it justice. I just… I wish I could show you exactly what I saw. It was amazing. It was unparalleled. I’ve seen every Summer Sun Celebration since, but none has come close to what that first one meant to me. I think it’s apt to say that, on that day, I found my very own sun. Suddenly, I had this drive, this need to learn more about magic. To learn about Princess Celestia, about the wise mages that rose the sun previous to her reign, about everything and anything related to magic. The only problem was that... well, I was terrible at it. I read and read and read and learnt everything, but for the life of me I couldn’t cast a spell! My big brother, Shining Armor, tried to teach me how to perform spells, but the best I could do was pass the pages of my books, and it took an enormous effort. My parents, Celestia bless them, enrolled me in the Princess’ own Imperial Academy of Arcane Arts. I was so excited! I thought it didn’t matter if I couldn’t perform magic, I could still very well study their theory, and that was more than enough for me. Unfortunately, there was an entry test. And it was practical, not written. I was horrified. No, beyond horrified! Just like that, all I had read for the last ten months had been for nothing! Nothing I had read could help me for it. It was just me, and my nearly-useless horn. And they wanted to make me hatch a dragon egg! There was no way I could do it! But still, I was already there, and I knew my parents had spent a lot of money for the application, so I wasn’t about to back away. So I tried to do magic. And I couldn’t do it. So I tried harder. But still, nothing happened. Heck, I even poked the egg with my horn in the hopes it did something, but aside from tilting it mildly, nothing happened. The examiners were starting to get impatient. And I could only feel myself start to panic; all my dreams were fading away because I just wasn’t good enough at magic. All that I had learnt amounted to nothing, just because I couldn’t perform magic. It was the most important day of my life, my entire future would be decided by the outcome of this day, and I was about to blow it because my stupid horn wouldn’t work! But I still refused to give up, even though I wanted nothing more than to leave and cry into my pillow as the examiners began acidly asking me if I was done. I refused to give up, even as I got dizzy and nauseous and felt like I would throw up with how much I was straining myself. I didn’t stop, even if my head felt like it was going to burst if I kept trying for even five more seconds. But right when I was about to break down, right when it felt like my extremely limited magical ability was about to give out… there was a big explosion. To this day, I still don’t know what it was. Perhaps it was an accident. Perhaps it was a magical anomaly. Perhaps it was destiny. Because all of a sudden, I could perform magic. … Too much magic. Have you ever heard the expression “the floodgates opened”? That’s exactly what happened to me: not only I could suddenly do magic, but it went completely haywire! Completely out of control! In the span of, what, five seconds, I went from not being able to even lift the egg, to hatching a baby dragon from it, turning him into a full-grown dragon, levitating and juggling the examiners, turning my parents into potted plants, changing the colour of the walls, giving life to the furniture of the room which began to sing and dance, and I may or may not have opened a portal into another dimension! All at the same time! And the worst part was, I could do nothing to stop it, to control it. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life! I had no idea what to do, what would happen; I was afraid that, somehow, I was going to destroy the world or something. And then, Princess Celestia herself intervened. All she had to do was put her hoof on my shoulder and it calmed my outburst, returning me to normal and reversing everything I had done. She was so imposing, and her face completely inscrutable. On hindsight, she wasn’t really frowning. She didn’t really look angry. But you try being a seven year old filly, having just caused the biggest magical outburst in recent memory, while the immortal ruler of your nation is looking down on you after cleaning up the disaster you’ve made. It’s not a happy place to be! “Twilight Sparkle,” she said my name in a commanding tone, despite having never meeting me in person before. So of course I broke down in apologies. I began crying, begging for her forgiveness, pleading with her not to banish me, or throw me in a dungeon, or banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in the place she banished me to. It probably came out as a blubbering mess, because the Princess didn’t pay heed to my apologies. “You have a very special gift!” she said, surprising me so hard I stopped blubbering. “I don’t think I’ve ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities!” Only then I understood that she wasn’t angry with me. She was actually smiling! Still, I responded what any sane pony would respond in such a circumstance: “Hu-what?” “But you need to learn to tame these abilities through focused study,” she continued in a motherly tone. “... what?!” “Twilight Sparkle,” she proclaimed, “I would like to make you my own personal protégé here at the Academy.” My mind exploded. “WHAT?!” As you can see, I was a very eloquent pony back then. And if it wasn’t enough, I heard my parents gasp behind me. And lo and behold! There, on my flanks, rested my newly-acquired cutie mark. A six-pointed star, surrounded by five smaller stars. Do you believe in destiny? I don’t, obviously, but I still cannot shake off the sensation that perhaps that day was preordained. I never knew what was the boom that unlocked my magical powers, but I know that if it hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be where I am now. Had that boom never happened, what would have been of the Elements of Harmony? My own Element bears the same appearance as my cutie mark, with the other five stars representing the other five Elements. Was my cutie mark heralding my future as a Bearer? Or did the Element only adopt said form because I was there, in the right place and time? At times it keeps me awake at night, thinking about just how different Equestria would be if I had just given up a second earlier. But I didn’t give up. And because of that, I now had my cutie mark. And I was now the Princess’ personal student. It wasn’t easy settling into that new role. The fact that I could now use magic didn’t mean that I actually knew what I was doing. But now, it was like something inside me had been unlocked. It required hard training, and not little time, to learn how to use magic to my full potential; and hay, I’m still learning to this day. But under the Princess’ guidance and mentoring, I’ve never had a doubt that I could do it. Oh, coincidentally, that same dragon I hatched? He’s currently hanging out with your brother doing Celestia knows what. So not only I got my cutie mark, and the chance to study magic under the wing of none other than Princess Celestia herself, but I also got a little brother out of it. “But… But at least you could do magic,” the filly muttered bitterly. “I don’t have any magic at all.” “Sweetie Belle," Twilight said softly, "grown-up unicorns, and specially those learned in the arcane arts, can feel the magical auras of other unicorns. Before earning their Cutie Marks, a foal’s aura is weak, but it can still be felt by an experienced and/or powerful unicorn.” Sweetie Belle looked up at Twilight. “I know you might not believe me right now… but I can feel your aura. I can feel your magical potential. I can’t really say exactly how strong it is, but it is there, inside you,” to emphasize her point, she put her hoof on Sweetie Belle’s barrel. “Latent. Dormant. Waiting. To unlock it, you need guidance, practice, and most of all patience. Everypony has their own pace. Some ponies are born with strong magic, others unlock their potential when they’re fifteen. I can’t tell you when you’ll be able to use your magic; but I can tell you that you will be able. One day. So don’t you ever give up hope, Sweetie Belle.” The filly gazed to the floor again, her eyes watering again, and sniffed. “That’s… actually part of why I wanted to come with you.” She sniffed again. She dried her eyes with her hoof, and then looked up towards Twilight, her eyes sad but with an inkling of hope. “Can you teach me to do magic, please?” “Of course, Sweetie Belle,” Twilight smiled, and the way the filly’s own smile grew made Twilight’s heart flutter. “It would be my honour to teach you about magic. You have to keep in mind, however, that I studied magic for months but I still wasn’t able to perform it. I will teach you the theory, and do my best to teach you how to use it, but it might take you some time and a lot of practice before you can do the spells yourself. You understand?” “Yes, Twilight!” the filly said, drying her face, new-found resolve in her eyes. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” “That’s the spirit,” Twilight said appreciatively. “But how about we put a pin on it for now? It’ll be a couple of weeks at least before I get my new home assigned, so I’ll be staying at the Boutique for another while. We can practice then. For now, why don’t we go back to our research?” “Sure!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed happily, now eager to get back on their research. She stood up with a jump, and picked up her pencil with her mouth. “So, what do you want me to write, Twilight?” Twilight turned to look at where Phil— —wasn’t. He was nowhere to be found. The purple unicorn blinked. “... He buggered off.” “‘He buggered off’, gotcha!” Their distraction had made them lose all track of the pink stallion. The bit dropped. Sweetie Belle pursed her lips. “Oh. Right. Sorry.” “He lives in the damn place, he’s bound to come back sometime…” Twilight grumbled, sweeping over their line of sight with her binoculars over and over again. “Shouldn’t we take advantage that he’s not here?” The filly suggested, sparing a glance over her book. As the pink stallion was out of sight, Twilight had let her go back to reading The Silmarellion, and given the pace at which Sweetie Belle read, Twilight had a very good feeling about their future magic lessons. “Like, lay a trap to see if he can sense it?” Twilight considered it. “Hmmm. Good idea. I could rig the door…” she muttered, then immediately put her magic to the task. Taking the care to muffle her aura, she rigged the door to slam shut as soon as Phil tried to open it.  Given how many ponies were coming in and out of the pastry shop, that should catch him off guard, surely. But just to be sure, Twilight decided to go a step further and rig his entire bedroom. Fake floor tiles, bouncy beds, trap doors, you name it. Shining had once told her there was no kill like overkill, and she had taken those words to heart. Surely, her large catalogue of traps would prove once and for all that Phil’s so called Pinkie Sense was, at best, just a very sharp intuition. And given how they’d been sitting on their flanks waiting for over three hours now (Sweetie Belle had done a supply run for cupcakes about an hour ago), Twilight opted to also set up a magical field that would notify her when Phil came within one block from the shop. She was getting tired of looking at the street with her binoculars. Maybe they could get a headstart on their lessons if the time allowed it. “Hey, Twilight, did you get in trouble for sneaking out during the Summer Sun Celebration?” Sweetie Belle asked her as soon as Twilight settled down from casting her spells. “Cadence took the fall for me,” Twilight replied simply. “Cadence?” “Oh, my big brother’s best friend,” the unicorn explained. “She was my foalsitter back when I was a filly. Cadence told my parents she had taken me closer to the stand. Celestia bless that pegasus, because if she hadn’t found me before my parents, I would have been grounded forever.” “She sounds nice.” “She’s great! In fact, she—” Twilight trailed off as the Phil sensory field she had put up blared an alarm. “Subject on sight!” she wheeled on her binoculars. “On it!” Sweetie Belle saluted, grabbing her pencil and standing at the ready. Not a second later, Phil entered the frame of her binoculars, still cheerfully bouncing from place to place. “He’s headed for Sugarcube Corner!” Twilight noted. Then, for no reason, Phil stopped in front of the door. “He’s stopped.” “A twitch?” “Not that I can see,” Twilight pursed her lips. Either he had stopped by his own volition, or whatever alarm his Pinkie Sense was sending him, it was not one they could spot from across the street. Suddenly, Phil turned and jumped away, crossing Butterscotch in the way. The stallion told the butter pegasus something, but Twilight couldn’t discern it from her perch. Phil turned a corner just besides the Sugarcube Corner, and disappeared from sight. Butterscotch, meanwhile, warily approached the front door. Carefully, he pushed it with his hoof, eyes narrowed. The door opened normally. Confused, the pegasus entered the bakery. Phil was already inside. “He took the damned backdoor!” Twilight cursed. “Language,” Sweetie Belle said reflexively. Bite me, Twilight thought bitterly, but decided against saying anything. He evaded the first trap… Just a lucky guess! He’ll fall in one of the others! Shaking her head in frustration, she leaned closer to the edge to cast a spell to enable her to both see and listen to Phil and Butterscotch, inside the shop. “Butterscotch, ol’ pal, ol’ friend!” Phil was exclaiming, bouncing as he was wont to do towards the counter. “Just before closing time! Want some cake? Some cupcakes? Or perhaps some… butterscotch?” he said in such a cheeky way that Spike would’ve been proud of him. Butterscotch just stared at him, his face inscrutable. “... No.” His voice was cold. “Ah, just messin’ with ya’,” the pink stallion said, not noticing (or not caring) for Butterscotch’s uncharacteristic demeanor, as he took his place by the counter opposite the pegasus. “So! What do you want?” Butterscotch coughed into his hoof. “The usual, please.” There was something shifty in his voice, though. “Okey-dokey-lokey! Coming right up!” Phil said as he ran towards the kitchen. Where he proceeded to effortlessly evade seven other traps, all of them preceded by a seemingly random twitch. “HOW?!” Twilight yelled from her vantage point, moving a little closer towards the edge, absorbed in what she was seeing through her enchanted binoculars. Phil returned to the counter with a big box balanced atop his head. “One Forty-six and Two, just like Stormy likes it!” “Did you include…?” “Yep!” “And is the…?” “Yippers!” “And you made sure not to…?” “Aye aye, cap’n!” “Good,” the pegasus sighed. “He’s been acting a little weird these last days; I hope this will calm him” “I’m sure it will,” Phil said, his right hoof reaching for the cash register. Which Twilight had also rigged in case anypony touched in with their hoof. So, naturally, when Phil’s hoof was three centimeters away from the register, his ears fluttered. So he operated the thing not with his hoof, but with his mane as if it was a limb, ignoring the trap completely. Twilight let out a scream of primal frustration. A couple of minutes later, Butterscotch was leaving towards his house, and Phil had closed the shop for the night. “Okay,” Twilight said, more to herself than to Sweetie Belle, as she got even closer to the edge. Most of her body was now leaning on some rather shaky scaffolding boards. “Okay, fine. He’s evaded everything so far… But no worries! I rigged the stairs, the sink, the soap, and there’s a cage hanging from the roof of his bedroom. He can’t evade everything! He has to fall in something!” “Uhm, Twilight?” “Shush, you.” Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes, but said nothing more. Five minutes later, Phil made for the stairs. Twilight had turned half of the steps into ethereal illusions; if a pony set hoof on any of the rigged steps, they would fall through. And just like before, Phil’s knees twitched in no discernible sequence, so he proceeded to simply bounce from unrigged step to unrigged step, again in no discernible sequence, humming to himself happily, flawlessly evading the traps without missing a single beat. “Twilight…?” Sweetie Belle tried again, but Twilight ignored her completely, fuming as she saw all her traps fall apart. The sink? His back knee twitched, followed by his right ear flopping, and the stallion simply decided to wash his teeth and face on the unrigged bathtub. The soap? After an eye fluttering followed by a tail twitch, Phil, instead of grabbing the bar of soap, opened the unrigged cabinet and grabbed a dispenser of liquid soap. And the cage? Half a meter before reaching it, Phil stopped, his tail twitching. “Twitchy tail,” Twilight muttered, recalling what she’d learned so far. “That means something is gonna fall from the sk—” She stopped suddenly. Phil had turned to stare at Twilight. Not in her general direction. But directly into her eyes. Straight into her soul. “Hey Twilight, watch out!” he called out to her, waving one of his hooves. “GAH!” Twilight literally jumped up in fright, her soul threatening to leave her body. The instant her hooves made contact with the unstable hoof boards she had been leaning on, they caved in underneath her, crashing down in a storm of wooden planks and iron tubes, with her in the midst of it all. Sweetie Belle peeked from the tower’s window, looking down at the broken mess two stories down. “Twilight?! Are you okay?!” There was complete silence for about five seconds. “... No,” Twilight groaned out. “Easy. Easy. Easy…” Sweetie Belle gently helped Twilight walk out of Ponyville General. “Sweetie Belle, I’m almost eighteen. I know how to walk with a splinted leg,” Twilight grumbled. “Oh! I’m sorry!” The filly hastily backed away, breaking down in apologies. The purple unicorn sighed. “You’ve got nothing to apologise for. It’s just... RARGH!” she screamed in frustration. “How come he knew where each trap was?! How come he knew exactly what to do to avoid them?! AND HOW COME HE KNEW WHERE I WAS?!” “Maybe his Pinkie Sense is real?” Sweetie Belle wondered. Perhaps. But Twilight wouldn’t hear it.  The rational, sensible part of her brain tried to point at how her back up hypothesis accepted the existence of this ‘Pinkie Sense’, but the damned thing had gotten her leg injured and splinted! So it was drowned among the overwhelming shouts for vengeance and vindication that came from the rest of her mind. “No! There’s no way something like that is real! It’s just not scientifically possible!” “Why not? Magic is scientifically possible,” the filly pointed out. Twilight scowled. “That’s a completely different thing, Sweetie Belle, and you know it. No, he must have seen me set up the traps. Maybe Spike told him we were after him, the treacherous overgrown liz—” “Hey, where is everypony going?” Sweetie Belle asked, interrupting her. “Huh?” Indeed, everypony in sight was cantering in the same direction, chatting excitedly among themselves. Recognising Lyra among the crowd, Twilight repeated Sweetie Belle’s question out loud. “Lyra, where is everypony going?” “No idea.” “... So why are you going along with them?” “Oh, Twilight, you know I’m just a mindless follower,” the unicorn shrugged good-naturedly. “All I know is that it’s going to be pretty neat.” She paused, then pointed at Twilight’s splinted leg. “Ouch?” “Looks way worse than it is.” Good thing she had learned healing spells and that Elusive had some of the healing potions that were left from Archdragon Peak lying around; given an hour or two of casting, she would have her leg back to normal within that day. “Ah. Get well soon. Say, wanna come with Bon Bon and me to check this out?” Twilight frowned. What she wanted was getting right back on her research and prove once and for all the Celestia-forsaken Pinkie Sense was nothing but a dud. Seeing whatever thing had Ponyville so riled up would be an unacceptable loss of time. But, then again, where there’s a crowd, there’s a Phil Pie, so this was her safest bet to get her hooves on the pink stallion. Twilight shared a look with Sweetie Belle. She seemed to have arrived to the same conclusion. “Sure.” And so they walked. Bon Bon kept a wary eye on Sweetie Belle, who looked as uncomfortable as she’d ever been. “This is the first time we’ve hung out since we’re both here,” Lyra noted after a moment of silence. Twilight cringed a bit. Just a reminder of how crappy a friend she used to be to her classmates at the School. “Yeah. I’ve been… busy,” she replied, making a mental note to make it up to her further down the line. And to Lemon Hearts. And to Minuette. And to Twinkleshine. Oh, and to Moondancer! She hadn’t yet even sent her a birthday card! You really dropped the ball there, sister. “Oh yeah, I’ve noticed,” Lyra giggled. “Lucky girl.” Twilight tilted her head. “I don’t follow…?” “Five stallions, and all of them for you!” She whistled in admiration. “Never knew you had it in you.” Her brain short-circuited as soon as she realised what Lyra was getting at. “WHAT?!” “Hey, no judgment! As long as it’s all between consenting adu—” “No, nononononono,” Twilight started shaking her head frantically, trying to purge whatever mental images Lyra’s words could conjure before they formed. “That’s not— We’re not— We’re just friends!” OH DEAR CELESTIA A COWBOY HAT MOST CERTAINLY DOES NOT GO THERE! ABORT! ABORT! ABORT! “Oh, yeah. The very best of friends. Gotcha!” Lyra winked. “Ugh, when you say it like that it sounds so dirty,” Bon Bon groaned. MY BRAIN, IT BUUUUUURNSSSSSS! “Spoilsport,” Lyra pouted. “It’s what I was born to do,” the earth pony nodded, a light smirk on her lips. “Your misery is my happiness.” “You still love me,” the unicorn muttered confidently. Bon Bon’s smile evaporated immediately. “No, I most categorically do not love you,” she replied flatly. “You’re a parasite, living off my pastries, owing me a month of rent, driving me insane with your Celestia-forsaken humans, and to make matters worse, you always leave the toilet lid up.” “Well, you snore a lot, so I think we’re even,” Lyra shot back playfully. Twilight let out a heavy sigh, her mind finally cleansed of unholy thoughts. Just in time too, as the three unicorns and sole earth pony arrived to the cause of the commotion. A large wooden scenario with blue drapes was set up on the outskirts of Ponyville.