The day we finally moved to Skytree I got an unexpected guest at the house.
Everything had been packed, and put on the movers van. The movers had left an hour or so earlier, and we'd be leaving for the airport soon. David was walking around the house with the agent (a crystal pony stallion), talking about the improvements that had been done to the house since we'd been there. I was sitting in what had been the living room, but without any of our stuff in it, it was just an empty room, without much living involved.
"Glad I caught you before you left. You'll be far out of my range soon."
I gave a startled hop, and turned around to face a smiling night pony. "Josie! You came to say goodbye!"
She nodded to me. "Yep, I'm here. At least as here as I ever am. I couldn't let my one and only student leave without seeing her off."
My wings and legs twitched with the urge to hug her, but I knew there was nothing solid to hug. "Thank you, for teaching me, and for coming today. You've been a good friend."
"I'm still your friend, and plan on dreamwalking to you on and off to just check up on you," she replied. Her smile was small, but I could tell it wasn't forced. Seeing an honest smile on her face was always something special. "I do have some parting advice before you leave."
I giggled, and gave a playful bow. "One final lesson from my Jedi master?"
She rolled her eyes. "Hardly a Jedi. Do you have any idea how enraged the Dreamwardens would get about the Jedi mind trick? Obi-Wan Kenobi would never have made it to episode four. You know all that I know about projection, but this is tips for life, not an astral projection lesson."
I decided to revise my answer. "Oh? Well, Jedi wisdom then."
Josie shook her head in exasperation. "However you want to frame it. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that if you ever make a big mistake, something so big that it has long lasting consequences, don't let that define who you are. Acknowledging what happened and trying to do better does not mean you need to make that the core of your life. I made a horrible mistake. I can blame Sunset Shimmer for influencing me, and I wouldn't be wrong, but it's ultimately on me. I've let that mistake define me for a long time, and it has only made me miserable. The past is the past, we can only go forward. Let your mistakes be reasons to be better, not balls and chains you drag around."
I still really wanted to hug her. "Does that mean you're ready to move forward?"
"I'm ready to try. We shall see how it goes," Josie said simply. "I have another word of advice. The Dreamwardens have an unusual amount of interest in you. You should be wary when someone that powerful gets that interested in your life. It usually means they want something out of you." The night pony turned her head slightly to look beyond me, and flattened her ears. "Yes, I know you can hear everything I say to her. It's not against the rules for me to express my opinion."
Miss Seapony or one of the other Dreamwardens must have been talking to her. She paused, and seemed to be listening. "I'm not telling her that you don't care about her. I'm telling her that she needs to just be cautious. Can you blame me? What would you do if our positions were reversed? The advice also carries over to more than just you."
I knew Miss Seapony could hear and see me through Josie. "I trust you Miss Seapony. Josie is just being a good friend." I looked directly at Josie. "I know Miss Seapony wanted me to be the one who replaced her, and had been spending time with me at first because of that. I don't mind. I can't replace her anymore, but she still is my friend, just like you."
Josie blinked at me in shock. "Replace her? You? But you're nothing like…" She turned her head to look at wherever Miss Seapony was, and her eyebrows scrunched together. "How is that any different than what was done to me? Grooming a filly?!"
My ears flattened and I tucked my tail between my legs as I looked towards the windows. "Josie, my stepdad and the real estate agent are outside. They'll hear you yelling."
Josie's wings had been slowly opening and stretching to her sides as she had been talking to Miss Seapony. She glanced at the window quickly, then snapped her wings back to being folded at her sides. She looked back to the spot of air I assumed was Miss Seapony. "No, I don't want another Sha'am, and yes, I would like a well prepared Dreamwarden, but she's a foal that you've been indoctrinating since she was small. That's just not right."
I looked at the window again and saw David and the agent walking back towards the house. "Hey, can you go silent and invisible if you're going to sit here and argue? I don't think my stepdad would want the agent to see or hear you."
Josie took another look at the window and then promptly vanished. I breathed a sigh of relief just as my dad and the real estate agent were coming back in.
David gave me a curious look. "Were you talking to someone on the phone? I thought I heard voices."
I grinned tightly, and held up the phone on my leg. "Yep, just saying goodbye to a friend."
The stallion stared at the spot that Josie had just been in. "Are you doing some sort of magic? I can feel something...something odd, but it doesn't feel like it is coming from you." He shook his head. "Now it's gone. I worked for the government for a year or two after ETS, so I'm familiar with a lot of common magic. I don't think I've ever felt anything quite like that before."
Crap! I forgot crystal ponies can feel someone astral projecting. I guess Josie did too, maybe because she was caught up arguing with Miss Seapony. Now I needed to come up with an excuse for what the magic was, one that a crystal pony that knew different magic sensations would believe. Something I could actually do if I was put on the spot to do it.
"You got me," I falsely confessed. "I wasn't really on the phone. I was practicing throwing and altering my voice with my magic." I could invisible astral project and still make noise, that kind of counted as throwing my voice. It was a creative way of astral projecting without letting him know I was astral projecting.
He flicked an ear, then grinned. "Throwing your voice with magic? That's something I haven't seen yet. Do you have a ventriloquist dummy act you're working on?"
He was buying it. I grinned and nodded rapidly. "Yep! Except I don't have my dummy right now, obviously. So, just practicing the magic part. Just me and my dummy, Josie." I saw David seem to get it at that point. He'd looked confused when I first mentioned it.
The crystal pony nodded. "Can you still demonstrate it, throwing your voice with magic?"
I normally needed some music or something to get in the right mindset. Doing astral projection wasn't something I could just do in a split second. Even Josie needed somewhere quiet and secluded in order to pull it off, and she was the very best at it. "I'm still getting over nerves when doing it in front of people, especially without my dummy, but I can try."
I closed my eyes, and tried to find my peaceful place. To that point I'd never done astral projection without music, but I knew it was possible. I focused on all the things that put me at ease: my mom running her hands over my back, eating chocolate cake, drawing, music, sunbathing, days with light rain, and talking with Miss Seapony over dream tea. It took a few seconds, but I found my happy place, and found myself floating outside my body.
Luckily, I had remembered to make my projection invisible. I could move about without being seen. The crystal pony was watching me closely, and I could tell he could feel my magic at work. Looking at my body, I looked completely zoned out.
It was time to demonstrate. I floated over behind the crystal pony, and watched as one of his ears seemed to follow me. He was definitely locked onto me, but hopefully I could still convince him this was just a magic trick to throwing my voice, and not throwing my whole consciousness.
"Hi! Can you hear me?" I called out from behind him. Even though his ear had been following me like a pointer he still jumped, and looked around in a hurry.
After he settled down he laughed. "Wow! That's pretty cool. Do you do voice impressions as well?"
I floated a short distance away, but this time his eyes were tracking me. I figured he couldn't actually see me, but maybe he was imagining something where he felt the magic. "How about this?" I asked, using Josie' s voice. I could imitate just about any voice or sound I was familiar with when in this form. I floated a short distance to the side then made a sound like a cat meowing.
He shook his head while smiling. "Really impressive. You know, with a team of puppeteers you could run an entire show by yourself. You should give the Jim Henson company a call."
I returned to my body, and opened my eyes, letting off a giggle as I did. "That's nice of you to say, but it's just a little hobby. I don't think I really want to make a career out of it. I don't know what I want to do yet, but I don't want this to go past being a hobby."
He turned back around to face me. "Well, hobbies make the best jobs. Do what you love, and you never feel as if you're working."
I never did take up ventriloquism as a serious hobby, or career path, but I took that crystal pony's words to heart. I always focused on doing what I love, so I'd never feel like my work was work.
When we arrived at the college, Maggie gave a look towards the main building. "Are you ready?"
I glanced back towards where the dorms were at. "I actually need to make a pit stop by my roommates' to pick up my key. They didn't have it ready yesterday. I'd hate to be moving in and not be able to get in the door."
"No problem," she replied. "I'm a little hungry, so I'll just check out the cafeteria while I'm waiting on you. I figure that gives me about an hour to eat."
My ears flicked. Missing out on food was not something I wanted. "An hour? Why do you think it will take an hour?"
She looked down at me. "Um, you aren't exactly the fastest pony. I don't know a delicate way of saying this, but you kind of waddle."
I flicked my tail. "I prefer, shimmy and shake. It won't take an hour though. I'll just fly."
"Uh, you sure you should be doing that?" She asked as she gave me a skeptical frown. "Your flying makes your walking look like ballet."
I shook my rump. "I'm the Swan Princess, ballet studios don't know what they're missing out on."
"They sure don't," Maggie laughed. "But in all seriousness. I don't want to have to be running you to the hospital or something."
I waved a wing at her. "I'll be fine. My flying isn't that bad. I only have problems trying to go fast, taking tight turns, flying in a straight line, hovering stationary, keeping firm footing on a cloud, or needing to come to a stop quickly."
"And you have rough landings," Maggue added.
I blew a raspberry at her. "Pish-posh! Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing."
"Whatever you say, Launchpad McQuack."
I started to dance in place. "Life is like a hurricane. Here in Duckburg. Racecars, lasers aeroplanes; it's a duck-blur. Might solve a mystery-"
She covered her ears. "No! Stop it! You'll get it stuck in my head for the rest of the day."
"It's too late for that, and you know it."
She glared at me with so much mock indignation it was comical. "Evil little pony. I'll wait for you in the cafeteria. I'll call you if you haven't shown up in an hour, and if you don't answer I'll go asking students if they saw a pegasus go splat against a building somewhere."
"Sounds like a good plan," I replied. I then spread my wings, and gave myself a full body shake. Maggie took several steps back from me. I swished my tail one way, then the other, crouched down on my haunches, and then used them to eject myself upward as I beat my wings like a panicked hummingbird.
I rapidly gained altitude. Going straight up was one of the surprisingly easiest parts about flying. When I gained enough height that I was over the tops of all the buildings I tried to adjust my course so I was going forward instead of upward, which wasn't nearly as easy. It would have been easier if I had taken my ascent slower, but I had been showing off that I wasn't a completely inept flyer. It didn't turn out to be too hard to change my direction, since I rarely could keep in a straight line anyway, but there was some struggle in making sure that I didn't end up overcorrecting and reaiming myself straight down. It took a lot to embarrass me, but kamikazing the ground right after lifting off would have been enough to make me blush.
What I did end up overshooting was the campus itself. By the time I had myself under control I was on a crash course with the skytrees of the Remembrance Monument. I managed to pull myself into a turn, and avoided colliding with them. A few pegasi, guarding the monument against flyers who wanted to try to land in the said trees, shouted things at me. I was already circling back around towards the school though, and all the turning had slowed me down enough that I had greater control over my flight path. Next time I tried to fly to the dorms I wasn't going to go up so fast or let myself go so high.
I spotted my destination and brought myself in for a crooked circle around the building as I lowered my altitude. The extra turning would slow me down more, and give me more control over my landing. I circled for a few laps, and didn't go smacking into any other pegasi students who were in the air (mainly because they were paying attention and deftly dodged me). I was nearly down to the ground, and I spread out my legs like they were landing gear. Just a few more feet and I'd be back on terra firma.
BOINK, BOINK, BOINK, CRASH!
I somehow had my rear end propped up high against the wall of the dorm building, and my head down where my rump should go when I was sitting. Oh well, I still got here faster than walking, and it wasn't like I never crashed while walking.