"Oh, should we liven him up for this moment?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
Rainbow Dash eyed the crown. It seemed fitting, and Jin at least did not protest. "Only a moment," she decided. Her eyes flashed red-on-yellow.
"Yes, Master?" Jin inquired.
"Oh, he sounds just like the young man in the game," Rarity remarked.
"Heya...we all just wanted to say 'hi' now that we know your name, if that's alright," Rainbow Dash said.
"Yes, that is fine. Hi," he replied.
"Hi Jin! How does it feel to be master's super important awesome hub thingie?" Pinkie Pie asked him.
"Hmm. No complaints," Jin answered. "I am a young object with a lot happening in here, but I do my part. as required of me."
"That's good to hear," Rainbow Dash said. "Did you have anything you wanted to say or request? You are a big help to our team, after all."
"I am content that you have found a fitting name," Jin replied. "I do believe that will be enough for me to connect with you if a request comes along. For now, I am fine. I suppose I will admit that I prefer to keep to myself actually."
"I see what you're saying. You don't mind having the liveliness on for the moment since you just got your name but actually prefer it off unless we have a specific request," Rainbow noted.
"Correct," Jin answered.
"So be it," Rainbow Dash replied to that. "I'm turning it off now then, so good-bye."
"Good-bye," Jin said.
Silence lingered.
Eventually, Sweetie Belle put Jin away. "Great job, Rarity," she told her older sister with a proud smile.
Rarity blushed with a modest smile in turn.
"Anything else, Mitria?" Sweetie Belle went on, grinning.
Rarity giggled, certain her sister was happy to use the title in such a way. The older unicorn cleared her throat to become more serious. "Yes. I wished to explain that Master's human counterpart actually helped me in finding that name today. I did ask she keep our meeting between us until somepony else can stop by and tell the group more about the rest of us," Rarity explained.
"I could do it," Twilight Sparkle quickly offered.
"Very well," Rainbow Dash approved. She looked at Rarity with expectant eyes in case there was still more.
"And now I am finished," Rarity noted.
"Fyra," the master moved on.
"I helped my little sister bond with Master on Friday. That was my flexchange day too, ya'll," Applejack said. "We heard a lot about that already. That's it on my end of things."
"Quintaza and Pentaza," Rainbow said.
Penny said hello, and Pinkie admitted she didn't have any other news. She did tell Penny they finally had a mission ahead of them, and the two pink earth pony forms happily danced together at the prospect. "It'll be funny because having another Pinkie around won't be strange to them at all," Pinkie said with a little giggle. Penny giggled too and was soon after. Pinkie ended her turn.
"Rexa," Rainbow called upon the last of her fledglings.
"I hosted Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart. I even got to see Amara talk. I ate the magic from Pearl. Besides that, I was there for our group gatherings. Spike and I regularly tend to our archives since we're learning so much about mevs. I'm starting to understand why the book we have left so much out. It's a lot of information, and there are certain developments that are not easily explained or predicted, and I do believe some things packs wanted to keep to themselves privately. Our pack probably developed a bit differently too. That's all from me," Twilight said.
"Your turn, Master," Sweetie Belle told Rainbow Dash.
"We covered most of what I've been up to earlier. A little something is that as you all know, the Crusaders are incoming interns at the School of Friendship. It was a short job that I helped them get to that point with Starlight's guidance and Twilight's acceptance."
Everyone nodded with quiet smiles.
"That's a wrap, Awesomevs. Meeting over. You are dismissed." The master mev concluded the meeting with authority.
The night moved onto the expected magic lesson.
"What should we cover tonight?" Starlight Glimmer asked. "The changelings won't be expecting you to shape-shift the way they do, and it's inherent in their own magic."
"Not to mention shape-shifting is very easy once you actually have the magic to do it," Discord added.
"I suppose it was easy that one time I tried it as Starlight way back when," Rainbow Dash admitted quietly.
"Do you need anything for us Awesome Crusaders?" Sweetie Belle inquired. "Do we get to use our forms since the changelings are so open about that kind of thing?"
"Hmm," Rainbow grew thoughtful. "Only on request," she noted. "If they ask for a demonstration, that is when we would do such a thing since it would be in service of a client."
"Oh, well that would be alright, and I think it could happen," Sweetie figured. "So what are you learning then?"
Rainbow Dash tapped a hoof to her chin and flared her wings out as she thought, not really sure what that would be. Eventually, she looked to her two teachers. "Let's cover whatever you two think is either useful or fun," she suggested to Starlight and Discord.
Discord put a lion paw up to his chin and tapped at it thoughtfully as he started to pace back and forth.
Starlight had mimicked the gesture with a hoof and stared up into the library though she stood in place. "I've got something in mind," she soon offered aloud. "I want to tell you about something interesting from the changelings that I didn't see in the kingdom itself."
"Oh?" The master mev grew curious.
"They had a way to remotely communicate with Chrysalis. I didn't get a good look at the objects they used, but they must have had magic in them," Starlight explained. "They set them on the table, and then there were these beams and then a projection of Chrysalis herself."
"That is interesting," Rainbow agreed.
"In the human world that Rarity just visited, the girls there use these things called 'cell phones' where they can remotely talk to each other anytime. Instead of having to summon each other the way you do with us or us with you, they just call each other up when they're not nearby.
"It would be extremely useful for our work. I'm thinking if we find out more about the remote communicator from the changelings, we might be able to create cell phones for us to use here in our world," Starlight told her master and glanced over to Discord.
The draconequus nodded. "I know the devices Starlight's talking about. They are a convenience if I've ever seen one. I'm sure that if you can't find a way with unicorn magic, my own could be used since it would be in service of your pack."
"Well then," Rainbow decided, "tonight, you two are going to lecture me about cell phones, and we'll try out some chaos-based ones. How's that?"
The two teachers smiled and nodded. Sweetie Belle found herself a seat to quietly observe the lesson and take notes on her master's behalf. She glimpsed a faint shimmer from Jin in the saddlebag and hoped it to be a friendly hello. Given that, she smiled pleasantly at him before turning her attention to her notes.
"Discord, could you make us an example?" Starlight requested.
He snapped his lion paw fingers, and one appeared hovering in the air.
"It's like a small playing card," Rainbow Dash remarked as she noticed its rounded rectangular edges.
"They can take different shapes, but I think Discord chose a good example. These kind have a screen—which with the magic we can use—we'll actually be able to create a visual link," Starlight explained. "They call it a 'video' call over in the human world."
Rainbow grabbed the cell phone with a wing and stared at it.
"This type uses a touch screen. The humans have hands, so they use their fingers quite a bit for these devices. They can answer, make calls, and do a lot more like record videos or play games, but we should stick with a basic video call," Starlight recommended. "You and Fluttershy will be able to use your wings like fingers. Twilight and I can use our magic to imitate a touch. Applejack and Pinkie Pie might have a harder time, so maybe we'll have to come up with something for them," she continued.
Upon hearing that possible issue, Rainbow Dash switched the phone from her wing to holding it in the grip of her fetlock. It was a bit tight and unwieldy. She poked at it with her muzzle. She set it down on the floor and tried tapping at it with her hoof, then her tail. If she angled the rounded tip of her hoof just the right way, she could maybe touch the screen in a specific area, but it was easy to miss and still felt unwieldy. "You're right. I'm not seeing how Pinkie Pie or Applejack can handle this thing without a little help."
"Like what?" Sweetie Belle was curious. "Give them wings like yours or a unicorn horn like Starlight's?"
"I can activate magic with my eyes. It stands to reason they'd be able to do so as well since they are my fledglings," Rainbow answered.
"They can do that?" Sweetie Belle was really surprised and fascinated by that idea.
"Something to test for if we get a cell phone. Another pack meeting would be a good time," Rainbow suggested.
The young assistant wrote the idea down.
Rainbow turned her attention to Starlight. "So, tell me more."
"Since it's for the pack, we can keep it really simple. Over there, they use phone numbers and store them. We can use our cutie marks for how we target who we're calling. Discord, can you make us another? I want to show Rainbow how it would work."
"Certainly," he agreed and snapped his talons to create another.
Starlight took it in her magical grip and dialed the solitary Rainbow Dash cutie mark. The first phone Discord created blared a large, annoying horn.
Rainbow covered her ears with her wings. "Can we change the sound?"
"Oops," Discord chuckled to himself and stifled a laugh. "Ahem." He snapped his talons, and the sound became a more pleasant ring. "They're called ring tones, and humans have way more options than they ever need. I imagine you mevs should consider a different one for each of you." A light bulb literally appeared over his head. "They should be based on your natural element."
"That's a great idea...for the ones that make noise," Starlight said with an embarrassed smile.
"No, I don't mean specifically a fire crackling or wind whistling," Discord explained. "I mean, that could be confusing so does have its own appeal to me, but more the musical tone should match the idea behind such sounds. Darkness would probably have a lower pitch, for example."
"Oh," Starlight realized. "I suppose it's a good thing Master has Sweetie Belle as her Rhezenda then, huh?" she said, smiling at the unicorn filly.
Sweetie Belle lit up with an excited smile and looked at Rainbow Dash.
"I agree," the master mev said. "Rhezenda is perfectly suited to compose or select proper tones for us."
The idea was happily noted down.
"Alright, back to showing you how it works," Starlight said. "I press the cutie mark button, and it sends a signal to your phone, which then rings. You see my cutie mark to tell you who is calling. You press that on the screen, and then I appear." Starlight waved from appearing on the screen of Rainbow's phone.
Rainbow looked at it, then at Starlight with a breathless, fascinated smile.
"We'll have to make a button to end the call," Starlight said. At that, Discord promptly added one to the screen on Rainbow's phone in the corner. The fanged pegasus understood its meaning and pressed the button with a feather.
"Now you try calling me," Starlight suggested.
Rainbow nodded and pressed the solitary Starlight Glimmer cutie mark. The other phone squawked like a loud chicken. The two mevs rolled their eyes with smiles in Discord's direction. He shrugged with a playful air. Starlight answered nonetheless.
"Hello, Master," she greeted.
"Hello, Primeva," Rainbow Dash replied with a pleased smile. "Can you call multiple ponies at once with these things?"she asked her teachers.
"That's...a little complicated," Starlight said with slight hesitance. "I think we should start with just one pony to one pony. Once we understand using these things better, we can try that too."
"Very well," Rainbow conceded. "Is there a way to make it quiet if we're busy at work or something? Like it should only make sound if it's an emergency? And then can somepony leave a message?"
"Uh," Starlight replied with uncertainty. "You know, I'm not sure, but Sweetie's writing it down. We are using magic. I can ask Twilight to ask these questions when she goes to tell them more about us as mevs."
Rainbow nodded. "Do that," she ordered.
Starlight herself wrote the assignment down.
The lesson wore on until Starlight and Discord told Rainbow as much as they understood about how cell phones worked. Sweetie Belle ended up with several notes of what the master mev wanted the magic to actually do.
With the lesson over, Rainbow Dash was ready to leave but Sweetie Belle stopped her.
"Can you give me a few minutes to talk to Starlight, Master?" she inquired.
"Sure," Rainbow replied. "I'll wait for you outside."
"Ummm...actually, maybe you could go even further, like out for a nice fly," the filly suggested.
Rainbow cocked her head in curiosity at the suggestion but did not protest. "Well, alright." She decided it was best not to dwell on the matter, have faith in her Rhezenda, and a solitary flight did sound nice.
With that, the master mev left.
"I suppose I should make myself scarce as well," Discord said.
"Uh, not yet," Sweetie Belle informed him.
She lifted Jin out from the saddlebag. "Can you do the liveliness? Please?" She gave him her best, imploring smile.
"What are you up to?" he wondered, very much intrigued.
"Yeah, I thought you wanted to talk to me. Jin said he liked to keep to himself unless we had a specific request," Starlight said in slight concern.
"Just...trust me, okay?" she told them.
The two magic instructors exchanged glances.
Starlight eventually gave an approving nod.
Discord sighed. "Very well." A quick snap of his lion paw fingers, and the crown lit up.
"Rhezenda?" Jin asked, and he sounded pleasant, not at all bothered.
Sweetie Belle smiled nervously. She took a small swallow before saying, "I hope it's okay to talk to you about this..." She licked her lips and stared at the lighting bolt in the center. "Do you know anything about how to end a berserk early?"
Starlight smiled but said nothing. It was a good idea to ask such a source, and she was curious to know his response.
Rainbow Dash flew up into the night sky to enjoy the cool air and soft breeze through her mane, coat, and tail. She practiced simple movements from past routines and upcoming ones. The pegasus flew up into a little loop, just fast enough for a faint rainbow trail. She turned over and swam along her back against the night air with a smile.
She did a few more loops before trying a dash between one chosen spot over another. She made sure to stay high enough to not disrupt the sleeping residents of Ponyville. She tried to will her dragon form on, but it refused. Being a bat pony would have to do. She looped again and dived further down to swipe through and dodge between a collection of trees, practicing part of her routine from the Best Young Flier's competition. She moved onto other movements based on upcoming routines with the Wonderbolts.
Finally, she decided to take a sip of some water at a nearby lake. Once done, she sat down to rest a moment. She took that moment to observe and appreciate her reflection. It was a thing she did often enough with her extra night time. She glanced to her right, left, and behind her before giving the reflection a silly vicious hiss. The mev chuckled to herself in delight. Next she held out a hoof and wished she could make it a set of claws, but her magic still denied her. "Time," she noted with a mildly disappointed sigh.
Then she smiled. It was something to look forward to, after all. She stood back up and readied herself to fly again. Jin finally had a name, and the thought put her heart at ease.
Soon, she would be taking another step in Project Mercury. Making cell phones was another exciting and interesting idea. All told, Rainbow Dash was glad to know she had such things to look forward to in the near future.
She picked up Sweetie Belle soon after. The Rhezenda successfully revealed nothing of what she learned from Jin in her talk with Primeva Starlight Glimmer.