//------------------------------//
// Princesses and Showmares 
// Story: Source Code 
// by Nugget27 
//------------------------------//

I got a job. It's only for about eight hours a week, or one work day. Two if I stretch those eight hours across two four hour shifts. The job… is actually, and exactly, what I had back on Earth. That’s right! Your stallion’s got a job as a fast food line cook! Wow, I worked my ass off in college just to work in a fast food job for three years to pay back my debt. I work my ass off while developing Python here just to end up doing the same thing.

Wow… That’s life. Woohoo.

I decided to reapply to a Hayburger Al’Round without Celestia’s note of approval or any form of recommendation. This was a part of me trying to be so reliant on Celly. I didn’t need anybody, and especially not Celestia, to say I’ll be good at my job. I worked as a manager at my last job before… I ended up going to magical pony land. If Celestia recommended me, I would've gotten the job, and then my new boss would feel like keeping me even if I sucked.

I didn’t want that, so I was sitting on my haunches, in a line kitchen, putting sandwiches together with covered hooves. I could use magic, but handling food with magic always felt wrong to me. I refused to eat food with magic, and I refuse to prepare any food with it either. As it turns out, I didn’t need to cover my hooves with gloves(yes, gloves, they’re hoof shaped instead of hand shaped), but it just felt right.

Pony stomachs can stomach a lot of the germs ponies pick up while walking around. So all that you needed to do was clean your hooves, and then make sure you aren’t sick. From there, just don’t touch your nose, mouth, eyes or the insides of your ears with your bare hooves. If you did, no big deal, just wash your hooves again. Or wear a pair of hoof gloves and change them out for a new set each time you instinctively touch your nose.

The line kitchen was actually very similar to what I’d expect to see in any fast food restaurant. Save for the lack of a drive thru. The sandwich table worked off magic, and was a lot lower to the ground so ponies could sit on their haunches, but it was still made of stainless steel. Due to ponies not eating meat, there were no warmers for chicken. There were 3 rows of pans(Those rows can hold 7 pans each), filled with various veggies, namely lettuce, onions, tomatoes and pickles. There were also cucumbers, mayo, ketchup, jelly for some reason, and mustard in pans with spoons in them so that you can evenly spread the desired condiment on the buns. Above the pans was a shelf. On this shelf you had sandwich wraps. 

On top of that shelf was another shelf where buns were stored, along with a toaster for the buns. It was an industrial toaster, so you split a bun in half, stick the two halves into the toaster, it’ll slide the separated halves on through and dispense at the bottom. Surprisingly, most ponies didn’t want their buns toasted, so it was rarely used. Since there were no chicken holders, like in a usual fast food restaurant that might carry chicken, there was more room for more bags of buns, which I took full advantage of.

I slid another order out before taking a deep breath. I only worked about eight hours, but that puts me through three rushes. The first is the lunch rush, since this place actually doesn’t carry breakfast. Lunch rush can last about two hours. The second was a rush where all of the foals were getting out of school. Then there was dinner rush, when most of the working class in Canterlot would be returning home. Since my specific Hayburger Al’Round was next to one of the mass-lift systems to transport ponies between the plates of Canterlot, and that we were in shopping plate, dinner rush was the longest and was usually the hardest one since most ponies, like humans, loved ordering for their whole family instead of just themselves.

I suppose some things will never change when you hop dimensions.

“Good work, Source!” My boss, Flip said, while patting my back. “When I first saw a unicorn come in, and they proceed to not use their magic, I immediately assume they’re going to fall flat of my expectations. Are you a halfbred unicorn that can’t use their horn?” He asked.

I lit my horn before repositioning my hat with my magic. “No, I can use my magic. It’s just… My M-Dam's an earth pony, so I’m used to working with my hooves. Never, ever, messed with food with my horn. It just felt wrong to do it, so I used my hooves just like my dam does.” Another thing, I had to do a lot of studying in pony culture before actually getting a job so that I could pass off as a a normal human. ‘Mom’ refers to your sire’s, or your dad’s other wives that aren't your dam. Your dam is your biological mother. So that’s why Rarity was shocked when I said I only want to date one mare, ever.

Ponies practice polygamy.

With that said, I was still getting used to saying ‘dam’ instead of ‘mom’, or ‘somepony’ instead of 'somebody’. I also have been told, by Twilight through a letter, that I swear a lot when I get mad, so I had to start curbing that to fit in better. Since ponies usually don’t swear anyways, I should probably work on that. 

My boss, Pattie Flipper, or ‘Flip’ for short, was a bright yellow unicorn. His mane was light green and spiky, his tail was a similar style and the same color as his mane. Flip had some light stubble on his lower jaw that was a lot sharper than some of the royal guards I’ve seen. His flanks adorned a spatula, flipping a pattie. 

“Why wouldn’t you use your magic? You said you’re attending Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns; you’re sure to be really good with magic.”

“I can, I probably, and easily could make four sandwiches at once by doing it, but food is about the feel. And if I feel weird about making food with magic, I’m gonna feel weird about serving it, even if there’s nothing wrong with the food itself.”

“Well, I suppose I can’t complain; you’re a damn good worker even without your magic.” He patted me on the back. “Well, I’ll see you next week. Just stock up your station before you go and I’ll close it down for ya.”

“See ya ‘round, Flip.”

I hope to have an easier position next week. Usually, like fast food back at home, you’re taught a basic level of everything in the store, and then you are given a position almost at random, or based upon where your boss wants you. Building sandwiches is easy… if you only have to worry about one per order.

I usually have to worry about six per order. Pony families are huge.






So, Princess Luna, or Celestia’s little sister. Well, little isn’t exactly right, since she’s actually growing back to her full power. The Elements of Harmony, whatever those were, had apparently left her in a weakened state, so she was growing slowly every week. It’s been about three weeks since she’s returned, and forgiven for all she’s done in a heartbeat. Right now, Luna is about as tall as Cadance, who is already taller than I am. I was going to be spending the day with her, since Luna was given the foreseeable future off from her duties while she adjusts to everyday life.

I was a bit hesitant at trusting Luna at first, but after seeing her at breakfast for the first time… She's a goddamn dork. She is a whole dork, and she is very cute when she is dorking out over things. I can tell she is being a bit reserved; I can see the hurt in her eyes everytime she looks at her sister. That look in her eyes alone made me actually wanna spend time with her, I can tell Luna genuinely feels bad about what she’s done, and is trying to atone for it. The first thing she did was present us… a burnt breakfast that she made herself. Like she burned water, the glass the water was in, and even burnt the plate… Yes, she cooked and seared the plate.

I waltzed up to Luna’s wing of the castle, which was on the opposite side of mine(likely because Luna slept near mine and Celestia’s chambers on her first night back on the planet). She definitely got traumatized or had the very unpleasant experience of hearing her sister… make some noise while we sleep together. It was the only time it happened, but I think Luna had enough of that as soon as she had the opportunity to get away from sleeping on the couch in our chambers.

I nodded to the guards, to day guards since Luna has her own guard force, but we haven’t had any recruits yet. I knocked on the door before being let inside the room by a dark blue magic. I walked inside to see… Luna’s personal chambers. They were more like an actual apartment. Celestia’s chambers consisted of her bedroom, bathroom, and the living room. Luna’s had an actual kitchen, that was in the same room as her living room, giving me an odd feeling… This place reminded me of my apartment back on Earth, even if everything in the room was way nicer, and had a darker theme to match the night that Luna preferred.

There was a balcony, though with curtains that almost entirely blocked out the sunlight trying to get in from the outside. The curtains looked like Luna’s coat, as she described it, before she got banished to the Moon. It was a nice, dark blue, that was split into two pieces. The moon was the center of it, that splits each time you pull apart the two piece curtain. I know for a fact, that once you step out onto that balcony, you could almost perfectly stare into the eyes of whoever was standing on Celly’s balcony. 

From there, the living room had a… unsurprisingly, a coffe table in the center of the room, which was surrounded by two, dark blue couches that were a apparently the same color as Luna’s fur before she turned into Nightmare Moon and was sent to the moon and was struck by a rainbow beam of pure, natural friendship. The couches were a nice, soft velvety look that looked like I would pass out if I were to lay down upon them. The couches, and the coffe table were all sitting upon a very, very nice, white rug that contrasted from the rest of the dark colors of the room. It was soft, fuzzy, and was probably just as nice to lay on as the couches that Luna was laying on.

“Hello, Source,” she greeted.

“Howdy, Luna.”

“Such an untraditional way to greet your Princess, Source.”

“I’m not a pony of tradition, or a pony in the head.”

“I wot. Mine sister quoth ‘jesus christ’ at random once. What the heck is a ‘jesus christ’?” She asked.

“It’s a saying that Celestia picked up from me. She has no clue what it means, and I jokingly keep the meaning away from her just to fuck with her. It’s a person from… y’all have religion in Equestria right?”

“There were cults that celebrated mine sister’s name… and declared me a demon of some sort.”

“Oh… What-”

“Source, keep on topic. Mine sister hath told me of thy habit of getting off topic.”

“Okay, so Jesus Christ is a figure from a religion called Christianity. I was never christian, never knew the jist of it, but Jesus, I think, is the son of ‘God’, another figure that is the all mighty power up above in Christianity. I won’t get into the details, since it doesn’t really matter right now. Anyways, the saying ‘jesus christ’ is what you use when you’re surprised, shocked, scared, or anything. It’s like ‘I dunno what to say at the moment, because I am trying to process what is going on’. Celly picked it, doesn’t know what it means, and just uses it at random. Lemme guess, she said it at the start of a sentence when she very clearly knew what to say?”

“She did. She quoth ‘oh, jesus christ’ when she found a whole mushrump during breakfast. Mine sister hates mushrooms a lot.”

“Oh my god… she learnt how to use that phrase! She probably still hates that I won’t tell her what Jesus actually is; she knows it’s somebody’s name.”

We both sat in silence as we both now tried to figure out something to talk about. I could just about understand her archaic ways of speaking and she could just about understand more modern ways of speaking. While we can get along, we usually sit in silence for a few reasons. She probably thinks I still see her as the monster that took my special somepony, or my girlfriend, away. While I know she was definitely not herself, I do know that I did crack the ‘Nightmare Moon’ side of her enough to get her to talk to me civilly during the whole Nightmare Moon incident. She also knows me as the stallion that wanted to spay her, for hurting my marefriend.

“Aight, enough of this.” I got off my couch, trotted around Luna, laid down beside her, before literally dragging her so she would end up snuggling up to me with my magic. “Luna, I want to be clear with ya; I’m not mad at what you did. You certainly feel bad about what you’ve done, and you’re trying to improve. While I think it’s questionable, Celly’s judgment of character is better than mine ever will be, so I’m trusting her. So far, you just seem scared and unsure of everything ‘round ya, and you think I’m still mad at you, which certainly isn’t helping your mood, is it?”

“It is not…” Luna admitted. “Thou art not mad upon me?”

“Nah. The way you start geeking out over the night, or just talking about anything you’re passionate about, you’re adorable. Celly said you liked playing the flute, right?”

“I doth, I desire to regard I am quite at playing the flute; ‘twere the one thing I could do while being alone ‘i mine chambers at night.”

“Do you have your flute?” I asked. Luna teleported a flute in. It was a beautiful, silver flute that was… actually pretty normal looking. It shined a little bit. “Is that… bits of moonrock on the keys?”

“Marry; mine parents had this forged for me one night when I wanted to pick up an instrument. ‘Tis one of the few things I have yet another from mine youth. I didst not hast much time to be a normal filly; I became an alicorn at the age of nine. Mine sister was only fourteen when she ascended. Instead of playing with dolls, or thinking of boys, learning to play my newly acquired flute, I was thinking of trying to unite the different tribes of Equestria.”

“...Sheesh. If you wanna, or know how since I know you and Celestia can turn yourselves into fillies for a day, y’all can just become fillies for a day. Then I can foalsit y’all while you have a day of just being fillies for a while. Not having a childhood sucks; I would know since I barely had one myself. Dad died early, so I had to help my Mom raise my siblings.”

“Haply I shall take thou on that offer; I desire to truly worry about colts, or just mine mane for the day instead of worrying about ruling a kingdom…” Luna nuzzled me. “And I suppose, since you may end up becoming my brother in law, I shall treat you like a brother; I always wanted a little brother, but our mother passed away a few years after I grew wings.”

“Oh…”

“Worry not; I’ve had mine time to grieve. Now, I shall celebrate having a new sibling, even if it is through marriage. You will be snuggling up with me tonight; I always wanted to snuggle up with a younger brother for a change.” I’m not going to get any say in this matter, and I don’t think I will complain. This is the most progress we’ve made in trying to get along better than we’ve had in the last three weeks. Luna brought the flute up to her mouth, before grabbing it with her hooves. I raised an eyebrow. “Playing an instrument with magic feels wrong.”

“Fair enough. I just didn’t expect a princess to consider using their magic for certain aspects in life to be rather… A weird feeling. I feel odd with just handling anything edible or any cups. I’m sure Celestia told you about where I come from?”

“She hath, thou are from a place bid Earth, and thou are not originally a pony at all, correct?”

“Pretty much,” I nodded. “So, you were gonna play something?” Luna nodded, before playing… What sounded like something I’ve heard from a movie. It was hauntingly beautiful, even if it was sort of sad sounding. Towards the end… It got a lot happier sounding. I was simply nodding along; it was a good performance. Before I could even blink, Moon Butt had set her flute down. “Holy… mother of shi-crap. You’re amazing!”

Luna simply blushed, before getting up to give an encore. As soon as she got halfway through, to the best part, she put the flute down, and licked my nose… What in the actual ballsack? That felt… weird. Like it just felt odd. I sat there like an idiot with what is probably the dumbest expression known to man or pony. “I see why my sister likes making thou confused. ‘Tis something adorable, seeing thy brain freeze like that.” She chuckled. “Unfortunately, you are a taken stallion, and you’ve made your desires to only date one mare very clear; you are more like a younger sibling to me anyways.”

“Why’d you lick my nose?”

“Because I thought it would be funny. Why else?” Fair enough, it must’ve been really fucking funny. We both sat there for a moment, before we both fell on our rears and started laughing.






A couple of days later, I was sitting in a train station wanting to die. I woke up before the crack of dawn to catch the train that left Canterlot at the crack of dawn. I would rather have been snuggled up in my bed, watching Celly raise the sun before I had thoughts of closing my eyes again, before remembering that I either had a job, or wanted to have breakfast with Celly and Luny. Instead, I had to hop on a train for Ponyville to give Twilight a journal full of my unscrambled notes of Python, and then walk her through it. I was to do this, according to Twilight, once a month or whenever I made leaps and bounds with Python. Since it’s my own system of Magic, which isn’t complete, Twilight figured she should get started early on picking up my system. Why couldn’t I just DragonFire the copy of my journal to Spike? Because I have to walk Twilight through it.

It was fair, Python was completely new, but Celestia figured it out, including any new Python stuff(or spells converted to Python) after a quick glance at my notes. Granted, we learnt another downside to the system. Python, with the sole focus being for weaker unicorns like myself, was horrible for running out of a much more powerful magic user. For one, what it optimizes is casting speed and magic consumption in exchange for a stronger result. A magically gifted unicorn, or Celestia in this case, can already perform a spell that Python has, at the same speed as Python… without using the Python variant of the spell.

On top of that, Python gives stronger results for weaker magic users… but can actually make it so a powerful user can put too much power into magic and give them a really mean hornache if too much power is used. Celly had to take a day off because of it, and I got to play maid for her and care for her, which was fun by the way. The problem with Python was that it was very good, but only if you sucked at magic like I did. I may make another version of Python, name it Java, and try to work out those issues of overloading spells… Or make another version that took even more power to cast spells, as a joke(it will be completely useless as a system of magic), and name it Windows Vista or something.

Then give that to Twilight April Fools, because it isn’t celebrated in Equestria, but I’m gonna make it a thing. And I’m going to do it by developing a whole new magical system… Oh darn, April ain’t til next year! I got eleven months to develop Windows Vista, I will come up with a horse pun for it later, don’t worry, and give it to Twilight. I’m gonna rush it, and make it as taxing and sluggish as possible. Oh, that will be revenge for making me get up so early so you can learn a system of magic you won’t even need.

Sitting beside me was an equally tired Luna, who was coming along just to get out of the castle for the day, since, like me, Luna is usually cooped up in the castle with nothing to do. She looked to be having a good time, since I forcefully bought her a cup of coffee that she wanted anyways but insisted on paying for both our orders, and she was… actually enjoying it. I got a simple coffee with some sugar in it, while Luna got a nice, fancy espresso thing. It had whipped cream, caramel, and there was a damn cherry on top. It was really fancy, and looked like something Starbucks would sell if they didn’t cram their drinks full of ice to cut costs. She mainly got it, because she’s never had coffee, and it was in a shiny advertisement on the cafe’s windows. Needless to say… she was enjoying it.

Even if alicorns apparently didn’t need coffee to get the day started, or much of anything other than brushing their teeth and using the toilet. They have so much magic that they just don’t need to worry about needing to stay awake. On top of that, Luna can apparently, and easily, control when she sleeps as it’s part of her realm of magic, which fits her type of magic into the miscellaneous systems of magic. Basically, she didn’t need the coffee, but boy did she want it. I even got a side-eye when I made her let me pay for her drink.

“Thou doth wot that I am a princess, correct? I hast access to the treasury. From what Tia is telling me, thou compose minimum wage, and work one day a week. Thou also adamantly refuse to compose use of the treasury yourself e’en though mine sister hath granted thou access to it. I could’ve paid for both our possets. It would not have been… a ‘big deal’ as modern ponies would say.”

“And I would feel bad if I made you pay for my drink. I’m exempted from taxes, something my boss was surprised about. I’ve got no rent, food, or even just simple bills since Celestia made me move into the castle the very second we started dating. All my food comes from the castle, I sleep in the castle, and I live and do whatever the heck in the castle. Even though you just came back from the Moon, you still have partial ownership of said castle and everything in it. Y’all essentially gave me everything I could ever need and want, so that I could focus on making new magical spells, or just happily live my life by doing nothing. Let me at least try and make it up every now and then, such as letting me buy you your coffee.”

Luna nuzzled me. “I am glad to see that thou are at least a pony that tries to earn his keep. I’ve seen what the Blueblood bloodline hath become, and I am less than impressed.” She eyed my notebook in my saddlebags, before pulling it out and reading it over. “Mine, mine. Thou has actually made a new system of magic. Belike I shall get the chance to wot it while we are visiting Twilight Sparkle?”

“I can teach ya, but I don’t think you’d get much out of it.”

“Why is that?”

“Celly put too much power in, while using that system of magic, spent all day with a hornache. It was awful, because she wasn’t actually having fun. She actually resorted to an ancient swear word or three when it occasionally kicked up. It at least made me feel… a little good? I was just happy to finally be able to dote on my girlfriend and care for her until she gets better. Got to give her tofu soup, some nuzzles and snuggles, all the likes to help with a headache… except it’s a hornache instead.”

“She does know how to counter thee better because of her knowledge in thy craft.” Luna proceeded to read my notes over again. “But your understanding of magic must be vast if thou are making new systems… “Python?” 

“It’s a human thing that I named the system after. And… I’m mostly brute forcing it into being. So far, I’ve got fifty-six spells converted into Python, which is enough to keep me happy for now. I won’t stop until I’ve made a hundred spells and made a proper textbook on Python.” We boarded the train once we were allowed to actually get on. Luna, surprisingly, didn’t opt for a royal carriage, stating ‘she’d like to experience a normal, modern train ride’ first. “Once I have everything in Python worked out, along with any disclaimers, I’ll officially release it as the newest form of magic… However…” I grinned. “Twilight told me I have to show her Python in person. So I’m gonna put a halt on making Python an official school of magic for now. I’m gonna make the worst magical system in the world, and then promptly name it after the worst computer operating system on Earth… I may name it Coral, after one of the worst builds of Linux in history…”

“Why would thou try to make spell casting worse?” Oh good, she didn’t ask what the heck Linux was.

“It sounds like a fun idea for April First.” Luna raised an eyebrow. “It’s a day in the year, on Earth, where you can pull pranks better. It’s not an official thing, but it was widely accepted. I want to give Twilight a complete version of Vista, or Coral… Coronet. Oh, that sounds like a fun pony pun,” I chuckled before clapping my hooves. “Twilight’ll get to experience a whole new system of magic, she will!”

“...Can I help make this system of magic? If thou are pulling a prank, I would love to help. I was quite the prankster back ‘i mine day.”

“Back in my day, my arse. You don’t look a day over twenty.” Luna blushed at that, before nuzzling my neck. “Yeah, you can help. I wanna get it done by next year, and yes, we are going to rush the ever living shit out of it. It’ll be rushed, and hopefully, awful to use as a school of magic. Since Twilight’s a bit crazy, she’d probably wanna learn Coronet anyways…” I hummed before working on how to use levitation… in the least efficient way possible.






Python Time!

So since I’m teaching Twilight how to use the current version of Python, Alpha 1.0.6.6.6, we can explore how Python actually works! Since this is coming straight out of my journal, it’ll just be a quick little journal entry. This is what Twilight and Luna will be reading together. The first page at least. I can’t reveal all the secrets in my diary, can I?

A brief summary of Python:

Python is a system of magic developed and tested by Source Code, Twilight(because she wants to be included as one of the only unicorns to use it in its early stages), and Princess Celestia. This system of magic is meant to make spell casting easier for us weaker unicorns, but also allows us to compete with our stronger friends. With this school of magic, I am able to at least stand at twenty percent of Celestia’s full power, or about fifty percent of Twilight Sparkle’s, Celestia’s protege, full power. 

Optimize casting for power. That is the motto of Python.

So far the main drawbacks of Python is that most magically powerful ponies can’t use it without possibly hurting or killing themselves from a power overload. So no, Twilight, you can’t just suddenly raise the Sun by using Python. Firstly, you will catch on fire from trying to raise the Sun by yourself, and then Python will burn your insides, your flesh, and leave only your teeth after the Magical Backfire(MB), or a Python Power Overload(PPO), fucks you up.

Thanks to Python using the basic Runes that most ponies reading this already know, along with some new Runes developed by Source Code, it is very easy for any average joe to pick up. 

These new Runes aim to make spell casting with said Runes to take less time, so you can focus either on the equations provided on the next page, an aspect it shares with the Hybrid School of Magic, or the one that’s revered as the hardest school of magic. Then once you get the equations down, you can put so little effort into casting, that you can worry about how much drive you put into this. Instead of being able to only light a candle with Runes alone, you could potentially light your fireplace with it… Or burn down a forest if you’re an asshole.

These Runes aim to also eliminate the need for lining certain Runes together. Here are some popular examples:

ER
TO
OR
ING
IGHT
IRE
YRE

Python, despite making it easier for spell casting, has another drawback. Whereas Runes Based spells are more relaxed with how you cast, Python has a bit of a problem with it. It needs to be exact with what Runes you used. You need to use Python’s custom Runes and equations in order to perform the spells in it. You can’t just Rune out DragonFire and suddenly DragonFire without Python. Meaning DragonFire is literally not possible in any other system of magic. Speaking of DragonFire, and other spells in Python, you can find the list of existing Python based spells on the third page, along with the equations and Runes needed to cast them. If you would like a more in depth explanation of how each spell works on their own pages.

DragonFire gets an explanation as to how it works since it’s Python exclusive:

DragonFire is the type of fire used so dragons can send messages, or scrolls, to each other or certain ponies. DragonFire uses a Fire Spell, a Teleport Spell, and a Rematerialise spell all rolled into one. Using Equations to avoid having to use all three at once. With this said, DragonFire can be used the same way as a dragon’s fire can be used. However, if you remove the Teleport and Rematerialise equations, you just get a really strong fire spell. This spell can be used on a user to enable quicker means of travel, up to forty kilometers a minute depending on the user. Source Code can get to about thirty five kilometers a minute. Thanks to the nature of DragonFire, learning this spell is crucial, as it’ll teach you how to Teleport and Rematerialise, and cast Fire just from learning how to do DragonFire. 

Note: while using DragonFire it is crucial that you are familiar with the magical signature of whoever you’re sending a message to. Make sure you complete the spell while casting it, or you may just burn your message. Luckily, there are fail safes in place to keep you from killing yourself if you use DragonFire on yourself.






When we got off the train, everypony was gathered up around the town hall, gathered around a stage wagon, that seemed like it was something that was usually lived out of. It was a simple, purple wagon, with a full roof over it. The roof was flat, pink, and had a slight overhang with five stars marked into it; the center star, on each face of the wagon, was golden. There was… surprisingly, a glass window with two shudders with a moon and star design painted onto them. There was a very, very small, metal chimney with a witch-hat shaped cap on the top. The front opened up into the stage portion of the wagon.

On the stage was a light blue unicorn mare, who was wearing an over the top mage hat and a cape with stars etched into it. The cape had a collar that went halfway up the unicorn’s hat before it folded out. The cape had a diamond as the buckle, keeping it snuggling around her neck. The hat and cape shared the same light, though darker than the mare’s fur, color and starry color scheme. As the cape fluttered in a wind, that the mare was clearly making with her own magic, I could see a star and crescent moon adorning her flanks. Luna and I raised an eyebrow at that before deciding to head on over to see what the heck was going on. 

Two foals, two really stupid looking foals ran past us, yelling about how the mare before us was the most magical unicorn in Equestria. They somehow failed to notice Luna, since she decided to wear a traditional cloak over herself. I rolled my eyes at that. Until I see another unicorn do what Twilight did, and rearrange the whole solar system, I doubt I’ll find anyone better than her at magic. As we walked up, we caught Twilight and the rest of her friends.

“There’s nothing wrong with being talented, is there?” Twilight asked Apple Jack, who was complaining about ‘Trixie’, the unicorn on stage, was boasting her talents.

“Howdy, ladies.”

“Oh! Source! I didn’t think you’d show up today!” Twilight actually… hugged me. “How’s it going?”

“Where is the real Twilight and what did you do to her? Twilight woulda glare at me and just demand I give her my notes for Python already.”

“Well… I figured I should try being nice to you. Your case… is special, and the last thing you need is somepony getting angry at you the moment you show up. Besides… after seeing your resolve to save Princess Celestia, despite how unlikely it was for you to do so, was admirable.” Twilight looked over at Luna. “What are you doing, Princess Luna?”

“We were accompanying Source Code; we wanted to learn how Python worked, and desired to get out of the castle for the day due to our current lack of duties while we adjust to modern Equestria.” Luna hummed while simply watching the magic show. “It appears that our boasting friend is… not too bad at magic. It’s flashy, and not the best magic we’ve witnessed, but she is not horrible.”

“She casted a teleport spell on those flowers… Those were literally just behind the curtain, inside the wagon,” I diagnosed pretty quickly. “It makes sense, but that’s far and away the most meh sign of Teleport I’ve seen. It’s cool that she’s even capable, but I doubt that she is even capable of teleporting herself.” I hummed, before slowly turning to Twilight who was a little slack jawed. “I ran a diagnostic spell on those flowers from here. Turns out that you can pick up where something’s been teleported from mere minutes after it’s been teleported to a new location. Try it,” I teleported the copy of the journal I was gonna give to Twilight into my hooves. “Run a spell?” Twilight did just that.

“It was in your saddlebags… I even sense that residual magic from where it was moved from. How did you figure that out?”

“Everything has magic, and when a thing is moved, it leaves a bit of its magic behind. From the diagnostic spell, you can run a spell on an object, and see if it’s been teleported, and then you can feel where some of its leftover ambient magic is. Trixie got her flowers… again, from behind the curtain. It’s impressive, but again, not the greatest feat I’ve seen from a unicorn. I’ve seen Shining Armor summon six or seven shields at once. Now that is hard… For me. I’m not very good with magic.”

“And yet you’ve got the nerve to say that Trixie is bad at magic?” Trixie shouted from her stage. Oh, she talks in the third person… Weirdo.

“Never said you were. You’re just not unique enough to make me go ‘wow’. Though then again, I wake up to Celestia raising the Sun every morning, so I guess my perception of good magic is warped?”

“Well, perhaps a magical duel would shut your foalish mouth!” Trixie gave me a smug little look. “Unless you’re too scared to try fighting the Great and Powerful Trixie!” 

“Thou should put the ‘Great’ and ‘Powerful’ Trixie in her place, Source…”

“Oh, do you want to go against the Great and Powerful Trixie instead you…”

“Trixe,” I said casually. “You’re trying to challenge a motherfucking alicorn. Luna could blast you into a puddle of blood if she wasn’t a good pony. In a millisecond. Think before you open your mouth.” Luna actually pulled her hood back up, likely to try and hide the fact that she was blushing. That’s right, Luny, I see those cheeks of yours turning dark purple. I know you’re embarrassed whenever somepony talks highly of your morality… Mostly because you think you’re an awful mare.

“W-what?!” Trixie started blushing at that. “Don’t make the Great and Trixie look like a fool and just duel her already! Step up if you dare!”

“Bet. Hey everyone, step back a bit. Trixie, get off your stage and let’s have this magical slap fest or whatever.”

“Are you sure you can take her, Source?” Apple Jack asked. “I’m no unicorn, but even Ah have to admit she’s not bad at magic.”

“Meh, I’ll be testing myself anyways. I wanna match her spell for spell, but I’m gonna quickly convert her Hybrid Runes into Python; I wanna see if I can convert spells on the spot.” I stepped forward as the crowd began to back away a lot. Luna was smart and summoned a decently large fishbowl-like shield over me and Trixie as we started staring each other down. “So, ladies first,” I theatrically bowed before standing back up straight. 

“Trixie will make you seem like a foal by comparison!” Her horn lit up under her hat, and I immediately knew what was coming. A Concussive launched from Trixie’s forehead and it barreled straight at me. I hummed, before using my own magic to drive it into the ground. With Runes, that would’ve been hard, but Python let me do it without any problem. “W-what the? The G-great and Powerful Trixie can feel your magic from here! You aren’t even strong!”

“That’s cool. Hey, guess what? It’s my turn-” 

Trixie fired another Concussive, and I didn’t have enough time to summon a shield or grind her spell into the dirt. So I casted a DragonFire on myself before rematerializing behind Trixie. I wasn’t going to hurt her at all, that wasn’t how I was gonna roll today. She’s an overly boastful mare, not a murderer after all. “Peekaboo!” Trixie squawked before falling on her face. “Did I surprise you?” I asked with a cheeky little smile on my face. The crowd, save for Twilight, her friends, and Luna, had never seen a DragonFire. They were shocked. The two stupid looking colts that were hyping Trixie up had their jaws on the ground.

“W-what the b-buck!? How did you do that?!”

“Self made spell, from a self made Spell System. It’s pretty cool.” I teleported outside the shield and next to Luna, before rubbing my head. “Fuck, that still hurts my horn whenever I do it… I can do DragonFire constantly, but one god damn teleport is too much?” I grumble… I would rather get castrated than deal with hornaches, but hornaches meant I worked my horn out enough for the day, and it’ll be a little stronger tomorrow. Trixie was laying on her belly sputtering and squawking as she tried to figure out how to one up me now. Even if, by technicality, I just forfeited our duel. Trixie was starting to cry… goddammit. 

“That was mean, Source,” Twilight pointed out. 

“She was trying to kick my butt for saying her magic wasn’t amazing. I even said it’s pretty cool that she’s able to perform Teleports. It’s even cooler that she’s trying to entertain ponies even if she’s not that good of a showmare. She’s over confident in my opinion. If she just went around claiming to be a good magician and is trying to entertain people, while silently making a living off of doing so, that’s cool. Saying you’re the best, at magic, in Equestria, is setting yourself up for failure. Because what would happen if you claimed that and found somepony better at magic than you?”

“...I would get embarrassed,” Twilight noted as Trixie got her wagon closed up, before hitching it onto herself, and running out of town.

“And I’m not even magically gifted; I just have Python to help me contend. Trixie’s magic, in terms of raw power, is a lot better than mine… Fuck, I never tried to convert-”

“That was totally wicked!” Rainbow Dash tackled and hugged me. “I forgot you could burn yourself and reappear out of nowhere! It is so cool!” She squealed. “And then you put Trixie in her place-”

“It still wasn’t very nice,” I admitted. “But I got to scare a mare… I’ll go after her and cheer her up. I could see Trixie crying, and that doesn’t make me feel good.” I DragonFired myself before using it to quickly catch up to the mare I just made cry.