Disclaimer: I do not own Friendship is Magic, copyrighted material is not my own and I seek and receive nothing through my production of this work.
The Last Sight
Chapter 3: Enter the Captain
Pumpkin woke up warm with a smile on her face. This time, though, she wasn't so caught up in the covers. Instead, she stood up and yawned, shaking the sleep away. The candles were lit again, their flames white as before.
Carefully lowering herself to the floor, she looked around the room. Part of her expected to see that strange doorway open again, but another part of her wasn't surprised either...
Her eyes fell upon the mirror, and she caught sight of her freely hanging mane. It was strange to see it hanging down to her withers. Usually when she stood before a mirror, Daddy was behind her fixing her mane. Mommy would fuss with Pound's hair, and then she'd head off to school with her brother...
She glared into the dim reflection of the room. Of course, Daddy wouldn't be here to fix her mane. If he was here, Mommy would be here. If Mommy was here, then she would have to go to school.
Pumpkin's gaze fell. Even if Mommy was really mean to make her go to school and stay in her room, she always smiled in the morning when it was time for morning baking. She never made her sleep in like Pound did so she'd have to miss out on it.
Soft hoof-falls on the floor behind her broke her out of those thoughts. Whirling around, she came face to face with a familiar whitish-blue pegasus stallion with a dark blue mane. The saddlebags and some silver necklace were the only things on him. Behind him stood the same kind of doorway that Luna had came through...
“Good evening,” he said with a light bow.
Pumpkin frowned as soon as his voice reached her ears. He wasn't wearing that stupid uniform, but he was the same old Soarin. She glared at him.
“Lu-” He took a step back, looking away just for a moment. “The Princess.”
She looked at him curiously.
“She sent me here, to give you this, Pumpkin Cake,” he said with a soft bow, smiling.
Pausing just a moment, he flicked one of the bags open with one of his wings, and turned back to grab something from within. He came up with a silver chain hanging from his mouth.
He stepped forward, raising his head a little and slipping it over her head.
Pumpkin reached up with a hoof to feel her new necklace. “What's this?”
“A necklace that is as good as the Princess's Royal Seal, or so I'm told.” He chuckled. “It identifies you as a guest of the Princess, but that's not all...”
He turned and gestured toward the shadowy doorway with a wing. “As long as the Princess doesn't mind, any pony wearing one of these necklaces can enter or exit this room..”
Pumpkin looked at him, then at the door. She was glaring when she turned her gaze back toward Soarin. “So why do you have one?”
“Well, I...” He paused, looking to the left, and spoke quietly, “I do work for the Princess. Part of the job when you're a Wonderbolt. Heh.”
“You work for Luna?” she asked, stepping toward the opening.
“Yeah.” Soarin smiled. “She wanted me to show you something.”
“What?” Pumpkin didn't have a chance to say much as he zipped past her. Dashing into the hallway, she turned right at the sound of his hoofsteps and ran after him.
He was fast, but she knew she was faster when he wasn't cheating! She ran as hard as she could, only to have to slow down when he made a sudden turn. There were a lot of turns. Even when she got the hang of it, it seemed like he got a big lead on her every time they hit a turn!
Each hallway was so long, and she was fighting for her breath by the fifth or six turn. Even when it started to hurt a little bit, though, she didn't give up. This stupid jerk of a pony couldn't get away without showing her what Luna wanted her to see.
Just as her pace started to slow, he slowed down to catch his breath too!
“Gotcha!” She reached up and prodded his side.
“So you did,” he said, panting far more softly than she did.
As Pumpkin fought to catch her breath, she felt a hoof tussle her mane. She pulled away from Soarin, looking up to just in time to see him smile. “I've not seen a unicorn your age run so fast for so long. The Cakes would be proud of your determination.”
She didn't frown. Would Mommy and Daddy be proud? She stared at him for a little, focusing on catching her breath again.
He cleared his throat. “The Princess wants you to see this room.”
She stared at the plain wooden door before her. It was plainer than most of the doors, but it still gave her pause that the portals hadn't. She had to face this one without Luna.
A hoof softly rested on her withers.
“She didn't say I couldn't come in, too.” Soarin gave her a soft pat on the back, before opening the door for her.
Pumpkin didn't know what to think. He was the kind of pony who would tell on her and then have the nerve to shop at the bakery while she was coming home. Right now, though, he wasn't being quite as mean as he was before. She looked inside, finding a plain pine table surrounded by pine chairs. There were a few books set upon the table in an even stack. She breathed a sigh of relief she didn't know she was holding.
“Books?” both stallion and filly stated at the same time. For a little while, both of them didn't advance.
The room wasn't quite marvelous enough to limit Pumpkin to just staring for long, though. She stepped over to one of the chairs and climbed up onto it. Reaching over, she pulled the top book off of the stack.
“Basic Magical Spells for Growing Unicorns,” she read softly, eyes widening.
Soarin was silent as she came to her conclusion.
“Luna wants me to learn magic?!?” she cried, turning toward him.
“Surprise,” he said, looking away.
“Thank you!” Pumpkin didn't hear anything else he said as she delved into the tome. Mommy and Daddy never talked about magic or told her that she could learn. No other filly in her class had learned magic. If she could learn even one spell, she'd be able to prove that she didn't need that stupid, useless earth pony teacher. She'd be able to prove that her potential was above just learning hoof-writing and horn-writing, and far above learning about the stupid Wonderbolts. Miss Cheerilee and Mommy would have to acknowledge that they were wrong to punish her!
“Basic posture...for spells and incantations?” She stopped on the third page turn. “What's an incantation?”
Soarin tapped a hoof to his chin as he looked up from the book he had cracked open. “I think an incantation is a spell you cast that you study off of the page, not one that you just, you know, know. I think, uh...”
“You don't know?” she turned incredulous eyes his way.
“They don't teach this stuff at the Wonderbolt Academy. Try turning back to the first page and reading the whole way through.” He turned back to his book. “You wouldn't believe how much you miss if you don't read those first couple pages.”
She flipped back to the first page really quickly and read down it, “Basic Lifting and Moving: A Beginner's Preface...”
“See what I mean?” Soarin answered with a grin.
Pumpkin huffed. He was good for opening doors, but he probably only knew that stuff about turning back because he was so stupid and actually needed to read everything through. Rolling her eyes, she read on a little further in silence.
After assuming a steady posture with all four hooves planted, one should be able to manipulate light objects by focusing their energy and concentrating.
Pumpkin barely read that far. She put both hooves firmly upon the table and stood up, pointing her horn at the book. She was sure nothing was happening...until the edges of the book started to glow pink.
She raised her head, but the book simply laid there before her. Glaring down at it, she leaned down and touched it with her horn. “Move!”
The glow around the book grew even brighter as she did that.
“Why won't you move?!?” She screamed, glaring at the book as hard as she could. It had to move. It had to move! Magic was the way she could prove herself!
She had to make it move!
In an instant, the world filled with pink light. The next instant, her head hit something hard with a thunk that filled her head with pain.
“Pumpkin!” Soarin shouted. Along with the sound came a ripple of pain, and she winced as it did.
Her head tried to wobble as she turned it toward him. He was above her? Sure, he had been taller than her, but he looked like he was standing next to where the moon should be!
Where was the moon anyway?
It was so dark in here...without the moon...
Pumpkin opened her eyes, blinking at the sight of Luna standing over her with a brightly lit horn.
That dark light filled her perception. Her vision darkened until she stared into the abyss. She felt herself screaming, but silent was her world.
She gasped when the light came back to reveal Luna staring down at her. “My little Moonbeam...”
“Pumpkin!” Soarin cried as he took to the Princess's side, panting. He blinked and looked at her for a little while, before smiling sheepishly. “You're all right...”
“What happened?” The burning question on the filly's mind could not stay unspoken.
“Well, you strained yourself a little too much and...” the stallion said.
“Captain Soarin, perhaps you should allow somepony who knows a little bit about magic to speak on this?” Luna interjected with a light glare. “I'd hate for you to put the wrong sort of ideas in Pumpkin's head about what happened, especially when this can be quite a confusing part of a young unicorn's life.”
“Of course, Princess.” He lowered his head.
Pumpkin glanced at him curiously. She usually would have discounted his words outright, but she took a moment to think about it. She had brought a lot of her power to bear at once. That stupid book shouldn't have been so heavy...and, if it wasn't, he'd be telling Luna about how good she was.
Soarin was stupid, but what he said made sense. Nopony had ever really taught her to practice or let her practice magic before, so it made sense that she didn't know how it worked yet, even though she had far more potential than her classmates. It was the book's fault for not warning her about what could happen!
That was the only reason something could have gone wrong!
“You see, Pumpkin, when unicorns use magic, one of the most difficult parts is learning to control the magic,” Luna said slowly.
Pumpkin nodded slowly.
Luna returned the gesture with a bit of confidence and continued speaking,“it is as when an earth pony starts to learn their special talent or when a pegasus takes to the skies for the very first time beyond infancy: the potential for success is already there and usually just requires a little coaxing out. However, for unicorns, the issue is more complicated because they aren't used to their full potential and the motions or actions required to really muster their power.”
“So, I can already do magic, I just don't know how?!?” Pumpkin perked up, grinning.
“That's right, and once I have some more free time, I promise I will instruct you personally.” The winged unicorn finished with a smile.
“Princess?” Soarin interjected.
“Yes, Captain?”
He kicked at the floor lightly, before finally meeting her gaze. “Are you sure that's a good idea?”
“What do you mean?!?” Pumpkin cried before Luna could answer, throwing herself up into a standing position.
“You got a bit banged up last time. You should take it easy for a bit before you try again...”
“Captain!” the Princess shouted with a voice that made the bed rattle.
Pumpkin backed away, hiding herself under the covers.
“Your words have been taken under advisement, Captain. You have your duties to attend to. Don't forget what we have already talked about.” Luna never sounded so fierce before that moment. Mommy at her most furious would be just barely a match for that fury!
“Yes, Princess.” After those words, she heard the sound of hoof-falls slowly growing further and further away.
“I'm sorry about that, little Moonbeam.” Luna's voice was gentle again.
Pumpkin dared to peek out from under the covers. The dark furred unicorn was smiling again.
“I didn't mean to raise my voice and scare you, but sometimes the Captain just needs a reminder of his position, and that his words are valued, but not law.” Luna patted her on the head lightly. “Just remember: he means well, even if he doesn't always think about what he's saying.”
Pumpkin smiled. “Yes, Luna.”
“Now, it's time for good little fillies to get their rest so they can learn magic tomorrow,” she said, tucking the little filly in.
Pumpkin yawned lightly, her eyes starting to fall shut. “Luna?”
“Yes, Pumpkin?” Came the answer as the room began to fall dark.
“Tomorrow, can you style my mane like Daddy does?” she asked as the flowing mane of the Princess began to vanish.
“Of course, little one. Now, good night, and don't let the bed bugs bite.” Luna slipped in in the darkness and gave her a little kiss on the cheek.
“Good night, Luna,” Pumpkin whispered as her eyes fell shut.
“Good night, little Moonbeam...” Came and went the last goodbye of that night...
Notes: I just got a job and finished with most of my pre-finals week work, so I'm hoping that this story gets back on track now...