Three Magics

by Arkensaw Pinkerton


Earth

“Twilight? I think you have to get up now.”

Twilight didn’t recognise the gravelly voice for a moment, and when she lifted her head up from her desk one of the contracts she’d been looking over was stuck to her face. She peeled it off and blearily focused on Spike, who was gently shaking her awake.

“Did I fall asleep at my desk again?” Twilight murmured, wiping her face and blinking a couple of times. Spike placed a mug of hot coffee in front of her and she smiled in delight. Even the smell was waking her up a little.

“Yeah, I think you were doing some finance stuff? I finished off your last ledger for you and filed away all the papers you hadn’t trapped under your face. But you have to drink that fast because you’ve got a meeting at eight, according to the note you left on the table, and it’s half-past seven already,” Spike said, ticking the items he was discussing off a little list in front of him.

“Ah!” Twilight sat bolt upright, swallowing an enormous mouthful of slightly-too-hot coffee. “Augh, Spike, why didn’t you wake me earlier? I can’t be late for this!”

Twilight jumped up from her desk and went to grab her saddlebags, rubbing her eyes with a hoof as she did so. It was really her fault she’d slept in so late; she’d been fairly thorough in tying up her money, as it turned out, and she’d stayed up until three or four in the morning trying to work out how to free some of it up. Unsuccessfully, she had to admit to herself.

“Sorry, Twi. I gave you a half-hour to get ready, at least. You just looked like you could really do with the sleep,” Spike answered, looking chastened.

“No, it’s fine. You’re right, I had a late night,” said Twilight as she opened the door. Suddenly, she remembered something, and with almost an expression of surprise turned to speak to Spike.

“Oh! I almost forgot. I’m really going to try and make it to your party tomorrow, so expect me there, alright?”

Spike raised an eyebrow. He looked more confused than pleased, Twilight thought.

“Alright,” he said, stretching the word a little, almost making it a question. “Your coriolis experiments are at a critical stage though, right? I know there’s a big magical flow into the Everfree coming and you wanted to observe it, so if you can’t make it that’s okay too.”

It was Twilight’s turn to be surprised. If Spike knew that, then he’d been following her experiments more closely than she’d thought.

“Well, in any case. There’ll be another tidal flow eventually, Spike. I’m really going to try, okay? You do a good job and it’s your birthday after all,” said Twilight, hoping Spike didn’t know that the wave of magic she was waiting for only happened every four years. She could set up instruments to get the bulk of the data she needed if she worked hard at it tonight.

Spike’s reaction still wasn’t what she’d hoped for, though. He seemed cautious, even if his face had lit up a little when she’d mentioned how hard he worked.

“Okay then, Twilight. I’ll expect you at the party,” he said, smiling slightly even if he did look a bit bamboozled.

“Good. I’ve really got to go- I don’t want to be late!” Twilight said, smiling at Spike before setting out to the park. The smile didn’t last long, though. Spike was, unfortunately, quite correct- if she didn’t get that data tomorrow it would really set her work back, and her measuring instruments never worked like she expected when she wasn’t there to make last-minute calibrations. Maybe, Twilight thought to herself, if I’m a tiny bit late to the party that’ll be okay. Just as soon as I’ve made sure my readings are coming out properly. Twilight frowned as she trotted towards the park, trying to untangle the problem.

------------

When she arrived in the park, Twilight still hadn’t come up with a practical solution. Putting her problems to one side, she scanned around the park for Pinkie- Twilight was a little early, but the bubbly earth pony was often surprisingly punctual. After a brief wander, she spotted Pinkie chatting animatedly with the mayor, who was giggling at a joke the pink pony had just finished. As Twilight got closer, Pinkie waved to her and whispered something to the mayor, who nodded and left with a smile on her face.

“Hi there Twilight!” said Pinkie, a broad, genuine smile on her face. “It’s so good to see you! We’ve got so much to do today- you’ve missed two birthday parties and three of my birthday parties and at least two nightmare nights and tons and tons of other stuff! Plus the last time I snuck into the library to invite you to Gummy’s birthday, you’d fallen asleep at your desk again, so Spike asked me not to wake you up and I had to hide your piece of the invitation cake in the laboratory.”

Twilight took a second to process the sentence. Pinkie was still as exhausting as she remembered, but at least hidden cake solved the mystery of her otherwise inexplicable mouse infestation from a few months ago.

“Pinkie, are you here about the magic study?” Twilight asked, and Pinkie started bouncing around Twilight as she answered. Her glee at Twilight’s company was a little infectious, and Twilight couldn’t help but let a smile creep across her face.

“Yep! I’ve got to teach you all about earth magic, which is funny because I don’t really know how it works. But that’s okay because it means we get to hang out and that means we get to be proper friends again! It’s not been the same without you,” Pinkie said, coming to a stop in front of Twilight and suddenly pulling her into an enormous hug.

“Applejack and Rarity said I had to stop inviting you to things because you never showed up and I’d wait for you the whole time and they were worried it was making me sad, and that was making them sad, and then I thought about it and I thought maybe they were right. So I figured as soon as you were ready we’d get to hang out again and be proper friends again and look! I was right!”

Pinkie broke off the hug and started rooting under a nearby bush. Twilight was a little stunned. Had Pinkie really just been waiting for her to come round and say hello? After a while it always seemed to Twilight like it would be so much work to rekindle her friendships, like she’d have to take everything really slowly and carefully to build them back up to the point where she could just enjoy a pony’s company. Pinkie didn’t seem to need that, though. She seemed to like Twilight just as much as she always had.

Pinkie popped her head out of the bush with an enormous book in her mouth and deposited it on the floor in front of Twilight. The cover was pink, with little felt versions of Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow and Twilight herself all laughing and stuck onto the cover. The title read

Twilight’s Party Book

and the whole thing looked like it weighed about half as much as she did. Twilight went to open the book and looked at Pinkie for confirmation that it was alright to do so, and Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. Twilight flipped the book open to a random page, which was titled “Rainbow’s Half-Birthday Surprise Party”. On the page there was a carefully cut out and glued in likeness of Rainbow Dash shrieking in surprise, again done in felt. There was a little rolled-up streamer and an unpulled party popper taped to the page, and lots of little folded pieces of paper glued in at one corner. Twilight unfolded one, and it had Pinkie’s impeccable cursive on it, squeezed up small.

Pin the Tail on the Pony
Rainbow went first but she didn’t know Luna and I were playing a little prank on her! The pony was a cutout of Rainbow Dash and we switched out her normal tail for a picture of Rarity making a smoochy face, and Rainbow stuck it right over where her cutie mark should be! She was super embarrassed when she took off the blindfold but Rarity was giggling so much she soon saw the funny side. We played properly after that and Applejack won, so I gave her a prize, which was one of the rainbow cupcakes I made for the party. She gave that to Fluttershy and I thought that was so cute that everypony deserved a prize cupcake! I gave one to everypony and they were really tasty. Rarity and Rainbow argued over whose cupcake was better, but you could tell it was one of their fun arguments and not a bad shouty one.

Twilight folded the note back in carefully, and flipped through the scrapbook to a few more pages, all of which had the notes and the pictures and the unused decorations. She read the titles on each to herself, slowly realising just how much time had gone into the scrapbook.

Luna’s Birthday (she wouldn’t say how old she is) Party
Whooves Family Goodbye Party
Lyra And Bon-Bon’s Fourth Anniversary Party
Twilight’s Birthday Party

Twilight looked closer at that one. It was just a picture of Pinkie with a cupcake, and a single piece of paper folded up, which Twilight opened.

Twilight’s Placeholder
You didn’t show up for our planning meeting again this year so I couldn’t throw you a big bash. It wouldn’t be the best party even if I did, because it’s hard to have a party where the guest of honour doesn’t show up and you’re always too super busy for parties! I hope your studies are fun too. So I made you a cupcake and I put it in the freezer and it should stay good, and IOU one party! You can cash that in whenever you like.

Twilight looked at the note for quite a long time before folding it back up and closing the book. She didn’t look up from it when she spoke.

“I think this is the nicest thing anypony’s ever done for me,” she said quietly. “I’m coming to Spike’s party tomorrow, okay? I promise. I promise I will. I’m sorry I missed all this. I-”

Twilight was cut off by Pinkie lifting her into another giant hug, and suddenly she could feel her tears against Pinkie’s neck.

“It’s okay, Twilight,” Pinkie said. “Spike explained it to me. You’re just busy is all. Do you really mean it that you’ll come to the party tomorrow?” Twilight could hear the hope in her friend’s voice, and she pulled back so they could see each other, sniffling a little.

“I really mean it. Thank you so much for not forgetting about me,” she said, and then fell back into the hug. Unseen by Twilight, another of the little grey stars on her flank lit back up to white, almost shining for a second before settling. She couldn’t say how long the hug had gone on for when she heard a pointed cough from her left.

Twilight and Pinkie broke the hug and returned to their hooves to see who the newcomer was. Twilight was surprised to see them here- it was one of the last ponies she’d expected- but Pinkie seemed to take it all in stride.

“Hi there Granny Smith!” Pinkie chirruped. “Are you here for the lesson too? The Princess told me I’d need a translator but I didn’t think it’d be you!”

Granny Smith rolled her eyes for a moment and addressed Twilight directly.

“I’m here because the Princess asked for an Apple to show up. Applejack straight up said no, Applebloom said she didn’t think she could do what was asked of her and I wasn’t about to let Macintosh come and spend the mornin’ getting his heart broke all over again. So you’ve got me. Now get yer potion out and drink it up because I ain’t got all day.”

Twilight let her ears droop and fished the pink elixir out of her saddlebags. Granny Smith had always been a lot sharper than she liked letting on, and even though the two of them had come to a comfortable peace when Twilight and Big Mac were together, there was no illusion that they were friends. This was not, thought Twilight, likely to be an entirely pleasant morning.

Unstopping the flask with her magic, Twilight began to drink the elixir and almost immediately started to choke. It was as thick as honey, cloyingly sweet and nearly impossible to swallow, and if Granny Smith hadn’t taken the liberty of tipping the end up she thought most of it would have come out of her nose. As soon as she’d forced down the first glutinous mouthful, the elixir changed; now the sweetness had a delightfully tart note, and the whole mixture became much easier to drink. As Twilight finished off the bottle and licked her lips, she became aware of a slightly metallic aftertaste, like steel. That was quickly overpowered by a feeling of genuine, uncomplicated joy, that washed over her and coloured the whole world. The flowers were so beautiful today! Twilight thought to herself. Granny was so kind to come and spend time with me even after Big Mac and I broke up! And the scrapbook, all those missed parties carefully preserved for her by Pinkie- it was the best gift she’d ever had. She picked it up with her magic, smiling at the cover, and realised she was crying again. That seemed funny for some reason, and Twilight suppressed a giggle before turning to Granny Smith.

“Granny, thank you so much for coming out to help me today! I really mean it. It’s very kind of you,” she said before she could frame the sentence better. Twilight observed that from somewhere in the back of her mind, realising that she’d need to be careful about deciding to speak while under the effects of this particular elixir.

“It ain’t no nevermind,” Granny said, without looking directly at Twilight. “I’m here for the Princess, not for you. Now, Pinkie, I need you to just go and have a walk through the park for a minute or two. Twilight needs to get a good feel for what it’s like to walk around as an earth pony.”

“Okey-dokey-lokey!” Pinkie said, and started wandering through the park, sniffing the flowers and looking at the trees. As she did, Twilight began to hear something faint, like someone cautiously testing a trombone over and over, and turned her head to try and get a better fix on the sound’s location. As she did so, she saw Granny smiling at her quietly, and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“Give it time, missy. You’ll work it out eventually,” Granny said. It was only when Pinkie abandoned her steady trot and starting bounding around after a butterfly, all four hooves bouncing off the floor at the same time, that Twilight realised what the noise was. Somehow, it was coming from Pinkie- every time she hit the floor with all her hooves, a strong, brassy chord rang out.

“Is that the magic? Can I hear the magic?” asked Twilight excitedly, and got a satisfied nod from Granny.

“Yep. That’s the magic alright. It’s in the hooves, y’see. We don’t do spells like you do or a pegasus does. There’s nothin’ deliberate about it an’ we can’t turn it off. Our magic goes into the ground with every step, flows out into the world. After a while you start to feel it in your hooves, and if you give out enough- or you just live long enough- you start being able to hear it through ‘em, too. You listen to Pinkie for a moment and you’ll hear the kind of world she lives in.”

Pinkie was bouncing after the butterfly still, and it sounded to Twilight like a brass band practicing notes. Then she was distracted by seeing a frog hopping across the path, and started tiptoeing after it- the notes changed from bold brass to careful, deep bassoon notes, and Twilight had started nodding her head before she realised there was actually a tune to it.

“Wait, is Pinkie playing a song? Is that deliberate?” Twilight asked, delighted.

“Well, yes and no. It’s not like playing a musical instrument. Y’don’t just hit the ground a certain way and make the note you want. But she is walking and wanting the music, so out flows a tune from her. All the time. I reckon your friend there puts out more magic than any other pony I’ve met, and I’m thankful for it. Keeps the park green and the apples red.”

Pinkie bounced back over, her little froggy tune interrupted by a fanfare as she thudded across the park towards them.

“Granny, how’s Twilight doing? Does she understand earth magic now?” Pinkie asked, excited.

“She’s doin’ alright, I reckon. There’s a couple of other things she needs to understand, though, so I’ve arranged a little demonstration. Twilight, Pinkie, go and stand under that there tree.” Granny said, pointing at a particularly large oak.

As they walked over, Twilight suddenly realised that her own walking made noise, too. Instead of the bold notes Pinkie produced every time her hooves hit the ground, Twilight’s hooves made a faint tinkling noise, like glass wind chimes in a light breeze. Pleased with this discovery, Twilight started to alter her steps a little, trying to make a more pleasing tune, and as soon as she’d settled on a rhythm Pinkie joined in. The earth pony’s footsteps sounded like big bass drum beats, and Twilight found that as she started matching the rhythm, her tune fitted it better. Pinkie started to almost dance along with it, and in the twenty seconds it took them to reach the tree they’d both started to make it more complicated, giggling to themselves over the sounds that only they could hear.

“Are you two quite finished there?” Granny Smith shouted over sharply. “Now stand absolutely still for a minute and listen with your hooves. I want y’both to see if you can hear the tree growing.”

Twilight closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. At first, she could only hear with her ears- the faint rustle of the wind through the trees, the distant sounds of a pony’s hooves hitting the road. After half a minute or so, she started to hear through her hooves as well- the hoofbeats she could hear became melodic, almost like a cello. Concentrating hard, she focussed her attention on the tree behind her, and suddenly heard a high note, impossibly high and quiet, slowly getting louder as it descended like a slide whistle. Opening her eyes in surprise, she looked to her left to see that Pinkie’s tail was twitching madly, and then the noise reached a crescendo-

WHUMP

Twilight felt a sudden pressure on her back and was forced flat on the ground by a heavy weight that almost immediately rolled off her. After a moment, the worried face of a young pegasus colt appeared close in front of hers.

“Are you okay Miss Twilight Sparkle? I was real careful not to hit anything too hard when I landed on ya.”

Twilight blinked for a second before realising that the colt was Pound Cake, and as soon as she’d nodded her head with a tired smile, indicating that she was fine, Pound trotted over to a pleased-looking Granny Smith.

“Did I do good? Granny Smith, did I do it good?” he asked, loudly, and Granny Smith nodded and produced a single bit and two red apples.

“You did real good, Pound. Here you go, and I know if I ever need any other little jobs doin’ I can count on you, right?” Granny smiled genuinely, ruffling Pound’s hair.

“Yep! Totally!” Pound said, before starting in on one of the apples ravenously.

Granny gave the youngster an indulgent smile before walking over to join Pinkie and Twilight, and the old pony offered Twilight a hoof to help her up. Twilight was about to say she could get up herself when she realised there’d been something discordant about the sounds of Granny walking over. Thinking carefully, she decided to take the offered hoof, and without putting very much weight on it at all awkwardly got to her feet. Granny smiled at her as she did so, honestly this time, and Twilight felt like she’d passed some sort of test.

“Good girl,” said Granny. “Now, did you see how Pinkie heard that coming?”

“Yes!” Twilight said, excitedly. “I heard it too! Except it was so quick I didn’t have time to work out what it was.”

“I didn’t have time either!” Pinkie chimed in. “I just heard it and then my tail twitched and that meant something was about to fall!”

“See, Pinkie listens to her magic properly, Twilight. It’s not something that’s easy to explain to anypony who can’t hear it. An’ if Pinkie here told you she heard music all the time, then before today you’d have just rolled your eyes an’ thought no more of it.”

Twilight was about to protest, and then realised Granny was absolutely right. She’d barely studied earth pony magic, and in the past had been happy to write off Pinkie’s “Pinkie Sense” as just another one of the weird things that tended to happen around the pink pony.

“Now then, Pinkie, you run along. I’ve got a bone to pick with Twilight,” said Granny.

“Okay! Twilight, I’ll see you tomorrow!” said Pinkie cheerfully. She gave Twilight a bright smile before leaving, and Twilight could feel that there was no doubt in her friend’s heart that the unicorn would be at the party tomorrow. There was a wonderfully uncomplicated trust there, instead, and Twilight reaffirmed to herself that she would definitely attend. At least, until she saw Granny Smith’s face.

“I need you t’be clear with me, Twilight. You’re comin’ to the party tomorrow?” Granny Smith asked, and there wasn’t a trace of levity in her voice.

“I am,” said Twilight simply. It didn’t matter if anypony else didn’t want her there, she realised. She needed to make it to Spike’s birthday party for him. Granny Smith sighed.

“Well, I’ll do what I can t’make sure you’re welcome,” she said with a resigned look. “I don’t need to tell you it’s the girls who’ll need talking around the most. Macintosh’s always pleased to see you, but that’s a problem in and of itself.”

Granny Smith looked Twilight in the eye and Twilight could see that there was a deep hurt there, something the older pony was almost afraid to ask.

“I’m askin’ you not to lead Macintosh on. If you’re not interested in him make it clear and if you are then darn well mean it. The boy’s still stuck on you. If you’re gonna hurt him again then do me a favour and make it a big clean break. Not a slow hurt that he has to clean out himself, like last time.”

“I promise. For what it’s worth, Granny, I am sorry about what happened. It didn’t end how I wanted either,” said Twilight, picking at the ground.

“Don’t try and sell me that, missy. You never knew what you wanted. That’s the mistake I’m askin’ you not to make this time. Now get on with you, I’m late for m’nap,” said Granny. She gave Twilight a brief, tired smile before setting on for the farm.

Twilight walked back to the library with a spring in her step, listening to the magic in the world around her as the elixir faded away and mulling over the morning. Her new scrapbook of the parties she’d missed sat heavily in one of her saddlebags, making her list slightly to one side, but she didn’t care. There’d been a lot of good news today- Pinkie was her friend again, and it didn’t seem like she’d ever stopped, just pouring her friendship into the book until Twilight was ready to listen again. Granny Smith wasn’t her ally, necessarily, but st least she was a neutral voice in the Apple family for her. Twilight blushed a little as she went over one last fact- that Big Mac was still sweet on her. She’d need to sit down and work out if she could fit a relationship into her life properly, she owed him that, but would it be so hard? It would be worth it, wouldn’t it? That thought took her all the way to the door of her library, and she’d entered and taken off her saddlebags before she realised there was somepony waiting for her.

Standing in the centre of the library, clearly mid-pace, Scootaloo stared at Twilight as the two ponies acknowledged each other’s presence. Scootaloo jutted her jaw forwards slightly as Twilight fixed her with a questioning look, and the younger mare planted her hooves firmly and took a deep breath.

“Sparkle, we need to talk.”