A week had passed since the two humans got their jobs. The elements of harmony had returned with news that the Crystal Empire and Changeling Empire would meet up to discuss peace with each other after the incident at the Crystal Empire wedding had left them on less than good terms. After returning, Twilight decided to hold lessons to find out the reason behind the magic that the two boys had shown, as well as teaching them how to control their abilities. The two were rather excited to learn how to use their new powers.
However, they under estimated their teachers insistence on detail.
“... and so after realising the potentiality of the hair growth spell, Starswirl decided to use it so that the shivering buffalo would be able to survive in their climate. However he miscalculated the full effects of releasing a simple spell with that strength, causing a magical backfire. This is when Starswirl The Bearded earned his title.” Twilight finished, closing one of many textbooks while adjusting a pair of reading glasses. She looked up at the two humans who were resting their heads in their palms.
“Any questions?” She asked. Josh shuffled forward slightly.
“Yeah, when di-”
“Ah, ah, ah. Raise your hand when asking a question.” Josh gave the unicorn a deadpan glare before slowly raising his hand. “Yes Joshua?”
“Since when did you wear reading glasses?”
“Not exactly relevant but I always felt that if I were to wear glasses then it would allow me to concentrate on a task at hand.” Twilight explained.
“Yeah, that and all the late nights she spent reading by candlelight messed with her eyes.” Spike added as he came downstairs, not noticing the glare that he earned from the unicorn. Josh and Sam chuckled to themselves until Twilight turned to face them next, giving off a bone chilling stare.
“Errr, yeah, well, what are you up to Spike?” Josh asked.
“I'm going to help Rarity for the day, she has a lot of orders that need filing and asked me to help her out.” He said with a dreamy sigh. The dragon pulled on his coat and took off out of the door.
“Anyway, let's get back to work. Where was I?... Ah yes, Starswirl had just earned his title.” Twilight said as she grabbed another book.
“Twilight, why do we need to know this?” Josh asked as he slumped to the desk in front of him.
“Starswirl the Bearded made more headway into the field of magic than anypony else, aside from the princesses of course.”
“And as impressive as that may be, knowing how he accidentally gave himself face fuzz is not going to help us.”
Twilight let out a sigh and removed her glasses. “Ok, I get your point. It's just... difficult.”
“Difficult?” Sam asked.
Twilight nodded and sat down on the sofa. “The way magic works in a pony is simple. There is a pool of mana inside our bodies that flow through us by magic veins, not physical obviously, nopony bleeds magic when hurt. Depending on the species, magic work in different ways. In a unicorn, the magic veins collect at the horn and allow us to manipulate that magic. In a pegasus, the magic veins congregate in the wings, this allows a pegasi to fly through the air even though their wings are so light. As for an earth pony, the magical veins collect in their hooves, legs, arms, hands and torso. This allows them to have a great strength, become more muscular and give them more endurance.”
“However, due to the fact that they are spread out so much, an earth pony isn't as capable of achieving amazing strength whereas unicorns can cast great spells and pegasi can lift their entire bodies with ease.” Twilight let out a small sigh. “This is where I'm unsure as to where to start with you two. Your bodies are akin to an earth pony's however the magic seemed to work like that of a unicorn. It's like your entire body is the horn and it's just so... strange.”
“So what does that mean for us?” Sam asked.
“Well, the first step I can think of is to get an earth pony to help us so that we can learn a bit better how they channel their magic. We could go get Pinkie Pie to help I suppose.”
“No can do Twilight.” Josh said. “Pinkie's working on some sort of secret thing and won't let us in.”
“Really?” She asked. “I wonder what she could... Is it for...?” She cleared her throat. “N-Nevermind then, we can find somepony else.”
“What about Doc?” Sam asked his friend. “Maybe he could help?”
“Not a chance. We were supposed to be working on something tomorrow but that went up in smoke.”
“Aww, it didn't work then?”
“No, I'm being literal. It started smoking, then it caught fire, then it exploded. Leave it to the Doc to cause a water powered device to set fire.”
“I'm pretty sure Applejack could help us.” Twilight said. “It's worth a shot if anything.” The two nodded and they all set out to Sweet Apple Acres.
XXX
Applejack stepped on Sam's back, holding him to the ground while he just deadpanned. His wrists and ankles lassoed and tied up together like a pig ready to be slaughtered.
He felt like a pig about to be slaughtered.
“How dare y'all even mention summin like that!” Applejack yelled with a blush over her face.
“Look, I admit that didn't come out as well as I had meant it to.”
“That's an understatement...” Josh muttered.
“I just wanted to know how the earth pony magic veins thing worked!” Sam replied.
“And so yah decided to say 'We need to get a good look at your body'?! What in tarnation were y'all thinkin'?!”
“Clearly, he wasn't thinking.” Josh said. Twilight just stood there with her hand over her face.
“Applejack, I'm sure you want to pummel him and I don't blame you-”
“You know, I'm right here.” Sam said. Josh just shushed him as Twilight continued.
“-but we could really use your help. These two need to know how earth pony magic works and I was wondering if you could show them?” The farmer just stared down at Sam with an evil eye, causing him to smile sheepishly.
“Alright... Ah'll help. But Sam better make sure he's looking at the right parts.”
“Jeez, you say one thing wrong and suddenly you're marked as a perv.” He said as he rolled his eyes. Applejack untied Sam and let him get back up. They all made their way over to one of the many apple trees and the two humans watched as Applejack gave the tree a great kick, causing all the apples to fall to the ground.
“Yah see, when ah kick the tree, ah simply focus all mah energy into my when ah make contact. The key is to focus your energy into one point of your body, sending out... something or other. Ah think ah fell asleep that day in class.” Applejack explained.
“It's a magical energy, everypony emits it and by the looks of it, so do you two now.”
“Right, so we got to do what AJ just did?” Josh asked.
“Not exactly. Unlike Appljack, you still use actual magic like a unicorn, not just energy. Try focusing it into your hand.” Josh nodded and held his hand out in front of his face. He closed his eyes and pictured the magical energy flowing from the centre of his body to his hand. He tried to move the energy through himself. He concentrated all the power he could into his hand and opened his eyes to see...
“Well that's one impressive looking nothing you got going on there.” Sam remarked.
“Oh I'm sorry. I must have forgotten the magical skills I've been learning my entire life.” Josh replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Twilight put a hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly.
“Don't worry too much about it. It takes a unicorn some time to learn a new spell as it is, let alone a species that doesn't use magic.” She then turned her attention to Sam. “And Sam, you should practice too. We're not even sure what spell you used before.”
“I think I can answer that.” A familiar voice spoke. The humans and ponies looked up to see an incoming changeling just hovering to the ground. “It's good to see you again boys.”
“Zabrus! It's been a while.” Josh said as he gave a wave to the changeling prince.
“Indeed. May I ask how you've been?”
“Well we're doing ok. Got jobs, fitting in, learning magic.”
“Badly.” Sam added.
“Yes I heard about your plight. I believe you were curious about Sam's magical ability?” He asked Twilight. The unicorn nodded her head but seemed rather apprehensive towards him. Applejack had also made her way towards Twilight's side.
“What's wrong with you two?” Josh asked.
“They still seem to be a little suspicious of me.” Zabrus answered. “It's unsurprising considering both my parents have not made the best impressions. I hope you can learn to trust me in the future.” He said with a bow.
“W-Well ah suppose it's ok. As long as there's no funny business!” Applejack warned, earning a nod from Zabrus.
“You have my word.” He then turned his attention to the two humans, seeing Josh staring intently at his hand while Sam watched Josh with amusement. “Now then. In regards to your magical ability, we feel that we have figured out how you two have obtained it.”
“We?” Josh asked, his eyes not leaving his hand.
“Me, mother and my sisters.”
“Your sisters aren't here, are they?”
Zabrus chuckled slightly. “Not currently, no.”
“Alright. So the figuring out magic stuff, how'd that happen then?” Sam asked.
“Do you remember when you had that battle with father back at the hive?” Sam nodded, Josh still stared at his hand, trying to concentrate but looking slightly constipated. “Well prior to this event, you informed us that your kind had no magical power. However I was able to sense that there was magic power inside you, it was just... colourless...”
“Colourless? How can magic have a colour?” Sam puzzled.
“I don't mean in the literal sense, I'm just unsure how to explain it. You had magic inside your bodies but at the same time it felt off, different than anything else. I believe it was because your magic had no purpose or outlet.”
“That doesn't make any sense.” Twilight interjected.
“Agreed, hence my confusion at the time. However, even with our current level of understanding, there are still mysteries when it comes to magic.”
“So how did they come to posses magic?”
“I believe that our world simply saw two beings that lacked magic and, since everything in our world contains magic to a point, made sure to remedy this.”
“So what? We were just two empty jugs thrown into a living sea of magic that decided we needed to be filled.” Sam asked.
“I'm not sure that's the most scientific way of putting it but, essentially, yes.”
“That'd be philosophical if it didn't sound so bloody weird.” Josh muttered.
“Oh shut it. And stop staring at your hand, nothing's gonna happen.”
“You don't know that!”
“Anyway.” Zabrus interrupted. “That's what we believe when it comes to the origin of your magic. The next part took some time to figure out but it's the most logical solution we could think of.”
“What's that?” Twilight asked.
“How you got your magical abilities. During that battle with father back at the hive, you got hit by a force spell, didn't you Josh?”
“Yeah, that hurt like hell.”
“Well it's my belief that when you got hit by that spell, the magic in your body changed. If I were to use my analogy from earlier, it gained colour when it came in contact with that spell. The magic inside you copied the spell you were hit with, giving you that spell.”
“That sounds pretty far-fetched.” Twilight said.
“It's the best theory we can come up with.” Zabrus answered.
“So what? We can learn and use any spell used against us?” Sam asked.
“I don't think so. A unicorn has a pool of raw magic inside them, allowing a unicorn to morph it into different spells before emitting them while an earth pony has a single, subtle magic inside them which makes them naturally stronger, like a set spell.”
“Ok, not understanding a word you're saying to be honest.”
“Here, here.” Josh called out.
“You two have the single set spell like an earth pony but you can emit it, like a unicorn.” Zabrus finished.
“Oh I get it! It's like... kinda...” Sam pondered before sighing. “Little help?”
“I think he means that you two have got magic, but only that one spell.” Twilight answered.
“Oh right... wait, but I didn't get hit by any spell?”
“No but you touched father's horn as he transformed, I believe you gained a kind of transformation spell.”
“Ok, that's good. So unlike force boy there, I take it I use it differently?”
“I assume so, yes.”
“So what do I do?”
“Your body seems to take a material, absorb it, break it down then replicate it into one of your body parts.”
“Right then.” Sam knelt down and picked up a rock from the floor, he closed his eyes and tried to feel his magic grasping the object in his hand to pull it in. “Is it working?”
“Nothing yet.” Twilight replied. He kept going for a few minutes, both humans concentrating on their hands in an attempt to make something, anything, happen.
“Got anything yet Josh?” He asked.
“I'm going to be completely honest. My attention span ran out about five minutes ago. I just keep thinking back to food.” Josh's stomach grumbled, as if to agree with him. “Does anyone mind if we get lunch?”
“Lunch... Holy hay, I forgot!” Twilight blurted out, causing everyone present to jump.
“Twilight? What is it? Do you need to eat some of this... holy hay?” Josh asked before turning to Sam. “The fuck is holy hay?”
“I dunno, maybe it's like blessed wine or bread, like the body of Celestia or something?”
“But she's still alive. Who'd wanna eat the body of Celestia?” After uttering those words, the two just stared at each other as the same thought ran through their minds. “You know what? Forget I asked.”
“Agreed.” The two were pulled out of their conversation by Twilight grabbing their hands.
“Sorry guys, we got to get going. Now.” She said. Twilight pulled them away, practically dragging them back towards town.
“Errm ok then. Bye Zabrus.” Josh said as he turned and gave Zabrus a wave. “Bye Applej...” He then noticed the orange mare had gone missing. “Huh, weird...”
XXX
It wasn't long before the three of them were standing outside Sugarcube Corner.
“I know I said that we should get food but I wasn't exactly dying, you know? We could have taken our time.” Josh said. Twilight looked over at the human and smiled sheepishly.
“Errm, well, I just... thought we shouldn't waste time, that's all. Speaking of wasting time, why are we still out here? Let's head inside, shall we?” She asked, not giving them much time to respond before pushing the two into the gingerbread house. As they entered, the place seemed barren despite the time being the late afternoon.
“Where the hell is everyone?” Sam asked. Josh shrugged and walked over towards the counter, there was a small bell on the counter and he tapped it, causing a ding sound to echo.
“Hello? Anybody there?” He asked. When there was no reply, he turned towards Twilight. “So does this usually happen? The eerie silence that greatly creeps me out I mean.” He continued, not noticing the pony rising up behind him. “I mean seriously, it's the middle of the day and no one is around, not even Pinkie and she told me there was a lot to do today.”
Sam and Twilight just watched as a certain pink pony crept up behind Josh as he ranted. He immediately stopped when a pair of hands covered his vision. A pink muzzle appeared next to his ear and cooed to him.
“Guess who.” Josh stiffened.
“Stranger danger...” He muttered before a shiver came down his spine. “Stranger danger!” With that, he left the mares grip and flew to the other two, jumping into Twilight's arms. The offender just fell on the floor laughing.
“Haha! No silly filly, it's Pinkie, not Stranger Danger. Who is Stranger Danger anyway? Is he a new pony in town? Is he nice? I bet he's nice, then again, his name is Stranger Danger, which doesn't sound like a nice name but my mother always told me 'Pinkie, you shouldn't just other ponies by their appearances'.”
“Err, nevermind.” Josh replied. He then turned towards Twilight and gave her a sheepish grin, which she returned with a deadpan expression before dropping him.
“Anyway guys, I'm really glad you're here. I need your help to get this reeeeeaaaalllllllly heavy sack of flour from out of the basement. I don't suppose you could help?” She asked with a big grin.
“Sure, why not.” Sam replied. The two were shown into the kitchen and just to the left of them was a door, Pinkie opened it up and made her way into the darkness of the basement.
“Come on guys, just down here.” The two followed, Twilight trailing behind them before the door shut, enclosing everyone in darkness.
“Pinkie, where's the light switch?... Pinkie?” Sam called out.
“Where'd you go? Twilight, can you see her?... Twilight?” Josh called. Suddenly the lights turned on and a large room was bathed in it, as well as many ponies seen round town.
“SURPRISE!”
The two let out a slight squeal at the surprise that they were sure didn't make them seem like frightened little girls. After they calmed down, and many ponies stopped snickering, the two looked around. The basement was large, there were streamers across the ceiling and party balloons all round the area. Tables and chairs were laid out across the floor except for a large area in front of what seemed to be a DJ booth.
“W-What's going on?” Josh asked.
“Well duh, it's your 'Welcome to Ponyville Party!' I know it's a bit late what with you guys getting kidnapped and all but I had to get around to it sometime and now is that time.” Pinkie answered with a shining smile.
“Well don't just stand there you two, enjoy your party.” Twilight said from behind, giving them both a push.
XXX
Sam walked over to the table lined with different foods and some punch. He grabbed a glass and filled it with the pink liquid before looking out to the crowd of ponies.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” Came a voice from beside him. Sam turned and saw Fluttershy standing there, he gave her a smile before looking out to the crowd once more.
“Yeah, having a great time. Gotta remember to thank Pinkie, where ever she disappeared to.” He said as he looked around.
“I'm sure she knows, she just likes to make sure that everypony is having fun.”
“So why are you over here by yourself?”
“Oh, um, I'm just not good with large crowds. It's fine though, I'm ok just watching.” Sam frowned slightly in response.
“That doesn't matter, it's not like they're wild animals.” He said with a laugh. A noise caught his attention and he looked to the source. A tipsy Rainbow Dash was wrestling with a tipsy Applejack, however she was doing it from her seat on Josh's shoulders while Applejack was riding on top of Pinkie Pie's. “So that's where she went...” Fluttershy just giggled while watching.
A sound echoed through the room and a voice came from the DJ booth.
“Alright everypony, it's great to see you all here for our two new Ponyvillians.” Vinyl Scratch spoke through the attached microphone. The crowd let out a loud woop. “Now it's time to crank up the tunes and get those hooves on the dance floor!” Vinyl started flipping some switches on her soundboard and the music started, many ponies starting to dance to the sound.
“Oh that looks like so much fun.” Fluttershy said. Sam smiled and set down his glass.
“Wanna dance then?”
“W-What?”
“Do you want to dance?”
“O-Oh umm, I, I don't know.” Sam let out a sigh with a smile and grabbed her hand.
“Come on, you only live once after all.” He grinned as Fluttershy stammered. He grasped her hand and lifted her onto her hooves before walking with her to the dance floor. Josh grinned at the two, having let Rainbow Dash down and moved away from the floor as everyone began to dance.
“This'll be fun to tease him with later, what a player.” He chuckled.
“What's a player?” Josh jumped and span round before seeing who was talking to him.
“Geez Pinkie, that's the third time you've scared the hell out of me today.” He sighed, Pinkie just giggled in response.
“Aww lighten up lil' Joshie. Why aren't you dancing?”
“I don't dance, not well anyway.” He admitted.
“Everypony can dance silly.”
“Yes but that doesn't mean everybody should.” Pinkie just grabbed hold of Josh's hand and dragged him to the floor. “No! Nooo! Curse you Pinkie Pie!” He called out. Once on the floor, Josh found it much easier to dance than usual thanks to Pinkie keeping hold of him at all times, though the breasts pushed up against his chest at points did make him blush.
“See? You're doing fine.” Pinkie reassured.
“Yeah well, I was never much good at dancing to our songs.” Josh replied. Pinkie's eyes grew wide as she spawned an idea.
“Oh my gosh! You guys should sing one of your songs!”
“What?! No. Nononononono. Nope.”
“Awww come on.”
“Please don't Pinkie, I don't like my dancing, let alone singing.”
“Then get Sam to help you.”
Josh thought about it for a moment. “Well... If Sam's making an idiot of himself with me, that does make it a bit better...” Pinkie smiled and shoved her hand into some of the crowd next to her, tongue poking out of her mouth in concentration until she pulled out Sam and Fluttershy.
“What just happened?” Sam asked.
Pinkie ignored the question and smiled. “Sam, you and Josh need to play us one of your songs!”
Sam raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious?”
“Pleeeeeaaaaaassssssseeeee?” Pinkie begged.
“Actually, I'd like to hear it too, if that's ok...?” Fluttershy added.
“You alright with this?” Sam directed to Josh.
“Only if you do it with me.” He replied. Sam nodded.
“Alright then, let's do it.”
“Great!” Pinkie answered before vanishing in a pink blur, appearing at the DJ booth and getting everyone's attention.
“Alright everypony! Have I got a treat for you, Sam and Josh have said that they'll perform one of the songs from their world for us.” The crowd cheered and whooped in response. “Come on up boys!”
The two made their way through everyone and walked to the booth. “So what you gonna do for us, guys?”
The two looked at each other and talked between themselves. They eventually turned back, Josh pulling out his phone and choosing the song. “Can we connect this up for the tune?” Sam asked. Vinyl nodded and they got the device connected to the speakers, a little curious of how it worked.
Pinkie handed the microphone over to Sam and gave Josh a second one. “Alright then everyon- I mean, everypony. This is a little something from home, hope you enjoy.”
“And if you think we can't sing, well, it's gonna suck to be you for the next few minutes.”
The tune started flowing from the speakers on stage.
(Sam)
(Josh
“Whatever you do, I'll do it too
Show me everything and tell me how
It all means something
And yet nothing to me”
“I can see there's so much to learn
It's all so close and yet so far
I see myself as people see me
Oh, I just know there's something bigger out there”
“I wanna know, can you show me
I wanna know about these strangers like me
Tell me more, please show me
Some thing's familiar about these strangers like me”
“Every gesture, every move that she makes
Makes me feel like never before
Why do I have
This growing need to be beside her”
“Oh, these emotions I never knew
Of some other world far beyond this place
Beyond the trees, above the clouds
Oh, I see before me a new horizon”
“I wanna know, can you show me
I wanna know about these strangers like me
Tell me more, please show me
Some thing's familiar about these strangers like me”
“Come with me now to see my world
Where there's beauty beyond your dreams"
"Can you feel the things I feel
Right now, with you”
“Take my hand
There's a world I need to know”
“I wanna know, can you show me
I wanna know about these strangers like me
Tell me more, please show me
Some thing's familiar about these strangers like me”
“I wanna know”
The two smiled as the crowd cheered for them.
“Alright then Ponyville, let's keep this party going all night long!” Pinkie yelled, getting roar of approval in return.