In spite of the fact that I was now on a holiday of sorts, I still found myself waking up quite early. Not before dawn as I had had to during Applebuck Season, but nevertheless, earlier than most ponies. After a hearty breakfast with the Apple family, we began to discuss what we would do during our short break.
“Ah’ve gotta go and get trainin’ with Rainbow today. Runnin’ of the Leaves’ll be here before ya know it,” Applejack said. “S’pose you better head on down to Town Hall today, Blade Star. That is if yer still up for racin.”
“Course ah am, AJ,” I replied. “I’ll head into town, go to Town Hall, then to Twilight’s. I was kinda hopin’ she’d give me a couple of magic lessons. All Ah’ve got right now is a levitation spell. But yer probably right, I best get trainin' soon.”
“How ‘bout you, big brother?” Applejack asked, turning to Big Mac. “You gonna be settin all the stuff up for Cider Season?”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac replied. I guess somepony had to get everything ready beforehoof for the cider making, from what I had seen, it was a big operation.
“Me an’ the Crusaders are gonna try out a couple of new ideas,” Apple Bloom chipped in. “Just as soon as we think of ‘em.” This spoke to at least a few hours of standing in their clubhouse thinking. What Sherlock Holmes would have undoubtedly called a ‘three pipe problem’. The filly’s comment drew a little, good natured laugh from us all.
After breakfast was done and dusted, I headed out towards Ponyville. I had everything in my head, sorted. I had always done this, forming a mental timetable for the entire day in my head. I wouldn’t be surprised if Twilight did the same thing. Before I left the farm though, I found I had a travelling companion with me.
Winona had joined me on my sojourn into town. The canine barked excitedly and lolled her tongue out. She reminded me of a dog my sister’s godmother had had. In that case though, it did one thing, play fetch. The only problem was, if you began to play with it, it would continue to play with you until time stopped. At least Winona would eventually tire out and settle. For now though she was full of energy.
“What d’you want girl?” I asked in my best impersonation of Jeff Bridges. Sadly, Winona made no comment about looking for the man who killed her father. She only barked and wagged her tail, continuing to follow me. “Oh alright, you can come with me.”
Ponyville was fairly busy when we got there. What little shock had been present in the townsfolk on Monday had evaporated by now; it was just like being in the show. Or a bad HiE fic. I smiled, this sure would make one great story, too bad I’d never be able to write it.
Town Hall was quite busy with the Running of the Leaves fast approaching. Luckily, entry into this competition was straightforward enough. I merely had to fill out one form with my name, address and any medical conditions I had. There was no tiny writing at the bottom with a tick box promising I wouldn’t sue anypony if I got hurt. Did ponies even have the concept of ambulance chasers, I hoped not. Yet another reason I like Equestria, no ambulance chasers.
I met Rainbow Dash in the queue for the forms and we began to chat about recent events. Naturally, Rainbow’s ego being such as it is, she quickly got on to the subject of herself and her depiction in MLP: FiM. I replied that it was a fair representation of her personality and athletic abilities, with perhaps a hint of sarcasm. I avoided a fair bit of the fandom’s comments, particularly regarding certain individuals interpretations of her personality and mane colours. She never struck me as the type anyway, just a bit of tomcolt. I did however, talk at length with her about her time at Wonderbolt Academy, and the similarities it had to a certain school back on Earth.
With the form filled in and handed off to the race officials, I headed towards the library to see Twilight, and possibly Mum and Dad. Due to the number of ponies applying for the upcoming race, the rest of Ponyville was fairly quiet. Winona once again joined me, they didn’t allow dogs in Town Hall, and we both headed to the library.
With the existence of humans in Equestria now revealed to all, Twilight’s front door was no longer locked. However, as this was her home as well as the town’s library, combined with the fact she was a princess, I decided to knock. Twilight herself quickly answered the door.
“Hello Blade Star,” she said brightly. “You know this is a public library right? No need to knock on the door.” I rolled my eyes; I was given a 50/50 chance at picking the correct course of action. Of course I picked the wrong one.
“Just didn’t want to appear rude, Twilight,” I replied. “Hey, are you busy right now?” She replied that she was not. “Well, do you think you could teach me a couple more spells besides levitation? I want to improve my magic a bit.” This caused the alicorn to freeze.
“You want me to teach you magic?” she asked excitedly. “You want to be my student?” I nodded; she seemed to be having another episode. “YAY!” she shouted clapping her front hooves together. “I’ve always wanted to teach somepony else about magic. Come on in, there’s no time to lose.” With that, I was unceremoniously dragged inside.
Twilight immediately launched into a lecture on magic. It tallied with most of my existing understanding of the concept. However, before we could begin, Twilight wanted to test me. She took me well away from Ponyville out near the lake.
“Now, I want you to demonstrate to me the amount of raw magic you have,” she said.
“What do you mean, Twilight?” I asked, prompting the princess to facehoof.
“Perform magic, so I can see how much energy you have,” she replied. I countered that I could only do levitation at present. “No, that’s not what I mean. Instead of casting a spell, just expel the magical energy, like this.” Twilight then charged her horn and let of a, frankly, epic blast, similar to what she had used against the Changelings. “That’s my raw magical power. It isn’t an expression of skill, just energy. That’s why Chrysalis was able to defeat Princess Celestia without being able to move the sun or moon.” Well, that was one plot hole explained.
“I think I get it now, Twilight. I just tease the magic out like I’m casting, then just expel it, right?” She nodded.
“Watch out though, Blade Star. A unicorn’s first expulsion can be quite violent. That’s why I’ve brought us out here,” she cautioned. I nodded in understanding.
I began to summon up the magic in me. I had some control over it, but relaxed it this time. I channelled the magic into my horn; the energy in it began to make my head spin. I doubted my performance would be as brilliant as Twilight’s, she was an alicorn after all, but this was a matter of personal pride. My horn glowed brighter, the usual dark blue aura being replaced by a bright, white light.
“Cast it out now, Blade Star!” Twilight called.
Instantly, I began to expel the magic. Twilight wasn’t kidding about how violent it was. I had to firmly plant all four hooves in the ground just to keep upright. The feeling in my horn was like lava and my ears were filled with the rushing of air. It actually took only three seconds, but it seemed a lot longer. When I had finally expelled all the energy, I was overcome with tiredness and my horn still felt like it was on fire.
“Easy now,” Twilight said. I felt her at my side, steadying me. “Oh, you might want to get that.” I opened my eyes as she indicated my horn. The bloody thing was glowing like kindling! I quickly blew on it, creating another odd sensation in my head and it returned to normal. The tiredness also quickly left me as I recovered.
“How did I do? Did I pass, Princess?” I asked.
“I should say so, Blade Star,” she replied. “While you aren’t as powerful as I was as a unicorn, you do have a fairly high magical power level, above average anyway. That blast would certainly be effective in a fight.” Maybe that was my cutie mark kicking in again. If my special talent was protecting others, then I might need to fight.
With that test done, we returned to the library. Once again poor Spike, with the promise of gems, was roped into being a test dummy for my magic practice. Most of the spells Twilight taught me were to increase my mental discipline, a vital part of controlling magic. Still it was fun to give Spike another moustache. I let him keep it while he went to see Rarity; the little fellow wanted any help he could get in wooing that mare.
Around three we broke for the day. I told Twilight how, with the end of Applebuck Season, I would be mostly free to come and study with her until next Monday. I started to bug out of there when she began to over plan a teaching curriculum. She would be a good teacher, as long as she could repress her need for absolute perfection and timeliness. Still, first lesson, I’d learnt how to blast something into the middle of last week. I looked forward to the lesson we set up for tomorrow.
I headed back toward Sweet Apple Acres, Winona had gotten bored with me and Twilight just talking. I found her waiting for me at the entrance to the place. In the distance I could hear voices. Winona stopped her barking to listen too.
“Is not!” Cried one voice.
“Is to!” Replied the other. This went back and forth several times as we both moved to investigate.
The row was coming from the clubhouse of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Both Winona and me quickly climbed up the steps and entered the clubhouse to see what was going on. It wasn’t unusual for the Crusaders to be arguing over cutie marks, but I thought it would be best if I put a stop to it. As I entered, the Crusaders looked up.
“Alright you three, what’s goin’ on?” I asked. My accent seemed to change depending on whether or not I was on Sweet Apple Acres, or near a member of the Apple family. Yet another thing to ask Twilight. Scootaloo and Apple bloom had been having the small shouting match, with Sweetie Belle playing peacemaker. Apple Bloom spoke up.
“Ah’m tryin’ to prove to Scoots here that our special talent is not arguing,” she said.
“Is to!” countered Scootaloo.
“Is not!” answered Apple Bloom.
“Girls!” I said, silencing them. “By the sounds of it, ya’ll have been arguin for hours, an’ Ah see no cutie mark on any of ya.” Apple Bloom smiled, while Scootaloo blew a raspberry at her. “However, don’t you think you’ve wasted enough time arguin’ when ya could’ve been lookin’ for your cutie marks?” This made them all look down at their hooves dejectedly. Sweetie Belle then spoke up.
“That’s what I was trying to say. While you two were arguing, I thought of a new special talent we could try. Lyra was talking yesterday about studying Blade Star’s family. We could be Cutie Mark Crusader Anthropologists.” There was a silence as I mentally facehoofed. This didn’t last though.
“YAY! CUTIE MARK CRUSADER ANTHROPOLOGISTS!” They all trumpeted before dashing off. My only thought was ‘What have I done?’. It was unbelievably cute though.
With the Crusaders now gone to undoubtedly bother my family, and possibly me for hours, I went back to the farmhouse. I wished I’d brought back some of Luna’s Moonshine; I could really use a bit now.
Applejack returned a few hours later from training for the race. Once again she and Rainbow had turned it into their own private competition, though this time, they planned to have a fair race, without any horseplay. I smiled at my inadvertent pun. She had obviously been training hard; she was still breathing heavily and immediately drank about a pint of apple juice. Regardless, compared to last year, she could only improve, having finished joint last with Rainbow thanks to their continuous one-upmanship.
Apple Bloom returned a while later, having been thrown out of the library by Twilight, along with the other Crusaders, for bothering my parents. She commented that she couldn’t even imagine what an anthropology based cutie mark would look like.
We all sat down to dinner around half-past seven. While the Apple family did enjoy their apples, they did not serve them continuously. Tonight’s dinner was an old family recipe according to Granny Smith. What I got was a great Equestrian version of Ratatouille, a dish I had loved as a child.
With dinner over, after I helped Granny Smith clean up, we all headed to bed. The old mare had stopped protesting at me helping her and had begun using my example as a way to encourage Apple Bloom to do the washing up sometimes. With that I went to bed. Tomorrow I was going back to school. It was certainly nice to have access to a few more spells. I looked forward to an opportunity in the future where I could zip Lizzie’s mouth shut.