Chapter 2: Giving Ponies Power
“Are we really gonna get magic?” Scootaloo asked, bouncing with excitement.
“That's right,” Midnight chuckled, wondering how they can still be so adorable just one year from adulthood. “Jacob said pony magic doesn't interfere with rune magic. We're just waiting for him to calibrate the rune press.”
After a couple hours of testing, Jacob and Rarity descended into her forge to begin work on a rune press, a machine used to attach runes to living beings. After it's completion, it was taken to the basement of Midnight's workshop to be assembled. At the moment, the bearers of Harmony and Order were awaiting the human in the main workroom.
“Why's he need that do-hicky, anyway?” Applebloom asked. “Ah've seen you put runes on your golems without no machine.”
“That's enchanting an inanimate object,” Midnight explained. “Inscribing a rune to a living thing ties it to your own mana font, a much more complex procedure.”
“Sweet!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “I'm gonna get one that shoot lightning! Oh! Or even better, one that sucks all the light away, so everyone else is blind!” She dropped into a 'dangerous' pose, her front end lowered, and her tail in the air. “Then, they're in my world! Hehehe.”
“Scootaloo, could you please get your plot out of my face,” Sweetie complained, swatting her hind-end with a hoof.
“Sorry, Scoots, but before you get anything we have to determine your elemental alignment,” Midnight explained.
“Excuse me, Midnight, darling,” Rarity interjected, her mane was freshly styled after her quick shower after forging the parts Jacob needed, “but that should be quite obvious. Surely you know by now that unicorns are aligned to fire, pegasi to air, and earth ponies to, well, earth. Is this necessary?”
“Those are for pony magic not rune magic,” the blue stallion clarified. “Pony elements are much more abstract than rune elements. In rune magic, there are eight elements, fire, air, water, earth, mind, body, spirit, and shadow. The nature elements, fire, air, water, and earth, are pretty self explanatory and are the most common and versatile of the elements. The mortal elements, mind and body, tend to affect the caster and the caster's allies. They can make you faster, stronger, more or perceptive. Everypony will be getting at least one mortal rune, likely more. Spirit and shadow, also sometimes called 'light and dark' are the divine elements. These are the most difficult to control, and are the most difficult to understand. Two or three of you might have one of these.”
“Your seal thingie lets you use all of 'em, right?” Rainbow asked.
“Yes, but I'm best with water, and spirit. My earth and shadow are pretty good, and body is decent, though.” Midnight demonstrated by waving a hoof around, gathering moisture from the air into a small ball.
“So, why can't we just get one of those?”
Midnight let the ball evaporate with a simple fire seal spell. “Well, two reasons. The first is because you're ponies, and seals require human magic. The second is because this is a greater seal, and lets me use all types of magic. There aren't many people that can handle one of these. Most only allow access to a single element.”
“Alright, big brony, enough exposition,” Jacob said as he emerged from the basement. “Let's get started.”
Midnight raised an eyebrow. “Brony?”
“Yeah. 'Brother-pony', brony.”
The stallion just chuckled and shook his head. “Alright, let's get started. Who's first?”
Immediately, Scootaloo, Applebloom, Pinkie, and Rainbow shot their hooves up, shouting “me me me”. Midnight smiled and rolled his eyes.
He pointed to the blue pegasus and said, “Rainbow, you were patient with Jacob's compatibility tests, so you're up.”
“Sweet! I bet I'm one of those divine ones,” Rainbow said, as she fluttered in front of Jacob.
“Alright, hold still.” Jacob reached a hand out, the seal on the back of his hand lighting up as whips of clear, water-like energy swept from his hand to the pegasus. Rainbow shivered at the sensation of the energy washing over her body. When the energy pulled back, Jacob said, “Air and fire. Makes sense considering you work with weather. Next!”
Scootaloo jumped in front of the human before anyone else could say anything. Jacob regarded the blind pegasus with curiosity.
“Um, miss...”
“Scootaloo.”
“Scootaloo... Don't take this the wrong way, but... you're blind, right?”
Scootaloo smirked. “Nope, I just don't have eyes. I can see magic. In fact, I was watching what you were doing from here. You got some nice dance moves.”
Jacob's eyes widened. “Ahahaha!” he laughed unconvincingly. “You're such a little joker. I wasn't dan-”
“Yes you were,” Midnight interrupted. “You always dance when you work on machines.”
“I hate you, David. Just so you know.”
Midnight just patted his brother on the back and said, “I love you too.”
“Anyway,” Jacob said, pushing Midnight's hoof away, “Back to work.” He repeated the process he used on Rainbow with Scootaloo. “Fire and shadow, nice. Next”
Applebloom; “Earth and body.”
Sweetie; “Water and mind.”
Applejack; “Fire and water.”
Rarity; “Earth and water.”
Pinkie; “Air and spirit.”
Fluttershy; “Spirit and body.”
Finally, Twilight stepped up. Jacob whistled as the scan completed. “You weren't kidding, bro. She's a hell of a mage. Light and Shadow.”
Midnight laughed at that, “Why am I not surprised.”
“I take it that's a big deal?” Twilight inquired.
“It's pretty rare,” Jacob explained, “Only one out of a couple thousand have both divines. I mean, it doesn't make you some kind of overpowered action star, but it'll leave you with some great options.”
With that said, Jacob clapped his hands together. “Okay, now for the runes. Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack, you three are first.”
The human walked over to the basement door and guided the ponies down.
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The basement door opened again and Jacob led out an excited Scootaloo.
“Come on,” Scootaloo said impatiently, “I wanna try it!”
Jacob laughed, “In a minute. Let's make sure you know how first.”
“Great,” Midnight said. “Now that everyone has their runes, let's head outside.”
“Alright!” Rainbow cheered. “This is going to rock! It'll be like that time we got sucked in Spike's comic, but without the necklace thing.”
Midnight scoffed, “And I can do more than control fish. Worst power ever.”
“What was this now?” Jacob asked, giving his brother a confused look.
“I'll tell you later.” Midnight stopped the group and turned to face them. “Alright. This should be good. Alright, I want all of you to take notice of your forehooves, specifically the area with the seal on it. I trust everyone knows the basics of channeling magic?” It was something every pony of every tribe learned after all. “Select an offensive rune that isn't fire. Alright, now raise that hoof so you can see where the rune is. Scootaloo is exempt from that part.” Midnight grinned at the little pegasus, knowing he ruined a joke opportunity for the filly.
“Now, I want you to focus on the spot your rune is. Focus on the rune, and channel magic into the rune. When it appears and starts to glow, you did it right. Only channel, do not cast.”
Being a skill taught in elementary school, the channeling didn't take long, especially for the earth ponies who were accustom to channeling magic through their hooves. Rainbow Dash, being a weather mare, also had no trouble at all. After everypony had glowing hooves, he continued.
“Alright, do you feel that warmth?” Midnight asked, getting several confirmations. “Good, now, I want you to lock your sights onto your target, and push that warmth out. Will it toward your target.”
Surprisingly, Applejack was the first to get it right. A spear of ice formed just beside her left shoulder and flew along her outstretched foreleg, impaling the stone target. Pinkie and Twilight were next, twin tendrils of shadow lancing two more targets. One by one, each of the ponies successfully cast their first rune spells.
A smile spread across Midnight's face. “Good. You're all naturals. We're going to practice with these until it feels more natural, then we'll break.”
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Jacob relaxed, laying in the grass of the little hill they commandeered for a picnic. The food was good, if mostly vegetarian. At least there was fish. He was afraid to broach the subject of getting meat, but didn't even have to. Twilight had said she was going to send a letter to a place in Canterlot that ships meat. Turns out, most of the other races in this world are omnivores. Griffins, minotaurs, dragons, diamond dogs, and a few others all eat meat, and many of them call Equestria home. Because of that, ponies are entirely tolerant of meat eaters.
“... And then, ka-zap, lightning from my hooves?!” Rainbow, Pinkie, and Scootaloo were still gushing about their new runes.
“It was awesome!” Scootaloo cheered, “Man, I wish I could actually see it.”
Jacob looked at the filly. His curiosity finally getting the better of him, he stood up and approached the kid.
“What's up, Jacob,” the filly said, still facing away from him.
“I was just curious about you. Well, your sight, anyway,” he replied, ignoring the glare from the filly's adoptive mother. “Looking at the scar, and that David says you see magic, there has to be an awesome story there.”
“Heck yeah there is. They could write a book about the me,” the filly said with a grin. “When I was nine, me and the girls tried building a glider, but it crashed in the forest and we were attacked by a monster. The thing ripped my eyes out, but Midnight kicked its butt!”
Jacob chuckled at that. “Yeah, my big bro is good at that. So how did you get this sight power?”
“Well, two years ago, me and the girls were driving around in our buggy when we were carried off by a roc, a huge eagle that can eat a whale... now that I think about it, me getting blind and me getting my sight both started with us flying... weird. Anyway, Midnight got it to drop us, but when it did, we fell down into this crazy future-y place from the past.”
“Future-y place from the past?” Jacob inquired.
“Yeah, I guess a long time ago, ponies were smarter. But, when we were trying to find a way out, I laid down in this bed in a science lab and the thing closed up on me. It stabbed me with a needle in the back of the neck and gave me my sight.”
“Wow,” Jacob said. “You've been through a lot. So, you can't see normally, but you used to be able to?”
“Yeah, why?”
Jacob thought for a moment before standing up. “I have an idea. Come on.”
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About a half hour later, the two returned to the others.
“Where did you guys go?” Rainbow asked.
“I had an idea for a rune to give Scootaloo, here,” Jacob answered. “You want to volunteer for the testing?”
Rainbow glared at the human. “I'm not that stupid. Why would I let Scoots shoot me with whatever you gave her?”
“Because it’s not an offensive rune. It won't hurt you at all, but it will help her,” the human answered.
“Seriously?” Rainbow asked. At Jacob's nod, she said, “Okay, I guess. But if it hurts, I’m bucking you in the jaw.”
“Excellent! Stand in front of Scootaloo and close your eyes.”
Rainbow did what she was told, and whispered to her daughter, “What is this going to do?”
“I don't know. He didn't tell me,” the orange filly replied.
“Alright, Scoots,” Jacob said with a big grin. “Let 'er rip.”
Scootaloo focused on her new rune, the magical symbol glowing on her forehead. When she was ready, she cast the spell, a beam of green colored magic shooting to her mother's forehead. As quick as it began, it ended.
“Alright, Rainbow,” Jacob said. “Open your eyes.”
The colorful pegasus opened her eyes and a gasp was heard. Rainbow looked at her friends to see what happened to her, but they just looked confused. Curious, she looked back to her daughter to see the awe-struck look on her face.
“Scoots?”
“I... I...” Scootaloo tried to speak. “I can see myself.”