Chapter 3: Gems, Magic, and Invitations
"It's a set of cloaking gems. So long as I keep my wings still, they're hidden from view. Isn't it great?" To demonstrate, Argent flared his wings and folded them again. Soft "ooh's" were heard from Mark and Ross each time the wings appeared and disappeared.
"How much did that cost?" asked Lyra and Bon Bon simultaneously.
Serene Breeze waved a hoof dismissively. "Rarity gave it to us, free of charge! 'Anything for a princess,' she said." Mark audibly snorted as Lyra breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, hush you, Argent deserves this after the day he's been through."
Ross was enchanted. "I never knew that unicorn magic could be channeled through gems, let alone as a standalone enchantment! Sure, Twilight has been teaching me on Equestrian history, but this has never been mentioned..." He pulled a notebook and pencil from a nearby saddlebag and began taking notes, his voice muddled by the pencil in his mouth. "Naoh... Youh shaid thath thith wasth a cloakinth spell, yesh?"
"Well, she didn't say much about it. Only that it was a rather complex spell that can be put in all sorts of jewels."
"Oh... I shee..." Ross spit out the pencil. "That's very disappointing. Oh, and Twilight wants to see you for a magic lesson."
"Say what?"
"I said, Twilight wants to teach you how to use magic. You know, since an alicorn that can't use magic is pretty ridiculous."
"I'm going to go, too" Mark chimed in, "but Twilight said that I might not be able to do much, seeing how young I am."
"And... when is this lesson going to be?"
"Well, um, Twilight wanted to meet us as soon as possible."
"Well, let's get going!" Argent took the saddlebags that Ross offered, let Mark hop onto his back, and galloped out the door.
Ross chuckled. "Well, she certainly seems to be feeling better, huh?"
Serene Breeze smacked him lightly with her wing. "Hey, we all agreed to say 'he', remember? But yes, he is much better than this morning."
"Good. I'm glad you're all adjusting." This was Bon Bon. Her voice had changed from doctor-like to a light, airy voice.
Serene Breeze and Ross looked a bit puzzled. "I'm sorry, but... Did your voice change?"
"It's an old medical condition," said Lyra. "She doesn't like to talk about it."
~~~
Princess Celestia looked over Twilight's most recent letter.
"Dear Princess Celestia,
Several ponies have arrived in Ponyville recently. They claim to have been humans, from a place called Earth, in a town known as Deutail. There are four of them, a unicorn, a pegasus, an earth pony, and - can you believe this? - an alicorn! I have begun tutoring them in the ways of magic and Equestrian history. I hope we can become good friends.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle."
Celestia frowned. She knew well of the humans, a very selfish race that had ravaged their world with their petty wars. Hopefully these humans would be exceptions. Thankfully, they had become ponies through whatever force had brought them here. An alicorn as well, interestingly enough. Celestia magically grabbed a quill and began writing a response.
"Dear Twilight,
These humans sound quite interesting. Continue tutoring them, an-" Celestia stopped writing as another letter appeared from mist in front of her. She picked it up and read it.
This was bad. This was very, very bad. She dropped the quill and ran to make preparations.
~~~
Argent supposed that the prospect of a lecture from Twilight shouldn't really have been all that exciting. It wasn't.
Argent and Mark had been sitting in two cramped little desks in Twilight's library for hours. They had been through magic theory, magic history, various useful spells, how to perform a spell, and basically anything that Twilight thought they needed to know, which was just about everything.
"Alright. That just about covers everything." Twilight put away her triple-checked checklist and pulled out a ballpoint pen. "Now that you are both well-introduced into magic, you can try the easiest spell to learn -- Levitation." Twilight magically floated the pen onto Mark's desk.
"Alright, here goes..." Mark started to strain, trying to access his magic reserve.
"Remember, open your Mana lines. The energy will flow from your cutie mark to your horn, just channel it straight through." Mark's horn began to glow with a deep blue light. "That's it, keep going..."
Mark strained harder. The glow was getting brighter, but nothing was happening. Somewhere off in the distance, Argent could hear a deep rumbling. The sound stopped as Mark collapsed to the floor. "N-nothing... I... can't do it..."
Twilight looked puzzled. "That's odd. I felt a good flow of Mana... Oh well. Argent, why don't you give it a try?" The pen floated onto Argent's desk.
Argent breathed deeply. He focused hard, and focused on his horn. Gradually, like a little river, Mana crept up his spine and to the tip of his horn. It glowed a bright lime green.
Twilight nodded. "Good. Your Mana is flowing properly. It'll become easier to open your Mana flows as you perform more spells. Now, direct the energy through your horn."
Argent obliged. He focused his energy towards the pen. A tiny wisp of green light moved from his horn to the writing utensil, and enveloped it. He gasped. He saw the pen in his mind. He could see every piece. He knew how each part moved, he knew how it fit together, he could see, in his mind's eye, exactly how that pen functioned.
He knew how to build one.
The vision broke his concentration, and the magic line snapped. Twilight was clapping. "That's great, Argent! That was almost three feet in the air! That's amazing for your first time!" Mark looked decidedly jealous.
Argent, who was still somewhat dazed, asked, "Um... Twilight? I think something went wro-"
"TWILIGHT!" Pinkie Pie burst through the library door. "I heard that there are a whole FOUR new ponies in town!"
"Well, Pinkie," said Twilight, "two of them are ri-"
"HI THERE! You must be two of the new ponies in town! I'm Pinkie Pie, nice to meet you! I'm gonna throw you four a super-fantastic-amazing-all-night PARTY! Here's an invitation!" The pink pony produced two invitations from her hair, which Argent noted smelled surprisingly like cotton candy. Mark, who was busy having a heart attack, took the invitation with a dazed expression on his face. Argent resisted the urge to hug Pinkie and opened his Mana flow to grab the offered invitation. Argent blinked. A mental schematic for the paper sped through his mind. It was mostly paper, with a large pocket of confetti designed to explode outwards upon opening. Another blink, and it was gone. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I said to not be late, silly! I'm gonna be baking you four plenty of treats to enjoy, and you wouldn't want them to get cold, would you? Well, I see you ponies tomorrow night!" With that and a whoosh of cotton-candy air, Pinkie was gone.
Mark was staring blankly at the invitation. "Who was that?"
"That," said Twilight, closing the library door, "was Pinkie Pie. She's usually a bit more... enthusiastic about new ponies in town, but I guess even Pinkie gets tired sometimes."
"That was her tired? Can't wait to see her excited..." Mark was brushing the confetti out of his coat as he stood up.
Spike called from upstairs, "Twilight, there's a letter from the Princess!"
Twilight called back, "Just a minute!" She turned back to Argent and Mark. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to go."
"That's okay, Twilight," Argent was pushing the door open with his hoof. "But there was something about the spell-" Spike called again from upstairs, cutting off his question.
"I'm sorry, but that will have to wait for tomorrow. Goodnight, Argent, goodnight Mark! We'll have another lesson before the party tomorrow!" Twilight closed the door behind them and sighed. She walked up the stairs, where Spike was still calling.
"Twilight, I think you'd better read this." Spike held up a scroll. Twilight took it.
"My faithful student Twilight,
I would like to meet with these four humans as soon as possible, as well as the other Elements of Harmony. I shall send a royal carriage to get you two mornings from now. It is of the utmost importance that everyone is there. I await your arrival.
~ Princess Celestia"
"What do you think it means, Twilight?"
"I don't know, Spike. Something sounds fishy about this. Why would she need the Elements there, for one? And why is it "of the utmost importance?" I wonder what's going on..."