//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Unicorns Can Do Magic, Who Knew? // Story: My Little Fantasy // by GuyWhoWritesThings //------------------------------// Chapter 18: Unicorns Can Do Magic, Who Knew? "Fluttershy?" Twilight knocks again. "It's Twilight!" "Just a minute..." a soft voice replies from the other side of the door. Twilight fidgets a bit while Trixie and I both take the time to get a better feel for the cottage's surroundings. There's bird houses in the trees, animal-dug holes in parts of the yard, at least one chicken coop, a bear in sunglasses laying on its back and sunbathing, and... wait a minute. I don't get much time to look at that last one as the door to the cottage creaks open and Fluttershy's face peeks around the partially open door. "Hey Twilight, what can I-..." Her voice trails off as her eyes fall on myself and Trixie. "Oh!" Twilight quickly realizes the problem. "Fluttershy, you... might remember Trixie from the last time she was here in Ponyville?" Twilight motions a hoof to Trixie, who appears to be sizing up Fluttershy silently. "Oh, yes, I do... she's the nice pony who came to Ponyville and put on a magic show that time..." She smiles meekly. "A-and turned Rarity's mane into a rat's nest... oh, it was so hard getting Ms. Squeakums out of there..." "Ah... right." Trixie coughs. "Trixie apologizes about that incident." "I-it's okay, really, though you should probably apologize to Rarity. It was her mane, after all." Trixie's eyes narrow slightly. "Of course, Trixie shall... remember to do so, when the opportunity arises." Fluttershy nods. "But Twilight, I thought you said you and Applejack were meeting Cloud at Dodge Junction?" Her gaze switches to me, but she never ends up meeting my eyes. "W-whose your other friend?" Twilight rolls her eyes. "You just answered your own question, Fluttershy." Her eyes finally meet mine, and before I can tell what's going on, she zips out the door and pushes me inside her cottage. "Look at you! All bundled up! It's because you're cold from not having fur, isn't it?" I try to resist her, but she's... deceptively strong. I can also hear Trixie's muffled snickering behind me. "Uh, Fluttershy, did you forget? I'm not a-" My sentence is cut off when she places a pair of strong hooves onto my shoulders and presses me down onto her couch. A three-foot butter-colored pony with a momma bear complex just overpowered me like it's nothing. Well then. She deftly pulls off my hat and poncho, tossing them into a folded pile next to me, and places a hoof to my forehead. "Good, you don't seem sick anymore!" She pulls back, fluttering in the air in front of me as she scans me with her large eyes. After a moment, she notices the now-bloody bandages on my wrists, swooping in and pulling my arm up in her hooves. "But you're hurt! You poor thing! Whoever put these on didn't do a very good job, either! Now you just wait right there while I get some supplies and we'll clean that right up!" Fluttershy quickly disappears up a flight of nearby stairs, the sounds of rummaging audible from the floor above. The snickering to my left now gives way to a full out roar of laughter, and I turn my head to see Trixie struggling to stop herself rolling on the floor in a fit. Finally getting some control of herself, she jumps up on the couch next to me, pointing a hoof at me and waving it mockingly. "Aww, did widdle Duskie get sick? Does he need mommy-wommy to give him a check-up?" Her jeer is complimented with a second fit of laughter as Twilight gives a defeated sigh and slumps onto her haunches. I shoot Trixie a deadpan expression. "I should light you on fire." "Then Trixie would turn you into a toad!" She raises her head and gives me a smug look. "Then you could stay here with all the other little animals!" Said smug look quickly breaks down into another laughter fit as a yellow blur barrels back down the stairs and scoops up my arm. "Okay, now just hold still!" Fluttershy gets to work, pulling off the old bandages. Before they've even touched the floor, I can feel the sting of disinfectant as she cleans the wound and the tying of fresh bandages across my arm. "There, all done!" Fluttershy gives a satisfied nod, scooping up the old bandages while Trixie's mouth hangs slightly open. "Trixie is... impressed by your first-aide knowledge, pegasus." "Oh, it's nothing really! Sometimes my animals can get in the most awful scuffles so I need to fix them up quickly." Fluttershy's cheery demeanor softens as her voice begins to trail off. "Also, um, it's Fluttershy, please, if you don't mind..." There's an audible slapping sound, and a quick glance shows Twilight's hoof firmly planted against her face. "Fluttershy... bah, forget it." She shakes her head. "Fluttershy, we need your help with something." Fluttershy, well, flutters from me to sit near Twilight. "Why, of course Twilight. What is it? Nobody's hurt, are they?" "No, no, Fluttershy." Twilight shakes her head. "We need to know if you can show us a safe spot near the forest that other ponies don't really go to." In reply to a quizzical look from Fluttershy, Twilight continues. "We need to do some magical tests that aren't safe to do inside the library." "Oh." Fluttershy thinks for a moment, putting a hoof to her chin. While the two are exchanging, I get a better look at the bundled bandages in the pegasus' hooves and notice a bit of black gunk on them in addition to the blood. It looks to be the same color as the muck those creatures spewed whenever I should have drawn blood against them. Lovely, I can't wait to get crazy-cthulu-chupacabra-kitten-rabies. "Hmm... I know a nice spot on the river that might work." Fluttershy speaks back up after a few moments. "There's not many trees or anything. But I'll need to tell the animals to leave for safety, won't I...?" Why is there always a river involved every time I come to this forest? "That would work..." Twilight nods. "Can you show us where it is, Fluttershy? That is, if we didn't catch you in the middle of caring for your animals or anything?" "Oh it would be my pleasure, Twilight." Fluttershy gets up on all fours. "I've already put food out for them all and I think Angel Bunny is off taking a nap." Fluttershy quickly disposes of the old bandages and heads for the door, motioning us to follow. I take the moment to put my hat and poncho back into their now-familiar positions before we leave, just in case. The walk from her cottage isn't too long, following the edge of the forest to the river. We pass plenty more of Fluttershy's animal projects, things from bee farms to more curiosities on par with the sunbathing bear from earlier, though at this point I'm not seeing much value in taking mental note of them. I really do need to stop trying to make sense of this place. "Here it is." Fluttershy says as we crest the top of a small hill, the river at its far foot, a few scattered trees from the Everfree forest to our left, and the occassional rock. Still wondering how or why you'd farm those... Fluttershy spends a few minutes calling out to the few small critters making their homes in the nearby trees to ask them to leave in case of a magical mishap. Surveying the area from the top of the hill some more, I can see that her cottage is still in viewing distance, so it would be easy for her to see us from a window should all three of us spontaneously combust. A likely scenario, given my company. "You should be all clear now, Twilight." Fluttershy says once she's finished talking to the local squirrels. "Try not to damage anything though, Mr. Squirrel wasn't happy about being forced to leave for a while." "We'll be careful, Fluttershy." Twilight reassures her. "Promise." "You need not worry about magical mishaps while The Cautious and Safety-Minded Trixie is here, dear Fluttershy." Right. "While she does not know Twilight Sparkle's track record, she has a very low rate of catastrophic spell failure and only one destroyed town under her belt!" "Yes, I know..." Fluttershy replies in a hushed voice. "That's why I said be careful, please." With that the small pegasus takes her leave, and I begin wondering whether this spot was chosen for being secluded or for being within viewing distance of her cottage. "Hmph!" Trixie pulls the Materia I lent her from her cape with her magic and sits herself down on the slope halfway between the top of the hill and the river bank, turning the green gem over as she peers at it. It doesn't take long for Twilight to notice the Materia and quickly be in front of Trixie, gazing at it as the latter continues turning it over and staring at it with a furrowed brow. "That's one of those stones, isn't it?" "They're called Materia." I inform her as I unsheathe my sword and lay it on the grass. Next to it I begin lining up the different Materia I've collected - first from my pouch, then from my bangle, and finally from my sword. I make a row for each color of Materia in my possession - ten Green, six Blue, four Yellow, and three Red, not counting the one Green Materia that Trixie currently has in her possession. "How do they work?" Twilight's inquisition comes like clockwork as she moves from Trixie over to me. "And... why does Trixie have one?" "Because, Sparkle," Trixie interjects, "Dusk has entrusted his Great and Powerful companion with unlocking the magical potential of this particular stone, as it is beyond his abilities." "I explained this to Trixie earlier," I begin, cutting off that argument before it begins, "Materia is essentially crystallized knowledge. With the right approach, you can put that knowledge to use to do things like the magic you've seen me use before." "So, like a teeny tiny spell book?" Twilight asks as she peers closer at the Materia. "That's exactly what Trixie said they were! It seems in this subject, you're the one walking in my shadow, Sparkle!" "Trixie," I cut in, "if I could turn your ego into electricity, I could power all of Ponyville with it." "Only Ponyville?" She replies, turning her head away from me. "Trixie thinks her ego would at least handle a small city, thank you very much." "Anyway." Twilight pulls the conversation back to the original topic. "What do you need to do in order to make them work? You don't exactly have magic like a unicorn does so I'm guessing you don't flow magic energy through them." "Based on the bits and pieces I can remember," I scoop up one of the Green Materia - Lightning - and turn it over in my fingers, "it's kind of like... flowing your life energy through them. It's why I get fatigued after using the magic inside them too much." I look over to Twilight and see her with a notebook in front of her, wherever she got it from, her horn glowing as she furiously scribbles down notes about this new form of magic she's clearly not encountered before. "For example, I can just hold the Materia in my hand like this, and..." I stand up and turn, facing my palm towards an empty patch of grass. The Materia in my hand glows, and the soft green aura appears around me for a moment as a lightning bolt manifests, streaking out and striking against the ground with a clash of thunder. "As long as you can visualize what you want to do in your mind's eye, if the Materia is capable of it, it'll happen." "So why was Trixie never given this complex explanation before, Dusk?" The annoyance-tinged question cuts off what would've been the next part of my explanation. "You never asked?" Though that reply isn't entirely honest. While much of my explanation is made of bits and pieces I've scrapped together from my memories, they're weaving themselves together a lot more cooperatively than usual. Maybe this is what the dream last night meant when it referred to a 'gift'? Making it easier for my memories to string themselves together? "Hmm." Twilight's thoughtful murmur cuts through the awkward silence as her face scrunches. "So not entirely different from unicorn magic... those... Materia, you called them? They seem more like catalysts when described that way." "Maybe." I sit back down and pull my sword across my lap, setting the Lightning Materia into one of the paired Materia inlays, and one of the Blue 'All' Materia into the adjoining slot. "Equipment like this sword and my bangle use these inlaid slots and a special construction to allow people to have access to more Materia than they would normally be able to hold." I stop my explanation and take a minute to sweep my eyes along the field again. For some reason, part of me expects to see a disembodied pointer finger floating around above us, but thankfully I'm not completely insane yet, so I continue on and try to play the pause off. "These connected slots allow two Materia to interact directly when one of them is used, which can create more powerful effects in a pinch." I stand up again, holding my sword limply in my right hand, clenching my left. Once the energy has reached it's peak, I release my hand, motioning it toward more empty patch once more as a multiple arcs of lightning race out, slamming into the ground and singing the grass. Twilight nods and pulls herself up from her notes. "I see..." She places a hoof under her chin in thought. "And the different colors of these Materia are the different kinds, right?" "...Right." It takes me a second to confirm, taking a breath as I gaze over the assortment of Materia again, some of their uses coming back to me in quick succession, even if their names immediately don't. I quickly move to confirm the information forcing its way into my head, removing the two Materia in my sword and replacing them with a different Blue Materia along with the Fire Materia. I concentrate on them for a moment then swing the blade in a horizontal arc, watching as the blade bursts into flames temporarily, before resuming its original form as if the fire never touched it. Twilight jots a few more quick notes down. "Let me try!" She exclaims as I see the Lighting Materia get wrapped in a lavender glow and levitate over toward her horn. "Trying to surpass The Great and Powerful Trixie again, Sparkle?" Trixie quips. "She will have you know that these gems are not as easy to utilize as her assistant makes them look, and she-" Her sentence is cut short by a resounding bang of thunder as an arc of lightning flies out from Twilight's horn and into the sky. We both look to see Twilight with the Lighting Materia pressed against the tip of her horn, stomping her front hooves quickly in front of her with an excited look on her face. I then turn to Trixie to see a venomous glare that makes me wish I could be anywhere else at this moment. "Hmph." Trixie quickly regains her composure, avoiding one of her patented freakouts. "It is merely because that one is far simpler than Trixie's own, Sparkle." She turns back to the Materia in her own grip and presses it against her horn in a way similar to Twilight, clearly trying to imitate her. "Do not become smug and think you have bested The Great and Powerful Trixie in this exploration of new magical properties!" Twilight, thankfully, takes it in stride and giggles into one of her forehooves. "I can show you how to do it with this one if you want, Trixie. Though..." Twilight yawns. "it's... a lot more draining than I expected, given how easily Cloud can use them." Trixie drops the Materia I left in her care at her hooves and scoops up the Lightning one from Twilight, pressing it to her horn instead. "It is clear that you just lack magical stamina, Sparkle! Trixie shall show you how it is done!" She turns her head skyward, similar to how Twilight aimed hers before. "Now work, you infernal green gemstone of Trixie's ire!" "You see, Trixie," Twilight stands up and begins pacing, full lecture-mode apparently engaged, "the trick is to focus your thoughts, and resist the urge to try and use the spells with your unicorn magic, as Cloud described." "Trixie got that far, Sparkle." "Right. So, just close your eyes and concentrate. When I did it, I was able to make a... mental connection, for lack of a better term, with whatever magic resides inside the Materia." Twilight's pacing changes direction, making alternating half-circles around Trixie's sides and back, avoiding the front for obvious reasons. "From there, you can just will your thoughts into it, and it takes some of your energy, and then it just... happens." "I expected a far more scientific explanation than that from you of all ponies, Sparkle." Comes Trixie's annoyed reply, her eyes shut as she does her best to not lose her concentration due to the conversation. "I would need to do much more testing to make a more scientific explanation than that." Twilight replies. "Things like these don't exactly exist anywhere in Equestria for me to draw comparisons with, except for possibly the Elements of Harmony." There's that phrase again. Trixie had used the phrase 'Elements of Harmony' when I first met her as well. Some kind of magical artifacts native to this place then? Maybe I need to flip the tables on Twilight and be the one asking about Equestrian magics at some point... My train of thought is cut off by a second bang as the Lightning spell erupts again, this time from Trixie's horn, cutting its way into the normally pale-blue sky, which is currently tinted the most barely noticeable touch of green from the Lifestream behind it. "Ahah! Trixie is victorious, as usual! Take that, stupid green magical orb thing!" Her proud declaration is soon followed by a yawn mirroring Twilight's. "Though she now understands what you meant by fatigue, Sparkle." "It's strange, isn't it?" Twilight stretches her four limbs and resumes her pacing. "It's not like the exhaustion from using too much unicorn magic. Cloud said they run off life-force of some kind, so maybe the... stuff he's made up of magically is different enough from ponies that he can use it repeatedly without rest and we can't?" "Stuff, Sparkle?" Trixie looks at her with a raised eyebrow as the Materia is released from her grip and falls to the hill at her hooves. "Simplifying, Trixie." Twilight says, still pacing. "My friends say it's something I need to work on." "Trixie does not require your simplification, Twilight Sparkle! She knows how magic... stuff... works!" The tell-tale 'hmph' strikes once more as Trixie turns her head away from the other unicorn, though a thought hits me as I process Twilight's hypothesis. "The diamond dog who had this sword before me had no problem using the Materia, though." If it's true that them becoming fatigued is a 'magical stuff' problem, shouldn't it also affect them? "...Diamond dogs were using the Materia?" Twilight turns to me with a concerned expression and a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, we encountered some in Appleloosa, not long after I first met small, blue, and cocky over there." I begin to explain. "Trixie is not 'cocky', Dusk!" Said small, blue, and cocky butts in. "She is merely knowledgeable and confident in her abilities!" I ignore her and keep going. "We spent the day there after creatively borrowing a train ride from the Everfree Forest, and Trixie was able to get a small performance in that let us pay for the night's inn and the train to Dodge Junction. That night, though, I heard a commotion outside and saw the diamond dogs hassling the sheriff and waving this sword around." I hold up my most recently acquired 'family heirloom' so Twilight can get a better look at it. "I see." Twilight nods. "And I assume the sword was full of Materia when the Diamond Dogs had it as well?" "Yes." I continue. "I tried intimidating them with my Fire Materia, but they replied by using a Materia called Poison to nearly melt off my face. Not the most pleasant experience. But the sheriff and I got them in the end." "Don't you dare leave out Trixie's accomplishments, Dusk!" The peanut gallery hollers. "She got the high score that night! Four mangy mutts with just one barrel!" "I suppose it makes sense if diamond dogs were near Appleloosa, they would seek out the Materia. They have a thing for rare gems, but that's quite a bit away from where they usually hunt for them." Twilight muses, having herself become an expert at ignoring Trixie's outbursts rather quickly. "Though, how would they know how to use the Materia? Even I had to have you explain it some before I could use it." Her hoof reaches under her chin as she mulls it over, trying to think of a solution to the connundrum. I look towards the river again, that hoof flexibility still giving me a bit of a shudder. "Maybe they also have a teacher." Trixie chimes in, this time with far less arrogance, and we both turn to her. "Who is to say that Dusk is the only of his kind in Equestria?" "Possible... but who else would be in Equestria?" Both Twilight and Trixie turn to me as Twilight asks her question, as if she expects me to answer. I shrug. Meanwhile, Trixie levitates one of the Red Materia up and to her horn, and I get a sinking feeling in my gut as Trixie changes the conversation topic fast enough to give everyone present whiplash. "Now that Trixie has mastered the green gem, she shall unlock the potential of the red gem!" Her eyes close as she concentrates, her magic aura gripping tightly around the Materia. "Watch and be amazed!" Her eyebrows furrow, a bead of sweat drips from her forehead, and after a moment the soft green glow of a spell casting emanates around her, the Materia letting off a dull glow. Before she can put enough energy into it for a spell to come out, though, she drops it, panting, a sound that's only interrupted by a small clink of gems as the Red Materia lands on top of the Lightning Materia and slowly rolls to the side. "You okay there?" I ask, turning to her. She does look more strained than I've ever seen her. "The red ones are worthless!" Trixie spits out. "No spell can be worth that much energy outside of opening a direct portal to Tartarus itself!" Twilight laughs. "We should get back to Ponyville soon, anyway. As much as I want to keep experimenting with these," her eyes and a hoof pan over the collection of Materia on the grass for a moment, "if we intend to put on another magic show for Ponyville we'll need to talk to Rarity about costumes and decoration, and Pinkie Pie probably has some party supplies we can make use of for something." Not the pink one. "I suppose you are right, Sparkle." Trixie replies, having collected herself and now straightening her hat and cape as she levitates the Materia I gave her back into her pocket. "Assistant! Clean up the pretty magic gems so we can continue on our quest to rebuild Trixie's career!" I shoot her a glare that she replies to with a proud smirk then turn my attention down to the Materia. I place the Lightning Materia and All Materia combination into my bangle along with the Time and All combination. Those two have been too useful to risk losing should I be disarmed. With them I place one more of the Green Materia - the 'Poison' one that Beethoven nearly gooped me with - along with another Blue Materia to experiment with later, then the Barrier Materia and a final Green Materia I've yet to test. In the sword, I- "Hurry up! Trixie grows impatient, Dusk!" I quickly note to replace my ear drums later as I place another Green Materia and Blue Materia combination to test with, two Yellow Materia at random, and slot in the Red Materia and Blue Materia combination in the final two slots. The lattermost combination is the same Red and Blue combination that was in the sword when I found it, something inside telling me not to remove it. I slip the sword into its sheathe and scoop the rest of the Materia back up into my pocket. With a small sprint I've caught up to the others, who've moved to the top of the hill and are ready to begin the trek back to Ponyville. "Let's meet up with Rarity first." Twilight says once our group is assembled. "We can have her decorate the library and use it as an impromptu stage for the performance. Maybe we can even get matching costumes!" Twilight clops her front hooves together cheerfully. "Trixie likes her costume just fine, Sparkle!" The blue unicorn retorts. "Besides, Rarity, that is... the white one that the pegasus before spoke of, who Trixie turned the mane of into a nest, is it not?" "...That did happen, didn't it?" Twilight responds, deflating slightly. "Trixie feels she will not be so eager to see Trixie's career be rebuilt, nevermind play a helping hoof in the act." "It'll be fine!" Twilight replies, said deflating already gone as she beams. "Rarity's the most generous pony I know! I'm sure she can forgive and forget!" I let out a sigh. Hopefully I can get as far from the brewing storm as possible, because I can already hear the 'choo-choo' of a train bracing itself for the wreck that is yet to come. Or at least, I did hear it, until the conductor put it on warp speed and it came at us in the form of a blue blur with a rainbow trail. "Twilight!" Rainbow Dash exclaims, having cut us off in a blur of speed. "Did you see the crazy reverse lightning show? I was taking a nap and-" Her eyes move from the lavender unicorn to the azure one and she leaps forward, quickly becoming snout-to-snout with Trixie. "You!" Twilight sighs. "Rainbow, it's fine. The lightning was just us. I was doing some testing of a new kind of magic with Cloud and Trixie. I'm sure you remember Cloud," she finally turns and sees the two blue ponies locked in their staring contest, neither backing down, "and I see you remember Trixie." "How could I forget? She came in here all running her mouth then totally embarrassed Rarity and Applejack!" Rainbow Dash finally pulls away from Trixie. "Why is she here, anyway?" "Trixie remembers it as you coming on stage to heckle her show and being sent away once you had the fact your heckles were unfounded demonstrated to you." Oh boy, here we go. Rainbow Dash glares at Trixie with crossed hooves, hovering in place with her wings. Before she can retort, however, Twilight cuts in to save the day. "Trixie is here because she's friends with Cloud, and now she's friends with me. She's also sorry for her behaviour last time she was here in Ponyville, aren't you, Trixie?" "Dusk is Trixie's assistant." Trixie 'corrects' Twilight. "And yes," she fumbles for a moment, "Trixie... apologizes for being unnecessarily rough while handling your heckling of her premiere performance in Ponyville." "Some apology..." Rainbow Dash grumbles, still glaring at the showmare. "More importantly!" Twilight cuts in to continue her rousing act of friendship heroism. "Trixie and I are putting on a grand magical stage performance tonight, Rainbow Dash! Isn't that exciting? We did one in Dodge Junction yesterday and it was so much fun!" "Wait a minute." Rainbow Dash begins processing the new information. "Last time she was here, she got Snips and Snails to drag an ursa minor into the town, and this time you want to get on stage and help her?" "Come on, Rainbow Dash, that was just an accident!" Twilight replies. "It's not like Trixie brought it here herself, or like she didn't at least try to stop it." "Quite." Trixie agrees. "She also ran away like a scared little filly and let you fix her mess." Rainbow continues, not letting Twilight wriggle Trixie out of blame so easily. "...Quite." Trixie agrees again far more quietly, shrinking back slightly. "It'll be fine, Rainbow." Twilight assures her. "Trixie's not a bad pony deep down, just a bit... rough around the edges." "Only she has as many edges as one of those ten sided square... things." "You mean a decagon?" Twilight raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, one of those." Rainbow Dash nods smugly. "If you're so worried, Rainbow, why don't you just come with us?" Twilight offers. "We're off to see Rarity anyway, I'll need her help with decorating the library for the performance." "I'm preeeeeeetty sure Rarity hates your new friend even more than I do." Rainbow Dash replies, looking at Twilight quizzically. "You know how she gets with her appearance and her frou-frou... stuff." Rainbow Dash, for her part, though, stops blocking our path, instead hovering lazily above us as we continue our walk back into Ponyville. "Trixie will just need to apologize, then." The abnormally quiet blue unicorn comments. "Once she explains that she apologizes for making such an uncouth and low blow at her appearance during our impromtu duel, and explains she should have handled the situation by turning the dress she made by destroying Trixie's property into rags instead, all shall be cleared up, and we can get busy with entertaining the Ponyville masses!" "You... might want to leave out that last part." Rainbow Dash replies as she narrows her eyes at Trixie. "Perhaps..." Trixie places a hoof under her chin in thought at the recommendation, and both Twilight and I can't help it when our hoof and hand make respective contact with our faces. This wreck is going to need a bigger train.