//------------------------------// // Episode 6-Magical Mayhem // Story: Adventures in Magic and Friendship: Season 1 // by kurusagi16 //------------------------------// Episode 6-Magical Mayhem Harmony paced in front of the throne room doors of Canterlot Castle. Princess Celestia had summoned Harmony, informing her that she'd like to speak to her about her progress in her magical training. This, understandably, made Harmony a little nervous. What did the princess want to talk about? Was she in trouble? Did she not do well in the numerous tests Twilight gave her? Harmony shook her head at the last one. Twilight had given her a crash course, as well as dozens of reviews and exams on the basics of magic. Harmony had gotten a headache afterward from taking in so much information. But now, she had a much better understanding of how magic worked, and basic spells (which wasn't too bad given that Twilight had been teaching her for several weeks or so). Point being, she felt she was doing well in passing Twilight's tests and better understanding magic. As the doors opened, Harmony stopped her pacing, and took a deep breath before entering inside to meet with the princess. "Ah, Harmony! I'm glad you could make it." said Princess Celestia as she saw Harmony enter. "You wanted to talk to me about something?" inquired Harmony. Celestia nodded. "Yes, in regards to your studies." she said. Harmony held her breath. Here it comes. she thought. "You've been progressing nicely with your training, Twilight has told me all about how you've been passing your tests with flying colors." Harmony let out a small sigh of relief and felt her shoulders relax. It looked like she had nothing to worry about after all. "However..." And just as quickly that relief was now gone. "...while you are doing well on your tests, and while you are steadily learning more and more about magic, you still need to work on exercising your powers." "Huh?" The princess then went on to explain. "You've managed to gain some control over your powers, but you haven't been practicing actually using your powers." "That's not true." said Harmony. "Well, not completely anyway." Harmony then told Celestia about the few instances in which she used her magic, like when she helped Posey escape the Timber wolves and teleported to the Dragon lands. "Still, while you have been able to do those things, you still have a long way to go before you can use your magic to its full potential." said Celestia. "I understand princess." said Harmony. "It's just that, I've never really needed to use magic before, I'm more used to doing things by hoof." "Be that as it may, as the Spirit of Harmony, you will be given many responsibilities in the future, witch will require you using your magic." Harmony lifted her gaze to meet Celestia's. She seemed to have a good point. She still didn't know all the details of being a Spirit of Harmony, but if it meant having these powers, it probably meant she had to learn to use them. For what, she still had yet to find out. "So, what do you want me to do, your highness?" asked Harmony. Celestia smiled kindly at her. "The reason I called you here Harmony, was to tell you to keep up with your training, and to practice using your magic. Other than that, you've been doing quite well." she said. Harmony nodded in agreement, finally getting at what Celestia was saying. 'You're doing good, but you could be better,' that was basically what it boiled down to. "Once I raise my magical skills, then what do I do next?" she asked. "Next, you will be moving onto the next phase of your training. You shall be given tests that are a bit different, and are more practical than the ones you are used to. Once you've demonstrated that you are able to take on the responsibility of a spirit and have mastered your newfound powers, you will have completed your training." answered Celestia. "I know all of this is still fairly new and strange to you, but I know that you'll be able to do it in no time." Easier said than done. Harmony thought grimly. Celestia seemed so sure of her, even though Harmony still had a few doubts that lingered in her. Could she really master her powers as easily as Celestia made it sound and meet her expectations? She stole a quick glance at the princess' warm smile as she waited for Harmony's reply. "You can count on me, princess." Harmony finally replied back. "I'll work hard to complete my training." "I look forward to hearing about it." said Princess Celestia. Harmony smiled and waved goodbye to the princess as she headed out of the throne room, but as soon as she left and the door closed behind her, Harmony's smile dropped and she let out a sigh. "Yeah, I look forward to it too." Harmony muttered to herself in a slightly sarcastic tone. And off she went, heading on home. In Harmony's house... Harmony had cleared away some space in her living room so she could start practicing her levitation, and from there, she could move onto other kinds of spells. "It should be too hard, right?" Harmony asked her jackalope Tempo. "I mean, I can levitate myself off the ground, so it shouldn't be a problem to lift a few little objects." Tempo nodded in agreement, yet he kept a safe distance away, just to be on the safe side. In the middle of the room, Harmony set down a small paperweight, and looked at it with determination. "Alright, here it goes." she said. She focused her magic on the paperweight, willing it to levitate. After five minutes...nothing happened. Harmony narrowed her eyes as she tried once again to levitate the paperweight, and still nothing happened. Harmony let out a groan of frustration. "Ugh! Why isn't this working?" Seeing that it was safe, Tempo stepped further into the living room and tapped the paperweight with a furry paw. Meanwhile, Harmony picked up on of the spell books Twilight had given her to look over and scanned over the page that had the levitation spell. "I don't get it, I should be able to do it." Harmony muttered to herself. She closed the book with a loud slam. "It looks like this won't be as easy as I thought. Knock! Knock! Harmony's head turned toward the door, and her ears perked up as they heard the voices of her friends calling out, "Hey, Harmony! Are you home?" "Hold on!" Harmony called back, trotting to the door. She opened it and was greeted by all her friends, Flurry, Morning Star, Sparks, Kimono, and Razzaroo. "Hey girls, what brings you here?" "We heard from Flurry who heard from Princess Twilight who heard from Princess Celestia that you're practicing using your magic." answered Razzaroo giddily. "So we came to see for ourselves how you're doing." Harmony cracked a nervous smile. "I'm doing just fine." replied Harmony. "In fact, I was just in the middle of practicing before you guys showed up." "Oh, sorry, we didn't mean to intrude." said Flurry Heart. "We can leave if you want, and talk to you later." "No, no, it's fine." said Harmony. "I was about to take a quick break anyway, why don't you all come inside?" The girls accepted Harmony's invitation and entered into the house. "All the furniture's moved around." remarked Sparks, taking immediate note of the living room that now had more space. "Have you been doing some cleaning or something." "No, I was just doing a little levitation, that's all." said Harmony. "So you levitated all the furniture?" asked Razzaroo, now looking at the furniture with wide eyes. "Not ex--" "That's so cool!" said Razzaroo, cutting her off. "Is it difficult?" Kimono asked. Once again, before Harmony could answer, Morning Star spoke up and said, "Are you kidding? Levitation is one of the easiest, most basic of spells. Even a foal could do it blindfolded." Harmony cringed a little and tried to cover it with a nervous smile. A foal huh? she thought grimly. Then it looks like I need even more work than I thought. "Well, I thought I might as well brush up on the basics and move on from there." said Harmony. "I think that's a great idea." chimed in Razzaroo, popping up next to Harmony. "You know what they say, once you master the basics, you can accomplish anything." "Who said that?" asked Sparks. Razzaroo shrugged. "I dunno, but it sounds like good advice, right?" "it is, very good advice." said Flurry Heart. She then turned to Harmony and said, "And if you want, I can always give you a few pointers and help you out with your studying." "Me too." added Morning Star. "In fact, I think I still have my old textbooks from magic kindergarten back home in the empire." "No, no, you girls don't have to do that." said Harmony. "I appreciate the offer, really, but if you don't mind, I kinda wanna learn it on my own. You know, so I can be able to do it myself." "Okay then, but remember, if you ever need any help, just feel free to ask." said Flurry. "I'll keep that in mind." replied Harmony. "Hey, since it's around lunchtime, do you wanna come and have lunch with us?" asked Sparks. "Razzaroo and Kimono said that they wanted to show us The Tasty Treat." Harmony shook her head. "No thank you, I think I'll just stay here and do a little more practicing." "Are you sure?" asked Razzaroo. "Yes, you girls just go on and have fun." "Alright, if you're sure." said Razzaroo. The girls turned and began to file out of the house. Flurry lingered and said to Harmony, "If you change your mind, you know where to find us." she said. She then used her magic to close the door behind her, and she and the girls were gone. Harmony heaved another sigh and looked down at Tempo, who was giving her a look as he had his arms folded over his chest. "What?" she asked him. Tempo pointed a little paw at the paperweight, and then at the door where her friends had just left through. "I know, I know, I should've told them I needed a little help." she said with an eye roll. "But like I told them, I want to be able to do it myself, and in order to do that, I can't have them helping. I need to do it all on my own." Tempo frowned and shook his head. "You'll see Tempy, I'll get this magic thing down in no time. All it'll take is a bit of practicing and a little extra studying. Just you wait." * * * A few hours later... "Alright, I think I've got it now." said Harmony. She focused her magic on the paperweight once more and managed to surrounded with a silvery magical aura. She grinned to herself as the weight lifted an inch off the ground. "That's it, just a little more..." Harmony willed the paperweight to lift higher into the air, but after about 30 seconds, the weight fell back down to the floor with a plunk. Harmony groaned. "Darn it!" She stamped her hoof down onto the floor in frustration. Nearby, was sitting on the sofa with a little blackboard and a piece of chalk, keeping track of how many times Harmony practiced on the paperweight, which was already filled up with tally marks. He lifted it up for Harmony to see. "I've got it all under control Tempo. I just need to keep at it." she said. Tempo erased the blackboard, putting the total tally number in the upper corner and leaving space for more tallies to be added. Harmony pulled out her spell books and opened them up so that she could look at them all at once."With a little work, I'll get the hang of this. I'll show Princess Celestia and my friends that I can do this, and I can do it by myself." It was then, at that moment, that Harmony broke out into a little song. "Magic for me is something entirely new, to get it right here's what I will do, I'll give it all I've got and won't stop till I'm through." She turned to face the paperweight, narrowing her eyes in determined concentration. She once again focused her magical aura around it and concentrated on lifting it. "Even if takes a million or billion or trillion more tries, I'll master my magic and all will be surprise, and even the princess won't believe her own eyes." The paperweight seemed to struggle a little, but slowly yet surely, it rose higher and higher into the air. Harmony smiled with pride. "Just wait and see, I can do it alone. I'll use my own powers, I'll do it all on my own. Everyone will just how much they've grown. I'll do it all, do it all, all on my own." Harmony then moved onto more harder objects, concentrating on her power to move the furniture just a few feet off the ground. She then flipped through one of the spell books and decided to try one of the other simple spells from them. "Got to give it all I've got so they all can see, that come what may they can depend upon me." She pulled out a little lantern, and prepared to cast a spell that would help ignite it. She sent a spark of magic, and managed to get the wick to ignite for a little bit before it fizzled out. "Hour after hour I swear I won't rest, I'll keep up my training till I pass the test." After a few more tries, Harmony finally managed to get the lantern to light up with a brilliant light. Harmony pored over each book, going over each spell, and practicing each one until she got it just right. "Magic is strange and also brand new, but I shall show them, just what I can do." Harmony fired up the levitation spell, this time, it was much more effective, as she managed to lift up her books and have them flying through the air. She also lifted the paperweight with ease and felt pride rising in her. "Just wait and see, I can do it alone. I'll use my own powers, I'll do it all on my own." She placed the books into a tall stack with her magic with the paperweight on top. "I'll work myself out, right down to the bone. Don't need any help, I can do it all on my, all on, all on my...!" Harmony carried out the last note as she caused all the light in her house to be sucked out, hovering in a single little ball flying around her head before sending the light back to where it came from. "All on my own!" The next morning... Harmony had stayed up so late last night, studying spells from the basics and up, and had fallen asleep on a pile of books. Tempo was the first to wake up, he rubbed his little eyes and looked up at the clock to see that it was five to 8. He hopped over to Harmony and tried to shake her awake, but she merely shrugged it off and mumbled something under her breath. The jackalope looked around for something he could use to try and wake up Harmony, his gaze landed on the kitchen and he grinned to himself, coming up with an idea. A moment or so later, he went back up to Harmony, now holding a pot and a metal spoon. He banged the two together as loud as he could, luckily, that managed to help wake Harmony up no problem. "I'm up! I'm up!" she cried, rubbing her temple and getting up from the stack of books she'd been laying on. Harmony looked over at Tempo who was pointing at the clock frantically. Harmony's eyes widened. "It's almost time for work!" she cried, springing to her hooves. Harmony grabbed her saddle bag and bolted out the door. When she was a few feet away from her house, a thought struck her."This would be the perfect opportunity to use that teleportation spell I learned." Harmony activated the spell, and in a flash she was right in front of the Rose Cafe. "Yes! Got it right on the first try!" she said proudly. She headed inside and turned over the sign to show that the cafe was now open for business. * * * A little later... Harmony had slipped into the usual routine of serving the customers, occasionally using her magic to aid in little tasks here and there, so she could keep on practicing. After she finished the order of a customer and sent him on his way, her friend Morning Star, and Morning's classmate Abra-ca-dabra, entered through the door. "Wow, so this is the Rose Cafe." said Abra, looking all around at the interior. "Hey girls." Harmony said. "What brings you two here?" "One of the teachers sent our class on a field assignment, we're supposed to go out and bring back something in nature that's tied to magic." explained Morning Star. "But Morning here suggested that we stop by here and pick up some food to go, since it might be a while before we find anything." interjected Abra. "We were talking about getting a lot of muffins and rolls." "Anything specific?" asked Harmony. Morning Star shook her head. "No, just give us ten of each, that should be enough." "Coming right up." replied Harmony. She cast a levitation spell on one of the white paper bags and used her magic to fill it with an assortment of rolls and muffins. Abra-ca-dabra's eyes widened with surprise. "Wow! You can use magic? How is that possible?!" "It's a long story." Harmony said, a little embarrassed. A few of the previous customers also gawked and made surprised comments about seeing her use magic. But, Harmony figured it was something she'd have to get used to. "Anyway, here's your order." She handed the bag to Abra while Morning Star helped pay for it all. "Thanks, Harmony." Morning then turned to Abra and said, "We better hurry up and get going if we're ever gonna finish today's assignment." "You're right!" Abra looked over her shoulder and smiled gratefully at Harmony. "Thanks for the food!" "You're welcome, and good luck with your assignment." Harmony waved goodbye and watched as the two Unicorns exited from the cafe and headed out to begin their school work. She then went back to work on the cafe, casting a few spells to help do a little extra cleaning around the cafe. "It's starting to get a little easier." she said to herself. "Just like I told Tempo, all I needed was a little extra practice, and I'd be able to do it on my own." That afternoon, back at Harmony's house... "I'm home!" Harmony called out as she teleported into the living room of her house. Tempo welcomed her home with his usual friendly smile, rubbing his head against her legs as she walked toward the table she'd set up that held the many spell books that were still left open. She closed some of them and took a look at the list of spells Princess Twilight had written out for her and told her she had to learn. While Harmony had managed to get quite a bit down last night, and improve on some of the basics, she still had a long list left that she still had to learn. "Let's see." she mused to herself. "If I do a little studying before dinner and then practice some of the spells afterward, then I should be able to reach the halfway mark." Tempo chattered something and made a series of mimes to Harmony. "Don't worry Tempo, I won't forget to make you dinner, and I will make sure to get a good night's sleep this time." she replied. This seemed to appease Tempo, who hopped off to return to whatever it was he'd been doing before Harmony came home. Harmony sat down in front of the books, ready to continue. "Alright, time to study." * * * Later... Harmony let out a loud yawn, her eye lids drooping a little as she tried to keep reading one of the spells. It was already 3 in the morning, and Harmony hadn't gotten a wink of sleep yet. She'd gotten so wrapped up in her studying and magical training that she hadn't paid attention to how late it had gotten. "Yawn! Just one more, and then I'll go to bed." she told herself. The spell in question involved conjuring. Harmony sleepily gathered her magic together to prepare to cast it, but she was unable to properly execute it, and instead ended up having a blast of smoke poof right in her face. Harmony let out a tired sigh. "I think that's enough for now." And with that said, Harmony collapsed into her chair and slept on the book-filled table. Tempo opened his eyes from his sleeping spot on the sofa and saw that Harmony had passed out. Taking a nearby blanket, he hopped over to Harmony and draped the blanket over her. He smiled to himself and went back to the sofa to return to his nap, hoping that Harmony would also have a peaceful and restful sleep. A couple days later... At the Tasty Treat, Kimono, Razzaroo, and Morning Star were all sitting around a table, waiting for Flurry and Sparks to arrive. While they waited, the girls were helping themselves to some fresh bread that was given to them as an appetizer. Flurry and Sparks soon rushed in through the door and went up to the girls' table. "Sorry we're late." apologized Flurry. "There was a bit of trouble with the train so we got held up." "Don't worry, we haven't been waiting that long." assured Kimono kindly. "Although." added Morning Star slyly. "If you really want to make it up to us, you could help pay for our lunch." "Morning!" Kimono scolded. "Nah, it's alright, we'd be happy to pay for lunch." said Sparks. "Good, because I happen to be quite hungry today and there's a lot of things on the menu that I want to try out." said Morning. "Hey wait, where's Harmony?" asked Flurry, looking around and noticing that the Pegasus was nowhere to be seen. "She couldn't come today." said Razzaroo, sounding a little disappointed. "Said she was too busy." "Busy?" Kimono nodded. "Harmony's been working really hard with her training. When Razzaroo and I stopped by her house earlier she looked completely worn out." "Sounds like Aunt Twilight when she ends up getting carried away with teaching or studying." said Flurry. "Uncle Spike used to tell me about how she'd end up sleep deprived and looking crazy." Kimono gasped worriedly. "But I'm sure she's fine." said Sparks, trying to ease Kimono's worry. "Right now, she's probably just taking a break or something from her training." "I don't know." said Kimono. "Harmony can be very stubborn sometimes, and when she sets out to do something, she pushes herself until she completes it." Flurry Heart could easily picture it, after all, Harmony had done a similar action when she intended to make a thousand or so cupcakes all by herself. "Maybe we should check on Harmony later, just to see how she's been lately." she said. This seemed to help Kimono, as her shoulders noticeably began to relax. "Thanks, Flurry." "But first, let's have some lunch first." said Razzaroo, who called over to the host and told him what they all wanted to order. * * * The girls stood outside on the doorstep of Harmony's house knocking on the door, but nopony seemed to be there. "Harmony? Are you there?!" called Flurry. Nopony answered. "Guess she's not at home." said Sparks. "Maybe we should wait and come back later." said Morning Star. But as the rest of the girls turned to leave, Kimono trotted up to the door and turned the knob, finding it to be unlocked, and stepping inside. "Kimono!" cried Razzaroo, chasing after her, with the rest of the girls following close behind. "Harmony!" Kimono called out. Kimono walked through the living room, calling for Harmony and passed through into the dining room, where she found Harmony knocked out on the table surrounded by a few scrolls and books. "Harmony, there you are!" Kimono went over to her and gave her shoulder a little nudge. Harmony moved a little and mumbled, "Five more minutes." It wasn't too long before the rest of the girls came into the dining room to find Kimono and Harmony by the table. "Hey, you found her." said Razzaroo. Kimono nodded. "Yes, but she doesn't seem like she wants to wake up." "I don't blame her." said Morning Star, who had been shifting through the books and scrolls. "Just look at all this! It looks like she tried to learn all of these spells at once." "What? Why would she do that?" asked Flurry Heart. "We'll have to wait until she wakes up before we can ask her that." said Kimono, her eyes still lingering on her sleeping friend. "In the meantime, let's get these books cleaned up." Harmony let out a loud, long yawn, and stretched out her arms as she woke up from that well-needed nap. As her eyes adjusted to the room around her, they quickly widened in surprise upon seeing all her friends gathered around her and the dining room table. "Huh? Girls? What are you all doing here?" she asked, confused. "We stopped by to check on you." answered Sparks. "We knocked on the door a few times, you didn't answer, so we came in to see if everything was alright or not." said Kimono. "Technically, Kimono was the one who--" Morning Star covered Razzaroo's mouth to keep her from talking. "The point is, when we came in, we found you passed out here with all those spells and stuff. It looked like you were trying to learn them all at once." said Morning. Harmony shrank in her seat, her eyes cast down onto the floor. "I...kinda was. Though, I was trying to go for overnight." "But why?" asked Flurry. "You, wouldn't understand." said Harmony. "Try us." said Sparks. Harmony lifted her gaze to her friends, who were all awaiting for her explanation. Tempo also hopped out and gave her a firm, pointed look. She let out a sigh. "Alright, I'll tell you." she said. "Before I became the Spirit of Harmony, I didn't need to know magic, and I didn't have Princess Celestia expecting great things from me or giving me advice. But now, I've got all these new responsibilities and expectations that come with my new role and powers. So I thought, if I can show everyone that I've got what it takes to be a spirit by advancing in my training, then maybe I'd be able to meet the princess' expectations." "While I applaud how you want to learn more about magic," said Morning Star. "I think you're going about it the wrong way. I mean, it takes years of studying and training for even the greatest Unicorns to be able to wield powerful magic and use high level spells." "Yeah, and, if it makes you feel any better Harmony, I can't use a lot of magic even though I'm a Unicorn." said Sparks. "Um, thanks? I guess?" said Harmony unsure. "I think what Sparks is trying to say, is that it's okay if you're not too good with magic yet." said Flurry Heart, cutting in." "Uh, yeah! That's exactly what I meant!" "It's best if you just wait and take your time." Harmony placed her hooves in her lap and looked down at them. "But, Princess Celestia--" "Is not the one learning magic." interrupted Razzaroo. "You do what makes you feel more comfortable Harmony. Do what you want for your own sake." "And don't be too hard on yourself." added Kimono. "If you work yourself too hard you'll only end up doing more harm than good." Flurry Heart nodded in agreement. "Next time, if you need or want a little extra help with your training, you can always ask us." she said. Harmony glanced over at Tempo, who was giving her an expression that said, 'I told you so.' She frowned at him a little, not needing to be told that, and returned her gaze toward her friends. All of them were smiling at her, ready and willing to support her if she needed or wanted them. A slow smile ended up appearing on her face. "Thanks, girls! You're all the best!" she said, happily. A few days later, at the castle... "So, I was thinking about taking a break from my studies, just for a little while of course." Harmony said, as she talked to Princess Celestia once again in the throne room. "Of course." said Princess Celestia smiling kindly. "I was actually starting to worry a little. When you left the last time I talked to you, I thought maybe I was putting too much pressure on you, and that you might try to push yourself." "What? Me, push myself? Whatever gave you that idea?" said Harmony, laughing and smiling nervously. "Well, I hope you enjoy your break." "Thanks, I will." she said, leaving the throne room. Princess Celestia watched as she left, and a few minutes later, she spotted her heading outside the castle gates with her friends. She grinned as she saw how happy they were as they headed for town. Her expression then became serious as she turned away from the window and sat down upon her throne. "Now then..." she mused to herself, opening an old dusty tome. She flipped to a section about different spirit summoning spells. "I think it's time that another certain someone to come out and finally face the return of the Spirit of Harmony." (To be continued...)