Mystic Spiral grumbled as he woke to the ringing of his alarm clock, a hoof reaching out to silence it. He slowly got up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hoof before he looked around the room. He gazed at the few posters hanging on the walls, depicting his favorite bands, hoping someday that his own band, Restless Harmony, would have posters hanging on walls as well.
He slowly got out of bed, and left his room at the top of the band house to walk down the stairs and into the second floor bathroom, where he showered up to start the day. Because he worked as a mail-sorter, he had to start the day earlier than everypony else, but that worked out for them because it meant he could get things ready for his bandmates.
After he got finished in the bathroom, he walked down another flight of stairs to reach the bottom floor, and headed straight to the kitchen to get a pot of coffee made for the others. This worked out well for Mystic, because it meant he’d always get a fresh cup of coffee to help him wake up. His ear flicked as he heard the shower running, knowing that at least one of his bandmates was also awake.
With coffee started, Mystic began to work on getting breakfast made. He decided that scrambled eggs would be a nice meal, and started chopping up enough vegetables for the whole group. He stopped chopping when he heard the coffee maker finish, and went to get himself a cup just as one of his friends came down the stairs and headed into the kitchen.
“Morning, Sky Note,” he greeted the stallion before he took a sip of the glorious caffeinated beverage in his hooves.
“Morning…” Sky grumbled as he got himself a cup of coffee. Sky Note was a white Pegasus stallion with orange mane and tail, and red eyes which were bleary that early in the morning. His cutie mark depicted a few musical notes on staffs, showing his talent with music. He was both the band’s main vocalist, AND the writer of their music in conjunction with the input of his fellow bandmates. “Thank Celestia it’s Friday,” he said as he left the kitchen to sit in the dining room.
“No kidding,” Mystic replied, looking forward to the weekend ahead. He perked up at the sound of the shower above starting up again, letting him know that, slowly, the whole house was waking up. He continued to sip his coffee, held magically nearby while he focused on chopping up vegetables for breakfast.
The two stallions didn’t say much for a while, just waiting for the other two to come downstairs before they’d talk about their plans for the day. The other two members of the band didn’t show up until Mystic was stirring up the vegetables and eggs in a big bowl, about ready to start cooking scrambled eggs for the whole group.
The pair that entered the kitchen were both earth ponies, one a tall, strong stallion and the other a pretty mare. They greeted Mystic, and the mare, Blossom Beat, went into the dining room at the insistence of the stallion, Low Tone, as he got a couple cups of coffee ready for them both.
Blossom Beat had a purple coat and dark freckles, and long red mane and tail, the former of the two held back with a green bandana. Her tired eyes were light cyan, and her cutie mark depicted a pair of drumsticks. Her talent with drums made her a valuable member of the band.
Low Tone was a large earth pony stallion with a light-brown coat, short green mane and tail, and tan hooves. He had green eyes, a deep voice, and a cutie mark of a blue bass guitar. Being the bass player, he was just as important as Blossom for keeping the beat during their songs.
Blossom smiled when Low Tone brought her a cup of coffee, taking it in her hooves. “Thanks, hon,” she murmured before sharing a kiss with him, the stallion returning it with a smile while Sky just rolled his eyes.
Low Tone went back into the kitchen to get himself a cup as well before he headed back to the dining room to sit next to Blossom, nuzzling with her gently as they woke up to take on the day.
Mystic glanced over at them and chuckled, shaking his head at the affectionate display. When those two first started dating, he and Sky were wary of the relationship, worried that things going poorly could break up the band. It seemed like their concerns were unfounded however, as Tone and Blossom had been dating for a while with no major issues between them.
“Almost done with breakfast!” he called to the group as he worked on finishing up with the eggs while simultaneously getting toast made up and put on a plate, a small pile big enough for all the hungry ponies. Soon he finished with the eggs, and he worked to get it all on a platter while Sky Note came back into the kitchen to get plates and utensils for the group.
Mystic came into the dining room, levitating the platter of scrambled eggs and plate of toast onto the center of the table. He served up breakfast for the group and sat down with them, and they all ate in silence for a while.
Sky was the first to speak up as he saw Blossom and Tone shoveling food down their throats. “You know there’s more where that came from, right? Nopony’s gonna take it away from you.”
Tone paused to smirk and say, “Yeah, well, Blossom and I kinda worked up an appetite last night.”
Blossom snorted and swatted him on his shoulder. “You’re not supposed to tell them that!”
He chuckled at that, giving his girlfriend a playful nudge in response. “Anyway… Mystic, you’ve given out all the invitations, right?”
He nodded, gulping down some coffee before he spoke up, “Yeah, everyone’s excited to see us play tonight.” They had planned for a small, private concert for their friends and family at the Ponyville Theater that evening. Before they could really work on making it big, they needed to know that their music was actually good, and they couldn’t be sure of that by playing in a vacuum.
“And you’ll start getting things set up at the theater after work?” Sky asked, reaching for an extra slice of toast.
“Yeah, but I’ll need you all to help me out when you get there,” Mystic replied. Because of his job, he got out of work sooner than the others and could thus begin preparations. “I’ll be able to get all the gear to the theater myself, but I don’t think I’ll get much else done before you all finish with work.”
“What about that new friend of yours?” Blossom asked. “Is he good for that lightshow he promised after the concert?”
“Silver Streak? Yeah, I’m sure he can pull it off,” Mystic replied with a nod. He had asked Silver if he had anything to spruce up the concert, and the aspiring wizard told him that he in fact had a magical firework spell that he could use afterwards. Everyone agreed that it would be a fun addition to their private concert, and he had every confidence in Silver to put on a good show.
“I hope so,” said Tone. “That’d be a great ending to an awesome concert.”
“Assuming everyone likes our music, anyway…” Blossom said with a frown, concerned about the reactions they’d get that evening.
Low Tone reached a foreleg around Blossom’s shoulders to pull her into a gentle hug. “Hey, don’t worry, we’ll be fine. This is what we’ve been working towards all this time, isn’t it? We just have to have faith that our hard work will pay off.”
Sky Note sighed and shrugged. “Honestly, I think we sound great, but the whole reason we’re doing this is to find out if our music sounds good to other ponies. I admit, I’m feeling nervous too.”
“Hey, relax, we’ve got this,” Mystic told them with a confident smile. “All the hard work we’ve been through is finally going to pay off. Tonight our friends and families will be the first to hear Restless Harmony in concert, before we make it big in the rest of Equestria. As long as everyone does their best, then we’ll be awesome.”
The others grinned and cheered at that, feeling confident thanks to that impromptu speech from their fearless leader. If things went well, they could finally start performing shows around Ponyville, and if things went poorly then at least their friends and family wouldn’t be too harsh.
Their concert that evening would prove, one way or another, if they were ready for the big time.
= = = = = = = = = =
Silver Streak closed the book he had been reviewing—Falling Up: Gravity Spells and their Applications—and put it with the several other books stacked on his new coffee table. He had finally gotten his private library set up, and had selected several choice spellbooks with the intention of practicing his spellcasting.
Confident in his studies, Silver got up and put on his saddlebags, putting a couple choice books in there, as well as a pencil and notebook, and an apple, before he left his house and headed to a nearby park. Most unicorns could only learn a hoofful of spells pertaining to their special talents, but for a unicorn like Silver, whose talent was magic, the only limits were one’s knowledge and mana capacity. Who knew how many spells he could end up performing?
It didn’t take him too long before he reached the park, relatively quiet for the moment, which worked out well for him. He took off his saddlebags and put them aside, then he levitated a book from the bags to go over it before trying his first spell, teleportation.
He frowned as he remembered the last time he had attempted teleportation, back in Fillydelphia, right before Tirek attacked. He grimaced and shook his head, trying to clear away the bad memories and focus on the task at hoof. He buried his muzzle in his spellbook, and read through the spell one last time.
After Silver finished reviewing the spell, he put the book down, confident that he could perform the spell without fail. He looked to his saddle bags as a notepad, pencil, and an apple all levitated from them, the latter of which was placed in front of him. He looked to the notepad and pencil, and cast a transcription spell on it, making both levitate nearby, ready to take notes.
He got the transcribing spell from his mother, who liked having a way of jotting down story ideas while going about her day. The spell would allow him to speak his thoughts and observations, and have the pencil and notepad jot it all down for him, leaving him free to focus on practicing these new spells. At least my tendency to talk to myself will serve some purpose this time… he thought with bitter amusement.
He took a deep breath and shook that thought out of his head, before he looked to the apple and said, “I’m going to attempt teleportation, by first testing it out on this apple. I’m going to send it a short distance away, and then bring it back, and if that’s successful then I’ll attempt to teleport myself.” The transcribing spell worked to write down his notes, and his horn glowed before the apple disappeared with a pop and a green flash, reappearing with another pop and flash one hundred feet away.
He smiled, and said to the notepad, “The apple appears to have teleported safely to the designated location. I’m going to teleport it back now, and we’ll see how it fares after that.” His horn glowed again, and the apple once more disappeared in a flash before reappearing before him in another flash.
Silver levitated the apple in front of him, giving it a once-over before he grinned and nodded in approval. “The apple appears to be in perfect condition. From what I read of the spell, it either works or it doesn’t, depending on the talent and mana reserves of the unicorn casting it, but I didn’t want to take any chances.”
He took another deep, calming breath, and put the apple aside. “Since that worked, I’m just going to go right ahead and try to teleport myself. Dad always said ‘go big or go home’ after all,” he said, then frowned as he pondered that. “Then again, I wonder if maybe he just meant that for aerial stunts. Well, too late to worry about that now.”
Silver looked to a distant tree, deciding to use that as the destination for his teleportation. He closed his eyes and focused his magic, and after a moment he disappeared in a pop and a flash, and he reappeared next to the tree a moment later. He looked around himself, including a couple gentle pats between his hind legs to make sure everything was where it should be. He grinned when he found that he was fully intact, and he teleported back to his saddlebags.
“Alright, teleportation was successful!” he said with a grin. “I’m going to have to test myself to find out my maximum range, but that can wait for later. I’ve got more spells to attempt today, after all.” He thought through the spells he knew, and glanced over to the apple. “I think for my next trick, I’m going to try a growth spell I learned on the apple I teleported before.”
The apple was levitated in front of him, and he focused on the spell before his horn lit up and the apple was enveloped in a green glow as the spell began to work. The glowing apple trembled and slowly grew bigger and bigger, and he leaned in to look at it closely. “The spell is working so far, though it seems a bit unstable…”
The apple reached twice its size, and continued growing bigger, but the shaking grew with the growth and the apple suddenly exploded, covering Silver in sweet mush. “Bleh!” he said as he sat up and rubbed the apple bits and mush off himself. “The apple nearly reached three times its normal size before it exploded. I wonder if there’s a limit to the growth I can urge it to?”
He pondered what he saw for a few moments, then spoke up again, “You know, I think what happened was that I was simply focused on pouring magic into the spell to make the apple grow, instead of making it flow through the apple evenly so everything grew at the same rate. Next time I try this spell, I’ll be sure to focus more on the application of the magic instead of the amount of magic used.”
As he wiped the last of the apple mush off himself, he sighed and said, “On a side note, I’ll have to find something else to snack on later, seeing as I ruined the apple I brought with me. Well, onto the next spell…”
= = = = = = = = = =
“Enjoy the chocolates!” said Sunny as she waved to her latest customer as they headed out the door. She was having a good day, plenty of business so far, but she knew she’d be getting into the quiet period of the day soon. Fortunately, though it would be a while before business would pick up again later in the day, there was still work to be done.
Sunny snagged a notepad and took a pencil in her mouth, and looked through her stock of chocolates, taking note of which ones she was getting short on to make later. With a nod of satisfaction, she put down the pencil and notepad by the register, and then began reading her book to pass the time until the next customer appeared.
It wasn’t too long until the bell at the door rang as a customer entered, and she put down her book to smile at her new customer. “Hi Silver, how are you today?” she asked the gray unicorn as he made his way over to the counter.
“I’m alright,” he said. “Just decided to take a break from my spellcasting for a bit to visit you. How are things with the shop?”
“Things are going well, gotten plenty of business so far,” she told him. “So, spellcasting huh? How’s that working out for you?”
“Decently enough, I suppose. I’ve done well with some spells, and failed with others,” he said. “I just need to read through some of those spells again, and keep on practicing to get them working right.” He perked up at the memory of one particular spell, and grinned as he told her, “At least I managed to teleport! That’s a big one I was worried about.”
“Teleport, huh?” she asked. “I think I’ve seen Princess Twilight teleport once or twice, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen other unicorns around town do it. It must be a pretty difficult spell, huh?”
“It’s not easy,” he confirmed. “Part of the problem is that the amount of spells a unicorn can learn is dependent on their natural talents, like say with cooking or art, but unicorns who are talented with magic, like myself, are able to pull off a variety of spells.”
“Sounds like it still takes a lot of work though,” said Sunny.
“Yeah,” he replied with a nod. “I admit, I’m not doing as well with some of the spells as I’d like…” he said with a frown, hoping it would just take study and practice as he told her.
She smiled at him and said, “Well perhaps a pick-me-up is in order? I don’t believe you’ve ever actually tried any of my chocolates during any of your visits.”
He smiled sheepishly at that, rubbing the back of his head with a chuckle. “Ah, yeah, I suppose I should try some of your chocolates if I’m going to keep bothering you at your shop.”
“Yes, yes you should,” she replied with a nod and a wink. “How about I put together a sample box for you? A little bit of each of my most popular treats.”
“That sounds great, thanks,” he said, watching as she got a box and began filling it with a selection of delicious chocolates. After a short while she finished with a top for the box, and placed it on the counter. “How much do I owe you?” he asked.
“Free of charge, for your first taste of my fine chocolates,” she said with a smile.
“Oh, thank you! I gotta say, I am feeling a bit hungry since I blew up my snack,” he said.
Sunny’s brow furrowed. “How’d you manage to blow up your snack?”
“I tried using a growth spell on an apple, with poor results…” he said with a frown. “At any rate, I think I’ll enjoy these now.” He levitated the white box from the display counter, opening it up and looking at the assortment of chocolates inside. He was surprised that a couple of the samples were chocolate bars. “Chocolate bars? Seems rather plain, compared to the rest of your chocolates.”
“Perhaps, but they’re a higher quality than what’s normally offered elsewhere,” Sunny replied with a proud smile. “A tad more expensive than your normal chocolate bars, but tastier, so they’re a popular option for foals AND adults.”
“I see,” said Silver. “I think I’ll save those for later. Right now I think I’ll try one of these wedge-shaped chocolates.” One of the aforementioned chocolates levitated up and into his mouth, munching on it for a few moments before his eyes widened. “Is that… orange I’m tasting?”
Sunny giggled and nodded. “Yep! I call those ‘orange slices’ and they have orange extract in them. What do you think?”
He smiled as he levitated another of them into his mouth, chewing on it happily for a few moments before he answered, “That’s delicious! I didn’t realize that orange could go so well with the chocolate…”
“Try one of the round ones next,” she told him, motioning a hoof to round chocolates with a bit of white chocolate drizzle on top.
He nodded at that, and popped one into his mouth, finding it to be filled with soft caramel. “Mmm…”
She giggled softly as she watched him enjoying her chocolates. “I’m glad to see you like them so much.”
“I can’t believe it took me this long to actually try your chocolates. Say, what flavor are these green ones?” he asked, pointing at mint-green squares in the box.
“Try them and find out,” she said with a wink.
He popped one into his mouth, and as he chewed his eyes closed and he merely hummed his approval. It was a creamy mint chocolate, melting smoothly in his mouth and coating it in flavor. “Oh my, this is amazing…” He ate a couple more with a wide smile.
“You like mint, huh?” she asked with a grin.
“Oh yeah… can I get a box of that?” he asked, and popped the last one into his mouth. “So good…”
Sunny giggled and nodded, quickly getting a box filled up with mint chocolates. “So, are you excited for the concert tonight?”
Silver closed the box and placed it on the counter. “For the music? Yeah, I’m interested to hear what Mystic and his band have been working on. For the lightshow afterwards? Not so much…”
Sunny frowned at that, closing up the box of mint chocolates. “What do you mean? Is there something wrong with what you had planned?”
He rubbed the back of his head, and answered, “Well, I mean, the spell seems straightforward enough, but the way my day has gone I’m not sure how well it will actually work out. I’d hate to disappoint everyone, let alone mess up and hurt myself.”
“It couldn’t be that dangerous, could it?” she asked.
“Well, probably not,” he admitted. “I mean, it’s just an illusion spell. I’m probably just being pessimistic…” He looked to the box of chocolates, and asked, “How much for the mints, anyway?”
She gave him the price, and after he paid, she told him, “Well, you really shouldn’t worry so much Silver. From what you’ve told me, you’re doing quite well with your spellcasting. I mean, you can teleport! I’ve only ever seen Princess Twilight do that, so you’re already ahead of most other unicorns.”
He smiled shyly at that, and she continued, “So, maybe you’ve had some minor setbacks, but that’s fine. Even Princess Twilight has had issues now and then; I mean, thanks to her we had Parasprites eating up Ponyville! The important thing is that you keep at it, and don’t give up.”
He smiled and nodded. “You’re right. I just have to go over my spells and keep on trying. I’m sure even Star Swirl the Bearded had setbacks when he first started out.” He reached a hoof to hold Sunny’s, and he smiled at her. “Thank you Sunny, I promise I’ll keep at it.”
“That’s the spirit.” She gripped his hoof gently, and let go as he pulled away, putting the boxes of sweets in his saddlebags before he turned to leave. “Hey, Silver…?” she called to him, biting her lip nervously.
He turned to look back at her. “Yeah Sunny?”
Her mouth opened to speak, but stood there silently for a few moments before she flashed him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “H-have a good day, and good luck with your spellcasting.”
He smiled and thanked her before he left, and she was alone once more. She sighed sadly, wishing he could have stuck around to stave off the loneliness she had been feeling. It’s one thing to serve customers, but it’s another thing to hold real conversations with them, and the latter she was sorely lacking. Still, she couldn’t hold him back from his practice just because she was feeling lonely.
Sunny picked up her book once more, an erotic romance novel called The Dragon’s Precious Treasure by Taffy Inkwell, and continued reading where she left off before. As she read the story of the mighty dragon and his forbidden relationship with a unicorn mare, she couldn’t help but ponder having a special somepony of her own.
She couldn’t help but think of Silver Streak, and how their relationship had been developing since they met. She was interested in him, as she admitted to Frosty, but until that point she had been taking things slowly with him. She started to wonder if maybe it was time to speed things up a bit, and just ask him out on a date…
= = = = = = = = = =
Frostfire stood there, finishing up her interview with Mayor Mare at the town hall. “Thank you very much for your time, Mayor Mare. I’m sure our readers will be interested to learn of the progress on the new public library.”
“You’re quite welcome, Frostfire. Hopefully we can come to a decision soon, and make our plans a reality,” replied Mayor Mare.
“I have every faith in you, Mayor Mare,” Frosty said with a nod, before she turned to leave town hall as the mayor went back inside. She had been interviewing the mayor for the Ponyville Express, hoping to do a story on progress toward a new public library to replace the Golden Oak. Unfortunately, all they had at that moment were a few ideas and little progress toward a solution to the town’s needs. She could get a story written about it, but the readers would probably be disappointed at the news.
Before she could figure out a way to spin the news to be more positive, Frosty heard a familiar voice screaming nearby, and it sounded like it was going… up? She looked up to see Silver flailing as he somehow defied gravity and fell UP toward the sky. “Sweet Celestia! Hold on, Silver!” She yelled as her wings flared and she shot up into the sky, flying quickly to catch up.
Frosty’s wings flapped hard as she flew quickly toward the panicked unicorn, and she soon caught up, reaching a hoof to grab his before she flapped her wings to hold them there in midair. “Silver, are you okay? How’d you even manage to fall up?”
Silver was trembling as he held on tight. “I-I’m fine… Thank you for catching me!” He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, before he answered her question, “I was attempting an experiment with a gravity spell, but instead of the anti-gravity spell I meant to use I must have accidentally performed a reverse-gravity spell.”
“Can you shut it off?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah, just, hold on tight…” He closed his eyes and his horn, constantly glowing bright green, suddenly stopped glowing, and he was suddenly pulled toward the ground.
He was glad that Frosty had such a strong grip on him, because it took her a moment to correct her wing movements to keep them up in the air. She began to fly them back down to the ground at the town square, and he stood on shaky legs when she put him down.
“I’m glad I was nearby, because who KNOWS how far up you would’ve gone…” she said, looking up to the sky with a fearful shudder.
“Y-yeah, I definitely owe you one. Thank you…” he said with a nervous smile, still a bit shaken up by the odd turn of events.
Frosty rubbed at a foreleg idly before she looked at Silver and asked, “So, I gotta ask, what exactly were you trying to do?”
“I was hoping to combine a couple different spells to fly, but apparently I need to re-read the anti-gravity spell before I try that again,” he explained.
“That’s really neat, but why do you need fancy spells to fly?” she asked, looking at him curiously.
His brow furrowed in confusion. “I don’t have wings, so how do you expect me to go about flying without spells?
Frosty gave a snort of amusement. “Uh, hello? I see unicorns like you and Mystic make things fly around all the time!”
He pondered that for a moment, before asking, “Wait, are you talking about using telekinesis?”
“Yeah, that!” Frosty said with a nod. “You unicorns are always lifting things and carrying them around with your magic, so why can’t you do the same for yourself?”
Silver stopped to think about that a moment, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm… Well, theoretically, it could work. I know I can carry more than my own bodyweight in my magic, and I should have plenty of endurance and control to carry and move myself for a while.”
She gave him an expectant smirk. “So…?”
He shrugged at that, and focused his magic. “Here goes…” His horn glowed green, and a moment later he was enveloped in a green aura as he began to float a few inches off the ground.
Frosty grinned at that and cheered him on. “You go, Silver!”
He couldn’t help but smile at that as he lifted further off the ground, a feat far less strenuous than he thought it would be. He began to fly around town hall, circling it and going higher and higher up until he could touch the top of the building.
Frosty’s wings extended, and she flapped them to fly up after Silver, following alongside him as he took his very first flight. “Looking good, Silver! Not as good as a pegasus, mind you, but not bad for a unicorn.” She grinned at him and said, “To think, you were trying to use all sorts of magic to do this before I came along.” She gave him a playful swat on the shoulder with her hoof, then asked, “You really had to overthink things, didn’t you?”
He chuckled and gave her a dismissive wave of his hoof. “Okay, so sometimes the simple answer is the best one. Happy?”
“I suppose,” she said with a smirk. “So, how’s it feel to fly?”
He gave an amused snort, and grinned at her. “This is pretty awesome! It reminds me of when I was just a colt.” He looked down to the town, which looked somewhat different from above, and noticed how the ponies about town would spare him a long glance before going on about their business. Apparently something as crazy as a flying unicorn was seen as only an unusual event to the citizens of Ponyville.
Her brow furrowed at the mention of his childhood, before she broke into a grin. “Oh, right, I forgot you mentioned that your dad is a pegasus too. He took you out flying as a colt, huh?”
“Yeah,” said Silver with a nostalgic smile on his face. “Way back when I was really little, he’d take me out flying on his back with my big brother.” He chuckled at a particular memory of that, and added, “I remember how freaked out my mom could be, having her little colt flying about without wings. Her horn would always be charged up, ready to catch me at a moment’s notice if I fell, though Dad never dropped me once.”
She giggled at that, “Oh yeah, I can imagine her being pretty worried about you during a flight.” She sighed and smiled as she thought back to her own childhood. “I don’t think there was a single day that I didn’t go out flying with my mom and dad when I was growing up. It was just part of how we bonded and relaxed after a long day.”
“Yeah, my dad and brother always flew together when I was growing up,” he said. “I bonded with my mom during magic lessons, while my brother is closer to my dad because of their flying.”
The two flew together lazily around town, going nowhere in particular as they both enjoyed their peaceful flight together. Soon though, Silver asked, “So, what were you up to before you flew up to save me?”
“Oh, I was doing an interview with Mayor Mare about plans for a new public library,” Frosty responded.
“How’s that going, anyway?” he asked, turning to do a loop around town.
“Eh, not so great,” she admitted, flying close by the unicorn. “The thing is, Ponyville doesn’t have much in the way of bits to pay for something like a new library. Hay, a couple years back the town hall roof needed repairs and we didn’t exactly have the funding to even get that done.”
Silver winced at that. “So I guess it’s going to be a long time before we get a new library, then?”
“Well, Mayor Mare said that Princess Twilight volunteered the use of her own personal library for the citizens of Ponyville, so long as they leave her books there,” Frosty told him. “Thing is though, the mayor doesn’t think that would be an appropriate use of the Castle of Friendship, not to mention the fact that ponies need to be able to check out books, so things are still being worked out.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I bought a lot of books before my move from Fillydelphia, then,” said Silver.
“Yeah…” she sighed. “So, not exactly a great story for the paper, but what can you do?” She looped around Silver, then perked up as she thought of something. “Say, maybe I could write a story about you and your experiments!” She gave him a sly grin. “Perhaps you wouldn’t mind giving another interview for the Ponyville Express?”
He chuckled at that, and shook his head. “Yeah, no, I don’t think your readers would be very interested in, or really understand a story about the magic I’m getting into.”
She sighed and shrugged. “Yeah, you’re probably right…”
As they flew over the Ponyville Theater, he smirked and gave her a nudge. “Hey, what about doing a story about Mystic’s concert tonight? I’m sure he’d appreciate it if you wrote a story about Restless Harmony and got his band some recognition.”
She thought about it a moment, and grinned. “You know what, you’re right! I’m sure Ponyville would love to hear about some up-and-coming local musicians! And if—er, when they make it big, it would look good for me to have ‘discovered’ them before they were popular.”
“I’m glad I could help,” Silver said with a chuckle, turning to lead them back toward the center of town.
They made it back to town hall, and they landed together outside the entrance. Silver was surprised to find that he didn’t feel all that drained from the flight, and wondered how long and how fast he could move with his magic, something he knew he’d have to find out later.
“So, I guess this is where we part ways for now,” said Frosty. “I need to get back to the office to write the library article.”
“And I should continue with my spellcasting,” he replied. “Before that though…” He stepped forward and gave the mare a gentle hug. “Thank you for saving me, Frosty. I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t catch me in time.”
She smiled and returned the hug, giving the unicorn a gentle pat on the back. “You’re welcome, Silver. I’m sure you would have done the same for me.”
The two pulled away from each other, and Frosty’s wings spread as she got ready to take off again. “See you tonight, Silver!”
He waved at her as she flew off, and he continued on his way.
= = = = = = = = = =
Over at Ponyville Hospital, Strawberry Jewel was busy helping a patient deliver her first foal. She gently held the foal in her hooves as it neared birth, and she looked up to the pregnant mare in question with an encouraging smile. “Come on, Velvet Sky, just ONE MORE push and you’ll be done!”
The motherly pegasus nodded, gripping her husband’s hoof tightly as she took a deep breath, and bore down once more. After just a few moments, she groaned in relief as the foal was born fully into Jewel’s hooves, and the faces of the new parents lit up in joy as the newborn began to cry.
Jewel smiled as she looked down to examine the foal, before she looked to the parents with a grin. “Congratulations, Velvet, it’s a colt!” she said as she gently hooved over the newborn pegasus to his mother, who wrapped her forelegs around him and held him close.
“A-a son… Velvet, we’ve got a son!” her husband said with a grin, a hoof reaching to gently caress the little colt as he leaned over and gave his wife a loving nuzzle.
Jewel gently covered the newborn with a towel to keep him warm and clean him up a bit, which the new mother helped with. After she was satisfied with the comfort of the newborn, she stepped back to give the new family a few moments together.
She saw Velvet’s eyes glisten with happy tears as she looked at their new son, and the awe that was on her husband’s face as he shared his affection with their newborn son and his wife. Jewel sniffed, her own vision going blurry as she was moved to tears once more from the beautiful sight of a family bonding for the first time. She saw it many times in her career, and knew she would see it many more times in the years to come, but still it got to her every time.
After a while of getting through the necessary procedures, and helping Velvet Sky with some of the basics, Jewel left the happy family alone to bond and to welcome visitors. She went to relax at the nurse’s station after a long day, where Nurse Redheart was just filling out some paperwork during a quiet period.
“Hi Jewel,” Redheart greeted her, putting her quill down to take a break from the paperwork. “Congrats on another successful delivery.”
“Thanks, Redheart,” she replied with a smile. She sighed and brushed a hoof through her mane as she added, “Days like this really are bittersweet, though.”
The nurse perked up at that, and gave a sympathetic smile as she asked, “You mean how you help families grow when you’re still wanting one of your own?”
Jewel gave a bitter snort of amusement before she answered, “I meant how the months-long relationship with my patients pretty much end after delivery, unless I see them in town or they get pregnant again.” Her ears folded and her shoulders slumped as she added, “But yeah, that too…”
Redheart winced, ears folding in guilt as she reached a hoof over to the midwife’s shoulder. “I’m sorry Jewel, I… I didn’t mean to pour salt on the wound.”
“It’s fine,” she replied, reaching a hoof up to hold Redheart’s, and she gave the nurse a small smile.
“So…” Redheart started, looking a bit uncomfortable before she asked, “Uh, things with Mystic Spiral still aren’t going anywhere, huh?” Jewel had told the nurse of her feelings for Mystic Spiral some time before, wanting to have somepony to confide in outside their mutual group of friends.
Jewel sighed and shook her head. “Nope…”
Redheart thought for a moment, before she perked up as she remembered something Jewel told her. “You said his band is going to be holding a private concert tonight, right? Why not ask him out after the concert is over?”
Jewel thought about that for a moment, before she shook her head. “No, I… I just couldn’t do that.”
“Why not?” wondered Redheart. “Is he seeing somepony?”
“Well, no,” she answered.
“Then what’s the problem?” Redheart asked.
“The problem is… I don’t want to ruin my friendship with him.” Jewel grimaced at the thought of things going wrong, and added, “If I tell him that I love him, and he doesn’t feel the same way, then things will just get really awkward between us.” She groaned and buried her face in her hooves as she added, “How could we maintain our friendship if we just end up being uncomfortable around each other?”
“You really care that much about your friendship, huh?” Redheart asked, resting her chin on her hooves.
“I do,” said Jewel. “We’ve been friends for years now, ever since he moved into Ponyville. We confide in each other things we don’t talk about with anypony else, we can hang out for days without getting on each other’s nerves, and I know he’ll always be there to protect me.”
Redheart snorted in amusement, and pointed out, “You know, it almost sounds like you two are married.”
Jewel whined and nodded, “I know…”
Redheart sighed, and asked, “Well, why don’t you try to date somepony else then?”
Jewel gave another whine, ears folded as she explained, “Because… Every time I think about trying to date anypony, I just—there’s this guilt, like I’m betraying Mystic.” She covered her heart with her hooves and sighed, before she added, “If I’m going to be honest with myself, it’s Mystic that I want, not some random stallion. I love him, even if he doesn’t ever think of me like that…”
The nurse got up and gave her friend a gentle hug. “I understand how you feel about Mystic, being so close with him for so many years. Still, the fact remains that your dreams are being unfulfilled because of unrequited love.” She pulled back from the hug, looking Jewel in the eye before she continued, “If you want the happiness you seek, then you either need to tell him how you feel, or put aside your love for him to find somepony who will make your dreams come true.”
Jewel nodded slowly. “You’re right, I know you’re right… But it’s going to be so hard to do.” She looked at a nearby clock on the wall, and gave a small smile. “Looks like it’s time for me to head out. I told Mystic I’d try helping him with the setup.” She reached a hoof up to pat Redheart on the shoulder, and said, “Thank you for the talk, Red. I appreciate you letting me vent for a while.”
“It’s no problem, Jewel. You have a good night, alright?” she said with a smile, waving to Jewel as she left. Her smile faded as she watched her friend leave, and she quietly wished that the sweet mare could find the love and happiness that she deserved, either from Mystic Spiral or somepony else.
= = = = = = = = = =
Mystic Spiral and the rest of the band, along with Strawberry Jewel, were finishing up preparations for their concert, making sure everything was plugged in properly and doing sound checks. Mystic finished his sound check, and he stepped forward to peek through the curtain at the sizable group which was made up of their friends and families.
“Didn’t realize we’d have such a big audience,” said Mystic, pulling away from the curtain to get into position with his guitar.
“Just means we’ll have a better feel for how good our music is,” said Sky Note. He turned on the microphone and tapped on it a couple times, giving a content nod as he heard the sound over the speakers.
“Not getting cold hooves, are you, boss?” asked Blossom Beat, sitting at the drums and ready to go.
Low Tone said nothing, tuning his bass guitar, though he looked expectantly at Mystic for an answer to his girlfriend’s question.
“Nah, I’m fine,” Mystic said. “And Sky’s right, with more ponies watching us we’ll have a better idea on how good we actually are.” He grinned and added, “Not that we won’t be awesome, right?”
The others smiled and nodded; whether or not Mystic’s optimism was warranted, they all needed to focus on doing their best, because good tunes or no the crowd wouldn’t be cheering them on for a terrible performance.
Mystic looked to each of them, all giving a nod to let them know they were ready. He looked over to Jewel, who stood at the side ready to open the curtains, and he gave her a nod. She smiled and worked the pulleys, the curtains spreading open to reveal the band to the audience, who immediately quieted down for the performance.
Mystic stepped forward to the microphone, and Sky stepped aside to let him speak. “Hey everyone. First off, I’d like to thank you all for coming tonight. Whether family or friends, you’ve all supported every one of us as we’ve worked hard to make our band, Restless Harmony, a reality.”
He paused for a bit as the crowd applauded, then he continued, “We think we’re finally at a point that we can work on doing some gigs and making it big, but first we need to know if we stink.” They chuckled at that, and he smirked as he said, “That’s why you’re all here, and I really hope you all enjoy the show.”
The crowd cheered, bringing grins to the whole band as Mystic went back to his guitar while Sky got back in position. Mystic picked up his guitar, ready to go, and he nodded to Blossom to start the set. She set the beat with a few taps of her drumsticks before she began to play, and the first song began.
They all played well through the set, with most of their songs getting a great reception, though a couple weren’t as well received, and the band made note to work on those later with help from audience input. They ended the concert on their best song, “Big City Dreams,” to cheers from everypony there, and as the curtains closed they knew they were on their way.
The band joined the crowd in front of the Ponyville Theater to socialize with their friends and family, and to thank them for coming, as well as to ask about their weaker songs, eager to fix them up to something great. Frosty was happy to interview several ponies there, as well as the band itself, for the Ponyville Express, knowing she had quite an article to write.
Stepping away from all the chatter, Sunny noticed Silver, sitting away from the crowd and looking worriedly at his hooves. She went over and gave him a gentle nuzzle, causing him to jump in surprise when he was pulled from his funk. She smiled when he returned the affection, and she pulled away to look at him and asked, “Silver, what’s wrong?”
He smiled sheepishly as he answered, “Honestly, I’m just a tad worried about doing the fireworks spell.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be fine,” she said with a warm smile. “I’ve got faith in you.”
He blushed a bit at that, then grimaced. “Well, best case scenario, I make a nice little performance to end the night. Worst case, I dunno, I explode?”
Sunny snorted and giggled, shaking her head. “I’m sure it won’t be anywhere near that bad. In fact, I’m going to stay right here next to you, to prove how much I believe in you.” She moved to sit right next to him and grinned. “So, as you can see, I’m not afraid.”
“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you…” he replied. He cleared his throat, then called out, “Excuse me, everypony! Can I have your attention, please?!” He saw how they all quieted down and turned to face him, and he addressed them all. “My name is Silver Streak, and I’m a friend of Mystic Spiral. He asked me to do something special to finish off the concert, and so I ask you to look up to the sky, and enjoy the show.”
Sunny grinned and gently nudged him with her shoulder, telling him, “Go on Silver.”
He nodded, and focused on the spell he had memorized. He took a deep, soothing breath, and let it out slowly. When he felt calm and ready, his horn glowed green, and he looked up to the sky as he fired the first shot into the air. The ball of energy flew up a ways before it burst, making a beautiful and colorful display.
The crowd was in awe as they watched Silver fire up another one, then another, growing confident as he fired off more colorful fireworks in faster succession. As he put on quite the show for everypony there, Sunny gently leaned against the unicorn and rested her head on his shoulder, watching the fireworks he made.
Silver blushed a bit at the closeness, and momentarily paused his display in his surprise, before he regained focus and continued on. As he continued with the fireworks, Sunny simply sat there with him and enjoyed the moment, a perfect ending to a good day in Ponyville.