The Principles of Magic

by Starlight_Flight

Lunch break

Chapter four: Lunch break

As Cheerilee gathered the group, Twilight looked at the schoolhouse and spoke up.

"Cheerilee, I think it's gotten quieter inside. I'm going to try fetching my notes. Is there anything special I should bring back out?"

"I don't have anything I need to get. Perhaps one of the children might. Everypony?"

"I want my lunch!" This was followed by a chorus of demands for lunches, and a few notebooks. Twilight listened and nodded to every request, asking Spike to make a list of names and items.

"Aw, shucks. Ah was hopin' Ah could go see mah sister."

Twilight smiled to her. "It's all right, Applebloom. If I can bring everything out here, we can have lunch here and I can finish the lesson. And then school will probably be done for the day."

One of the younger foals was getting fidgety, and raised a hoof. "Miss Cheerilee, I gotta go to the bathroom!"

"Uh... perhaps Twilight could escort you, if we ask nicely?" The teacher smiled to her guest. Please?

"Pleez Miss Twilight can you take me to the bathroom?"

"Of... course I can! Spike, could you add that to the list?"

"Okay, Twilight! Um, I'm gonna put that right at the top if that's okay with you." He ripped off the sheet and held it up for her. Twilight caught hold of it with her magic.

"Good. C'mon, kid, we're going in!"

"Yaaay!" The little pony was practically dancing at this, though she probably would have been anyway. At least she had a grin instead of a grimace now.

As they stepped inside, Twilight warned the foal to be careful, as things might start flying at any moment. Fortunately, the trip was entirely uneventful, and all the lunches and notebooks and other things were retrieved successfully, while other business was quite happily taken care of.

As they approached the other ponies, however, something grabbed one of the lunches Twilight was carrying, and tried to run off with it. She lifted all the bags higher, and the forward pull turned into a downward pull. "Hmmm. Hey, Spike? Do you see anything on this saddlebag with the tiara on it?"

Spike looked closely. "Hmmm. Nope! I don't see a-- waaait a minute, there's something different there. It's like the air's a little shimmery."

"Ooooh, shimmery!" All the ponies crowded around to see, and to try grabbing their bags and materials. "Wait, that's my saddlebag!" "I wanna see!" "I want my lunch!" "Didja get mah pencil, too?"

Cheerilee once again came to the rescue. "Now, now, children. What do you say?" And they all stopped yammering to say "Thank you, Miss Twilight!" as their belongings were properly distributed. The shimmering and pull seemed to have gone away when they'd gathered, and nopony was being bothered as they all got their lunches out and began to eat.

With all that taken care of, Twilight looked over her notes and tried to arrange them in the air. "Darn, they're out of order. Let's see... Introduction; Horns, Wings, and Hooves; Observation and Information... I think this is the next one." Then her own stomach grumbled, and she looked embarrassed. "Er, oops! Heh, heh, I guess I didn't have as good a breakfast as I thought." With two things trying to occupy her thoughts, she knew she wouldn't be able to focus, especially if one of them was hunger. "Cheerilee, would it be a good idea for me to finish this lecture tomorrow?"

Snails looked up from his lunch and gave Twilight big puppy eyes. "But I wanna learn about magic! I wanna be an awesome magician and save Ponyville and put on a big show and stuff!"

Snips chimed in with a mouthful of sandwich: "Yeah!"

"There's no school tomorrow, Twilight," said Cheerilee. "You'd have to wait a few days. It would probably be best if you finished up after lunch. After all, your adventures make you more qualified to handle this poltergeist than any of us!"

And then Diamond Tiara was heard, complaining to her clique. "Do you know my Aunt Crystalla was haunted? She must have passed her curse down to me!" Twilight shook her head at the melodrama, then perked her ears.

"That's it!" She trotted over. "Diamond Tiara, do you know anything about hauntings?"