Chapter 3 - Training
Pinkie Pie and Brown Peg entered the basement of Brown Peg’s house. Brown Peg pressed a switch that lit up a weak magical lamp and walked into the room. “Your head must have stopped hurting by now, and if you learn how your powers work, you can avoid it in the future.
“The power of a fainsaarn can be used to alter reality in whatever direction they want to. However, it has a strong affinity towards life and light, which results in these types of alterations being more efficient.”
He turned. “The first thing have to learn is the stance. As you have experienced, you cast spells with your hooves.” He hunched, then shot upwards both of his front hooves. He straightened his hind legs, and after few steps back and forth, he was standing on two legs like a bipedal creature would do. With some effort, he turned his shoulders outwards, resulting his front legs to be at his sides “And having two hooves to cast with is a great advantage. It might take a few hours to—”
Pinkie jumped on her hind legs, mimicking the stance perfectly.
“—succeed.” His mouth fell agape. “How did you...?! It took me hours till I could stand like that for even a few seconds!”
Pinkie shrugged. “I dunno. I could do this since I was a filly.”
Brown Peg sighed. “Anyways, then the actual first thing I’ll teach you is some self-defence. As a fainsaarn, you’ll have to be able to defend yourself and the ones you care for. The most energy-efficient spell to do this is the light missile.”
Pinkie recoiled. “Missile? But I don’t want to hurt anypony!”
“You won’t unless you want to. Ponies and other living creatures are only knocked back by the light missile, so unless they’re standing behind a cliff, you won’t hurt them with it. The light missile is only lethal against darkness-based creatures.”
Pinkie blinked. “Like a dark wisp?”
“Exact—wait.” He raised an eyebrow. “Have you faced a dark wisp before?”
“Nope! I just saw a picture of it. The meany guy was sending those to the farms.” She wasn’t sure about her last statement, but it seemed logical.
“Then it’s of utmost importance that you learn this spell.” He pointed his hoof towards the ceiling, then made a swift circle backwards and ended with his hoof pointing forward. “The spell is based on the need to spread light. Try to mimic my move with a wish in your heart to make this room brighter.”
Pinkie raised his hoof, then did the swipe. Nothing happened.
“No, you must have the need in your heart!”
She tried again, then again and again.
“I have an idea,” Peg said. He walked to the lamp switch and turned it off. The basement became completely dark.
“Okie dokie, we got dark. But I don’t feel anything differ—” Something hit Pinkie Pie and fell to the ground with a clink. “Hey!” Another thing hit her. “Stop it!”
“You can’t stop what you can’t see,” came a mocking voice.
“Oh, playing hide and seek? I like that game.” She tried to walk blindly to the source of the voice to catch him. “I’ll find you,” she said in a singy-songy voice. Another item collided with her. “Stop! You’re not supposed to throw things at me!”
“You can’t stop what you can’t see.”
She jerked her head towards the voice. “Stop it! This isn’t fun anymore!” Something hit her nose hard. “Stop it!” Her shout echoed in the room.
“You can’t stop what you can’t see.”
She raised her hoof. “I. Said. Stop!” She swiped. Light erupted from her hoof, and a small comet-like object flung from her hoof and hit Brown Beg in the middle of his face. She caught a glimpse of him falling over.
“Oh, sorry!” She fell to all fours and galloped to him. She raised her hoof. Light! Her hoof glowed, and under its light she could see Brown Peg grinning like a child.
“You did it! You’ve actually cast a light missile!”
Pinkie smiled. “You’re methods are kinda unorthodox, you know?” She offered her a hoof which Brown Peg accepted.
“Sorry for hitting you in the face, I didn’t mean to.”
She touched her nose. It wasn’t bleeding. “Whatever, it worked.” She waved her hoof which resulted in the room wavering in its light. “Though, you said that my powers are not incantation based, yet sometimes my voice echoes when I do magic.”
“Your magic is based on the need in your heart, but if it reaches your mind or your tongue, it’ll resonate with the power that dwells in you.” He walked to the door and opened it. The sudden light blinded Pinkie Pie, and she felt the magic from her hoof disappear. “How about we take a break? It’s dinner time anyways.”
Pinkie’s face lit up. “That sounds great!”
Pinkie and Lilly were playing together in the living room while Brown Peg was preparing dinner. Playing tea-party was something Pinkie had never done when she had been a child. Just farming rocks day and night, nothing fun, as she remembered. Doing it now with Lilly felt like reliving a childhood that never existed. Pinkie was really good at role playing, her facial expressions resulting in giggles from Lilly multiple times.
The will to make other ponies happy was rooted so deep in both of their hearts that it made Pinkie feel like Lilly was more than just a cute little filly; she felt like a sister. Well, she had three sisters already, and she had the baby Cakes, and of course Lilly was not a real sister, but she still felt like that.
Pinkie also noticed during the games that Lilly occasionally glanced at her like if she wanted to ask something, but she continued to play instead. When they sat down for dinner, Pinkie decided to help her a little bit. “What’s on your mind, Lilly?”
She looked up from her dandelion soup. “What do you mean, Pinkie Pie?”
“I know you want to ask something.” With a smile, she tilted her head. “Go on!”
“Oh, uhm…” Lilly gazed at her bowl. “I just wanted to ask you how you got your cutie mark.”
Pinkie chuckled. “Oh, you could have asked that before. It’s not a big secret.”
She told them about the rainbow arc she had seen on the rock farm, then explained in detail her first party and her family’s reaction.
“Actually, it’s kind of funny you asked. Peggy, I just realized that I’ve been doing weird things since I got my cutie mark.”
He gulped down a spoonful of his soup. “Weird things?”
“Yup. Like, teleporting, creating things from air, stuff like that.”
Brown Peg raised both of his eyebrows. “Wait. Your fainsaarn abilities have been unlocked for ten years, and you still don’t know how to use them?”
Pinkie scratched her head. “Well, I dunno. The first time I’ve healed anypony was a week ago. Before that, doing those stuff just felt natural. I didn’t even notice that I was doing magic.”
“Did your eyes glow or your hooves shimmer before?”
“Nope!”
Brown Peg put a hoof under his chin. “The best I can come up with is that the sudden transition from the dullness of the rockfarm into becoming an energetic party pony partially unlocked your abilities.”
Pinkie pressed her lips together. “Well, that can be. I mean, all six of us got our cutie mark at the same time; I guess it was so much magic that it made my magic wake up!”
Brown Peg nodded. “And about the fact that you were using your abilities for all these years without noticing; well, I’m not a magic expert, but I’ve heard about subconscious magic usage.”
“So you mean like my subconscious told me to do magic, then made me think it was the most natural thing?”
“Something like that.” He finished his soup, then stood up. “I think we can continue the training. What do you think?”
Pinkie Pie had already finished her meal. “Well, if you won’t start throwing things at me again.”
“What? You were throwing things at Pinkie Pie?” Lilly asked.
“Uhm… well.” Brown Peg scratched his nape.
“Ah, don’t worry. Peggy was doing that to help me learn how to do flashy things with my hooves!” She stood up.
“Light missiles,” Peg murmured.
“Yup! Light missiles. So, where are we gonna go now?”
They were in the basement again. This time, it was properly lit.
“The next thing I’m gonna teach you is conjuring. The light missile can also be considered conjuring, but it’s a more refined and effective form, therefore easy to learn.”
Pinkie nodded.
“Like I said, a fainsaarn’s ability can be used to alter reality in the direction they want to. So let me ask you a question: what do you need now?”
“My friends!” Pinkie answered without hesitation. She enjoyed the company of Lilly and Brown Peg, really. However, nothing could substitute her closest friends.
“Conjuring a living creature is impossible for a fainsaarn, so is the resurrection of the dead. Think about an object, like something that you’re missing now.”
Pinkie sat down and put a hoof on her cheek.
“Maybe something that you conjured before.”
Something that she… Yes! “My party cannon!”
“Your… what?”
“My party cannon! You see, I’ve always taken my party cannon from behind me, when there was nothing there! Let’s see...” She reached out towards her cutie mark. Party cannon. Need. Now!
Her hoof shimmered, and lots of small glowing tendrils bloomed out of it. The tendrils twisted and swirled, and began filling up the form of her party cannon.
Brown Peg walked to her. “You could have chosen something smaller. With your untrained abilities, this might take half a minute or even more.”
Pinkie gazed at the tendrils. “I don’t understand. When I’ve reached out before, it’s been always there instantly.”
Peg put a hoof on her shoulder. “It will be, you just need practice.”
The glowing faded as the colors of her cannon appeared. Pinkie stood up and touched it. “Yup, this is my party cannon.”
“Or one of them.”
Pinkie looked at him with a questioning eye.
“You didn’t summon your cannon, you conjured it.”
She stepped away from the cannon. “You mean, I can make another one?”
Peg nodded.
Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Wow! That means I can make the biggest party ever! What should I make it for? Hm… Yes! I’ll make it for the awakening of the princesses! I’ll just need to start with the preparations.” Her raised right hoof glowed, and another party cannon began to form. “And I’ll need more streamers.” She sat down and raised another hoof, which began to conjure colorful streamers.
“Wow, Pinkie. You’re really getting the hang of it, but—”
“And cakes! Finally I don’t have to cook for hours!” Some tendrils got separated from her right hoof and began forming a table with cakes on it.
“Pinkie—”
“Oh and games! How could I forget the games?” The tendrils from her left hoof began making various games while creating the streamers. Was she sweating? She didn’t care. “And lights!”
“Pinkie!”
“What?” The tendrils stopped, and the half-made objects disappeared. Suddenly, a huge fatigue overpowered her and she fell over. She heard Brown Peg gallop to her.
“Oh my, if she fell into a coma…”
“I’m fine,” she groaned and tried to get up. She stood up, but her nausea made her totter, almost tripping on one of the few streamers that she had actually succeed to create.
“You should watch out for your power usage until you get stronger; your body still doesn’t warn you consistently when you’re nearing magical exhaustion.” Brown Peg stood next to her as a support. “Come, get some sleep. We’ll continue tomorrow.”
They walked back to the room Peg first brought Pinkie. She shivered as she remembered why she had been carried in here before. Why would have somepony tried kill her? She didn’t even know who he was. Maybe he was working for this Agony guy?
She climbed onto the bed with some help from Peg. “Thank you, Peggy. For everything.”
Brown Peg smiled back. “It’s the least I can do.”
Pinkie gave her own smile as a reply, then let her fatigue take control. She fell asleep in a few seconds.
“This morning, I’ll teach you how to control your teleportation.”
They were in the basement again, Pinkie’s hooves all bound to a heavy stone.
Brown Peg put down a frosted cupcake on a table at the other side of the room. “Do you like banana cupcakes, Pinkie Pie?”
“Well, not my favorite, buuut definitely in the top ten!”
“Sorry for skipping the breakfast, but I guess some hunger will be an advantage in what we’re trying to achieve.”
Pinkie nodded. Now all she needed to do is use her super fainsaarn powers to get a frosted banana cupcake. Her stomach growled. “Okay, so… I need a frosted banana cupcake.” Her hooves began to shimmer and tendrils were coming out.
“No! Stop!”
The tendrils vanished. “Why?”
“You don’t need a cupcake, you need that cupcake” He pointed at the pastry on the table.
“Why’s that important? I can make cupcakes if I want to.”
“Pinkie, this is just an exercise. In the real life this cupcake might be replaced by your friend who’s about to be hurt.”
“Oh.” She hoped that would never happen, but… “Okay.” She focused in her mind on that cupcake. She had to get there, had to touch it, had to taste it, had to—
“Good job!”
Pinkie refocused her eyes. She was munching on the cupcake.
“You’re really getting better at this. After you’ve finished your cupcake, we can have a proper breakfast, then we can continue with—”
“Daddy!” Lilly appeared in the door, her eyes sparkling.
“What is it, my dear?”
“Rainbow Dash is at the door!”
Pinkie gasped. “Rainbow Dash?!” Sprinting out of the room, she almost knocked over Lilly. She barely registered that reality seemed to warp from her unnatural speed. She spotted Dash standing at the door. “Dashie!” Not even slowing down, she launched herself at the poor pegasus.
“Whoa!” They fell on the ground, Pinkie Pie hugging Rainbow Dash.
“I’m so glad you’re here, Dashie! I was so worried about you girls, but I couldn’t tell you anything because I was training here with Peggy and playing with Lilly. And I also healed her, isn’t that wonderful? She wants...” Pinkie realized that something was not normal. She was used to having her mouth blocked by now, but instead what she felt was Rainbow Dash wrapping her hooves around her back. And were those...? “Are you crying?”
Rainbow Dash sniffed. “I’m not… I… Pinkie… when… when we heard that you were assassinated… I… I didn’t even know what to think. We were told that a random guy took you away and… and you were badly bleeding from your back.”
“Badly? Oh, but Peggy said it wasn’t so bad.” She released Rainbow Dash, who did the same. They stood up. “And even if it’d been, just look at it!” She turned and pointed to the no-longer-visible wound on her back. “You see?”
“I… don’t see… anything.”
She turned. “That’s just it! I healed myself!”
Dash’s eyes went wide. “So you learned how to heal?”
“Yup, Peggy taught me.” She then noticed the bandage on Dash’s hooves. “You came here on injured hooves?!”
Rainbow Dash spread her wings and wiggled them.
Pinkie giggled. “Oh yeah, silly me. Still, we should take care of your hooves. Sit down.” Rainbow Dash obeyed, and Pinkie touched the bandages. Nothing happened.
Pinkie heard hoofsteps from behind, and Brown Peg spoke, “Remember, ‘need in your heart’.”
Need in her heart... Easier said than done. Dashie needed to run again because… the Running of the Leaves! She saw in her mind Rainbow Dash galloping in the Whitetail Wood with Applejack. The only thing Dashie loved more than racing was winning. She remembered Rainbow Dash hoof-wrestling with Applejack. Pinkie’s hoof glowed.
“Okay, it should be healed.” Pinkie removed the bandages, and under it, no injury was seen. “Try it out.”
Rainbow Dash carefully stood up. Then made a weak stomp. Then jumped. “Wow, I don’t feel any pain at all!” She looked at Brown Peg. “Did he teach you?”
“Yup, come meet Peggy.” She pulled Dash to him.
“Hello. My name is Brown Peg.” He held out a hoof that Rainbow Dash shook.
“Rainbow Dash, the one and only.” She looked down at the filly. “And who’re you, little one?”
“I… I’m Lilly!” she squeaked.
“Hi there, Lilly.”
Pinkie began bouncing. “Weee, now one of my best friends knows my other best friends!”
“So… can you now heal the princesses?” Dash asked.
“Oh…” Pinkie stopped hopping and looked at Peg. "Peggy?”
Brown Peg sighed. “Unfortunately, I have no idea. I’ve taught you everything I could. We could practice more, but I don’t know if that would improve your chance to help the princesses’ state.”
“Are you a fansurn, too?”
“Fainsaarn, but unfortunately not. My great-grandfather was one, and I learned things from him, but it turned out that I do not posses the magic myself.”
Dash turned back to Pinkie Pie. “Then it’s only you who can do it, Pinkie. We’ve got some big problems.”
Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“One of the guards told us that the stuff that was on the picture… well, there are a lot more of them. And they’re coming here.”
Pinkie gasped.
“Twilight and the Royal Guard are now preparing for the defence of the city, but from what she said, it’s more of an evacuation plan.” Dash glanced at Lilly, who moved closer to her father.
“Then let’s go! Maybe I can bring the princesses back to life.” She glanced at the door. “See you later Brown Peg, see you later Lilly! Be a good girl!” She waved and began galloping towards the castle.
“Be careful, Pinkie Pie!” she heard Lilly shout from behind.
Pinkie kept running with Rainbow Dash flying overhead. Mid-way, she realized that she should have taken the fainsaarn diary with her to give it to Twilight for further research. Maybe later. As she glanced at the castle growing bigger and bigger in her sight, she wondered if she could use her fainsaarn powers to get there faster. Castle. Her, there, now! She saw herself glow in an aura, but the aura disappeared, and she was still running on the streets.
“What was that?”
Pinkie glanced up at Dashie. “Oh, I just tried to teleport to the castle. Maybe too far.” She looked forward again and saw something familiar at the end of the avenue. “Hey! Isn’t that Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity?”
Rainbow Dash looked ahead. “It is! What’re they doing here?”
“There they are!” Pinkie heard Applejack shout.
“Oh my, Pinkie!” Twilight yelled.
They two teams met in a big group hug around Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash hovering over them.
“Are you okay, Pinkie?”
“We were so worried, sugarcube.”
“I told you to be careful; never do this ever again!”
“Oh darling, I couldn't believe it when I heard it!”
Weren’t they the bestest friends? She hugged them back. “I’m so happy you’re all here! But why’re you here?” She released them.
Rarity answered, “It was simply awful! Just after Rainbow Dash left, that Embodiment of Agony came back with horrible creatures!”
Fluttershy added in a low voice, “They… they killed the guard ponies. It’s… just…” She trembled as her bleary eyes filled up tears again. Rarity embraced her, and they slowly sat down as Fluttershy continued her sobbing.
“It took us by surprise,” Twilight said. “He teleported in with a squad of elite warriors, shooting incredibly strong dark beams. We barely got out alive.”
“Ah’ve never seen such a thing before!” Applejack said. “A huge dark-purple ball with glowing blue curved swords on the top of it, walking on two legs blacker than a black beetle. It was a living nightmare!”
Twilight sighed and gazed at the floor. “The guards stood no chance.”
The daylight changed, the whole area rapidly going darker.
“What the?”
They all looked up. The sky was swarming with small black creatures.
Twilight gasped. “Dark wisps! They’re canceling the daylight with their magic!” She fell on her haunches. “This makes no sense. They weren’t supposed to arrive for at least two hours. The evacuation has barely started!”
The wind was blowing, and as they stared at the wisps, Pinkie Pie heard a voice coming with the wind.
The protectors of your false joy and happiness are gone, citizens of Canterlot. The princesses of Equestria are no more.
“Did you hear that too?” Rainbow Dash asked. They nodded.
Your enlightenment begins now, my children. Our suffering shall be our joy, our mourning shall be our anthem. Let the agony begin!
“Okay, this is bad. Very bad,” Pinkie said.
Do not fight back against the creatures of darkness, and I’ll spare your worthless lives.
Just as the message finished, the cloud of dark wisps began to move towards the ground.
“Oh my… think, Twilight, think, think!”
They weren’t just wisps. As Pinkie watched the dark forms come closer and closer, she also noticed some dragon-like things that had two legs. She had read about wyverns before, but never thought she would see one.
“The Elements of Harmony!” Rarity yelled.
“Right!” Twilight’s face lit up for a moment. “No! They’re in the castle! We stand no chance against those monsters. We must do something else!”
A dark wisp flew into the middle of the group, then stopped. They all stared at it.
“Oh… my.”
Go back to your homes. Curfew is in effect, Agony’s voice came out of the wisp.
“Nopony tells me what to do!” Rainbow Dash yelled at it before charging.
“Dash, no!” Twilight cried.
The pegasus flew through the wisp. The air at the ends of its tentacles suddenly became pitch-black, and a small dark sphere appeared at the top of the creature. The wisp made a swirl vertically. The sphere quickly circled around its body, following the movement of the tentacles, then became like a small comet with a black trail and flew right into Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash screamed and crashed into the ground.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- XyroX · 9.2k words · 343 views
Stats
Page generated in 0.071 seconds
Total duration
1,003 users online
223,585 hits today, 1,996,409 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
4405207 Thank you.
(Sorry for the late reaction. Somehow your comment slipped through my notification system. 
)
4439422
4439436 NNice work.
4439441 Thank you.
this sounds good i think i'll read this later. but a question about the cover, why does pinkie look like she's about to bring down some final fantasy shit on somepony?