The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life

by Rhino

Chapter 48: Assemble the Team

***Tuesday, Day 31, afternoon***

I can hardly believe it. It’s been a while since I’ve had a nice magical project to focus on, and now after finding a personal one last night that will keep me occupied for a bit, I have one requested to me. This ought to sooth that mental itch I’ve been having after not getting into my runes for a while. Let’s see… first thing is to gather those whose skills would be assets to the project… that would be Rarity and Twilight I believe. Seeing as Rarity’s place is closer, I’ll head there first.

I roll an eye upwards and twitch my ear a few times to make sure Specter is paying attention in his perch within my mane so he knows we are setting out. I feel a subtle shift in weight before Specter’s familiar set of golden eyes pops itself into my view before he launches himself off my head and glides around until we get to the bottom of the hill we were descending. As we continue into town he lands ahead of me and soon has run his way back up my leg and back onto his spot on my head.

I chuckle lightly as I feel him nuzzling me, “You know Specter, I sometimes wonder what you would say if you could talk. As far as I know though, Fluttershy is the only pony who can talk directly to animals.” I look back up to see him looking down at me, “Still, even if I can’t speak squirrel, you and I seem to be able to understand each other on a basic level. Personally I think it’s just because of how close we are, but if anything that’s just shows how good of a pair we make huh?”

He closes his eyes and nods in what I assume is agreement as I use my magic to lightly scratch the top of his head as we continue on our way.

We arrive at Rarity’s soon enough, and it occurs to me as I enter that I do not know exactly what Rarity’s reaction to the aftermath of our little Canterlot field trip was. I shrug as I knock on the door, figuring I’ll find out soon enough.

The refined voice of the fashionista flows through the door, “Come in~!”

Specter and I enter to see the white unicorn with her back to us, she turns to us with her eyes closed under her thick red glasses and says in a light tone, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique."

I nod to myself, since she has her eyes closed, and reply, “Short and to-the-point yet still memorable, an excellent slogan Rarity.”

Her eyes spring open at my voice as she regards me, “Oh, hello Rhino. What can I do for you?”

“Well, Rarity, I was wondering if you might be willing to assist me in a little project I have. Blue requested that I work on creating a particular piece of specialized equipment for him, and I thought that I would inquire as to whether you would lend your particular expertise to the more aesthetic aspects of their design.”

She raises an intrigued eyebrow, “Well now, this certainly does sound like a different challenge for me. Very well, I accept. Did you have a design drawn out already or is this still in the planning stages?”

As I respond I walk a few steps away from the door and sit down while Specter climbs down and begins looking around, “Currently this would be the ‘gathering the experts’ stage. I have only a general design in mind for the moment seeing as once I get Twilight’s assistance we can really get down to function, and at the same time, ensuring the final product is pleasing to the eye as well.”

She nods as she magics off her glasses and sets them on her workbench, “Very well, simply let me know when you have decided on a date that we may begin working. Now, speaking of dates,” her eyes harden slightly at me, “are you aware of how your little soiree affected Fluttershy in your absence? I don’t particularly enjoy my best friend being distraught over her coltfriend’s safety when he runs off suddenly.”

My ears fold back at being reminded of that fallout from our trip, “I completely understand what you mean. Rest assured, Fluttershy and I spoke about it, and I have resolved to not make her worry so in the future. You have my word Rarity, that I would never do anything to harm her, emotionally included.”

Her eyes soften back to their usual state as she smiles, “Good, you two are much too good of a couple for you to be risking it with thoughtlessness. Now then, there is another result of your trip that I wish to address.”

“And that would be…?”

Her tone is simultaneously serious yet playful, “Why, Sweetie Belle’s magic lesson of course. You remember we set them for every Sunday, and since you were otherwise occupied this weekend, it of course did not occur.”

I mentally chide myself for forgetting the little filly, “Ah yes, of course. I do apologize for that, is there any way I might make up for it?”

She puts on an obviously over dramatized aloof face, “I’m not the one to ask darling, you should take it up with her yourself.”

As if on cue, the little purple and pink maned filly bounds in the room and skids to a hault in front of me.

“Hi Rhino!” she says with a large smile.

I smile at the happy little unicorn, “Hello Sweetie Belle, sorry about missing the lesson on Sunday, I hope you aren’t too annoyed with me.”

She shakes her head rapidly, her curls bouncing as she does so, “No, it’s ok, I was a little sad at first, but then Rarity told me you had missed it because you were helping take care of some bad ponies. So I understand.”

Another slight pang of guilt goes through me as I realize I made somepony else sad, no matter how briefly, “Well, how about to make up for it, this coming Sunday we start learning some actual spells?”

The filly beams and jumps forward to hug me. I stiffen at the unexpected hug as she responds, “That sounds great! I can’t wait to start doing some magic!”

“One thing Rhino,” Rarity’s voice causes Sweetie Belle to let go of me and face her sister, who is giving us an amused look, “Sweetie Belle does not actually live with me, the other times you have seen her here, she was visiting. This means that she will be with our parents on Sunday, so you will need to find her there.”

She levitates a slip of paper with the address on it to me.

I take the slip with my magic and put it into my bag, “Thank you Rarity.” I look back down at the still excited filly, “Now Sweetie Belle, I have a little bit more to talk with your sister about. So I’ll see you on Sunday alright?”

The little unicorn nods happily at my words and practically bounces her way out of the room and up the stairs. As I turn back to Rarity to fine tune the idea I had been pitching before, I am interrupted by the door chime announcing the arrival a familiar sea green unicorn.

“Ah Rhino and Rarity, sorry to walk in on the double R party unannounced.” Says Volt with a bigger smile than usual accompanied by a small rasp.

I take the time to face-hoof at Volt’s choice of dialogue before looking back up and returning the greeting. A small feeling that something is off besides his extra cheerful facial expression causes me to stop and examine the electric unicorn. As I identify what caused that small twinge in my magic, Rarity takes over by returning his greeting herself.

“Why Voltage, it’s good to see you more recovered than the last I saw…” Rarity stops mid-dialogue and gasps.

She squeals in delight quite abruptly before taking on a more sly tone. “I see that isn’t the only thing that changed about you last night. Could it be this new aura is means something changed about you relationship wise?” The teasing mare looks at the stallion waiting for an answer.

“Am I really that easy to read about that matter?” says Volt with a blush growing across his face.

I blink in disbelief at Volt’s ignorance of the magical marker surrounding him “Volt it is written all over you.”

Volt chuckles with a dreamy smile on his face. “Well I guess I always was an open book. In any sense Twilight and I came to an understanding last night. An understanding that was one might say magical... and involved a little kissing.”

“Well I, for one, am glad you two finally got together. Twilight, smart as she may be, can be a little bit awkward when it comes to these matters and you seemed a bit…” Rarity pauses and takes a moment to look at Twilight’s aura on Volt’s body then continues “inattentive to things of this nature. No offense meant of course.”

“None taken Rarity. I came to peace with my inattentiveness long ago.” Volt replies with a cheeky smile.

“Did you notice her do anything magical to you?” I ask.

He puts a hoof to his chin as he looks upward in thought, “Hmm, well she did help the healing process for quite a bit of my injuries. That’s why I can talk with little voice rasp or pain.”

I push a little, “Nothing else?”

“Nope. Why do you ask?” Volt says confused.

I shake my head in exasperation but adopt an amused smile at his ignorance, “It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with Volt.”

He shrugs it off, “Well in any case the reason I came here was to ask Rarity to fix a tear in my favorite tie.” He moves toward the seamstress and levitates a tie over to her from his saddlebag. “Twi and I were planning a dinner date somewhere fancy and I want to look up to the part.” He turns to me. “What are you doing here Rhino? Are you getting something fixed too?”

I feel Specter playing with the tip of my tail as I answer honestly, “No, actually Rarity and I were discussing a little experiment I was planning.”

“An experiment you say?” Volt takes an imminent step forward , “An experiment with technology and innovation?”

Volt’s sudden climbing interest concerns me slightly, so I answer carefully but clearly, “Not really technology, more of runes and enchantments. Though I suppose this project is quite innovative in a way. We are trying to make some enchanted gauntlets for Blue similar to Torchlight’s, only these would radically change the way that wind affinity of his works.”

Volt ponders for a moment. “It sounds like something technology could help expand.” He then proceeds to wrap his hoof around my neck and point his hoof skyward. “Imagine it Rhino. Circuits, circuits everywhere. And wires. And inductors. And upgrades. Oh the upgrades. We can put out a new model every year.”

I interject immediately “I don’t think technology would really fit into the design…”

“Nonsense!” Volt clears his thought and begins singing.

“Weeeeeelllllllll. If you want to work it. Get your circuit.
Grab your pliers. Connect the wires. Flip the switches. Burn the bridges.
Punch the buttons. Fry your muttons. If nothing works, well you obviously mmmmffff.”

I cover his mouth with my hoof to spare both mine and Rarity’s ears as we both slowly stop cringing now that Volt’s horrendous and off key lyrical attempt has been ceased.

With my hoof sill over his mouth I quickly put on my faux smile and say to him, “I just realized a short coming in my design. It could be easily patched with some of your circuits and some completely nonmusical design strategy.”

Volt smiles cheekily as I remove my hoof, “I see I inspired you.”

Yeah sure, let’s go with that.

I let out a relived sigh and remark, “Be glad Hydro wasn’t here as I doubt Rarity wouldn’t appreciate all the blood that would likely have resulted from that little number of yours.” I shake my head. “Anyway I need to head to the library. Want to follow along?”

“Sure, I am on break right now and I was actually going to see if Twilight wanted to get a quick lunch anyway.” Volt says.

Rarity moves the tie over to her sewing desk, “Well Volt I will get right on repairing your tie. Be sure to come back tomorrow to pick it up.”

Specter is back on my head as Volt follows me out the door before turning back and waving, “Thanks Rarity!”

***In the boutique***

Rarity sighs as the two stallions exit and the door closes. “With all the new relationships popping up, I wonder if I can find a gentlecolt to court a lady such as myself. I also wonder if I can learn to stop talking to myself why I work.”

***Back to Rhino’s POV***

Volt and I make our way to the library trying to keep our conversation light and on topic.

“So you want Twilight to help with the project too?” Volt asks.

I turn my head to him “Yes. Her knowledge and skill with magic will most likely be invaluable.” I then slow my pace a little bit as a thought occurs to me, “She isn’t mad about the ‘me forcing you to run out on her’ is she?”

Volt looks at me with a little bit of a cringing expression, “Well I did actually talk to her about it this morning before I went to work. She might be a little angrier at you than you expect, especially since she blames you for my injuries.”

Wait what?

I stop dead in my tracks, “She does? Have you talked to her about it?”

Volt stops as well and looks up to the sky in thought “Yeah, but she really is firm on her point, and is far too well read and beautiful to properly argue with.”

I give him a deadpan look, “I feel like you didn’t even try.”

Volt looks at me hurt. “Hey I did try, but when you get down to it purple is a deep and mesmerizing color. It really showed off her colorful language and had a ‘hue’ge effect on me.”

My face wasn’t ready for my hoof to come at it so fast and I ended up hurting myself a little, “Ow.” I rub my face a little and continue, “Did you try and back my case or were you too busy thinking of puns to break the news to me in a not so serious way?”

He counters, “Hey, how often do you like to argue a point with Fluttershy then, Rhino the charisma master.”

I mull this over a moment, “Well, generally I don’t like arguing at all, but I suppose I see your point in this.”

Volt adopts a smile once again, “And besides I can keep her in good spirits during the project. With me there you have nothing to worry about.”

I begin moving towards the library once again also with a newly adopted smile, “Once again good point Volt. At least we have a plan now.”

And with that Volt and I continue our way to Golden Oaks Library to enlist Twilight’s help.

***

As Volt, Specter, and I walked into the library I notice our furry and fiery friend that had gone ahead to the library was still here. Iroh has perched himself near Twilight as she lays on the floor preparing a book for something. Both of them turn their heads at the sound of the door. Iroh uses his wings to fly forward to greet us, while Twilight takes on a displeased frown at the sight of me. Her frown doesn’t last long as she looks at Volt and smiles while he makes his way over to her. He kneels down and nuzzles her cheek, inciting light blushes from both of them.

“Hello friends. I didn’t expect you to stop by the library while I was here,” greets the old nimbat.

“A few things small things came up and I wanted to talk to Twilight about it.” I respond nervously.

Twilight once again looks at me and queries. “What came up?”

Volt takes up the tale, “We had this idea for a project and were hoping you could assist us.”

Twilight looks at Volt with a big smile. “I would love to hear about it later, but right now I have to finish this current project I’m working on with Iroh.”

I cock an eyebrow at that, “What kind of project?”

Iroh answers, “Twilight will take a piece of my magical essence and use that to record a journal on nimbat physiology since her library doesn’t currently have any mention of my species.” Iroh answers.

“It’s both an expansion of knowledge for me as well as a practice on recording one’s being through magical imprinting.” Twilight cuts in.

I mull over the information a moment before responding, “Intriguing. I was actually interested in learning more about the nimbats, and this spell of yours seems fascinating as well. Would you mind if Specter and I stuck around to watch?”

The librarian ponders my request thoughtfully, “Hmm. Well I don’t know. Having an audience might not be the best idea.”

Volt moved towards me, “Don’t worry Twi I’ll keep a close watch on him and Specter to make sure nothing interrupts you.”

The mare concedes with a nod, “Thank you Volt. You especially need to stay since after this I would like to heal your throat some more and maybe do a few control practices.”

“Sounds good. Now Rhino please move back a bit.” Volt says turning to me.

We take a step back and prepare for the show as Twilight begins to focus the magic in her horn. Iroh turns to us to explain one final detail.

“This procedure is very sporadic thus there is no set time to when the essence shall be extracted from me. You should pay attention closely to not miss anything.”

He quickly turned back to Twilight and took on a meditative pose, his legs crossed and his wings expanded as he sits with his eyes closed. Twilight’s horn glow seems to envelope Iroh for a second then disappears. For a while nothing seems to happen, so all there is to do was wait and watch. Unfortunately Specter decides to explore a bit since he had the attention span of a squirrel as well as having no real reason to be interested in magic. He jumps off my head and glides down behind me. At the sudden loss of weight on my head, I turn around to find him sitting on a book set upon one of Twilight’s tables.

“Specter what are you doing? Get off there.” I whisper.

Specter quickly hops back onto my head leaving me staring at the book. It is titled Advanced Magical Theories of Space Anomalies and from the looks it was brand new. Since Twilight’s spell has still yet to start I decide to pick it up the book with my magic and pop it open out of curiosity. I notice the inside of the cover has something written in it.

Dear Twilight,

I know I ran out on you earlier, so I wanted to ask forgiveness through this book. I remember you mentioning that you did not have it in your collection and that you didn’t have time to go to a book store in Canterlot and buy it. It seemed like an appropriate present since you mentioned you would love to have it. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me. You are an awesome friend and wouldn’t want to ruin it. Even if you do constantly tell me about this stallion you are interested in. I hope he notices you soon.

Sincerely, Volt

I chuckle to myself as I close the book while still holding it in my magical grasp.

Heh, well I guess he did end up noticing in one way or another. Now that I think about it, I do remember Volt passingly telling me about going to a book store while we were in Canterlot. He must have got the book for her there.

“Rhino, its happening.” Volt loudly whispers from behind me.

I turn around abruptly to see a sporadic ball of light phase out of Iroh’s head and slowly lower towards the special journal. In my state of awe I had not noticed that I still held the book in my magic. The book too had swung around when I did and gained momentum that lead it to impact into Volt’s throat. The electric unicorn gasps in pain after being hit in the tender area and stumbles backwards into a bookcase behind him. The bookcase lets loose a torrent of books onto the electric unicorn including one close to the size of a pony that lands right on his head.

Twilight, noticing the noise, immediately turns her head and loses her focus on the spell causing the tiny orb to be let free and bounce around the room uncontrollably. Specter, in fear, jumps onto the book still floating in my magic to try and use it as a shield.

“Twilight grab it!” I hear Iroh shout.

I follow the orb with my eyes as Twilight tries to get it under control but can’t quite get her focus on it since it’s bouncing all over the library. The orb never seems to hit any of the books, only the wood of the tree, lucky I guess. Unfortunately the luck turns around as the orb hits the ceiling at an angle and shoots right towards Specter and the book in my grasp. The sudden shift in trajectory causes my reflexes to be insufficient, resulting in the light hitting him and the book. Both fall into the pile of books that Volt is currently buried under.

My eyes widen at the hit to my friend, “Specter!” I cry out throwing a few books off to find him.

Luckily I find him a few books down into pile still breathing and only a little bit singed. He sits up and rubs his head trying to loosen the shellshock, before signaling me that he was okay with a thumbs-up.

I sigh in relief, “I am glad you are okay buddy. No harm done.”

A series of thumps draws my attention over to see Twilight digging through the books to find Volt. He is half awake and lightly moaning as several new bumps line his head. She looks him over quickly and checks him for a concussion only to notice her book I was holding earlier right near her hooves. It’s burnt around the edges and the spell has written over all the text in the book including the part Volt had written at the front, leaving it completely illegible.

Iroh flies over near Twilight and remarks to her, “We should limit your distractions next time so you don’t fail another project.”

Twilight looks ready to burst into tears as she cries a few words in disbelief, “But Volt! And Book! FAIL?!?!”

My relief of Specter being okay is overtaken by guilt at what had happened since I feel a bit responsible, string of unlikely and unfortunate events though it may be.

I should take complete responsibility for this and handle this like a stallion.

It’s then I notice Twilight’s coat turning a bit white and her mane starting to burst into smolder as she turns around to look at me with now red eyes.

“Rhino” Twilight growls with a voice of pure rage.

A reasonable response is now unlikely, apologize later when risk to self and others is significantly less.

“Bye!” I say quickly as fear for my life takes over all other senses. I Blink myself and Specter out of there as fast as I can and use a series of subsequent Blinks to end up back in my house just inside the front door.

Hydro, who had noticed my entrance and wide eyes, asks curiously, “Hey Rhino where’s the fire?”

“Twilight.” I answer shakily before heading straight up to my room.

***

The rest of the day goes by pretty slowly as I stayed home with slight paranoia of imminent flaming unicorn librarians for the most of it. Specter is tired after the incident so he decides to sleep the day away. I decide he has the right idea and retire early into a light dreamless sleep with Specter curled up in my forelegs.

***

I am awakened the next morning by an unknown voice.

“Hello? Rhino? Hey are you awake?”

The unknown voice causes my eyes to shoot open.

Author's Note:

Revisions still going on in earlier chapters, but in the mean time, hope you guys like new ones!

Comments

[(I*R) Surge]

Foreshadowing!

[Atomic Vortex]

Unknown voices waking you up? So many possibilites and none of them good.

[Lucky Alchemist]

I wonder