A Dangerous Sparkle

by David Silver

53 - Efficient Spellcasting

When the rest of the group got home, Twilight was walking slowly and stiffly. Pinkie took notice and asked, "Hey, Twilight, are you ok? You look like you really need some muffins, stat."

"Huh?" asked Twilight. "Yea. I'm fine, I think. I'm just feeling tired again. It's like Long Road's trick didn't stick or something."

Long Road perked an ear at his name, "The healing touch was all it could be... I couldn't say why you didn't stop being tired. Maybe you are too drained for it?"

Twilight nodded distractedly even as she entered the Seeker headquarters and bee-lined for the library to study up on the matter. She did not emerge for dinner, or come out at breakfast.

Long Road looked across at Pinkie Pie, "I think she has been lost to her studies. We should collect our payment and see about getting a new appointment."

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes, "Psssh. Why do they make us make appointments just to break them?" She was already on her hooves and looking ready to go.

Long Road soon joined her and they trotted together into the city proper, "Have you seen Spike?"

Pinkie shook her head, "He's probably with Twilight if I had to guess, which I do. He may be bigger and tougher, but he's still her number one."

He raised a brow at that and looked uncertain for a moment with shifting gaze before he asked, "Are they...?"

Pinkie took a moment before it clicked internally and she began to snort in an uproar of a gigglefit as she walked, "Oh golly no! Spike is half her age. She is like his big sister, not his special somepony." She casually leaped over her donkey friend to walk on his other side, "Why do you ask?"

"Well..." demurred Long Road, telling no lies as he edged around the truth nervously, "Spike is very shy about his new hanger on. They seem to be getting along well enough, but he gets uncomfortable when she gets affectionate. I thought he might have had a prior relationship he was trying to be true to."

"Well, duh, yea," agreed Pinkie as she weaved around a pony pulling a cart that wasn't moving fast enough for her. "Spike has a crush on a nice pony named Rarity. She's from our world."

Taking the chance to not discuss his own issues, Long Road seized the chance to talk of someone else's, "And what sort of pony is she like? What was their relationship?"

Pinkie suddenly hopped on top of Long Road as she tapped her chin in thought, "Well he really really likes her, but she only likes him." She leans in, "He made me pinkie pie swear not to tell anypony, but those are only good on the world they're made." Pinkie seemed pleased with her logic as she continued, "She is a mature pony, and isn't that interested in Spike like that."

Long Road swiveled an ear back to face her, bearing her weight stoically, "Spike is in an awkward place. If he did get that pony, he would still be a child for most of her years, only to bury her. Has he not sought the company of other dragons?"

Pinkie Pie stuck out her tongue, "That's really sad. But... no. Spike was raised by ponies. He doesn't get along with most dragons."

Pinkie Pie launched from Long Road's back as they approached the guard gate before the castle. The castle looked busier than the day before, with ponies coming and going along the road before it at a steady pace. "Hey! Is Sunshine here!" she called out as she bounced up to the guards standing watch.

"This is her day off," said a stallion there. "Do you have business with her?"

Pinkie shook her head, "Not really, but she said to come back to get paid."

One of the other guards, a mare, nudged the stallion and whispered something to him that made him start in place. "Oh! You're the pink one."

"Yuh huh. Pink as the day I was born," agreed Pinkie with a quick bobbing motion.

Long Road stepped up beside his pink ally, "We are the Returners of the Dawn. We fixed the elemental trouble yesterday and were told to come back today?"

"Ah," said the Stallion in an uncertain tone, "I'll check on that inside. Please wait here." He trotted off to the castle as one of the mares stepped forward with her eyes on Pinkie.

"I'm told you throw a party like none other," said the mare. "I wasn't on duty when you came by."

Pinkie clapped her fore hooves together, reared onto her hind legs, "I love parties, but I love seeing ponies smile most of all."

"Could I get you to throw a party?" asked the mare.

"Can you get a fish to swim?" asked Pinkie as she danced in place, "Where do you need it? Is it a birthday? I love birthday parties! I can get Long here to make the cake."

Suddenly volunteered, Long perked his ears sharply, "Huh?"

"Donkies can make cakes?" asked the mare guard with surprise, "It's an anniversary party, for my friends. They've been married for ten years and they refuse to celebrate it. I want to surprise them."

Long Road stiffened at the mare's words, but held his tongue. Pinkie was bobbing her head excitedly, "Ooo, special somepony get together anniversary! That has to be special." Suddenly she had a paper out and a quill in her mouth, "Names? What kind of ponies are they? Do they have favorite treats? How did they meet?"

As the mare and Pinkie exchanged information, the stallion came trotting back from the castle with a bag held in his maw. He set the bag down close to Long Road and Pinkie, "For services rendered. There is a scroll inside that details the payment, including any fees or penalties. The captain wishes to express her thanks for your timely assistance and quick action."

Long Road picked the bag and shook his head, making the contents clink around. He could feel the roll of paper in there. He put it all away into his own saddlebag to sort through later. "We also wanted an appointment, to examine the books in the archives here."

"I'm afraid I'm the wrong pony to speak to about that," said the stallion with a shake of his head. "The one you want was... frightened... by the event and is on a small vacation."

"You don't sound approving," said Long Road.

The stallion gave a soft sigh, "It's not my place to say, but this is not the first time, and I would wager a month's pay it is far from the last."

"Nothing to do for it," agreed Long Road, "Us warriors have to fix the messes of others. We'll check back in a few days."

"Sun watch over you," said the guard in friendly parting.

Long Road had to wait for Pinkie Pie to finish her survey for the party, but soon they were on their way back. "Are you being paid to throw this party?"

Pinkie blinked, looking downright baffled at the very notion, "What? No. Do you pay birds to fly? Besides, if they have fun at the party, we get more friends, and I can make them smile. Isn't that worth it?"

"Have you considered taking Soft Mane?" he asked.

Pinkie tilted her head a little, "I could, why, she needs a Pinkie Party?"

"No, well, maybe, but that's not why I ask," said Long Road as he went, "She is bound to a god of love. An oracle of love at an anniversary party seems a good fit."

Pinkie gasped dramatically, "Oh! You're so right! We could dress her in some funny robes and she could say some nice things to them. They'll be out of their minds with happiness." She began planning it out, out loud, all the way back home.

---

Twilight stood in the library across from a new mare. She had a cyan mane and tail on a deeper blue body. She had eyes that were as lavender as Twilight's fur and a horn that matched her blue coat. The mare was speaking to Twilight as she paced around her, "From what you described, you're a font of raw power, but you're letting it get away from you instead of learning control."

Twilight shook her head, "Control? I've learned lots of control!"

The new mare turned to face her with a raised brow, "So you've never suffered a magical surge of any kind?" When Twilight winced she went on, "Never had a spell with unintended consequences?" Twilight looked around anywhere but at the mare, "And never felt exhausted after casting a spell well within your means?"

Twilight sagged to her belly, covering her eyes with her hooves, "Ok! I've done all of those things! But I was doing that long before I learned any of the magical techniques of this world."

The mare softly pat Twilight on her exposed back, "I'm not belittling you. It's clearly your style, but it is a style that's holding you back. So much talent, being wasted on raw power when you could be casting bigger and better things."

Twilight peeked with one eye at the mare, "Do you really think so?"

"I know it for a fact," said the mare, twitching her cyan colored tail, "Now if you want to get over it, I will help. It's not free, nothing is, but we're both Seekers, so I'll be reasonable."

"Ugh," said Twilight as she got back to her hooves, "I feel like I'm being sent back to magical kindergarten, again."

"You are, in a way," agreed the other mare, "But it won't be nearly as long. You know how to do magic, you just need to learn restraint. It's better to do a spell smaller and controlled than to unleash your reserves into a blinding blast." She reached up to tap Twilight's horn, "I notice you don't use that."

Twilight crossed her eyes at the hoof on her horn, "What? I spent weeks learning to not use that. I thought local magics don't use horns directly."

"It doesn't require it," spoke the fellow unicorn, "But you can make magic better with it. We're born with natural magic tuners, why not use them?"

Twilight sat on her haunches, "Well, alright. I kind of miss feeling magic in my horn. Show me how to do that, Flowing Water."

Flowing smiled, "You can call me Flo, if you like. I have a lesson plan already in my head. We'll start after you get a nap."

Twilight huffed in frustration, "A nap?!"

Flo reached out and set a hoof gently on Twilight's face, just under an eye, "You look like you haven't slept in ages. No student of mine starts like that. Go, sleep."

Though she grumbled, Twilight staggered off towards bed, "Thanks, Flo."

Author's Note:

Lessons learned, parties planned, money collected! A busy day indeed.

Pickpockets may have slipped some typos into our ponies pockets.

Comments

[David Silver]

5527918 That would be noted down in the Seeker records, so other Seekers would know that a particular client is very not-profitable. Lashing out is bad, it makes for bad reputations, and the Seekers don't need a bad reputation. It's easier to blacklist the bad apples. Of course, this is why a lot of Seekers are happy enough to wait to be handed jobs with an assured pay level, but to the bold go the spoils.

Twilight and friends got the job first and got money, even if legalese lowered it a bit.

[chronocrosser]

Great Chapter Looking forward to the next

Let me guess while Twilight learning new magical techniques and while Long Road, Pinkie and Soft Mane are at the party Spike will be studying with Swift Strike. I can just see it now Spike will be learning his first Slayer Talent, which might be his most important one Trapfinding. I said it before and I will say it again a adventuring party without a trap-finder is likely too soon be a dead party. They might have been lucky but like any seasoned adventurer will tell you luck can only go so far. Spike will have to learn the Disable Devise skill and thats a skill you have to be trained in.

I could also just imagine Spike walking in a forest getting hit by several crudely made and painful but not lethal traps to practice and or learn Trapfinding. And then I could see him with a pile of treasure chests, all are either empty or have rocks in them but Spike is using them to practice and or learn the Disable Devise skill. I could also imagine some of the chests being booby trapped to have painful but not lethal traps, so he could practice both skills. I'm not sure if he would be informed of the first trap or that some of the fact that some of the chests would be trapped, Swift Strike strikes me as a teacher who would take a small amount of sadistic pleasure from the surprise and pain factor of that. Of course going through something like that might make Spike a little more cautious in dungeon.

[chronocrosser]

I noticed Pinkie volunteered Long Road to make the cake and it got me thinking does he have skill points in Profession cook or baker. It would stand to reason he would get or have them from his time with his food cart.

[David Silver]

5528440 Long Road does have profession (cooking) because don't all paladins have that?

5528374 You do like training sequences, don't you. :D I definitely didn't feel right having Twilight adjusting her archetypes without mentioning this in-story. Besides, it is a 'problem' she has, even in the show.

[chronocrosser]

5528640 I thought so, and for the record I have never seen a paladin with that profession maybe I should look for another besides Long Road. Say while I remember when are you going to add Long Roads Character Sheet you gave us his race, but you have yet to give us his stats any reason for that, feel free to not answer if you don't want to.

And I do like training sequences, but I do not like them as much as my posts would show. It's more of I really hate it when a character gets really skilled and or powerful without an explanation and or backstory. It's basically if a character is getting stronger and or better I want to know how they got there. It's also more of I love fantasy explanations, I'm the kinda guy who loves it they find some way for magic or any thing similar to make a sorta sense. And if you haven't noticed I love character stats in fact a favorite past time of mine was to sometimes just read the character stats from different D&D books and come up with scenarios that they could do

I would be satisfied with a flashback of the part of the training just before they use the skill, or even a flashback of there teacher explaining the skill when they are using the skill as long as it was done well.

[David Silver]

5528728 You want sheets, I deliver sheets.

[chronocrosser]

5528740 Thank You, very much.

[albedoequals1]

you're a font of raw power

I think you meant "fount" as in fountain.
The font of raw power is just all caps, right? :needalunasmileyhere:

[David Silver]

5607231 More like: source, fountain <a font of information>

[Seeking Dusk]

I could see the anime style armour piercing words stabbing into Twilight during that gentle little rebuking session. Flo has a point though. While it was important that Twilight learn how to cast without her horn, it's also important that she learns how to cast with it as well.

[David Silver]

5856470 Tough love is best love, right?

[Rustled Pages]

5856470
Oh gods I saw that too.

[albedoequals1]

You can call me Flo, if you like.

Compared to Under Score, I'll bet her teaching style is more...progressive
*puts on sunglasses*

[David Silver]

6337037 Yeahhhhhhhh... I don't get it.

[albedoequals1]

6337041 Progressive insurance uses a character named Flo in their commercials.

[Vutava]

6337037

[Chrome Masquerade]

"Well..." demured Long Road, telling no lies as he edged around the truth nervously,

demurred

[Chrome Masquerade]

Pinkie gasped dramatically, "Oh! You're so right! We could dress her in some funny robes and she could say some nice things to them. They'll be out of their minds with happiness." She began planning it out, out loud, all the way back home.

I sense a faint -yet quite visible- red flag, here. Trouble is brewing

[David Silver]

9173434
Fixed!