CMC: Training is Magic

by Cold Spike

Epilogue

No, nothing there… nope! Sweetie Belle thought as she tossed aside yet another tome onto a haphazard pile of books, magical trinkets, and countless tomes riddled with magic she currently couldn’t hope to decipher. She sighed heavily and growled yet again as her eyes widened at the sight of something similar to what she needed, only to sigh again when it turned out to be wrong, again.

“Another spell to grow wings… but it says nothing about studying flight as a non-pegasus. Ahhhhh!” Sweetie exclaimed, screaming out before she could stop herself.

“Huh, who’s there?!”

“Great… woke them up,” Sweetie said as she smacked her hoof into her face. “Stupid, stupid…”

“Sweetie Belle, that you?”

“... Um, no…” she said lamely and started to slowly back away. A creeping shadow of a tall, two-legged creature was now slowly cascading down the stairs. Upon hearing her reply, however, it stopped.

“What do you mean no? Is that you or not?” the shadow asked, showing off its long arms while seeming to place them on its hips.

“It’s uh…” Sweetie Belle trailed off and looked around frantically for an out until her eyes suddenly looked upon a miniature basket holding packets of sugar... “Sweet,” she stopped talking again while looking for any other thing to say which wouldn't give her away, and then she found it: a couple of discarded tea bags. “Tea…” trailing off for the third time she scanned the dark room until finally landing upon a rusted old bell. “Bell. Yeah… Sweet Tea Bell!”

Spike finally came down the steps as he lit a candle held in his hand. He walked up to the filly, giving her the most boring, deadpan stare she’d ever seen. “Really?”

“Um…” she trailed off yet again and choose not to speak.

“So, you wanna tell me why you’re making such a mess of my clean library?” he asked, with just a small hint of bitterness in his tone.

“Isn’t this Twilight--” her mouth was forcefully shut as Spike’s claws clamped her muzzle shut.

“Ah, ah, ah! We’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that,” he said with a smirk and she rolled her eyes.

“Um, right. Uh….” Sweetie trailed off and surveyed the mess that had been a perfectly well-organized shelf of rather large tomes and books. “Sorry, I guess I wasn’t really paying attention,” she said while giving Spike a pleading look. The drake continued to tap his feet impatiently with his arms still crossed. “I’ll clean it up,” she announced and started to do just that.

Spike sighed and started helping, instructing the filly on where each book went. As Spike grabbed the last of them and started stacking each one away, he glanced over to Sweetie who seemed to have a downcast look about her. “Are you okay?”

“What?” she asked, blinking as if in a daze. She shook her head then quickly nodded to his question. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just hoping Twilight had any books on something kind of specific,” she admitted with a profound blush.

Spike blinked and nodded before leaning in suddenly. “Are you talking about that thing that older ponies discuss away from younger ponies and claim ‘we'll talk about it when you’re older’ sort of book?”

“Spike, we’re going to move on from this topic and pretend what you said never happened. Are we clear?”

Spike nodded and blushed as they both cleared their throats.

“Anyway, I was hoping she had books on, well, the history of magic.”

Spike blinked a few times and slowly pointed over toward the next section over, a spot cleanly labeled Magical History, but the unicorn filly swiftly shook her head.

“No, not like that. Um, how do I put it?” she asked but Spike only shrugged. “Are there any books that talk about what happened before the princesses?”

Spike scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. “Uh, sorta. There’s some mention of it in all those books, and I think Twilight once lectured me about it. But after a while it’s all considered ‘pre-history’, which means most culture hadn’t developed their own, you know,” he said waving his arms about but Sweetie merely shook her head. “Well, language or anything. Or if they had, they hadn’t developed writing systems, which means- No language means-”

“No books,” Sweetie finished and he nodded quietly. She sighed and slumped in her seat. “It’s not fair. I- I just need to know something and I can’t find the answer, Spike.”

“What is it you need to know, my young apprentice?” Twilight asked, seemingly coming out of nowhere, which startled the two.

“Uh, uh, hi Twilight. How long have you been standing there?” Sweetie asked as she pointed.

“A few seconds.”

“Oh.”

Not one for long, awkward silences, Twilight cleared her throat. “Now, what is it you need to know?” she repeated.

Sweetie Belle considered what to say with a long pause. She took a deep breath and glanced over all the books they had yet to re-organize or pick up. Finally, she shook her head and decided to bluntly blurt it out, “Why am I stuck using magic?”

Twilight recoiled slightly as if Sweetie had uttered out a rather rude swear or even insulted her. “I’m sorry? What are you talk-” but Sweetie was too quick for her.

“Why can’t my friends use magic too? Why?” she interrupted, her voice cracking just a bit.

Twilight paused and considered the question for a solid ten seconds before replying. “What is this really about? What are you afraid of, Sweetie Belle?”

She sighed and slumped onto the floor. “I don’t want my friends to drift apart; if they focus too much on their school of magic, and if I keep learning with you, we won’t see each other as much.”

Twilight nodded in understanding. “That’s a valid concern, but I kind of doubt you three will drift; Rarity and Applejack have tough times pulling you apart!” she said and Spike nodded to agree though the young filly didn’t look so sure. “Look, if you’re really afraid, why don’t you three make another pact?”

Sweetie groaned and shook her head. “One’s enough for me, thanks!”

“Maybe a pact that's safer. Just promise each other to help each other with your teaching. Help each other when you’re down or struggling. That way, you can be closer than ever. Maybe you can even set goals for each other.”

Sweetie smiled slightly and nodded just a bit. It didn’t seem as though she was fully on board just yet, though. “Do you really think we’ll stay friends?”

Twilight smiled and could almost seem to giggle, but she kept a subtle smile up and chose not to. “Trust me, I think I know a thing or two about friendship. I don’t think you could get rid of those two friends of yours if you tried.”

“Celestia forbid you decide to take a little break once in a while,” Spike butted in and Twilight playfully whacked him in the back of his head. “Uh, I mean, what she said.”

Sweetie Belle glanced at the magic section thoughtfully before shaking her head. Brightening up significantly, she leaned in to hug both Twilight and Spike. “Thanks, I think I feel a lot better. I’m gonna go set some goals with my friends. Bye, Twilight!” Sweetie said before sprinting off.

“Make sure to come back in an hour for your lessons!” she called, and the filly nodded. As she left, Twilight seemed to sigh in relief before slumping down in one of the library’s many guest sofas. “Glad she’s happy. She’s got a lot of training ahead of her and I’d hate for Sweetie to face it all alone. Her new lessons may be for unicorn magic, but friendship is the real magic, Spike!”

“Twilight, that’s the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said,” Spike pointed out while shaking his head.

“Go to your room.”

---

The three crusaders now stood parallel to one another on a makeshift stage which had been hastily constructed by Apple Bloom. They had been whispering to one another for close to three full minutes, while an audience of considerably more mature ponies stood on, waiting for their presentation to begin.

Words like ‘princess’, ‘perfect’, and ‘silly’ were tossed around multiple times before, finally, the unicorn in the middle just sighed and began talking, much to the shock of the other two.

“Ahem, thank you all for coming,” Sweetie Belle announced and gave a short bow toward back row, upon which had both Princess Luna and Celestia seated who nodded back. Hesitantly, her friends followed with a smile. “Twilight Sparkle, my new teacher, wanted us to write out a friendship lesson to give, but we uh…”

Scootaloo suddenly piped up and gave her friend a nod. “We feel this is a better way to show what we’ve learned!”

With a prideful smile, Twilight nodded them on to continue while her friends sat idly by to listen.

“Our journey started out when we each wanted to learn real magic,” Sweetie said as her horn lit up, showing off a basic light spell. “I learned how to use my horn for the first time.”

“Yeah, and Ah learned the magic Earth Ponies use to grow their crops and take care of our farm. Ah honestly had no idea how much learning and magic was involved, but Ah kept going for the sake of my friends!”

“You see we’d made a promise to not get distracted and not see each other again until I could fly and they could use their magic,” Scootaloo pointed out. Here, she happily jumped in the air and floated for a few moments before landing in a swift, dignified manner. Rainbow Dash, who happened to be in the room, flew over to give her a high hoof before quickly taking her seat again.

“Nice goin’, kid,” she said, while the others giggled at their excitement.

Sweetie Belle cleared her throat and continued. “We eventually figured it all out even when Scootaloo seemed to be in trouble--”

“Something you two kept to yourselves…” Apple Bloom interrupted in a rather leveled yet bitter tone.

“We said we were sorry, Apple Bloom! Sheesh!” Scootaloo yelled while Sweetie Belle tapped her hooves impatiently as she nodded over to the now disturbed audience.

“Uh, yeah. So I used to be a Breezie, and after being transformed into a pony, I guess the magic stopped me from flying until Rainbow Dash and her idol, Spitfire, pointed out a way to solve it all.

All this while I was dealing with finding a place I could call home, which I finally found,” she said and gave a wink toward her now adopted mother.

“Wait, what? You used to be a… Breezie?” Princess Celestia asked, finally breaking the princess’ silence.

Scootaloo merely casually waved her hoof and shrugged. “We’re already past this, Princess. Apple Bloom’s over it now.”

“Over what, now?” the princess questioned further with a raised brow and a stoic expression of intense focus.

“Anyway, we set goals after completing our promise of learning magic. We haven’t completed them fully just yet, but we’re well on our way. Scootaloo is hoping to be able to fly from Ponyville to the next town over by the beginning of the summer. Apple Bloom wants to help expand her farm so she can have her own brand of apples being sold at Applejack’s stand,” she announced and the mare smiled in kind. “And I really hope I can learn how Twilight teleports everywhere, but since she claims ‘that’s about as likely as Pinkie Pie learning to—’”

“Uh, Sweetie Belle could please not repeat that out loud…?” Twilight squeaked.

“Oh, right, sorry. Um…” Sweetie muttered while the party pony glared at her friend. “So my goal, by the summer, is to learn one new spell by Twilight.”

“We each learned our friendship can be the most powerful tool ever to help motivate us to learn!” Apple Bloom said and Scootaloo nodded.

“We all learned, through each other, that friendship truly can be magical!” they said in unison and everypony began to clap and stomp.

“Truly marvelous,” Princess Luna said and bowed before the trio of fillies.

“Hey, since we’re all here, how about a mega game of Cupcake Knights! Anyone in?!” Pinkie Pie suddenly asked.

“Hey yeah!” they all said, and soon the fillies were helping out the pink pony in setting up the game and explaining the rules.

“But she used to be a Breezie?!” Princess Celestia suddenly blurted out and the fillies merely giggled in response. The princess sighed and decided joining in one game of Cupcake Knights wouldn’t be the end of the world.

The End

Author's Note:

So, yeah, all good things must come to an end. I debated for a long while on how to end this tale, but I think I ended up liking this way the most. I'm not against the idea of a sequel and I believe this leaves it open for one if I ever get the time, but for now hopefully, this little epilogue has concluded the story for all of you in a manner befitting the CMC. Let me know what you all think as writers love and appreciate comments and criticism when necessary.

Comments

[Pyro The Reader]

Nice ending, it was a fun adventure!

[Cold Spike]

8206749 I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[Cold Spike]

8208607 Keep going, it gets better. =

[Emperor]

Well, that felt pretty abrupt for an ending, and we really never did get much of development for Apple Bloom. Not that it's a bad thing, but it definitely felt more like a Scootaloo story to me than a CMC story. Seems to me they're going to make Scootaloo's breezie origins a running gag

[Cold Spike]

8209003 Uh, shouldn't it be more of a Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo story, then?

[ferret]

Scootaloo is never gonna be able to live that down.

Fun story!

[Cold Spike]

8242324
Thank you.

[Inferno demon Dash]

I rather enjoy the ending to this story, though it did feel a bit rushed and not really what I'd thought but it's been a long time so what do I know. Great story my friend, can't wait for more.

[Cold Spike]

8430770
Thank you so much and... endings are hard. If I get the time, I may focus on a sequel for this one, but there wasn't a good way to wrap things up that I felt like doing and I feel it does work. Right now, until I become a better writer, I can either do an ending like this or take way too long and bloat the story.

Know what I mean?

[Inferno demon Dash]

8431341
Fair enough. At the end of the day it's your story my friend. I'm just happy to read it and I'd love to read a sequel if one is ever planned or written. I'll have to look over your work again. It’s been some time.

[Cold Spike]

8431347
I have a sort of idea for a sequel, but at the moment I'm focusing on Feather Steel and one other unpublished story... I may combine that unpublished one with a sequel to this, though. And please do if you get the chance, I love comments and when others enjoy my stories.

[Inferno demon Dash]

8431385
I completely understand and I'll do my best to