Swell
"Tag, you're it!" I shout as I once again run down Moondancer and tap her back. The beige filly simply huffs in response, legs shaking until she collapses on her belly. "Um, Mooney, you can't tag me back if you're laying on the ground."
"I-I give up," she wheezes, rolling onto her side. "Y-you're too fast."
"Uh, come on, you got me a few times," I respond. In truth, I had to let her catch me those few times, but I don't think I've been that hard on her. The loud wheeze in answer stands to correct me.
"Honey, you want some water?" Stepping Star calls to her daughter from the shade of the tree she spread a blanket under. The filly tries to tell her yes, but she can only manage a whisper, so I kneel down and wiggle my head under her foreleg, helping her to stand and walk over to her parents.
It's the sixth weekend since magic kindergarten has started, and I'm spending most of it at my first-ever sleepover at Moondancer's house. Mom was a little hesitant to agree at first, especially because, if I was spending the night at a friend's house, Blueblood wanted to do the same, but she eventually caved, and now I'm at the park having a picnic with Moondancer's family.
"Here you go, dear, drink up," Stepping Star tells her daughter when she finally collapses on the blanket, passing her an open bottle of water.
While Moondancer chugs the contents, her father looks at me. "Are you thirsty, Pure? You can have a bottle too," the light blue stallion offers, kind, purple eyes showing behind his thick rimmed glasses.
I shake my head. "No, I'm fine, thanks. Can I have a snack though? All that running got me kind of hungry."
"Of course," he answers, sifting through the picnic basket at his side, blowing a stand of his shaggy, light-purple mane from his eyes, andcatching his wife's attention.
"Ed, you should just let me cut that already, or at least let me put it up for you. I'm not comfortable with you walking around a mountain city with your mane in your eyes," the pegasus nags. "You're going to fall off a cliff... again."
The unicorn huffs, pulling out some little triangle sandwich on a plate and removing the wrapping. "That was years ago, and it was because of the drops the eye doctor used during the examination, not because my mane was in my face."
As the two grownups go back and forth not unlike the foals in my class often do, I munch on a sandwich and watch. "Sorry my parents are so weird," Moondancer comments besides me, breath under control for the most part and the blush from exertion being replaced by one of embarrassment. "They do this a lot..."
I giggle as Stepping Star pulls a scrunchy from her mane and tackles her husband. "It's okay, I think it's cute," I answer as the stallion gets overpowered and his bangs are pulled up into a ponytail at the top of his head.
"There, much better, and now you can actually help me keep an eye on the foals," Star says, climbing off the unicorn's back. "It took weeks to convince Ornate to let us watch Pure for the weekend, and if she goes home with even a scratch, we won't be convincing her again for a good long while."
I roll my eyes at that, knowing how overprotective my mom could get sometimes, but it's only when I'm out of the house and away from her. She lets me train with Grandpa Shield, after all, and only fusses for a couple hours over the scrapes and bruises I accumulate.
"This is ridiculous, I look ridiculous," Ed grumbles, pouting when his wife slaps his slowly rising hoof away from his mane. "Fine, I'll leave it be until we're safely home and away from any cliffs, okay?"
"Not really, there's three sets of stairs for you to fall down at home, but I'll have to settle for putting pillows at the bottom of them all," Star answers, meeting her husband's grumpy gaze for a few seconds before both start to laugh.
Moondancer groans as they begin to nuzzle each other. "So weird..."
"Don't worry, I think all parents are like that," I say reassuringly, patting my friend on the back before offering a snack. "Sandwich?"
Looking from the proffered sandwich to me, then her giggling parents, then back to the sandwich, she sighs before taking it and sticking it in her mouth.
I smile wide and move onto my fourth. I was getting a little self-conscious with nopony else eating, but with Moondancer joining in, I can feel less guilty about demolishing half of the plate by myself. It's going to take a lot of rinky-dink cucumber sandwiches to refuel after that game of tag.
We spent another two hours at the park, eating, drinking, and playing under the sun until the picnic basket was empty and even I was feeling a little tired. On the way back however, I asked about our post-lunch dessert, and Mooney soon joined in on the demand until her parents conceded.
Stopping at a little diner, Moondancer and I shuffle into one side of a booth while Ed gets in on the other. "Okay, this place has a pretty good chocolate sundae, so we'll get one for you two to share, then we'll be on our way. Does that sound good?" Stepping Star asks, getting nods from us foals while Ed hesitates.
"Um, actually, honey, I could maybe go for a little something, too. Maybe some of those cookies I saw in the display case on the way in?"
Stepping Star gives her husband a flat look. "Really?" He nods, smiling wide, getting her to sigh. "Sometimes I wonder who the foal actually is. Fine, a sundae for the little ones, and a cookie for you."
"The white chocolate, if you please, with macadamias!" he requests cheerfully as Star shakes her head and walks over to the counter.
Stepping Star decides to wait at the counter for the food to save the waitstaff a trip, and returns with our sundae on one outstretched wing and a cookie balanced on the tip of the other.
"Wow, you're really good at that," I comment as the mare lowers a wing towards the table and lets the ice cream slide smoothly down to stop in front of us.
"Lots of practice, Pure," she replies as she offers the cookie to her husband who takes it giddily in his magic. "I was a waitress for a few years when I was still trying to make it as a dancer. Actually, it helped me to become a better dancer, I think. It gave my wings a workout, and helped me with my hoofwork and balance. A pirouette is easy once you've carried several dishes on your wings while maneuvering through a busy restaurant."
"Huh, kind of like how Mr. Scatter tells us to use our magic to do as much small stuff as we can throughout the day. He says it's good practice," I muse.
"Mhmm, it's important to practice when you can if you really want to be good at something," Stepping Star agrees with a sage nod, only opening her eyes to see that she's being largely ignored in lieu of the sugary treats. Even her husband is blissfully unaware of the conversation as he nibbles at his cookie with a smile.
Realizing Mooney has gotten a head start on the sundae, levitating another spoonful into her mouth cheerfully, I scramble to pick up my own spoon. I fumble a few seconds, before my hooves slow and I watch my friend use her magic effortlessly. As much as it shames me to admit, I still feel a little envious at the progress my friends have made while I'm just starting to get the beginning quill exercises down.
I've of course been practicing my control in the hopes of achieving what Mr. Scatter and I discussed, but I haven't made much headway yet. I can actually smooth aether pretty well, but only for a few seconds before I lose concentration and it warbles out of control. I haven't even tried to do it in tandem with reduction, but at least in that regard, I've gotten some use. I can't pull back a lot of aether while it's out of control, but I can pull back some, which has helped a lot in stretching my reserves out.
"You going to eat any, Pure?" Moondancer asks, chocolate and vanilla smeared around her lips and ice cream laden spoon frozen midair.
"Yeah," I quickly respond, coming out of my thoughts to notice a little over a third of the bowl gone. "I can't let you eat it all by yourself, piggy," I finish playfully, before reaching for my spoon.
My hoof hovers, before withdrawing. Lips pressed in a firm line, I narrow my eyes and draw upon my magic. Distantly, I hear the voices around me quiet, but I'm too focused on wrapping the metal spoon in my magic to care. I immediately feel the drain as the aura forms, and quickly pull some back as soon as the base layer of mana is complete. Gaining some time, I still try to work fast to get a hold of the bubbling aether, and my vision begins to tunnel.
My world soon follows, and nothing exists but the spoon, my horn, and the pale pink magic surrounding both. The aether slows, undulating less, and I pull back a little more into myself. Not a lot, not as much as I could, but I'm playing it safe to avoid outright dropping the metal utensil. Magic situated, I finally attempt to lift it, and immediately take note of the immense weight.
It's much heavier than a quill, and I feel a strain along my horn as if the working mana is pooling downwards. It's practically microscopic, but to me, it might as well be trying to drip off as I pull the mana back into shape. The aether begins to wobble when I split my focus further, but that's why I left it thick. Finally, I take note of my accomplishment, the silver surface shimmer at eye level before me.
The way the pale glow bounces off of the concave surface of the spoon is almost hypnotic as I stare, transfixed. It feels like hours before I feel something brush against my side and I look away. As soon as I do, the aether wobbles, and I feel it break away at my horn first before the spoon's follows soon after. With a wet plop, it lands in the ice cream bowl, it's pristine surface marred with streaks of white and brown.
"Oops, I'm so sorry, Pure," Moondancer says, hoof coming to her mouth. "I didn't mean to make you drop it."
I blink a few times, looking around before remembering where I am. "It's.. okay," I begin slowly. "How long did I do it for?"
"Um, only for a little bit," the beige filly says, bringing her hoof down as she starts to smile. "But I didn't know you could lift more than feathers now."
Shrugging and still a little dazed from both the magical and mental exertion, I mumble, "That was the first time, actually." And only for a few seconds to boot, certainly not as long as it felt.
"Then it's excellent progress," Ed says suddenly, brushing cookie crumbs from his lips before giving a smile. "A spoon weighs many times more than a quill, so you should be proud of the achievement."
I must have let my disappointment show for the stallion to be trying to cheer me up, but it still works regardless as I return the smile weakly. "Thanks, maybe one day I'll be able to eat ice cream with my magic."
"Keep practicing, and I'm sure that day won't be too far off," he replies before wiggling a little in his seat. "Um, Star, do you mind stepping out of the booth for a bit, I... need to use the little colts room real quick."
After some shuffling about, Mr. Ed is up and doing a little trot to the bathroom, eliciting a couple immature giggles from Moondancer and me. Instead of sitting down right away, Stepping Star looks from her husband to the crumb-covered napkin his cookie had been resting on, biting her lip. After a few seconds of internal debate, the mare sighs and looks at us. "If Ed doesn't get out before I'm back, please don't tell him I bought a cookie for myself. It's just... they really did look good."
Leaving instructions for us to behave while she steps away, the pegasus moves to the short line at the counter, intent on buying herself a sweet snack. While she does, I quickly catch up to Moondancer in our ice cream consumption, taking the spoon in hoof and shoveling down mouthfuls of frozen goodness.
The sundae bowl rapidly empties as we speed eat, until finally, there's only a single glob of half-melted dessert left at the bottom of the dish. I meet Moondancer's steely gaze with one of my own, and raise my spoon. Hers does the same, wrapped in a pink aura paler than even mine, and stays there. If she thinks just because she has magic on her side that she'll win, she has another thing coming. Blueblood used to think the same way, until he learned how far I would go for the last piece of dessert.
Suddenly, her spoon plummets down like a comet, only to be intercepted by my own. The two utensils clash with a tink and shake as we both try to push the other away. My muscles overpowering her magic as I force her spoon back up into the air with a heave before diving down for the ice cream. She flies into my path multiple times, but I swat her away at each turn before finally, with a tight maneuver, I cleanly scoop the last of the ice cream into my spoon with a triumphant cheer.
She groans dejectedly while I do a little jig in my seat and say, "Better luck next time, Moon, 'cause this ice cream is mine." Crossing her hooves, she pouts as I slowly inch the spoon towards my mouth, planning on saving the last sweet thing I'd get before dessert tonight.
Then an earth pony mare I know I've seen somewhere before comes marching out from behind the counter back near the bathrooms, and starts harshly whispering down towards some pony unseen. "I told you to sit quietly and not touch anything, didn't I? Why would you do that? We need this job, Butters, why can't you just behave?"
"It's just a few plates," is mumbled back in a familiar voice.
"You knocked over an entire stack of dirty dishes! Mr. Turnover nearly fired me, and even still, this is coming out of my pay. My promise that you wouldn't cause trouble is the only reason he's letting me bring you to work."
"Why can't I just stay home? It's boring here."
"Because you're too young and I can't afford a foalsitter. Listen, I'm sorry, sweetie, you know I am, but please try to understand, things are hard right now, we can't afford to make mistakes like this. You know we can't."
"... I'm sorry, Mama."
"I know you are, just... just, please, try to behave yourself. I'll come check on you as much as I can, but Mr. Turnover doesn't want you in the kitchen right now, so stay right here in this booth, okay? And don't talk to strangers."
"Yes, Mama..."
Being closer to the edge, I'm first to see who comes out from around the counter to climb up into a booth, and I quickly push Moondancer's curious head down. Buttercup is sitting three booths behind us, chin resting on the table with a small frown.
"Was that...?"
"Buttercup," I confirm dismally. Why did she have to be here? Didn't we suffer enough during class? Couldn't I have just enjoyed my first sleepover away from home in peace?
While I'm sulking, Moondancer puts her front hooves on the back of the seat to peek over, before quickly darting back down. "Uh-oh..."
"What?"
"Um, I think she just saw me."
"What!?" I hiss, glancing around the corner to see Buttercup's head perked up. A frown pulls at her lips, and she disappears from sight, only to hop down to the floor a second later. I slam my back against the vinyl cushion and groan. I notice Stepping Star nearing the counter and silently plead for her to return before I hear the familiar, taunting voice.
"Oh great, if it isn't the princess and her hoof-kisser."
I sigh while Moondancer gives an indignant yell. "Hi, Buttercup."
"What are you doing here?" she demands, getting a raised brow from me.
"Um, eating ice cream," I answer, holding the dessert laden spoon up as demonstration. The filly's frown deepens.
"Of course, the princess gets everything she wants, right? Eating ice cream and cookies and anything else she asks for. Just like Mama says. Spoiled."
I flinch back at that, stunned. "Wha-? I'm not spoiled!"
Buttercup rolls her eyes. "Sure, that's why you always have sweets in your lunches at school, or have a new book every week, or how your brother is always talking about new toys. You can't even do magic like you're supposed to, and you still get everything you want."
I'm stumped for a response at that, and can only stupidly repeat, "I'm not spoiled..."
I won't deny that I enjoy those things, or that my family is a more than a bit doting sometimes, but I'd be just as happy if all they could give me was love and attention. After my first life spent mostly alone, suddenly having parents always there for me, or a brother to snuggle with at night is more than enough to make this new life feel complete.
But I can't say those things, and I doubt the green filly would understand as she continues to glare. "Yeah? Well why not share a little then to prove it? I never get ice cream 'cause we don't have an icebox and it cost lots."
I jerk the spoon closer to my body protectively, ignoring the melted drips on my chest. "No, this is mine."
"Like you need any more," she shoots back, eyes narrowing. "If you're not gonna give it, I'll just take it."
I feel the magic strongly as it's directed at me, staring bewildered as an aura surrounds the spoon in my hoof. A powerful tug at my ice cream is finally when I realize the absurd situation as I try to pull back. "Stop it!" I shout, both amazed by the filly's brazen behavior, and how strong she was yanking at my spoon. My horn is tingling with how close I am to the untamed magic.
"No!" she shoots back petulantly, trying to twist the spoon out of my grasp. At this point, I'm pretty sure she doesn't care that half of the tiny spoonful of ice cream has already spilled out and the rest is going to follow at this rate, she just doesn't want me to have it.
That's fine, because I'm feeling the same way. I'm not going to let this bully have her way. With my hoof pulled out in front of me, I lunge my head forward to try and slurp the sweet slop off, but she jerks it to the left to make me miss. Before I can adjust myself, she's already pulling it the other way.
Back and forth she pulls, shaking my body and splattering the table and chair with more cream. It feels like I'm playing tug-o-war with a dog, and my now slick hoof can't keep a good enough hold any longer. With a harsh, triumphant laugh, Buttercup whips the spoon from my grasp, only to lose her own right after.
The world slows to a crawl as I watch the spoon go flying through the air. I follow it with mournful eyes, both from the sting of defeat, and the loss of perfectly good ice cream, until I notice where it's heading with a gasp. Stepping Star is two thirds the way across the diner heading towards us, the perplexed look on her face being replaced by wide-eyed shock as the spoon careens towards her head.
Everything boils over inside of me then. The sadness, the defeat, and the sheer hatred I'm feeling towards Buttercup at that moment. I am not going to let the brat win. She is not going to ruin my first-ever sleepover at Moondancer's. She is not going to cover my best friend's mom in ice cream.
And she most definitely is not going to keep me from eating said ice cream like the precious dessert deserves. Over my dead body.
It's practically instinct when I reach for my magic, each step practiced a hundred times with nary any improvement comes almost naturally now as I conjure an aura around my horn and the spoon both. Despite the distance and the fact that my target is moving, I still manage to grasp it. The aether flares for only moments before shrinking down by nearly half and calming considerably.
I immediately feel the drain on my reserves, and quickly reel my catch in past two booths before exhaustion can overtake me. As soon as it's within reach, I clamp my mouth around it victoriously. There's not much more than a coating of melted cream left on the spoon at this point, but it's still one of the most satisfying bites of dessert I've ever had.
When the sweet bliss finally fades and I open my eyes and look around, it's to see four bewildered ponies staring at me. Mr. Ed is halfway out of the bathroom, the door resting against his side while his wife is slack jawed. Moondancer is the spitting image of her mother at that moment as she sits sideways besides me, and Buttercup is looking up, surprise slowly warping to annoyance.
I shrug nervously, pulling the spoon from my mouth with a hoof, realizing what I had just accomplished with the bit of metal. "Uh... I guess I really like ice cream... Heh."
I feel this is appropriate for both the month, and the breaking of the hiatus...
Sorry everyone, but my new story, Floored kind of took over for a while. Hope you enjoy this chapter though.
Stats
Page generated in 0.041 seconds
Total duration
925 users online
340,535 hits today, 2,244,100 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.®
did pure just go super sayin for a bite of ice cream?
8476440
8476460
i want to ague that it was a sundee but i won't because your comment is yang approved
8476440
Yes, she did. Wonder how far she could go? Maybe one of these days she'll have a Kamehameha..?
yay stuff happened spoliers
8476471
i think it would be better if pure was on the weaker scale of power all things considered
8476465
damn rights it is.
So Pure's version of a surge (swell) is catching a spoon of ice cream?
I'd call it underwhelming, but it's exactly what I expected.
"Don't get in trouble."
"Yes mum" Immediately picks on two customers
Whether or not Pure is spoiled, we definitely know who the brat is.
Awesome chapter
an
Uppercase i should be lowercase.
Huh?
I think that A should be removed.
Remove the apostrophe.
Switching from first-person to second-person.
Missing space behind the period.
moments
Uppercase i should be lowercase.
Hurray!!!!!!!!!
s3.amazonaws.com/achgen360/t/FmyfdLZm.png
YEs new chapter
. gotta reread the story first tho brb
EDIT: ok back, story still as good as the first time i read it, i like that glimpse into Buttercup family, Daisy is either a single mother or her husband is working at same hours, canterlot life must be expensive i guess. if Pures sudden improvement in magic was because of feeling the darker spectrum of emotions then i don't think she'll be able to connect the dots, so it'll be back to levitating feathers for her, that is until something bad happens again, and when it does using that brand of magic might yield interesting results, to say the least i'm looking forward to it.
Woah there Powerpuff Girl. It's just Icecream.
This story is so good, please don't make us go this long without again!
It would ve hilarious if she also got her cutie mark from this.
It's 12 in the morning and I got class early.morning but I don't care cause I saw this!
Well, we got a new Sith on our hooves.
I'm fairly sure if my ice cream was threatened, I would spontaneously use magic to.
8476765
A bent/twisted spoon with a few colored streaks on it?
Uh... I really hope that Pure won't turn into a magical powerhouse like Twilight or Starlight...
She is the fastest spoon in Canterlot.
Nice chapter, good work.
8476969
There is no spoon...
Oooh! It's back!
And it looks like we have a textbook example of precision over power here, and the source of Buttercup's bulllying tendencies as well. I wonder if Pure is going to pick up on that? She is a tad inexperienced in the social department after all.
Holy Shin!
Accidental perspective change?
Glad to see this is back, it's one of my favs! c:
8477025
...She grabbed a spoon, friend. We're a long was off from Twilight or Starlight.
Ah - nothing like a bit of motivation to make real progress.
By the way...
The correct saying is -- If you think... ... another think coming.
8477571
I'm not talking about spoons, really. it's... talk about perfect mana control? I'm sure that this perfect mana control would be used as an excuse to put Pure into Celestia school. Okay. I just fear that further into the story it's also would be used to skyrocket Pure into Twilight/Starlight/alicorns league.
Holy throne!
8477025
I don't think we'll have to worry about that. Pure may gain magical power, but i don't think it would ever rise above what could be considered normal everyday unicorn use. If she has a talent in magic, it would likely be in precision. Like how rarity uses her magic to sew. The control is something she has to do to even function as a unicorn, without it i doubt she would ever do anything beyond levitating a book. With it she might be able to manage a few more things, but i have severs doubts about anything else. Unless there is a well written justification, this is where i think Pure will end up. She'll have recognition for sure, but not power. If nothing else, she could become pretty good at Jenga.
Yay! Positive reinforcement!
Why is she not relying more upon her human experience and wisdom?
8477581
Actually... that’s not the correct saying, sorry.
8478372
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/68801/which-is-correct-another-think-coming-or-another-thing-coming
Don’t know how I didn’t notice this reference before.
👍
And another lovely chapter! Pure's good health really shows - that filly could probably make a soldier go into a state where he's short of breath!
... then again, she's being trained by a soldier as well, so no surprise there
A nice feat of magic there! Who would have thought that all she needed was motivation. She was probably looking for the incorrect motivation before.
And Buttercup... she can be glad that the little exchange didn't result in a patron getting dirty. That would really reflect poorly on her mother who promised her boss that there wouldn't be any trouble.
I wonder when will the turning point arrive that Pure will finally break, say what's on her mind... and invite Buttercup over.
Now wouldn't that be a surprise?
I see Pure's ideal training method is the same as Po's.
8478902
Yes.
Kunfu Unicorn!
8478463
That link says neither are correct or incorrect, instead commenting on the insanity of the english language and the fact that there are groups who use one without knowing the other exists, and when alerted to this this disavow the knowledge aggressively.
Honestly I'm a "another thing" man for this, but it really is "six or half-a-dozen" here, and arguing this phrase can and has led to madness.
Fascinating story you have here. World building is nice and you can actually put an explanation to magic theorem beyond 'Its Magic'. Thanks for the story. I will be watching this one.
~Rhinlord
Yaaayy! An update! It's great to see progress
8478463
The heck? I have never seen this permutation of the saying before, ever.
And now I want Pure to have an ice cream sundae cutie mark.
In totally fairness, Blue Blood's compass rose cutie mark has nothing to do with his name, neither does Pinkie Pie's balloons.
Oh dear, you know Buttercup's mom is going to get fired over daughter's behavior.
8476440
ithink she went both super sayan and had chaos control... everybody's super sonic racing