Swirling Magic

by treegrowth

Chapter 3

Taylor didn’t have to wait long for the winged unicorn’s other friends to show up. They came in a hurry, the first pony was a sky blue pegasus with a wild rainbow mane, which even compared to the other two ponies was strange. She was quickly followed by a white unicorn, a pink pony, and another pegasus with a soft yellow color. The rainbow pony came with a combative glare, ready to fight, but Twilight calmed her down sooned enough and they were soon making introductions. He got a good giggle at hearing Rainbow’s name.

Rainbow Dash was clearly the sort that had a fire in her heart, action before brains. Taylor had met her type many times before and didn’t expect much of a difference with her. Might be fun to tease though.

The pink pony was the first to introduce herself as Pinkie Pie, very active, with a child’s smile stretched across her face. She glowed happiness and naivety, though she seemed to lack an understanding of personal space as she blabbered something about parties with an energy he hadn't seen before.

The white unicorn came forward and bowed, politely giving her name as Rarity. Cultured, classy, and an accent to boot. She was clearly a noble. Normally Taylor would dismiss such figures when he could afford to. Nobility were always selfish, uptight, and looked down on anyone that they believed to be inferior. But then she apologised for her friend, Pinkie Pie. If she was friends with that hyper-pony, then she must have a profound patience. He figured he would wait and see.

Finally came the yellow pegasus, who was slow, hesitant, and quiet. It hurt him to see Fluttershy being so, well, shy. He was hardly the most intimidating figure out there, and here was this wonderful creature from myth of a thousand cultures almost cowering before him. Though, in the presence of her friends she seemed more at ease.

His thoughts then turned to the two ponies he already met, Applejack and Twilight. Applejack didn’t seem all that complex, and her southern accent with the cowboy hat made it all too easy to guess that she was a farmer. Compared to their unicorn and pegasus friends, Applejack and Pinkie didn’t seem all that impressive, though he wouldn’t complain, because she was friends with a creature that was a myth even to his fellow mages.

Twilight Sparkle, the first winged unicorn in all of the multiverse was just a few feet in front of him. The find of the century, was talking with her friends as if she wasn’t special. If this is how such beings were treated then there can be only one reason, there were more.

The thought sent jitters up his spine, this world was something else, and he prided himself in in knowing a lot of worlds. Everyone knew about gryphons, pegasi, centaurs, and of course unicorns. Though the latter was incredibly rare, very few mages got to see one. Sometimes when one was found, the founder was given a magical gift from the unicorn. This was just all so exciting!

“So what are we gonna do with the guy?” Rainbow asked looking at him. The six ponies were huddling in a circle after their introductions. He just remind out of their way while trying to dry himself.

Twilight looked back to her friends. “Well, I was thinking we could take him back to Ponyville with us,” Ponyville? Taylor wondered, amused, “So we could learn more about each other in a more comfortable environment.”

“That’s a fine idea dear.” Rarity chimed in, “Let’s get to know one another in a more civilized setting.” She turned to him, “Wouldn’t you agree, Taylor was it?”

Yup, Taylor thought, she was definitely a noble. “Definitely, and I would love to go.” he said genuinely enthusiastic. Oh the possibilities!

“Yes!” came Pinkie’s loud cheer, who started bouncing in circles “Then we can have a Welcome to Ponyville party!” Her bouncing rapidly increased in pace as she began to giggle, before suddenly coming to a startled halt, “I need to get ready!” she gasped and then she disappeared in a cloud of dust.

Taylor stared at the bushes where she had run past, “She’s fast” he admitted.

“That’s Pinkie fer ya.” Applejack chuckled, “Can’t resist a chance for a good party.”

“Well what are we waiting for?” Rainbow asked as she climbed to the air on her wings, “I want some of that cake. See you girls there!” She disappeared with a single flap of her wings, Taylor could swear that he saw a rainbow following her tail.

“Okay,” Taylor said, “Ponies are fast.”

“Oh, well, not all of us.” Fluttershy muttered as she and the others started walking, following in the wake of Pinkie and Rainbow.

“Quite right,” Rarity agreed. “Some mares prefer to take things slower and think things through.”

Twilight turned to Taylor, “Come on, missing one of Pinkie’s parties is practically a crime.” She said cheerfully.

“I’m coming,” he assured her as he walked over to Twilight, “I’ve got a lot of questions.”

Just as he passed her, he caught her staring at his bag and her muttered, “Me too.” Taylor wondered what had her interest, was it his journal? Yeah that was probably it, and if that was the case then they would have some interesting conversations. He was looking forward to it.

It was quiet for most of the journey, other than the music of the trees and the crackling leaves. For the most part, Taylor was just examining the ponies, their colors, their eyes, even their butts were weird. Why all the tattoos? He mulled over the question for a while, before deciding that it was best to just ask the locals. Slowing his pace to Twilight’s side he asked, “Why do you all have tattoos?”

Twilight looked puzzled for a moment, before her brows rose in understanding. “Oh, you mean our Cutie Marks.” To illustrate, she moved just ahead to allow him to see her tattoo. “They’re a representation of our talents.”

“Talents?” Taylor asked.

“Well, yeah.” she said, “For instance, mine represents my talent and love for all things magic.”

“Ah,” Taylor sounded happily. So maybe these ponies went through some sort of ritual to get these ‘Cutie Marks’ when they reach adulthood? Cementing themselves into a part of society? Interesting, not many advanced cultures still used such traditions, but there’s more to this. “How do you know your talent then?”

“We get them when we learn we love doing something that we were doing at the moment.” Twilight confirmed.

“Huh?” what did ‘at the moment’ mean? Taylor looked quizzically at the purple pony, “And how does that work?”

Twilight’s cheeks reddened slightly, as her ears folded back. “Well…”

Taylor was stunned, “You don’t know?!?” he cried. How could she not know if she already had a cutie mark? That made no sense.

“Nopony knows.” Twilight shot back, “They just appear when a pony finds their talent.” She gave a tired huff, staring down the open air like she met an old foe, “There are all sort of theories on why it occurs: from that the magical matrix system somehow knows our talents predetermined, to some sort of divine power that gifts them to us, to even some sort of ridiculous claim that a chemical in our brain is released and it somehow stains the fur and skin, even though there is clearly magical residue afterwards!”

“Why don’t you dissect a pony?” he asked.

Twilight halted right then and there, forcing Taylor to turn around and behold to a face of surprise and disgust. “First of all,” Twilight finally says with disgust, “That is unethical to suggest such a thing.”

Taylor shrugged and gave a half-hearted smile. “Sorry?” he said. Sometimes it’s all too easy to let his thoughts exit his mouth.

Twilight gave a quiet sigh, before continuing onward, “Besides, it’s already been tried. But all the magic was long gone, and it’s impossible to repeat the process. Talents are just too random to just put a pony in a laboratory.”

Very interesting, Taylor thought. So all of these ponies had some sort of biological magic system that somehow recognized one’s talents? It all sounded ridiculous to him, but he had nothing to show that she was lying. He’d just have to do a little studying.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have a library where we’re going do you?”

Twilight's ears perked up, and her frown instantly shifted into an excited smile. Taylor could even see her eyes sparkle, “Oh yes!” she cheered, “I just happen to be Ponyville’s main librarian.”

“Really?” Now this was getting good, If she was just a plain librarian then it only helped to confirm just how common her kind really was on this world. And if he could make a friend out of her then that was easy access to knowledge, and everyone knew the saying that ‘knowledge is power’.

“Yup!” she said as she started to prance, “It’s one of the largest in all of Equestria, besides the Royal Archives of course.”

“How many is that?” Taylor challenged.

“Twenty thousand.” Twilight answered proudly.

Taylor gave a whistle, “Not bad.” Not bad at all, considering the name of the town has ‘ville’ in it. Unless it meant something else entirely on this world, the town shouldn't be that large. And considering how proud Twilight is of her books, he should be able to learn quite a lot about this place.

“Hey Suga-cube!” Both Taylor and Twilight looked in front of them to see Applejack quite farther than he remembered. “Ya’ll gonna catch up? We’re almost out of these woods.”

“Coming!” Twilight called back. Twilight then started to run ahead, her wings giving her a slight boost.

Taylor soon jogged after her, his heart beating at a rapid rate, a smile plastered on his face, what wonders were outside this forest?

As Applejack said, the exit of the woods weren’t all that far, soon he had crossed the barrier of the forest into a more open field. He was tempted to put his hood back on to shade his eyes from the sudden additional orange light, but they adjusted quickly allowing him to finally see past the bark.

The ponies first came to view, Twilight in particular looked quite excited. To him she said, “There’s Ponyville.” Taylor followed Twilight’s hoof to see a very quant sight.

Underneath the shadow of the mountain layed a small town, the countryside surrounded thatched houses of remarkable bright colors, with streets made of cobblestone, and a small river that flowed through the town with a couple of bridges to cross. However, there was one building that gave him pause. It took him a moment to process what he was seeing, before turning back to Twilight.

“Is that a Castle?” He asked, stunned as he pointed at the large structure. Out of what seemed to be pure purple crystal, or maybe gems, was a large tree that grew not leaves, but a castle made from the same material. The tree’s branches reached above and held the massive construct, of which had two balconies and a pair of towers, the tallest of the towers also peaked with a crystal star which shined brightly reflecting the setting sun.

“Yes,” Twilight answered fondly, “home sweet home.”

Taylor stared at the winged unicorn, then to the castle, then back to the pony. “Huh?” was the only sound he could think to make, confusion contorted his face. She lived there?

“Do not look so surprised, darling.” Rarity said, apparently had seen his confusion. “Where else would a Princess live?” she asked smugly.

“Princess?!” Taylor gasped, his eyebrows shot out, and his widened eyes drilling to the now blushing Twilight. “You’re royalty?” Well, there went his theory of common winged unicorns.

“It’s complicated.” Twilight assured, “I’ll explain it the best I can at the castle.”

Taylor blinked at this surprise of a creature. Aside for the wings, Twilight didn’t look anything like princess for the ponies. She didn’t had the formal accent, the ‘I’m better than you’ posture. Where Twilight was humble and thoughtful, real princesses were always prideful and spoiled to some degree. “Alright,” he respond, “I knew that this place was going to be interesting.” He and the ponies started down the road to Ponyville.

---

Taylor gazed upon the crystal castle, it really did seem out of place. The massive structure towered over the town, grasping at the fading rays of light. The sharp, hard crystal surface sat in complete contrast with the surrounding wood and straw. One could easily say that the architectes were both filthy rich and had no sense of cohesion, but Taylor had to admit that the refracted light from the crystal was pretty.

“Welcome to my home.” The princess said as she walked ahead to the first steps, “Come inside.” she invited.

Taylor obliged and set forth into the entrance of the castle. He saw Twilight’s magic pushing against the seemingly golden doors, allowing entrance into the odd castle. There was going to be a party in here right? He wouldn’t mind some tea, then again thinking about the behavior of Pinkie Pie it would be more likely to be more lively. Though, he had doubts as to how much she could prepare in a single night.

His musings ended when he noticed a detail that somehow escaped him when he entered the room, why was it so dark?

A great flash of light bombarded his senses. Taylor, blinded, instinctively shut his eyes and raised his arms. Prepared to cast a lightning spell.

“Surprise!”

At the very loud and equally shocking cheer, Taylor blinked his eyes to where they were adjusted enough to see past the light. The spectacle left his jaw on the verge of hanging.

Before him was an entire herd of ponies, easily occupying over half of an expansive ballroom. The other half was taken by hanging streamers, tables filled to the brim with sweets of every variety, and balloons that littered the ceiling. Taylor could even spot a pinata.

And on top of it all, a large banner. White, with pink words: “Welcome to Ponyville!”

Taylor was flabbergasted, how could there be such an explosion of color, such a large gathering of ponies, and so many sweets?! He had only met the ‘party pony’ a few hours ago, two and a half at most, how could she have conducted so much in such little time?

“I bet yer wonderin’ about Pinkie, aren’t ya?” Applejack asked smugly behind him.

He turned to the southern pony, “Y-yes.” he stuttered. Before he already had so many questions he wanted to ask; now with this shocking display of swift organisation, all of them plus a few more threatened to overwhelm him.

“Ah wouldn’t worry too much about it.” Applejack comforted, then started walking into the fray of the party, before then pausing to look back to him, calmly shrugging. “Here in Ponyville we have a sayin’, ‘Pinkie Pie is just Pinkie Pie’.” She chuckled. She soon disappeared into the crowd.

Realizing that he was then the only one at the door Taylor closed it before joining in on the lively party. Wading through a sea of colored ponies proved to not be too difficult, but it was impossible to not be noticed. Almost every pony that wasn’t involved in their own business was most certainly examining him. Thankfully the party kept things cheerful and the ponies didn’t seem fearful of him.

He made it to all the way to the punch table with a sudden voice sounded below him, “Hey!”

He looked down to see the pink pony responsible for the lively action around him, hiding under the table curtains. “How are you liking your party?”

Taylor blinked at Pinkie Pie before he answered, “Umm, yeah this isn’t what I was expecting at all,” He spoke honestly. “How did you put this together so quickly?”

“Oh that’s easy!” Pinkie cheered, then disappeared underneath the curtain.

Taylor raised a brow as he waited for Pinkie to return from under the table. When suddenly an explosion of what sounded like a hundred noisemakers blasted behind him!
WIth his heart jumping to his throat, he casted his shield and turned to the threat. The barrel of a cannon!

“What is that!” he shouted.

A series of giggles could be heard behind of the weapon, and Pinkie was its source. “This is my Party Cannon, silly.” she laughed.

“You just don’t point cannons at people!” Taylor cried, frankly quite disturbed by this pony’s disregard for common sense.

“Oh don’t worry about it, silly.” the crazed pony waved her hoof, “My party cannon is perfectly safe, watch!” she turned the large weapon away from him and pointed it into the crowd, who took neither notice nor concern of her intended target.

Before Taylor could do anything, Pinkie fired her cannon again. The same explosion of noisemakers was sounded throughout the concealed space. Though instead of smoke and fire, there was confetti and streamers. The pieces of paper flew throughout the crowd, and many of them cheered, escalating the party even more.

Pinkie’s smile broadened at the sight, before turning to Taylor, “See?”

Taylor looked at the smiling ponies of the party, and felt his terror decrease. Thinking back, if it was real, it would have done real damage to him with that first shot. With his breath slowed he answered, “Alright, sorry.” He then looked at the pony a bit more sternly, “but please don’t frighten me like that again.”

“Oki Doki Loki.” Pinkie nodded.

Taylor sighed, that was quite the scare he had to admit. He remembered being shot at with guns before, but a cannon was another monster entirely, and having one at point blank range? He shivered.

His grim thoughts were pushed aside when he heard laughter above them, looking up, he saw the rainbow maned pegasus laughing with tears streaming down her face. “Oh Sweet Celestia.” She gasped, “That was hilarious.”

Taylor frowned, “I’m so glad you find it funny.” He did nothing to hide his sarcasm.

“Hey, come on.” Rainbow said, she landed between them. “That was hilarious.”

Taylor stared at multi-colored pony, he then chuckled, “Alright, I admit, it was pretty funny.”

“Another day, complete.” Pinkie said with a satisfied smile.

“But seriously,” Taylor returned his curious gaze to the pink pony, “How did you made all of this happen so fast?”

“Didn’t I just show you?” Pinkie puzzled.

“She uses her party cannon to blast some party stuff all over the place.” Rainbow explained.

Taylor remained sceptical, how did that cannon work anyways? But he figured he could ask that particular question in the morning. For now it would be best to remain on the topic at hand. “Okay,” Taylor turned back to Pinkie, “And the ponies?” he asked, before adding, “How did you get them together so quickly?”

“Well duh,” Rainbow interjected, “It’s a Pinkie Party.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie cheered then jumped onto the table, “I do whatever it takes to make my parties the bestest in all of Equestria!”

The crowd exploded with excited and happy cheers followed with the thunderous sound of hooves stomping the floor. They possessed a child-like energy that they cultivated into a chant. “Pinkie, Pinkie, Pinkie!” They bellowed. The sheer ferocity of their chants caused Taylor to be thrown for a loop. Was this pony so good with parties as to start a cult?

When the ponies finally calmed their chanting, Taylor was left speechless for a moment, stunned by the pony’s love for their party thrower. When he tried to had yet more of his million running questions answered, a bright pink hoof landed on his lips.

“No more Questions!” Pinkie declared sternly, though how serious she was open to question. “We party now!” and with that question, Taylor found himself being pushed into the ongoing sea of ponies, who also started to push him toward a direction. He had a small glimpse of wings before being suddenly blindfolded, and some sort of stick was shoved onto his chest which he instinctively held. All of which, happened before he could even think of any sort of reaction.

“Wha-what?” was what his brain had come up with for a reaction, as what felt like hundreds upon hundreds of hooves pushed and pulled him somewhere he had no idea where.
Was this a trap all along? Was he to be devoured by these crazy overzealous ponies?

“Pinata!” came the cry. Suddenly, All the hooves that littered his lower half vanished, and he was finally able to breath and use his arms to remove the blindfold. In front of him he saw the Pinata dangling , and the relatively small bat in his hands. Why did I panic in the first place? He asked himself, embarrassed.

Pinkie again appeared in front of him “Come on! Give it a swing!”

Taylor decided it would be best to review his situation, He was in a new world full of talking colored ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. One was a being never seen before with both wings and horn, and she was a Princess, a nerdy princess who welcomed him to sleep in her castle without knowing anything important about him. And now he was here, playing with a child’s game that he hadn’t played in years.

In the end he shrugged, Why not? Taylor placed the blindfold back on, and gave a hefty swing. He felt the bat stiffen and heard a crack before cheers broke out once more.

The party went on by like a blur after that. He played ‘Pin the horn on the unicorn’, ‘apple bobbing’, and the pony version of Marco Polo as they would call it ‘Clover the Clever’. He drank their clear and fruitful punch, ate the sweetest of cakes, and all while chatting with all sorts of ponies whose names started to blend together as the night wore on.

“You can do magic?” asked a dark pink unicorn, the latest of the inquisitives.

“Well, yes.” Taylor responded from his chair that he sat with crossed legs. “I wouldn’t be here if I couldn’t.” Demonstrating, he waved his hand to reveal a flame that danced in between his fingers. The ponies stared at awe.

“Alright everypony!” Pinkie shouted from the top of the stairs, “this party is down and it’s time to go out!”

His little audience moaned, while Taylor looked around, surprised to find it almost empty. There was still quite a notable presence of pony, but it was no longer the large sea that he had waded through earlier. In their place were streamers, tables with spilled punch and toppled cake, and a floor littered with colored paper.

The ponies around him started to disperse, some just staying long enough to express their gratitude and say goodbye before following the others out of the doors. It wasn’t until the doors shut that he looked at the pride-filled party pony.

“I’m surprised you didn’t let it go on a little longer.” He commented.

“I make ponies happy,” She remarked. “Kind of hard to do that if you wake up all sleepy and grumpy, right?”

He chuckled, he had only met this pony that afternoon and already they were acting like friends. The fact that it was true for all the ponies he’d had a reasonable time talking to wasn’t lost to him. Just how friendly are these ponies?

“Well I see that yet another Pinkie party went off without a hitch.” Twilight’s voice drifted in from behind them. Both he and Pinkie turned to see the princess descending the stairs.

“Hey,” Taylor greeted, “didn’t see you much at the party.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I love Pinkie’s parties,” Twilight defended, “But I like some time to myself.” She then gestured back to him, “But enough about that, I found a room for you to sleep in for the time being.”

“Sweet,” Taylor smiled, the day was most certainly exciting, but what’s even more exciting was the prospect of the future muti-lesson that he would share with the ponies. He wasn’t exactly sure how much he should tell, but he doubted anything he would say would have too many repercussions. Besides, he was too tired to worry about such things as of yet, right now he was best served by getting some sleep.

Author's Note:

Hello!
Sorry for taking so long again, but this time I have an excuse!

I got a new job, and the boss want's me almost every day of the week, and I'm not used to that yet.
it's really messing up my game, but I'm sure I'll get used to it soon.

Again, I have The Forgoten Comrade to thank for this chapter getting out, please go check out his short story, it's a good read.