Ghost of the Everfree

by David Silver

38 - Touching Bases

"What marvelous work!" Zecora flipped to the next page with a brush of her nose. "I recognize them, with that Everglow quirk." She pointed to a specific recipe.

"Ayup." Apple Bloom beamed with pride. "You showed me that one before I took it a, uh, step beyond."

Zecora rested a hoof against the side of her head. "What master of arcane has taught you this? Surely some schooling to learn how to use this."

Apple Bloom pointed towards Twilight, chatting as she was with others. "I stole, er, borrowed her book. Then we--" She waved wildly at the other crusaders. "Put it together fer our own take on thin's. All arcane."

Sweetie raised a hoof. "Technically occult."

"Like me," joined Diamond with a smirk. "The tradition of the mind."

Sweetie giggled softly. "I was thinking of learning some arcane too, very tempting..."

Zecora looked between Sweetie and Apple Bloom. "You taught yourself? This is quite a trick. If asked moons ago, I would not predict." She sank to her haunches and offered Apple Bloom's book back towards her.

Apple Bloom took it, but put it back on the podium with the others. "We're sharin'! Get your recipes caught up an' bring 'em over! Ah'd love to see 'em, and you can borrow mine. Only fair!"

Tree Hugger poked Twilight on the rump, getting her attention. "Hey, princess."

"Twilight will do," she assured with a nervous smile. "How can I help?"

"You're the happiest mare here." Tree smiled as she looked Twilight over. "But there's something poking at me, tickling at the edges, you know?" She tapped at her chin, trying to get a grasp on that feeling. "There's a reason you're looking."

"Looking for what?" Twilight considered the hippy pony curiously in kind. "Magic? I've always had a love for magic, and I've been curious about Princess Luminace for some time."

Pinkie dropped between the two. "This is a 'me' thing."

Twilight blinked softly, but Pinkie knew Pinkie things... "Alright. Have fun?" She rose and walked off, confusion clear on her face.

Tree focused on Pinkie, though her eyes remained only half-opened. "Woah... That was sudden. What's up, party mare?"

"You are really close to messing things up." Pinkie raised a hoof in a shh motion. "Stop that."

Tree let out a soft hum. "You are far out, party mare. You see things in a really out there ways..." She brought her forehooves together. "I'm not trying to harsh the buzz."

"I know you're not." Pinkie bounced in place. "But you almost did. Shh."

"Hey." Diamond was there, poking at Pinkie. "I've been meaning to talk to you, and since you're here..."

Pinkie whirled in place to face Diamond. "Allo! This isn't my kinda party, I will admit, but there are a lot of smiling faces in here, so somepony has to be doing something right!"

"Yeah yeah yeah." Diamond waved that away. "I want to know what happened with you. You were helping us, and then you were gone." She raised a brow. "And yet, here you are."

"Here I am." Pinkie smiled a little too large, sweat beading on her brow. "I'm glad you're safe."

Diamond leaned forward. "Good to be back. Now where'd you go and why?"

"Then the fox pony lady." Silver had joined the conversation without being invited. "She finished the job."

"She helped us that night, but we had a lot more to do to get home." Diamond snorted softly at the memory. "So I wouldn't say 'finished'." She glared at Pinkie. "So, what was the deal?"

"Well..." Pinkie danced in place nervously. "It's not like I went to a when and where you'd never even be able to imagine!"

Diamond cocked a brow. "So you did that... That's strange, but doesn't explain why I'm still looking at a Pinkie." She pointed at the Pinkie that was clearly there. "Not off in some 'when and where'. I can imagine this pretty well."

"Ha... ha ha." Pinkie rubbed her hooves together. "It's not all that important. I was doing my thing, you were doing yours. We all ended up where we needed to be!"

Silver smiled gently at the sweating Pinkie. "Is this something you need us to trust, as a friend?"

Pinkie started, ears dancing. "Oh, yes! Yes yes... Please yes."

"Then I will trust it." Silver half-turned away. "You have been a great friend, Pinkie, and I hope that continues."

Diamond lightly bopped Silver and glared at the silent Dry. "Talk some sense into her. Pinkie abandoned us when we really needed her."

Dry gulped. "Oh, uh... I don't know what happened, but..." He looked at Pinkie. "Did you do the best you could?"

"I swear!" She began a ritual that ended with a faked cupcake in her eye. "It's... I'm not trying to be sneaky. I actually kinda hate having secrets... It's really hard to explain! Please trust me."

Dry nodded as Silver had done. "Then I accept that, as a friend."

Pinkie grabbed Dry and Silver under an arm each. "You two are awesome! Now, I should go talk to Sweetie. She wanted a few bardly tips." With a puff of smoke, Pinkie was gone across the room to a more comfortable topic of magic and singing."

Diamond buried her face under both hooves. "Your goddess is really nice and all, but it's ticking me off really big right now."

Silver pulled her colt closer. "Don't be mad. That's water under the bridge. Pinkie's kinda out there, but she usually does things for a reason, even if they're kinda hard reasons, like, you know?"

"Sweetie." Twilight was seated with a few others in front of Sweetie. "I had meant to ask. You are a bard now, I'm told, a magic user of songs. You weren't... I don't mean to be rude, but I remember your last performance I saw."

Sweetie colored with a squeak. "Do you mean...? We put on quite the show at the Pony Games."

Twilight swerved an ear off to the side. "That's true, but that didn't involve you singing. What's changed?"

Sweetie rubbed at her burning cheeks. "Well, practice, for one... And singing by yourself is not the same as singing with others. I love the other crusaders, but singing is not their thing... Singing by myself was when it started to... click? For lack of a better way to phrase it."

Apple Bloom waved a hoof up in the air. "Show her what you can do!"

Sweetie cleared her throat, a few little las and mes to warm up her voice. "This goes to my friends, who have always stood at my side. To the friends I haven't made yet, but will, and the ones behind me." With a last little breath, she began to sing. The other conversations in the room faded away to watch her melodic tunes rise and fall in smooth crescendos that had nothing in common with the rough performance Twilight had alluded to.

"Wow..." Twilight sank to her haunches, then flopped right over. "That's.... That's magic."

"Sure is," whispered Pinkie. "She is a Bard, capital B. We love to sing and share our emotions with the world." She casually flopped atop Twilight. "And she's awful good at it! I had tips, but none of them were about holding a note. She has that under control already."

Twilight made a soft noise, her attention more on listening to the song being produced by that filly.

Silver thumped against Dry. "She's not bad." She raised a brow. "Are you hoping I'll learn how to, like, sing?"

Dry knew a trap when he saw one! "You are already mesmerizing, but if you want to, I'll help however I can."

Silver snorted softly. "Smooth talker... I think I get it though." She leaned against him in the relative quiet of Sweetie's song. "You're scared."

"Always." Dry did not hide that.

"You're scared of me." Silver pawed at his side. "You're scared you'll say the wrong thing, and I'll hate you forever. You're scared you'll mess it all up."

Dry cringed back at the awful things Silver was implying. "I hope not..."

"But you're still scared of them. Every word you say is a careful word to avoid that happening." She put her hooves to Dry's cheeks. "I'm sorry you're so scared of me... It's alright if I get annoyed sometimes, you know?"

Dry felt his eyes sting, tears falling onto her hooves. "If I mess up... How do I undo it? I want to hide this perfect time away, so nothing can take it from me, or break it, or..."

"If you, like, hold it too tight, then even you won't get to enjoy it." She gently nuzzled his cheek, the two of them flopping over.

Sweetie's song came to a halt, her cheeks on fire. "Oh! Um, glad you enjoyed it. I didn't think it was... that romantic."

Scootaloo snickered behind a hoof. "Pretty sure that woulda happened if you were singing or not, Sweets."

Twilight ascended to her hooves. "Alright everypony. This has been an incredible meeting. We've already started exchanging so much, and I can't even wait for the next time!" She pointed to the podium. "Do claim your book, but first, with your permission, I'd like to make a copy of each." Her horn glowed with the promise of her magic.

Dry offered up his not-magic religious tome. "Luminace would only be pleased to see her words copied and shared."

With a zap, Twilight made two of the book instead of one, claiming one of them from the air. "Thank you, Dry. I'll be sure to get a copy out for anypony to study who wants to." She turned to Scootaloo. "May I? Your book is arcane, and I'd love to see if you have spells I don't have yet."

Scootaloo flashed a big smile. "Only if I can get a new copy of your book. I bet a lot more of it will make sense now that I have a good grip on the whole thing."

"Deal." Twilight rapidly made a copy of the two books, giving one of each to Scootaloo, and keeping one for herself. "This...is more tiring than I'd want to admit... Why does Everglow magic have to be written with such specific inks and techniques?" She wiped her brow clear of some sweat. "One left." She looked to Apple Bloom. "May I? Your spells aren't directly usable, but I'd love to compare and contrast."

Apple Bloom puffed up with pride. "'Course ya can! Ah did borrow yer book... without even askin'. Ah'd feel like a real heel if I didn't let you borrow it back. Shoot, yer not even takin' mah book, just makin' a quick copy. Don't see no harm in that."

Twilight copied the book without the exact techniques required to cast from it, but she didn't plan to cast from it. A fair deal to just have a book be a book. "Thank you. All of you, have a safe trip home, and let's meet up again soon. Actually... Next week?"

Rose shook her head. "Woah, weekly? That's a bit much, Twi. Hats off on nothing exploding." The other flower mares cheered at the lack of explosions. "But weekly is way too much of a temptation for the universe."

Tree Hugger draped over Twilight languidly. "Book princess... Once a moon sounds closer to right. I like to go where the wind calls me. I can be back then, but not every week, you know?"

Twilight folded her ears, drooping, but not pushing Tree Hugger away. "Is everypony alright with that? Once a moon?" Noises of confirmation rose up from the crowd. Their club would meet once a moon. "Very well... One bit of homework." She raised a hoof up over Tree Hugger, to the sky. "Keep your eyes open for other ponies coming or going from Everglow, or any other exotic world. We know how to deal with that. The least we can do is be there to lend a hoof if we can."

Author's Note:

The club meeting was a success, right?

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

If Twilight puts all the bookcases and lecturns eound the same glade, will she end up making a Portal locator so that any wandering portal tossed in Equestrias general direction would lock on and open up in that glade, even if it was being targetd a certain amount? If she could, would that make Celestias Mirrors distort in targeting and possibly temporal variations and adaptability?

Good thing Twilight didnt get weekly, Im sure she would try for a quiet midweek time, like tuesday.

[redmar]

I don't know what Diamond ws referring to when she ws asking Pinkie about disappearing but if Pinkie tells you not to question it she has reasons that you might not be capable of comprhending. It's good that everything went so well as it did.