Moving Forward
The Study of a Winning Pony
Chapter 15: Moving Forward
There was a knock at the front door. Spike was in the basement doing some cleaning, so it fell to me to answered the door. On the other side was a pony that I wasn’t all that surprised to see.
“Hi, Cloud Kicker,” I said with careful neutrality. I figured she would be coming to visit sooner or later. Honestly, if she hadn’t, I would probably have gone looking for her anyway to have a talk.
“Hey.” Cloud Kicker’s wings flicked. “Um ... how're you holding up?”
I leaned against the library front door’s frame. “I'm getting along alright. No permanent damage, thankfully.” At least I could say that much about that night.
Cloud Kicker let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Scared me half to death when you told me you couldn't see out of your eye. The doctors wouldn’t even let me see you after I brought you into the hospital.”
I touched the bandage. “Yeah, they fixed it up, so it should be fine. I'll be going to the hospital tomorrow morning for a followup after they take this off.”
“Well, that's good.” She looked down at the grass and bit her lip. “Sorry you got pulled into that mess. I should've reacted faster, or warned you away from them sooner. Or ... anything, really.” She snorted derisively. “No wonder I didn’t become an Element like Dash. She helped you when you beat Nightmare feathering Moon. I couldn’t protect you from a couple two-bit bullies.”
I shook my head. “What happened wasn’t your fault. I may have suffered a concussion, but I clearly remember that it was Sticks and Stones who were causing trouble.” I wasn’t thrilled with Cloud Kicker at the moment, but it wouldn’t have been fair to blame the actions of Sticks and Stones on her.
“Yeah, it was.” It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself of that fact than agreeing with me. “Still feel a bit bad, since it was my fight.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “‘Your fight?’ No offense, but I don’t remember either of us talking about whose turn it was to fight those two.”
Cloud Kicker’s wings flicked, and a hint of anger worked its way into her tone. “Well, Sticks and Stones were after me. They were mad at me because I stood up to them and told them not to hurt Derpy or anypony else. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m a Kicker, and Kickers are supposed to protect ponies. I failed at that.” Cloud Kicker chuckled painfully. “Why not? I’ve feathered just about everything else up where being a Kicker is concerned.”
I glanced around the street in front of the library. I was a bit concerned about Cloud Kicker reprimanding herself in front of everypony. Sure, I planned on having a few words with her, but I didn’t plan on making a big scene that would become the gossip of the town. Luckily, I didn’t see anypony giving the two of us any attention.
Also, I didn’t like the idea of Cloud Kicker beating herself up over something that wasn’t her fault. “I have a feeling those two were just looking for trouble regardless of who they ran into. I’m sure you noticed they were drunk.”
Cloud Kicker stared at me for a long moment before she visibly deflated. “Yeah, you're right. Those idiots have always been troublemakers. At least they won't be doing that anymore.”
I shook my head. The whole topic of Sticks and Stones was quickly becoming one I simply wanted to move past. “I doubt they will. I haven't heard anything yet, but if those two don't spend a good number of years in prison, I'll be surprised.”
Without sounding egotistical, injuring a hero of Equestria probably was not the way to go about endearing oneself to one’s fellow ponies. It also didn’t help their cause that they were a couple of local bullies attacking at least mostly reputable mares. I doubted whoever prosecuted the two of them would feel like being in a particularly merciful mood.
Cloud Kicker chuckled. “They'll be lucky if they ever get out after going after Princess Celestia's prized pupil.”
“I'm not exactly feeling sympathetic at the moment.” I pointed to the bandage on my face. “But I am a bit biased.”
“Yeah, can't blame you for that.” An awkward silence then reigned between us for an all-too-long moment. Cloud Kicker stared at my flower garden while I found myself just avoiding eye contact in general.
We really needed to sort out the fallout from last night. But how would I even start? Do I just start talking about the whole weird relationship dynamic we have out of nowhere? No, wait, I read about this. There's supposed to be small talk, right? I'm sure that's what the book said...
Thankfully, Cloud Kicker ended up breaking the ice to end the miserable silence. “So ... anything I can do to help with your recovery?”
I ran a hoof through my mane and looked back into the library. “No, I think I'm good. My friends wouldn't leave me alone after they found out about what happened.” I smiled at the idea of my friends’ support.
“Oh.” Cloud Kicker looked down and scraped her hoof on the ground. “Yeah, guess you've already got a lotta ponies looking out for you. Still, wouldn't mind helping out if there's anything I can do.”
Even a socially oblivious pony like me could tell that Cloud Kicker was feeling terribly guilty over what had happened, and wanted to do something to make herself feel better. I would probably feel the same way if I were in her position. I know I didn’t like to see ponies suffer, especially when I felt like I could do something about it. Also, we really needed to talk, and I might be more comfortable talking in the library. It would certainly feel less awkward than out in public.
I sighed and made a decision. “I guess I could use a bit of help. There’s something high up I need to reach in the basement, and well...” I chuckled awkwardly. “Wings.” With that smooth transition, I stepped out of the doorway and motioned for Cloud Kicker to follow me.
Cloud Kicker’s demeanor immediately brightened. “No problem.”
I led Cloud Kicker down to the basement. Spike and I had managed to clean the basement of debris, and we were in the process of refurbishing it. Some of the new shelves were now stocked with supplies, all carefully organized exactly how I wanted them. It was starting to look like my lab again.
Spike was busy putting a table together. He had his tongue stuck out as he examined its instructions like I had taught him. It always drove me crazy when somepony tried to build something without even looking at how the item in question was supposed to be put together.
“How’s it going, Spike?” I studied the table, looking it over for any problems. It looked like it was being constructed right. Not that it had that many parts to start with, but Spike really wanted to put his handypony skills to use. I guessed it was a male pride thing.
He jerked a bit—I guess he hadn’t heard me and Cloud Kicker coming up behind him—and turned to look at the two of us. “Oh, hey, Twilight! Cloud Kicker.” He looked back and forth between his instructions and the table. “Great, almost have it done. Just need to get the last two legs on...” He reached down for a screwdriver, but was interrupted when his cheeks puffed and he breathed a gout of fire, setting the instructions and table on fire.
I stared as a scroll from the Princess fell to the floor. I must be pretty jaded, considering how little I had really been bothered by Spike setting the table on fire. After saving the world, having my lab blown up several times, and numerous other disasters, a mere table just did not register as a big deal to me. Hay, I had helped rebuild all of Ponyville.
I gave Spike a disapproving glower. I didn’t need to say words—we have had more than enough talks about him being careful with his fire breath for him to divine the meaning of my stare. It wouldn’t do to let him think it was okay to set things on fire, even if it had been an accident. Having a fire-breathing dragon in a building filled with dry paper was an incident waiting to happen, and Spike needed to be careful.
Spike looked up at me with the type of smile that only a child in trouble could give. “Err, sorry?”
I continued giving Spike a flat look as I used a water spell to put out the fire. “How about you take a break for a while? Go ahead and get a snack for yourself and watch the library. I’ll take over down here.”
“Okay, sounds good.” Spike scampered off like a pony who had just avoided his day of execution. I didn’t particularly want to punish him for an accident I could fix with a couple of spells, but he got the point that I could have brought the hammer down if I wanted to.
Cloud Kicker smirked as Spike departed. “You’re pretty calm for having a piece of your furniture set on fire.”
I looked at the table and determine the damage wasn’t too extensive—for being on fire, anyway. “I’m working with him to keep him from destroying books and other things with his dragonfire, but it’s a work in progress.”
“Kids can be hard on your stuff.” She watched with interest as I fixed the table with some repair spells. “I know I have to childproof my house whenever Alula comes over. Can’t let her get ahold of my wingblades.”
I didn’t say it, but it wouldn’t have surprised me if there were a few other things in her house she wouldn’t want her kid sister finding and playing around with.
I put the scroll from the Princess on another table to look at later. “I pretty much have to keep the library mostly childproof in any case. At least any of the parts that are open to the public.” Though that did make me think about the fact that I might have to double-check my private quarters to make sure Dinky wouldn’t find anything she shouldn’t. I might want to get a lock for the lab just to be safe.
Cloud Kicker looked around the lab. “So, what do you need me to do?”
I pointed to a nearby table where seven plates sat. Each had glyphs that I had meticulously carved into them. “I need to have those nailed along the ceiling in specific spots.”
“Sounds easy enough.” She scooped them up and took to the air. Fortunately, there was plenty of roof-space for her to move around in. “Just point 'em out, and I'll take care of it.”
“Thanks.” I gave Cloud Kicker directions for where exactly I wanted the first plate. “It's hard for me to grip them with telekinesis due to some of the arcane runes I carved into them.”
“Oh? Sounds interesting.” She examined one of the plates. “Huh. Putting up more magical shielding?”
I nodded. “I'm trying to get the basement set up for research again. It's a bit of a project in and of itself.” I motioned towards the boxes of furniture that still needed to be assembled, as well as other things I needed for my lab like components and lab equipment. “Thus, it’s best to make sure the place is properly shielded for magic. Makes sure I don't burn the entire library down, for starters.”
Cloud Kicker carefully placed the plate on the wall near the ceiling. “Yeah ... burning down your house would be bad.”
“And ponies might be upset if I burned the library down.” I walked around the lab until I found where Spike had put down our hammer. “I think they can tolerate the occasional explosions, but the destruction of a public building might be a bit much. And I don’t even want to think about losing all the books in the library.”
Cloud Kicker snickered. “Just a bit much, yeah.” She secured the plate in place. “So ... um, what's next?”
I levitated up the hammer and a couple large nails. “Here, I'll do the hammering. Just hold it still.”
“I got it.” Cloud Kicker pounded the nails in with a single strike of her hoof with neither pomp nor ceremony. She grinned to herself, and I got the sense that this was making her feel better after everything that happened the other night. Admittedly, it was nice to get help with this; otherwise, I would have had to get a ladder and do it myself, or get one of my friends to help.
“Oh ... I guess that works too.” I brought the hammer back down to ground level and put it back onto the table.
“You’re welcome.” She placed another plate where I directed.
I decided to ask Cloud Kicker something I was curious about while she worked to set up another plate further down the wall. “I’m a bit surprised you know what those plates are for. Most ponies who aren’t unicorns don’t even know how to read glyphs or sigils.”
“I got the basics from my classes in West Hoof.” Cloud Kicker briefly frowned before her features moved back to neutrality. “I’m not gonna be writing and enchanting any of my own glyphs, but I can figure out what something is probably going to do if it isn’t too complex.”
Silence fell between us as we put up a couple more of the plates. There were issues we needed to talk about, but I think we were both feeling too awkward to bring them up. Instead I went for more small talk to at least keep a conversation going.
“So, are you okay from what happened the other night?” I asked. “I didn't see you get hit, but ... I wasn't in much shape to take notes.”
I felt a bit guilty about not asking earlier. Cloud Kicker had asked if I had been alright right away, but I hadn’t even bothered to return the favor. Sure, I might not have liked her, but I could have felt a little more concerned if she had been seriously hurt or not.
She punched in a couple more nails. “Yeah, I'm fine,” she answered plainly. “Takes more than two drunk idiots to give me a real fight.”
I levitated up a couple more nails as Cloud Kicker got another plate into place. “That’s good. Lyra’s okay too, right?”
Cloud Kicker let out a long sigh. “She's fine. Just bummed she couldn't help out more.”
“Being a musician doesn't exactly lend itself to fighting,” I answered logically.
“Nope. But she wasn’t happy about running off when I was fighting.” Cloud Kicker fumbled with the last couple of plates, and I cringed when she almost dropped one. By the far-off look in her eyes, her mind may have been on something else.
I rubbed at my face, feeling the bandages that brought back nothing but bad memories. “She did the reasonable thing. Running off to get the gendarmes was about the best thing she could have done. If you see her before I do, you can tell her that.”
“I can do that.” Cloud Kicker pounded the last plate into place. She turned to me and another awkward silence descended between us through some sort of mutual agreement. We didn’t really look at each other as nothing was said over the stretching seconds.
Eventually I managed to work up the will to break the silence. “So ... I guess we have things to talk about.”
“Yeah, we do.” She let out a long sigh and fluttered down to the floor. “So, where do we start?”
I put the rest of the nails back away on their assigned shelf as I bought myself some time to think what to say. “I'm not entirely sure. There's a lot to cover.”
“Well...” She shuffled in place. “Where do we stand on the whole 'studying me' thing?”
I let out a low groan. “I don't know. I've been trying to just hammer my way through this, and that's just been making me miserable, honestly.”
“Yeah. Hasn't exactly been great for me either.” She looked at me silently for a couple seconds before continuing. “I wouldn't mind just kind of ... hanging out, though.”
“Because that worked out great last time.” I winced when I heard how biting my comment had sounded and saw Cloud Kicker’s ears flatten on her head. “Sorry, I snapped there a bit. Been a bit stressed out lately.”
“Yeah, no problem.” She sighed. “Want me to just get lost?”
So there was probably the key question of the day: did I want to give Cloud Kicker another chance, or tell her to get lost? At that moment, I could tell that neither one of us were happy where things stood. I wasn’t happy with Cloud Kicker, and I was pretty sure Cloud Kicker wasn’t thrilled by how she had made me feel.
Telling her to get out and stay out of my life would be the easier thing to do, and it wouldn’t be that hard to justify doing so. But there was something about taking the easy path that didn’t sit right with me, though I wasn’t quite sure why. Maybe I was feeling guilty. Not that I was sure why I should feel that. Feelings always seemed to make what should be logical decisions difficult.
I turned away from her and pulled out another new table from a box and laid out its contents methodically, taking a moment to look at the instructions to see the most organized manner to place everything. “I'm honestly not sure what I want at the moment.” I made myself stop with the construction of the table and sighed. “But I don't think telling you to get lost right now will help me. Really, I don’t understand you. You just baffle me half the time.”
“Guess I’m a complicated mare.” Cloud Kicker shrugged. “Okay ... so we're not sure about being friends, but you don't want me to just leave you alone either. Need some space for a bit?”
There was an idea. So much had happened in the last couple of days that I wasn’t even sure I was in any shape to make a good decision. Some time away from Cloud Kicker might help me decide what I wanted to do with her and our relationship.
“I was planning on heading to Canterlot for a few days,” I said. “I want to talk to my parents about a few things—take care of some other business there, too.” That was true enough. I did need to talk to my parents about some of the things Cloud Kicker had told me about them. Not that it was going to be a fun topic to bring up. Also, I needed to pick up a few things for my lab that I couldn’t get in a town like Ponyville.
Cloud Kicker nodded. “Alright. I'll be heading to Cloudsdale on business, myself. So, I guess we just take a bit and then see where we wanna go from there?”
“Yeah, that sounds like it might be for the best. Forcing it might make things worse, at this point.” This sounded like a reasonable plan. No sense rushing a decision that we both might regret. Some time spent at home might do me good, anyways.
“Alright, then. So I'll see you around, I guess.” She moved towards the stairs but then stopped. “Um ... you run into my dad or anypony, tell them I said hi and that I'm doing fine.”
“I’ll do that.” I didn’t see it as likely that I would be seeing any of her family, but I didn’t see any reason to be rude, either.
Cloud Kicker walked up the stairs out of the basement. “Anything else you wanted to talk about?”
I shook my head as we reach the front door. “I don't think so. I was planning on preparing for Dinky's first magic lesson here soon.”
She smirked as she opened the door. “Sounds cool. Hope it goes well. I’m sure Dinky is thrilled.”
I smiled. The idea of having a student of my own had been growing on me since I offered to teach Dinky magic. “Me too. I’ve been looking forward to it. Given her mother had to all but pry her off of me when we told Dinky I would be teaching her magic, I think Dinky’s looking forward to it.”
She chuckled. “You'll do great, I’m sure.” It felt odd being complimented by her. “I better get going, then.”
Cloud Kicker moved to close the door, but I put a hoof against the door to stop her. “Um, one second, please.” I smiled at her, and she cocked an eyebrow at me. I trotted over to a nearby shelf and pulled a book off it. Moving back to the doorway, I levitated the book to her.
“The Recapture of Manehatten: The Rise of the Royal Sisters and the Fall of an Empire,” she read, looking at the book’s title.
I felt slightly embarrassed by my sudden gesture of hospitality. “You said you read about the Lunar Rebellion, and I thought you might like to expand into different time periods from there. I’ve read that book, and it does a really good job of covering that war and the time period. It’s not about the Lunar Rebellion, but it details the most important conflict before that war.”
Cloud Kicker smiled and took the book under a wing. “Thanks, I’ll make sure to read it later. Shouldn’t I check it out, though?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll mark it down in Binder in a minute.” I waved a hoof reassuringly.
One of Cloud Kicker’s eyebrows rose. “Binder?”
“That’s just what I call the library’s checkout record book.” I chuckled awkwardly.
She held a hoof up to her muzzle as she snickered. “I’d be tempted to make fun of you for naming random objects, but I’m hardly the one to criticise given some of the things I name.”
“Oh, like what?” I asked.
Cloud Kicker shook her head. “Sorry, but that would break some of the rules where you’re concerned. Plus I better get going. See you later, then.” She walked away from the library.
“Yeah, later,” I said, closing the door after her.
I was assaulted by adorableness. Dinky had all but burst through the doorway to hug me when I had opened the door, and I stumbled back as she tackled me.
Dinky looked up at me with those big golden eyes of hers and her mouth creased into a wide smile. “Hiya, Miss Twilight!”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the show of affection. “Hi, Dinky. How are you doing?”
“Rilly good!” Dinky nuzzled my chest. “I’ve been waitin' forever an' ever to learn magic from you!”
I patted Dinky on the back affectionately. “I’ve been looking forward to our first lesson together too.”
It had been less than a couple of weeks since I had promised to teach Dinky magic—but to be fair, a couple of days can seem like forever to a child. I remembered the day before Hearth’s Warming Eve feeling like the better part of an eternity when I was her age.
I looked up to see Sparkler holding back a snicker as she watched Dinky’s show of affection. “C’mon, Dinks. Let’s at least get you ready to start your first lesson.”
“A’kay!” Dinky let me go, thankfully saving me from having to find some way to pry the filly off. She skipped into the library, a paragon of youthful joy.
Sparkler stepped through the doorway and gave me an appreciative smile. “Thanks for helping to teach Dinks. It means the world to us.”
I waved a hoof nonchalantly. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure we’ll both have a great time.”
“Yeah, um...” Sparkler turned one of her hooves back and forth on the floor nervously. “Thanks for the help you gave me, too. The gem and the books have been a big help.”
“That’s great. You been getting plenty of use out of them?” I watched as Dinky hopped over to the central table of the library and started looking at the books, scrolls, and other materials covering it.
“Yeah, I didn’t realize how much I was missing out on.” Sparkler cleared her throat before continuing. “Part of me kinda hates that gem, though. Now I can’t cast any spell without realizing how much magic I’m wastin’. It’s sooo annoying.”
I smirked at Sparkler’s troubles with the magic-monitoring gem, more than a few frustrating memories of my own troubles reigning in how much magic I used to spellcast came to mind. “I know what you mean. I had to practice with one of those gems every day until I got a hold on it.”
Sparkler grumbled something under her breath that I didn’t catch. “At least I’m not wearing myself out just lifting stuff with telekinesis anymore. And I’ve been reading through those books ya gave me. I ... don’t exactly have a lot of spellbooks of my own.”
I frowned at that. Spellbooks tended to be on the pricey end as far as books went. It was another reason why a lot of unicorns prefered to try learning spells from other unicorns. The final price tag for my education hadn’t exactly been cheap, either. Most families with significant numbers of unicorns tended to pass down books from generation to generation, with parents and older siblings teaching the younger members of their families to help cut down on costs of becoming a competent spellcaster.
I didn’t want to judge, but I doubted raising two children by herself was cheap for Derpy. I didn’t know much about her family, but if they didn’t have many unicorns, then there might not have been much to pass down to Sparkler or Dinky to help relieve costs. The fact that Derpy didn’t know that you should really have a unicorn significantly older and more experienced than Sparkler to teach Dinky was telling.
Given those facts, I couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for Sparkler.
“Keep the books as long as you need them. I don’t really need them anymore.” I walked over to a nearby bookshelf containing the library’s collection of magic-related books and tapped a hoof against it. “And you can always check out what we have here at the library. Feel free to copy any spells that interest you.”
Sparkler nodded. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” She stepped up to the table and picked up My First Spellbook: Cantrips and Evocations Every Child Should Learn. Dinky, for her part, had flipped open one of the other books and seemed to be glancing through the pages. “I guess these are for Dinks?”
I tapped the pile of a half a dozen thick tomes. “Yep, I got all of them for Dinky’s lessons.”
Sparkler turned the book to look at its back and her eyes widened. She lifted up a couple more books with her magic, and her jaw dropped. “T-these aren’t cheap books, Miss Twilight. And they all look new.”
I nodded and smiled, feeling proud of myself. “I bought them for her. I wanted my student to have the very best teaching materials.”
Sparkler looked back and forth between me and the books, a look of befuddlement on her face, before putting the books neatly back with the care one would with fine dishware. “If you say so. I can tell Dinks has the best teacher out there.”
Dinky looked up from her book and grinned. “Ya-huh! Miss Twilight’s gonna be the super-bestest, most awesome teacher ever!” Her face scrunched up with concentration. “Along with Miss Cheerilee. They can both be the bestest teacher, right?”
Sparkler ruffled Dinky’s mane. “Sure, why not?” She looked up from Dinky to nod at me. “Well, I need to head out. Just needed to drop Dinks off after school before helping Miss Rarity find some gems. I wanna have some extra bits in Canterlot to spend, so that means doing some work.”
My ears perked in interest at that news. “Oh, you’re heading to Canterlot soon?”
Sparkler smirked. “Uh-huh, we’re all gonna visit Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Cirrus in town tomorrow.”
“I hope you enjoy your trip, then,” I said. It seemed that I wasn’t the only pony here heading to Canterlot soon.
“Thanks.” Sparkler nodded to Dinky. “Mom should be by later to pick Dinks up.”
“See ya later, Sparky!” Dinky hugged her sister and gave her a sloppy kiss to the cheek. “Love ya!”
Sparkler smiled and hugged Dinky back. “Love ya too. Be good for Miss Twilight, ‘kay?”
“A‘kay!” Dinky nuzzled her sister before letting her go.
Sparkler and I made our goodbyes and she left the library, leaving me with Dinky. I turned to her and gave her a smile. “Are you ready to get started?”
Dinky nodded her head vigorously. “Uh-huh! What’re ya gonna teach me? Oooh, am I gonna learn how’ta make things all fwooshin’ like Mommy, or become in-viz-sea-ble, or fly like Rainbow Dash?”
I chuckled at Dinky’s adorable enthusiasm. She reminded me of myself when I was her age and starting to learn magic for the first time. “Not today,” I told her, feeling bad as her bright smile turned into a frown. I had a feeling Derpy would not approve of me trying to teach her daughter how to set things on fire—not even mentioning how difficult it was to control magical fire. Invisibility was a pretty advanced illusion to pull off, and even the gossamer wings I had given Rarity during the Best Young Flyers Competition had stretched my abilities.
“Then what’re we gonna learn?” Dinky asked.
I lifted up a stack of papers and plopped them down in front of her with a smile on my face. “First, we’re going to cover the syllabus for your lessons.”
Dinky poked at the stack of papers like they were some strange vegetable on her dinner plate. I supposed she was one of those types of ponies who was allergic to paperwork—something I never understood, considering I found filling out forms and paperwork to be extremely satisfying. “What’s a sillybus?”
I pulled out my own copy of the syllabus and glanced over it. “A syl-la-bus is a summary outline of a course of study.”
“Oh.” Dinky nodded her head sagely. “What’s that mean?”
I reminded myself that Dinky was all of six years old and that her asking questions about things she didn’t understand was perfectly reasonable. Even if it was her asking for me to explain something I had already explained. “It means that the syllabus gives us a rough schedule on what we are going to cover for your lessons and when. Stuff like when I would like to see certain materials read and—” I found myself interrupted when Dinky raised her hoof as though she were in class. “Yes, what did you want to ask? Also, you don’t need to really raise your hoof when it’s just the two of us. That practice was developed to account for larger groups, like a classroom, where everypony asking questions at once could be disruptive towards the progression of a discussion like a class.”
I could remember doing the same thing a few times with Princess Celestia when I had first become her student. My how things had changed.
“‘Kay.” She slowly lowered her hoof, looking uncertain. “What ya mean by mata—mater—”
Dinky stuttered over the word a couple more times before I felt the need to help her. “Ma-te-ri-als?”
Dinky nodded. “Yeah, that.”
I made a mental note to watch my language around Dinky when I was trying to teach her. It wasn’t going to help either of us if I used words that she didn’t understand, and we either proceeded without her understanding what I was saying or we had to bring everything to a grinding halt to explain.
I pointed to the stack of books I had gotten her. “I mean things like the books.”
“Oh.” Dinky scrunched her lips as she looked at the books. “Then why didn’cha just say books?”
I took in a calming breath and reminded myself to be patient and to try to get us back on course. “I used ‘materials’ considering that can cover other things like documents, notes, and other written sources.”
Dinky prodded the stack of book and spoke before I could get to the syllabus. “Am I gonna have to read all this? Because it’s a lotta books.”
I was starting to gain a real appreciation for what Cheerilee did every day. “That’s what we are going to cover in the syllabus,” I said, trying to get us back on track. “Now if you will look at your copy, we’ll start with the sections called ‘Lessons Overview’ and ‘Lessons Objectives.’”
Dinky let out a whimper and picked up her syllabus to follow it with me. After covering the lesson overview and objectives, we proceeded to go over lesson requirements, readings, assignments, evaluation methods, and a tentative lesson schedule. I had experience at this type of thing working as a graduate assistant in school, and I had drawn upon that to help me set up Dinky’s lessons for the coming days.
Finishing, I put down my own copy of the syllabus and smiled at Dinky. “So, any questions?”
Dinky looked up from her syllabus and had a glazed look to her eyes. “Huh?”
I felt a frown form on my face. “You were paying attention, right?”
Dinky nodded. “Yeah-huh.” I gave her a scrutinizing look, and she returned with an innocent smile.
“Okay, then.” I hoped she was telling the truth. The syllabus was really important, and I needed her to understand what would be coming up so that she would be ready for our lessons.
I stood up from the table. “So, how about we start with our first lesson?”
“Yay!” Dinky hopped to her hooves. “What’cha gonna teach me?”
“We’re going to go over some of the basics right now.” I admittedly didn’t know all of what Dinky knew involving magic, so I decided to start by asking. “Now, do you know how to reach out with your magical senses yet?”
Dinky nodded vigorously, probably happy to say she knew something. “Sparky taught me how. It’s kinda hard, but I can feel how magic is all tingly an’ stuff.”
“It’s something you get better at with practice.” I pointed to my horn. “Now pay attention.” My horn glowed as I started to draw upon some of my magic. “One of the first steps to casting a spell is to draw upon your inner reserves of magic. It’s important to do so efficiently, to know how much to draw out for a specific spell, and to hold that magic as long as you need it.”
“‘Kay.” Dinky concentrated on my horn, and I felt her reach out with her magic senses to feel what I was doing.
I released the magic I had gathered. Technically, I was wasting that magic by not using it to cast a spell, but that was fine given that the lesson was just covering how to draw upon one’s magic. I did it a couple more times for Dinky to make sure she got a good look of what I was doing. “There; now do you think you can try?”
“Uh-huh!” Dinky puckered with concentration and stared up at her horn. It started glowing with a yellow aura.
“Now, not too much,” I instructed her. “We’re going to be doing this for a while, so don’t use up all your magic right away. The point of this exercise is to learn control and discipline. Now release the magic you had gathered without casting a spell, and do it again.”
“‘Kay, Miss Twilight.” She slowly released her magic, and I watched to make sure she didn’t lose control of it and cause something like a wild magic surge. It always paid to be a bit careful when learning magic. She stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth and started drawing on more of her magic, though in a more restrained manner like I had asked her to.
We repeated the exercise over the course of half an hour. I periodically instructed her on how to draw upon and hold onto her magic in a more efficient manner. I discovered that Dinky had significantly more magic than was normal for a unicorn her age. There were plenty of fillies her age who couldn’t even use magic at all. Granted, how and when a unicorn’s magic came in was fairly inconsistent. Some unicorns started having their magic come in at Dinky’s age, and others didn’t really have it come in until they got their cutie marks. Some had the amount of magic they had access to grow over the course of years as they grew older, and then you have unicorns like me who had an almost distressingly small level of magic until I earned my cutie mark.
The issue here being that Dinky did have a decent level of magic for a filly her age. I would be surprised if she didn’t grow up to at least be a Gamma-level unicorn. That wasn’t an issue per se. The problem was that it made me think about what Derpy had said about Dinky’s parentage and the tiny bits of information she had given to me about Dinky’s father. Magically powerful unicorns had run in my family since it had become a noble house centuries ago. It was to the point that it was pretty much expected. My brother wasn’t as strong as I was, but he was far from a magical lightweight, considering he could do things like protect an entire battalion.
So the fact that Dinky seemed to have more than a little bit of magical talent raised those suspicions I had about who her father might be. Great—right when I had thought I had pushed them out of my mind. The statistical chances that Shining Armor was the father were highly unlikely just due to the large pool of potential stallions that met Derpy’s description. Shame my brain wouldn’t let it rest.
There were a couple of spells I could probably learn to find out the truth, but most of them were pretty obvious about what they did if I remembered right. Best case scenario, I would get some very awkward questions from Dinky and Derpy after using them. Worst case, I get even more awkward questions if it turned out my brother was Dinky’s father—as unlikely a scenario as that was.
Dinky released the magic she had stored up and then grimaced and held her head. “Owie!”
Seeing my student’s discomfort, I wrapped a leg around her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“My head’s all owie,” she mumbled in pain.
“That means it’s time for a break.” I hugged her to my side, and she nuzzled me slowly in the ribs. Likely, she had drained her magical reserves and was suffering physical side effects. That, and using a metaphysical muscle she wasn’t used to using were probably wearing her down. “If you’re ever feeling uncomfortable, just tell me and we’ll take a break. You don’t want to hurt yourself practicing. Trust me.”
Dinky murmured in agreement and nuzzled my side again. “Can I have some cookies and milk?”
I considered that Dinky may very well be manipulating me, but when I saw her looking up at me with her lower jaw out to make a sad frown, I didn’t really care. I smiled down at her. “Sure. Let’s head to the kitchen.” She probably really did need the break. Having her push herself too hard wasn’t healthy for her in any event, and having a snack and a break would likely help her recover for the rest of her lesson for the day.
“Yay!” Dinky hopped to her hooves, her fatigue immediately forgotten. Kids always did seem to be able to bounce back from things faster than adults.
The two of us walked into the kitchen to find Spike busily cooking some sort of stew. He always did like to experiment with recipes. Granted, sometimes his experiments didn’t always turn out so well—at least for what ponies considered appetizing. But the number of incidents where I found his experiments enjoyable versus unenjoyable was favorable enough for me to continue justifying being his test subject.
“Hi, you two.” Spike waved and hopped down from his stool by the stove. “How’s the whole magic thing going?”
I opened the ice box in order to find where the cookies and milk were. “Really well. We’re covering the basics right now, and Dinky’s getting a hang of it pretty nicely.”
Dinky nodded vigorously. “Yeah-huh! Miss Twilight’s the bestest teacher ever! Also...” As was her way, Dinky did what she always did when she met someone and gave Spike a big hug. Though, with the two of them being much closer to the same size, it looked like Dinky was doing her level best to crush poor Spike’s ribcage. “Hug! Whoa!” Her eyes widened in wonderment, and she nuzzled Spike’s chest. “You’re, like, rilly smooth...”
Spike looked like he was in danger of popping from within Dinky’s grasp. “Can’t ... breathe...” he coughed out. “Help...”
I could sympathize for my little assistant, given I’ve had the pleasure of having Dinky grasp onto my leg like an excessively fuzzy and adorable vice. Seeing that I didn’t have a small crowbar on hoof, I decided to use a different tactic to save Spike. I pulled out the milk and chocolate chip cookies from the fridge and a couple of glasses from the shelves. “Who wants cookies and milk?”
Dinky’s eyes brightened, and she gave Spike a final squeeze before letting him go. The sudden release in pressure almost caused Spike to fall to the floor. “I do! I do!” She hopped excitedly around me.
I chuckled and thought that, maybe, I wasn’t going to be halfway bad at this.
“It looks like you really wore her out,” said Derpy, motioning toward the napping form of Dinky.
I chuckled. “Yeah, looks like it.”
Dinky was lying down on a cushion lethargically, and she groaned with fatigue. She had bounced back from the first half of her lessons after getting a little bit to eat and drink, but our follow-up lesson on telekinesis had taken the energy right back out of her. It wasn’t very surprising. Magic could become exhausting to use after a certain point, and I had pushed Dinky a bit, given we only had so much time together to work on her magic.
Derpy looked at me with an apologetic grin. “I’m sorry about being a bit late for picking her up. Work was a bit more busy then I originally expected. I hope she wasn’t too much of a hooffull.”
I carefully lifted Dinky up with my magic and placed her on Derpy’s back. “It’s fine. Our first lesson went great. Even took a break to eat some milk and cookies in the middle.”
Derpy looked slightly shocked when I said that. She glanced back at her daughter before turning back to me. “You gave her cookies? As in with sugar?”
“Yes, is that a problem?” Given the look she was giving me, I worried that I might have done something wrong. I would hate the idea that I had given Dinky something she might get in trouble over. That would be an easy thing for either of us to forget to talk about before Dinky’s lessons started. I really should have made a list of questions to ask about like things I shouldn’t give to Dinky.
Derpy looked back to her daughter as she nuzzled into her mane. “No, not specifically. It’s just that normally Dinky is bouncing off the walls whenever she has anything with sugar in it. A little bit is fine, but she can be a hooffull if she gets more than two or three cookies.”
How many cookies had I let her have? Five? Six? From the way Derpy was putting it, Dinky should have exploded with sugary energy.
“I didn’t have any problems like that.” I picked up Dinky’s saddlebags and placed some of books and other materials in them. No sense making anypony have to come back to the library to pick up Dinky’s studying supplies. Especially her books. “I suppose using so much magic exhausted her.”
Derpy put on one of the most serious expressions I had ever seen on a pony. “I will make you two boxes of whatever types of muffins you like if you tell me your secrets.”
I was a bit taken aback by how somber the offer had been. I had heard Derpy took her muffins seriously, but this was a bit much. “Um, we could do that. Though you’re making it sound like I’m selling national security secrets here.”
Derpy gave me a flat look. “Twilight, do you have any idea how hard it can be to get a small child to settle down to go to bed?”
I considered that question for a moment. “Not really. I don’t have much trouble putting Spike to bed. Normally when it’s his bedtime, he is out like a light.” If anything, it was much harder to wake him up in the morning. Maybe that was part of his dragon biology. Dragons were capable of sleeping for a century or even longer when they got older.
Thinking back on my own childhood, I could see where Derpy might have some trouble. There had been more than one incident where my parents had told me to turn out the lights and go to sleep despite my protests that I wanted to read “just one more chapter.” Of course, turning out the lights hadn’t kept me from reading by hornlight well past my bedtime. Sometimes successfully or not depending on if my parents caught me doing so ... or if Shiny decided to tell on me.
“Well let me explain something to you,” Derpy said, letting me wrap Dinky’s saddlebags around her barrel. “For the typical weekday, I have to come home after a long day at work, sometimes picking Dinky up from school, make dinner, help Dinky with her homework, spend some family time with her and Sparkler, and then get Dinky to bed. I can’t go to bed before Dinky does, or she’ll be up all night and be tired in the morning when she needs to go to school. Sparkler’s a big help with Dinky, but she has her own life to live, schoolwork, and those part-time jobs she does for Rarity. Not to mention I have to give Sparkler her own time for love and attention. So anything that helps get my younger daughter to sleep is a blessing in my book.”
My admiration of Derpy certainly grew after hearing about what she had to go through on a daily basis. Conceptually, I had an idea that raising a child was a time-consuming and draining experience. Just taking care of Dinky for a couple of hours had taken more energy than I had really expected. I could only imagine what adding a teenager on top of raising Dinky must have taken out of Derpy.
“There are some exercises I would like Dinky to practice on a daily basis.” I levitated Dinky’s syllabus to show Derpy. “I’m sure Sparkler can monitor Dinky while she’s practicing. They aren’t anything too major, but they’ll likely take some energy for Dinky to do. Also if you could review Dinky’s syllabus to make sure that she’s ready for her next lesson, that would be great too.”
One of Derpy’s eyebrows cocked at that. “And you’re giving her homework?”
“It’s not too much,” I assured her. “Just some basics that will help her better control her magic. I showed her what she’s supposed to do earlier. Though there are some readings I would like for her to go over before our next lesson.” I clapped my forehooves together. “I’m sure she’ll really enjoy her books. I know I did. But if you have any questions, feel free to drop by and ask.”
“Thanks.” Derpy motioned for me to place the syllabus in Dinky’s saddlebags, and I did so. “I hate to have to run off, but we really do need to get going.”
“I understand.” I walked up to the front door and opened it for Derpy. “I’m sure you have to get ready for your trip to Canterlot tomorrow.”
Derpy flinched slightly when I mentioned Canterlot. “Oh, right ... that.”
I frowned at her response. “Something wrong?”
Derpy let out a long sigh and stopped by the doorway. “It’s just that one of my coworkers got hurt, and I was told I’m going to have to come into work tomorrow,” she said bitterly. “Hopefully we’ll be able to go to Canterlot in a couple of days, but that’s in the air right now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” I knew from personal experience how irritating it could be to have something suddenly change your plans. The parasprite infestations from the previous year had certainly put a damper on my hopes to see the Princess.
Dinky stirred on her mother’s back, and her eyes blinked open. Our conversation must have woken her up again. “Aren’t we gonna see everypony, Mommy?”
Derpy craned her head back to nuzzle Dinky. “We’ll see, Muffin, but I can’t promise anything right now.”
Dinky’s lips puckered into a pout. “But I wanna to see Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Cirrus!”
Derpy’s shoulders sagged and she let out a sigh, the weight of what she was telling her daughter visible. “I know, but sometimes plans change despite what we want. Mommy’s job is really important, and she has to do what her boss tells her. I’m sorry.”
The sight of Dinky sniffling started breaking my heart, and I spoke up before thinking through the solution I had come up with. “I could take Sparkler and Dinky to Canterlot.”
Derpy’s eyebrows rose. “Twilight, you don’t need to do something like that. I’m not gonna ask you to take a train all the way out to Canterlot.”
Dinky, for her part, was now paying intense attention to the adults determining whether she would get to see her grandparents and uncle or not. I supposed she was a pony who really loved her extended family.
I waved a hoof to allay her worries. “It wouldn’t be a problem. I was already planning on going to Canterlot anyways.”
Derpy frowned with concern. “In your condition? No offense, but you look like you’ve seen better days.” To be fair, I did look a little bit better when half of my head wasn’t wrapped in bandages.
I shook my head. “I’ll be going to the hospital tomorrow morning to have these taken off. After that I’m good to go. Trust me.”
Derpy’s brow furrowed in thought until her daughter nuzzled the back of her neck. “Please, Mommy? I wanna see everypony.”
With that, Derpy’s resistance crumbled. “Alright, if you’re sure you can handle my daughters, then I’m sure it’ll be alright.”
“Yay...” Dinky looked like she was about to excitedly hop around but lost her energy like a candle suddenly extinguished. “Mommy, I wanna go home. I’m tired.”
Derpy chuckled and exited the library. “Of course, Muffin. Let’s go home and get you to bed. You have a big day ahead of you.” She turned to me and gave me an appreciative nod. “Thanks again, Twilight. This means a lot to us.”
“It’s not a big deal,” I assured her. “Just a train ride and a walk to get them to their grandparent’s home, right?”
Derpy’s mouth turned up with a knowing smile. “Yes, I’m sure that’s all it will be.”
Why did she make it sound like I had made a big mistake?
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Only Twilight would give a multi-page syllabus to a six-year-old student. And somehow still make it work.
How long I wonder until Dinky achieves world domination? She can certaintly wrap one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria around her forehoof.
1st cookies then the world!
Well, this is certainly getting very interesting. I'm kinda looking forward to Twilight talking with her parents. Hopefully she'll see how much an arranged marriage sucks and tells them to stick it so she can find her own lover. I doubt that'll happen, but it'd be nice.
3454915 Dinky's adorableness is a power exceeding that of Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, and King Sombra combined. Not even the Elements of Harmony may be enough.
This is very interesting. Anyway, as I am wont to do when I've had a bad couple of days, I'll point out a few typos you prereaders missed:
There was a knock at the front door. Spike was in the basement doing some cleaning, so it fell to me to answered the door
Answered should be answer, and the second mention of "the door" seems redundant. Try "it"
more than a few frustrating memories of my own troubles reigning in how much magic I used to spellcast came to mind
reigning should be reining
excessively fuzzy and adorable vice
You mean vise?
3454989 Would it really be so bad.
I for one, welcome our new filly overlord.
I don't want to sound mean, but... the farther the story goes on, the more trouble I have believing this is Equestria and the ponies we all know.
It's just... the entire arranged marriage thing is so out of place to me. Just doesn't seem like something Celestia would be ok with. I'm just having a hard time believing that Equestria has that kind of marriage policy.
Then, there's Twilight. I don't know, but the way you write her is a bit more towards the arrogant side, to the point where I almost don't feel like you're writing Twilight at all. Of course, that stems from her being a noble, as well as an Alpha Plus level Unicorn, but I don't really like both of those ideas.
Again, not trying to sound mean, but that's just how I'm feeling about this story right now.
Well, that last line isn't ominous at all. Twilight really should know better by now, but volunteering to help people with things does seem in character.
3454544
It worked? It sounded more like Dinky quickly tuned that part out, much like most elementary school students given a syllabus.
When no one was looking, Twilight Sparkle blew up the Ponyville Library. The random explosion was something the townsponies could deal with. The loss of a public building was a bit much. But it was the loss of all of those books... over 9000, which was like, nine hundred tens. And that was terrible.
Somebody totally needs to draw that image of Dinky hugging Spike. Hearts would explode.
3454989
oh please, the Elements won't even touch that. "Rainbow cannon on a little filly? nopenopenope"
So does this mean we finally get to meet the grandparents?
Heheh, stopped reading this at the perfect spot last night. Got through Cloudy and then we get the sugary dose of adorable in the morning. Love this one!
Seriously, did I miss something? The only hint I can recall is 'white unicorn stallion from Canterlot', and there's at least three of those that we know about. Why is everyone so sure it's Shining Armor?
I am so looking forward to Twilight meeting Vinyl in the next few chapters. And possibly finding out if Shinning Armor did it with Ditzy or not. That always awkward, especially when you are going to get married soon.
That filly is going to cause heart attacks with her adorableness, I swear.
I cannot wait for the day this is finally resolved.
So.... When is this in the winning pony time line
I know they run parallel but winning pony is ahead. And I wanted to know where this falls during it
3455339same with highschool students
Love this story. Also, you can tell you're doing it right when Dinky actually makes someone go "Awww!" in class. Her cuteness is so powerful, it can control beings in other universes.
3455295
Makes perfect sense to me. This is the Winningverse, it's got roots a bit more in the "realistic person" side of things rather than the show's "everything is happy and grand forever!" sort of thing they've got going on where no one has a problem that can't be solved in a day or two.
Nobility has traditions, which basically is all the nobility exists for aside from spending money or being douchebags. If Celestia comes down and tells the nobility to stop doing something, she's risking a lot for something that is technically their private business. The nobility more or less controls the economic infrastructure - they use their money and clout to do good things for the wrong reasons, and pledge their power to Celestia in attempts to curry more power and notice for themselves.
While all of this is bad, it also means she can trick them into doing good things for her ponies fairly easily. But the moment she starts getting TOO bossy with them, they'll start withdrawing their support and working against her quietly. Such is the way of repu- nobles, if you don't appease them they'll shut down the gov- infrastructure that they're meant to uphold. Besides, arranged marriage is a private family matter - the pony being married off always has a choice. If they don't want to be forced to marry someone else, there's always the option of being disowned/leaving the family and heading out into the world on their own like anyone who isn't born rich.
Remember, you can't /tell/ nobility what to do. You have to make them want to do/not do it themselves.
I believe I hear the deep and smug laughter OF DOOM!
oh I can already see a problem with this twilight is going to canterlot to talk about some things she has found out one of those things have to do with dinky and her brother, she will have make sure their are no little ears around when she makes that inquiry
3456035 because that is where the narrative seems to be pointing
Is anyone else REALLY curious about that letter?
Oh man, I am really looking forward to the conversation with Twilight's parents. Bonus points if Dinky's possible father is discussed at the same time.
Loved the Twilight/Dinky scenes, and the bit of teaching we saw was relatively interesting.
3458211 can't do much with Dinky's parentage til after the wedding. The possibility of Shiny being a baby daddy must needs eventually lead to Cadence. And Twi didn't know about Cady til she got the invite.
3456814 Well, Cloud mentions she's going on a business trip to Cloudsdale in this chapter, so I'm assuming it takes place just before the part in Winning Pony where she meets Luna and they have freaky dream sex!
3458917 Good point. What I'm suspecting at the moment is a discussion with Twilight's parents where they, knowing about the upcoming wedding, squish the idea of looking into it in the short term. Given the attitude towards Vinyl we have seen from both Night Light and his wife (Twilight Velvet? Don't remember offhand which name is being used for her in the Winningverse), I would expect them to look into it further themselves since taking care of your bastards seems to be a Sparkle family value.
3459516 And well it ought be.
3459113
Ahh so like about half to three quarters through winning pony
Mother of the Year, everyone!
You may want to add another word to this sentence.
Yes, there are. Didn't she once try to distract 'Lula from dildos with wingblades? And it didn't work? Kids are just far too curious, sometimes.
Yes. Take some time, have some space, talk to some ponies, hit on some princesses. Certainly, things will be different between you two once this break is over.
Well, I mean, naming things implies that they are important, but it matters considerably why they are important. If you're thinking of, say, The Empress, then it doesn't say anything about you that it's named; from what little I've heard, anypony could tell that it is sufficiently exceptional to deserve a proper noun. That's entirely different from naming an unremarkable binder that is special only for happening to serve a certain function.
See, this is why I squashed the hope that I was inclined to feel after hearing you had been reading books which ought to have guidelines on how to teach young unicorns as well as what to teach. Because I knew you would just do this anyway.
Ah, and there she goes. The great Twilight Sparkle, who already knows what she's doing. Six-year-olds are basically just tiny undergrads anyway.
You know, I got offered a possible position as a graduate instructor for a class one semester. An honor, really, considering I was not a grad student. I was flattered that somebody thought I'd be good at that. Unfortunately, I disagreed. I was most likely wrong (he who says he can objectively evaluate himself has the most illusions), but you'll never catch me admitting it even to myself.
Yes, perhaps you are redeeming yourself.
Right, I suppose I ought to mention: I don't think you're writing Twilight quite in character. It's not huge, and clearly it's not really bothering me, but she does come off a little full of herself.
....Famous last words.
Twi, I can't believe you responded to this. I expected your mind would jump straight to eclairs.
A moment of silence for the shocking moment of common sense from Twi.
Nope, but if what Cloud said was true, the chance of your dad being Dinky's dad is a lot higher.
And either way, no wonder Shiny didn't want to discuss his upcoming wedding.
Because you have. With all your experience with the CMC, I don't know how you haven't picked up that children are little bundles of hellfire and destruction. I should know, I've got three.
3546323 Except it's strongly implied that Dinky's dad is around Derpy's age. Because a) do you really think Twi's dad is the sort of creeper to show up to a college party full of ponies half his age, and b) just how drunk do you think Derpy was?
The last 5 chapters =
The fact that this hasn't updated in months =
4044534
I assure you, I haven't given up on this story. I've just had a couple of rough months with switching shifts at work, getting over an illness, and a dozen other minor things that have slowed down my writing. But I hope to kick my writing rate back up now that things are starting to even out.
4046350
The prospect of new chapters in the future =
You sir are a glorious bastard. Your're glorious because of your storys. Your're a bastard because you make me wait for a new chapter.
4100794
Definitly !
I'm absolutely with you on the wing blades, they have become one of my head canons for equestrian weaponry.
And following your suggestion of an animated wing blade battle, that would be awesome ... however i'm neither an animator nor an artist ... so i just hope someone like ArgoDeamon will pick this up and make it into a SFM video
So, now that the life and times of a winning pony are over, are you going to start working on Study again Ponibius?
4231126
Very much so, the next chapter is coming out this Monday assuming there isn't any snap in the system. Also I plan on becoming more regular in my updates now that I've gotten some real life issues out of the way.
This counts as a Funny Aneuryism Moment, given what happens in "Princess Twilight's Kingdom."
That's not fair, most of the time it's because Celestia sends a letter at the worst possible time
See OUT of your eye