The After Party

by Blackdrag-rose

V: Training Day

"Come on sleepy head, we've got things to do today," a voice said in Rocket's dream, "I swear, Spike is easier to awaken than you are. Not that you can hear me right now. Otherwise you would be awake and we'd be on our way."

When Rocket failed to respond he was drenched in water. Yeah, he thought as he sat up, drenching a pony in water never gets old. I guess it's karma for drenching Tick back in Canterlot.

"I'm awake, I'm awake," he said, opening his eyes to see Twilight standing over him with another bucket full of water, "No need to drench me with water again."

"Just making sure," she said, putting the bucket against the wall before returning her attention to the unicorn, "Today the library will be closed, so I'm going to have you follow me."

Rocket sighed and got off the drenched bed, noticing a towel near the door. Wondering if his magic was still working he closed his eyes and concentrated on moving the towel over to him. If he put too much energy into it he could destroy the towel in an instant, but if he put too little into it it would barely move. He opened his eyes and found the towel hanging in front of his face, surrounded by a light blue aura, causing him to smile.

"I see your magic is intact," Twilight said, opening the door and walking through the frame as she headed downstairs, "That is good and will be of some aid to me."

"So, um, what are we doing?" Rocket asked, watching the alicorn mare gather some books and place them in a bag near what appeared to be an open portal. Magic swirled around in one spot, just floating in one place as Twilight gathered what she needed. Though a minute later she closed the bag and tossed it through the portal before turning to him.

"What we're doing is entering this portal," she answered, the front door opening and closing as Spike entered the library, "Ah Spike, right on time. Did you get the materials that I asked for?"

"Yeah yeah, I got them all," Spike said, pulling out a list and handing it to Twilight as he patted the pack on his back, "Even the ones that you said were hard to get I got regardless."

"You had Rainbow Dash help you didn't you?" Twilight asked, the baby dragon chuckling as he entered the portal, "I swear, I ask him not to involve my friends and that is what he does anyway. Now if you will follow me Rocket I will lead you to a special place."

Even as she said it she entered the portal and vanished from his sight, leaving Rocket alone in the library. He sighed and charged through the portal, the scenery quickly changing to a mountain range with a clearing already cleared out. Twilight stood near the edge, watching the other peaks as he approached, but he wondered what was up with the runes surrounding the area.

"So...where are we exactly?" he asked, wondering where Spike wandered off to.

"The mountain where a dragon once slept," Twilight answered, her mane flowing in the wind, "I wont bore you with the details, but I will tell you exactly what we will be doing here today. You will be learning magic under my tutoring and we'll see how much magical energy you have inside of you."

A pile of books landed in front of Rocket, causing him to take a step back as Twilight said, "I will have you start with these seven books. You will read each book and preform a spell in the area around you. The runes will restrict anything from passing out of the area and dispel it instantly. Spike and I will be watching from a nearby peak to observe your progress. As of now you are my student and I will teach you what I know."

An hour passed as Rocket read through the books that Twilight had left him. The mare had flown to the peak she shared with Spike after closing the portal, making it so Rocket couldn't leave the clearing. He didn't know how she was watching him, but he eagerly read the books that she gave him, suspending two in the air at a time. Magic, as he soon figured out, wasn't as simple as he suspected it was, but he actually enjoyed the challenge it presented.

"How is he doing Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked, covering the two with a large cloud before joining them.

"He's been reading for the last hour," Spike answered, watching the mare pull out a Daring Do book, "So he hasn't been melding the surrounding to his will like he did to his friend's mouth yesterday."

"Oh, he's doing something," Twilight happily said, watching Rocket place his books on the ground, "Things should be getting interesting soon."

Rocket sighed and looked around the area, thinking about the spells he had just crammed into his head and wondered which he should use first. He spotted a small rock just laying on the flat surface and easily lifted it with his magic, suspending it like he did the books. With a simple thought the rock suddenly became an apple, but he changed it into an orange a second later. Then he had it shatter as if it was made of stone and the individual pieces turned into rocks the same size as the one he started with.

"That was interesting," Twilight commented, "He seems to have a general overview of magic."

"Great, now can he do some interesting tricks?" Rainbow asked, "Like open a portal to Daring Do's world for instance?"

"I have already told you that that is impossible," Twilight sighed, "I could move us through space with a portal, but I can't open a door to a fantasy world. And besides, I already asked Celestia about that and she told me it wasn't possible."

"Twilight, he's doing something," Spike said, the area slightly lighting up despite the sunlight.

Rocket raised his head and spikes of gemstone erupted from out of the ground, connecting together to form a cluster of different gems. Flames surrounded him before shooting off towards the cluster, making them glow with a fierce light that make his watchers cover their eyes. His magic worked hard on the gemstone cluster, working to shatter it into who knows how many pieces.

A pony with a light green coat and light blue mane happened to be walking through Ponyville when she noticed a fierce light shinning on top of the nearby mountain range. Her name, fake as it was, was supposed to be Salad Top, a mare who worked in fancy restaurants and served salads to the guests. She was a pegasus and she despised the disguise that she had donned to avoid being captured by the guards. Maybe, at long last, she had found the answer that would help her solve the puzzle of her mind.

Seeing how nopony else had noticed the glare she grinned and headed in the direction, her wings flapping furiously to arrive quickly. She may not be the fastest flyer in Equestria, but she could and would get there before she missed the action. She only hoped that there was nopony around the glowing light so she could get a closer look. When she got closer she stopped and quickly hid, seeing Twilight and Rainbow Dash near the site in question, but when she was what they were looking at she was surprised. Standing in the center of the clearing as a light blue coated unicorn stallion with a quill shaped cutie mark preforming high level magic.

"Conjuring is difficult for most to do," Twilight commented, "and controlling an element like fire is even tougher. I wonder what he plans on doing with that cluster of gemstones."

Rocket shouted and applied pressure with his magic, shattering the gemstone cluster into a thousand smaller pieces that rained down around him. He huffed and puffed, but he was glad that his magic had worked out in the end. Behind him the portal snapped open and Twilight rushed out, catching him as he collapsed on the ground. She smiled and lifted him into the air before reentering the portal and appearing in the library.

"Rest well my student," she said, placing him on the bed she was letting him use, "You've earned this rest."

She was sure that Spike was cleaning up the gemstone fragments and wouldn't be back for a couple of minutes, so she smiled and placed the beginners books back in their places. It wasn't normal for a unicorn to possess such strong magic and be able to such strong spells like Rocket had cast. But Twilight was one such unicorn who had strong magic when she was but a filly and was entering Celestia's school. Now she was an alicorn and was teaching a stallion who almost seemed like her in magic. She smiled and continued putting books away, humming a slight tune to herself.

Back on the mountain range Salad Top grinned and thought about the strange stallion she was sure she had never seen in Ponyville before. His magic seemed equal to that of Twilight herself, but without pitting the two against each other she had no way of knowing if she was right. First she had to think up a plan to turn the stallion against everypony and then use him to crush Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and that annoying Twilight.

But first she had to get back to her job before she ended up fired.