Magical
By bigbear
Twilight Sparkle loved magic. Magic was her special talent. Her starburst cutie mark was testament to her connection to the arcane. Twilight could express herself with the magic from her horn, in ways she could not with her hooves or wings. The study of magic was her life’s work, first as personal student to the Princess of the Sun, and alumnus of her School for gifted Unicorns, then ultimately with the merging of magic and friendship that led to her ascension as a Princess.
So it bugged Twilight when her friends seemed to distrust magic. Nopony was allowed to use magic during Winter Wrap Up in Ponyville. Applejack initially didn’t want Twilight’s magical help with the apple harvest. (To be fair, Applejack initially didn’t want anypony’s help with the harvest.) Rainbow Dash always talked about studying magic as something only ‘eggheads’ did.
This seemed crazy to Twilight; magic was in the ponies all around her. Applejack could place three baskets under a tree, give it a buck, and have every apple on the tree fall into one of the baskets. Maud Pie could hammer her way through yards of rock in less than a minute. And Pinkie Pie could… well... better not to dwell too closely on all the things Pinkie could do. That way lie madness and getting hit on the head by falling anchors. Regardless, all these earth ponies seemed pretty magical to her.
And after what she had seen fighting the evil centaur, Tirek, Twilight just wanted everypony to be able to see how magical they really were. And when Twilight had a problem, she solved it with magic, or with friendship, or hopefully with both.
It was time to play ‘egghead’.
After an all night bout of magical research and creativity, Twilight exited her castle and shut the great doors behind her. Her eyes were closed, and her breath was shallow. “I’m too nervous. This is no way to test new magic,” the lavender alicorn thought. She raised a hoof to her chest and took a series of calming breaths. “Think like a scientist.” Twilight ruffled her wings, then folded them comfortably to her sides. She opened her eyes and stepped onto the busy streets of Ponyville.
The spring morning was mild, with just a hint of a warm wind. Celestia’s sun played hide and seek with a few fluffy white clouds. On again, off again, sunlight glistened off the Ponyville River, the fountain in the market square, and Twilight’s own crystalline castle. The rest of the brightly painted buildings in town contributed their own riot of color to the tableau.
Colorful ponies filled the town with activity. Pastel earth ponies and unicorns trotted the streets to and from the market square. Equally resplendent pegasi darting purposefully across the skies. Twilight focused her interest on the ponies. "First field test," she said to herself, cast her new spell, and scanned the busy streets. With all all the ponies about, the setting should be a perfect test.
Twilight’s eyes darted from pony to pony. There was so much going on it was hard to focus. Her view of Ponyville was overwhelming. Not the town, so much as the ponies. The town looked normal. But to Twilight’s bespelled eyes, the ponies were glowing with shimmering light, rippling around them with every move. Overwhelmed, Twilight walked haltingly down the street toward the market square, her mouth hung slightly open.
Twilight wished she could share this experience with her friends. But Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike were in Canterlot at Rarity’s satellite boutique. Applejack was helping her family in Appaloosa. And Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were on a friendship mission for the magic map in her castle. Twilight was on her own.
"Hello there, Princess."
Twilight started and jerked her head toward the sound. There was a colorful earth pony mare drawing a cart standing in her path. Rainbow lights glittered across the pony's body, exploding from her shoulders and haunches, and pulsed out from her hooves into the ground every time she shifted position. Twilight looked closely to try and identify the pony in question. But the shimmering lights made immediate identification impossible.
"Are you okay, Princess?"
Twilight leaned in close and scanned her eyes over the mare in front of her. She should know who this is. But the pony looked so strange, bathed in shimmering lights, that Twilight couldn’t identify her. “If I can’t tell by sight, I’ll have to listen more closely,” Twilight thought.
Other ponies on the street stopped to watch and listen as well. During her time in Ponyville, a lot of odd things happened around Twilight Sparkle. Sometimes things turned lyrical. Other times things turned dangerous. The residents of Ponyville found it useful to check odd things out from a respectful distance when they seemed to be happening around their resident princess.
"Your horn is glowing and your stare is starting to freak me out a little bit, Princess. Is there anything I can do to help you?"
Unable to immediately identify the mare by voice, Twilight looked into the cart the pony was pulling. It was full of carrots, fresh from the farm. "Carrot Top?"
“That’s me.” The mare smiled and sighed. “Is everything okay?”
"My apologies, I didn't mean to stare.” Twilight let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “I mean I was staring because I'm trying out this new spell and it makes ponies look a little odd. I couldn’t tell it was you by sight, because the spell lets me see things ponies can't normally see."
Carrot Top thought about this for a few moments. She didn’t have much experience with spells beyond her unicorn friends using their levitation. “Does this spell show you secret things?”
Twilight considered this. It was a good question. "I suppose they could be considered secret, since no pony’s ever seen them before.”
There was a murmur of concern from the ponies who had collected around Twilight and Carrot Top. Twilight looked around and realized all the ponies nearby sounded uneasy.
“Some things are secret for a reason,” somepony in the crowd called. Twilight tried to follow the voice, but she couldn’t identify the speaker among the glittering bodies. A few ponies began backing away.
“What secrets do you see, Princess?” somepony else asked. “Don’t look this way,” another called. “I didn’t do it and I’ll never do it again!” a third yelled as they fled down the street.
Twilight realized the situation was quickly getting out of hoof. She shook her head and released the spell. Her horn lost its glow. Twilight scanned the crowd. Everypony had stopped glittering, but many of them looked scared.
"Pardon me, pardon me, please let me through!" Mayor Mare, a brown earth pony with a silver mane, trotted forward. The crowd parted and the mayor moved through them like water. "Princess Twilight, Carrot Top, what's this I hear about secrets?"
"Princess Twilight was using a spell to see pony’s secrets," Carrot Top said.
"My secrets are my business," came a voice from the crowd.
"What's going on here?" came another voice.
"Princess Twilight’s spying out people's secrets!" came the reply. “Tell everypony!” Most of the onlookers backed away; several bolted to tell the story to others.
Twilight flapped her wings once, and raised up on her hind legs. "I'm not doing anything of the sort!" Twilight cried. “I’m happy to explain the theory of thaumaturgic anomalies involved in the spell.”
But no one was listening. Down the street, ponies in the market square were already turning and pointing at Twilight. The rumors had started. And the only thing faster than a rainboom were rumors spreading in Ponyville.
"I'm afraid we have a problem, Princess." Mayor Mare looked sadly at Twilight. “And while I am sure ‘thaumaturgic anomalies’ is technically correct, I don’t think an explanation of magical theory will help dispel rumors or quiet fears.”
Twilight landed back on her fore hooves. Her wings drooped, and her head hung low. "What can I do? I'm not trying to spy on ponies. I’m just testing a new spell."
"Maybe you can explain what’s going on to everypony," Carrot Top stepped up to Twilight. ”I’d sure like to know what you saw.”
"Transparency is a very good idea, Carrot Top," Mayor Mare straightened up. "We can have a meeting tonight at Town Hall. Princess Twilight can tell everypony what's going on all at once.”
"Wouldn't it be better to try and explain now?" Twilight pleaded. She hated that so many ponies were looking at her accusingly and pointing. She wished her friends were here. They would have given her a chance to explain.
"I'm afraid an incomplete explanation would just start more rumors," the Mayor said. “I think it's better if you take the rest of the day to come up with an explanation everypony can understand. Then you can dispel the rumors once and for all."
Twilight sighed."Okay Mayor Mare, I'll come to Town Hall an hour after sunset.” She dropped her head again.
"Thank you, Princess. I'm sure we'll get this all straightened out."
The Mayor walked Twilight back to her castle. Along the way Twilight could hear ponies muttering and looking in her direction. Some of them stared at her. Twilight felt very uncomfortable and alone.
Celestia's sun had set an hour ago and Luna's moon and stars filled the sky. Twilight opened the door and stepped out of her castle onto the streets of Ponyville.
The streets were strangely empty and quiet. But when Twilight turned the corner onto the street leading to Town Hall, she saw what looked like every pony in town. She could tell they were talking, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Once again, she wished her friends were here. The citizens of Ponyville had never seemed so scary.
Someone in the gathering spotted Twilight. One by one the ponies turned to watch as she came down the street. They all fell silent and parted before Twilight as she walked toward the Town Hall.
“Welcome, Princess Twilight.” Mayor Mare stood tall atop the Town Hall stairs. “Thank you for coming to speak to us tonight. As you can see, there’s a great deal of interest in what you have to say. I hope we can clean up any misunderstandings.”
Twilight climbed the stairs and stood next to the mayor. “Good evening, everypony.” She raised her head and smiled weakly. “And please, just call me Twilight.”
The crowd stayed silent and shifted uncertainly.
“First, I want to apologize for any concern I caused today. I know staring at ponies is impolite. And when I talked about secrets and spells without a good explanation, I made a lot of people very nervous. I think of everypony in town as my friend, and I never want to make my friends feel bad. But I have, and for that I'm very sorry.
“Second I want to thank Mayor Mare for giving me this opportunity to explain what I was doing.
“I was born a unicorn, and my life was filled with the study of magic. After years of study, I thought I was an expert.
“Tirek’s attack made me realize my understanding of magic was too narrow. He stole magic and cutie marks from all kinds of ponies. This made me think all ponies had their own kind magic and cutie marks were part of it.
“When I became an alicorn, I gained aspects of all three kinds of ponies: pegasi and earth ponies, as well as unicorns. However, I didn't understand what it meant to be a pegasi or an earth pony, and I wanted to know what all this meant.” She raised a hoof to her chest and fluffed her wings.
“What about the secrets?” somepony in the crowd called out.
“I’ll get to that,” Twilight said. “Existing detection spells for only show unicorn magic. I understand why, as all the detection spells were created by unicorns. But I wanted a spell which could detect magic regardless of the source.
Twilight addressed a mint green unicorn in the front of the crowd. “Lyra, could I show everypony what happens when I detect your unicorn magic?” A fellow alumnus from the School For Gifted Unicorns, Lyra had known Twilight for years. She nodded assent. “Could you levitate something small, like the little bag Bon Bon is holding?”
Lyra looked for agreement from her earth pony friend, then ignited her horn and wrapped her magic around the small bag. The bag levitated into the air surrounded by the golden glow of Lyra’s magic.
Twilight lit her own horn and cast her detection spell. The glow around Lyra's horn and the small bag bloomed into a riot of pulsing colors. “As you can see, my detection spell highlights unicorn magic. Thank you Lyra, you can return the bag.”
Lyra’s horn stopped glowing and the bag dripped back into Bon Bon’s hooves. The colors from Twilight’s spell faded away.
“My spell detects the impact of magic, rather than the magic spell itself. No matter who changes the world with magic, the spell shows it. When I came out of my castle this afternoon, I ran the spell so only I could see the results. What I saw was overwhelming and it led me to staring at everypony and acting strange. I apologize again if I scared anybody.
Twilight walked down the stairs and approached Carrot Top. “Would it be alright if I showed everypony what I saw when I was looking at you?”
“But I’m an earth pony, and don’t really have any magic.” Carrot Top shook her head. “But so long as your spell’s safe, I don't mind you casting it.”
Twilight's horn glowed for a moment. A rainbow shimmer ran over Carrot Top, then faded away. Carrot Top watched as the shimmer ran over her her body, but didn’t make any unusual moves.
“Carrot Top, did you know the school kids have been growing a vegetable garden?” Twilight asked.
“I’ve heard about it, but I haven’t seen the garden.” Carrot Top was thrown by the seeming non-sequitur.
“How do you think the garden is doing?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Carrot Top looked at Twilight expectantly.
“You’re an experienced farmer, what’s your best guess?”
Carrot Top didn’t like playing guessing games. She made an annoyed little huff and lightly stamped her hoof. A small rainbow glow appeared at the back of her head. It moved like lightning down her neck, through her barrel, down her legs, out her hooves into the ground, and sped off into the distance in the direction of the school. It shimmered and shifted colors as it moved. The crowd watched in silent awe.
A beat later, the glow sped back from the direction it had left and traveled back up Carrot Top’s legs, barrel, and neck until it came to the back of her head and disappeared in a rainbow flash. The whole process took less than a second.
Carrot Top was so focused on what Twilight was saying, she didn’t seem to notice the rainbows. “Cheerilee’s a good teacher, so I suspect the garden is doing okay. Knowing what kids are like, I’ll bet they’ve overwatered it. Given the season, they should be able to have their first harvest in 3 days or so.”
“Cheerilee,” Twilight asked the earth pony school teacher, “how did Carrot Top do?”
“She’s spot on. 100% correct.” Cheerilee stepped forward so the crowd could see her. “The children are always over watering the garden. And we plan to do our first harvest in 3 days.”
“Carrot Top, you got the answer right because you’re an experienced farmer.” Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder. “But you also used earth pony magic to sense how the garden was doing.”
“I didn’t feel anything unusual.” Carrot Top looked around at the crowd. “Did I miss something?”
Cheerilee had a huge grin on her face. “I think you did.”
The crowd was abuzz. They all wanted to know more, but nopony stepped forward.
Twilight looked up and picked out one of the pegasi, slowly flapping their wings to hover over the crowd. “Derpy, would you mind if I cast the detection spell on you so we can see some pegasi magic?”
The wall-eyed pegasus smiled down at Twilight. “I’m not cloudwalking or anything right now, but sure, let’s see what happens.”
Twilight's horn glowed again. Derpy’s gray form glowed all over for a moment. The glow contracted to the points where Derpy’s wing roots met her barrel. Then Derpy flapped her wings. A rainbow glow flashed out across her wings from root to tip and back again. Derpy gazed down at her wing, and flapped them experimentally. With each flap, her wings erupted in rainbows. “This is so cool! Wait until Dinky sees this!”
“Flying isn’t just wing-power, it’s magic as well!” Twilight was on a roll. “Cutie marks can make magic too! Bon Bon, could I cast the detection spell on you to demonstrate?”
Bon Bon looked at the ponies around her. “Me? My cutie mark is about making sweets. How is that magical?” She looked uncertainly at her unicorn friend Lyra. Lyra smiled and nodded. Bon Bon gathered strength from her friend. “OK, Twilight, cast away.”
Twilight’s horn glowed for a third time. Bon Bon shimmered with a rainbow glow for a moment, then went back to normal.
“Are those some of your sweets?” Twilight asked, pointing to her little bag.
“Yes, salted caramels, fresh from the shop.”
“Would it be okay if you gave two of them to Cheerilee and two to Lyra? I’m happy to pay for them.”
“You don’t have to do that, I was going to share them with the crowd anyway.” Bon Bon reached into the bag to hoof out the caramels. A rainbow glow erupted around her cutie mark. It raced up her barrel, down her fore leg, encompassed the bag, then was sucked into the bag and disappeared. Everypony in the crowd gasped.
“Don’t worry, nothing happened here that hasn’t happened every time Bon Bon gives her customers their sweets.” Twilight smiled. “You can just see it happening this time. Go ahead.”
Bon Bon reluctantly dropped two paper wrapped salted caramels each into Cheerilee’s and Lyra’s hooves.
“Now, Cheerilee and Lyra, swap one of your sweets with the other, then taste the ones you swapped.” Twilight smiled conspiratorially. “What do you think?”
Cheerilee unwrapped her caramel, popped it into her mouth, and chewed quickly. “It’s... good.”
Lyra did the same. “It tastes... fine.”
“Now try to sweets Bon Bon gave you directly.”
Cheerilee looked at the confectioner, then shrugged. She unwrapped the caramel Bon Bon gave her and popped it into her mouth. She bit down once, then smiled. She closed her eyes and chewed slowly, savoring the experience. “Hmmm,” she purred, “that’s perfect.”
Lyra watched, her eyes wide. She quickly unwrapped the caramel Bon Bon had given her and took a bite. She quickly grinned widely as well. “That’s the kind of candy I expect from my Bon Bon.”
Twilight smiled too. “Bon Bon, you told me your cutie mark helps you make the best sweets anyone has ever tasted, right?”
“Yes…”
“Everypony has different tastes. Some like their caramel chewy, others crunchy. Some more sweet, others more salty. No one caramel could be the best for everypony. So your cutie mark helps you match your sweets to your customers.” Twilight addressed the crowd. “Once she knew who they were for, Bon Bon unconsciously picked the caramels Cheerilee and Lyra would love the most.”
“I do magic with my sweets?” Bon Bon looked at her hoof, then back at her cutie mark.
“Every time you hand them over. That’s why we all love them so.” Twilight reached out and touched Bon Bon on the shoulder. “You make them perfect for all of us.”
The crowd surged forward. “Cast it on me now.” “No me.” “I want to see.”
“Does everypony want to see?” Twilight called.
“YES!” they all roared.
Twilight beat her wings once and reared up on her hind legs. Ponies stepped back to give her room to cast her detection spell. Twilight raised her forelegs to the sky. Her horn erupted in rainbow colors. The bodies in the crowd bathed in matching rainbows.
Everypony glowed and shimmered. Each beat of every pegasi’s wings evoked a riot of colors. Every step by an earth pony evoked the strength in their bodies and corresponding rainbow highlights of their muscles. The very thought of special talents, made cutie marks across the crowd glow in rainbow hues.
The crowd was enraptured. They experimented with their abilities, and marveled at their own magical radiance. They looked in awe at the magic of their friends and fellow townsfolk. They mummered, called out, and even rejoiced at the mystic spectacle they all shared.
Earth ponies took turns stomping, and watching rainbows race through the ground and connect them to the plant life all around. They hoof wrestled, and marveled at the lights manifest from their magically enhanced strength.
Pegasi played with rainbows and clouds, shaping them, bouncing on them, and causing drizzle and flashes of lightning. And with every wingbeat, and every cloud manipulation, the pegasi and their clouds glittered and flashed with color.
Music rose from across the crowd. Ponies hummed, sung, strummed, and played. The music merged into a joyous harmony. Musical cutie marks pulsed to the beat of the song. Rainbows radiated from every instrument and washed over the crowd.
Mayor Mare’s voice cut through and got everypony’s attention. “Look at Twilight!”
Twilight stood on her hind legs, with her forehooves to the sky. Every few moments she beat her wings slowly, to keep herself balanced. Her horn was ablaze. Tears leaked out of Twilight’s closed eyes and ran down her cheeks. “This is what I saw when I walked the streets this morning. This is the secret. You are all so magical. So beautiful. I am blessed to know you all, and to call you all my friends.”
The detection spell highlighted Twilight’s magic as well. Like an earth pony, her hind quarters shimmered, from the effort of standing upright. And her hind hooves pulsed rainbows into the ground and absorbed the return, as she searched the area for life. Like a pegasi, every beat of her great wings were reinforced by rippling rainbows from root to tip. Like a unicorn, the spell she cast made her horn blaze with rainbow light, illuminating all the ponies around her. And her cutie mark, representing all magic, blazed like a star on her hip. The most magical pony of them all, was Princess Twilight Sparkle; for she glowed with all types of pony magic at the same time.
Cheerilee stepped up, and nuzzled the Princess lightly. “Thank you for being our friend, Twilight.”
Carrot Top stepped up from the other side and nuzzled her lightly as well. “I’m sorry for mis-understanding what you were doing this morning.”
Bon Bon, Lyra, Derpy, and the Mayor stepped up together, and made the gathering into a group hug. “Thank you for showing us how magical we all are, Twilight.”
The crowd closed. Everypony wanted to reach out and touch their friend, to apologize for doubting her, and to thank her for her gift.
No one in Ponyville would ever look at each other quite the same way, ever again.
