To Deny Thyselfby Keeper of time RDChaptersChapter 1: First DayChapter 2: Magic LessonsChapter 3: Lessons from a PrincessChapter 4: One Year LaterChapter 1: First DaySweetie Belle was excited today, for she had heard an interesting rumor on the way into school, and it wasn’t hard to confirm that the rumor had merit. There was an extra seat in the schoolroom today, right next to Sweetie Belle’s no less, so white unicorn filly with the pink and purple mane wondered who the new student would be. “Good morning class!” Cheerilee greeted everyone as she entered the classroom. “As many of you have guessed we have a newcomer today. Come in and introduce yourself.” The unicorn colt that entered had an orange coat and a bright green mane. “How cool would it be to have that cutie mark.” The whispered comment from her pegasus friend drew Sweetie Belle’s eyes to the colt’s flank. The mark in question was two fireballs, one white, one black, orbiting around a green lightning bolt. “Yeah but it looks too magicy. Ah bet it’s someth’n only a unicorn can get.” The yellow earth pony next to the orange pegasus whispered back. Both of her friends looked to Sweetie Belle for her input on the matter and she nodded in agreement. It did look like a magic focused cutie mark. The three fillies snapped back to attention when their teacher cleared her throat. With a nod from Cheerilee the unicorn colt standing in front of the class spoke. “Hello, I’m Konton. Don’t mind me, I tend to move every few months, so I’ll be out of your way soon enough.” The colt gave the oddly cold introduction with a rehearsed ease that proved that he had given this introduction many times before. “That’s um, great. Even if you’re only going to be with us a little while I hope you feel welcome here in Ponyville. Konton, why don’t you share something interesting about yourself?” Cheerilee asked, trying to get something a bit more friendly out of the colt. “I Already mentioned everything that matters.” “Well how about you’re cutie mark, I’ve never seen one like that before, what dose it mean?” “I Don’t know.” The colt answered flatly. Unnoticed by the teacher or colt, three fillies immediately began paying attention to the conversation. “Come now you can’t get a cutie mark if you don’t know what it represents.” Cheerilee tried one more time to coax something out of the colt with her cheerful tone. “I. Don’t. Know.” he repeated, although he spoke with the same flat tone of voice, this time he looked right at the teacher with a look in his eyes that warned she was treading sacred ground. “Well that is interesting, I guess. A pony that earned a mystery cutie mark is certainly a new one on me. Go ahead and take a seat. ” Cheerilee conceded. Unseen by the rest of the class the colt mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to his new teacher before turning and making his way to the only open seat in the room. * * * * * * * Two class topics later Konton was feeling okay about his arrival in Ponyville. It hadn’t been the smoothest introduction he’d had but at least his new teacher had stopped pressing him before he had to totally ostracize himself with his life story. Mysterious secret keeper was a role that sometimes played out well in some of his past schools. But so far, the truth had always been an uncontrolled disaster. The clock announced the end of another hour and Miss Cheerilee took note. “Okay class you all know what tuesday means.” “Extra long recess day.” Konton heard the pegasus filly with the same color orange coat as him say. Considering himself lucky for his first day here to be an easy one he got up and started to follow the other fillies and colts out. “And just where are you off to?” Cheerilee’s voice drew Konton’s attention to the teacher of his new school to see that the question was in fact aimed at him. “I heard somepony say it was recess… so I was just following the others.” He answered timidly but honestly, wondering what he had done wrong, as some of the ponies remaining in the room giggled at him. “That’s what it means to them. I know you’re new here so I don’t expect you to know what today means, but perhaps you can tell me what makes all the students that stayed seated the same?” Cheerilee asked. It took Konton several passes of looking the room over before he noticed the common thread between all the remaining fillies and colts. “They’re all unicorns,” He stated the observation. “That’s right. Today in magic kindergarten and there’s no point in trying to teach unicorn magic to earth ponies and pegasi so they just get an extended recess instead.” she explained. “I don’t do magic.” Konton stated flatly and took another step toward the door. “Of course you don’t, at your age you should be just starting to learn about magic.” “I don’t do magic,” Konton repeated, boldly glaring into his teacher’s eyes. Cheerilee was beginning to wonder if this new student wasn’t just testing her to see how far he could push her before finding the line. And she wasn’t in the mood to have a problem student who thought he could getaway with anything just because he was going to go away in a few months. “I don’t care. Sit your flank down with the rest of the class.” She snarled back in a hostile manner that drew gasps of surprise from her normal students. Cheerilee wondered how much of her time this colt was going to waste before giving in as the two engaged in a staring contest, glaring at each other. Fortunately he sighed and returned to his seat after only twenty seconds or so. “Okay class, I’m sorry to say but I couldn’t get anypony to demonstrate and share their take on magic today, so we’ll be learning out of the book today.” A shiver ran down Konton’s spine at how instantly his teacher’s cheerful tone of voice had returned. The other students in the room gave a moan of disappointment but jumped up and began moving the front row of seats back, making more room in front of the teacher’s desk. Soon the other students had thrown a black sheet over a tripod, making a makeshift tent. The white filly that had been sitting next to him had brought out a small ball. It wasn’t until Cheerilee brought out three copies of the same book that Konton figured out what was going on. With the three books lined up on the floor, one in front of the ball, one by opening in the makeshift tent, and the other in the middle, all three books had more then enough room for everypony to gather around. Konton was the only pony still in his seat. He didn’t need to look at the books to guess that the middle one was open to the basic notes on finding and tapping the magic from the core of a unicorn’s being. The one by the ball was no doubt opened to the diagram of the energy patterns of the levitation spell. And the one by the tent was obviously open to the illumination spell page. “Come, join everypony Konton.” Cheerilee suggested. Konton knew he wasn’t going to even try to participate in the lesson. But has he took note that the teacher was an earth pony he knew that without magic Cheerilee wouldn’t know that he wasn’t even trying, so there would be no harm in putting on an act to humor his new teacher. He got up and joined the others by the middle book. Though he opted to stare through the book into space rather then read basic magic theory. “Good, since we don’t have anypony… more qualified, Snails, would you please demonstrate what you can?” Cheerilee asked. “Sure thing.” The oldest unicorn colt in the room said. Konton couldn’t help but think to himself that the colt’s accent sounded like he hailed from the general area of Vanhoover. A smile formed on Konton’s face as he thought I really am a wondering traveler, it never would’ve crossed my mind to guess the origin of an accent before I started moving around so much. Konton watched and wondered how he hadn’t noticed the unicorn with almost the same color scheme as himself before now. Although the green of Snails’ mane was a more faded, more natural shade of green then the bright neon green of Konton’s mane. Another moment of observation and he noticed that Snails’ cutie mark matched his name. Snails sat in the small tent that had been set up and with a few grunts and a bit of trying managed to illuminate his horn bright enough to be noticed in the shade of the darkened tent. “Tu da!” Snails happily announced once he had the spell up and running. “Well done Snails. As always since we don’t have a guest it would be wonderful if you could try to answer the others questions as best you can.” Cheerilee’s praise and request made the colt blush as he agreed and made his way over to the book open to the illumination spell. Where he sat next to a short unicorn who had a mostly gray coat with maybe a tint of green to it, an orange mane and scissors for a cutie mark. The rest of magic kindergarten went okay by Konton’s standards. Most of the fillies and colts only managed to get a few colored sparks of light from their horns. In the thirty minutes that the session lasted, the teacher had only forced him to pretend to try to cast something three times. The rest of the time he spent staring through the floor where one of the books sat. * * * * * * * It turned out that unicorns didn’t get recess on magic kindergarten days. But with only one more class it was lunch break so it wasn’t too bad in Konton’s mind. He found a nice lonely spot under the shade of a tree to sit down and get his lunch out. There wasn’t much mystery to the lunches his uncle prepared for him, but a new town usually meant something changed. If for no other reason that different ingredients were cheaper here then the last town they were in. Konton checked off the usual suspects in his mind as he spread his lunch out on a paper towel. Sandwich, check. Fruit, check. Apples seemed to be the local flavor. And juice, check. Apple juice, no less. His eyes fell on the apple orchard visible form the schoolyard. I’m going to be sick of apples by the time I get out of this town, aren’t I? His thoughts were interrupted by an orange pegasus filly sitting down beside him. “Hey.” Was all she said at first as she opened her own lunch bag and started taking out her lunch. All the while staring straight ahead, never looking at him. “Um… hey.” Konton managed to say before turning his attention back to his meal. “Look. I didn’t plan on saying ‘hi’ to you, so I’ll just be honest. I’m not really interested in making friends with some pony who’s just going to leave me and I’ll never see again, but Sweetie Belle thought you looked lonely over here and needed somepony to keep you company. And you know what? She’ right. Just because you’re only passing through town doesn’t mean you deserve to be all alone, so while I can’t promise I’ll be your friend, I’m willing to treat you like one anyway.” By now two more fillies had sit down beside him, a yellow earth pony and the while unicorn he was sure sat next to him in class. Konton noted their presence but couldn’t take his eyes off the pegasus that has spoken to him. “Um… thanks? I think.” He said, still trying to make sense of the strangest greeting he had ever been given. “First thing you should know: see those two jerks over there with cutie marks that match their names, those are Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon…” Knoton took a moment to find the fillies in question, and once he has spotted them, the pegasus continued. “…They’re the local bullies, but if you ignore them and don’t let them know they’re bugging you, they’ll keep the teasing to tolerable levels. And if that doesn’t work slug em.” “Hey!” The two other fillies objected together. “It kept them off our back just fine until you started telling me to stand down all the time.” The pegasus lamented, glaring right at the earth pony. “But Applejack says that ‘bullies that only use words ain’t worth get’n trouble over’.” The earth pony responded with a noticeable country accent. “Come on girls let’s not fight over this…” the unicorn said softly, instantly defusing the building tension between the other two fillies. The pegasus sighed and continued. “I know. I know. I promised not to get in fights so easy, but standing up for yourself should have a place somewhere… Anyway, see those two colts with the cameras? Try not to do anything dumb in front of them, they’re with the school paper. But if they do take an embarrassing picture of you talk to Featherweight, he’s the tan pegasus, he’s also the editor. He’s usually good about not running embarrassing stories. Worst case, he’s desperate for a story and will run the picture anyway but he’ll make sure your side of the story runs with it.” Konton spotted the tan pegasus and a blue earth pony sporting cameras on the far side of the schoolyard poking about, snapping the occasional picture of other students or passing animals. Once he had seen them the pegasus filly continued. “And you really shouldn’t give Miss Cheerilee such a hard time, she really is a good teacher and she really cares about all her students… guess that’s all I can think of. Oh, right! I’m Scootaloo.” She finally introduced herself. “Ah’m Apple Bloom.” The earth pony on the other side of Konton added in. “Sweetie Belle!” The unicorn chimed in. “Konton if you missed it earlier.” The four were almost done with their lunches when Sweetie Belle decided it was time to strike up a conversation. “So… why do you move so often?” “My uncle’s job. He upgrades the electrical systems of small towns. Does one, then it’s off to the next town to do the same.” “What about your parents?” Sweetie Belle’s question was innocent enough but the immediate reaction of Scootaloo and Apple Bloom (who cringed the instant Sweetie’s words hit their ears) made Sweetie’s tone change immediately to apology “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to…” Konton’s laughter interrupted Sweetie Belle’s apology. The looks he got from the others prompted him to share his funny thought “Sorry, am I really that easy to read?” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo traded looks before the pegasus answered. “Apple Bloom and I kinda have personal experience with parents that are never there for you.” “Oh? How so?” Konton’s wondered if these fillies might truly have a chance of understanding him. “Mah parents died when ah was just a foal.” Apple Bloom answered, fighting back a single tear in her eye. “I haven’t seen my mom in years, and dad’s too busy making sure we have a roof over our heads and food on the table to actually be there for me.” Scootaloo said, her gaze shifting inward hiding her feelings better then Apple Bloom, but clearly still hiding them. “Well I guess my story starts like Apple Bloom’s. My parents are dead, only it wasn’t that long ago. After that my story becomes that of Scootaloo’s, my uncle adopted me, he makes sure I have food and shelter, nothing more.” Konton added his story to the mix, genuinely happy that he had found anypony who could come close to understanding him. “You’re new in town right? So how about after school we give you a tour?” Scootaloo asked, clearly wanting to change the topic before something actually made her shed a tear in public. “But weren’t we go’n crusad’in after school?” Apple Bloom protested. “Don’t see why we can’t do both. We haven’t tried cutie mark crusader tour guides have we?” Konton felt like he had missed something important when the three fillies traded a look in their eyes. He knew he was missing something when the three chimed out in unison “Cutie mark crusader tour guides!” “I’m sorry. I know what a tour guide is but what’s a cutie mark crusader?” He had to ask. “It’s ah club dedicated to help’n ponies get their cutie marks!” Apple Bloom announced. With a raised eyebrow, Konton examined the flanks of the three fillies and sure enough their flanks lacked the mark of a pony’s special talent. Curiosity satisfied Konton was done with the topic, but a new arrival to the conversation was just getting started. “Speaking of cutie marks, you have a really cool one. So how would you like to come hang out with the cool ponies instead of these blank-flanked-babies?” The pink filly that had been identified as Diamond Tiara said, half taunting the crusaders, half tempting the colt with them. Konton took a moment to consider what to say in response, Scootaloo seemed to be shooting him a look to remember her warning. Ultimately he chose words similar to ones he had once heard from his dad and adapted them to this situation. “The first words out of your mouth, and you use them to insult other ponies, have you no shame? I’d rather be a blank flank then have the mark of a worthless talent like yours.” “Hey! You can’t say that to me! Besides you don’t even know what my talent is!” Diamond Tiara shot back. “I don’t have to. I can tell that the talent that earned that mark is as useless as mine.” Diamond Tiara was visibly shocked into silence, something about the absolute confidence in Konton’s voice and eyes struck her to the heart. Her mind was racing, she was use to going into a conversation with a clever plan and enough witty retorts at the edge of her mind to respond to anything that could be said back to her. But she had never had a pony insult them self to insult her before. “You’re wrong about Diamond Tiara, but I bet nopony knows you better then you. So if you think you’re worthless then who are we to argue?” Silver Spoon said, bailing out her friend. “Yeah who’d want to hang out with a self proclaimed loser like you anyway,” the pink filly said, breathing a sigh of relief at being able to salvage the bad situation, even if only lamely With that Diamond Tiara and her friend stomped off back to the rest of the schoolyard. Scootaloo was smiling for the first time that Konton had seen. “You were right Sweetie Belle, he is a nice pony. We just met and he’s already standing up for us. That makes him a good pony in my book.” * * * * * * * When School was over Konton Found himself riding in a red wagon with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom as Scootaloo pulled the wagon form her scooter. They rode through the streets of ponyville at a rapid pace, the rush of the wind coming off Scootaloo’s wings making it feel like they were going even faster then they actually were. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were doing their best to point out lesser points of interest as they raced by. “And our first stop is sugar cube corner!” Scootaloo announced as she slowed the group to a stop. On the outside the building looked like a life sized gingerbread house. On the inside Konton found a more normal looking bakery, filled with all kinds of pastries, and the sweet smell of sugar and dough filled the air. “Hello Mrs. Cake, is Pinkie Pie around?” Sweetie Belle asked the light blue earth pony mare with the two toned pink mane behind the counter. “Oh, hello Sweetie. I think so, why… oh you’re a new face.” Mrs. Cake said, adding the last part on seeing Konton. She smiled at him, then turned and yelled through the door to the kitchen “Pinkie Pie! There’s somepony new here to see you!” “Did you say somepony new?!” The sudden voice from behind made Konton jump in surprise, his eyes darting back and forth from the pink earth pony to the room around him. He was certain that nopony had been behind him when they entered the bakery and the only thing behind him to hide behind was the front door. But even that was open so wide it was against the wall, so there wasn’t enough room for a full grown pony like the pink mare now bouncing her way over to him, to hide behind it. “Oh you are new! I’m Pinkie Pie, who are you?” “Um, Konton.” He managed to say, still trying to figure out where she had come from. “Well ‘Um Konton’, I’m a little busy right now, but I’ll see you this evening with a proper welcome. Oh I know!” The pink mare called as she darted out of the room and into the kitchen. “Is she always that hyper?” Konton asked the crusaders in a low voice. “Not always but I try to be.” Pinkie answered as she bounced back into view with a plate of chocolate chip cookies balanced on her back. Konton’s eyes wide in confusion, he looked to the crusaders. The look in their eyes and the round of shrugs in response seemed to hint that he had missed some inside joke on the matter. Scootaloo leaned in close and whispered into his ear. “Don’t bother, I gave up trying to figure her out ages ago, trying just gave me headaches.” “Yeah, she’s just being Pinkie Pie.” Sweetie Belle said as if there was nothing unusual going on. Pinkie Pie bounced the plate of cookies so it landed on a nearby table. “Here you go, on me, or the table really. Or it was on me now it’s on the table? Oh whatever, dig in! Blow on them though they are that fresh out of the oven.” The young ponies gathered around and found the plate had four cookies on it, one for each of them. The chocolate chips still being molten proving Pinkie pie’s warning was a good one. As they sat waiting for the cookies to cool, Konton’s eye fell on Sweetie Belle. Wow, she’s cute. He thought, the though immediately prompting him to close his eyes and mentally slap himself across the side of his head. You idiot. You know you can’t think like that. I don’t get to have real friends or I’ll just rip my own heart out again when I have to move. He mentally rebuked himself. “Um… are you okay? You’re blushing.” Sweetie Belle asked. “Huh? Oh, yeah it’s nothing I just realized I did something silly.” “But you didn’t do anything.” “Just forget it.” Konton said, with a tone that made it clear he wanted to drop the subject. * * * * * * * The tour of town ended at sweet apple acres or more precisely the crusader’s clubhouse at sweet apple acres. Upon arrival at the clubhouse the three fillies immediately checked their flanks and sighed at the lack of any cutie marks. Apple Bloom looked to the sun and frowned. “Well, there’s plenty of time before dinner, but not enough to do what Ah wanted.” “We could always try zip-lining again.” Scootaloo suggested. “What’s with ya and zip-line’n? Don’t ya remember what happened the first time!” Apple Bloom said. “Besides didn’t we say we’d keep Konton company today? That kind of prevents us from crusades that need special equipment.” Sweetie Belle added. “Ya we don’t have enough harnesses for him to come too. Not that your first ones worked.” “Oh come on, I found a picture of a real zip-line harness so I know what went wrong last time. And I have a spare mountain climbing harness, it won’t take long to rig that one up too.” Scootaloo defended her idea. “Fine IF Konton want’s to try zip-line’n we’ll give it another try.” Apple Bloom said, as all eyes fell on the colt in question. Had he been older Konton might have wondered why a pegasus owned one mountain climbing harness let alone two, but as it was, his mind was captured by curiosity. He had never heard the term ‘zip-line’ before and despite the looks of warning coming from Apple Bloom he wanted to know what it was, so he agreed to give it a try. * * * * * * * It turned out that ‘zip-lining’ had something to do with suspending yourself from a rope with harnesses attached to pulleys. Konton was busy helping Scootaloo tie the end of the rope to the tree they were standing in. Disturbingly enough Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were busy tying pillows around themselves. “Are ya sure these pulleys will hold us? They look kind of cheap.” Apple Bloom voiced her concerns. “Yes.” And a glare from Scootaloo was the reply she got. The young pegasus was obviously annoyed by her friends clear lack of faith in her plan. She hopped down from Konton’s back and with his help pulled the last knot as tight as they could. “There, every thing’s ready.” A quick check that nopony’s lines were tangled was all the time Scootaloo gave before jumping off the starting platform. The harness line then yanked Apple Bloom off next, Sweetie Belle soon followed. The time it took for those two to get pulled off the platform was just enough to allow Konton to jump off on purpose as the pegasus had. The pulleys rolled freely on the suspension line. The wind rushed around them and a round of cheers called out as the four young ponies zipped down the line. With the wind in his mane and the trees zipping by it seemed natural to Konton to mimic the pose of the pegasus at the front of the pack, at least as much as he could without wings. He wondered if this was what it felt like to fly, and realized this was probably as close as he could come without taking up hang gliding. “Um… Scootaloo? How do we stop?” Apple Bloom asked, with a touch of fear in her voice, as all eyes were locked onto the tree that the other end of the zip line was tied to. “I don’t know… The picture didn’t show anything about needing brakes… Oh forget it! I got this!” Scootaloo said, seeing her mistake and flapping her wings to air brake just as she would for her scooter. To her credit Scootaloo stopped almost instantly. Then Apple Bloom slammed into her, she almost had the two of them stopped by the time Sweetie Belle was added to the zip line pile up. When Konton’s momentum was added to the pile up there just wasn’t enough room left between the ponies and the end of the zip line for her to work with. The impact wasn’t that bad to Konton. Which wasn’t all that surprising considering the pegasus and two pillow padded ponies between him and the tree. But he couldn’t help but feel bad for Scootaloo taking the brunt of the blow like that. “Is everypony okay?” Sweetie Belle moaned. A round of moans came in reply from all but one, “Scootaloo?” She asked, sounding worried. “I’ll live” The pegasus moaned weakly, hanging like a rag-doll in her harness. “No cutie marks I’m guessing.” She added with a weak laugh. “Do y’all hear something?” Apple Bloom asked, alerting everypony to a sound that seemed like twisting or bending wood. Everypony started looking for the source of the sound. Konton searched the tree to see if the sudden shifting of weight was getting to it. Scootaloo was the first to find the truth of the matter. “You know… I just remembered something. When I bought the rope. I only made sure it was strong enough to hold the three of us.” Four sets of eyes looked up, and the mystery of the strange sound was solved. With the four pulleys all gathered in the same place the rope was fraying under the weight. As if on queue the rope snapped and the four ponies fell, tumbling through the branches of the tree on the way down. Konton hit the ground first. Fortunately having just bounced off a branch only a few feet up the impact with the ground wasn’t too bad, even if it was more pain then Konton usually put himself through on any given day. Unfortunately, his mountain climbing harness tether guided Sweetie Belle right down onto his back, knocking the wind from his lungs. Gasping for air Konton dared a glance skyward. Seeing that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had fallen on opposite sides of the last branch, and were both suspended overhead by their tethers, he decided not to see if the branch would continue to hold them until he had caught his breath. After he had crawled the few feet needed to get out from underneath the two suspended fillies, Sweetie Belle seemed to realize just what she was sitting on. Hopping off him she apologized and helped him to his hooves. “I’m so sorry, are you alright?” “I shall never forgive gravity for dragging you onto my spine, but with you I have no qualm.” Konton groaned in response. “And they call me a dictionary.” Sweetie Belle chuckled in response. Konton raised an eyebrow to Sweetie response, wondering what unknown reference he was missing. Though speaking on a completely different topic, two voices overhead seemed to likely to be the ‘they’ in question. “Well would ya look at that, tree sap and pine needles.” “I know.” “Ya know ah blame you for this, right?” “I know.” “Then what are ya wait’n for? Get us down already!” Scootaloo hung her head in defeat for a moment, then used her wings to counter most of her weight and climbed up the tether line. As she ascended Apple Bloom was lowed until she was just above the ground when the pegasus reached the branch suspending them. Without friction to aid her the earth pony’s weight was too much and Scootaloo was flung over the top of the branch and yanked unceremoniously to the ground, barely missing her earth pony friend thanks to her wings altering the path of her fall. * * * * * * * The sun was getting low on the horizon and once more the young ponies were gathered into the red wagon being pulled by Scootaloo through the streets of ponyville. They were near the northeast edge of town heading to the house Konton had pointed out as the one his uncle was renting. “Thanks for the ride home.” Konton said. “Heh, It’s the least we owe you after dropping you out of a tree.” Scootaloo said sheepishly. “It’s okay. Today was the most fun I’ve had in years, so it was worth it.” By now Konton noticed that the three fillies were walking at his side up to the house, so he added “Umm dropping me out of a tree didn’t hurt that bad, I think I can make it to the door on my own.” “And miss the party? No way, no how.” Apple Bloom smiled. “Party? My uncle would never… throw… a party?” Konton’s voice trailed off as he noticed the sound of music and talking coming from the house. Scootaloo boldly pushed the front door open and stood aside, allowing Konton to look in. There was dance music playing, party balloons and streamers decorating the interior and confetti littering the floor. There was no denying that there was a party going on, though for the life of him he hadn’t a clue how or why. With the three crusaders standing beside the door holding a pose as if to usher him in Konton entered. “There’s the colt of the hour! Now we can really get this party started!” A beaming pink face greeted him seemingly from nowhere. Before he knew what happened a pink blur had left him spinning in the middle of the makeshift dance floor. “Everypony this is Konton! One of the two new ponies in town!” Said the pink mare that the colt was only now remembering as the one from the bakery. “When Pinkie Pie says she’s gonna throw ah party she means it.” Apple Bloom whispered, pausing for a moment before trotting her way to the snack table. “Oh wow! Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo exclaimed and darted into the crowd of party guests, coming to a stop beside a sky blue pegasus mare with a prismatic mane. Sweetie Belle smiled sweetly, giving Konton a nod and then also joined the party. As the evening went on Konton noticed Apple Bloom was the first of his acquaintances to leave, practically dragged from the party by an older mare with a strong family resemblance. Konton didn’t know the name of the pony with the cowpony hat but he did remember that Apple Bloom had called the older pony ‘sis’ while protesting having to leave, only to be reminded that tomorrow was a school day. Scootaloo was currently sitting by the snack table, munching some random treat, but Konton had noticed that she seemed genuinely disinterested in the party after Rainbow Dash had left. Fearing that she would soon leave too, he made his way over to her to thank her for making it such a good day. Scootaloo’s response was polite enough, though it also convinced him that the only reason she hadn’t gone home yet was that she was trying to prove she could stay up just as late as Sweetie Belle could. Sweetie Belle however, wasn’t trying to hide how tired she was. During the party she had introduced Konton to her older sister, and now it was clear that she was waiting for her older sister to finish so they could leave the party together. From the look of it that might not be for awhile, as Rarity seemed thoroughly entertained by the conversation she was having with another party guest, so he decided now was as good a time as any to pass his thanks along to Sweetie Belle. “Um, Sweetie Belle, I just wanted to thank you for making today so much fun for me.” “Oh, no problem. I’m glad you had fun.” The smile that came with Sweetie’s response seemed divine, even if it was accompanied by a yawn. “Oh. Since you’re here, could I ask you a question?” “Ask all you want. No promises I have an answer though.” Konton replied, with another line borrowed from his dad. “Hehe, okay, That’s your uncle over there right?” Sweetie asked, pointing to a yellow stallion with a gray mane. Konton nodded a yes and Sweetie continued. “He seems to be smiling a lot.” “Yeah, I haven’t seem him this happy in years.” “That’s just what I wanted to ask about, I’ve noticed that he’s been smiling all party. Except when he looks at you, then he always sighs and frowns for awhile. Why it that?” Konton needed a moment to decide if he was even going to answer that question. When he finally did he settled for a very simplified version of the truth. “That’s because he hates me.” “No he doesn’t. He adopted you, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t do that if he didn’t like you.” “It’s okay, you don’t need to make excuses for me. And he doesn’t exactly hide the fact that the only reason he adopted me is because he made a promise to his sister, my mom.” “Even so, I don’t think he would have made a promise like that if he didn’t like you a little too.” “Back then I bet he did, but accident or not, after what I did to him I deserve his hatred.” “Oh come on. I mess things up and make Rarity mad at me all the time but she still loves me. I know because she keeps putting up with me. What could you have done that’s so wrong that he’d stay mad at you?” “Sorry Sweetie Belle. As much as I like you that’s one question I won’t answer.” Konton said hanging his head in defeat and fearing that he had already said too much. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” Sweetie’s apology was without question sincere. “I know.” Konton said, as he walked away. He suddenly didn’t feel like staying at the party himself, so he left for his bedroom and the escape of sleep. Author's Note Okay here it is practice story number 2. Personally I don't think its as good as When Wings are Earned but that's probably because the idea here was to write for character types I'm not completely comfortable writing for. characters like Dash and Scoots, sure. Twilight and Sweetie Belle, okay... let's see what happens. Chapter 2: Magic LessonsThe week that followed his first day had taught Konton many things. Among them was how boring the days when the crusaders didn’t invited him to join them for the day were compared to the days when they did. Konton had once given himself the title ‘traveler’ because he learned that, in his few short years, he had seen more of equestria then most ponies saw in their entire lives. But that was just the problem, all he had done was see places, not once had he ever stopped to realize what there was to do in the many towns and small cities he had seen. Now having only spent four days with the crusaders he’d already managed to ride a zip line, race scooters, play tennis, get chased off a tennis court, (through no fault of his own) build a sail boat, go swimming, and play mannequin for a dress maker. Though that last one seemed to be more along the line of repaying Sweetie Belle’s older sister for the fabric they took to make the sail for the boat then an actual crusading activity. “Come on Scootaloo! You’re just wana build the catapult now, to use him!” Apple Bloom’s voice came from the schoolyard ahead. “It’s not using him if he wants to help!” The pegasus yelled back. Only Sweetie Belle seemed to notice Konton walking up to the schoolhouse, and silently greeted him with a wave and a smile, replacing the frown she had from watching her friends argue. Sweetie’s actions didn’t go unnoticed, Apple Bloom turned to greet the colt as well. “Howdy Konton! Did ya hear what we’re talk’n about?” “From what I heard you are worrying too much that Scootaloo is just using me like a mercenary and not caring about me at all. However that’s the best way to treat me. I don’t want you to miss me or anything when I have to leave in a few months, so it’s better to think of me as a mere ally of the moment who you can walk away from without a second thought. In the end my uncle will finish his work here and I will have to walk away whether I want to or not. As for you Scootaloo, building a catapult sounds like fun so I’d be happy to help.” Konton spoke these words as much for himself as for the crusaders. And when he had finished Scootaloo was the only one smiling, having just been vindicated. “Ah hadn’t thought about that.” “I know, it’s okay. I’ve seen enough to know your life is more… permanent, no matter what happens in the end you always come home to that farm of yours. Even I made the mistake of making friends when I first moved in with my uncle, before I realized his job kept him moving all over. But I got real tiered of ripping my own heart out every time I had to leave them behind.” Now not even Scootaloo was smiling. “You don’t have to feel bad for me, I’m use to it now.” Konton added, knowing it was only half-true, but he didn’t want the crusaders to feel bad on his account. “Yeah… anyway I think I know where we can get most of the stuff to make a catapult.” Scootaloo said, trying to change the topic to something more cheerful. “Great! I’ll help anyway I can!” Konton seized the opportunity to change the topic. * * * * * * * Konton had forgotten that it was magic kindergarten day until Sweetie Belle had remained seated at recess time. He was settling back into his seat when Cheerilee spoke. “I have wonderful news, I was able to get a magic teacher in for you today.” As she finished there was a flash of light and when it faded a lavender unicorn mare with a purple mane was standing at the front of the class. “Twilight!” all the students except Konton greeted the unicorn that apparently needed no introduction. After formally introducing herself as Twilight Sparkle the mare proceeded to give a lecture on the basics of magic mixing in a multitude of spells to demonstrate everything from levitation to conjuring to illusion spells. She even took the time to explain teleportation, despite being an advanced spell nopony in the room but her could possibly comprehend. “Okay everypony line up, it looks like we have time for everypony to give one spell a try.” Twilight announced. All the students lined up in front of Twilight, while the elder unicorn herself summoned up two illusions of the diagrams for the levitation and illumination spells. When it was somepony’s turn they would point at one of the diagrams and Twilight would start casting that spell with an illusion spell wrapped on top of it so there was a complete diagram of the spell’s energy flow start to finish. They would try to duplicate the spell for a little bit, then get tiered and move aside so the next pony could try. When it was Konton’s turn he pointed at the illumination diagram and took his place under the makeshift tent. He curled his brow, closed his eyes and mimicked the physical strain he always saw from the other unicorns when they tried to cast the spell. However he didn’t even try to pull on the magics inside him let alone bend them into anything resembling a spell. When he opened his eyes, he frowned as he saw the look on Twilight’s face. She was a unicorn, and he knew that she knew he hadn’t even tried. But she said nothing as he walked back to his seat, so he breathed a sigh of relief. * * * * * * * Sweetie Belle noticed that Konton had been uneasy since magic kindergarten lessons and now that she considered him a friend she didn’t feel like she had to be shy around him anymore. With the last class of the day having just ended she saw her chance to ask him about it. “Um, Konton? Is something wrong?” “Probably.” “Anything we can do to help?” “Probably not.” Sweetie Belle shot a concerned look to her fellow crusaders and followed Konton out. Scootaloo just shrugged it off and led Apple Bloom off toward town. Sweetie Belle wondered why her pegasus friend was so keen on letting the colt keep his emotional distance when it seem so obvious to Sweetie that deep down inside he desperately wanted real friends. Sweetie Belle knew that feeling all too well, as it was the one she had felt before becoming friends with Scootaloo. Yet the same pegasus that had rescued her from that loneliness and despair was now turning a blind eye to it from Konton. Sweetie Belle promised herself to ask Scootaloo about that later, but right now she needed to find out what was bothering Konton. However, before she could question the colt further on the matter an interruption intervened. An interruption named Twilight Sparkle. “Hello Konton.” “Um… hello?” “Can I talk to you about your performance in magic class?” “Can I say ‘no’?” “Not really.” “Then I’m listening.” “I know you weren’t even trying in magic class, you know it, and since I told Cheerilee she knows it. And after talking to her on the matter, we decided that I should give you a few private magic lessons.” “Aww, I want private magic lessons.” Sweetie Belle interrupted. “Perfect! She wants your lessons, I don’t. Teacher her, bye!” Konton said quickly before starting to run off. “Or I could teach both of you.” Twilight suggested in a tone of voice that made it clear he wasn’t allowed to say no. “It was worth a shot.” Konton mutter before bowing his head and following the elder unicorn obediently, Sweetie Belle trotting happily at his side. “So much for the catapult.” He heard Scootaloo lament from where she and Apple Bloom were waiting. He mouthed a ‘sorry’ and tried to shrug a ‘nothing I can do about this’ back. His friends seemed to nod an ‘it’s okay’ back before heading off themselves. * * * * * * * Soon enough the three unicorns were at the town library, Sweetie Belle was now focused on the illusionary diagram of the illumination spell. She felt Twilight’s magic flowing through her nudging her own magic, trying to give it direction and focus. A small shower of green and purple sparks were coming out of Sweetie’s horn, “I can’t finish the spell for you, you need to complete it yourself or sparks is all you’ll get.” The master said. The filly nodded, groaned under the mental strain and tried to get the magics flowing inside her horn to match the diagram perfectly. “There you go, that’s the right direction.” Twilight said as a faint green glow appeared around the younger unicorn’s horn. The purple glow of her own horn faded and the sparks from Sweetie’s turned pure green when Twilight withdrew her help but a reassuring smile was all Sweetie Belle needed to continue on her own. Content that her first, and more importantly cooperative, student would be busy for a while Twilight turned her attention to the colt sitting off to the side. “Konton, was it? Care to tell me why you won’t even try to learn magic?” “I don’t do magic.” “Don’t? As in, can but won’t?” she asked eyeing the colt’s cutie mark. “I don’t do magic.” He repeated. “Why not?” “Because I don’t want to.” “You don’t want to learn magic…” Twilight muttered, clearly stunned by the response. “But you’re a unicorn. Using magic is part of our nature. It’s part of who we are!” Twilight was still trying to grasp the concept of a unicorn that didn’t want to use magic. In all her years even the unicorns with the weakest magic still liked the magic they could wield. She opened her mouth to try another way to convince the colt but was cut off by a squeaky voice. “Umm… Twilight I think I messed something up.” A glance in Sweetie Belle’s direction showed a small fire had started just in front of the filly. A purple glow surrounded Twilight’s horn and a stream of water encased in a similar glow came flowing out of the kitchen levitating its way to the small fire and dousing it. “Let me guess, your first time you accidentally burned the house down.” Twilight concluded. “No! Maybe! I don’t know.” Konton immediately denied before correcting himself unprompted. Twilight noticed that the colt’s eyes were darting between herself and Sweetie Belle and realized there was something that he didn’t want to say in the presence of his friend and yet he didn’t seem to want to lie in the presence of his friend either. “It’s okay, we all make mistakes.” Twilight said, hoping to coax more information out of the colt. “Yeah it’s not your fault you didn’t have somepony like Twilight around to fix your mistake,” Sweetie Belle added, blushing as she motioned to the scorch mark on the library floor. “You’re not going to leave me alone until I show you why I hate my magic, are you?” Konton sighed. Twilight nodded to confirm his suspicions. “Fine, but not here,” he conceded. * * * * * * * “Are you sure you’re not just leading us on a long walk?” Twilight inquired, as they had been walking so long they had reached the edged of town. “Fine I guess that will do,” Konton said, pointing to a small hill just beyond what seemed to be the last house in this direction. “Stay back if you want to live,” he added matter-of-factly as they past the house. The colt’s warning made Twilight and Sweetie freeze in their tracks and trade nervous glances as Konton continued his way up the hill. Once atop he surveyed the hill. It wasn’t very high, only ten feet or so at its peak and maybe only twenty yards or so wide abut it would have to do. He frowned at the house that was much closer then he would have preferred, “If anything happens to that house you’re not blaming me for it!” he shouted to the two unicorns standing next to it. “Fine, just show me your magic already!” Twilight shouted back. With one last look around, Konton was satisfied that nopony was in range and with only two witnesses he could show Twilight what she needed to see to get her to leave him alone. Spying a few rocks at his hooves, he took a deep breath and pulled at the magic inside, making it flow. Twilight had pushed Sweetie Belle up against the house and stood beside, her pinning the filly in most protected way possible to observe the demonstration. As Sweetie looked on from her place of relative safety, she saw a bright green glow surround Konton’s horn and an identical glow envelop several rocks, pulling them up to levitate near the colt. “Wow he’s good!” Sweetie Belle said. “Yes, though I still don’t see what that warning was about.” Twilight pondered aloud. Soon Sweetie Belle noticed something was wrong and the tensing muscles she felt in the elder unicorn pinning her to the house proved Twilight saw it too. Konton’s eyes darted about in a panic as more and more rocks and random clumps of dirt were caught up in the colt’s levitation spell. The glow around his horn was growing brighter as a pained look appeared on his face. Konton gave a small cry and the green magic glow suddenly surrounded his whole body, covering his eyes in light, lifting him off the ground and random blasts of magic came shooting out of the field surrounding him. Random spots on the ground were bursting into flames or freezing under a sheet of ice. An arc of lightning dug a small trench not far from Sweetie and Twilight. The filly’s view of the destruction was suddenly tinted purple as the elder unicorn cast a shield spell around the two of them, restoring a feeling of safety to the filly. “Is-is that? Eep!” Sweetie Belle started to ask only to cut herself off when a small blast of fire struck nearby. “A magic storm like what happened to me at my entrance exam? Yes. Only I was firing off random arcane spells, he however, seems more attuned to fire off random elemental spells.” Twilight anticipated and answered Sweetie’s unfinished question. A thorny vine spring up near the contorting form of Konton, only for the plant to be frozen, then shattered by a lightning blast, only to have the ground underneath it turn to lava, incinerating any last trace of the vine. “Okay, enough is enough.” Twilight declared. “What are you doing?” Sweetie’s voice squeaked as Twilight stepped away. “I’m putting a stop to this before somepony gets hurt. Now stay back” The purple unicorn answered as she carefully split the shield spell into two spheres. Sweetie Belle watched as Twilight started up the hill, pushing against the wild magics emanating from the colt at the top. A stray fireball brought Twilight to her knees. Her horn flared to life as she strengthened her shield spell and pressed on, but the closer she got the more powerful the random blasts of magic became. She had made it half way up the hill when a miniature twister pinned her down long enough for a lightning bolt to cut away her shield. Exposed, the winds sent Twilight tumbling to the base of the hill. Twilight panicked for a moment when she realized she had landed near were Sweetie Belle should’ve been but wasn’t. Her panic faded a second later when she spotted that the filly had retreated and put the whole house between herself and the rampant magics atop the hill. Twilight recast her shield spell and prepared to make another attempt at reaching Konton to quell the magic storm coming from him. But as she turned to face the hill the colt gave a short cry and the magic aura around him collapsed, forming a sphere of green light so bright that it obscured him, the light then exploded in spectacular fashion. When the light from the final blast had faded the hill was gone and in its place was a crater almost as deep as the hill had been high. The crater itself had a wide array of elemental blast marks, making the crater seem as if a full-scale unicorn war had been fought there. In the center of it all, lying motionless amid the destruction, was Konton. “Is he alright?” Sweetie asked, as she crept up to the edge of the crater and saw her friend. A magenta glow surrounded the colt and as he floated up toward Twilight she breathed a sigh of relief, “I can feel him breathing on his own. It’s most likely that he’s just suffering from magic fatigue.” “Magic fatigue?” “As unicorns magic is a part of us, and just like anypony who depletes their body of energy will pass out from fatigue any unicorn that depletes themselves of their magic will pass out from magic fatigue. All he needs is some rest and he’ll be fine,” Twilight said as she placed the unconscious colt on her back. Twilight’s eye turned to the crater and the surrounding area. Aside from a shattered window on the house the bulk of the destruction was limited to the giant hole in the ground. The gears turning in the purple unicorn’s head and she called out, “Rainbow Dash!” as she began to fix the broken window with her magic. Sweetie Belle was still trying to figure out how Rainbow Dash had anything to do with the situation when the pegasus showed up. “Wow Twilight! That’s pretty impressive, but why would you blow a hole in the ground?” “First off, it was an accident. Second I didn’t. Finally while I can fix a window or two easily enough conjuring up an entire hill is a bit beyond me, so I was hoping you could get some rain clouds and fill this in. With any luck if anypony owns this land they won’t mind having a pond instead of a hill.” “Heh, sure thing Twilight, there’s plenty of lakes in Ponyville I’m sure nopony will notice one more,” Rainbow Dash said chuckling, trying to keep a straight face. In a flash the pegasus disappeared only to return a few seconds latter with a rain cloud. With the situation effectively handled Twilight turned to take Konton to a more appropriate place to rest. Though nothing been said to her Sweetie Belle felt compelled to follow. * * * * * * * When Konton opened his eyes all he saw was a wall of fabric before them. A slight stretching of his limbs told him he was lying on a bed that felt way to different to be his own and that he must had had a fitful night’s sleep as he had wrapped himself up in the sheets. “Twilight, I think he’s waking up,” an unfamiliar voice said, sounding like it belonged to a young male speaker. “Thank you spike, Spike,” Twilight responded in a low voice, with the sound of her hoof-steps signaling that she had entered the room. Konton couldn’t remember exactly were he had heard it but he did recall being told that the assistant librarian was a baby dragon named ‘Spike’ and with Twilight’s words it was a safe bet that the previous speaker was said dragon. The pause that followed Twilight’s words soon made it clear that she didn’t want to rouse Konton before he was ready to admit being awake. The colt shifted slightly and broke the silence from within his fabric cocoon, “Now that you’ve seen why I don’t do magic, will you leave me alone?” “If anything isn’t the fact that your magic storms are dangerous all the more reason to teach you to control your magic properly?” “Magic storms? They have a name?” “Not really, unicorns who accidentally release all their magic at once in an uncontrolled fashion are so rare that there is no technical name for the phenomena. That’s just what I chose to call it after it happened to me.” Even through Konton was still wrapped in the bed sheets Twilight could see his ears perk up so she continued. “That’s right, when I was your age I was enrolled in Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns. During my entrance exam there was an explosion outside and the magic flowing off that blast made me lose control of my own magic. And even though I was only shooting off arcane spells to vent the magic I still managed to do quite the number on the exam room. Hmm, I wonder if my magic storm would have ended the same way if Celestia hadn’t stopped me, a blast like that… oh… would have killed the examiners… Spike… my parents.” The increasing dread in Twilight’s voice told Konton that she was slowly guessing the truth, and that now was the time to drive home his point of view. “Now do you see why I hate my magic?” He growled, “I just wanted to help and I killed them. I killed them, I destroyed everything good in my life with one mistake! EVERY THING!” Konton shouted, as he ripped off the covers to show Twilight the pain and rage she made him feel forcing him to relive the memories of this topic. His plan backfired. The look of anger and sorrow on Konton’s face was immediately replaced with a look of horror when he found a set of sad emerald eyes waiting for him beyond the bed sheet’s vale. “Sw-Sweetie Belle. How…” the Colt’s mind was racing to answer his question even as he stumbled over the words to ask it. He had only heard the sound of Twilight’s hoof-steps and that meant there was only one logical explanation. “She hasn’t left your side, not since I pulled you out of that crater you made yesterday,” Twilight answered, noting the colt’s eyes darting back and forth between herself and Sweetie in panicked confusion. If Konton’s heart was still beating he couldn’t feel it. He had blown it, in every town he had ever been in the moment his classmates had learned of the accident that killed his parents he had always been ostracized as ‘killer’, ‘murderer’ or ‘monster’. And now of all the ponies, one of the few in this town who’s opinion of him actually matter to him had just heard the horrible truth. All he could do was to smash his face in to the mattress and whimper, “Please, don’t hate me.” When Sweetie Belle responded it wasn’t with words. Konton felt an unsteady pair of small hooves reach around him, pull him to the edge of the bed and into the kindest hug he had felt in years. A long silent moment passed before she spoke, “It wasn’t your fault. You said yourself that you only wanted to help. It was an accident. A really bad, really serious accident, but still an accident.” When Sweetie had finished speaking, Konton allowed himself the courage to looked up and found Twilight was now by his side too. “And I’ll teach you to control your magic so an accident like that never happens again. Okay?” the elder unicorn said joining the filly in consoling the colt. “Will you keep this a secret? Please?” Konton begged. “Of course,” Twilight and Spike said together “I’ll try,” Sweetie Belle said. “Try?” Konton practically whimpered, his eyes begging for elaboration. “Scootaloo said I need practice keeping secrets because I volunteer too much information sometimes. But I’ll try.” “I’m doomed aren’t I?” Konton lamented, slamming his face back into the mattress. “Well, you should probably go be ‘doomed’ at school, it’s still early enough that if you two hurry, you might make it to class on time.” Twilight took the opportunity of the sudden levity of the moment to suggest. * * * * * * * So far so good, Konton thought to himself. School was almost over and so far Sweetie Belle seemed to be keeping his secret just fine. The only thing that worried him was that during lunch he had spotted Twilight Sparkle speaking with Cheerilee and from the reaction on the schoolteacher’s face it wasn’t hard to guess what the topic had been. The bell finally rang and young ponies made the dash for the freedom offered by the afternoon. With the initial rush out of the way Konton joined the crusaders in heading out as well. They had piled into the red wagon and Scootaloo was about to whisk them off into the afternoon’s activities when they were stopped by a certain purple unicorn, “Hold up a sec. I need to borrow Konton for a while.” “Twilight, why are you here? What are you talking about?” Konton asked, while hopping out of the wagon. “Come now, Konton. You of all ponies should know that. I spoke with Cheerilee about your magic. She’ll be excusing you from magic kindergarten from now on since I’ll be tutoring you myself after class. Come on, I’ve already found the perfect practice area for us.” “Every day?” “All things considered I’d think it best if we tackled your problem as quickly as possible. Don’t you?” Konton could appreciate Twilight’s attempts to be subtle around the crusaders and he didn’t want to continue this conversation any longer in the presence of his friends so he conceded, “Sorry, guess I’ll be busy until the weekend.” “You’re just trying to stop us from making that catapult aren’t you?” Sweetie Belle complained. “Wait? You’re doing what now?” Twilight asked. “Nothing!” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom insisted together. “Making a catapult. And we needed his help to setup the frame.” Sweetie Belle said at the same time. “Well it wasn’t on my to do list before, but I’ll defiantly make sure AJ knows what you three are up to, now.” Twilight concluded. Sweetie hung her head in embarrassment, under the disapproving glare of her two best friends as Scootaloo finally put her wings into her scooter and speed them off. “I’m soo dead,” Konton lamented. Twilight laughed before leading him off in a different direction. * * * * * * * Turned out that Twilight’s ‘perfect practice area’ was an abandon quarry about a half-hours hike from town. Konton certainly saw her reasoning. Not a soul in sight, far enough from town that no one would see them, and desolate enough that adding a few more holes in the ground might go unnoticed. “Okay here’s the plan. That runic circle is for a stabilization spell. I’ll be fueling it from over here, you know, just in case. But that shouldn’t be necessary, you see that’s the same spell Princess Celestia used to help me practice, and I don’t ever recall losing control of my magic when I had that help. So you will start with a quick levitation spell and as soon as its up and running then you’ll shut down flow of magic as quick as you can. Just a quick on-off, got it?” “Got it,” Konton nodded as he walked over to the circle, with a quick dash Twilight had ducked behind a bolder that was more then out of range of any potential magic storm. Once Twilight poked her head out from her safe spot her horn flared to life and so did the circle at the colt’s hooves. He could feel Twilight’s magic in the air around him and more importantly in him. A calming feeling flowed from the spell at his hooves, and coursed through him all the way to the tip of his horn. Twilight gave him a nod as if to let him know that everything was ready. As much as he wanted to just bask in the unnatural calm of the elder unicorn’s spell Konton nodded back and spied a small stone to start the lesson with. He forced a little magic into his horn and targeted the rock, the moment it was surrounded in the green glow of his magic he gave it a tiny nudge. The rock popped upward and Konton immediately turned his attention away from the stone. And focused on shutting down the flow of magic from inside him. The rock fell to the ground but the colt’s horn continued to glow. Not even trying to vent the magic building up in his horn the light quickly spread around his whole body as he tried desperately to block the flow of magic inside him. But to no avail, even with the help of Twilight’s spell allowing even the tiniest amount of magic out had once more opened floodgates that he couldn’t hold back, and Konton didn’t even try to. He had failed and he knew it, failing to see the point in struggling against it he simply accelerated the magic storm by containing as much of the magic as he could in his horn until he couldn’t take the pain anymore. After only a few escaped elemental spells, he saw the massive flash of green light around him as all the magic in him escaped all at once and then he passed out. * * * * * * * A pegasus stallion landed in the plaza, looking about for the target of his mission. His royal guard armor catching the eye of many a passerby. Not surprising considering that the royal guard didn’t usually have business in Ponyvile. He made his way over to the one landmark in this backwater town that was the reason for his presence here, the library. The one thing that nopony had bothered to clarify was what the building was considered these days. Was it still a public building? Or was it a privet residence now that Princess Celestia had decreed that her star pupil be permanently lodged here. The sign looked relatively new and read ‘Twilight’s Library’ which didn’t help settle the matter at all. Ultimately the guard settled for knocking on the door and was soon greeted by a small purple dragon. “I was told Miss Sparkle could be found here.” He said. The young dragon seemed accustom to dealing with royal guards and motioned for the stallion to enter while calling down the unicorn in question. When she arrived the guard stated his reason for being here, “Miss Sparkle. I’m here regarding you’re request of the Canterlot archives.” “Oh good, Spike you tend the library. Come up to my study sir.” With that Twilight turned and headed back up the stairs, while the dragon returned to a bucket of water and a scrub brush were he seemed to be trying to scrub out a scorch mark on the floor. The royal guard quickly followed Twilight to the upper room. Once the door was closed behind them he asked, “I trust you know the protocol regarding books from the restricted section of the archives?” his eyes fixing on a sleeping colt on a nearby bed. “Oh, him. Magic fatigue, he probably won’t wake up until tomorrow.” The stallion released the latch on his saddlebag. A purple glow surrounded the tome that was inside. Technically it was none of his business what the princesses prized student was reading but the guard let curiosity to get the better of him and looked at the title as if floated out of his saddlebag. “Cutie Mark Chronicles?” He mused aloud, truly wondering why such a book would have come from the restricted archive. Twilight set the book on her desk and opened it to the table of contents. “I thought the same thing when I first found it in the restricted archive. In fact there’s a publicly available version of this book, I even have it here in this library. It wasn’t until I came here to Ponyville that I finally realized why the full version of the book is restricted.” “And why is that?” Twilight flipped the pages to the back half of the book and let the pages open to a set of cutie marks that depicted glass bottles with varying skulls, bones or other sinister imagery. A glance to the top of the page revealed the section as ‘poison maker’ cutie marks. “You see there are three girls in this town that are searching for their cutie marks. It wasn’t until I met them that I realized why it might be a good idea to not inspire reckless little fillies and colts like them to try to earn a mark that has no useful purpose in society. Even if a pony’s true talent was poison making it’s far better to make them wait a while and learn to branch out and earn a general chemistry cutie mark or something.” “Yeah I can see that.” The guard agreed, then looking over to the colt on the bed, “I take it he’s the reason I’m here?” “Yes, in addition to the marks that one might consider ‘bad’ the full version of this book also includes…” Twilight flipped the pages to let the book finish her sentence as she opened it to the last section titled ‘unknown cutie marks.’ The royal guard’s eyes darted back to the sleeping colt, taking note of the unusual cutie mark on the foal’s flank. “Ah ha! Here it is, I thought I remembered seeing it in here years ago.” Twilight exclaimed as quietly as her excitement allowed. The guard took note, and while the mark in the colt had white and black fireballs orbiting a green lightning bolt the one in the book had black and white shooting stars orbiting a green lightning bolt. Seeing as even common cutie marks varied it was easy to see the two as variants of the same talent. Seeing as her guest had expressed an interest in the topic Twilight couldn’t help but read the companion entry for the mark aloud, “Unknown mark #37. Research note #1: 300 years since Nightmare Moon’s banishment, I came across a unicorn with this mark, she clamed she didn’t understand its true meaning but that it had appeared the day she first learned, and lost control of, magic. –Celestia” “Research note #2: While I have my suspicions as to the mark’s true nature I don’t have enough to say for sure. I wish I had had more time to look into the matter, however while traveling with the mare she saw fit to use her magic to defend us from mountain lions. The resulting explosion not only scared off the beats and injured me but wound up triggering an avalanche and while seemingly immune to the immense destruction of her own magic that protection didn’t spill over to being crushed by said avalanche. –Celestia… Oh my…” Twilight breathed the last bit, solemnly lowing her head in respect for the pony lost long ago. To the suddenly somber mood in the room Twilight closed the book and returned it to the guard’s saddlebag, “Thank you, you can take it back now.” Was all she managed to say. “So it’s a mark of uncontrollable magic?” He asked at a whisper. “I don’t think so. Knowing Celestia if that’s what she thought she would have put that conclusion in her notes. Besides I refuse to believe that any magic is truly uncontrollable, though I will definitely keep him away from the base of any cliffs.” Twilight whispered with a smile, trying to lighten the mood a little. “Good luck then.” The royal guard said, double checking the tome and securing the strap of his saddlebag. With his task complete he departed. * * * * * * * Cheerilee was setting up a party she was planning for that evening at school for some local celebration, Konton hadn’t really been paying attention when the reason for the party was given. He plugged the wire he had in his mouth into the control box and began moving the speaker it was attached to into place. While trying to slide the speaker into the perfect place for the stage his focus was interrupted. “Konton. Can I ask you something?” Sweetie Belle asked. He looked up mildly startled out of his state of focus setting up random equipment. Why was Sweetie asking that? Was this a conversation between equals or was this a request from the one pony in school that was keeping his secret? He decided to test her and find out which. “If I can ask you something first,” He asked, while resuming setting up the audio equipment. “Um okay.” Sweetie squeaked as she answered. “I’ve noticed Scootaloo practically spies on Rainbow Dash but she seems so content to let me keep my secrets. Why is that?” “That kind of has more to do with Rainbow Dash, Scoot Idolizes her. I doubt there’s anything she doesn’t know about Dash.” “That explains the Dash, but why so respectful toward my secrets?” “Probably because she has plenty of them herself.” “Oh? How so?” Konton asked, moving on to fixing the haphazardly arranged lights somepony has set up over the DJ’s booth. “Well I’ve never been in her house, forget her room. Heh though given the way she decorates her corner of the clubhouse I bet it’s all wonderbolt posters and Rainbow Dash themed arts and crafts. Anyway whenever Apple Bloom or I ask why she never invites us over to her place she just says, ‘there’s stuff there she’s not allowed to show us’ and to ‘just leave it alone.’ So she don’t really hide the fact that she’s keeping secrets from us but she insists they aren’t hers to give away.” “Do you believe her?” “Yeah, she seems kind of sad that she has to keep secrets from me and Apple Bloom when that sort of thing comes up. So yeah I do.” Sweetie Belle’s answers seemed honest enough, so Konton ended his test while subtly blowing a puff of air into the microphone to test it. “Okay you said you had a question, so ask away.” Sweetie hesitated for a moment, her eyes making it clear she had briefly forgotten her question. “Oh! Right, I wanted to know if you were coming to the party this afternoon?” Konton stopped rearranging the colored filters on the stage lights and blinked, confused by the question. “I would think you of all ponies would already know that I can’t come.” “Why not? Wait, why should I know that?” “It’s a weekday, Twilight always makes me do magic practice after school on weekdays, and we both know what happens when I do that. So I’m betting I’ll be out cold at my place or the library this evening, wherever Twilight decides to drop me off after the lesson.” “Oh… Wait Twilight’s still taking you back to the library?” “Yeah I think she managed to talk to my uncle and realized that he doesn’t exactly like me. So I Think she likes to take me back to the library whenever she knows Spike will be there to look after me, since he actually seems to care about me more then my uncle,” Konton explained. As far as he could tell there wasn’t any electronic equipment left to set up for the party so he just stepped back and waited for Sweetie to release him from the conversation. “Oh, um, I guess we’ll see you on the weekend and do some crusading, or something,” was her response once she realized that explanation was over, and her voice was filled with disappointment. Then the filly just hunger her head and started to walk off, the look on her face making it clear she wanted to say something more but seemed to think it was now moot. Then a loud voice caught both foals attention, “Hey!” A quick glance showed that the voice wasn’t directed at them but their teacher. “Oh, hello Vinyl, thank you again for volunteering to DJ for us tonight.” “Hey, no prob. I just wanted to thank you for setting up my stuff. You usually make me set it up myself.” Mrs. Cheerilee seemed surprised by the news as her eyes darted to the set up audio equipment. “That’s odd, I didn’t tell anypony to set that up.” “Well whoever did it they did an awesome job, so thanks for saving me the trouble.” The shades clad unicorn complemented. “Wait you set all that up without permission?” Sweetie whispered. “Apparently, don’t suppose you can keep that secret too?” Konton whispered back. Sweetie Belle nodded and the two slipped away unnoticed. * * * * * * * Konton looked out at the abandoned quarry, it now had so many craters that anypony who saw it would be convinced a major war just took place here. His earlier conversation with Sweetie Belle was still fresh in his mind. The more he thought about it the more he realized how his life had become a blur. And as much as the allure of finally learning to control his magic enticed him, he decided it just wasn’t worth the price anymore. “Umm Twilight, Can this be our last magic lesson?” he asked, a hit of pleading in his tone. “If we ever figure this out any lesson could be our last…” Twilight said matter-of-factish before picking up on the colt’s tone “…Wait is something wrong?” “It’s just that I’ve spent the better part of a month knocked out thanks to these lessons. I don’t want to just wake up go to school, go to magic lessons, and then spend the rest of the day knocked out until it’s time to do it all over again. It’s like the weekend is the only time I’m free to have any fun! I don’t care if I never get to use magic like a normal unicorn, I just want my life back!” Konton’s lament gave Twilight pause. “I’m sorry, I… With how little of my time this takes from me, I guess I got so caught up in trying to figure this out that I didn’t stop to think how much of your time this was taking away from you.” With an apologetic smile the purple unicorn added, “I can’t promise that our next lesson will be our last but you’re right, it’s long past time I called in some help on this.” With that Twilight Sparkle turned around and began heading home. “Were are you going?” Konton asked, confused. “I’m not going to rob you of any more of your time, not until I have the help I need to hopefully make it work this time. Today’s lesson is canceled.” “Really?” Konton asked in disbelief. “Really” Twilight confirmed. The young unicorn was so happily surprised by this outcome that he almost forgot to thank this magic teacher before bolting off to town. He had a party to attend. Chapter 3: Lessons from a PrincessIt had been a week since Twilight had stopped Showing up to bring Konton to magic lessons after school and he was quite glade to have some time to himself again. He was even sporting a bandage on his front left leg that he had acquired on his latest attempt to help the crusaders, all of whom were sporting a similar array of bandages. Magic lessons had completely slipped his mind as the group came out of class to find the purple unicorn waiting for one of them. “Sorry it took so long but that help I mentioned finally has an opening in her schedule to help us out today.” Konton breathed a deep sigh, “Guess I have magic lessons again. See you tomorrow.” As much as he didn’t want to go, this wasn’t about him or even Twilight, seeing as she had gotten somepony to help it and it would have been rude of him to be a no-show, so he dutifully followed the elder unicorn away from his friends. When they arrived at the quarry Twilight explained they might have to wait a bit for the help to arrive. Konton took the time to look over the field. It was just as crater blasted as before and a hint of guilt clawed at his heart knowing that day after day he had single-hoofedly turned the abandon quarry into a chaotic war zone remnant. Thankfully he didn’t have to wait long before a flash of light and a sound he recognized as a teliportation spell drew his attention skyward. The colt’s eye went wide in surprise as he realized that Twilight’s ‘help’ was none other then Princess Celestia herself. “Hello, my faithful student and hello my little pony. You must be Konton,” the regal alicorn greeted the two unicorns. Konton was too mesmerized by the princess’ flowing ethereal multi-color mane to respond with anything other then a slight nod of his head. “Yes I see the resemblance,” Celestia commented, while looking at the colt’s cutie mark. “Your notes said you think you know what it means. Do you think that might help us teach him to control his magic?” Twilight asked. “I have a theory, yes. Though there is only one way to find out.” Celestia forced a smile though an otherwise grim expression. Somehow that sad, almost pitying look from the princess’ eyes was just what Konton needed to snap himself out of his awestruck dazed state. She hadn’t even tossed a glance at the field of craters behind her and somehow he knew the alacorn princess understood his problem better then anypony he’d met before. “What do you need me to do?” Konton asked, suddenly hopeful that this time would be different. Celestia looked at the crater-covered quarry for the first time, “this will do. First I will need you to begin one of your magic storms, then restrain it as long as you can. Leave the rest to me and Twilight Sparkle.” Turning to the purple unicorn she added, “I will need you to follow my magic into his. I may need your help to shut down his magic.” Twilight momentarily forgot the gravity of this situation and gave a joyful hop “Does that mean?” “Yes, It’s long past time I taught you the spell I used to shut down your magic storm all those years ago.” Celestia laughed at her student’s conduct. In a serious she turned to the colt and added, “Whenever you’re ready Konton.” “While you’re right next to me?” “Both Twilight and I can teliport away if it gets too dangerous.” Konton summoned a small amount of magic into his horn and used it to give a slight telekinetic nudge to a stone. That’s all it took to open the floodgates of his magic and the colt didn’t bother giving it a release, no random spells to vent it. He just let the magic build up inside, knowing it would overpower his will in a second or two and release itself as a magic storm. The inevitable happened, the glow around his horn got brighter and spread over his body. In a blink his sight was obscured by the powerful green light over his eye. The pain of his own magic escaping him against his will washed over the colt and he began fighting to vent or contain the torrent of magic flowing out of him, whatever it took to keep the storm going. The white wing of Celestia pressed down on Twilight’s back, the regal pony’s hoof pressed against Konton’s side and Twilight felt the pull of Celestia’s magic so she used her own to follow it. Everything went white, then black. Stars joined Twilight Sparkle in the void and soon she noticed a green haze around the edges of her vision. This place felt both familiar and alien all at once and Twilight knew why. Where she now stood was a spirit plane but the last time she had been here was years ago and it had been her own. But this time it was the core of Konton’s essence not her own. “Oh my.” Celestia’s whisper drew Twilight’s attention to the alacorn beside her. “What’s wrong?” Twilight gasped, startled by the princess’ tone, yet relieved to find her mentor at her side. “Interesting, it is as I feared. And yet I wasn’t expecting to find this.” Celsetia gestured out toward the only other things in the star field. Konton stood between two gates. One gate was silver and spewing forth a torrent of white energy. The other gate was made of obsidian and a similar torrent of black energy flowed from it. The colt stood between them hoofs outstretched trying to block the flows like a foal trying to push against a fire-hose. And getting about the same success, as the two streams of magic washed around him they merged and became green lightning where they met. “How can he have two spirit gates?” Twilight asked. “Be it one or many the form his gate takes isn’t really important it’s only a manifestation of how he views his own magic.” “If that’s not the problem what is?” “Can’t you feel it Twilight? You’ve faced this kind of magic before.” “I have?” Twilight pondered the idea for a moment. Of course she had felt Konton’s magic before, almost every day for the better part of a month. But now here next to its source without all the elemental manifestation of that magic in the way she could feel something more, its true uncontrollable essence, “Discord…” “That’s right, the child wields chaos magic.” With a heavy sigh Celsetia added, “Time may be distorted in here but we can not afford to delay much longer. Help him contain his light, I will face his darkness.” A large golden disc appeared over Celestia emblazoned with the sun. The sun in the center split in two and slid open, disappearing into the frame. Once open, a stream of pure golden light flowed out and followed its master as the alicorn charged to Konton’s side, where the stream of Celestia’s magic split in two and smashed against the twin streams from the colt. Twilight Sparkle summoned her own magic, taking a moment to glance over her shoulder to see her own spirit gate appear. When it did, she couldn’t help but smile, Celestia was right, because she knew for a fact that this wasn’t the same dull stone gate that had vexed her all those years ago in the exam room. Twilight’s new spirit gate was vibrant with color. The double doors were now purple with amethyst gems in the form of her cutie mark. The frame was made of five distinct colors, yellow, orange, blue, white and pink and in the center of each section were the cutie marks of her five best friends all highlighted as if they were the cornerstones holding the gate together. Yes, that’s definitely how I feel about the magic born of friendship. The doors of her gate swung open, a stream of purple energy flowed out and Twilight charged forward to join her mentor. Celestia had only held back both torrents for a second by the time Twilight’s magic slammed into the stream of white magic from Konton’s silver gate. With the silver gate taken care of Celestia brought the full force of her magic down on the obsidian gate, forcing the dark stream of magic back beyond the gate. “C-Celestia! Twilight!” Konton exclaimed, noticing that he had guests in his spirit plane for the first time. “Konton help us close the gates!” Celestia commanded. He nodded and ran to Twilight’s side, throwing his hooves against a silver door. While he only pushed against one, both of the silver doors began to close and the doors of the obsidian gate did likewise. As the opening narrowed Twilight struggled to keep the full force of her magic channeling through the closing gap. “Now!” Celestia shouted as she lunged, slamming her hooves against the doors of the obsidian gate. Twilight Sparkle heeded her mentor’s command and slammed her shoulder into the free silver door. The gates slammed shut as Twilight and Celestia’s magic washed over them keeping them closed long enough for a locking sound to be heard. With that the world once again went pure white. Twilight opened her eyes to find herself back in the abandon quarry or more accurately still in the quarry, as they had never physically left it. Konton was sitting still, staring at his hoof in bewilderment, “I-I’m still awake?” he muttered the source of his disbelief. A brief smile appeared on the colt’s face until his eye fell on the grim look on Celestia’s. “Did-Did you figure it out?” “We did, the magic you wield is chaos magic, given its very nature I doubt that controlling it is even possible. I’m sorry.” “So, in other words…” Konton began before trailing off, clearly still trying to figure out what to conclude. “It is my understanding that before Twilight’s aid you were content to live without magic, correct?” Celestia asked. The colt nodded. The princess continued, “Then to paraphrase Applejack, you were right all along.” “But Princess Celestia! He’s a unicorn, what about his nature? What about his cutie mark? His destiny! You aren’t really suggesting he just turn his back on a part of who he is are you?!” Twilight gasped. Celestia continued to address her words to Konton even if they were equally meant for both unicorns in attendance “It would seem your destiny is to remind ponies of what makes us ponies rather then just wild animals. You saw the destructive nature of your magic, and rejected it. You chose to deny yourself over blindly following your instincts like some feral creature. And now you will choose to forge whatever destiny you can for yourself, reminding everypony that we have always been free to choose our own paths in life no matter what symbol may appear on your flank. Just as you chose not to embrace your chaos magic but to imprison it with your self restraint.” As Konton listened to the princess a smile crept across his face. He had never thought of it that way and now with the princess’ vindication he felt like he had done the right thing ever since that miserable day his cutie mark first appeared. The encouraging smile faded from Celestia’s face, replaced with a gentle, sorrowful one. “Before I go there is one more matter to settle with you. It’s nothing personal but by royal decree I hereby strictly, forbid you, Konton, from setting hoof in Canterlot. For your sake I will try to keep this order as quiet as possible as I hope you will self enforce it, but I will need to tell a select few of the guards.” “What! Why?” Twilight objected once more. Once more Celestia answered while keeping her words aimed at Konton, “A spirit of chaos named Discord is imprisoned there and I believe it would be unwise to allow such a powerful reservoir of chaos magic to draw near to him. I’m truly sorry but I trust you understand?” Konton did the only thing he could think to do for a pony who had just received orders from a princess. He saluted and cheerfully said, “Stay away from Canterlot! Consider it done Princess!” The thought was just too much fun to him. After all, how many colts his age could say they had orders from a princess and mean it? Running with what the young pony gave her, Celestia returned the salute and spoke in a tone fitting for addressing a royal guard, “Very well my little pony, dismissed!” With that Konton ran off back toward town. “Princess?” Twilight said, her eyes asking if she could ask a full question. “Yes?” “When we first entered Konton’s spirit plane, you said you found something ‘interesting’ what did you mean by that?” “Having faced Discord’s chaos before I had always figured chaos magic was neither ‘light’ nor ‘darkness’ as his actions were just as likely to mess up a tyrant as a just ruler. However it had never crossed my mind that maybe the true nature of chaos wasn’t that it was neither light nor darkness but that it might be both light and darkness.” Twilight pondered the subtle difference between the two concepts for a moment. “If the end result is uncontrollable chaos magic either way, does it really make that much of a difference?” “Perhaps. Perhaps not, only time will tell.” Celestia smiled in a distant fashion that showed her mind was already elsewhere, pondering both possibilities Chapter 4: One Year LaterOne year had passed since that fateful day Konton had met princess Celestia. However, the more important date in the colt’s mind was ten months, for it had been ten months since he had left Ponyvile. Ten months and four towns latter and he had yet to find any town as welcoming as Ponyville had been. Hollow Shades had been no different then the last three towns, nopony had been willing to become his friend despite his usual opening speech. Now walking down the street as alone as he had always been since leaving Ponyville. That loneliness made him long for the friends he had left behind, the crusaders, especially Sweetie Belle. Who, as far as he knew, had kept his secrets even to this day. Although, for some reason the separation from them didn’t hurt as much as he remembered from the other friends he had to leave behind. Maybe it was a sign he was growing up, or maybe it was simply that the crusaders had been the first friendships he had made that were strong enough to comfort him no matter how much distance separated him from them. And even though his friends couldn’t be with him Konton would never forget how they had taught him not just to see the places he traveled, to see what he could do there and that lesson had made his life much more enjoyable. A sudden breath of whispers drew Konton out of his thoughts, looking about to see what had the locals in hushed interest, he saw a lot of eyes looking up. He didn’t even have time to look up himself before a pegasus royal guard landed right in front of him. The guard looked him over making note of his horn and colors, before asking, “Are you Konton?” “Yes,” the colt answered. The guard frowned at the saddlebags being worn far enough back to obscure the young pony’s cutie mark and added, “This message is for your ears only. I’m afraid I’ll need to verify that you are who you say.” Despite the implied secrecy of his words the guard had spoken loud enough that everypony on the street could have heard it. While most had the decency to at least pretend to be minding their own matters a group of four young ponies across the street were now watching with extraordinary interest as Konton lifted his saddlebags enough to present his cutie mark. Satisfied the guard leaned in close, wrapped his wing around the colt’s head and his own mouth insuring that only Konton could hear his whispered message. “Princess Celestia wishes to inform you that Discord has been released and reformed. As such you are no longer forbidden from entering Canterlot. Also as apology for having to ban you from Canterlot in the first place, The Princess has left you a standing invitation to stay as a guest at the castle should you ever find yourself visiting Canterlot.” “Um… sir I’m just a colt. Aren’t I a little too young to making any travel plans?” “Hence why it’s a ‘standing’ invitation. That means you don’t have to take The Princess up on the offer any time soon. Just know that if some year down the road you find yourself in Canterlot just stop by the castle and let us know who you are and we’ll still have standing orders to set you up in one of the guest suites. Oh, one last thing, considering his less then stellar reputation among the populace, The Princess would prefer if you kept the news about Discord to yourself until it filters out on its own.” The guard unwrapped his wing, and spoke loudly to add, “Think you can handle that!?” Playing along, Konton stepped back and saluted, “Yes sir!” The royal guard returned the salute and with a powerful beat of his wings the stallion was off into the sky, returning to Canterlot. “You work with the royal guard? What did he want you to do? That’s so cool! Want to hang out?” Konton suddenly found himself barraged with questions from the four young ponies running over to him. Two colts and two fillies, who were a brother and sister team and their two friends if Konton was remembering his observations from class correctly. “I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to discuss that. As for hanging out, I’m not expected to be anywhere special today, so sure.” “You’ve only been in town a week or two right? Have you been hiking into the woods much?” “Yeah I’m still new here, and no I haven’t left town much since I got here.” “Then come on! We’ll show you all the cool places!” Konton paused to shot a glance at the royal guard still flying away. You did that on purpose didn’t you? Thank you. He thought before galloping of after his classmates. Perhaps his time in Hollow Shades wouldn’t be all that lonely after all.
Chapter 1: First DaySweetie Belle was excited today, for she had heard an interesting rumor on the way into school, and it wasn’t hard to confirm that the rumor had merit. There was an extra seat in the schoolroom today, right next to Sweetie Belle’s no less, so white unicorn filly with the pink and purple mane wondered who the new student would be. “Good morning class!” Cheerilee greeted everyone as she entered the classroom. “As many of you have guessed we have a newcomer today. Come in and introduce yourself.” The unicorn colt that entered had an orange coat and a bright green mane. “How cool would it be to have that cutie mark.” The whispered comment from her pegasus friend drew Sweetie Belle’s eyes to the colt’s flank. The mark in question was two fireballs, one white, one black, orbiting around a green lightning bolt. “Yeah but it looks too magicy. Ah bet it’s someth’n only a unicorn can get.” The yellow earth pony next to the orange pegasus whispered back. Both of her friends looked to Sweetie Belle for her input on the matter and she nodded in agreement. It did look like a magic focused cutie mark. The three fillies snapped back to attention when their teacher cleared her throat. With a nod from Cheerilee the unicorn colt standing in front of the class spoke. “Hello, I’m Konton. Don’t mind me, I tend to move every few months, so I’ll be out of your way soon enough.” The colt gave the oddly cold introduction with a rehearsed ease that proved that he had given this introduction many times before. “That’s um, great. Even if you’re only going to be with us a little while I hope you feel welcome here in Ponyville. Konton, why don’t you share something interesting about yourself?” Cheerilee asked, trying to get something a bit more friendly out of the colt. “I Already mentioned everything that matters.” “Well how about you’re cutie mark, I’ve never seen one like that before, what dose it mean?” “I Don’t know.” The colt answered flatly. Unnoticed by the teacher or colt, three fillies immediately began paying attention to the conversation. “Come now you can’t get a cutie mark if you don’t know what it represents.” Cheerilee tried one more time to coax something out of the colt with her cheerful tone. “I. Don’t. Know.” he repeated, although he spoke with the same flat tone of voice, this time he looked right at the teacher with a look in his eyes that warned she was treading sacred ground. “Well that is interesting, I guess. A pony that earned a mystery cutie mark is certainly a new one on me. Go ahead and take a seat. ” Cheerilee conceded. Unseen by the rest of the class the colt mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to his new teacher before turning and making his way to the only open seat in the room. * * * * * * * Two class topics later Konton was feeling okay about his arrival in Ponyville. It hadn’t been the smoothest introduction he’d had but at least his new teacher had stopped pressing him before he had to totally ostracize himself with his life story. Mysterious secret keeper was a role that sometimes played out well in some of his past schools. But so far, the truth had always been an uncontrolled disaster. The clock announced the end of another hour and Miss Cheerilee took note. “Okay class you all know what tuesday means.” “Extra long recess day.” Konton heard the pegasus filly with the same color orange coat as him say. Considering himself lucky for his first day here to be an easy one he got up and started to follow the other fillies and colts out. “And just where are you off to?” Cheerilee’s voice drew Konton’s attention to the teacher of his new school to see that the question was in fact aimed at him. “I heard somepony say it was recess… so I was just following the others.” He answered timidly but honestly, wondering what he had done wrong, as some of the ponies remaining in the room giggled at him. “That’s what it means to them. I know you’re new here so I don’t expect you to know what today means, but perhaps you can tell me what makes all the students that stayed seated the same?” Cheerilee asked. It took Konton several passes of looking the room over before he noticed the common thread between all the remaining fillies and colts. “They’re all unicorns,” He stated the observation. “That’s right. Today in magic kindergarten and there’s no point in trying to teach unicorn magic to earth ponies and pegasi so they just get an extended recess instead.” she explained. “I don’t do magic.” Konton stated flatly and took another step toward the door. “Of course you don’t, at your age you should be just starting to learn about magic.” “I don’t do magic,” Konton repeated, boldly glaring into his teacher’s eyes. Cheerilee was beginning to wonder if this new student wasn’t just testing her to see how far he could push her before finding the line. And she wasn’t in the mood to have a problem student who thought he could getaway with anything just because he was going to go away in a few months. “I don’t care. Sit your flank down with the rest of the class.” She snarled back in a hostile manner that drew gasps of surprise from her normal students. Cheerilee wondered how much of her time this colt was going to waste before giving in as the two engaged in a staring contest, glaring at each other. Fortunately he sighed and returned to his seat after only twenty seconds or so. “Okay class, I’m sorry to say but I couldn’t get anypony to demonstrate and share their take on magic today, so we’ll be learning out of the book today.” A shiver ran down Konton’s spine at how instantly his teacher’s cheerful tone of voice had returned. The other students in the room gave a moan of disappointment but jumped up and began moving the front row of seats back, making more room in front of the teacher’s desk. Soon the other students had thrown a black sheet over a tripod, making a makeshift tent. The white filly that had been sitting next to him had brought out a small ball. It wasn’t until Cheerilee brought out three copies of the same book that Konton figured out what was going on. With the three books lined up on the floor, one in front of the ball, one by opening in the makeshift tent, and the other in the middle, all three books had more then enough room for everypony to gather around. Konton was the only pony still in his seat. He didn’t need to look at the books to guess that the middle one was open to the basic notes on finding and tapping the magic from the core of a unicorn’s being. The one by the ball was no doubt opened to the diagram of the energy patterns of the levitation spell. And the one by the tent was obviously open to the illumination spell page. “Come, join everypony Konton.” Cheerilee suggested. Konton knew he wasn’t going to even try to participate in the lesson. But has he took note that the teacher was an earth pony he knew that without magic Cheerilee wouldn’t know that he wasn’t even trying, so there would be no harm in putting on an act to humor his new teacher. He got up and joined the others by the middle book. Though he opted to stare through the book into space rather then read basic magic theory. “Good, since we don’t have anypony… more qualified, Snails, would you please demonstrate what you can?” Cheerilee asked. “Sure thing.” The oldest unicorn colt in the room said. Konton couldn’t help but think to himself that the colt’s accent sounded like he hailed from the general area of Vanhoover. A smile formed on Konton’s face as he thought I really am a wondering traveler, it never would’ve crossed my mind to guess the origin of an accent before I started moving around so much. Konton watched and wondered how he hadn’t noticed the unicorn with almost the same color scheme as himself before now. Although the green of Snails’ mane was a more faded, more natural shade of green then the bright neon green of Konton’s mane. Another moment of observation and he noticed that Snails’ cutie mark matched his name. Snails sat in the small tent that had been set up and with a few grunts and a bit of trying managed to illuminate his horn bright enough to be noticed in the shade of the darkened tent. “Tu da!” Snails happily announced once he had the spell up and running. “Well done Snails. As always since we don’t have a guest it would be wonderful if you could try to answer the others questions as best you can.” Cheerilee’s praise and request made the colt blush as he agreed and made his way over to the book open to the illumination spell. Where he sat next to a short unicorn who had a mostly gray coat with maybe a tint of green to it, an orange mane and scissors for a cutie mark. The rest of magic kindergarten went okay by Konton’s standards. Most of the fillies and colts only managed to get a few colored sparks of light from their horns. In the thirty minutes that the session lasted, the teacher had only forced him to pretend to try to cast something three times. The rest of the time he spent staring through the floor where one of the books sat. * * * * * * * It turned out that unicorns didn’t get recess on magic kindergarten days. But with only one more class it was lunch break so it wasn’t too bad in Konton’s mind. He found a nice lonely spot under the shade of a tree to sit down and get his lunch out. There wasn’t much mystery to the lunches his uncle prepared for him, but a new town usually meant something changed. If for no other reason that different ingredients were cheaper here then the last town they were in. Konton checked off the usual suspects in his mind as he spread his lunch out on a paper towel. Sandwich, check. Fruit, check. Apples seemed to be the local flavor. And juice, check. Apple juice, no less. His eyes fell on the apple orchard visible form the schoolyard. I’m going to be sick of apples by the time I get out of this town, aren’t I? His thoughts were interrupted by an orange pegasus filly sitting down beside him. “Hey.” Was all she said at first as she opened her own lunch bag and started taking out her lunch. All the while staring straight ahead, never looking at him. “Um… hey.” Konton managed to say before turning his attention back to his meal. “Look. I didn’t plan on saying ‘hi’ to you, so I’ll just be honest. I’m not really interested in making friends with some pony who’s just going to leave me and I’ll never see again, but Sweetie Belle thought you looked lonely over here and needed somepony to keep you company. And you know what? She’ right. Just because you’re only passing through town doesn’t mean you deserve to be all alone, so while I can’t promise I’ll be your friend, I’m willing to treat you like one anyway.” By now two more fillies had sit down beside him, a yellow earth pony and the while unicorn he was sure sat next to him in class. Konton noted their presence but couldn’t take his eyes off the pegasus that has spoken to him. “Um… thanks? I think.” He said, still trying to make sense of the strangest greeting he had ever been given. “First thing you should know: see those two jerks over there with cutie marks that match their names, those are Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon…” Knoton took a moment to find the fillies in question, and once he has spotted them, the pegasus continued. “…They’re the local bullies, but if you ignore them and don’t let them know they’re bugging you, they’ll keep the teasing to tolerable levels. And if that doesn’t work slug em.” “Hey!” The two other fillies objected together. “It kept them off our back just fine until you started telling me to stand down all the time.” The pegasus lamented, glaring right at the earth pony. “But Applejack says that ‘bullies that only use words ain’t worth get’n trouble over’.” The earth pony responded with a noticeable country accent. “Come on girls let’s not fight over this…” the unicorn said softly, instantly defusing the building tension between the other two fillies. The pegasus sighed and continued. “I know. I know. I promised not to get in fights so easy, but standing up for yourself should have a place somewhere… Anyway, see those two colts with the cameras? Try not to do anything dumb in front of them, they’re with the school paper. But if they do take an embarrassing picture of you talk to Featherweight, he’s the tan pegasus, he’s also the editor. He’s usually good about not running embarrassing stories. Worst case, he’s desperate for a story and will run the picture anyway but he’ll make sure your side of the story runs with it.” Konton spotted the tan pegasus and a blue earth pony sporting cameras on the far side of the schoolyard poking about, snapping the occasional picture of other students or passing animals. Once he had seen them the pegasus filly continued. “And you really shouldn’t give Miss Cheerilee such a hard time, she really is a good teacher and she really cares about all her students… guess that’s all I can think of. Oh, right! I’m Scootaloo.” She finally introduced herself. “Ah’m Apple Bloom.” The earth pony on the other side of Konton added in. “Sweetie Belle!” The unicorn chimed in. “Konton if you missed it earlier.” The four were almost done with their lunches when Sweetie Belle decided it was time to strike up a conversation. “So… why do you move so often?” “My uncle’s job. He upgrades the electrical systems of small towns. Does one, then it’s off to the next town to do the same.” “What about your parents?” Sweetie Belle’s question was innocent enough but the immediate reaction of Scootaloo and Apple Bloom (who cringed the instant Sweetie’s words hit their ears) made Sweetie’s tone change immediately to apology “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to…” Konton’s laughter interrupted Sweetie Belle’s apology. The looks he got from the others prompted him to share his funny thought “Sorry, am I really that easy to read?” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo traded looks before the pegasus answered. “Apple Bloom and I kinda have personal experience with parents that are never there for you.” “Oh? How so?” Konton’s wondered if these fillies might truly have a chance of understanding him. “Mah parents died when ah was just a foal.” Apple Bloom answered, fighting back a single tear in her eye. “I haven’t seen my mom in years, and dad’s too busy making sure we have a roof over our heads and food on the table to actually be there for me.” Scootaloo said, her gaze shifting inward hiding her feelings better then Apple Bloom, but clearly still hiding them. “Well I guess my story starts like Apple Bloom’s. My parents are dead, only it wasn’t that long ago. After that my story becomes that of Scootaloo’s, my uncle adopted me, he makes sure I have food and shelter, nothing more.” Konton added his story to the mix, genuinely happy that he had found anypony who could come close to understanding him. “You’re new in town right? So how about after school we give you a tour?” Scootaloo asked, clearly wanting to change the topic before something actually made her shed a tear in public. “But weren’t we go’n crusad’in after school?” Apple Bloom protested. “Don’t see why we can’t do both. We haven’t tried cutie mark crusader tour guides have we?” Konton felt like he had missed something important when the three fillies traded a look in their eyes. He knew he was missing something when the three chimed out in unison “Cutie mark crusader tour guides!” “I’m sorry. I know what a tour guide is but what’s a cutie mark crusader?” He had to ask. “It’s ah club dedicated to help’n ponies get their cutie marks!” Apple Bloom announced. With a raised eyebrow, Konton examined the flanks of the three fillies and sure enough their flanks lacked the mark of a pony’s special talent. Curiosity satisfied Konton was done with the topic, but a new arrival to the conversation was just getting started. “Speaking of cutie marks, you have a really cool one. So how would you like to come hang out with the cool ponies instead of these blank-flanked-babies?” The pink filly that had been identified as Diamond Tiara said, half taunting the crusaders, half tempting the colt with them. Konton took a moment to consider what to say in response, Scootaloo seemed to be shooting him a look to remember her warning. Ultimately he chose words similar to ones he had once heard from his dad and adapted them to this situation. “The first words out of your mouth, and you use them to insult other ponies, have you no shame? I’d rather be a blank flank then have the mark of a worthless talent like yours.” “Hey! You can’t say that to me! Besides you don’t even know what my talent is!” Diamond Tiara shot back. “I don’t have to. I can tell that the talent that earned that mark is as useless as mine.” Diamond Tiara was visibly shocked into silence, something about the absolute confidence in Konton’s voice and eyes struck her to the heart. Her mind was racing, she was use to going into a conversation with a clever plan and enough witty retorts at the edge of her mind to respond to anything that could be said back to her. But she had never had a pony insult them self to insult her before. “You’re wrong about Diamond Tiara, but I bet nopony knows you better then you. So if you think you’re worthless then who are we to argue?” Silver Spoon said, bailing out her friend. “Yeah who’d want to hang out with a self proclaimed loser like you anyway,” the pink filly said, breathing a sigh of relief at being able to salvage the bad situation, even if only lamely With that Diamond Tiara and her friend stomped off back to the rest of the schoolyard. Scootaloo was smiling for the first time that Konton had seen. “You were right Sweetie Belle, he is a nice pony. We just met and he’s already standing up for us. That makes him a good pony in my book.” * * * * * * * When School was over Konton Found himself riding in a red wagon with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom as Scootaloo pulled the wagon form her scooter. They rode through the streets of ponyville at a rapid pace, the rush of the wind coming off Scootaloo’s wings making it feel like they were going even faster then they actually were. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were doing their best to point out lesser points of interest as they raced by. “And our first stop is sugar cube corner!” Scootaloo announced as she slowed the group to a stop. On the outside the building looked like a life sized gingerbread house. On the inside Konton found a more normal looking bakery, filled with all kinds of pastries, and the sweet smell of sugar and dough filled the air. “Hello Mrs. Cake, is Pinkie Pie around?” Sweetie Belle asked the light blue earth pony mare with the two toned pink mane behind the counter. “Oh, hello Sweetie. I think so, why… oh you’re a new face.” Mrs. Cake said, adding the last part on seeing Konton. She smiled at him, then turned and yelled through the door to the kitchen “Pinkie Pie! There’s somepony new here to see you!” “Did you say somepony new?!” The sudden voice from behind made Konton jump in surprise, his eyes darting back and forth from the pink earth pony to the room around him. He was certain that nopony had been behind him when they entered the bakery and the only thing behind him to hide behind was the front door. But even that was open so wide it was against the wall, so there wasn’t enough room for a full grown pony like the pink mare now bouncing her way over to him, to hide behind it. “Oh you are new! I’m Pinkie Pie, who are you?” “Um, Konton.” He managed to say, still trying to figure out where she had come from. “Well ‘Um Konton’, I’m a little busy right now, but I’ll see you this evening with a proper welcome. Oh I know!” The pink mare called as she darted out of the room and into the kitchen. “Is she always that hyper?” Konton asked the crusaders in a low voice. “Not always but I try to be.” Pinkie answered as she bounced back into view with a plate of chocolate chip cookies balanced on her back. Konton’s eyes wide in confusion, he looked to the crusaders. The look in their eyes and the round of shrugs in response seemed to hint that he had missed some inside joke on the matter. Scootaloo leaned in close and whispered into his ear. “Don’t bother, I gave up trying to figure her out ages ago, trying just gave me headaches.” “Yeah, she’s just being Pinkie Pie.” Sweetie Belle said as if there was nothing unusual going on. Pinkie Pie bounced the plate of cookies so it landed on a nearby table. “Here you go, on me, or the table really. Or it was on me now it’s on the table? Oh whatever, dig in! Blow on them though they are that fresh out of the oven.” The young ponies gathered around and found the plate had four cookies on it, one for each of them. The chocolate chips still being molten proving Pinkie pie’s warning was a good one. As they sat waiting for the cookies to cool, Konton’s eye fell on Sweetie Belle. Wow, she’s cute. He thought, the though immediately prompting him to close his eyes and mentally slap himself across the side of his head. You idiot. You know you can’t think like that. I don’t get to have real friends or I’ll just rip my own heart out again when I have to move. He mentally rebuked himself. “Um… are you okay? You’re blushing.” Sweetie Belle asked. “Huh? Oh, yeah it’s nothing I just realized I did something silly.” “But you didn’t do anything.” “Just forget it.” Konton said, with a tone that made it clear he wanted to drop the subject. * * * * * * * The tour of town ended at sweet apple acres or more precisely the crusader’s clubhouse at sweet apple acres. Upon arrival at the clubhouse the three fillies immediately checked their flanks and sighed at the lack of any cutie marks. Apple Bloom looked to the sun and frowned. “Well, there’s plenty of time before dinner, but not enough to do what Ah wanted.” “We could always try zip-lining again.” Scootaloo suggested. “What’s with ya and zip-line’n? Don’t ya remember what happened the first time!” Apple Bloom said. “Besides didn’t we say we’d keep Konton company today? That kind of prevents us from crusades that need special equipment.” Sweetie Belle added. “Ya we don’t have enough harnesses for him to come too. Not that your first ones worked.” “Oh come on, I found a picture of a real zip-line harness so I know what went wrong last time. And I have a spare mountain climbing harness, it won’t take long to rig that one up too.” Scootaloo defended her idea. “Fine IF Konton want’s to try zip-line’n we’ll give it another try.” Apple Bloom said, as all eyes fell on the colt in question. Had he been older Konton might have wondered why a pegasus owned one mountain climbing harness let alone two, but as it was, his mind was captured by curiosity. He had never heard the term ‘zip-line’ before and despite the looks of warning coming from Apple Bloom he wanted to know what it was, so he agreed to give it a try. * * * * * * * It turned out that ‘zip-lining’ had something to do with suspending yourself from a rope with harnesses attached to pulleys. Konton was busy helping Scootaloo tie the end of the rope to the tree they were standing in. Disturbingly enough Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were busy tying pillows around themselves. “Are ya sure these pulleys will hold us? They look kind of cheap.” Apple Bloom voiced her concerns. “Yes.” And a glare from Scootaloo was the reply she got. The young pegasus was obviously annoyed by her friends clear lack of faith in her plan. She hopped down from Konton’s back and with his help pulled the last knot as tight as they could. “There, every thing’s ready.” A quick check that nopony’s lines were tangled was all the time Scootaloo gave before jumping off the starting platform. The harness line then yanked Apple Bloom off next, Sweetie Belle soon followed. The time it took for those two to get pulled off the platform was just enough to allow Konton to jump off on purpose as the pegasus had. The pulleys rolled freely on the suspension line. The wind rushed around them and a round of cheers called out as the four young ponies zipped down the line. With the wind in his mane and the trees zipping by it seemed natural to Konton to mimic the pose of the pegasus at the front of the pack, at least as much as he could without wings. He wondered if this was what it felt like to fly, and realized this was probably as close as he could come without taking up hang gliding. “Um… Scootaloo? How do we stop?” Apple Bloom asked, with a touch of fear in her voice, as all eyes were locked onto the tree that the other end of the zip line was tied to. “I don’t know… The picture didn’t show anything about needing brakes… Oh forget it! I got this!” Scootaloo said, seeing her mistake and flapping her wings to air brake just as she would for her scooter. To her credit Scootaloo stopped almost instantly. Then Apple Bloom slammed into her, she almost had the two of them stopped by the time Sweetie Belle was added to the zip line pile up. When Konton’s momentum was added to the pile up there just wasn’t enough room left between the ponies and the end of the zip line for her to work with. The impact wasn’t that bad to Konton. Which wasn’t all that surprising considering the pegasus and two pillow padded ponies between him and the tree. But he couldn’t help but feel bad for Scootaloo taking the brunt of the blow like that. “Is everypony okay?” Sweetie Belle moaned. A round of moans came in reply from all but one, “Scootaloo?” She asked, sounding worried. “I’ll live” The pegasus moaned weakly, hanging like a rag-doll in her harness. “No cutie marks I’m guessing.” She added with a weak laugh. “Do y’all hear something?” Apple Bloom asked, alerting everypony to a sound that seemed like twisting or bending wood. Everypony started looking for the source of the sound. Konton searched the tree to see if the sudden shifting of weight was getting to it. Scootaloo was the first to find the truth of the matter. “You know… I just remembered something. When I bought the rope. I only made sure it was strong enough to hold the three of us.” Four sets of eyes looked up, and the mystery of the strange sound was solved. With the four pulleys all gathered in the same place the rope was fraying under the weight. As if on queue the rope snapped and the four ponies fell, tumbling through the branches of the tree on the way down. Konton hit the ground first. Fortunately having just bounced off a branch only a few feet up the impact with the ground wasn’t too bad, even if it was more pain then Konton usually put himself through on any given day. Unfortunately, his mountain climbing harness tether guided Sweetie Belle right down onto his back, knocking the wind from his lungs. Gasping for air Konton dared a glance skyward. Seeing that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had fallen on opposite sides of the last branch, and were both suspended overhead by their tethers, he decided not to see if the branch would continue to hold them until he had caught his breath. After he had crawled the few feet needed to get out from underneath the two suspended fillies, Sweetie Belle seemed to realize just what she was sitting on. Hopping off him she apologized and helped him to his hooves. “I’m so sorry, are you alright?” “I shall never forgive gravity for dragging you onto my spine, but with you I have no qualm.” Konton groaned in response. “And they call me a dictionary.” Sweetie Belle chuckled in response. Konton raised an eyebrow to Sweetie response, wondering what unknown reference he was missing. Though speaking on a completely different topic, two voices overhead seemed to likely to be the ‘they’ in question. “Well would ya look at that, tree sap and pine needles.” “I know.” “Ya know ah blame you for this, right?” “I know.” “Then what are ya wait’n for? Get us down already!” Scootaloo hung her head in defeat for a moment, then used her wings to counter most of her weight and climbed up the tether line. As she ascended Apple Bloom was lowed until she was just above the ground when the pegasus reached the branch suspending them. Without friction to aid her the earth pony’s weight was too much and Scootaloo was flung over the top of the branch and yanked unceremoniously to the ground, barely missing her earth pony friend thanks to her wings altering the path of her fall. * * * * * * * The sun was getting low on the horizon and once more the young ponies were gathered into the red wagon being pulled by Scootaloo through the streets of ponyville. They were near the northeast edge of town heading to the house Konton had pointed out as the one his uncle was renting. “Thanks for the ride home.” Konton said. “Heh, It’s the least we owe you after dropping you out of a tree.” Scootaloo said sheepishly. “It’s okay. Today was the most fun I’ve had in years, so it was worth it.” By now Konton noticed that the three fillies were walking at his side up to the house, so he added “Umm dropping me out of a tree didn’t hurt that bad, I think I can make it to the door on my own.” “And miss the party? No way, no how.” Apple Bloom smiled. “Party? My uncle would never… throw… a party?” Konton’s voice trailed off as he noticed the sound of music and talking coming from the house. Scootaloo boldly pushed the front door open and stood aside, allowing Konton to look in. There was dance music playing, party balloons and streamers decorating the interior and confetti littering the floor. There was no denying that there was a party going on, though for the life of him he hadn’t a clue how or why. With the three crusaders standing beside the door holding a pose as if to usher him in Konton entered. “There’s the colt of the hour! Now we can really get this party started!” A beaming pink face greeted him seemingly from nowhere. Before he knew what happened a pink blur had left him spinning in the middle of the makeshift dance floor. “Everypony this is Konton! One of the two new ponies in town!” Said the pink mare that the colt was only now remembering as the one from the bakery. “When Pinkie Pie says she’s gonna throw ah party she means it.” Apple Bloom whispered, pausing for a moment before trotting her way to the snack table. “Oh wow! Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo exclaimed and darted into the crowd of party guests, coming to a stop beside a sky blue pegasus mare with a prismatic mane. Sweetie Belle smiled sweetly, giving Konton a nod and then also joined the party. As the evening went on Konton noticed Apple Bloom was the first of his acquaintances to leave, practically dragged from the party by an older mare with a strong family resemblance. Konton didn’t know the name of the pony with the cowpony hat but he did remember that Apple Bloom had called the older pony ‘sis’ while protesting having to leave, only to be reminded that tomorrow was a school day. Scootaloo was currently sitting by the snack table, munching some random treat, but Konton had noticed that she seemed genuinely disinterested in the party after Rainbow Dash had left. Fearing that she would soon leave too, he made his way over to her to thank her for making it such a good day. Scootaloo’s response was polite enough, though it also convinced him that the only reason she hadn’t gone home yet was that she was trying to prove she could stay up just as late as Sweetie Belle could. Sweetie Belle however, wasn’t trying to hide how tired she was. During the party she had introduced Konton to her older sister, and now it was clear that she was waiting for her older sister to finish so they could leave the party together. From the look of it that might not be for awhile, as Rarity seemed thoroughly entertained by the conversation she was having with another party guest, so he decided now was as good a time as any to pass his thanks along to Sweetie Belle. “Um, Sweetie Belle, I just wanted to thank you for making today so much fun for me.” “Oh, no problem. I’m glad you had fun.” The smile that came with Sweetie’s response seemed divine, even if it was accompanied by a yawn. “Oh. Since you’re here, could I ask you a question?” “Ask all you want. No promises I have an answer though.” Konton replied, with another line borrowed from his dad. “Hehe, okay, That’s your uncle over there right?” Sweetie asked, pointing to a yellow stallion with a gray mane. Konton nodded a yes and Sweetie continued. “He seems to be smiling a lot.” “Yeah, I haven’t seem him this happy in years.” “That’s just what I wanted to ask about, I’ve noticed that he’s been smiling all party. Except when he looks at you, then he always sighs and frowns for awhile. Why it that?” Konton needed a moment to decide if he was even going to answer that question. When he finally did he settled for a very simplified version of the truth. “That’s because he hates me.” “No he doesn’t. He adopted you, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t do that if he didn’t like you.” “It’s okay, you don’t need to make excuses for me. And he doesn’t exactly hide the fact that the only reason he adopted me is because he made a promise to his sister, my mom.” “Even so, I don’t think he would have made a promise like that if he didn’t like you a little too.” “Back then I bet he did, but accident or not, after what I did to him I deserve his hatred.” “Oh come on. I mess things up and make Rarity mad at me all the time but she still loves me. I know because she keeps putting up with me. What could you have done that’s so wrong that he’d stay mad at you?” “Sorry Sweetie Belle. As much as I like you that’s one question I won’t answer.” Konton said hanging his head in defeat and fearing that he had already said too much. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” Sweetie’s apology was without question sincere. “I know.” Konton said, as he walked away. He suddenly didn’t feel like staying at the party himself, so he left for his bedroom and the escape of sleep. Author's Note Okay here it is practice story number 2. Personally I don't think its as good as When Wings are Earned but that's probably because the idea here was to write for character types I'm not completely comfortable writing for. characters like Dash and Scoots, sure. Twilight and Sweetie Belle, okay... let's see what happens.
Chapter 2: Magic LessonsThe week that followed his first day had taught Konton many things. Among them was how boring the days when the crusaders didn’t invited him to join them for the day were compared to the days when they did. Konton had once given himself the title ‘traveler’ because he learned that, in his few short years, he had seen more of equestria then most ponies saw in their entire lives. But that was just the problem, all he had done was see places, not once had he ever stopped to realize what there was to do in the many towns and small cities he had seen. Now having only spent four days with the crusaders he’d already managed to ride a zip line, race scooters, play tennis, get chased off a tennis court, (through no fault of his own) build a sail boat, go swimming, and play mannequin for a dress maker. Though that last one seemed to be more along the line of repaying Sweetie Belle’s older sister for the fabric they took to make the sail for the boat then an actual crusading activity. “Come on Scootaloo! You’re just wana build the catapult now, to use him!” Apple Bloom’s voice came from the schoolyard ahead. “It’s not using him if he wants to help!” The pegasus yelled back. Only Sweetie Belle seemed to notice Konton walking up to the schoolhouse, and silently greeted him with a wave and a smile, replacing the frown she had from watching her friends argue. Sweetie’s actions didn’t go unnoticed, Apple Bloom turned to greet the colt as well. “Howdy Konton! Did ya hear what we’re talk’n about?” “From what I heard you are worrying too much that Scootaloo is just using me like a mercenary and not caring about me at all. However that’s the best way to treat me. I don’t want you to miss me or anything when I have to leave in a few months, so it’s better to think of me as a mere ally of the moment who you can walk away from without a second thought. In the end my uncle will finish his work here and I will have to walk away whether I want to or not. As for you Scootaloo, building a catapult sounds like fun so I’d be happy to help.” Konton spoke these words as much for himself as for the crusaders. And when he had finished Scootaloo was the only one smiling, having just been vindicated. “Ah hadn’t thought about that.” “I know, it’s okay. I’ve seen enough to know your life is more… permanent, no matter what happens in the end you always come home to that farm of yours. Even I made the mistake of making friends when I first moved in with my uncle, before I realized his job kept him moving all over. But I got real tiered of ripping my own heart out every time I had to leave them behind.” Now not even Scootaloo was smiling. “You don’t have to feel bad for me, I’m use to it now.” Konton added, knowing it was only half-true, but he didn’t want the crusaders to feel bad on his account. “Yeah… anyway I think I know where we can get most of the stuff to make a catapult.” Scootaloo said, trying to change the topic to something more cheerful. “Great! I’ll help anyway I can!” Konton seized the opportunity to change the topic. * * * * * * * Konton had forgotten that it was magic kindergarten day until Sweetie Belle had remained seated at recess time. He was settling back into his seat when Cheerilee spoke. “I have wonderful news, I was able to get a magic teacher in for you today.” As she finished there was a flash of light and when it faded a lavender unicorn mare with a purple mane was standing at the front of the class. “Twilight!” all the students except Konton greeted the unicorn that apparently needed no introduction. After formally introducing herself as Twilight Sparkle the mare proceeded to give a lecture on the basics of magic mixing in a multitude of spells to demonstrate everything from levitation to conjuring to illusion spells. She even took the time to explain teleportation, despite being an advanced spell nopony in the room but her could possibly comprehend. “Okay everypony line up, it looks like we have time for everypony to give one spell a try.” Twilight announced. All the students lined up in front of Twilight, while the elder unicorn herself summoned up two illusions of the diagrams for the levitation and illumination spells. When it was somepony’s turn they would point at one of the diagrams and Twilight would start casting that spell with an illusion spell wrapped on top of it so there was a complete diagram of the spell’s energy flow start to finish. They would try to duplicate the spell for a little bit, then get tiered and move aside so the next pony could try. When it was Konton’s turn he pointed at the illumination diagram and took his place under the makeshift tent. He curled his brow, closed his eyes and mimicked the physical strain he always saw from the other unicorns when they tried to cast the spell. However he didn’t even try to pull on the magics inside him let alone bend them into anything resembling a spell. When he opened his eyes, he frowned as he saw the look on Twilight’s face. She was a unicorn, and he knew that she knew he hadn’t even tried. But she said nothing as he walked back to his seat, so he breathed a sigh of relief. * * * * * * * Sweetie Belle noticed that Konton had been uneasy since magic kindergarten lessons and now that she considered him a friend she didn’t feel like she had to be shy around him anymore. With the last class of the day having just ended she saw her chance to ask him about it. “Um, Konton? Is something wrong?” “Probably.” “Anything we can do to help?” “Probably not.” Sweetie Belle shot a concerned look to her fellow crusaders and followed Konton out. Scootaloo just shrugged it off and led Apple Bloom off toward town. Sweetie Belle wondered why her pegasus friend was so keen on letting the colt keep his emotional distance when it seem so obvious to Sweetie that deep down inside he desperately wanted real friends. Sweetie Belle knew that feeling all too well, as it was the one she had felt before becoming friends with Scootaloo. Yet the same pegasus that had rescued her from that loneliness and despair was now turning a blind eye to it from Konton. Sweetie Belle promised herself to ask Scootaloo about that later, but right now she needed to find out what was bothering Konton. However, before she could question the colt further on the matter an interruption intervened. An interruption named Twilight Sparkle. “Hello Konton.” “Um… hello?” “Can I talk to you about your performance in magic class?” “Can I say ‘no’?” “Not really.” “Then I’m listening.” “I know you weren’t even trying in magic class, you know it, and since I told Cheerilee she knows it. And after talking to her on the matter, we decided that I should give you a few private magic lessons.” “Aww, I want private magic lessons.” Sweetie Belle interrupted. “Perfect! She wants your lessons, I don’t. Teacher her, bye!” Konton said quickly before starting to run off. “Or I could teach both of you.” Twilight suggested in a tone of voice that made it clear he wasn’t allowed to say no. “It was worth a shot.” Konton mutter before bowing his head and following the elder unicorn obediently, Sweetie Belle trotting happily at his side. “So much for the catapult.” He heard Scootaloo lament from where she and Apple Bloom were waiting. He mouthed a ‘sorry’ and tried to shrug a ‘nothing I can do about this’ back. His friends seemed to nod an ‘it’s okay’ back before heading off themselves. * * * * * * * Soon enough the three unicorns were at the town library, Sweetie Belle was now focused on the illusionary diagram of the illumination spell. She felt Twilight’s magic flowing through her nudging her own magic, trying to give it direction and focus. A small shower of green and purple sparks were coming out of Sweetie’s horn, “I can’t finish the spell for you, you need to complete it yourself or sparks is all you’ll get.” The master said. The filly nodded, groaned under the mental strain and tried to get the magics flowing inside her horn to match the diagram perfectly. “There you go, that’s the right direction.” Twilight said as a faint green glow appeared around the younger unicorn’s horn. The purple glow of her own horn faded and the sparks from Sweetie’s turned pure green when Twilight withdrew her help but a reassuring smile was all Sweetie Belle needed to continue on her own. Content that her first, and more importantly cooperative, student would be busy for a while Twilight turned her attention to the colt sitting off to the side. “Konton, was it? Care to tell me why you won’t even try to learn magic?” “I don’t do magic.” “Don’t? As in, can but won’t?” she asked eyeing the colt’s cutie mark. “I don’t do magic.” He repeated. “Why not?” “Because I don’t want to.” “You don’t want to learn magic…” Twilight muttered, clearly stunned by the response. “But you’re a unicorn. Using magic is part of our nature. It’s part of who we are!” Twilight was still trying to grasp the concept of a unicorn that didn’t want to use magic. In all her years even the unicorns with the weakest magic still liked the magic they could wield. She opened her mouth to try another way to convince the colt but was cut off by a squeaky voice. “Umm… Twilight I think I messed something up.” A glance in Sweetie Belle’s direction showed a small fire had started just in front of the filly. A purple glow surrounded Twilight’s horn and a stream of water encased in a similar glow came flowing out of the kitchen levitating its way to the small fire and dousing it. “Let me guess, your first time you accidentally burned the house down.” Twilight concluded. “No! Maybe! I don’t know.” Konton immediately denied before correcting himself unprompted. Twilight noticed that the colt’s eyes were darting between herself and Sweetie Belle and realized there was something that he didn’t want to say in the presence of his friend and yet he didn’t seem to want to lie in the presence of his friend either. “It’s okay, we all make mistakes.” Twilight said, hoping to coax more information out of the colt. “Yeah it’s not your fault you didn’t have somepony like Twilight around to fix your mistake,” Sweetie Belle added, blushing as she motioned to the scorch mark on the library floor. “You’re not going to leave me alone until I show you why I hate my magic, are you?” Konton sighed. Twilight nodded to confirm his suspicions. “Fine, but not here,” he conceded. * * * * * * * “Are you sure you’re not just leading us on a long walk?” Twilight inquired, as they had been walking so long they had reached the edged of town. “Fine I guess that will do,” Konton said, pointing to a small hill just beyond what seemed to be the last house in this direction. “Stay back if you want to live,” he added matter-of-factly as they past the house. The colt’s warning made Twilight and Sweetie freeze in their tracks and trade nervous glances as Konton continued his way up the hill. Once atop he surveyed the hill. It wasn’t very high, only ten feet or so at its peak and maybe only twenty yards or so wide abut it would have to do. He frowned at the house that was much closer then he would have preferred, “If anything happens to that house you’re not blaming me for it!” he shouted to the two unicorns standing next to it. “Fine, just show me your magic already!” Twilight shouted back. With one last look around, Konton was satisfied that nopony was in range and with only two witnesses he could show Twilight what she needed to see to get her to leave him alone. Spying a few rocks at his hooves, he took a deep breath and pulled at the magic inside, making it flow. Twilight had pushed Sweetie Belle up against the house and stood beside, her pinning the filly in most protected way possible to observe the demonstration. As Sweetie looked on from her place of relative safety, she saw a bright green glow surround Konton’s horn and an identical glow envelop several rocks, pulling them up to levitate near the colt. “Wow he’s good!” Sweetie Belle said. “Yes, though I still don’t see what that warning was about.” Twilight pondered aloud. Soon Sweetie Belle noticed something was wrong and the tensing muscles she felt in the elder unicorn pinning her to the house proved Twilight saw it too. Konton’s eyes darted about in a panic as more and more rocks and random clumps of dirt were caught up in the colt’s levitation spell. The glow around his horn was growing brighter as a pained look appeared on his face. Konton gave a small cry and the green magic glow suddenly surrounded his whole body, covering his eyes in light, lifting him off the ground and random blasts of magic came shooting out of the field surrounding him. Random spots on the ground were bursting into flames or freezing under a sheet of ice. An arc of lightning dug a small trench not far from Sweetie and Twilight. The filly’s view of the destruction was suddenly tinted purple as the elder unicorn cast a shield spell around the two of them, restoring a feeling of safety to the filly. “Is-is that? Eep!” Sweetie Belle started to ask only to cut herself off when a small blast of fire struck nearby. “A magic storm like what happened to me at my entrance exam? Yes. Only I was firing off random arcane spells, he however, seems more attuned to fire off random elemental spells.” Twilight anticipated and answered Sweetie’s unfinished question. A thorny vine spring up near the contorting form of Konton, only for the plant to be frozen, then shattered by a lightning blast, only to have the ground underneath it turn to lava, incinerating any last trace of the vine. “Okay, enough is enough.” Twilight declared. “What are you doing?” Sweetie’s voice squeaked as Twilight stepped away. “I’m putting a stop to this before somepony gets hurt. Now stay back” The purple unicorn answered as she carefully split the shield spell into two spheres. Sweetie Belle watched as Twilight started up the hill, pushing against the wild magics emanating from the colt at the top. A stray fireball brought Twilight to her knees. Her horn flared to life as she strengthened her shield spell and pressed on, but the closer she got the more powerful the random blasts of magic became. She had made it half way up the hill when a miniature twister pinned her down long enough for a lightning bolt to cut away her shield. Exposed, the winds sent Twilight tumbling to the base of the hill. Twilight panicked for a moment when she realized she had landed near were Sweetie Belle should’ve been but wasn’t. Her panic faded a second later when she spotted that the filly had retreated and put the whole house between herself and the rampant magics atop the hill. Twilight recast her shield spell and prepared to make another attempt at reaching Konton to quell the magic storm coming from him. But as she turned to face the hill the colt gave a short cry and the magic aura around him collapsed, forming a sphere of green light so bright that it obscured him, the light then exploded in spectacular fashion. When the light from the final blast had faded the hill was gone and in its place was a crater almost as deep as the hill had been high. The crater itself had a wide array of elemental blast marks, making the crater seem as if a full-scale unicorn war had been fought there. In the center of it all, lying motionless amid the destruction, was Konton. “Is he alright?” Sweetie asked, as she crept up to the edge of the crater and saw her friend. A magenta glow surrounded the colt and as he floated up toward Twilight she breathed a sigh of relief, “I can feel him breathing on his own. It’s most likely that he’s just suffering from magic fatigue.” “Magic fatigue?” “As unicorns magic is a part of us, and just like anypony who depletes their body of energy will pass out from fatigue any unicorn that depletes themselves of their magic will pass out from magic fatigue. All he needs is some rest and he’ll be fine,” Twilight said as she placed the unconscious colt on her back. Twilight’s eye turned to the crater and the surrounding area. Aside from a shattered window on the house the bulk of the destruction was limited to the giant hole in the ground. The gears turning in the purple unicorn’s head and she called out, “Rainbow Dash!” as she began to fix the broken window with her magic. Sweetie Belle was still trying to figure out how Rainbow Dash had anything to do with the situation when the pegasus showed up. “Wow Twilight! That’s pretty impressive, but why would you blow a hole in the ground?” “First off, it was an accident. Second I didn’t. Finally while I can fix a window or two easily enough conjuring up an entire hill is a bit beyond me, so I was hoping you could get some rain clouds and fill this in. With any luck if anypony owns this land they won’t mind having a pond instead of a hill.” “Heh, sure thing Twilight, there’s plenty of lakes in Ponyville I’m sure nopony will notice one more,” Rainbow Dash said chuckling, trying to keep a straight face. In a flash the pegasus disappeared only to return a few seconds latter with a rain cloud. With the situation effectively handled Twilight turned to take Konton to a more appropriate place to rest. Though nothing been said to her Sweetie Belle felt compelled to follow. * * * * * * * When Konton opened his eyes all he saw was a wall of fabric before them. A slight stretching of his limbs told him he was lying on a bed that felt way to different to be his own and that he must had had a fitful night’s sleep as he had wrapped himself up in the sheets. “Twilight, I think he’s waking up,” an unfamiliar voice said, sounding like it belonged to a young male speaker. “Thank you spike, Spike,” Twilight responded in a low voice, with the sound of her hoof-steps signaling that she had entered the room. Konton couldn’t remember exactly were he had heard it but he did recall being told that the assistant librarian was a baby dragon named ‘Spike’ and with Twilight’s words it was a safe bet that the previous speaker was said dragon. The pause that followed Twilight’s words soon made it clear that she didn’t want to rouse Konton before he was ready to admit being awake. The colt shifted slightly and broke the silence from within his fabric cocoon, “Now that you’ve seen why I don’t do magic, will you leave me alone?” “If anything isn’t the fact that your magic storms are dangerous all the more reason to teach you to control your magic properly?” “Magic storms? They have a name?” “Not really, unicorns who accidentally release all their magic at once in an uncontrolled fashion are so rare that there is no technical name for the phenomena. That’s just what I chose to call it after it happened to me.” Even through Konton was still wrapped in the bed sheets Twilight could see his ears perk up so she continued. “That’s right, when I was your age I was enrolled in Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns. During my entrance exam there was an explosion outside and the magic flowing off that blast made me lose control of my own magic. And even though I was only shooting off arcane spells to vent the magic I still managed to do quite the number on the exam room. Hmm, I wonder if my magic storm would have ended the same way if Celestia hadn’t stopped me, a blast like that… oh… would have killed the examiners… Spike… my parents.” The increasing dread in Twilight’s voice told Konton that she was slowly guessing the truth, and that now was the time to drive home his point of view. “Now do you see why I hate my magic?” He growled, “I just wanted to help and I killed them. I killed them, I destroyed everything good in my life with one mistake! EVERY THING!” Konton shouted, as he ripped off the covers to show Twilight the pain and rage she made him feel forcing him to relive the memories of this topic. His plan backfired. The look of anger and sorrow on Konton’s face was immediately replaced with a look of horror when he found a set of sad emerald eyes waiting for him beyond the bed sheet’s vale. “Sw-Sweetie Belle. How…” the Colt’s mind was racing to answer his question even as he stumbled over the words to ask it. He had only heard the sound of Twilight’s hoof-steps and that meant there was only one logical explanation. “She hasn’t left your side, not since I pulled you out of that crater you made yesterday,” Twilight answered, noting the colt’s eyes darting back and forth between herself and Sweetie in panicked confusion. If Konton’s heart was still beating he couldn’t feel it. He had blown it, in every town he had ever been in the moment his classmates had learned of the accident that killed his parents he had always been ostracized as ‘killer’, ‘murderer’ or ‘monster’. And now of all the ponies, one of the few in this town who’s opinion of him actually matter to him had just heard the horrible truth. All he could do was to smash his face in to the mattress and whimper, “Please, don’t hate me.” When Sweetie Belle responded it wasn’t with words. Konton felt an unsteady pair of small hooves reach around him, pull him to the edge of the bed and into the kindest hug he had felt in years. A long silent moment passed before she spoke, “It wasn’t your fault. You said yourself that you only wanted to help. It was an accident. A really bad, really serious accident, but still an accident.” When Sweetie had finished speaking, Konton allowed himself the courage to looked up and found Twilight was now by his side too. “And I’ll teach you to control your magic so an accident like that never happens again. Okay?” the elder unicorn said joining the filly in consoling the colt. “Will you keep this a secret? Please?” Konton begged. “Of course,” Twilight and Spike said together “I’ll try,” Sweetie Belle said. “Try?” Konton practically whimpered, his eyes begging for elaboration. “Scootaloo said I need practice keeping secrets because I volunteer too much information sometimes. But I’ll try.” “I’m doomed aren’t I?” Konton lamented, slamming his face back into the mattress. “Well, you should probably go be ‘doomed’ at school, it’s still early enough that if you two hurry, you might make it to class on time.” Twilight took the opportunity of the sudden levity of the moment to suggest. * * * * * * * So far so good, Konton thought to himself. School was almost over and so far Sweetie Belle seemed to be keeping his secret just fine. The only thing that worried him was that during lunch he had spotted Twilight Sparkle speaking with Cheerilee and from the reaction on the schoolteacher’s face it wasn’t hard to guess what the topic had been. The bell finally rang and young ponies made the dash for the freedom offered by the afternoon. With the initial rush out of the way Konton joined the crusaders in heading out as well. They had piled into the red wagon and Scootaloo was about to whisk them off into the afternoon’s activities when they were stopped by a certain purple unicorn, “Hold up a sec. I need to borrow Konton for a while.” “Twilight, why are you here? What are you talking about?” Konton asked, while hopping out of the wagon. “Come now, Konton. You of all ponies should know that. I spoke with Cheerilee about your magic. She’ll be excusing you from magic kindergarten from now on since I’ll be tutoring you myself after class. Come on, I’ve already found the perfect practice area for us.” “Every day?” “All things considered I’d think it best if we tackled your problem as quickly as possible. Don’t you?” Konton could appreciate Twilight’s attempts to be subtle around the crusaders and he didn’t want to continue this conversation any longer in the presence of his friends so he conceded, “Sorry, guess I’ll be busy until the weekend.” “You’re just trying to stop us from making that catapult aren’t you?” Sweetie Belle complained. “Wait? You’re doing what now?” Twilight asked. “Nothing!” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom insisted together. “Making a catapult. And we needed his help to setup the frame.” Sweetie Belle said at the same time. “Well it wasn’t on my to do list before, but I’ll defiantly make sure AJ knows what you three are up to, now.” Twilight concluded. Sweetie hung her head in embarrassment, under the disapproving glare of her two best friends as Scootaloo finally put her wings into her scooter and speed them off. “I’m soo dead,” Konton lamented. Twilight laughed before leading him off in a different direction. * * * * * * * Turned out that Twilight’s ‘perfect practice area’ was an abandon quarry about a half-hours hike from town. Konton certainly saw her reasoning. Not a soul in sight, far enough from town that no one would see them, and desolate enough that adding a few more holes in the ground might go unnoticed. “Okay here’s the plan. That runic circle is for a stabilization spell. I’ll be fueling it from over here, you know, just in case. But that shouldn’t be necessary, you see that’s the same spell Princess Celestia used to help me practice, and I don’t ever recall losing control of my magic when I had that help. So you will start with a quick levitation spell and as soon as its up and running then you’ll shut down flow of magic as quick as you can. Just a quick on-off, got it?” “Got it,” Konton nodded as he walked over to the circle, with a quick dash Twilight had ducked behind a bolder that was more then out of range of any potential magic storm. Once Twilight poked her head out from her safe spot her horn flared to life and so did the circle at the colt’s hooves. He could feel Twilight’s magic in the air around him and more importantly in him. A calming feeling flowed from the spell at his hooves, and coursed through him all the way to the tip of his horn. Twilight gave him a nod as if to let him know that everything was ready. As much as he wanted to just bask in the unnatural calm of the elder unicorn’s spell Konton nodded back and spied a small stone to start the lesson with. He forced a little magic into his horn and targeted the rock, the moment it was surrounded in the green glow of his magic he gave it a tiny nudge. The rock popped upward and Konton immediately turned his attention away from the stone. And focused on shutting down the flow of magic from inside him. The rock fell to the ground but the colt’s horn continued to glow. Not even trying to vent the magic building up in his horn the light quickly spread around his whole body as he tried desperately to block the flow of magic inside him. But to no avail, even with the help of Twilight’s spell allowing even the tiniest amount of magic out had once more opened floodgates that he couldn’t hold back, and Konton didn’t even try to. He had failed and he knew it, failing to see the point in struggling against it he simply accelerated the magic storm by containing as much of the magic as he could in his horn until he couldn’t take the pain anymore. After only a few escaped elemental spells, he saw the massive flash of green light around him as all the magic in him escaped all at once and then he passed out. * * * * * * * A pegasus stallion landed in the plaza, looking about for the target of his mission. His royal guard armor catching the eye of many a passerby. Not surprising considering that the royal guard didn’t usually have business in Ponyvile. He made his way over to the one landmark in this backwater town that was the reason for his presence here, the library. The one thing that nopony had bothered to clarify was what the building was considered these days. Was it still a public building? Or was it a privet residence now that Princess Celestia had decreed that her star pupil be permanently lodged here. The sign looked relatively new and read ‘Twilight’s Library’ which didn’t help settle the matter at all. Ultimately the guard settled for knocking on the door and was soon greeted by a small purple dragon. “I was told Miss Sparkle could be found here.” He said. The young dragon seemed accustom to dealing with royal guards and motioned for the stallion to enter while calling down the unicorn in question. When she arrived the guard stated his reason for being here, “Miss Sparkle. I’m here regarding you’re request of the Canterlot archives.” “Oh good, Spike you tend the library. Come up to my study sir.” With that Twilight turned and headed back up the stairs, while the dragon returned to a bucket of water and a scrub brush were he seemed to be trying to scrub out a scorch mark on the floor. The royal guard quickly followed Twilight to the upper room. Once the door was closed behind them he asked, “I trust you know the protocol regarding books from the restricted section of the archives?” his eyes fixing on a sleeping colt on a nearby bed. “Oh, him. Magic fatigue, he probably won’t wake up until tomorrow.” The stallion released the latch on his saddlebag. A purple glow surrounded the tome that was inside. Technically it was none of his business what the princesses prized student was reading but the guard let curiosity to get the better of him and looked at the title as if floated out of his saddlebag. “Cutie Mark Chronicles?” He mused aloud, truly wondering why such a book would have come from the restricted archive. Twilight set the book on her desk and opened it to the table of contents. “I thought the same thing when I first found it in the restricted archive. In fact there’s a publicly available version of this book, I even have it here in this library. It wasn’t until I came here to Ponyville that I finally realized why the full version of the book is restricted.” “And why is that?” Twilight flipped the pages to the back half of the book and let the pages open to a set of cutie marks that depicted glass bottles with varying skulls, bones or other sinister imagery. A glance to the top of the page revealed the section as ‘poison maker’ cutie marks. “You see there are three girls in this town that are searching for their cutie marks. It wasn’t until I met them that I realized why it might be a good idea to not inspire reckless little fillies and colts like them to try to earn a mark that has no useful purpose in society. Even if a pony’s true talent was poison making it’s far better to make them wait a while and learn to branch out and earn a general chemistry cutie mark or something.” “Yeah I can see that.” The guard agreed, then looking over to the colt on the bed, “I take it he’s the reason I’m here?” “Yes, in addition to the marks that one might consider ‘bad’ the full version of this book also includes…” Twilight flipped the pages to let the book finish her sentence as she opened it to the last section titled ‘unknown cutie marks.’ The royal guard’s eyes darted back to the sleeping colt, taking note of the unusual cutie mark on the foal’s flank. “Ah ha! Here it is, I thought I remembered seeing it in here years ago.” Twilight exclaimed as quietly as her excitement allowed. The guard took note, and while the mark in the colt had white and black fireballs orbiting a green lightning bolt the one in the book had black and white shooting stars orbiting a green lightning bolt. Seeing as even common cutie marks varied it was easy to see the two as variants of the same talent. Seeing as her guest had expressed an interest in the topic Twilight couldn’t help but read the companion entry for the mark aloud, “Unknown mark #37. Research note #1: 300 years since Nightmare Moon’s banishment, I came across a unicorn with this mark, she clamed she didn’t understand its true meaning but that it had appeared the day she first learned, and lost control of, magic. –Celestia” “Research note #2: While I have my suspicions as to the mark’s true nature I don’t have enough to say for sure. I wish I had had more time to look into the matter, however while traveling with the mare she saw fit to use her magic to defend us from mountain lions. The resulting explosion not only scared off the beats and injured me but wound up triggering an avalanche and while seemingly immune to the immense destruction of her own magic that protection didn’t spill over to being crushed by said avalanche. –Celestia… Oh my…” Twilight breathed the last bit, solemnly lowing her head in respect for the pony lost long ago. To the suddenly somber mood in the room Twilight closed the book and returned it to the guard’s saddlebag, “Thank you, you can take it back now.” Was all she managed to say. “So it’s a mark of uncontrollable magic?” He asked at a whisper. “I don’t think so. Knowing Celestia if that’s what she thought she would have put that conclusion in her notes. Besides I refuse to believe that any magic is truly uncontrollable, though I will definitely keep him away from the base of any cliffs.” Twilight whispered with a smile, trying to lighten the mood a little. “Good luck then.” The royal guard said, double checking the tome and securing the strap of his saddlebag. With his task complete he departed. * * * * * * * Cheerilee was setting up a party she was planning for that evening at school for some local celebration, Konton hadn’t really been paying attention when the reason for the party was given. He plugged the wire he had in his mouth into the control box and began moving the speaker it was attached to into place. While trying to slide the speaker into the perfect place for the stage his focus was interrupted. “Konton. Can I ask you something?” Sweetie Belle asked. He looked up mildly startled out of his state of focus setting up random equipment. Why was Sweetie asking that? Was this a conversation between equals or was this a request from the one pony in school that was keeping his secret? He decided to test her and find out which. “If I can ask you something first,” He asked, while resuming setting up the audio equipment. “Um okay.” Sweetie squeaked as she answered. “I’ve noticed Scootaloo practically spies on Rainbow Dash but she seems so content to let me keep my secrets. Why is that?” “That kind of has more to do with Rainbow Dash, Scoot Idolizes her. I doubt there’s anything she doesn’t know about Dash.” “That explains the Dash, but why so respectful toward my secrets?” “Probably because she has plenty of them herself.” “Oh? How so?” Konton asked, moving on to fixing the haphazardly arranged lights somepony has set up over the DJ’s booth. “Well I’ve never been in her house, forget her room. Heh though given the way she decorates her corner of the clubhouse I bet it’s all wonderbolt posters and Rainbow Dash themed arts and crafts. Anyway whenever Apple Bloom or I ask why she never invites us over to her place she just says, ‘there’s stuff there she’s not allowed to show us’ and to ‘just leave it alone.’ So she don’t really hide the fact that she’s keeping secrets from us but she insists they aren’t hers to give away.” “Do you believe her?” “Yeah, she seems kind of sad that she has to keep secrets from me and Apple Bloom when that sort of thing comes up. So yeah I do.” Sweetie Belle’s answers seemed honest enough, so Konton ended his test while subtly blowing a puff of air into the microphone to test it. “Okay you said you had a question, so ask away.” Sweetie hesitated for a moment, her eyes making it clear she had briefly forgotten her question. “Oh! Right, I wanted to know if you were coming to the party this afternoon?” Konton stopped rearranging the colored filters on the stage lights and blinked, confused by the question. “I would think you of all ponies would already know that I can’t come.” “Why not? Wait, why should I know that?” “It’s a weekday, Twilight always makes me do magic practice after school on weekdays, and we both know what happens when I do that. So I’m betting I’ll be out cold at my place or the library this evening, wherever Twilight decides to drop me off after the lesson.” “Oh… Wait Twilight’s still taking you back to the library?” “Yeah I think she managed to talk to my uncle and realized that he doesn’t exactly like me. So I Think she likes to take me back to the library whenever she knows Spike will be there to look after me, since he actually seems to care about me more then my uncle,” Konton explained. As far as he could tell there wasn’t any electronic equipment left to set up for the party so he just stepped back and waited for Sweetie to release him from the conversation. “Oh, um, I guess we’ll see you on the weekend and do some crusading, or something,” was her response once she realized that explanation was over, and her voice was filled with disappointment. Then the filly just hunger her head and started to walk off, the look on her face making it clear she wanted to say something more but seemed to think it was now moot. Then a loud voice caught both foals attention, “Hey!” A quick glance showed that the voice wasn’t directed at them but their teacher. “Oh, hello Vinyl, thank you again for volunteering to DJ for us tonight.” “Hey, no prob. I just wanted to thank you for setting up my stuff. You usually make me set it up myself.” Mrs. Cheerilee seemed surprised by the news as her eyes darted to the set up audio equipment. “That’s odd, I didn’t tell anypony to set that up.” “Well whoever did it they did an awesome job, so thanks for saving me the trouble.” The shades clad unicorn complemented. “Wait you set all that up without permission?” Sweetie whispered. “Apparently, don’t suppose you can keep that secret too?” Konton whispered back. Sweetie Belle nodded and the two slipped away unnoticed. * * * * * * * Konton looked out at the abandoned quarry, it now had so many craters that anypony who saw it would be convinced a major war just took place here. His earlier conversation with Sweetie Belle was still fresh in his mind. The more he thought about it the more he realized how his life had become a blur. And as much as the allure of finally learning to control his magic enticed him, he decided it just wasn’t worth the price anymore. “Umm Twilight, Can this be our last magic lesson?” he asked, a hit of pleading in his tone. “If we ever figure this out any lesson could be our last…” Twilight said matter-of-factish before picking up on the colt’s tone “…Wait is something wrong?” “It’s just that I’ve spent the better part of a month knocked out thanks to these lessons. I don’t want to just wake up go to school, go to magic lessons, and then spend the rest of the day knocked out until it’s time to do it all over again. It’s like the weekend is the only time I’m free to have any fun! I don’t care if I never get to use magic like a normal unicorn, I just want my life back!” Konton’s lament gave Twilight pause. “I’m sorry, I… With how little of my time this takes from me, I guess I got so caught up in trying to figure this out that I didn’t stop to think how much of your time this was taking away from you.” With an apologetic smile the purple unicorn added, “I can’t promise that our next lesson will be our last but you’re right, it’s long past time I called in some help on this.” With that Twilight Sparkle turned around and began heading home. “Were are you going?” Konton asked, confused. “I’m not going to rob you of any more of your time, not until I have the help I need to hopefully make it work this time. Today’s lesson is canceled.” “Really?” Konton asked in disbelief. “Really” Twilight confirmed. The young unicorn was so happily surprised by this outcome that he almost forgot to thank this magic teacher before bolting off to town. He had a party to attend.
Chapter 3: Lessons from a PrincessIt had been a week since Twilight had stopped Showing up to bring Konton to magic lessons after school and he was quite glade to have some time to himself again. He was even sporting a bandage on his front left leg that he had acquired on his latest attempt to help the crusaders, all of whom were sporting a similar array of bandages. Magic lessons had completely slipped his mind as the group came out of class to find the purple unicorn waiting for one of them. “Sorry it took so long but that help I mentioned finally has an opening in her schedule to help us out today.” Konton breathed a deep sigh, “Guess I have magic lessons again. See you tomorrow.” As much as he didn’t want to go, this wasn’t about him or even Twilight, seeing as she had gotten somepony to help it and it would have been rude of him to be a no-show, so he dutifully followed the elder unicorn away from his friends. When they arrived at the quarry Twilight explained they might have to wait a bit for the help to arrive. Konton took the time to look over the field. It was just as crater blasted as before and a hint of guilt clawed at his heart knowing that day after day he had single-hoofedly turned the abandon quarry into a chaotic war zone remnant. Thankfully he didn’t have to wait long before a flash of light and a sound he recognized as a teliportation spell drew his attention skyward. The colt’s eye went wide in surprise as he realized that Twilight’s ‘help’ was none other then Princess Celestia herself. “Hello, my faithful student and hello my little pony. You must be Konton,” the regal alicorn greeted the two unicorns. Konton was too mesmerized by the princess’ flowing ethereal multi-color mane to respond with anything other then a slight nod of his head. “Yes I see the resemblance,” Celestia commented, while looking at the colt’s cutie mark. “Your notes said you think you know what it means. Do you think that might help us teach him to control his magic?” Twilight asked. “I have a theory, yes. Though there is only one way to find out.” Celestia forced a smile though an otherwise grim expression. Somehow that sad, almost pitying look from the princess’ eyes was just what Konton needed to snap himself out of his awestruck dazed state. She hadn’t even tossed a glance at the field of craters behind her and somehow he knew the alacorn princess understood his problem better then anypony he’d met before. “What do you need me to do?” Konton asked, suddenly hopeful that this time would be different. Celestia looked at the crater-covered quarry for the first time, “this will do. First I will need you to begin one of your magic storms, then restrain it as long as you can. Leave the rest to me and Twilight Sparkle.” Turning to the purple unicorn she added, “I will need you to follow my magic into his. I may need your help to shut down his magic.” Twilight momentarily forgot the gravity of this situation and gave a joyful hop “Does that mean?” “Yes, It’s long past time I taught you the spell I used to shut down your magic storm all those years ago.” Celestia laughed at her student’s conduct. In a serious she turned to the colt and added, “Whenever you’re ready Konton.” “While you’re right next to me?” “Both Twilight and I can teliport away if it gets too dangerous.” Konton summoned a small amount of magic into his horn and used it to give a slight telekinetic nudge to a stone. That’s all it took to open the floodgates of his magic and the colt didn’t bother giving it a release, no random spells to vent it. He just let the magic build up inside, knowing it would overpower his will in a second or two and release itself as a magic storm. The inevitable happened, the glow around his horn got brighter and spread over his body. In a blink his sight was obscured by the powerful green light over his eye. The pain of his own magic escaping him against his will washed over the colt and he began fighting to vent or contain the torrent of magic flowing out of him, whatever it took to keep the storm going. The white wing of Celestia pressed down on Twilight’s back, the regal pony’s hoof pressed against Konton’s side and Twilight felt the pull of Celestia’s magic so she used her own to follow it. Everything went white, then black. Stars joined Twilight Sparkle in the void and soon she noticed a green haze around the edges of her vision. This place felt both familiar and alien all at once and Twilight knew why. Where she now stood was a spirit plane but the last time she had been here was years ago and it had been her own. But this time it was the core of Konton’s essence not her own. “Oh my.” Celestia’s whisper drew Twilight’s attention to the alacorn beside her. “What’s wrong?” Twilight gasped, startled by the princess’ tone, yet relieved to find her mentor at her side. “Interesting, it is as I feared. And yet I wasn’t expecting to find this.” Celsetia gestured out toward the only other things in the star field. Konton stood between two gates. One gate was silver and spewing forth a torrent of white energy. The other gate was made of obsidian and a similar torrent of black energy flowed from it. The colt stood between them hoofs outstretched trying to block the flows like a foal trying to push against a fire-hose. And getting about the same success, as the two streams of magic washed around him they merged and became green lightning where they met. “How can he have two spirit gates?” Twilight asked. “Be it one or many the form his gate takes isn’t really important it’s only a manifestation of how he views his own magic.” “If that’s not the problem what is?” “Can’t you feel it Twilight? You’ve faced this kind of magic before.” “I have?” Twilight pondered the idea for a moment. Of course she had felt Konton’s magic before, almost every day for the better part of a month. But now here next to its source without all the elemental manifestation of that magic in the way she could feel something more, its true uncontrollable essence, “Discord…” “That’s right, the child wields chaos magic.” With a heavy sigh Celsetia added, “Time may be distorted in here but we can not afford to delay much longer. Help him contain his light, I will face his darkness.” A large golden disc appeared over Celestia emblazoned with the sun. The sun in the center split in two and slid open, disappearing into the frame. Once open, a stream of pure golden light flowed out and followed its master as the alicorn charged to Konton’s side, where the stream of Celestia’s magic split in two and smashed against the twin streams from the colt. Twilight Sparkle summoned her own magic, taking a moment to glance over her shoulder to see her own spirit gate appear. When it did, she couldn’t help but smile, Celestia was right, because she knew for a fact that this wasn’t the same dull stone gate that had vexed her all those years ago in the exam room. Twilight’s new spirit gate was vibrant with color. The double doors were now purple with amethyst gems in the form of her cutie mark. The frame was made of five distinct colors, yellow, orange, blue, white and pink and in the center of each section were the cutie marks of her five best friends all highlighted as if they were the cornerstones holding the gate together. Yes, that’s definitely how I feel about the magic born of friendship. The doors of her gate swung open, a stream of purple energy flowed out and Twilight charged forward to join her mentor. Celestia had only held back both torrents for a second by the time Twilight’s magic slammed into the stream of white magic from Konton’s silver gate. With the silver gate taken care of Celestia brought the full force of her magic down on the obsidian gate, forcing the dark stream of magic back beyond the gate. “C-Celestia! Twilight!” Konton exclaimed, noticing that he had guests in his spirit plane for the first time. “Konton help us close the gates!” Celestia commanded. He nodded and ran to Twilight’s side, throwing his hooves against a silver door. While he only pushed against one, both of the silver doors began to close and the doors of the obsidian gate did likewise. As the opening narrowed Twilight struggled to keep the full force of her magic channeling through the closing gap. “Now!” Celestia shouted as she lunged, slamming her hooves against the doors of the obsidian gate. Twilight Sparkle heeded her mentor’s command and slammed her shoulder into the free silver door. The gates slammed shut as Twilight and Celestia’s magic washed over them keeping them closed long enough for a locking sound to be heard. With that the world once again went pure white. Twilight opened her eyes to find herself back in the abandon quarry or more accurately still in the quarry, as they had never physically left it. Konton was sitting still, staring at his hoof in bewilderment, “I-I’m still awake?” he muttered the source of his disbelief. A brief smile appeared on the colt’s face until his eye fell on the grim look on Celestia’s. “Did-Did you figure it out?” “We did, the magic you wield is chaos magic, given its very nature I doubt that controlling it is even possible. I’m sorry.” “So, in other words…” Konton began before trailing off, clearly still trying to figure out what to conclude. “It is my understanding that before Twilight’s aid you were content to live without magic, correct?” Celestia asked. The colt nodded. The princess continued, “Then to paraphrase Applejack, you were right all along.” “But Princess Celestia! He’s a unicorn, what about his nature? What about his cutie mark? His destiny! You aren’t really suggesting he just turn his back on a part of who he is are you?!” Twilight gasped. Celestia continued to address her words to Konton even if they were equally meant for both unicorns in attendance “It would seem your destiny is to remind ponies of what makes us ponies rather then just wild animals. You saw the destructive nature of your magic, and rejected it. You chose to deny yourself over blindly following your instincts like some feral creature. And now you will choose to forge whatever destiny you can for yourself, reminding everypony that we have always been free to choose our own paths in life no matter what symbol may appear on your flank. Just as you chose not to embrace your chaos magic but to imprison it with your self restraint.” As Konton listened to the princess a smile crept across his face. He had never thought of it that way and now with the princess’ vindication he felt like he had done the right thing ever since that miserable day his cutie mark first appeared. The encouraging smile faded from Celestia’s face, replaced with a gentle, sorrowful one. “Before I go there is one more matter to settle with you. It’s nothing personal but by royal decree I hereby strictly, forbid you, Konton, from setting hoof in Canterlot. For your sake I will try to keep this order as quiet as possible as I hope you will self enforce it, but I will need to tell a select few of the guards.” “What! Why?” Twilight objected once more. Once more Celestia answered while keeping her words aimed at Konton, “A spirit of chaos named Discord is imprisoned there and I believe it would be unwise to allow such a powerful reservoir of chaos magic to draw near to him. I’m truly sorry but I trust you understand?” Konton did the only thing he could think to do for a pony who had just received orders from a princess. He saluted and cheerfully said, “Stay away from Canterlot! Consider it done Princess!” The thought was just too much fun to him. After all, how many colts his age could say they had orders from a princess and mean it? Running with what the young pony gave her, Celestia returned the salute and spoke in a tone fitting for addressing a royal guard, “Very well my little pony, dismissed!” With that Konton ran off back toward town. “Princess?” Twilight said, her eyes asking if she could ask a full question. “Yes?” “When we first entered Konton’s spirit plane, you said you found something ‘interesting’ what did you mean by that?” “Having faced Discord’s chaos before I had always figured chaos magic was neither ‘light’ nor ‘darkness’ as his actions were just as likely to mess up a tyrant as a just ruler. However it had never crossed my mind that maybe the true nature of chaos wasn’t that it was neither light nor darkness but that it might be both light and darkness.” Twilight pondered the subtle difference between the two concepts for a moment. “If the end result is uncontrollable chaos magic either way, does it really make that much of a difference?” “Perhaps. Perhaps not, only time will tell.” Celestia smiled in a distant fashion that showed her mind was already elsewhere, pondering both possibilities
Chapter 4: One Year LaterOne year had passed since that fateful day Konton had met princess Celestia. However, the more important date in the colt’s mind was ten months, for it had been ten months since he had left Ponyvile. Ten months and four towns latter and he had yet to find any town as welcoming as Ponyville had been. Hollow Shades had been no different then the last three towns, nopony had been willing to become his friend despite his usual opening speech. Now walking down the street as alone as he had always been since leaving Ponyville. That loneliness made him long for the friends he had left behind, the crusaders, especially Sweetie Belle. Who, as far as he knew, had kept his secrets even to this day. Although, for some reason the separation from them didn’t hurt as much as he remembered from the other friends he had to leave behind. Maybe it was a sign he was growing up, or maybe it was simply that the crusaders had been the first friendships he had made that were strong enough to comfort him no matter how much distance separated him from them. And even though his friends couldn’t be with him Konton would never forget how they had taught him not just to see the places he traveled, to see what he could do there and that lesson had made his life much more enjoyable. A sudden breath of whispers drew Konton out of his thoughts, looking about to see what had the locals in hushed interest, he saw a lot of eyes looking up. He didn’t even have time to look up himself before a pegasus royal guard landed right in front of him. The guard looked him over making note of his horn and colors, before asking, “Are you Konton?” “Yes,” the colt answered. The guard frowned at the saddlebags being worn far enough back to obscure the young pony’s cutie mark and added, “This message is for your ears only. I’m afraid I’ll need to verify that you are who you say.” Despite the implied secrecy of his words the guard had spoken loud enough that everypony on the street could have heard it. While most had the decency to at least pretend to be minding their own matters a group of four young ponies across the street were now watching with extraordinary interest as Konton lifted his saddlebags enough to present his cutie mark. Satisfied the guard leaned in close, wrapped his wing around the colt’s head and his own mouth insuring that only Konton could hear his whispered message. “Princess Celestia wishes to inform you that Discord has been released and reformed. As such you are no longer forbidden from entering Canterlot. Also as apology for having to ban you from Canterlot in the first place, The Princess has left you a standing invitation to stay as a guest at the castle should you ever find yourself visiting Canterlot.” “Um… sir I’m just a colt. Aren’t I a little too young to making any travel plans?” “Hence why it’s a ‘standing’ invitation. That means you don’t have to take The Princess up on the offer any time soon. Just know that if some year down the road you find yourself in Canterlot just stop by the castle and let us know who you are and we’ll still have standing orders to set you up in one of the guest suites. Oh, one last thing, considering his less then stellar reputation among the populace, The Princess would prefer if you kept the news about Discord to yourself until it filters out on its own.” The guard unwrapped his wing, and spoke loudly to add, “Think you can handle that!?” Playing along, Konton stepped back and saluted, “Yes sir!” The royal guard returned the salute and with a powerful beat of his wings the stallion was off into the sky, returning to Canterlot. “You work with the royal guard? What did he want you to do? That’s so cool! Want to hang out?” Konton suddenly found himself barraged with questions from the four young ponies running over to him. Two colts and two fillies, who were a brother and sister team and their two friends if Konton was remembering his observations from class correctly. “I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to discuss that. As for hanging out, I’m not expected to be anywhere special today, so sure.” “You’ve only been in town a week or two right? Have you been hiking into the woods much?” “Yeah I’m still new here, and no I haven’t left town much since I got here.” “Then come on! We’ll show you all the cool places!” Konton paused to shot a glance at the royal guard still flying away. You did that on purpose didn’t you? Thank you. He thought before galloping of after his classmates. Perhaps his time in Hollow Shades wouldn’t be all that lonely after all.
