Chapter 20: Mix-N'-Match

=== The Conversion Bureau: A New Age, A New Life ====== Chapter 20: Mix-'N-Match ===

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[ Equestrian Western Territory Checkpoint; March 24, 2081 @ 7:30 AM ]

          The Royals Sisters, their niece and Princess(-in-Training) Cadence, several attendants, and most importantly, the now relatively quite tall Spike were all in transit out to the westernmost-edge of official Equestrian territory. Spike and the Equestrian engineers spent the last few days designing a cart for him to haul gems to eat and anything of interest he might come across. There were also quite a number of pads and writing utensils for him to write thorough journals.

"So, even during this journey of me trying to open up diplomatic relations; and trying to figure out just what about me has changed due to, well, myself literally growing up... you're having me do homework?" Spike asked incredulously; as he tried to keep his head down in the carriage's cab.

"To be blunt, yes. As an aside, though, I think your new look suits you quite well, Spike. I certainly wouldn't have thought you would have tripled in size in-between the last time we were together," Cadence replied, finding the sand-orange cloak and sand-resistant goggles Spike had on to be quite a stylish getup.

          They all eventually reached their destination: the final official checkpoint between the border of Equestria, and the unclaimed territories surrounding the first minor Dragon Nomad City-State, Dural-ga-Jafid. After they landed and disembarked, the four principals all stood at the gate for out-flowing traffic; which, as usual for the checkpoints lining the border near the Western Badlands, were hardly used. Spike took some time to marvel more at the cart he was to lug around with him.

"I've never seen a metal this strong and yet be this light," Spike said, as he lifted the cart, still marveling at the combination of its lightness, and their respective strength.

"You can actually thank the humans for core idea of that cart. The material, according to them, is a metal called 'titanium'; so the cart we have made for you is magically-enhanced titanium alloy. It should be more than strong enough to withstand the elements and any trouble you might find yourself in," Luna said matter-of-factly. Spike was just hoping he didn't find himself involved anything major until he reached his destination.

Celestia walked up to Spike, chuckling inwardly at how Spike was technically taller than her now. "Well Spike, I do believe, since it's now first light, now would be as good as time as any for you to set off. There should be more than enough water and gems already loaded until you get to Dural-ga-Jafid. You did study the map I gave you these last four days, didn't you?"

Spike sighed audibly as he answered the Princess of the Day. "Yes ma'am, Princess Celestia. I know there are about 3 or 4 settlements and city-states on the main route from here to Karrak-za-Jalve. So if I want to get there, and get back in a reasonable amount of time, I should just stick to the beaten path, I guess." Spike was thankful that he was no stranger to studying, having lived his whole life with Twilight.

          Princess Celestia then motioned for the gates to be opened, as Spike took a deep breath, looking at the greenery already transitioning to more hardy desert vegetation.

"Remember Spike, you are officially a diplomat and representative of the Equestrian Government; and by extension, the three of us. Please take care not to cause some kind of international incident while you're out there. It's hard enough for us to communicate with official representation of the Dragon Nomads as is," Celestia said, giving a last warning to Spike before communication with him became more intermittent.

Spike nodded in agreement. After briefly hugging the three Princesses, he strapped the cart to his rather impressive frame (given his still young age), and began the long march toward Karrak-za-Jalve.

Well Twilight, Vague, everyone else... here's hoping that your trials on Earth are easier than mine are going to be, out here in the middle of nowhere... he thought to himself as he began walking out into Celestia's morning sun.

<< Author's Note: From this point until Spike's return after concluding business, the details of his travails will mostly be covered in side chapters >>

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[ Earth, April 13, 2081 ]

Two weeks and change had passed since the date everyone now calls the "Evening of the Black Sky", the exact time and date Terran Mana began flowing back into the Earth proper and across the Aurora Barrier into Equestria's World. The Ponies, on both realms, were initially quite shocked by the introduction of this completely foreign Magic into their midst. Their fears were quickly allayed by Luna and Twilight, whose work with the Conduits of Terra had to begun to catalogue basic effects and methodologies of Terran Magic. Although both Luna and Twilight both knew that the potential for Terran Magic, like Equestrian Magic, were potentially limitless, it would be easier for all involved if there was some kind of reference point for those with the magical sense to start from.

          The trouble in that respect came, in the fact the Outsiders largely had an atrophied educational structure. No one had any clue how to start teaching Humans in a sensible manner.

Blue Vague, being a man of technology, figured there was really only one sensible way to solve this conundrum. "Seeing as we have no real way to restrict anyone from developing Terran Magical Powers, given what we know of Terran Magic so far -- I say we start distributing text and video guides. I dunno if we can do anything else until there is enough of a Pony presence to make live teachers a viable option."

Everyone thought about it for a few seconds, and everyone came to the exact same conclusion: none of them had a better option, and it would be better if everyone who wanted the knowledge could at least find it.

"Well, I believe myself and Rainbow Dash could handle writing the text materials. So who is going to handle the filming of the video?" Twilight Sparkle said; tone implying there was absolutely nothing unsound with what she stated.

"Um, Twilight... not to cast aspersions on Rainbow Dash's intelligence or anything, but... you really think you want her involved in writing educational material?" Golden Storm asked with all earnestness, which earnestly earned him a compressed air-ball to the head from Rainbow Dash.

"Well to be honest... I need to be able to write this with a layman's perspective; and Rainbow Dash best exemplifies that layman's perspective out of the ten of us here." Twilight responded, which earned her the same treatment from R.D.

"Seriously guys, I'm right here. At least wait until the I leave the room to talk like that..." Rainbow Dash said with all manner of frustration.

          While Fluttershy and Twilight tended to Rainbow Dash's understandably hurt feelings, Rarity was giddy at the prospect of arranging a performance for the cameras.

"Oh Vague, I have so many ideas for how we can put these videos together. Oh and those capes, now would be the perfect time to show those capes off to the whole world!" Rarity babbled excitedly, filled with an enthusiasm only matched by Rainbow Dash when talking about the Wonderbolts.

"Yeah, Rarity... I don't think an educational video is the right time to be showing off for the camera... then again, maybe later..." Red Blaze started, as she and Rarity walked off to Rarity's room to start planning how to shoot the films.

Midori Hana walked around for a bit as she thought about how to present herself. "I wonder what I should make to wear in my mane for my section on Earth Magic..."

They are actually taking my suggestion seriously... then again none of them seemed to be able to come up with anything else. It feels so weird to be listened to... Blue Vague thought to himself as he walked over to the recreational room of the Dormitories to plan out his section on Water Magic.

"HEY, GUYS! COME OUT HERE! I GOTTA SHOW ALL Y'ALL THIS!!" they heard a familiar Texas-accented female shout from outside the Dorms. With that, seven of the nine other Ponies quickly bolted outside.

          When they all arrived outside, everyone was absolutely floored by what they saw. A fairly sizable patch of the sickly forest outside of the Isegawa's compound was now anything but sickly. In front, a certain cowboy-hat wearing, orange-and-blonde mare was standing in front of it, a combination of proud and shocked herself.

"I swear to God, or Celestia, or whoever it is I'm supposed to swear to these days, that I have never seen any tree that healthy outside an Agri-Dome in all my life..." Blue Vague said, jaw on the ground in the proverbial sense.

"Ah know right! Ah was messin' around some with the Earth Magic that Hana taught me. When Ah was mixed it with my Life Magic, it all came out like this!" Applejack said as she bucked the tree; with everyone hearing the healthy thud as a few loose leaves fell out.

Twilight scanned the magic surrounding that particular patch of forest, and came up with some fairly surprising results. "Well, Applejack, congratulations. I think you're the first to actually figure out, even if by accident, what the Will Of The Earth was talking about when she gave us those last warnings."

Pinkie Pie remembered exactly what Twilight was talking about, as she did practically everything else she experienced. "Oh right, she said that Power could come in forms that weren't exactly what the four the Conduits specialize in, right?"

Twilight responded affirmatively. "That's correct Pinkie. Although she didn't explicitly state it in that fashion, clearly she meant that not only was Power extremely versatile, but it could be mixed and matched to get stuff like... well... this."

Twilight teleported around the edges of the renewed forest to further scan the mana in order to more properly assess the situation. She gave her preliminary conclusions when she reappeared in front of them. "Well Applejack, I think I figured out what you did. Most of the Magic around the edges of the renewed patch is Terran Earth Magic, although there are quite strong traces of Equestrian Life Magic and Terran Water Magic. When you put them all together, you got this new strain of Terran Mana. In fact, if you could, just think of mixing all three of those together again..."

"Uh, okay Twi'. Ah'll try at least..." Applejack said nervously. Everyone else backed up few feet while she began to concentrate.

Applejack began to glow green as the runes along her legs and hooves were the same medium green as the Terran Element of Earth. However, when she began mixing in the extra mana like Twilight suggested, her glow and the runes turned a darker shade of green, and all manners of flowers began popping up around her.

Twilight was absolutely giddy that her conjecture bore out correctly. "THAT'S IT! Applejack you've just stumbled onto something revolutionary!"

"Ah guess I did," Applejack replied, as she looked at how badly the forest green clashed against her orange coat."

"Heh, those colors remind me of the uniforms of an amateur American football team." Rainbow Dash said, while giggling at the still forest green marked orange mare.

"Really? Um... OH, I think I know which one. The Miami Hurricanes, wasn't it?!" Applejack responded, remembering Rainbow Dash showing her old footage of their antics from the late 1980s.

"Yep, they're the ones." Rainbow Dash confirmed.

Midori Hana poked around the grounds, to see how the earth underneath the renewed plants was. "The ground around here is really clean, but it's not really... enhanced I guess you could say. Whatever this was A.J., it was directly affecting the plants. OH, I got it, let's just call it that, Terran Plant Magic!"

"Well, Ah guess we might as well, since it only deals with plants..." Applejack responded, thankful the forest green runes were finally starting to fade away.

"EEEEEE~!" the eight Ponies heard, as the shrill scream reverberated around the general vicinity of the Dorms.

"Well, that can only be Rarity. Ah recognize that shrill squeal anywhere," Applejack said, wondering just what got into that mare now.

          The eight Ponies re-entered the Dormitories, as they looked around and heard the shouting from Rarity's room.

"I wonder what she and Blaze could be doing now..." Storm sighed as he knocked on the door.

"DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!" the eight outside the room heard from Red Blaze through the door.

"Ok, Blaze, Rarity, what are you two up to?" Golden Storm asked through the door.

"WE'LL TELL YOU IN A LITTLE BIT, JUST DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!" Rarity shouted in response through the still closed door.

"What was that Rarity? 'Open the door right now.' If you insist..." Rainbow Dash said, a smirk on her face as she fluttered over to open the door.

A smirk that was replaced by her hoof over her muzzle in pain as a ball of light ricocheted off it.

"OW! What in the hell was that?! And how does a ball of light hurt?!" Rainbow Dash said with a distorted voice, hoof still over muzzle.

The ball of hard light continue to bound off the walls of the Dormitory like a pinball, thankfully not smashing anything but being a general nuisance to everyone involved.

"You just had to open the door didn't you..." Red Blaze said, looking at Rainbow Dash incredulously as R.D. finally took her hoof from over her nose.

"GOT IT!" Twilight shouted, snagging the ball in her lavender aura.

"Oh thank goodness, now I know how it feels to be a bumper in a pinball machine." Rarity said, rubbing her neck from the several impacts of the ball against her.

The ball of light shook in Twilight's magical grip as she tried to analyze it. Eventually, once she was done, the ball simply disintegrated into photons.

"Well that was... a strange sensation. But I did manage to analyze that ball. It was a mix of Fire and Unicorn Explicit Magic. Care to explain what you were trying to do Rarity."

"Well, it went something like this..." Rarity started as red runes appeared on her body, and she conjured up a smaller ball of fire. She then continued, "Then I tried to mimic that Stage Light spell Luna used during the Four Conduit's Performance." She then used her Explicit Magic to compress the ball tighter, as Twilight watched as the red runes began to fade to an extremely pale gray against her snow white coat. "And suddenly... *POOF* this!"  she exclaimed, showing everyone the ball of now pure light. "I was so surprised by it, I accidentally 'threw' it, turning my poor room into an impromptu pinball machine. At least the ball wasn't solid, so nothing was damaged by it."

"We decided to call it Terran Light Magic, since it's still distinctly Terran in nature; but... well, it kinda speaks for itself doesn't it?" Red Blaze added.

Twilight had a look of consternation on her face, as she found herself not being able to explain the nature of the ball any differently.

Being able to get over her mild frustrations for the time being, she took the other Bearers aside and talked to them privately.

"Ok, ladies. Apparently these new classes of Terran Magic come from us mixing our normal Magic with it. So just try and come up with as many different combinations as you can, but don't go overboard with it. I think this dynamic nature is inherent to Terran Magic in general..."

The other five nodded as they began thinking up combinations.

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[ Earth, April 14, 2081 ]

          The next day in the Isegawa Compound began like the others the last couple of months. Distress at another 'accident' with Terran Magic somewhere out in the wider world, and the resultant proclamations by a couple of prominent groups. One seemingly bent on telling the Ponies to in effect 'screw-off' now that Humans had their own magic. The other bent on telling everyone that'd listen, that this was a sign that all of Humanity needed to convert to Ponydom post-haste. The ten Bearers and Conduits could not figure for the life of them why anyone would truly think along either of those tracks, but figured that it was just a part of the extreme diversity in human ideologies.

          The afternoon started as much as it normally did, it was excruciatingly hot, almost unfarily hot with Summer having not officially started. Yet, the Bearers and Conduits really did not want to spend yet another day indoors trying to avoid the heat. It was incumbent upon somepony to do something about it. That somepony would be a demure yellow and pink-maned Pegasus.

"Why... is it so damn hot!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she squirmed under the Earth's Sun's almost malicious rays.

"I could go into a long spiel about why... but let's just leave it at 'The sun hates us, or at least doesn't care about us at all.'" Blue Vague replied, dousing his coat with a light mist.

Fluttershy, looked over at the display, and was suddenly stricken with inspiration. "I think I have a solution to our problem."

Rainbow Dash, obviously not seeing what the solution was besides 'Go inside and stay under the air conditioning', approved of anything the fellow Pegasus could do to bring the temperature down some.

A couple of others looked as they saw Fluttershy perch herself on one of the branches of one of the now healthy trees behind the Isegawa Compound. She flared her wings out, as they saw some of the feathers turn the same bleached yellow that Golden Storm's would when he used Terran Wind Magic. She flapped them to generate a nice stiff breeze, using the Wind Magic as a force multiplier to not exhaust herself physically.

"Well, that does feel nice Fluttershy; but I think we'll need something more than just a good breeze in this heat," Twilight said morosely, not really wanting to think too hard about anything for the time being.

Well, let's hope this next part works as well as it should... Fluttershy thought to herself, as some of the feathers on her wings shifted from pale yellow to an aquamarine color.

Suddenly the temperature did begin to drop, starting from 99 F, and down to 96, then 93, then 86, then 71, then 64, then 51.

Everypony outside of the compound didn't register what was going on at first; well, before they all started shivering in the now near freezing temperatures around the Dormitories.

"Ok... when did we suddenly land in Antartica? Seriously, why is it so GAHHHH~!" Blue Vague started before he saw an icicle shoot up from the ground not one foot away from his face.

"OOPS! Sorry, I... I didn't know when to stop. But at least it worked... I think..." Fluttershy said, thankful she didn't accidentally gore one of her friends. She looked around at the entire rear area to the dormitories, where the Ponies had already cleared out as the air temperature began to balance out to near 65 F. The ground was slick with frost and ice, and there were several ice-stalagmites along the ground.

"Alright, spill it Fluttershy, how did you do that?" Twilight asked, wanting to hear from the horse's mouth.

"Well, I knew Weather Magic would help, but I didn't want to try anything too strong. So... um... I thought since Wind and Water have a lot to do with weather, I could mix them all up... and, well... I guess we got Ice Magic..." Fluttershy said, smiling sheepishly as she was wanton to do.

"Hey, it works for me. I'd take 60+ over 100+ any day of the week..." Rainbow Dash said as she began breaking apart the stalagmites so that no one injured themselves on them.

"Man what I wouldn't have given to be able to do this ages ago..." Blue Vague thought out loud, having suffered many a day in (near-)triple digit temperatures.

Well I do have to admit, it is a lot more comfortable out here... Twilight thought to herself, not knowing how to feel that her friends were coming up with new 'mixed' magic before she could.

          Later that evening, the ten Ponies and the Isegawa's were treated to another of Earth's wonders -- the sudden impromptu thunderstorm. Rainbow Dash, not really in the mood to be dealing with thunder and lightning strikes, decided now was as good a time as any to show the Earthlings the good ol'-fashioned Pegasus tradition of storm-breaking.

"Are you really sure that you should be storm-breaking? I mean we don't have a real grasp on just how different a storm on Earth compared to a storm in Equestria," Fluttershy said, as she was making ice cubes so that Twilight could pinpoint the magical 'wavelength' Ice Magic worked on.

Rainbow Dash blew off the concerns with her usual bravado. "Oh come on, a storm is a storm. If it's too big, then I'll just come back and we can batten down the hatches, no harm no foul."

Fluttershy just sighed as the aquamarine runes remained on her yellow coat for awhile longer. She knew that Rainbow Dash was as stubborn as any pony, or any one she met for that matter. "Well just don't get yourself hurt out there."

Dr. Hayato concurred with the yellow and aqua-tinged mare. "That's right. And besides, if you come up with something new while you're out there, I'd like to see it from you first hand."

"Heh, I bet you would. You must be like a kid and a candy shop with the ten of us around full time," Rainbow Dash remarked, genuinely enjoying Dr. Hayato's eagerness for, well, everything.

"Like you would not believe, Miss Dash. I don't know what has him more excited: the fact that you all seem to be coming up with new forms of stable Magic all the time, or that he gets to be able to witness them first hand," Dr. Jun said, making sure not to drop any hints of the project she and her husband were working on at the time.

Rainbow Dash made sure that she had no kind of metal on her 'person', and with that, she was off to intercept the incoming thunderhead.

          Rainbow Dash approached the thundercloud with all due haste, and was in awe regarding how massive it was compared to the usual ones in Equestria. "Oh my gosh... It's so big... so very... big."

She felt herself subconsciously drifting toward the storm, as if the thundercloud was a Siren beckoning her to come closer; and a lot like a Siren of old, it was surely beckoning her to her death. Despite that realization, she continued to drift further and further, until she was completely inside.

So much energy... I can feel the raw energy of the Earth in this thing... it's... it's addictive... like it's some kind of drug... Rainbow Dash thought to herself, flapping along through the dark gray morass, watching the lightning bolts crackle through.

The energy was so great, her own Weather Magic was starting to respond to it, along her learned Wind Magic. She was in such a rapturous state watching the lightning and hail swirl around her, it took a searing hot flash near her face to finally snap her back to reality.

"HOLY CELESTIA! I... DEAD... If I got hit by that thing I'd be dead... no doubt!" Rainbow Dash shouted, finally remembering what she came to do.

Ugh, I got to find some way to keep from getting flash-fried by these lightning bolts while I try and break this storm. Wait... fried.. Fire... I GOT IT! Rainbow Dash thought, suddenly stricken by inspiration from the raw energy flying around her.

She began to concentrate Terran Wind and her Weather Magic, and opposite of Fluttershy pulling Water, she began to pull Fire Magic.

Alright storm, let's see how much you like this!

          Her body was laced with the pale-cornflower blue runes, then her body began to glow the same. Soon her body was crackling with the same color lightning bolts.

Oh my gosh, this is amazing... this energy... so much energy... I totally... totally... totallyyy... she thought to herself, before she felt an incredible surge through her entire body. The electricity coursing along her body began to actually attract the ambient electrical energy in the thunderstorm. The few bolts crackling along her body soon became a veritable glow, as the lightning kept striking near her.

Oh Luna... I gotta keep this spell up... but this energy... I gotta get rid of of it... but... I... I..... THE GROUND... I GOTTA HIT THE GROUND! she shouted in her mind, as if she was thinking like a lightning-bolt.

A few seconds later, and with a loud crash of thunder, she exploded backwards toward the clearing near the Isegawa Clinic. The turbulence generated from her 'takeoff' shredding the thunderhead into harmless, smaller clouds.

"Gotta get it off... Gotta get it off... GOTTA GET IT OFF!" she shouted, as she streaked through the sky; resembling a cornflower blue comet of electricity.

Fluttershy and Golden Storm were tipped off to the coming impact, feeling the incredible amount of electrical energy needing to find a safe outlet in the next few seconds.

"It'd be a good idea if everyone were to duck and cover like RIGHT NOW!" they both shouted in unison.

Everyone heeded the weather-ponies as they all hit the floor as best they could, followed by the loudest crash of thunder anyone there in the St. Louis area had ever heard. Enough to rattle everything not firmly bolted down, including their bones.

"Sweet Mother of all that is holy, what in world was that?!" Dr. Jun said, after she got back up to her feet.

"It sounded like a bomb going off quite honestly." Dr. Hayato replied, dusting himself off as well.

"That was no bomb, that was Rainbow Dash. Or at least I hope Rainbow Dash didn't accidentally turn herself into a bomb, oohh let's just go!" Fluttershy yelled, grabbing Golden Storm as she bolted out of the automatic doors to the dormitory.

          A few minutes later they returned with an unconscious Rainbow Dash, hooves, mane, and feathers scorched charcoal gray.

"She's... alive isn't she?" Dr. Jun asked, obviously not used to seeing a somewhat burnt Pony in her midst.

"Well, when we found her, the entire area she landed in was turned to, well, powder. I dunno if she consciously did it, but it's better the ground be pulverized than her," Golden Storm reported, this incident eerily similar to the incident not soon after his Conversion.

Midori Hana and Applejack ran up to Rainbow Dash to check her over, as Twilight scanned for head trauma or any significant disruption in thought. They conferred briefly, and Twilight made the report. "Well, thankfully, she's only unconscious. Her body is extensively bruised, but she appears to be more or less in proper working order. However, her magical 'system' is completely overtaxed, which is why her wings and legs are singed like that. I don't expect any permanent damage, but she won't be taking to the air until her body completely recharges."

Dr. Hayato was intrigued by the notion of magical burn-out. "So, given things as they are... how long could that take?"

"Thankfully, there is an endpoint to the New Light Bridge underneath your labs. That alone should be enough to have her flying in a limited fashion by morning. In a couple of days, she should be good to go with her usual activities," Twilight responded.

"Well, we'll get a temporary bed for her setup in the Transport Room. She can sleep there tonight."

Rainbow Dash, entirely oblivious to the entire proceeding, simply murmured in her accidentally induced stupor. "Yes, I'll have the medium stack of pancakes. Can I get blueberries on top too?"

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[ Earth, April 16, 2081 ]

          After a couple of thankfully uneventful days, four of the ten decided to take a little field trip. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Midori Hana walked through a junkyard near St. Louis, a simply massive place these days with all the refuse being produced by those in the Domes near the city.

"Boy you walk around in a place like this, and it just shocks you how wasteful some people are," Twilight said, while levitating bits and pieces around to make sure a path was always clear.

"Alright then Pinkie, so why did you ask us all to come out here?" Rainbow Dash asked, glad she could actually channel magic again properly after turning herself into a living lightning-rod.

"Well, I sat down and thought about what Applejack and the others have been doing the last few days. But first, I want you to try something Dashie..." Pinkie Pie started, grass green runes appearing on her legs all the while. She caused a small platform of earth to rise out of the ground, completely flat and without any debris on it.

"Alright, I just want you to try and use your Lightning power to grab some metal. Apparently, electrified metal should be able to pull more electrified metal, although I don't think it works with every metal."

Midori saw where Pinkie was going with this. "Hrm, you must be talking about electro-magnetism. Well, just doing a cursory scan, there are a lot of objects that qualify, so just try it Dash."

"Yep, that's it. Now Rainbow, I just want you to try this..." Pinkie started, whispering the rest of her thoughts into Dash's ear.

"Um, I'll try,I guess..." Rainbow Dash replied when Pinkie was done, still wondering how the whole plan was to work.

          Rainbow Dash sat down on the platform, and concentrated on the chunk of metal Midori had pulled out for her. As her body began to glow the pale cornflower blue of Lightning Magic, she began charging the chunk with a what she believed to be small amount of electricity.

"Ok so what do I do with this thing now?" Rainbow Dash asked of Pinkie.

"Just roll it near the junk piles, it'll pull out anything that can be magnetized," Pinkie replied.

Not one to accidentally get herself impaled by flying metal, Rainbow Dash eventually worked out how to roll the metal around in a crude imitation of a Unicorn's Levitation Magic. After a few more minutes of trial and error, she eventually got the chunk into the pile, where it quickly began to attract more and more chunks.

Pinkie Pie continued to direct R.D. "Alright Dashie, I think that's big enough, now move it back onto the platform." Which Rainbow Dash managed to accomplish, with a little bit of help from Twilight gathering loose chunks of metal.

"Alright, now let's try what we talked about!" Pinkie Pie yelled with the utmost eagerness.

Rainbow Dash sighed as she tried to adjust the electricity levels. After a good while, she finally managed to work out how to get the now 3' pile of metal to arrange itself in a vaguely humanoid manner.

          Pinkie Pie tapped the metallic dummy with a forehoof, noting that it was relatively well put together, bound fairly tightly by the induced magnetism Rainbow Dash was producing. She then hopped off the platform and went to another clear space, sinking the ground near her to form a rather sizable pit.

"Alright, so I was thinking, metal is really important here on Earth. So what if we could use Magic to help manipulate metal? So that's when I came up with this..." Pinkie Pie began, while causing a pile of metal junk to fall into the pit by sloping the edge. She then began to pull as much 'Fire'-Power as she could, as some of the green runes on her body turned red. The junk metal began to melt and churn in the heat, as she began to mix the geo-kinesis that Earth Magic gave her with the ability to manipulate minerals from her Earth Pony Life Magic, and the Fire Magic as well.

Oh not her too... Twilight said as she realized what was happening.

This is so cool! Way better use of earth-based Magic than making rocks grow... Pinkie Pie said with a wide grin on her face while manipulating the metal in her pit.

Eventually all the runes on her body shifted from green or red to a silver color, as she gave birth to a new field of Terran Magic. Pinkie Pie, not noticing this at all, kept on working; humminga song familiar to Midori as she continued molding the heated and pliable metal in her pit.

A few minutes later, Pinkie squealed with excitement as she called over Twilight to douse her work with some water, in order to not accidentally burn anything. Twilight complied, and was shocked by what she saw in the pit.

"Alright ladies... feast your eyes on this!" she shouted as she lifted the creation of the pit and on to the platform.

"Ooooh!" Midori shouted, as she recognized the figure famous amongst all fans of mecha, especially those native to Japan.

"The Iron Castle that soars in the skies! The Super Robot,MAZINGER Z!" Pinkie shouted with all manner of enthusiasm, even getting up onto her hind legs and pointing with a hoof into the sky, and using her ferro-kinesis to manipulate the 2.5' tall, monochrome model of the super-deformed Mazinger Z into its famousarm raised pose.

Pinkie's entire body hummed with the silver glow, as Twilight sat amazed at how dynamic Terran Magic was, and how she still couldn't seem to 'get' it.

The next few minutes were filled with the sounds of the mock battle between the ‘giant’ junk monster Rainbow Dash created, and the Invincible Super Robot, Mazinger Z; or at least a reasonable enough facsimile of it. Eventually, the battle came to an end, as Pinkie Pie, not wanting to extend herself too much further, decided to try and see if she really make the model act like the 'real' thing.

"Ok Dashie, I need you to stand off to the side for this next part, but don't drop your charge and control of the junk monster," Pinkie Pie said, with a devious glint in her eye.

Rainbow Dash complied, as Pinkie rose up again to give a last shout. "Alright you evil monster, this is the end! BREAST FIRE!!"

"What kind of name is 'Breast Fire' for an attack, anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked as she saw the chest panels on the Mazinger Z model glow red, along with Pinkie Pie.

"Beats me, I guess it just sounded cool back then," Hana replied, shrugging as best she could.

They all saw the red glow of the Terran Fire Magic hit the junk 'monster', melting and fusing the junk so much, Rainbow Dash gave up trying to move it. With that, the mock battle was over, and Mazinger Z (or his tiny facsimile, in this case) stood victorious, yet again. The three members of Pinkie's audience applauded in approval, enjoying the little magical stage-show.

As the four of them made their way back to the Isegawa's Compound, Twilight was charged with bringing the model and some extra material home on an improvised cart. One thought remained in her mind, as they travelled along the outer edges of the city...

Ok, just what do I have to do to figure this whole Terran Magic thing out?!

          That evening started relatively calm all things considered. Pinkie Pie continued practicing the newly developed Terran Metal Magic by manipulating the Mazinger model into various dynamic poses; as she, Rainbow Dash, and Midori Hana looked up various giant mecha anime from the past to draw inspiration from. Red Blaze was testing Metal Magic for herself, using some extra pieces of scrap, after Twilight managed to pin down the exact 'wavelength' of the silver Terran mana. In fact, Twilight was working triple time, trying to figure out Terran Magic for herself. She was nowhere near content to just refine what others had already started stumbling into already. To that end, she spent the entire evening, to that point, holed up in her room, not even coming out to eat with the rest of her Dorm-mates. She threw herself deep in contemplation and calculations about what exactly made Terran Mana click to form a new type; instead of just a mixed effect, which is all that she got when she tried it. It was obvious this was going to be one of those kinds of nights.

          It was well into the evening now, and the moon had risen, glowing a soft yellow-orange through the haze in Earth's upper atmosphere. While the outside was still quite warm and somewhat humid, the well insulated and now Ice Magic enhanced buildings were quite comfortable and relatively dry, which was good for the ten Ponies and two humans that were permanent residents. The two doctors Isegawa were sorting out the medical information from their human patients for the day, while the other nine Ponies occupied themselves with various entertainments and distractions. One Pony though, was anything but distracted this evening.

"UGH! Why can't I figure this out. I'm the Element of Magic... this is supposed to be my thing, you know?!" Twilight said to no one in particular. The ten rooms of the Dormitory were mostly soundproof except for the doors, and Twilight made sure that only screaming coming or going would be the only thing getting through.

She was using her magic to speedily tap away at the now 5th revision hoof-keyboard for her computer terminal, thankful that the human's technology made sorting out everything mathematical and statistical far easier. She could now get a solid sense of how much the new forms of Terran Magic were derived from combinations of the old forms.

"These new Terran Mana strains the other Bearers created were all mixes that were catalyzed by Equestrian Magic... except for the Light Magic Rarity found. That just looks like a super-compressed form of Fire Magic that became independent in its own right. But the question stands, how are these Terran strains still independent of Equestrian Magic if Equestrian Magic catalyzed their creation?"

There was so much she wanted to do, so much she wanted to test. But it was going to be hard for her to track down a magic-sensitive human for her to experiment with. The Princesses, not knowing Twilight's plight, had recently begun to issue suggestions that the Ponies attempt to keep to themselves outside of the Bureaus. This only continued to frustrate Twilight mentally.

"It's just... just.... UGH, SO UNFAIR! There is so much I need to sort out, so much we all could, and maybe need to, do for everyone besides these Bureaus. So much... but... the politics, the logistics, the everything... everything is so sideways and screwed up, I can't make heads or tails of it!" Twilight shouted as she flipped over on the bed and kicked futilely in the air, trying to chase away hidden demons teasing her.

The combination of her magic output and her internal frustration at not being able to sort out how to mix Terran Mana for herself correctly were leading to some... interesting effects in her ambient environment. Not only was her horn glowing, but she was accidentally tapping into Water Magic, a rather sizable puddle of conjured liquid was collecting under her bed. However this liquid did not seem to soak into anything, instead it just sat there, as if waiting for something else to happen.

"I just don't get it. Terran Magic is a lot of instinct, a lot of making it up on the fly, I mean Pinkie Pie couldn't have had that whole thing planned out, and I'm damn sure Fluttershy didn't mean to nearly spike Vague with an icicle three days ago. WHY. IS. THIS. SO. HARD. THEN?!" Twilight said as she rolled from end to end of her bed, asking questions she knew no one around would have the answer to.

The more her frustrations built up, the more the puddle underneath her bed grew, condensed, and then grew some again; all the while transitioning from transparent, to blue, to a purple-indigo color.

"Is there something wrong with me? Something I'm not getting? But I'm the Element of Magic... if there is something I don't get about Magic then is it something worth getting? But the fact that my friends got it means it is something worth getting so that must mean there is something I'm not getting but... ARGH I JUST DON'T KNOW ANYMORE!!!!" Twilight said as she thrashed about, still knee deep in her own frustration.

Just then, she heard a knock on her door, apparently she was loud enough for the others to hear despite her minor sound-proofing spell. "Hey Twi', you okay in there? Maybe it's time for ya to take a break. Come watcha movie with us or somethin'," She heard the orange cow-pony yell through her door.

"That's alright Applejack, um, I'm almost done for the evening anyway." Twilight said as she began to roll over back into a better position to get back to her diagnostics and spreadsheets.

However, there was a surprise waiting for her when she focused back in on her terminal monitor. She saw the view obstructed along the top by a pair of spindly fore-legs, and a pair of pale-yellow glowing eyes along the top of the monitor.

"Ok... I must be starting to hallucinate... I think I'll go ahead and take that break now..." Twilight said as she crawled out of her bed, and reached over to the flat button near her door to turn on the room's main lights.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" the other nine Ponies in the Dormitory heard, the scream obviously emanating from Twilight's bed/work-room.

Rarity was the first to enter to check in on Twilight, the room now well-lit. "Twilight dear what could be th~ EEEEEEEEEEEEK WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT!?"

"No idea sugah, but it sure does look creepy..." Applejack said, concerned about approaching what Twilight and Rarity were cowering from.

          Eventually the other seven besides Applejack came to the room, Blue Vague the first to broach Twilight's doorframe.

"Ok... I can feel Water Magic... but it's warped some-... ok that starts to explain a lot," Vague said as he began to back up to where Applejack was standing next to the shivering Rarity and otherwise freaked-out Twilight.

"What is it Vague, baby?" Hana asked as she peered in past the door frame, trying her best to keep the other five from crowding around. The six outside Ponies finally did manage to arrange themselves in a fashion where they could all peer inside Twilight's room; at the rather strange sight inside, scuttling around the room trying to get out of the bright lights.

"Ok, so anyone mind explaining just what that thing is and why it seems to hate Twi's room lighting?" Rainbow Dash asked, fluttering under the top of the door frame.

"I dunno, looks kinda like a spider to me, but it definitely doesn't feel like a spider." Pinkie Pie replied, as the spider-like entity finally settled in the shadows underneath a work desk where Twilight's computer terminal base was.

Rarity finally managed to calm down enough to start getting a read on the situation, and looking over Twilight, did manage to come to a conclusion. "Twilight dear, this has to be your doing, just take a look at your hooves and your face."

Rarity took a few moments to duck into her room to grab a portable mirror to show Twilight what she was talking about. Indeed, as implied, Twilight's hooves and face were covered in the tell-tale arcane runes of Terran Magic; astrong-violet color all over her face and along her hooves, mixing quite well with her natural lavender-ish tint.

"As you can see, your violet runes match that violet... spider-like thing currently trying to hide under your desk," Rarity explained, as Twilight began to calm down herself.

Pinkie Pie was suddenly stricken with more inspiration. "Say I wonder what'd happen if we did this..." She then ran around the main hall of the Dorm and dimmed all the lights, including in Twilight's room. Eventually the entire common area looked like someone ready to start projecting a movie, and the shadow-spider eventually scuttled its way into the middle of said common area.

          Everyone formed a bit of circle around the new creature, as it stared intently at Twilight; large yellow-eyes and dark-violet body almost glowing in the dim light, just as Twilight's dark-violet runes were still glowing.

"Well, from your confused reaction to this whole situation, I'd have to assume that this purple spider-thing is an accident. Not only that, it probably has something to do with Water Magic. Whatever that thing is, it's definitely derivative of it, or at least had its origins in it." Vague said, not feeling the spider to be a threat to anything.

Twilight was finally calm enough to analyze the situation properly now. "Well, I think I'm starting to get a handle on the sequence of events. I was tossing and turning on my bed, frustrated I couldn't figure out how to mix Terran Magic correctly. Judging from the fact that it does have that heavy strain of Water Magic in it, I guess I super-compressed the Water Mana into that, like Rarity made that ball out light with Fire Mana to start with."

"By the fact that it's that dark color and it seems to abhor light, I think 'Shadow-spider' would be a good term for the dear creature. Although, I wonder..." Rarity started. She then began to form a rather small ball of light and sat it right in front of the shadow-spider.

The shadow-spider surprised everyone not by running away, but utterly devouring the tiny ball of light.

"Wow... that, was unexpected..." Midori Hana said, shocked by how voracious the relatively small creature was.

"Well, I did find the little guy at first gnawing on top of my computer monitor. Although it really didn't damage it, I guess it thought it was light it could eat. The fact it runs away from strong light might mean that some creature made out of light might try and eat it if it was big enough," Twilight chuckled, everyone surprised by the somewhat morbid joke.

Fluttershy just thought back to her the various materials she watched and read regarding arthropods in both Equestria and Earth.  I can't say I'm surprised the little creature would think that way...

Rarity turned to her rather plain-Jane friend. "Well then dear Twilight, it appears we've all found our first stable mixtures of Terran Magic. Funny how you and I seem to be sitting polar opposite, with Light and Shadow Magic. Even thought I don't think either us have a good handle on what we can exactly do with them."

"No Rarity, I guess that's something else we'll have to experiment with going forward." Twilight said as she began to cutoff the mana flow; shadow-spider waving goodbye with a foreleg as it dissolved into dark violet particles.

"You think that thing would come back the same if you made another one?" Pinkie asked, perched on top of her still monochrome Mazinger Z model.

"Maybe Pinkie. I'm guessing if Shadow Magic can do stuff like that, there's no telling where Terran Magic can go, especially mixed with other Magic," Twilight replied, glad she could relax for the rest of the evening after recording the wavelengths of Shadow Magic on a notepad.

Celestia and Luna are going to be quite surprised when I get all these reports together. Terran Magic is so dynamic, it's frightening...

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