Author's Note

Edited 9/2/2017

01: Pancakes & Projects

"Breakfast is a meal best served among friends."

You Know that's a Children's Book, Right?

7 a.m. — Wake up

The alarm pillow Inkspill enchanted for me works like a charm. Goodbye, alarm clock—no more rude awakenings from you! I drop the now-useless hunk of plastic in the trash and make a mental note to inform Inky of her success later.

Hm, room's still messy. Gotta clean it later. Eventually.

I brush my mane and tail quickly and put my mane up in a ponytail. I'm not late--Inky's enchantment made sure of that—just nervous. Today is pitch day, the day we in the Harmony Division get to propose our ideas for our end-of-year projects.

7:15 a.m. — Eat breakfast

I rush out of my room and into the kitchen. Florence is already well into whipping up some pancakes.

"Can I help with anything?" I ask, eyeing the pancake batter he was stirring in a huge bowl. He always refused to use the electric mixer, even though he had to make enough batter for six ponies. He swore it tasted better hoof-stirred.

"Juniper, last time you helped cook, the Princess had to exorcise the kitchen," Florence says. He looks at me with disgust, though I think I see a twinge of amusement tugging at the corners of his frown. "So, no. Go sit at the table."

I laugh and comply with his order.

"Ooh, are those pancakes I smell?" a cheery voice says from behind me.

"I don't see how, as it's just the batter. But yes," says Florence. I can hear his eyes roll.

"Good morning, Moonbeam!" I exclaim, smiling.

"Morning, June. Ready to pitch your project?" She pulls the orange juice out of the fridge and brings it over to the table, levitating a couple glasses behind her.

"As ready as I can be. Can't be worse than last year.” My laughter comes out at a higher pitch than intended.

"Ah, I remember. Poison joke oil," Florence mutters from the stove.

"Hey it wasn't the pitch that went bad," Moonbeam says reassuringly. "You just—"

"Mixed up my essential oils with the poison joke extract and infected everyone on the entire floor via my diffuser? ...Yeah." I shudder at the memory. "I will never leave bottles unlabeled ever again."

"That's what I'm always saying. An unmarked bottle is a disaster waiting to happen," Florence lectures. He pours batter onto the hot pan and it crackles softly.

"Anyway." Moonbeam rolls her eyes. "You still haven't told me what your pitch is!"

"Well, it's kind of silly," I say. My ear twitches. "And a lot more research based than last year."

"Safer for us all," Florence says with a knowing look.

"So, what is it?" Moonbeam asks.

"Are those pancakes I smell?"

Moonbeam and I turn to see Whirlwind walk in, wide-eyed and hungry.

"Now that they're actually on the pan, yes," Florence answers.

"Okay, so I was waiting outside so I didn't have to help, are you happy?" Moonbeam slouches in her seat in an exaggerated manner.

"No. I'm actually quite hurt." He sniffs.

"Florence Flask, you showing some actual equine emotion?" Whirlwind gasps. Her face breaks into a teasing smile.

"I, Florence Flask, am making pancakes without the help of my 'friends'," he says, staring directly at Moonbeam. I hold back a giggle.

"Pancakes!"

"And good morning to you too, Frosty," Florence says with a sigh. "Is that all you ponies care about?"

"Come sit with us! Juniper is about to tell us what her pitch is about!" Moonbeam calls out to Whirlwind and Frosty.

Dang it, I thought I got out of that.

"Not another poison joke carpet bomb, I hope," Whirlwind says.

"Oh, leave the poor filly alone," Frosty says. "Anyone could have made that mistake."

"You know what they say." Whirlwind takes a seat next to Moonbeam. "Unmarked bottles."

"Thank you!" Florence's sudden moment of gratification causes him to drop the spatula and, consequently, a half-cooked pancake. He stares at it in silence for a few moments, and I swear he looks like he might cry. If Florence can cry, that is. He picks up the spatula just as someone else walks in.

"Hey are those—"

Florence wheels around to face the offender in one swift, fluid motion.

"I swear to the stars if you finish that sentence I will use this spatula to disembowel you," he deadpans.

"Oh." Inkspill blinks. "Um, sorry?"

"He's just cranky because his pancake belongs to the floor now," Moonbeam says with a smirk.

Florence just rolls his eyes and returns to tending to the stove.

"O-kay then. Anyway, Juniper! How did 'Gentle Awaken' work?"

"Perfectly! The alarm pillow woke me up exactly on time, and I feel refreshed and in a great mood! Though that last part might also have something to do with Florence's cooking," I say, laughing a little at the last part. "How long should it last again?"

"It should last about six months, but the enchantment is still in beta, so you’ll have to let me know," Inky says. "I'm really glad it worked, though! This puts me ten steps ahead of schedule. Thank you so much for helping me!" She takes a seat next to me and pours herself a glass of orange juice.

"Is 'Gentle Awaken' a part of your pitch today?" Frosty asks.

"Oh, no. That's just a personal project I've been working on," Inkspill replied. "The project I'm pitching today is about enchantment locks and specifications. Not too exciting, but if Princess Twilight approves it I could figure out a few interesting things. Didn't I tell you something about it, Whirlwind?"

"Yeah, like noseprint recognition for enchantments, right?"

"Something like that. Basically, I am studying a sort of 'add-on' enchantment that makes base enchantments accessible only to certain ponies. For example." Inkspill clears her throat. "For Juniper's 'alarm pillow', I could specify that the enchantment only activates for her."

"So it'd just be a normal pillow for anyone else?" I ask.

"Exactly. I know some enchantments can already be written for a specific pony, but there isn't something you can just layer onto an existing enchantment like this yet. I can add multiple ponies to the activation list, or detract them whenever I need to. There's some more complicated stuff in my proposal, but that's the gist of it," Inkspill says.

"I'm sure the Princess will go for it," Whirlwind says.

"I mean, I didn't understand a lot of that geek stuff, but Princess Twilight's all about that. You'll do fine," Moonbeam agrees, nodding.

"I thought I was speaking in laymare's terms," Inkspill says.

"See! There it is again, more geek stuff," Moonbeam says, waving off Inkspill's words with her hoof.

"I—"

"Pancakes are done," Florence announces loudly. He sets the rather large platter of fluffy pancakes on the table and takes the seat between Inkspill and Frosty.

Everypony immediately sets into the stack of golden-brown goods, and soon enough every plate is heaped with buttery goodness. Nothing's quite as good as pancakes drowned in butter, powdered sugar, and syrup.

After a while, Moonbeam turns to me with a sinister look in her eye.

"Juniper Cure~" she says in a sing-song voice. "Why are you avoiding telling us about your project?"

"I'm not." My voice wavers.

"What is your proposal on, Juniper?" Inkspill asks.

"Yeah, what is it?" Frosty asks.

I turn to Florence, a pleading look in my eyes.

"Don't look at me, I'm curious too," he says.

"Why do you guys care so much? It's not even cool," I protest, heat rising from my coat.

"It's because you won't tell us!" Moonbeam says. "Come on, what is it?"

"We won't laugh," Whirlwind says.

"It can't be worse than last year." I'm pretty sure Frosty meant that to be comforting.

"Okay, okay. I'll tell you." I sigh. I can feel my heart beating out of my chest.

"So, there are six branches of magic, right? Elemental, Mental, Arcane, Talisman, Harmony," I begin. I pause a moment. "And Chaos."

"I want to study Chaos Theory. It's established as the official sixth branch, but there's no depth to it. Right now, I can't go to school and take a class in Chaos Magic. There isn't a Chaos Mage, a chaos spellbook, nothing. Most schools skip over it, but it exists. I want to know more about chaos magic, and see if it can turn into an actual field of study." I realize I've been looking at my half-finished pancake this whole time. I brace for my friends' reactions.

"That's... actually really interesting," Florence says.

"And dangerous," Inkspill adds. "Juniper, I admire your ambition but are you sure this is what you want to pitch to the Princess?"

"And why can't she pitch that? I didn't even know there was a sixth branch of magic. I'd say that's a great topic for an end-of-year project." Whirlwind says.

"Chaos magic by name is unpredictable and unstructured. There's a reason it hasn't been studied," Inkspill says.

"Don't rain on her parade, Ink. It's probably this dang society's obsession with order that's kept ponies from studying Chaos Theory," Moonbeam says.

"I'm not trying to rain on her parade..."

"So you're asking Princess Twilight permission to research the Chaos Branch?" Florence asks, directing everyone's attention back to me.

"Well, kind of. I'm also asking for," I gulp, "a stipend and a travel pass."

"Okay, stipend's not unusual, but a travel pass?" Moonbeam says.

"You're leaving us?" Frosty asks, a stricken, pained look on her face.

"Just for a few months! And only if the Princess approves," I say. "I need it to visit places like the Canterlot Archives and primary resources."

"Like?" Whirlwind asks.

"...Princess Celestia?" I offer meekly.

"Juniper Cure, as ambitious as always," Florence says, the ghost of a smile on his face. "I'm sure Princess Twilight will allow it."

"She's the Fourth Flare, the Princess would never allow it." Inkspill huffs mildly. She takes a sip from her glass. Her gaze softens as she turns back to me. "We can't leave Harmonia for that long until graduation, June. You know that."

"Yeah, yeah, Harmony Division this, friendship that." Moonbeam rolls her eyes. "It's not like she'd be leaving permanently."

"Still, that sounds like a really broad subject. I don't think the traveling part would stop approval—I think it's lacking specifics," Frosty says.

"Well, there is... one more thing," I say. I swear my blue coat has turned purple by now out of shame.

"What's that?" Whirlwind asks.

"The only book I've ever found on Chaos Theory is Beware the Chaos Beast," I say warily.

"You can't be serious." Inkspill looks at me, wide-eyed.

"What? What is it?" Moonbeam asks, looking back and forth between me and Inkspill.

"You want to study him?" Florence looks equally surprised.

"That would be specific enough," Frosty conceded.

"Stop playing the pronoun game! What's everyone talking about?" Moonbeam shouts.

"Juniper, what are you really pitching?" Whirlwind asks, eyebrows arched.

I sigh.

"I want to know if Discord exists. And I want to find him."