Friendship, Love, and Magic

As time passed by, Aurora focused on reading her book. It had been nearly an hour since she arrived at the Golden Oak Library. Aurora leaned her head against her hoof, which held her up on the table. Her book was leaning against the pony head statue in the middle of the table. Periodically, she would flip the page with her magic. Twilight Sparkle walked into the room, looking around with a confused expression on her face. She turned to Aurora with a raised eyebrow, “They haven’t arrived yet?”

Aurora sighed, “No.” She turned to Twilight, “As ponies sent by Princess Celestia, I expected them to be more punctual.”

Twilight gave a small smile, “Give them some time. I’m sure they’ll be here any minute now.”

“I hope so,” Aurora said, darting her eyes away.

As if on queue, the front door suddenly opened and two ponies swiftly walked into the room. Aurora turned her head to face the ponies. One was a pegasus pony and the other was an Earth Pony. The pegasus had a Lemon Yellow Coat and a sky blue upward spiked mane with pale sky blue stripes throughout. Her eyes were narrow and almost gave the expression that she was perpetually in a state of suspicion. The second pony, the Earth Pony, looked very plain. She had a very generic english violet mane and tail. Her coat had much more presence than her mane, being a more saturated dark violet. Her demeanor was in a constant resting scowl, even though she wasn’t upset in any way.

The pegasus pony stopped and looked around the room with a hint of awe and confusion. “Wow,” she said in wonder. “Look at this place! It’s made out of a tree! That’s so cool!”

The earth pony rolled her eyes with a sigh of disappointment, “Yeah, sure. Such a wonder.” An obvious hint of sarcasm was present in the earth pony’s voice.

The pegasus turned to Twilight with an enthusiastic smile, “Heya! Are you Aurora Borealis? You look a lot more plain than I imagined you’d be.”

Twilight gave a nervous chuckle. She was unsure if that was meant to be an insult or not. She quickly shook her head, “No, I’m not. My name is Twilight Sparkle.” She pointed her hoof to Aurora, “That’s Aurora.”

“Huh,” The pegasus turned to Aurora. She quickly trotted up to the Aurora, leaving the earth pony behind. “Hey! So, you’re Aurora Borealis, huh?” The pegasus said in excitement.

“Um, yes? May I help you?” Aurora responded, unsure how this pegasus would know her.

“The name’s Zephyr Spark. I was sent by Princess Celestia to study magic with you,” the pegasus said, pointing to herself in pride.

Aurora raised an eyebrow in confusion. She looked at the pegasus’ body and focused on her wings, noting the fact that she was a pegasus. Aurora gave a small chuckle as she looked back up at the pegasus, “I’m sorry, there must be some mistake. I’m expecting two unicorn ponies who are gifted in magic. Not some…pegasus.”

Zephyr is taken aback by this comment, taking a small step back in offense. Her smile faded. Zephyr scratched her front right leg with her left as she tried to think of what to say. Stuttering at first, she finally managed to speak, “U-Um…did the Princess…say a unicorn pony?”

“No, but it goes without saying. Only unicorns can use magic,” Aurora said as she closed her book and put her full attention on Zephyr.

The earth pony approached Aurora after hearing this comment. “Hey,” she with a slight hint of anger. “Earth ponies and Pegasi have magic too, y’know?”

Aurora closed her eyes and waved her hoof, disregarding what the earth pony said, “Yes yes, I know. Every creature has a bit of dormant magic within them. Pegasi use it to give their wings enough power to lift their bodies and earth ponies use it to be in tune with nature. I know about that. But Unicorns are the only ponies, other than alicorns, that can conjure magic in any meaningful way.”

“Well ain’t that a close-minded way of thinking about things,” the earth pony said, staring daggers into Aurora.

“It’s not close-minded, it’s simply truth,” Aurora said as she stood up from the chair and completely turned her body towards the earth pony.

“And you believe an earth pony cannot conjure magic in any way similar to how a unicorn can?” the earth pony asked.

“Indeed,” Aurora responded, nodding.

“So tell me then, do you know everything about magic?” the earth pony asked, tilting her head.

Aurora smirked, “Well, I don’t mean to brag, but yes. I have spent my entire life researching, trying to learn everything there is to know about magic.”

“Alright then, let me ask you. Can an earth pony do this?” the earth pony said as she raised her front right hoof.

The earth pony’s hoof began to glow a bright blue color. Twilight, Zephyr, and Aurora looked on in confusion as the earth pony swiftly stomped her hood down on the floor. A ripple of magic spread across the floor as suddenly, a stick sprouted from the wooden surface. The stick turned into a small plant, in which a yellowish-white flower bloomed. The earth pony smirked and crossed her front legs, “You were saying?”

“H-How did you…” Aurora stuttered, her eyes widened after witnessing this occurrence.

“Incredible!” Twilight said with sparkling eyes. “Earth pony magic!”

Zephyr approached closely to the flower, “Wow! It’s a flower!” Zephyr slowly opened her mouth, bit the flower, and started to chew on it. Her eyes widened, “It tastes like…vanilla? So that’s what magic tastes like!”

“It tastes like vanilla because it’s a vanilla flower, you imbecile,” the earth pony said as she rolled her eyes. She then directed her attention to Aurora, “So, what were you saying about earth ponies being unable to conjure magic in any meaningful way?”

“I-I…how did…” Aurora stuttered, unable to speak after what she just saw. “How did you do that?”

“Ain’t it obvious? I used magic,” the earth pony responded with a smirk.

“B-B-B-B-B-But…earth ponies can’t use magic,” Aurora insisted as she stuttered greatly.

“And yet, I just did,” the earth pony said.

Twilight approached the earth pony in excitement, “I didn’t know earth ponies could use magic like that!”

The earth pony turned to Twilight, “Normally they can’t. I’m just different, for some reason.”

“That’s amazing! What’s your name?” Twilight asked.

The earth pony turned her body and proceeded to announce her name proudly, “My name is Blossom Night.”

Aurora could not believe it. The earth pony used magic before her very eyes. Aurora was frozen, her previous beliefs about magic in ponies had been shattered. “Is this what Princess Celestia was talking about? About two ponies who were gifted in magic?” she thought as she looked at Blossom Night, who was talking to Twilight. Aurora expected that the magically gifted ponies would be unicorns, considering her preconceived notion that only unicorns could conjure magic in any physical way. Though Aurora was confused, she had to admit, it excited her. For years, nothing surprised her. She thought she had learned all she could about magic, but here was a new element staring her right in the face. Aurora turned to Zephyr and looked at her in curiosity, “Does that mean…she has magic too?”

Aurora slowly approached Blossom before stopping in front of her. Blossom and Twilight stopped talking as they look at Aurora in confusion. “An earth pony…with magic. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that! It’s fascinating!”

“You believe now, huh? Just a moment ago, you were talking about how earth ponies can’t use magic,” Blossom said with a smile.

Aurora looked down in guilt, “I know, I was very rude about it. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Blossom said. “If I didn’t know, I would have thought it was impossible too.”

Aurora lifted her head to Blossom’s level, “How did you come to discover you have magic?”

“Pft, dunno,” Blossom responded with a shrug. “I was just out one day and then boom, I just had magic. ‘Bout the same time I got my cutie mark,” Blossom said as she turned her body to show off her cutie mark.

Aurora quickly looked down at the cutie mark in curiosity. Blossom’s cutie mark was of a mulberry bush with five blossoming mulberries. To the upper right of the bush is a moon with craters forming the shape of two pony heads. “I see,” Aurora commented. She looked back up at Blossom, “So how did you get your cutie mark?”

“That’s a story for another day,” Blossom said as she positioned her body back to normal. She looked past Aurora and at Zephyr, “What about you, featherbrain? Do you have magic too or what?”

Zephyr smiles in excitement at being called on, “Oh, uh…yeah, I do!”

“You do?” Twilight asked.

“Yuh-huh!” Zephyr responded as she nodded her head rapidly.

Aurora smiled in interest, “What can you do?”

“I can do cool things with my wings,” Zephyr said, spreading her wings for the ponies to see.

“Like what?” Blossom asked, tilting her head.

Zephyr's eyes glinted with determination, “I’ll show you!”

The trio of ponies followed Zephyr outside, where they stood side by side and watched as she took a signature pegasus stance of preparing to take off. Zephyr breathed in and out slowly before she fiercely flapped her wings as hard as she could, launching her off the ground with an audible whoosh. Twilight, Aurora, and Blossom’s heads quickly darted up. The three ponies watched in amazement at the pegasus’ speed. Immediately, Zephyr began to show off incredibly advanced flight moves. “Astounding! Look at her moves!” Aurora commented, looking up in awe.

Twilight was quick to follow up on Aurora’s comment, “She’s even faster than Rainbow Dash!”

“It is something to be appreciated,” Blossom stated.

Zephyr flew upwards before she backflipped into a dive toward the ground. As she fell, she spread her wings as far apart as she could. As she neared the ground, she pulled her wings back before she flicked them as hard and fast as she could forward. From out of both Zephyr’s wings, yellow beams of light flew out and towards the ground. Before the trio of observing ponies could process, the beams struck down on the ground, creating two small explosions.

Aurora, Blossom, and Twilight quickly covered their faces as the explosion launched chunks of dirt and debris everywhere. Once everything was calm again, the three ponies uncovered their faces and looked on, completely flabbergasted. Zephyr landed carefully on the ground and looked at craters in the ground. She placed her hoof on her mouth, keeping a chuckle from escaping, “Oopsie! I guess I overdid it.”

“What was that?!” Twilight asked, astounded.

“That was my magic,” Zephyr said as she trotted towards the ponies. “Why? Is it lame or something?”

“Holy smokes, that was cool. Way better than anything I’ve seen Rainbow Dash do,” Blossom said, smiling in amazement.

“You mean that you did that with magic?!” Aurora asked, stepping forward with widened eyes.

“Yeah,” Zephyr said, sticking her tongue out playfully.

“That was even more amazing than what Blossom did,” Aurora said. Aurora blushed in embarrassment as she turned to Blossom, “Um…no offense. What you did was also nice.”

“No no, I have to agree with you. That was far more than what most unicorns can do. To call you gifted would be an understatement,” Blossom said, putting on an admiring expression.

Zephyr blushed and put on a cute smile, “Thanks.”

Twilight turned to Aurora, “You should take notes. I know I’m going to.”

Aurora nodded and turned to Zephyr and Blossom, “Zephyr Spark, Blossom Night, both your magic is unlike anything I have ever encountered or even heard of. Will you two work with me to learn more about the magic you possess?”

Blossom and Zephyr were silent at first and stared at Aurora with blank expressions. Soon, however, their expressions changed to smiles. “Yeah, I’d like to learn more about our magic. I mean…isn’t that kind of why we’re here? Of course, I’m in.”

“Me too!” Zephyr said as she jumped in excitement.

Aurora smiled, excited that the ponies she previously ridiculed agreed, “That’s great. Then…if you all don’t mind. Can we start right away?”

“Why not? Day’s still young,” Blossom responded with a grin.

Twilight smiled at the trio of ponies, “We should get things set up in the library if that’s the case. Come on, everypony.” Twilight proceeded to reenter the library.

Aurora, Blossom, and Zephyr were quick to follow Twilight into the library. The four ponies proceeded to study the magic of Blossom NIght and Zephyr Spark as the day went on. Eventually, night approached and the magical research came to an end. Blossom Night proceeded out the door and towards her home. She waved one last goodbye to the ponies, “Don’t start without me tomorrow, okay?”

“Of course,” Aurora responded, waving back. She closed the door and walked into the library. She noticed Twilight putting away the quills and ink they were using. She proceeded to walk up to Twilight and speak to her, “So where are Zephyr and I going to sleep?”

Twilight turned to Aurora and smiled, “I have beds set up in my room. I’m probably going to be cleaning for some time, so you’re free to hit the hay if you’d like. I mean…Zephyr already has.”

Aurora smiled and thanked Twilight before making her way to the bedroom. Upon entering the room, she found that it was quite dark. Using her horn to light the way, she made it up the stairs and to the elevated area where the beds are located. As she walked towards the bed, she noticed Zephyr completely asleep in the small bed. “Guess I should get some shut-eye too,” Aurora thought as she climbed into her own bed. She looked down at her saddlebag, which was laying next to the bed. Aurora smiled and pulled out her notebook using her magic and guided it in front of her, “I suppose a letter to Princess Celestia won’t hurt.” Aurora took out her quill and ink. She dipped the tip of the quill in the ink and brought it to the book to begin writing.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am very grateful that you assigned this task to me. I have learned amazing things as a result of meeting these two ponies. You were right, both are tremendously gifted with magic. I must say, it was a bit of a shock at first to learn that the two ponies were not unicorns, but were in fact an earth pony and a pegasus.

And I’ve met your old student, Twilight Sparkle. She is really smart when it comes to magic. I believe I can learn a lot from her. It’s only been the first day, but I believe there is much more to learn from here on out.

Your Faithful Student, Aurora Borealis

Aurora smiled as she reread her entry. She was glad to have met these three ponies and looked forward to learning more from them. Aurora placed her book back in her saddlebag and proceeded to slip under the covers. Aurora shifted to her side and closed her eyes, prepared to fall asleep. However, suddenly, she could sense a bright light from her closed eyelids. The light bothered Aurora and she opened her eyes to see what it was. From the window of the room, lights flashed rapidly. “What in Equestria is going on?” Aurora mumbled as she got out of bed and walked towards the window. She placed her hooves on the window sill and looked out at the sky.

Aurora’s eyes widened as she caught sight of the source of the flashing lights. Stars in the sky above, were not still as they should have been. In fact, the stars were rotating. “What the…?!” Aurora uttered as she watched the scene unfold before her. With every passing second, the stars spun faster and fast until it was impossible to differentiate the individual stars. The stars seemed to blend together with the speed, forming rings around the sky. The stars glowed brightly as a beam of light formed from all of them. Aurora watched in horror as the beam of light shot down and toward Canterlot. Aurora gasped in horror as she knew exactly what it was, “Oh no…Prince Terrenus!”

To Be Continued…