Third Class: Powers Beyond Imagination

“Name, power, and ticket,” the guard said coolly.

Twilight gawked. She had never seen a stallion so massive before... I’m not even on the airship yet and I’m already getting surprises. “T-Twilight Sparkle, ESPer,” she stammered, pulling out her and Spike’s tickets from the envelope and flashing them at the guard. “As well as Spike the dragon.”

The huge black stallion eyed her suspiciously. He looked down at a list of some sort, flipped a page, then another. His eyes quickly lit up with understanding. “Ah, Miss Sparkle and her assistant. Of course, of course,” he said, a wide grin gracing his face. “You may board the airship. Please watch your step, and have a safe and pleasant trip.”

Twilight laughed nervously and thanked the guard, stepping through the gate. “Alright, there’s only one airship past this gate, so from here on out, everypony should be students of the academy.” She looked up, taking in the sight of the airship. It looked to be the size of a university building, attached to an unimaginably huge blimp. “Well, I can safely say that this Foundation has a very lacking sense of subtlety.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Spike said, half sarcastically and half in awe of the incredible sight before him. “And look at all these ponies! There have to be hundreds here!”

“Actually, it looks like they’re not all just ponies, either. I think I can see a few zebra, some buffalo, even a couple of griffons! This is incredible!”

“That it is. You know what this also is?” Spike asked. Twilight turned her head to give him a questioning look. “It’s a great chance to make some friends!” he said, giving a thumbs-up.

She simply rolled her eyes and continued her trek forward. “There will be time enough for that later, Spike. For now, I think I should stick to settling myself into the Academy, then I can worry about making friends.”

“Hey, wait a minute. Do you... hear something?” Spike asked hesitantly.

Twilight perked up her ears. “I don’t... Wait, there is something.” It sounded like a faint cheering, getting closer. She turned back toward the gates, where the sound seemed to be coming from. “I can’t really see anything from the ground; there are too many ponies. Hold on, I think there’s a TK trick Zen taught me that should help out in this situation.” She closed her eyes, focusing her mental power around herself, feeling herself leave the ground. Opening her eyes, she could see the ground about 8 feet below. She grinned at her success, but quickly refocused her attention on the sound. Before her eyes could focus on anything, she saw a multi-hued blur streak past her, and felt a sharp pain in her horn. Then there was the acute awareness that nothing was holding her aloft. She briefly considered that she should have been able to calculate the exact time it would take her to hit the ground after being subject to gravity, but the apparent blow to her horn was quite disorienting.

Well, that’s strange, even if I’m in no shape to calculate fall time, I probably should have hit the ground by now. And why does it feel like I’m moving sideways? She blinked as her vision returned to her. Yeah, that’s definitely sideways movement, not under the influence of gravity. “Ugh... what hit me?”

“Oh, hey, she’s awake! AJ, let her down!” A voice? From where? Above?

“Ah hear ya, ah hear ya.” Another voice, with a sort of stern southern drawl, off to the right.

Funny, it’s almost as if I’m being carried. Actually, that would explain both the lack of ground beneath my hooves and the pressure on my abdomen.

And there’s the ground. And the pressure’s gone. Hello, ground. Twilight wobbled as whoever had been carrying her set her down, her head dipping dangerously low. She staggered, righted herself, and sat. As her vision came into focus, she could make out two figures: one blue, one orange, topped with a splash of rainbow and yellow respectively. “One second, let me -” she held up a hoof to stabilize her sight “-just... get you... in focus.”

“You sure you’re okay? Maybe I clipped you harder than I thought.”

Okay, that sounded like it came from the blue one. “You... clipped me? You mean that wasn’t somepony smashing my horn with a sledgehammer?”

“See, Dash, ah told ya to dial it back.”

Twilight’s vision finally focused enough to make out the pair of mares enough to tell that southern-style was the last speaker. “Can somepony fill me in on what exactly just happened?”

“Ah, right. Well, my friend here has a bit of an excitable streak, and when she rocketed off from the gate, ah guess she musta hit you. Dunno how you were keepin’ yourself floatin’ like that, but it was probably a bad idea to get in Dash’s airspace.”

“Point well taken,” Twilight said, gingerly touching a hoof to her horn and wincing.

“Yeah, but then AJ here caught you before you could hit the ground and it was totally awesome!” The rainbow-maned pegasus appeared far too happy for somepony who very nearly killed somepony. Excitable streak is right.

“Well, thanks for the save... umm...” Twilight looked at the orange earth pony questioningly.

“Oh, where’re my manners? Sorry ‘bout that. The name’s Applejack, and fly-gal here is Rainbow Dash.”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is...” Twilight trailed off as she realized Spike was not by her side as she had expected him to be. “I appear to be missing my dragon. Do you two have any idea where he went?”

“You mean your little purple buddy? I think he went of to meet the red one,” Dash chimed in.

“Red one? You mean, there’s... a red dragon? Getting on the airship? As a student?” Twilight fired off her questions rapid-fire, and Dash nodded to each one. “Fascinating. Well, I’d better go find Spike so we aren’t separated for too long. Where would this dragon happen to be?”

The two mares remained silent, their eyes seeming to slip past Twilight.

“There’s somepony behind me, isn’t there?” she asked. Applejack gave a hesitant smile and a quick nod in her direction. Twilight turned and found her eyes planted on a scaly wall of crimson. Tilting her head up, she saw a scaly lizard face glaring down at her sternly.

The dragon held out his arm, dangling a squirming Spike by the neck. “I assume this belongs to you,” the dragon said.

Spike turned sheepishly to Twilight. “Ehehe, hi Twi. I figured if you were being taken care of, I’d go introduce myself to Garble, here.”

“Uh... I... I’m sorry if he was b-bothering you,” Twilight stuttered. Damn, this guy is intimidating. Not surprising, considering he’s a dragon, but it’s still pretty scary.

Garble dropped the smaller dragon next to Twilight, then looked away, almost as sheepishly as Spike. “It’s... well, he wasn’t really bothering me. I just... don’t like to see kids wandering around on their own. I know you were kinda unconscious, but you should be more responsible.”

“O-of course. T-thanks for... looking after him,” Twilight said, trying to conceal her bewilderment. Wait, is he embarrassed? I guess I misjudged him, maybe he’s a really nice dragon after all.

“Well, well, well. Looks like our little Garble’s a little tsundere,” cooed a voice from behind the dragon.

Garble jerked to the side, revealing a white unicorn with an electric blue mane. “Sweet King Vicegrip, Vinyl! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Garble growled. “Wait, what do you mean, tsundere? The hell does that even mean?”

“Eh, just a little lingo I picked up on my trip to Neighpon. It’s a fun place; you should join me sometime. Those ponies love dragons,” the white unicorn said, adjusting her violet sunglasses.“Oh, hey, if you aren’t busy, wanna help me set up? Vesker’s helpin’ out too, and Tavi’s gonna play. It’s gonna be sweet.”

“Sure, why the hell not,” Garble said with a shrug. He turned back to Twilight and the others. “Guess I’ll see you round school. And take care of the kid, starflank.”

Twilight watched as Garble turned and left with the unicorn. “Well,” she said after a few moments of awkward hesitation. “That was random.”

Applejack let out a sigh of relief.

Rainbow Dash simply burst out laughing.

===

Twilight lost the two mares in the crowd while boarding the airship, but she didn’t mind too much. She had found herself a nice, out-of-the-way place ideal for a bit of rest, reading, and training. Unfortunately, as the airship took off, she became keenly aware that not all was right.

“Uugh... my stomach...” she gurgled. “I still can’t believe I’m getting motion sick...”

Spike had gone off to get help nearly twenty minutes ago, and still nopony had come around. I really hope he’s alright, but what’s taking him so long? A number of ponies had walked past Twilight’s little alcove, even going so far as to peek inside, but they all moved along without so much as a word.

“Stupid Foundation... Why couldn’t it have been a train? I don’t have a problem with trains,” she growled under her breath as she glared daggers into the back of yet another pony who decided to retreat rather than speak up. She had to screw her eyes shut as her stomach rebelled again, particularly violently.

“Oh, my. You don’t look too good.”

Twilight opened her eyes and looked up at the bespectacled young mare before her, a cream-colored earth pony with a vivid orange mane. “Don’t feel so good... Can I help you?”

“Actually, I came down here because I thought I could help you. I heard about you from the baby dragon wandering around upstairs. He seems like a good friend,” the mare said with a soft smile. “I’ve got a little trick I can do in situations like this. Mind if I try it out?”

“No, if you’re offering to help, then by all means, try,” Twilight said, forcing herself to return a smile despite her rebel viscera. “I have my own trick, but it requires the kind of concentration apparently not afforded when it comes to motion sickness.”

The mare seemed to glide over to Twilight and placed a hoof on her back. “Well, it seems you have all kinds of tension. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you had been fighting for your life a fair bit over the past few weeks,” she said, moving her hoof around several spots along Twilight’s spine.

“Wow, you can tell that just from touching me? That’s scarily accurate.”

The mare was silent for a moment. “S-seriously? No wonder you’re so tense.” She shifted her hoof over one spot. “Ah, there it is.”

Twilight was about to ask what the ginger mare had found when she felt a sharp force in her spine. She jumped to her hooves and whirled on the mare. “What in Tartarus was that?” she asked, bewildered.

The ginger mare continued to smile sweetly, still holding a hoof off the ground. “Not feeling motion sick anymore, I see.”

Twilight blinked, stunned. She’s right! “H-how did you do that?”

“I know a fair bit about pressure points, spinal tension, and various ways to utilize them for a myriad of effects, including, but not limited to, temporarily curing motion sickness, as I’ve just demonstrated.” She extended her ungrounded hoof to Twilight. “By the way, I’m Ginger Snap.”

Before she knew what she was doing, Twilight found herself extending her own hoof to meet Ginger’s. “T-twilight Sparkle. That’s the second time I’ve stuttered my name today; I really shouldn’t make a habit of it.” She lost herself in thought for a moment before pulling herself back to the conversation. “Oh, sorry. Thanks, you were a big help.”

Ginger giggled a bit. “Oh, it’s not a problem. I was glad to help. So, what were you doing down here?”

“I was hoping to do some more training. I wanted to get better with my abilities as quickly as possible,” Twilight explained, settling back down.

“Oh, right, that’s a big topic. Everypony here has powers; it’s quite exciting. So, what did you get?”

“I’m an ESPer. As I understand it, I can, to a degree, mimic magical effects in a variety of ways.”

Ginger nodded, settling next to Twilight. “I’m familiar with ESPers. I’ve had my own fair share of encounters with them in the past,” she said, adjusting her shaded glasses.

Twilight shot her a quizzical look. “What do you mean, ‘had encounters?’ How long have you been aware of the supernatural?”

Ginger gave a hollow laugh. “Oh, I’ve been different since the day I was born. I’ve had my powers a long time, and occasionally I get targeted. Everypony and his supernatural brother wants a piece of me, it seems.”

“That sounds pretty scary. I don’t know if I could handle living like that. What kinds of powers do you have, anyway?”

“Well, I’ve got one of the rarest powers out there. I’m what’s called a breath stealer.” She removed her glasses, causing her eyes to give off a faint pink glow in the alcove’s shade. “It’s one of the two kinds of powers that mess up a pony’s biology to some degree. I’ve got a couple of unnatural traits as a result of this power, but the abilities I get from it are pretty incredible.”

Twilight recalled a bit of what she read about the “breath stealer” power from the introductory pamphlet. “Right, you don’t have any natural spiritual energy, but your abilities stem from the power to siphon energy, powers, skills and memories from other entities. Does that about sum it up?”

Ginger’s mouth started to part in a grin, but she hesitated for a moment, forming it instead into a smirk. “Looks like somepony’s been doing her research. Yeah, that does sum up a usual breath stealer pretty well, but I’ve got a couple extra abilities that not every breath stealer gets access to. First off, I’m pretty much impervious to conventional mundane weapons, except pointy stuff made out of either wood or silver. I once got a silver spear through my side. That wasn’t the most pleasant experience,” she said, causing Twilight to grimace. “Fortunately, though, I had extra power number two: I can regenerate any damage done to me, even severed limbs. Not that regrowing a leg is pleasant, either. But, let’s stray away from the more gruesome talk.

“I can see perfectly well in the dark, but bright light, especially sunlight, hurts my eyes; that’s ability three. Fourth, I have the power to put anypony I lock eyes with in a kind of hypnotic trance, which makes draining energy especially easy. Fifth, I can steal physical and mental capabilities: for example, say I encounter somepony who’s really strong or really smart. I can take that strength or intelligence with my energy drain, and use it later to augment my own natural capacities.

“Unfortunately, all that does come at a cost. I told you I have a number of unnatural traits. My eyes are just the start of it. Running water physically hurts me, though I can still regenerate from that. My coat should’ve been a warm golden hue, and when I was young, it was; as I got older, though, it got paler until it was this cream color. Finally...” she began to say something but trailed off. She laughed hollowly again through a thin smile. “Sorry, when I get talking it can be difficult for me to stop.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Twilight said with a smile. “It was actually quite fascinating, hearing what you can do. What were you about to say about your last unnatural trait? I mean, if it’s not something embarrassing or something that you don’t want to share.”

“No, it’s just that... well... this is one of the big reasons I would get targeted,” Ginger said, getting up and striding to the edge of the alcove. She turned back and faced Twilight, her eyes illuminating the faint shadows. “You’d be surprised how many ponies will want to kill you if you have something like this. Promise you won’t run or scream or try to kill me?”

“Of course,” Twilight said, slightly confused. “What kind of thing could possibly make anypony want to hurt a nice pony like you?”

Ginger grinned.

Twilight shot to her hooves and backpedaled a foot or so, bumping into the alcove wall. “I... uh... Sorry, I just sort of panicked,” she stammered, her eyes locked on Ginger’s teeth. Each one was a long, sharp, predatory fang. “I wasn’t quite expecting something like that. You don’t... you know...”

“What, use them for what they appear to be made for? No, no. I don’t drink blood and I don’t eat meat, though some breath stealers have to. A lot of vampire legends are based on breath stealer lore... at least, the vampire legends that aren’t actually based on real vampires.” She took a tentative step forward. “So, you’re okay with my teeth? They don’t completely freak you out?”

Twilight shook her head. “Yeah, I’m okay with them. I was just surprised by them. Of course, your assurance that you won’t eat anypony when they fall asleep helps a lot,” she said with a nervous laugh.

Ginger returned the laugh and returned to the inner end of the alcove with Twilight. “Oh, there is one thing you missed in your research,” she said, eliciting a raised eyebrow from the bookworm. “Breath stealers are effectively immortal. As long as they can feed on spirit energy, they don’t age.”

“So even when you get to be a hundred years old, you’ll look exactly the same as you do now? That’s pretty impressive,” Twilight said, her voice conveying her sense of awe.

Ginger chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose it is.” Her head snapped toward the entrance to the alcove and she sniffed the air. “That’s strange... I haven’t smelled them in almost two years...”

“What’s that? I don’t smell anything.”

“My sense of smell is also pretty well attuned to my spiritual perception. In the same way an ESPer can get feelings with ESP, I can sense spiritual fluctuations through scent. At least, that’s how I perceive it.” She stood up. “Seems we’re about to have company.”

“Okay, okay, you don’t have to push,” said Spike’s voice from around the corner. “Hey, Twi, are you still here?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Thanks for going to get help, Spike. She arrived just in- Why are Applejack and Rainbow Dash following you?” Twilight looked confusedly at the two mares following her assistant as they rounded the corner..

Applejack took a step forward, a stern expression on her face. “Ya let him go ‘round all by his lonesome again. We spotted him wanderin’ around and thought we should get him back to ya before that Garble feller saw him and decided ta chew ya out.”

“Yeah, and knowing him,”- Rainbow Dash interjected, obviously annoyed -”he’d probably chew us out too for not making sure you were taking care of him.”

“Well, thanks for getting him back here, but he’s perfectly capable of taking care of himself while he runs an errand. Isn’t that right, Spike?”

“Yeah, perfectly capable,” the dragon echoed. “So, Twi, you were saying somepony found you? Where is she?”

“Huh? What are you talking about, Spike? She’s right-” Twilight turned to look at Ginger, only to find the mare had vanished. “-here... What the? Where’d she go?”

“What, didja lose another buddy?” Applejack asked. “We didn’t see nopony but you when we came ‘round. You sure you’re okay? Ah thought Spike here said you were havin’ some kind o’ stomach trouble.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” Twilight grumbled, still scanning for any sign of her stomach’s savior. “A pony named Ginger Snap came down and pretty much cured my motion sickness, and she was right here until you three got here.”

“Whoa, wait, hold up,” Rainbow Dash said, wearing an expression of incredulity. “You said ‘Ginger Snap.’ You don’t mean-”

“No way,” Applejack interrupted. “Y-you don’t think she’d be here, do ya?”

Twilight scrunched up her face in confusion. “What’s the matter with you two? All I said was that her name was Ginger Snap. Even if you know somepony by that name, the odds that it’s the same pony are pretty slim.”

“No, you’re totally wrong on that,” Dash said, jerking her head around to look in as many different directions as possible. There was an edge of paranoia in her voice. “You said she was right there but disappeared when we rounded the corner. The Ginger Snap we know is definitely capable of that.”

“Aww, I’m so touched you remember me, Dash,” Ginger’s voice echoed through the hall. “She’s right, Twilight. We have met. Though, last time we did, it was under less than friendly circumstances.”

“We were on opposite sides of a gang fight!” Dash protested, trying and failing to locate the source of the voice.

“You mean your entire gang against little old me, right? That’s how I remember it going. Of course, it turns out you and Applejack here aren’t too terribly bad, since you were the last two standing. If I remember correctly, the three of us had dinner together that night, right?”

“Yeah, that sounds ‘bout right,” Applejack said, still looking around nervously. “So, why don’t y’all come on out and we can talk civil, face to face?”

“Oh, of course. How rude of me, my body instinctively just went insubstantial,” Ginger’s voice rang out with a chuckle. The mare materialized nearly on top of Rainbow Dash, who gave an almost fearful squeak. “It has been quite a while, hasn’t it?”

“Y-yeah, a while,” Dash stuttered. “Hey, wait, you don’t look different at all. You haven’t aged a day since two years ago!”

“Oh, yeah, I was just explaining that entire thing to my new friend here, though I see you girls have already met,” Ginger said with a grin. Dash shuddered at the sight of the fangs.

“Only very briefly,” Twilight explained. “Rainbow Dash here crashed into me-”

“You violated my airspace,” Dash interrupted.

“-and knocked me out, and Applejack was kind enough to carry me to the ship while I was unconscious.”

“Least Ah could do, considerin’ how hard Dash hitcha. Weren’t a problem in the slightest,” Applejack said with a tentative smile, though she still eyed Ginger.

“Well, we were just discussing our powers before you all came along,” Ginger said, sliding next to Applejack. “I don’t think I know what your powers are,” she said, screwing up her face in concentration.

“Oh, well that’s easy,” Applejack said, gaining some confidence. “Ah’m a Spirit Energist. Means Ah can do all kinds o’ fancy things with my spirit energy, including this.” Applejack grinned as a shaft of orange light extended sideways from her teeth. “It’s a sword,” she said through clenched teeth. “Purty neat, ain’t it?”

“Ooh, that’s really cool!” Twilight said with awe. “Manifestation of a weapon made of spirit energy is what that is. I read that your power type was able to do that, but seeing it up close is quite fascinating!”

Ginger turned back to Dash. “What about the Queen of Speed herself? What did you get?”

Dash grinned back at Ginger. “My powers are by far the coolest out there,” she said, puffing up her chest. “I’m a Cambion. It’s where I get my badass mane and my super speed.”

“Cambion...” Twilight thought aloud, bringing a hoof to her chin. “One whose recent ancestry contains demonic influence, and who gains powers specific to the individual. Interesting. I thought they’d be rarer, but I guess Demongate Academy is full of them...”

Ginger frowned at Dash a bit. “So, you mean to say that you’re not different at all from our last encounter? That seems... kinda boring.”

Dash tensed up and glared at Ginger. “Wh-whaddaya mean, I’m not different at all!? I’ve gotten twice as fast as I was back then! And I picked up another little trick, too!” She crouched down and began to growl. Sparks began dancing across her coat as her mane began to rise.

“Whoa, there, Dash!” Applejack called out, backing up a few feet. “Ya do know this here’s metal floorin’, right? Ah don’t think pullin’ out that power is such a good idea. Also, remember what happened last time? Ah don’t wanna go through that tough li’l sumbitch again any time soon.”

“Ugh, fine,” Dash said, letting the electricity arcing along her skin die down. “I guess you’re right, though. I shouldn’t use it much until I can better control the electricity.”

“Wait, you’ve got electric powers? Now that is interesting,” Ginger said, raising an eyebrow.

Dash averted her eyes, focusing on floor. “Yeah, but it’s kinda dangerous to use them... So, I try to avoid it whenever I can.”

Ginger scowled. “So you just don’t use them? Seems like kind of a waste to me.”

Dash glared at Ginger, locking eyes with her. “I don’t use these powers for a reason. Last time... somepony got hurt.” She brightened up, putting on a more confident face. “Besides, my speed is more than enough to take on anything in my way. Even the Wonderbolts can only go a kilometer a minute. Me? I can do a kilometer in ten seconds flat without even breaking a sweat. I was practically crawling when I bumped into Twilight here,” she said, waving a hoof at the unicorn. “If I’m gonna be fighting demons and stuff, I don’t think they’d be able to handle getting smacked that fast.”

“That’s right, it’s a simple matter of physics: an impact with greater velocity delivers more force. Even a demon wouldn’t be able to withstand an impact with that magnitude of speed,” Twilight said, nodding through her explanation.

The three other mares just stared for a few moments. Rainbow Dash shot a smirk at her orange companion. “Well, I guess you could put it like that. You know, if you were an egghead,” she said with a snicker.

Applejack scowled and dropped a few coins at Dash’s hooves, mumbling about how she would never make another bet in her life.

Twilight rolled her eyes with a sigh. “Alright, fine. I was going to do the math and calculate how many Neightons of force were behind a full-speed punch from you, but obviously nopony cares.”

“Well, as fascinating as it would be to listen to Twilight lecture us in physics, I think there’s something even more enjoyable up above,” Spike said, emphasizing certain words so as to not earn his caretaker’s ire. “Remember that blue-maned unicorn who said she needed Garble’s help setting up a concert? It looked like it was almost ready. We should go up and watch!”

“A concert, huh?” Twilight said, bringing a hoof to her chin. “Well, I guess it couldn’t hurt. It would make a perfect testing area for ESP.”

“What, don’t you ever switch off?” Dash asked. “Seriously, if you’re going to a concert, at least go to enjoy the music.” She walked past Twilight, lightly flicking her tail in the unicorn’s face. “So, what do you say? You gonna at least try to have a good time up there?” she asked with a grin.

Twilight blinked a few times. “Uh... Alright. I think I can do that,” she said, her confusion slowly becoming a smile. She turned to Ginger. “Let’s go, then.”

Ginger smiled softly in return. “Of course; let’s.”

Author's Note

Okay, so I should touch on this, at least briefly: only supernaturally-oriented races are able to awaken any kind of supernatural power. As such, there are no donkeys or "livestock" animals like cows, sheep and pigs. However, griffons, buffalo, zebras and dragons are all supernaturally oriented, much like ponies. Zecora will appear as one of the professors, Garble will make a couple of appearances, and I may have Little Strongheart make a cameo at some point. Of course, these aren't the only races at Demongate Academy. No, I'll have surprises for you yet.

Mostly, this chapter is just for introductions and character development. This was probably one of the hardest chapters for me to write, as evidenced by the time it took to write it. Stupid writer's block and procrastination. But, hey, Twi's starting to make friends. This can only end well.

Okay, so a bit of recap in terms of powers:
Twilight Sparkle: ESPer
Spike: As of yet, Unpowered
Zen Star: ESPer???
Ginger Snap: Breath Stealer
Rainbow Dash: Cambion
Applejack: Spirit Energist

Everything look good so far? Please tell me what you think!