Spellbound Fireflies (17 page)

Taking a deep breath, Sweetie smiled weakly.  “Thanks, Scoots.  For…well, for everything.”

Scootaloo felt her cheeks burn and willed her heart to slow.  “You’re welcome, Sweetie.  This should be good.  You’ll get to learn about magic, and we can hang out some.”

The apprehension flowed out of Sweetie Belle’s face and her smile widened.  “I can’t wait for Friday, but it’s really good seein’ you more, Scoots.”

“Yeah…” Scootaloo murmured, dazzled by Sweetie’s grin.  A little voice in her head demanded she find a way to always see that smile.  She blurted out, “D’you wanna come to my flying practices?  Twilight comes to watch an’ hang out, I’d like—err, I mean, if you wanted to come, it’d be pretty cool…”  She bit her lip to stop her own rambling.  
‘Wow, you’re smooth,’
she admonished herself.

“Sure, Scoots!  That sounds like fun!”

Scootaloo’s smile matched Sweetie Belle’s in ferocity.  A silence that was somehow both comfortable and awkward fell over the pair as Scootaloo debated between looking away and fidgeting, or continuing to stare at Sweetie's face.

The clack of Twilight’s hooves coming up the stairs came as both a disappointment and a relief.  Their tutor entered with two glasses floating in front of her and she smiled as she floated them to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.  “Alright, Scootaloo.  I’m going to start Sweetie Belle off running through the basics, so why don’t you start today with reading practice.”

“Sounds good!”  Scootaloo offered Sweetie a warm smile and trotted over to the fireplace with her juice.  She cracked open the book that had been laid out for her and tried to focus on the words.

Twilight cantered over to her desk.  “So Sweetie, I talked to your sister and parents earlier today about what you’ve learned so far.  I thought
we’d
get started working on precise control and bulk power for levitation spells, since that’s the most practical and common form of unicorn magic.”  She took the lid off a small box on her desk and floated out several balls of different sizes and materials.  She beckoned Sweetie over with a hoof, who tentatively approached.

Scootaloo’s ears flicked and an amused smirk broke out on her face as Twilight’s voice fell into a warm and informative tone she had taken to calling ‘the lecture voice,’ saying,  “These are called practice stones.  Some of them are rather heavy.”  She gestured to a series of iron balls ranging in sizes from a large marble to the size of a stallion’s hoof and floated them close to Sweetie’s face.  She dropped them back in the box and brought a plum-sized ball that was lined with hinges and seams forward.  “This one here is designed to crumple with a very small amount of pressure.”  Sweetie watched as the ball collapsed to half its size and a small gasp escaped her mouth.  Twilight’s smile widened.  “The heavy ones will help you strengthen your levitation ability and the delicate one will help with control.”  She sprung the collapsed ball back open and set it inside the box.  “Does that make sense?”

Shuffling on her hooves, Sweetie mumbled, “So, the heavy ones are kinda like going to the gym and working out, right?”

“Exactly.”

Her voice growing stronger as she talked, the filly continued, saying, “And the other one is so I can hold stuff without worrying about breaking anything?”

“That’s a big part of it, but it will also help you with precise things.”  Twilight took the hinged ball back out of the box.  “Your sister does a lot of very fine needlework using levitation spells, which requires an extremely delicate and exact application of magic.  I’d bet that not only could she hold this without collapsing it, but that she could collapse each section of it one at a time.”  Twilight narrowed her eyes in concentration and half of the ball shrunk in on itself while the other half remained its normal size.

The lingering apprehension in the younger unicorn fled as she gaped at the ball.  “Wow…”

Twilight chuckled.  “I have pretty good control, but I’d guess Rarity is better than me.  She’s had a lot of practice doing that sort of magic and she started out talented at it anyway.”

Her eyes still trained on the half-crumpled ball, Sweetie marveled, “That’s still so
cool
.”

Twilight shook her head, still grinning.  “Well, cool or not, we’ll practice at precision until you can hold it without collapsing it.  After that we can try controlled collapses like this.  Sound like a plan?”

“Totally!”

As Twilight started walking Sweetie Belle through levitating some of the smaller balls, Scootaloo admonished herself when she realized she had been doing more listening than reading.  She redoubled over her book and tried to not pay attention to the sound of her crush’s voice when she asked a question, or her tutor when she provided an answer that was more interesting than Scootaloo thought it had any right to be.  
‘Stupid magic not being boring,’
she grumbled in her head.

A few minutes into Sweetie’s practicing, Rainbow Dash flew in through a skylight and landed gently on the upper loft.  Scootaloo glanced up from her book and waved, getting a grin and a nod in response, and refocused.  Rainbow cantered out of sight.  At first, the sounds of rummaging drifting down from the mare were soft, but they gradually grew louder and were joined by grumbling.

Twilight looked up at her marefriend and quirked an eyebrow.  “Hey Sweetie Belle, think you can keep this one floating for a few minutes while I go talk to Rainbow?”

Her eyes almost crossed from looking at the ball hovering just in front of her face and her tongue stuck out in focus, the filly grunted, “Mhmm.”

“Great, be right back.”  Twilight quickly climbed the stairs up towards her bed.  Rainbow Dash muttered darkly, tossing pillows aside and digging through drawers in the bedside dressers.  “Rainbow?”

The mare glanced up in surprise, a guilty smile on her face.  “Sorry, am I bein’ noisy?”

Twilight snickered.  “A little.  I wasn’t expecting you home for a few hours; everything okay?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said, waving a hoof dismissively, “A magical storm got kicked up outta the Everfree Forest and those are always a pain to break up, so I’m a little tired.  Thought I’d relax for a bit until my hooves stop tinglin’, and do my flight practice in an hour or two.”

Twilight clicked her tongue in sympathy.  “Aww, lemme see.”  She cantered closer and lifted one of her marefriend’s hooves to her mouth.   She planted a small kiss, feeling the dull hum of residual magic against her lips.  “Wow, no kidding.”  Rainbow chuckled as Twilight lit her horn, siphoning off the wild magic from the pegasus.  “Better?”

Testing her legs with a couple small hops, Rainbow said, “Much.  Thanks babe.”  She kissed Twilight gently on the lips and ruffled the mare’s mane into messiness.  “Still think I’ll take that break for a bit.”  Sighing, Rainbow turned back to the dresser as Twilight patted her mane back into some form of straightness.  “Now if only I could find it…”

“What’re you looking for?”

“I could’ve sworn I left
Daring Do and the Wooden Mask
right here…”

Grinning, Twilight cantered towards the balcony and nodded her head towards the fireplace.  Rainbow looked down, seeing Scootaloo with her muzzle in a familiar-looking book.  “Sorry, Rainbow,” Twilight murmured, “I didn’t know you were rereading it.”

Snorting and shaking her head, Rainbow said, “Scoots’ reading practice is Daring Do?  You’re the best teacher.”

Twilight kissed Rainbow’s cheek.  “Best way to get faster at reading is to read a lot, and the best way to encourage reading is to make it something fun.”

Amusement coloring her low tone, Rainbow pointed between the two fillies.  “Too bad she’s not gettin’ much reading done.”

Twilight frowned in confusion and glanced back and forth between her charges.  Her bewilderment grew when she saw Scootaloo furtively watching Sweetie over her book in stolen glances.  “What—?”

Rainbow leaned in conspiratorially, dropping her voice to an unnecessary whisper.  “She doesn’t know she gave it away to me last night, but Scoots is
totally
sweet on Sweetie.”  Twilight’s eyes widened in comprehension and a smirk split her muzzle.  Rainbow nodded, stifling a chuckle.  She looked back down and whispered, “Be fair here; Sweetie Belle
is
totally adorable with her face all scrunched up like that.”

Twilight shook her head and chuckled.  “I’m gonna have to rethink how to tutor them both if Scootaloo’s gonna get anything accomplished.”

“Oh, but it’s so cute, Twi’…Look at ‘em…Scoots pretending to read while she stares at Sweetie Belle practicing magic…reminds me of us.”  She let out a mock wistful sigh.  A sly smirk spread across her muzzle and she cupped her hooves around her mouth, shouting out, “Scootaloo!  Bank left!”

With a yelp, Scootaloo threw her forehooves up in the air, sending the Daring Do book sailing over her head.  She leapt upright, spreading her wings out and locking them into position.  While her wings were solidly placed, her footing was not, and she scrambled along the floor before flopping to the ground.  Sweetie Belle almost dropped the iron ball in her giggles.  Face red as a tomato, Scootaloo got back to her hooves and stuck her tongue out at the two snickering mares.

Rainbow waved brightly down at the fillies and turned back to the bed, flopping down on her back and resting her head on her hooves.  “Did, uh...d’you know if everything’s alright with Scoots at home?”

Twilight sighed.  “Mrs. Taker has started really ignoring her instead of dealing with anything, I think.  Scootaloo thinks it’s because she hurt her feelings, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on.  Maybe it is, but I’m worried Scootaloo’s gonna get the silent treatment from now on.”  She sighed again.  “At least it isn’t as bad as we thought it might be.  This is bad, and we should watch it closely in case it gets worse, but hopefully it is just ‘hurt feelings.’  Time will tell, I guess.”  She ran a hoof through her mane and looked away.

Rainbow nodded and frowned.  “Yeah, we’ll see.  Least she’s not alone.”  A shadow of old pain crossed her face.  She shook her head and smiled weakly.  “Well, I guess I’ll just nap, unless there’s somethin’ Spike could use some help with downstairs.”

Twilight shook her head.  “Spike went out earlier.  You know him; ever since he hit fourteen he’s been his own dragon.  I hardly see him at all anymore.”

Rainbow’s ears flicked, picking up the melancholy just under the surface of Twilight’s voice.  “…Wanna talk about it?”

Sighing, Twilight cantered over to the bed and sat on the edge.  “It’s no big deal, really.  It’s just…Spike hatched from that egg when I got accepted into school.  He’s been there by my side for fifteen years now, Rainbow.  When I was little, he was like a baby brother to me.  Then I got older…he’s almost been a son.”

Rainbow rolled over on her side and gently stroked her marefriend’s back with a hoof, her voice dropping low and caring.  “I know that, Twi’; I’ve seen the way you look at him.  And you’ve done a great job with him.  It’s good he’s settin’ off on his own a little, seein’ as he’s his own dragon now.”

Twilight turned and offered Rainbow a small smile.  Rainbow had seen that specific type of smile only a few times before; once on Princess Celestia when she had decreed Twilight would stay in Ponyville and twice on her own father’s face when he related an old story about meeting Rainbow’s mysterious mother.  It spoke of age and a rare form of happy regret.  “It is a good thing.  He’s just grown up so fast.”

Rainbow sat up suddenly and pulled Twilight into a gentle, but heartfelt kiss.  She softly stroked Twilight’s mane and murmured, “I really love you, ya know that?”

Nuzzling Rainbow’s cheek, Twilight said, “I love you too, Rainbow…Not that I get tired of hearing it, but what brought this on?”

“You’re just…”  Rainbow smirked and shook her head.  “Every day you have some little way of remindin’ me how lucky I am.”

Twilight’s smile grew and she pecked Rainbow on the snout.  “I’m the lucky one.”

A strained squeak floated up from the lower level.  “Twilight—?” Sweetie Belle groaned, “—this is getting heavy!”

Blanching, Twilight leapt to her hooves.  “Sorry, sorry!”

Scootaloo chuckled as Twilight rushed down the stairs to relieve Sweetie Belle of the weight.  She refocused on her book and tried to get past the first paragraph.  Rainbow’s snickering floating down from the loft made her grin and she lost her place again.  She laughed at herself.  
‘I’m never gonna get anything done here again,’
she thought,
‘Havin’ Sweetie here is either the best or worst idea ever.’

Scootaloo was more than happy to wait and find out which one it would be.

Mr. Taker shut the door behind himself and frowned thoughtfully at the couch.  By his guess, his wife hadn’t moved the entire day.  He cantered over slowly and rubbed her back with a hoof.

Mrs. Taker blinked herself out of her reverie and shook her head clear.  “Oh, Under, you’re home,” she murmured, her voice rough from disuse.  She brushed her bangs to the side and stood up.  “I should get dinner started.”

Mr. Taker followed her into the kitchen, his frown deepening and brow creasing.  “Care?”

The mare brushed a lock of mane from her face, briskly moving to the cupboards.

“What’s wrong?”

Pulling down her cutting board and setting an assortment of veggies on the counter, she trotted to the knife block.

“Care,
please
talk to me.”

She strapped a chopping knife to her hoof and began to mince with practiced speed.

Mr. Taker’s hoof settled on her shoulder.  “You’ve barely said a word since yesterday.”

He stood there silently, feeling his wife’s shoulder rise and fall with each chop.  Halfway through a carrot she stopped mincing, but her shoulder continued to jerk under his hoof.  A strained sob broke her silence.

His voice rose to near panic.  “Honey?  Honey talk to me!”

She turned from the board and buried her face in his chest.  She choked out, “I don’t know what to say!”

Bewildered, he stroked her mane gently.  “Care, honey, what—?”

“It’s all wrong, and I don’t know what to say to her!  I…I don’t know how to fix this…”