Ponyville Do you believe in magic? (Semi-Open)

[Imagination]

There were strange goings-on at the vineyard in Ponyville... What sort of strange goings-on, you ask? One that involves a conduit of endless childish energy attempting to use magic, and a mother who has absolutely no experience in magic!

Magic! It's magically delicious! What does magic taste like...? After countless minutes of trying to lick her sparkling horn, a frustrated Ruby Pinch just huffed. Maybe some other day. But for now, she had some serious work to do! She was pretty sure she was the only pony in her entire class who couldn't do ANY magic! It was making her look double-y lame, because she didn't have her cutie mark either! Most of the classes she could take were either too full or too expensive. But she wasn't upset about it, she already went to school once a day on the weekdays and THAT was too much. In her bubbly, humble opinion. She had hoped Twilight would be able to teach her, but she had to go off and become a Princess and junk. Psh. Whatever. Pinchy would just have to tackle this task herself.

So she had to take a day off from pillow forts, hide-and-seek, and the land of make believe. Captain Afro and the land of alfalfa sandwiches would have to wait. Even if today was the day she was planning to invite some friends over for some fun... To be fair to Berry, this option was probably cleaner, spontanious combustions not-withstanding.This was super-duper-EXTRA important. Maybe one day, if her mother got stuck on the roof again, she could just get her down with magic rather than have to go ALL the way to the shed and wobble around with the ladder trying to carry it to the house. She hated that ladder. Not cuz it was heavy, but cuz it was TALL! "Mommy? You still there?"

Was she? Pinchy was sure the purple and pink mare was still in the vicinity. Did she run off again? So the pink filly's incinerated a flowerpot, turned a couple grape vines white, and summoned up a small dust devil in all her previous attempts at her (as of yet) greatest feat. Big deal.

All she had to do... Was pick up her teddy bear. Mr. Boots. So brave was he, sitting in the middle of the lawn. He didn't even blink when the pot caught fire! That was why she made him a knight in her kingdom! SIR Mr. Boots! But right now, she was trying to make him fly. She even tied a blue cloth around his neck for the occasion. She was having trouble coming up with a cool superhero name though.

"Okay mommy, I'm gonna try again! I'm gonna get it this time!" After all, her trying-to-taste-magic shenanigan probably warmed up her horn even more! That means the magic will work better, right?

[SunsetSombra]

Berry wasn't really sure if she was ever ready for her daughters attempts at self education - Pinchy was such a young filly, and as such berry had convinced herself a little that she'd grow into spells and that somehow everything would just eventually make sense...that she wouldn't have any cause at all to worry about the filly and her magicval appendage. Perhaps this apprehension was part of the reason that she had donned a safety helmet and padding whenever pinchy was out practicing her magical ability...something she'd taken to doing after finding herself inadvertantly pelted by prancing purpleberries, chased by chomping cherries, and almost stomped on by straying strawberries.

" Careful dear... " she called out from the sidelines, nervously adjusting the helmet perched on her head as the filly starts up.

" I don't want to end up having to clean up pulpy messes around town again like last time! " the cautious mother says as she regards her daughters focused expression.

She really just looked so adorable when she was this focused, Berry noted - she'd have taken a photo or something of the filly there and then had she had the means to!.

Anyhow, this wasn't the time to be interfering with her daughters activity...she clearly had to focus if she wanted to avoid blowing up anything or making stuff transform into oranges - Berry decided to back away and resume work on picking the days quota of berries and fruits, taking care to not get too in the way of Pinchy during this most delicate of times. to tell the truth, she needed a unicorn to help her l'il daughter out with this whole magic training thing...but good help was so hard to find sometimes, and Berry wasn't really sure that Twilight Sparkle, the towns librarian and general magical prodigy princess, was available to school a young filly unicorn like Ruby Pinch...which meant she was likely going to have to figure out a suitable alternative for her little pinchy and soon if Pinchy was going to learn how to make the best of her powers.

For the time being, however, all she could do was cheer on her daughter and hope to luna that nothing else blew up - like her petunia patch had sadly doe some days ago.

[Imagination]

"I will mommy! Promise!"

She could never break a promise to Berry. It was the one thing she could never do... Well, one of three things. Disappoint mommy, break a promise to mommy, or lie to mommy. Unfortunately the first one happened alot, but not on purpose! She just had to get better grades! But she had to do better at this right now, she didn't have school today!

Pinchy certainly hoped she'd get it right! She didn't like ruining her mother's things. No matter how many times she assured the filly that 'accidents happen', she still felt bad about it. She HAD to get this right! For her mom's garden's sake!

Her eyes fixed on the un-moving Sir Mr. Boots. So brave and supportive! "Okay, Mr. Boots, get ready to fly!" she cried out with great joy and excitement to her little bear. After a pause, a moment that was probably allotted for the toy to respond, the unicorn's horn started to glow again. She thought maybe if she thought about it realy really hard, it would happen! Her eyes closed and she strained to make the spell work, pushing herself and making her horn glow brighter and brighter! She just thought of Mr. Boots taking to the skies with a handsome smile and a go-get-em attitude, ready to fight crime all around Equestria!

After a few seconds of sweating, stumbling, and filling the area around her with pink light, her horn just sputtered out with an almost mocking 'Pthb' raspberry. "Aw!" The demoralized filly cried out in disappointment, left a panting mess from her failed attempt. "Well... At least nothing bad happened... Right mommy?" The filly trotted over to the mare after taking a moment to collect her spirits. "All this failure is making me hungry. Can you make me something, mommy?" Of course, if Berry turned around to inspect her daughter, she would find that the filly had turned green! Fur, mane and all! At least those cute, pink eyes were left unscathed, and the poor filly was completely unaware of this backfire.

[SunsetSombra]

Well, that was unexpected!

Seriously...Berry hadn't really expected something quite as largescale to result from pinchy's magical testing...such as a complete garden upheavel or the skies raining berries - but as it turns out, the mare was also very much unprepared for the immediate situation which now presented itself. Berry's rather surprised glance at the filly became a close inspection - small squeaks of concern and worry laced her tones as she tried to get her bearings on the situation, before getting an actual breath to speak her uncertain feeling!

" Pinchy? " she pokes the filly on the muzzle with a hoof lightly. " Do you feel okay? Do you need me to run you down to the doctors? - ...oh my, this magic stuff isn't something I'm sure I know how to deal with like this! "

Berry was completely thrown for a loop - her pinchy having somehow turned herself green after the rather potent magical backfiring from her misadventure in trying to master the natural skills of her kind - She was baffled and bemused, but she wasn't about to let herself fall apart entirely at the seams if she could help it - it was only a color change, she reasoned, it didn't seem that anything else had gone particularly wrong.

" Well, I suppose I can make you a sandwich and a juice... " she says, clearing her throat and starting towards home, only a few minutes away from the vineyard and fruit gardens.

" And maybe a Cider for me - I need a little something to settle myself with....I don't think I was quite ready for all of this mystery magical malarkey! "

[Imagination]

Pinchy responds to her mother's poking with a 'boop!' of her own, the filly's hoof reaching up to return the mare's most fantastic gesture.

But the fact that her mother seemed so worried did make her take pause for alarm. The doctor? Why would she need ot go to the doctor? Did she grow an extra leg? Were her eyeballs replaced with squids?! That would be icky... And silly. She would know if her eyes were squids... right? Instead she had a moment of great situational awareness! The little hoof booping her mother back wasn't pink at all! "WHOA! I'm green!" She seemed far more excited about it than her mother was. She immediately went prone on the ground, covering her eyes with her hooves in the grass "I'm invisible~"

No you're not, Pinchy.

She got back up and starting bouncing about "I could pretend to be The Grouch from that Hearth's Warming song! 'You're a mean one, Mister Grouch~ You walk wiiith an awwwful slouch! You sleep upon an ugly couch, like some sickly scaramouch, Mister GroouuUCH~!'"

Well at least she was having fun with it. "I gotta remember how I did this! Maybe I can make myself other colors! Like a lizard! But lizards are slimy... Do I feel slimy?" she asked, giving her mother a big ol' hug.

[SunsetSombra]

Oh dear, Oh dear...the wine colored mare was finding herself terribly uncertain about all this - the youngster clearly wasn't going through any trauma, but Berry Punch most certainly was having herself a moment of unbridled motherly worry...was this what every non-unicorn mother to such a species felt? How was it possible to handle a magical filly with unmatchable cuteness and a tendency of getting into the most mischief she could in the smallest amount of time. She takes a sharp intake of breath, counts to three mentally and tried the best she could to get some composure before the filly coined onto the fact she was about a few inches short of having the biggest panic attack equestria had ever seen!

" No, no you're not...you're not slimy! " she says with a small nod, secretly at least a little thankful Ruby wasn't some kind of slime monster by now. " But I'm...not sure what's happened - you're all...viridian...like an overripe grape. Oh I hope there's a reversal, you don't need to be green...you were fine before! " Berry was resisting the urge to pace again, her mind in a rush as she tried to regin herself - oh what would the neighbours say. " Oh my, your teacher! " she holds up a hoof to her muzzle and mutters softly to herself, shaking her head slightly. " What would cheerilee say....or QUICKLIME?! "

A mental image of all of the ways this could escalate rushed to her as she found herself hyperventilating a little...she really wasn't very good with panicking, not at all!

[Imagination]

Pinchy just sat there, watching her poor mother losing her marbles. "Miss Lime is green..." she pointed out at her mother's questioning. She might like it! As for Miss Cheerilee, she would probably shake her head and ignore it. This wouldn't be the worst condition she's showed up to class in. "Mommy, I feel fine. I'm not slimy... I don't feel like a grape..." she checked herself over to be absolutely sure. Yup. Not a grape.

Was there a reversal? Pinchy thought about it for a moment before getting a fantastic idea. "Mommy! Mommy! I know! I'll just think what I was thinking really really hard that last time I tried to cast... But backwards!" Genius. Absolute genius.

Little Pinchy was already about to try, taking a bracing stance before that soft glow in her horn started. "Wait... What was I thinking then again...?" she tried to remember a moment... And then it hit her! She was trying to make Mr. Boots fly! She immediately stopped what she was doing and sprinted to her bear, giving him a big hug! "I didn't forget about you, Mr. Boots..."

[SunsetSombra]

Berry was already trying her hardest to focus on NOT freaking out more...the circumstances of Pinchy's magical color change has clearly not affected the filly's bright demeanour and sparkling outlook on live - it was really something sometimes to watch Pinchy get into her zest for life over the smallest things, no matter how serious or not so they may be. Whilst Berry might still have been conjuring the worst possible thoughts together, Pinchy would always find some way to add just the right amount of silly that would give Berry pause for thought and a small chuckle, which would normally chill her out a little if things were stressful.

Berry utters a soft sigh, a small smile creeping over her muzzle even if the motherly side of her was still worrying a storm...if Ruby was still very much her silly self, then mayhaps things would be okay - but that wasn't going to stop her from taking her to WHOEVER it was ponies went to when it came to curing an errant Unicorn spell like this. She pauses and rubbed her muzzle in thought - just who WAS she going to go to about this anyway...was there a Unicorn Doctor or some kind of antispell for this kind of situation?

Welp, earth ponies just weren't very used to this kind of thing - she was gonna have to consult somepony about this!