[Canterlot University] Break Between Classes (ended)

[Parodius]

Scale Model shuffled his way out of one of the University's buildings, head held low. "...my brain hurts..." he mumbles to himself as he strolled to an open area with a few trees around. Flopping down beneath one, he puts his forehooves over his eyes. "What was I thinking, enrolling here? ...At least I've got a few moments of peace. I think I'll just... lay here for a bit..."

As he lay beneath the shade of the tree, his mind drifted back toward home in Ponyville. He hoped his parents were doing okay and not worrying about him. "...I'll just have to stick with it. Don't wanna disappoint everypony." He uncovered his eyes, then looked around the plaza area.

[Tempest Rime]

An angry, scarred and pierced blue unicorn stormed out of the library. Malediction was fuming, muttering loudly to herself. "Miserable waste of oxygen, I ought burn his tongue out, student use only, bunch of dross." She stopped in the courtyard, glaring around venomously. She'd exhausted every other possible location, this was the only copy of that wretched book she could find. Possibly the only copy left in the country, though she wouldn't be surprised if there was a copy secreted away in some hidden vault of the royal library.

Her gaze wandered to the unicorn sitting on the grass. Now there was an idea. "Hey, you. Four-eyes. Do me a favor will ya?" She stepped right up to where he was lying, towering over him and leering perniciously. This twerp had pushover written all over him, and Mal wagered she could boss him into doing anything.

[Parodius]

Blinking, Scale looked around for a few moments, spotting nary another pony around. He then turned to look at the grumpy-looking mare. "...Maybe. Depends on the favor." He offers a smile, trying to hide a tinge of nervousness at seeing the scars. "Not usually a good plan t' start off with name calling, though." He shifts to a more upright sitting posture, adjusting his glasses with a hoof. "...but we all have bad days, I guess. What's the favor, miss? 'Don't cost nothing to listen,' as my ma used to say." If nothing else, figured the cream unicorn, helping somepony else would take his mind off his own troubles. He hoped the task wasn't anything too tough, but no sense in actually SAYING that. He looked the mare over again, trying to ignore his mind popping up possibilities for causes.

[Tempest Rime]

Mal frowned. He hadn't given a reaction she'd quite expected, neither obstinate nor submissive. Oh well, an upfront willingness to help would work just as well for her purposes, and she thought she'd spotted a glimmer of intimidation when he'd looked over her. "Oh, nooooo," she said perfidiously. "It's just that, there's a book I want to study in the student library over there, but apparently the library policy is to not check books out to ponies who aren't enrolled in the university. So, assuming you are enrolled here, I want you to check it out for me. You are enrolled here, aren't you? I mean, you look it, but that pusbag in there will want to check to be sure."

[Parodius]

Nodding a bit, he stood. "Yeah. Fairly recently, but I suppose I fit the bill." Looking over at the library, he tilts his head. "Well... I can kinda understand their viewpoint on it, but that is pretty crummy. If somepony wants to read and learn, what's the harm in letting them?" He looks back over. "Guess I can take a look. What was the book? Would they not even let you just sit there in the library and read it at a table in there or something?"

He pauses, then coughs. "Err... where's my manners? Sorry. I'm Scale Model. Nice to meet you, miss." He pauses. "Wait. What do you mean I look it?" He looks himself over. "... I suppose I do, scrawny as I am."

[Tempest Rime]

"Uh, they probably would have, but I got a bit angry when they told me I couldn't check it out and torched some of their records. But that's not important, the book I need is Advanced Pyroclastic Neuma by Shady Oak, first edition. There's a spell in it that didn't make it into the later additions, 'cause it's supposedly too difficult for a normal pony, since it doesn't manifest via a standard auspicious matrix. There's references to it in a journal I read, but they didn't go into detail about the spell itself."

She looked over him. "And yeah, you do. Scrawny doesn't necessarily mean weak, but you look kinda... I dunno, fragile. Like a puppy, just waiting to be kicked around a bit. I'd volunteer to help you out with that, but I really want to try out that spell. Not everyday I can find spells that fit my talent, you know." She idly scratched her nose with a knee as she spoke, brushing the hair off her face and casually revealing her missing eye, making it look almost accidental.

[Parodius]

Scale winces a bit at the mention of torching records. "...Yeah, I can imagine burning stuff in a library full of paper wouldn't be looked kindly upon," he mumbles. "Huh. Advanced... pyto...something. By Shady Oak. First edition? ...how many editions are there? If it's rare, it might be one of those books they don't let anypony take out of the library even if they are a student." He rubs his chin. "I suppose I could copy down the bits about that spell if so. Then, you wouldn't even have to worry about not having enough time to study it." He pauses. "...don't think I'm followin' on the magic lingo, though. Fairly new in the University. Had to flog my flanks just to make it in, so to speak."

He blinks at being compared to a kickable puppy. At the offer of helping out, he opens his mouth for a moment, then wonders... did that mean 'help out by kicking around' or 'help not look so fragile' or something. He closes his mouth, blinking a bit as the hair was nudged aside. "... That... must have hurt," he quietly states. "Not to be... um... nosy... but have you ever considered a glass eye? Might make things..." He trails off, then shakes his head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned it."

[Tempest Rime]

Mal scoffed. "My fire doesn't catch unless I tell it to, though I suppose they didn't know that. If you happen to know a copying spell, that'd do, but I'd really prefer an exact copy rather than one that's been manually copied over with potential errors. This is the closest I've ever really been to a spell that might actually work for me, so I'd really like to be exact."

She paused before explaining in more depth. "In layman's terms, you know how ponies all have a special talent reflected by their cutie mark, right? Well, for unicorns, that talent affects the way your magic comes together, that's why magic that suits your talent comes easily, but most magic outside that is all-but impossible. In my case, my special talent precludes spells that provide creative or restorative effects. Put simply, my talent is destroying things, and most magic isn't designed for that."

She frowned. "Why would I want a glass eye, it's not like you can see out of them, and I wouldn't be able to show off the battle scar as easily. Besides, it wouldn't stay in, the manticore took out the eyelid and a good chunk of the muscles around the eye along with the eye itself, a glass eye wouldn't stay in." She flashed Scale a twisted smile. "Besides, I still got the better deal. He ended up with a foot-wide hole through his chest."

[Parodius]

Nodding he turned toward the library. "Yeah, it would take some pretty fancy magic to make a glass eye you could see with. Uh... and I suppose it's good you dealt with it." He nods some more. "So, the pyromaniac advanced neuroses thing is basically just a fancy way of sayin' 'magic that deals with your talent'. Dunno why ponies gotta make words more complicated than they need to be. Just call a horseshoe a horseshoe, right?" He shrugs. "I suppose I can see if they'll lend it to me, or if they've got somepony that knows a copying spell. Fancy library like this, I'd be surprised if they DIDN'T have somepony on staff that knew one." He pauses for a moment. "...I wonder if they'd charge for copies. ... If they can make them. Anyplace I should drop it off if you've gotta head off or something?" He pauses and tilts his head. "Unless you'd care to come along inside. Photograph New Moms Advanced, by Shady Oak, right?"

[Tempest Rime]

((OOC I was even spelling pneuma wrong, it's got a silent p I forgot about. Derp))

Mal glared at Scale. This was the sort of moron they let into the university, where she'd been denied. What a worthless, unfair system they had. Just because her magical talents didn't meet their specific ideas of what was proper. "Advanced. Pyro. Clastic. Pneuma," she hissed, her irritating manifesting notably in her voice. "Pyroclastic, as in relating to lava, pneuma as in the spiritual essence of a being. That's got a silent... ugh, here, do you have some paper, I'll just write it down for you so you don't have to worry about spelling. And only the first edition will do, as I said, they removed the spell due to it being too destructive. Er, difficult, I mean."

She glanced at the building. "No, the guards weren't looking particularly willing to let me loiter around, I'll wait out here. I'm not in any rush, though if a stallion keeps me waiting too long I do start getting antsy." She put a mildly threatening emphasis on the last word.

[Parodius]

Scale nodded a bit. "Okay. Think I've got it. Meh. I'll probably have to learn these terms if I try getting into the magic-oriented classes." He thinks some more. "But then, I'd probably have to take that magic entry exam to take magic classes. Haven't heard much about that exam, really. Don't know if I want to get into that stuff or not yet. Just picking up on stuff like material stresses, newtons of force, torsion, elements of design and that sort of stuff is enough of a headache." He starts heading in. "Be back in a jiffy, hopefully." He repeats the title to himself as he goes.

[Tempest Rime]

Oh, this guy was just in the regular division. Well, at least that explained his ignorance of technical magical theory terminology. Not that the test actually measured knowledge of theory, just aptitude. She had outright forgotten the fact that the university even bothered with topics other than magic.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever those are." She muttered under her breath at Scale's mention of newtons and torsion. Aloud she called after him, "don't keep me waiting," in a smarmy, sarcastic tone. After he'd gone, she sat down next to a tree and began to vandalize stealthily, searing lewd comments into its trunk with a tiny spark of her green flame, killing time until he returned.

[Parodius]

Stepping into the Canterlot University Library, Scale Model's eyes widened slightly. "...you could probably fit several of the Ponyville library in here..." he murmured quietly as he strolled toward the reception desk. Things sure looked busy there. Lots of fuss. "...probably due to that record thing she did..." he pondered under his breath.

With a smile, he steps up toward the desk. "Hello! I was wondering if I could borrow a book. Or get some pages copied from a book if it's not allowed to be lent out." He pauses to think. "Advanced Pyroclastic Pneuma, I think it was. Shady Oak. If you've got more than one version, maybe the first and the most recent, so I can compare the two? It's for a research project, and I'm not sure how I'd do if I didn't get those books..." he murmured. It wasn't exactly a fib, he told himself. It was a research project. Just not his. ...and he didn't know how he'd do if he didn't come back with those books. He wasn't exactly sure how that mare outside would react.

He settled into idly talking with the librarian pony that was helping him, wondering if he should offer help straightening out those messed up records.

[Tempest Rime]

Outside, Mal stopped her vandalism as a few ponies walked by. She sneered at one as he passed by, distracting him just as one of the professors walked by in the other direction, causing them to collide. Smiling at the accident, she wandered off towards the library, where she settled down in an inconspicuous little alcove along the outside wall. She could get the drop on her patsy from here when he came back out.

Surprising him would serve to keep him intimidated, just in case he hadn't actually gotten permission to borrow the book. And even if he hadn't, it was always nice to be feared.

[Parodius]

Time dragged on and on. Ponies went into the library, ponies came out. Eventually, one of those ponies was even Scale Model. He waves to somepony inside as he strolls out the door. Eventually, he finds out an important lesson about new places. Watch where you're going, because there might be stairs. His eyes widen as his hoof suddenly finds air, turning his head as he sees the ground suddenly start coming up to give a great, big, friendly hug to his face as he tumbles down the short set of steps. His eyes roll about in his head, and he could swear he heard birds chirping somewhere. He pushes himself up with a bit of effort, then tries shaking some sense back into his head.

[Tempest Rime]

Mal waited, beginning to get irate, but intent enough on getting access to the book that she didn't give up. She began to daydream, and would have missed Scale entirely had he not tumbled to the ground. She emerged from her hiding spot and strode over to him. "Beating yourself up so I don't have to, eh? Admirable, I suppose." She snickered, but quickly returned to a serious scowl.

"So, did ya get it? The right book? And the right edition, too, the wrong one is useless to me." She stomped her hoof impatiently, eager to be done with this and get out of the university. It reminded her too much of when she'd come here as a little filly, and she was always vaguely nervous that somepony would recognize her. Preposterous when she actually considered it, as she'd only been there one day, and it had been many years ago, and she now looked vastly different, but that didn't stop it from nagging at the back of her mind.

[Parodius]

Scale looked up and straightened his glasses. "Heh... one would think I'd learn to watch where I'm going one of these days." Gathering his hooves, he stands. "Sorry for taking so long. Got distracted helping straighten out those records. ...might help smooth over sour memories." He shrugs, then opens one of his saddlebags. "As for the book... they said it's kinda starting to get fragile since it's so old, so they don't lend it out very often." He floats out a thick packet of papers tied with a string and smiles. "Also, usually, they don't like to lend out magic books to those not in the magic program, apparently. ...but since I helped 'em out, they were willing to bend the rules a little." He offers the packet of papers. "After all, copies aren't lending, right? Not as cheap as lending, though. They could only do black and white copies, unfortunately. Kinda a shame, since the book was pretty nice. Fancy lookin'." He gives a slight smile and rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "...heh. Guess I'll be eating bargain bin instant noodles for a few days."

[Tempest Rime]

"Yessss! Color isn't important for this, though it can be for normal spells." Mal grabbed the loose pages with her magic and began to leaf through them, levitating them in front of her in rows that spiraled around her and her unwitting accomplice. With a sense of profound accomplishment she found the spell she needed in a matter of moments, and she turned around towards the administration building, across the courtyard. Her horn glowed as she focused her magic, only too happy to be testing out the spell in what could prove to be a spectacularly destructive manner.

Strange black spots began to appear in the air around her, seeming to soak up all available light in their immediate vicinity. Strange, those weren't part of the spell she was trying to cast, at least not one mentioned in the text. Mal had barely had time to register this fact before the spell fizzled catastrophically.

Strange bolts of black lightning streaked silently from the black spots, soaking up sound in similar amounts to what actual lightning would have produced, causing her ears to ring in the sudden silence. The bolts lanced directly into Mal's horn, and her senses went into overload. Her vision went completely white, she could even see the whiteness in her missing eye. She felt waves of intense pain go through her, and she felt as if she couldn't breathe. As quickly as it had happened, the silence receded, and she realized the reason she couldn't breathe was because she was screaming.

She managed to stop screaming and gasped for air, still shuddering as smaller bursts of pain echoed through her. Adrenaline, the only thing that had kept her standing, slowed down, and she collapsed. She managed to glance around to survey the damage, noting with frustration that there seemed to be no collateral damage whatsoever. Her spell had completely backfired, and in some bizarre, completely unpredictable manner. But, she realized, she had at least managed something. She grinned at Scale. "It... worked," she managed to gasp out, "...sorta."

This spell was gonna take a long to to adapt into something usable, and the end result would likely be completely different from the volcano spell she'd been trying to cast, but it was a step forward. The first real step forward she'd taken in her magical pursuits since before she'd gotten her cutie mark. In spite of all the pain, she felt the happiest she had in... well, as long as she could remember.

She struggled to her feet and scooped up the loose papers, now scattered about her, not bothering to organize them. She could do that later. There wasn't enough room in her bag for all of them, so she pulled out her coin bag and tossed the whole thing to Scale, feeling uncharacteristically generous in her elated mood. "Here, these were just weighing me down, anyway."

[Parodius]

When pain, loss of senses, and screams faded away, Scale could be found beside the filly, concerned look on his bespectacled face. "Holy horseapples!" He raised a hoof to put it against Mal's shoulder. "Who cares if it worked! Are you okay?" he asked, worried look on his face.

As the bag of bits is tossed, he quickly catches them. He takes a look at its contents briefly, then looks back to the pony that had been screaming in pain just moments ago. He shifts about on his hooves for a few moments. "... Thank you." He raises a brow, still looking concerned as he tucks the bits into his saddlebags. "Are you sure you're okay?" He frowns, shaking his head just barely perceptibly as he took a step closer. "That looked horrible... It's a lucky thing you had somepony close by in case something horrible actually happenned."

His expression takes on a tinge of anger. "Really. Trying out some spell out of a book without even taking the time to study the book it came out of? That's just reckless!" He sighs and shakes his head. "What's the point in trying to make things easier for everypony to use if everypony insists on doing things that might get them killed! Geez! You need to keep everypony else around you in mind if you decide you wanna try something that's so dangerous! Who'd tell everypony what happenned if you wound up as a splat on the wall??" he asked, frown on his face. "Sure, I might have just met you, but I'm sure there's somepony out there that cares what happens to you!" He closes his eyes and shakes his head. "Really. That's just reckless. How you survived until now, I've got no idea." His expression softens slightly as he looks at the other unicorn. "Are you okay, miss?" For a moment, he thinks on how he's fretting over a pony that he doesn't even know her name, but he keeps his concerned look, none the less.

[Tempest Rime]

"Woah, back off there buddy," Mal said, pushing his hoof off of her. "Just 'cause you helped me out doesn't mean we're friends or anything." She spat the word as if it was an obscenity. She did a quick assessment to make sure all her body parts were still there. Or still absent, in the case of her missing eye.

"I'm fine, really. It didn't even hurt quite as much as some of these scars, either. I don't need you babying me. I'm tougher than I look, and I think I look pretty darn tough. I read the book plenty of times, I was just missing the one spell. Even then, the interaction between the way my magic works and this spell was off, there was no way I could have predicted that. The important thing was that anything happened at all."

She frowned at him. "I don't have anypony who cares what happens to me, and I don't care what happens to anypony else. And that's exactly the reason why. I don't want other ponies tying me down, limiting my freedom. It's my life, I'll risk it if I want to. Now seriously, stop being such a downer. This is the first breakthrough I've had in years, every other spell I've done that with a big, spectacular nothing whatsoever. If the spell can backfire like that, it can also go off properly with the right modifications." She said it like it was going to be easy, but reworking the entire matrix to accommodate an unknown element was going to take more work than she could think about right now.

[Parodius]

Scale frowned. "Who says I have to be friends to be concerned if somepony is okay?" He sits. "It's good to hear you're fine, though. I've heard a few horror stories on what could happen if you use your horn wrong from my dad, but hadn't actually seen it before. You know. Those stories young unicorns get told to make 'em be careful. You could've been reduced to screaming and thrashing about like that for the rest of your life, for all I knew."

He sighs, then smiles. "I'm glad you got what you're working for, though. I hope you can get it to work out for you, with a bit of effort."

He pauses. "Nopony that cares about you?" He frowns, Ponyvillian nature rising up. "But..." Lower lip tremble. "... But that's just so SAD!" He thinks for a few moments, then nods. "Well, that won't do. I might not be the best choice for it. I wasn't the most social of ponies back home, but there were enough others that I didn't have a choice in learning how to be." He points a hoof. "I don't know if I'll see you again or not somewhere around town, or if you'll be accidentally blowing yourself to smithereens with your new spell, or if you'll just head elsewhere in Equestria... but you've got one pony that'll care what happens to you." He pauses, then thinks some more. "Even if you don't care what happens to you." Headtilt. "Or even if you don't care back." Pause. "Or even if--I should probably stop right there, because I'll probably just ramble on and on if I don't." He points a hoof at her again. "So you can't say that anymore." He blows a raspberry and nods, matter of factly. He pauses to headtilt again. "Err... whatever your name was." And then back to nodding.

[Tempest Rime]

Mal made a disgusted gagging noise. "Gross, are you for real? I come in here, threaten you, take advantage of you, and your response is to try to be my friend? What is wrong with you? I'm already regretting giving you those bits, they must be sending the wrong message or something. Allow me to clarify. I got what I wanted from you, you are no longer useful. So don't try talking to me, coddling me, and above all, DON'T CARE ABOUT ME! GOT IT!?" She broke into an angry shriek for her final words.

She took a deep breath, settling down slightly. "I don't need your pity." She turned to stalk away angrily, but turned around, remembering something. Her voice softened, just a bit, and she muttered slightly sullenly. "I'm Malediction, by the way. If you ever need any locks opened or keys made, stop by my shop. Just... don't bring your stupid fake sympathy along."

[Parodius]

Letting out a slight snort at Mal's reaction to his statement, he shakes his head. "Pf. Pity doesn't do anything, so why do it? I'm just trying to help solve what I see as a problem. Everypony needs somepony to care about 'em, even if they don't care for caring and go about without a care for a care." Another hoofpoint. "That includes a grumpy mare that might give most a scare, with a lost eye behind her hair." He thinks for a moment. "...and so, there."

He smiles as he gets the scarred mare's name and nods. "I'll be sure to do that! You can count on it." His smile turns to a smirk. "One way or another, I'll show you that not everypony is as deep as a puddle and as sympathetic as a ball of yarn." He blows a raspberry playfully and makes a mental note to find that shop.

[Tempest Rime]

Mal shot a baffled glare at the student momentarily. "What? Ugh, no nevermind, I don't even want to listen to your idiocy for one more moment. I got what I came for, so I'm out of here. This place makes me sick." She paused. "Oh, and by the way, I think I heard a bell ringing a few minutes ago, I dunno if you got a class now or not, but if so you're missing it."

Mal sneered one last time at scale and stalked off, heading straight out the gate as quickly as she could without breaking into a trot. She hadn't been kidding about the place making her feel ill. There were occasionally dragons about playing patsy to some of the magic students, and Mal loathed dragons more than anything. She made her exit without a backward glance.

(Exit)

[Parodius]

Looking over his shoulder, his ears perked up. "Huh? What? ...oh horseapples." He takes off at a gallop, trying to get to his next class, hoping to remember where it was. ... but at least he met somepony different, so it was justified, he figured.

(end)