Spellbound [Canterlot] Magic Practice (Open to Spellbound Members)

[Mojo]

Professor Hoofcourt Magic

 

The elderly unicorn stallion was quite impressed with all the magic he had observed since he entered the room.  He saw several ponies he had met before, or seen previously in other settings.  When Ingrid Marie introduced him to  Elderflower, the gray bearded stallion extended his hoof to shake.

 

"Hello, Ms. Elderflower!  I must say, I am very impressed with this plant.  Did you plan for your spell to make this so large?  I ask because often times, even the most well intended magic can misfire.  I do wish I could teach my granddaughter how to properly control her powers.  She has great potential, but alas, needs to learn to harness it."

 

Professor Hoofcourt then spotted Pocket Change, turning his head slightly to greet him.

 

"Good to see you once again, young stallion!  I met you at another Spellbound function!  You are Pocket Change, right?  How are you progressing in magic applications?"

 

The elderly stallion then turned once again to Ingrid Marie.

 

"Professor Marie, is there anything I can do to assist you in your work here?"

[Elderflower]

El was still in her bliss, taking deep breaths of rose-scented air, when an older stallion approached herself and Ingrid Marie. She gave the bearded stallion one of her trademark smiles, her expression full of gentle warmth, and reached out to shake his hoof in greeting. El remained quiet while introductions were shuffled along and Professor Hoofcourt spoke, though a touch of colour did appear on her cheeks when Ingrid called her a fine lady.

“It is lovely to meet you, Professor Hoofcourt,” she finally said, “I’m sure as Professor Emeritus you must have a wealth of stories and knowledge to share. Perhaps some day soon you could do me the honour of a nice, long chat over a cup of tea? Oh! And yes, I did intend for these roses to grow so large! I will be working with this beautiful giant here today.”

 

When Professor Hoofcourt began speaking to a white stallion, El turned back to Ingrid Marie with a smile on her face, “Next up is where it starts getting tricky! I’m going to try moving some of the branches around now, and then I’ll begin controlling the size of the branches as well. This is where I need to practice most, since constantly altering the size of the plant makes it a little unruly. The roots will seek out its source of sustenance, which is me...and even working at a smaller scale that usually ends up with me looking like a dryad, swallowed up in rose roots! I’m determined though! This sort of magic could really be useful when I’m going hoof-to-hoof with any sort of foe!”

With a flash of fiery determination in her eyes, El faced the massive rosebush. It was time to go big or go home! She already had a good grip of the individual steps of this magic, so now all she had left to do was get the hang of doing it all at once. And there was no time like the present! Drumming up her magic again, the rosebush began to glow with soft, golden light. Slowly at first,  one of the branches began to move around, snakelike, its thorns glinting dangerously as they were licked by candlelight. El’s face was screwed up in concentration, her warm smile replaced by a tight frown and knotted brows. She began to move a second branch, making it dance with the first.

Around this point, the roots from the bush began creeping towards her, “Oh no you don’t,” she whispered to herself, a surge of magic pulsing from her horn and sending the roots back. She grabbed a third branch, this time making it shrink and snake along the ground sneakily before pouncing on the first two and coiling around them, growing back to its enlarged size as it did.

And that’s when her little practice session was cut short! The moment she started concentrating on manipulating the sizes, the roots of the massive bush darted towards her and wrapped around her body in search of more of her magic. It wasn’t a violent action, though - in fact, it almost looked like the roots of the rosebush had swept her up in a great, big hug!

She laughed a little nervously, blushing while she wiggled free of the roots, “This is exactly why I need practice!”

And just like that her determined little smile was back.

[Lux]

"Oh, well my cutie mark is a touch stone and three different gems." She glanced at her mark and then back to Fire Heart. "I work with gems for a living and I can make them glow inside. I'm also good at figuring out what a gem is made up of. That's what a touch stone is used for. To measure the purity of gems. So, I guess you could say i work with gems and i can make them look pretty. I'm just not sure what I can do that for yet...that's why I'm here."

 

"Well that's a neat talent of making stones glow. And you can tell the gem's purity too! Can you tell this with your magic? This might answer your question as to what you want to practice. Maybe something with gems."

 

"Hello! Want to watch Fire Heart preform her fire magic? I'm not sure what she's going to do, but I'm sure it's gonna be interesting!"

 

Before she could reply Presteza lit her torch with Fire's magic and went on to explain her aim to light write with fire. 

 

"Maybe after this," she said to Touch Stone as the pony began to play with the stones she had with her magic, "I want to see this writing with fire. It always interests what new spells I can try." 

[Zeig]

 

Nocturne Wisp loved Pocket Change.

Honestly, truly. He did.

Which is why moments like these made it all that much harder not to do something inane and silly, like bash his head against the side of Change's face. He was happy for his two friends, honestly - but was it too much to ask for the two of them to not act like a pair of giggling foals waving out of two story windows at one another, or rolling down meadow hills and braiding necklaces for each other with the daisies? Did they really need to be so googly-eyed with each other every single time he crossed their paths?

…Did they have to do it so obviously in front of him?

For the briefest of moments, Nocturne felt a sharp pain of something in his chest, barely perceptible before it faded. It made him angry, for that same amount of time. Made him agitated. It made him want the company of somepony like Dazzle Dawn - of all ponies! - and away from all this.

Away from…being the third wheel.

Nocturne Wisp didn't even bother setting the hearts of fire this time as his friend conversed with Professor Hoofcourt, despite how second-nature the act would be at this point. Instead, he settled on fixing a narrowed glare on one that drifted close to his cheek, partly hoping it would spontaneously combust on its own. True to nature, the heart simply crashed into the side of his face a few times, each collision setting his eyebrows lower and lower on his forehead, before eventually drifting upwards to dissipate near the ceiling.

It wasn't enough however, and finally the sight of Pocket Change's love stricken face was too much for him. "Just practice with me," he said roughly, in a tone that only just hinted at an, 'I can teleport too!' "She's busy anyways," he continued, with a quick glance back over his shoulder towards Moondancer and the huddle of ponies. Sweet Celestia, they were all still talking. Nopony was doing anything even remotely interesting, aside from the light pink mare - who seemed to have entangled herself in the roots of her rose bush.

Well. Tough break.

With a mental snort, Nocturne gave the older stallion a curt "Professor," before he abruptly teleported behind Pocket Change - simply to nudge the other stallion a bit closer towards the rose bush and further from the candle circle, Nocturne told himself firmly. Not to demonstrate anything at all. "It's not that hard," the dark-colored stallion extrapolated, removing himself from the other to glare into his friend's green eyes. "You just need to focus your magic - from point of origin to destination."

Another teleport had him on Pocket Change's opposite side, with only a bit of exertion on his own part. Nocturne was adept enough to pull off a few teleportations in a row, but it wasn't his speciality, not like Moondancer. Still, a random teleport in demonstration was more than easy for the unicorn to achieve, and something that brought just a flicker of pride to his voice as he spoke.

[[ OOC: If it's not clear, Nocturne Wisp is just glaring at hearts while Pocket Change and Professor Hoofcourt talk. He doesn't pull Pocket away until after Pocket's responded to Hoofcourt's inquiry. ]]

 

[Zeig]

 

It was becoming entirely depressing, Nocturne Wisp decided, how many minutes he seemed to be wasting interacting with others.

Though he supposed it was his own fault, for expecting more. But from circles of candles whose owners did nothing but chatter about their personal lives, to Unicorns who proclaimed but did nothing, Nocturne had been, quite honestly, expecting more. Given the lack of interesting material at the Spellbound Opening, Nocturne also supposed he shouldn't have been entirely surprised - again - but Pocket's presence had, at least alleviated some of those concerns.

Had, alleviated.

"Never mind," the dark colored Unicorn stated roughly, taking a few steps backwards from his friend, even as his pale gaze burned harshly against his muted features. "I - go practice with Moondancer." There was just enough haughtiness in his voice to give the impression of permission given, but Nocturne, in all honesty, could not help the way his eyes followed the white stallion almost accusingly, impatiently.

Sweet Celestia, he hated this feeling.

"I believe my lab is better suited for my own particular brands of magic," Nocturne explained curtly, answering a question that hadn't been asked in the first place, and his mouth moved without him even thinking of it. Nocturne snapped his lips shut on the words with an almost vicious intent, angry at himself, at Change, at Spellbound - all of it undeserved and out of his control.

Dazzle surely must have rubbed off on him.

No sense in shaming himself any further. Nocturne gave a brief nod in farewell towards his friend before abruptly spinning on his hind legs and making for the stairwell, his steps careful and measured. It wasn't until he was back onto the streets of Canterlot that Nocturne allowed himself a pause, and a deep breath.

And the slightest chuckle, at his own expense.

'Like a filly in homeroom,' he thought unkindly, shaking his head lightly. Clearly, Dazzle had impressed upon him too much. It was a surprisingly somber realization, and one that stayed with him as Nocturne slowly made his way home for the night, alone.

 

 

 

[[ Exit ]]