Chapter Four: Darn Dresses
"So you've read The History of List-Making too?"
"Yeah, it's my second favourite book besides To Kill a Pegasus. It really teaches racial acceptance" the blue maned stallion said, sipping the tea. The lavender alicorn smiled "I've actually never read that book before, I'll try and get my hooves on it. Where'd you get your copy?"
Quincey shrugged "I got it for Hearth's Warming Eve, from my aunty. She lives in Baltimare, nice town. I can lend you my copy if you like since I don't read it that often. Would you like that?" he asked. She nodded "I would. I promise I'd lend you a book in return for it. What book would you like? I've got thousands!"
"It's alright, I can just lend you the book for nothing. It's at my house in Canterlot, on my bookshelf. I can't get it straight away because I can't use my magic to teleport there, I'd have to take the train and walk all the way to my house to get it. I could get it to you next time I visit".
"That'd be great. By the way, I'd love to study your… lack of magic, it's so interesting. I'd love to write a paper on it" Twilight said, magenta magic pouring herself another cup of tea and setting the tea pot down gently. He thought about it "Actually I've got the rest of this morning to myself so yeah, I've got time to kill".
Twilight grinned elatedly "Yes! I mean, yay, I'll go get my report writing things! Oh this is so exciting!" and ran off to get her things, returning in a flash of light with them in her magic. She sat back down on the cushion with notepad and pencil levitating, sparkling with magenta sparkles.
"Well, where do I begin?" he asked.
"Start from before you lost your magic. Tell me everything,"
He looked to his cutie mark and took a deep breath, his short blue and dark blue tail turned to cover it slightly. "I guess it happened like this. I was a young gem finder, as my talent is the Gemfinder spell,"
"Like Rarity," Twilight interjected politely, not taking her eyes off the notepad.
"Yes, exactly, like Rarity. My mother and father both worked for Celestia, and still do, as gem quality control advisors. They looked over the gems brought in by miners and also me, tested them and if they were perfect, turned them into beautiful works of art and jewellery".
Twilight nodded and ushered for him to continue, scribbling down the notes.
"Celestia's crown was made by my parents, or at least the one she's been wearing for the past fifty years. They didn't make the very first crown she wore of course, my parents aren't that old."
Twilight giggled lightly.
"I found the amethyst gem in her crown myself, polished it myself and set it in her crown myself. It's my best work. Anyhow, back to the magic thing" he cleared his throat. "That day I was visiting Applejack to help set up for the fair she was holding, and I had volunteered to move some cider barrels along with Applebloom's help. The cider barrels weren't empty, and were very heavy, but having magic I moved them easily from one spot to another."
Twilight nodded and wrote down more notes.
"Applebloom was trying to move a barrel herself, and it was adorable watching her try and help, but that barrel wasn't moving an inch so I decided to help. After we had prepared the cider and fritter stands, Applebloom screamed out from by the plains and I was worried" he said. "Turns out a large stampede of bulls were headed towards us, supposed to go around Sweet Apple Acres, but apparently one of them saw a goddamn snake!"
She nodded and looked up, quickly taking down more notes.
"Continue," she said calmly, sipping her tea.
He obliged and continued.
"They came running at us, more accurately Applebloom. I teleported to her, shouted the barrier spell and diverted the bulls. She clung to my leg tightly as the bulls thumped against the barrier trying to get past, and it made me worry. I had known her since she was a baby, since Granny Smith often hired me as a babysitter."
"I couldn't let her get her hurt, so the first thing I did was strengthen the barrier. Bad move. My magic wasn't meant to be used in such excess, my horn couldn't handle the magic I was forcing out. I felt my world melt away, I felt cold as my horn dried up. The cattle were knocked out cold, spread around the orchard unharmed but not me. The doctors said I was lucky my horn didn't shatter,"
Twilight's magic lifted a jar of cookies over to Quincey, who took one from the jar and ate it. She nodded and put down the notepad and pencil "Well, it sounds a lot like stress-induced magic deprivation. It's not an isolated incident, it's happened to several unicorns before. Mostly ponies who've tried and failed at casting a higher level spell with a low level of magic."
He nodded, trying to process what the alicorn had said. "So, will I ever get my magic back?"
She stood and her magic brought down several books, flipping through one after the other before turning to the unicorn stallion "It's hard to say, nopony who's ever lost their magic has gotten it back". He stood "C-can't it be… brought back? By magic?"
Twilight raised a brow "I don't get what you mean. How could it possibly be brought back by magic?"
"I don't know, maybe the pure essence of magic could spark up my horn again… its possible right?" he asked hopefully "Something can be done, right?"
She sighed sadly. She knew it was impossible, but she couldn't tell her best friend's boyfriend that he'd be magically redundant forever. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped to think. Her sister-in-law Cadence had brought her brother out of Changeling magic with love, and that same princess had saved an entire disappearing empire with love magic. She began to think that nothing was impossible, if love was present.
"I-I'll have to think on it, why don't you go get ready for the party? I was studying tonight anyway,"
His eyes widened "The party! I completely forgot, thanks Twilight. Y'know, you're actually pretty cool" he said, walking to the door and shutting it behind him.
/
"Which one looks better on me? This one, or this one?" Rarity asked, levitating two dresses. Quincey put his hoof to his chin "I don't think you need to wear one to the party, you're beautiful just the way you are" he said with a smile. She blushed "Oh sweetheart, you flatter me too little" she laughed "only kidding darling, but still, which one?"
He sighed and looked down. She saw this, put the dresses back on the mannequins and sat beside her coltfriend.
"Is something wrong Quincey darling? Was it the dresses? I knew I shouldn't have used that fabric," she said. He looked up at her, sighed and said "No… it's not your dresses, your dresses are fabulous… it's just…"
"Just what?"
"When I was hanging out with Twilight today, y'know since she wasn't going to be at the party tonight, and she asked me about my lack of magic. It got me thinking…"
Rarity kissed his cheek and snuggled into his neck "No… no Quincey, you don't need magic for me to love you. I love you for you, not your magic or your small fortune. I don't care about your magic, you don't need it…" she said, looking up into his warm magenta eyes.
He felt his heart melt and eyes tear up. Trixie had never given him such pure devotion that this beautiful Ponyvillian mare was giving him, and he felt like he didn't deserve such beauty. Surely, somepony else deserved her more than he did. Did he deserve her at all?
"If I had my magic… would you still love me?"
She almost wanted to slap him. "Quincey Sapphire, of course I would still love you! You don't need magic to be who you are. Like a certain wise pony said to me a while ago, it's not the magic that makes the unicorn it's the unicorn that makes the true magic".
He felt tears roll down his cheeks, but he didn't give a damn. Happiness, love, pure emotion swam through him all at once and brought him to tears. "Rarity… I… I love you so much it hurts… but we have to go to the party, it's apparently a party for me and all. If I don't show up, your friends might not like me…"
"They'll like you, I know I do" she said, kissing him passionately. He sighed and kissed her back, quickly remembering the party "Rarity… we've got to get to the party". She frowned "Fine, but when we get back…"
"I thought you didn't want the baby to be born to an unmarried couple…"
"Well, there are a few birth control spells I know…" she hinted, gently nibbling his ear "… just saying darling".
He smirked "Alright, but just saying, I pretty much know nothing about that sort of stuff… Trixie never wanted me, remember?"
She nodded and stood "I know, but I don't know why. You are so beautiful,"
His cheeks warmed "Really?"
"Yes you are," and she kissed him again. He chuckled and rested his forehead against hers, their horns just touching. Quincey felt a strange… spark as their horns touched, the same feeling he got the first time he had ever used magic. That strange spark of magic that had activated during his gem studies, dragged him halfway across Equestria to a stupid rock that had turned out to be a geode, the geode that held the very amethyst in Celestia's current crown.
Rarity felt it too, the same spark that had activated during her attempts to sew, dragged her halfway across Equestria to a stupid rock that had turned out to be a geode, the geode that held the gems she used to gain her cutie mark. This was more than magic.
"Rarity…" he whispered, eyes closed.
"Yes Quincey?" she asked, eyes closed.
"D-do you feel that too?"
"Yes I do…"
His eyes opened "This is more than magic, isn't it?"
She kissed him "I do believe it is… I hate to ruin the mood… but the party". He kissed her back "I know, let's go then".
/
Arriving at the party they walked inside, music playing and ponies Quincey had never met before all gathered to welcome him to Ponyville, but it would be short-lived. He looked around and smiled as Rarity lead him to a small gathering of ponies, talking and laughing.
One was a pale yellow mare with a cotton candy coloured mane, soft dark cyan eyes and a triple butterfly cutie mark. Another was a cerulean mare with a seven coloured mane, striking magenta eyes and a tri coloured lightning bolt/cloud cutie mark. The third was a bubbly looking pink mare with a fluffy raspberry pink mane and a triple balloon cutie mark.
The pink mare turned and saw Quincey and smiled widely "Ooh Rarity! Is this the ever-so-famous Quincey Sapphire you've been telling so much about?" she asked with a giggle. Quincey looked to the ivory mare beside him and raised a brow "You've been talking about me?"
"I'm not going to lie darling, how can I not talk about you?"
He smiled. The prismatic mare spoke "So Quincey, you saved Applebloom from a stampede of bison was it? That's an epic hero deed right there" she said in her tom-boyish voice. He smiled sadly "Bulls actually, and I… I guess it was a sort of heroic… thing… I guess…" he trailed off.
The shy looking mare spoke softly "That's awfully kind of you to save a darling little foal from a big… scary… stampede…" she said shyly. "I had to, she was like a little sister to me. I couldn't live with myself if I had have let her get hurt." Quincey said sadly, remembering that day.
Rarity put her hoof on his cheek "Quincey, don't look so sad. It makes me want to cry, and I can't risk ruining my mascara. Not at a party," she said. He smiled and kissed her, earning hoots from the three other ponies. "Go Quincey!" Rainbow snickered approvingly.
"Aww… so sweet!" Fluttershy swooned.
"Tee-hee! It's so sweet that you've found a new coltfriend after the whole Trenderhoof incident" Pinkie said, realising her slip-of-the-tongue. Quincey gently acquired some space from Rarity "Who's Trenderhoof?" he asked with a frown. She silently swore at Pinkie for that "Oh um… I don't know what you're talking about".
"Rarity".
She felt all the group's eyes on her and her ears went down. She had to tell him at some point about that time Trenderhoof had visited Ponyville, falling in love with Applejack and making love-sick Rarity's heart hurt.
She sighed and took a deep breath "A long time ago he came to Ponyville to do some journalism, and at that time I was the Pony of Ceremonies in charge of designing everything, before I had met you… I was in love with him…"
The grey-blue coated stallion had an unhandsome frown on his face "What happened?" he demanded.
"Nothing, sadly…"
"Sadly? You still have feelings for this Trenderhoof? Where is he?"
"I don't know, he said he was moving to Ponyville but he ended up back on the road to continue his career" Rarity explained "He's no threat Quincey, I don't love him anymore; he never loved me anyway… after all I did for him… I wore OVERALLS! The horror, those things… and my mane! Sweet Celestia, my poor mane! It had hay and mud in it!" she ranted in her ladylike manner.
He couldn't stay mad at her for long, and he hoped this Trenderhoof stallion stayed away from Rarity or else… he'd show him the meaning of extreme pain. "Rarity… it's ok. I'm sorry for losing my temper over some stupid stallion that doesn't even live here, I just got… I mean I'm just a little bit… jealous".
Fluttershy spoke up "I remember a time when I had the dream position that Rarity wanted, and she knows just how envy feels… oh I'm sorry for bringing that up Rarity". The fashionista rolled her eyes at her friend's shyness "Fluttershy darling, there's nothing to be sorry about. We all learnt a valuable lesson that day".
The pale mare nodded and decided to wander around the party for a bit with the other two, leaving Rarity and Quincey alone, or as alone as two ponies could be in a party. He got a cup and poured some punch for the two of them, apologising again and again for losing his temper.
In his opinion, he'd lost it too many times around this beautiful girlfriend of his. Normally he was a laid-back and tentative stallion, caring and not angry at all, but he had his moments. After losing his magic he felt… vulnerable, but not just physical pain… emotional pain too.
This Trenderhoof sounded important, and he could instantly tell the stallion was a unicorn with working magic. He felt insecure about other stallions with magic, as they could do feats of magic he used to be able to do, as simple as levitation magic. He was as good as an earth pony, no offence to earth ponies though.
She never really felt angry at him, not for thinking anything had happened between Trenderhoof and herself. She was over him. They both were snapped out of their thoughts as Pinkie Pie stepped onto a make-shift stage and spoke onto a microphone, getting a little feedback first.
"Attention everypony! This is an awesome party right?"
"YEAH! YES AWESOME!"
"Well, it's not just any old party. It's a welcome-to-Ponyville party for a very special stallion, his name is Quincey Sapphire and he's staying in Ponyville for a while with his girlfriend… our very own Rarity! Give it up for the happy couple!" Pinkie called out, earning claps and cheering from the crowd.
Quincey immediately flushed with all the attention he was getting, opposed to Rarity who was soaking up the attention like a sponge. She noticed his red cheeks and smiled "Why are you so embarrassed? Is it me?" she asked with a raised brow. His eyes widened "NO! Of course not… I'm just not used to so much attention. Ever since I lost my magic… nopony pays me much attention".
"Well that's going to change darling, because you'll have my full attention all the time" Rarity said, kissing his cheek and making his blush intensify. She bit her lip. He looked so adorable when he was embarrassed and blushing, he looked so cute. She snuggled up to him "Quincey, can we go back to the Boutique now?"
He looked nervous "Umm yeah I guess, I really don't like all the attention I'm getting". She grinned.
Then we'll have a slight problem as to what I'm going to do to you when we get back to my place.