Just Blink

Digital_Hex

Chapter Six

The night air was cool above the springs, steam hanging like a thick cloud. The sun had just set recently, so Twilight had conjured up a few balls of light that floated over the springs. We were wading in the spring's warm waters, enjoying the comfort.

"So how was Applejack?" Twilight asked me out of the blue.

I cast her a look.

"Like, what's my take on her?"

"Yeah," she said.

"She seemed..." I thought back to my long day of work. She was a hard worker, I'd seen that much. She really loved her home and job. She was strong, had a good build, had some very nice curves-

I coughed, blushing.

"She was nice enough. Really loves the place, I noticed, very passionate."

"That's Applejack for you," Twilight agreed. "She's living her dream, why wouldn't she be? This is where she belongs."

"Mhm..." I mumbled.

Silence surrounded us again. Off in the distance, we could hear a bird cry through the night. The leaves of trees rustled below the edge of the spring. It was peaceful.

"What about Rarity and Rainbow Dash? I know you didn't really get to meet them, but what about them? They're some of my best friends."

I thought back. Rarity had seemed rather... interesting, to say the least. My guess was she was of a rich, snooty background. But that didn't really seem to fit; she was friends with Twilight, and there was no way that Twilight could be friends with a rude pony. I'd have to get a second take on her.

Rainbow Dash seemed to be the opposite of Rarity. I'd known been in the company of Rainbow Dash for all of a minute, and I had a pretty good idea of her. Tom-boyish, not only from her voice but from how she acted, how she presented herself. She was brash, aggressive, blunt, but she apparently cared for her friends. She'd been wanting to practice flying with Twilight, and had jumped on the chance. I could only find one word to define what she was: loyal to a fault.

I had my own stereotypes of them, but I'd learned a long time ago that it was best not to judge others without giving them a chance to prove themselves.

"I don't know yet. Like you said, I barely met them."

"Fair enough," Twilight said. Silence overtook us for a time.

A frog croaked nearby. Turning, I looked at it. It was a green forest frog, sitting on the warm stone surrounding the springs. I doubted it would jump into the spring, but it seemed to enjoy the heat of the rock surrounding the water.

"You know, Rainbow Dash was asking about you."

I was perplexed, to say the least. I was surprised, to put it bluntly. I was shocked, to put it honestly.

To put it simply, I did not expect this.

"Oh?" I asked. I pictured Rainbow Dash in my mind. The cyan pegasus was... winged? I really didn't know enough about her to have a good idea of what to imagine her like.

"Yeah, she seemed to be rather... interested." She chuckled evilly.

"You seem to enjoy this bit of taboo knowledge," I scoffed.

"What can I say, this is the first time that Rainbow has ever showed any interest in a stallion that isn't Soarin."

"And Soarin is..?" I asked.

"You can't be-" She then remembered where I'd been for the past forever. "Oh, right. Soarin is a Wonderbolt, which is a group of hyper-popular stunt pegasi. They're pretty good, having shows here and there."

"Sounds dreamy," I commented, slipping into the water slightly. This Rainbow Dash character, she must have idolized him.

"She idolizes him," Twilight informed me. Figures.

"That's nice," I said. My legs were now fully submerged.

"Yeah, she-" Twilight began, but suddenly stopped.

I waited for her to continue, but she made no intention of finishing her thought.

"Everything good back there?" I asked, turning. She was looking directly at me, a curious look on her face.

"Yeah, just- turn back around."

"What?" I said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Turn back around," she commanded me.

"Okay..." I said, returning my gaze back to the frog. It croaked as my eyes settled back on it.

I waited. A few minutes clicked by, and she hadn't said anything.

"So, see anything that strikes your fancy?" I asked her.

"Did you always have this mark on the back of your head?" she asked me.

"What mark?" I asked, now slightly concerned.

"I'll take that as a no..." she commented. A quick flash of light erupted from behind me, and then Twilight levitated a suspended field of magic before me. It was an image of me sitting in the water, from behind- she'd taken a picture of me! I was about to ask what she was showing me, but then I saw it. A small circular mark below my right ear, almost hidden by my mane and only a few shades darker than my coat. It was easy to miss.

"No, never seen that before," I said, trying to get a closer look at it.

"It looks like a hex of some sort," she said.

"Like a curse?" I asked.

"Kind of," she explained. "It's a physical latch on something using magic, usually to create a catalyst for a complicated spell."

"Huh, that's weird," I said, suddenly very interested in the frog. This was bad.

I knew exactly how I got this. The feeling of Marelin's magic washed over me again, making me shiver. This was very, very bad.

"You have no idea how you this?" Twilight asked me from behind.

I made a quick evaluation of my choices. I only had two.

I could tell Twilight everything, tell her about Marelin and the threat she had hanging on Twilight, tell her exactly why I was in Ponyville. I could reveal the entire situation to her right now. Surely I couldn't be blamed if it were a matter of such importance, right?

Or...

"Nope," I lied. "Never realized I had it. Might have had it for a while. In fact..." I then launched into a grand tale of when I was stuck in a manticore pit a few years back, having to fight my way through them to get to a demented Zebraik witch doctor. A story that started off true, but ended with yet another lie.

"-and I probably got it then," I finished. I desperately hoped she would fall for my lie.

A few seconds passed before I heard her flick her hair out of her face.

"Alright. Let me know if something happens to it, or something like that. Make sure it doesn't change shape, size, or start throbbing unbearably. Oh, I want to do some tests on it so bad!"

I was about to tell her off, but she actually interrupted herself.

"Buuut, my friends tell me that I shouldn't be putting everypony through those tests, so I wont. Just... keep an eye on it, 'kay?"

"Alright," I said.

We remained in the spring for quite a while longer until I finally decided to get out.

"I'm heading back to the library, what about you?" I asked Twilight.

"I'm going to stay out here a bit longer," she said while looking up at the night sky. I also looked up. The sky was beautiful. I always was a sucker for a good view.

"Alright, I guess I'll see you in the morning," I said as I shook myself dry. A quick teleportation spell later, and I was in the center of the library. It was an easy task to teleport to somewhere I'd already been, given it was in the same general area as where I originally was. Seeing as the library was in the center of town, it was only about ten or so miles, a quick jump for me. Now, cross-country jumps... those take quite a bit out of you.

Spike was already asleep, or at least wasn't downstairs so I assumed he was in bed. I trotted into the kitchen and opened the fridge, searching through the delectable innards of the cold storage until I found what I was looking for: a pitcher of orange juice. Grabbing the handle with my teeth, I set it on the counter and got myself a glass, pouring a cup of the orange goodness.

After my meticulous series of actions, the pitcher of orange juice was safely returned to the inside of the refrigerator, and I had a delicious cup of orange juice. Downing the drink, I decided to turn in for the night.

Once in the room, I repeated the spell I'd seen Twilight perform to light the candles. It took just a second, and suddenly there was a clean, bright flame in the candle next to the door. It was pretty awesome, really.

I pulled myself onto the bed and grabbed my bag, unloading the contents. The book landed on it's cover, the charge cuffs falling on top of it while my bag of bits flopped out last. I moved the bag of money to the bedside table, adding the cuffs to them a moment later. I was left with the book.

Opening it up, I flipped to my least favorite page: levitation. I read the passage, committing it to memory. I'd read this passage so many times before, I already memorized more than half of the words on the page.

I read each step-by-step instruction on the basics of casting the spell, studying them. Finally, I decided to try out the spell.

I reached out with my magic, grabbing one of the cuffs from the table. My magic enveloped it faintly for a moment, allowing me to lift it maybe a hoof's distance before my magic sputtered out, dropping the cuff.

I frowned. This happened with pretty much all of my physical magic. Sure, I was excellent at teleportation, and elemental spells came easier to me than to some, but I was horrible at physical magic. Telekinesis was not going to come easy.

Flopping backwards onto the bed, I groaned in disappointment. I'd been studying up on that spell the entire train ride, too! Why was it so difficult to perform this simple spell?! Telekinetic abilities were usually one of the first range of spells young foals learned, but I still could barely perform them better than I could as a foal!

Glaring up, I rolled onto my side, letting my gaze shift back to the cuffs.

Screw what the book says, I thought. Just cast the fragging spell!

I closed my eyes and sent all of my magic into my horn, reaching blindly. I didn't try and direct my energy like the book had said, I simply let it go.

I heard the THUNK of heavy metal hitting heavy wood. Opening my eyes, the cuff was gone.

I sat up and peered over the side of the bed. I could barely make out the sight of the cuff resting on the floor...

… On the opposite side of the table. I'd pushed the cuff away from me instead of picking it up!

"AH!" I groaned in frustration.

Closing my eyes, I decided to just go to bed. I put out the candles, and slowly I settled into a restless sleep.