Aspect pulled himself out of his bed and smiled at all the ‘good morning’s the paintings gave him. After washing up quickly and replying to the paintings, he made his way through the house, enjoying the chatter from the magical artwork.

This, this felt more like home. It had been far too quiet before. Even with a few alicorns around, he had been missing the constant background noise of the art.

He walked into his dining room and was struck dumb.

Sitting there, at his table, drinking coffee, was a pony that looked very much like Realm from ages ago.

He supposed it could have been a paint duplicate, much like Starswirl, that only now chose to walk out and talk to him, except for one thing.

Painted ponies didn’t eat. They especially didn’t drink.

“R-Realm?” Aspect quietly asked, daring to hope. The dappled pegasus nodded, swallowing a mouthful of coffee before replying.

“Wanted to make sure that Pictomancy survived and that I would be around for your return,” Realm said. “Yeah, my self-portrait was...more like a time capsule.”

The pegasus, more like a colt, really, was swept up in a hug from the larger pony. “Realm! Don’t you dare do that again! I’m happy to see you, but we all mourned you when you up and vanished like that!”

Realm gasped and resigned himself to his fate. He knew that Christopher saw him as the son he never had. Not that he minded. Tia and Lulu were easy to get along with.

There was a whistling sound. It was distant at first, but it was picking up in volume.

If there was an air raid siren, it’d probably be playing right about now.

“This cannot end well,” Aspect said. “Brace yourself.”

There was a rumble from outside, following the sound of something impacting the dirt. It was enough that the other occupants of the house were awoken, Tia and Luna walking into the kitchen.

“Okay, own up,” Aspect said, pointing a hoof at the pair of them. “Who tried to push themselves too fast with their pegasus magic? I’d be surprised if you didn’t break the sound barrier on the way over.”

“It wasn’t either of us,” Celestia said with a shake of her head. “We just awoke when we heard the noise.”

“Coffeeeeee~” Luna groaned, flopping over at the kitchen table. Completely ignoring the little pegasus next to her.

“Well then, I guess I’ll be having a word with whoever that was next class,” Aspect grumbled. “There’s a reason you don’t push all your magic into your wings for one giant flap.” The pegasus held a meaningful look at Celestia while he said that. “Anyways, it sounded like that landed nearby. So you two can catch Realm up while I go check on whoever that was. My luck, it was probably one of the Wonderbolts.”

“Realm? Father…” Celestia looked at him sadly. “Realm is gone. Do… you truly not remember?”

“Realm, prove a point,” Aspect replied as he peeled himself away from the small pegasus. Said pegasus nodded and sipped at his coffee, before pulling a face.

“I have no idea how this got more popular than tea,” he muttered. “Way too bitter.”

“Try the cream and sugar,” Aspect replied as he made his way to the exit.

On his way out, he heard dual squeals of delight from his daughters, and a little pegasus getting a two-way Alicorn-strength hug. Aspect smiled as he pressed on, ignoring Realm’s squawk of discomfort.

He reached his front door and pulled it open, and what greeted his eyes was...well, honestly, something he’d been hoping to not have to put up with right now.

He was greeted with the sight of a rather sizeable impact crater, dust and small stones still settling from the point of impact.

Inside the crater lay a blue pegasus, her prismatic mane and tail splayed out and her eyes were closed.

“You know, when I said I would make your earlier boast a reality, I didn’t think you would actually try to pull a Sonic Rainboom off in your sleep,” Aspect grumbled as he walked into the crater. It would take a lot of cheating to fix this. He gently pulled the mare out of the crater, before checking her over for any injuries. Hitting the ground at that speed would probably have left a mark.

Yet, nothing was broken. No fractures or contusions. A quick scan showed her brain wasn’t scrambled. Aside from some minor scratches and bruises… she was unharmed. Though her body was showing some residual pegasi magic. Rather than just her wings, her coat shone with the stuff.

Had she unconsciously projected a shield before impact? Some kind of resistance boost? He knew that most pegasi could do that, but it usually only happened in seriously dangerous situations. Like, if they were about to hit the ground at speeds in excess...of...fast…

“Well I guess that magic training paid off,” he muttered, before pulling the mare on top of him. “Come on, let’s get those wounds cleaned and dressed, and see about getting you fed as well.”

Whyyyy was she nuzzling her face into his mane? And wrapping her hooves around him in a hug? Oh boy...this...would likely only end with Bon Bon trying to kill her again.

Aspect stopped at his saddlebags and carefully slipped the prismatic mare off of him, much to her apparent chagrin, before he ducked his head in one side. A moment later, he emerged with first-aid supplies and began seeing to her injuries.

She was still unconscious, though her snoring was impressive. She could give Luna a run for her bits with that lung capacity. It was a simple matter to clean and dress all her injuries, and he put the first aid supplies away before putting her on his back again.

She’d probably wake up for breakfast, right? Aspect hadn’t yet met a pony that didn’t wake up for coffee. Or tea.

“Help...me…” Realm gasped, still trapped in princess pony hugs. “I see...a light...and terrible paintings…”

“Oh suck it up,” Aspect fired off. “I know you’re not serious. You’re better at the Gale King than I am, if I don’t cheat at it. What was it you said? Something about Spectra crystals rarely appearing in convenient locations?”

“Be that as it may, could you please pry them off of me?” Realm replied. “A lightning bolt to the chest is a terrible way to say hello after...how long has it been?”

“More than a thousand years,” Celestia said as they released him. “You missed quite a bit.”

“Never once thought that a Pictomancer would seal themselves inside a painting to last longer,” Aspect chipped in as he put Dash in a chair. “What gave you the idea?”

“Clover,” Realm replied with a shrug of his wings.

“Um, Father?” Celestia asked. “Why is Rainbow Dash unconscious?”

“Did you do something untoward to her?” Luna questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“For shame father,” Celestia sniffed. “I thought you were better than that.”

“To see Our father fallen so,” Luna sniffed, dabbing at her eyes with a hoofkerchief. “I blame myself.”

“Tis on both our heads,” Celestia continued. “Fear not Sister, we can still help him.”

“Have standards really degraded that much in a thousand years?” Realm asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Mother will be so disappointed,” Celestia wept. “And poor Bon Bon, what will she think?”

“I mean really,” Realm added on, rolling his eyes. “Take her out to see a skirmish, get her her favorite flowers. Don’t just drag her in off your doorstep.”

“And those bandages?” Luna gasped, putting a hoof to her mouth. “Were thou that rough with her?”

“I know Hurricane said she liked it like that,” Realm nudged Luna with a wing. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d learned a thing or two from the old warmare.”

“Ahh, that makes sense,” Luna nodded.

“I have hoofcuffs you can borrow,” Cadence hummed from the doorway.

“For your information,” Aspect said, walking over to the cabinets to prepare a quick breakfast. “She once made a boast that she could pull off Sonic Rainbooms in her sleep. I think she actually succeeded...and of course, crashed into my lawn.”

“Hmm, I wonder why she came here to you of all ponies?” Cadence hummed, before Celestia decided to switch targets.

“Oh Cadenza dear,” she sang and the pink alicorn’s blood turned cold. “Have you told your Grandfather about your coltfriend yet?”

“Ohh, the Aspect of Love getting a coltfriend?” Aspect smirked. “Do I get to pull out my intimidating father role? I never got to with Tia or Lulu.”

“You leave Shiny alone!” Cadence warned him. “And besides, that’s because Tia and Luna are still vi—”

Then she vanished.

“Oh look, Cadenza had to return home,” Celestia sighed. “What a shame.”

“And I know she’s wrong on your account,” Aspect pitched in, putting a breakfast in front of Rainbow. “Blueblood’s existence is a good enough indicator of that. Loathsome as it is.”

“Actually, Blueblood is a descendant of Platinum,” Celestia said with a raised hoof. “They were adopted into my family when she passed on, her children became my own. It was that, or watch the unicorns fight over who would get her position.”

“Huh,” the stallion replied, sitting next to Realm again. “And I half expected Lulu to have found a nice Thestral stallion by now. Or some time ago.”

“Thousand years on the moon remember?” Luna deadpanned. “We have not had time for something as pointless as finding a consort.”

“You know,” Realm replied, rolling a hoof around. “Before. Who was that stallion you were making goo-goo eyes back at the castle? I think you asked me to paint a picture of him…”

Luna looked pensive, lost in thought before she shook her head. “I do not recall. Perhaps if I were to find that painting…”

“No, wait, wouldn’t work,” Realm sighed, lowering his hoof. “Never did get around to it before Clover warned me of the times to come. Didn’t know she was gifted with prophecy until that night. Sorry Lulu. But yeah, I thought you definitely had a stallion back at the castle. Did you not?”

“It would not matter,” the alicorn sighed. “He is long since gone. So that road has no future…”

“Still, you could probably look at your guard for a nice, strapping stallion,” Realm pointed out. “You always did have a thing for leathery wings.”

“Q-Quiet!” Luna blushed and jabbed him with a hoof. “I know not of what thou speaks!”

“Hmm, maybe a dragon,” Realm mused. “They also have scales and are big and...powerful~”

With a strangled choke of embarrassment, Luna teleported from the room. The sudden noise cause Rainbow to snort and wake up, the pegasus looking around and blinking.

“Huh? What? Where am I?”

“You remember your little boast a few weeks ago, about being able to do sonic rainbooms in your sleep?” Aspect inquired, subconsciously drawing Realm in for a wing-hug.

“Yeah?” Rainbow said, rubbing her eyes and stretching her wings. “Urgh, I feel like crud.”

“That’d be because you actually did one, and crashed into my lawn when you did,” Aspect outlined for the chromatic mare. “The only reason you didn’t smear yourself across the ground is thanks to the magic training I gave you. Your body threw up an impact shield right before you hit, one that was fairly powerful.”

“I… what?” Rainbow shook her head to clear it as her mane flipped back into place. “Aw man, I haven't flown in my sleep since I was a filly… how embarrassing.”

“Eh, it’s fairly standard to learning the Gale King,” Realm said with a shrug of his wings, resigning himself to his fate to be cuddled. “I found the best way to get rid of my problem was to burn off as much magic as possible before going to sleep until I stopped sleep-flying. Then I stopped burning my magic off. Might take like...two weeks until your body adapts to having more magic on call.”

“Urgh, what a pain,” Rainbow sighed and looked at the colt. “So, who’s the squirt? Another kid of yours? Man, I feel sorry for the mare that will be your wife Aspect. You pump ‘em out like Fluttershy’s bunnies.”

“I’m adopted,” Realm deadpanned.

“Ahh,” Rainbow nodded and her stomach growled. “Heh, so Aspect… got any food?”

“I made you a simple breakfast,” Aspect said, pointing a hoof at the plate in front of her and the mug of coffee. “You didn’t even wake up for the smell.”

“That’s… food?” she said, looking at it. “Aw man, is Bons sick or something. No offense Aspect. But her cooking is waaaaay better.”

“Yeah, she might be slightly mad at me about something I said yesterday,” Aspect replied, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof. “But hey, I haven’t poisoned myself yet. That counts for something, right?”

“Which is a definite improvement over how skilled he used to be, back at the castle,” Realm added. “The cooks actively chased him out. With knives.”

“Huh…” Rainbow looked at the food, her growling stomach overriding her self-preservation. With a prayer and a deep breath, she inhaled the food.

It may not have tasted good...but she wasn’t throwing up. And she couldn’t deny that it was filling her up. It was probably a really old dish that he’d mastered for the energy more than the taste of it. That, alongside the coffee she had, was enough to get her going now.

“So, speaking of Bon Bon…” Celestia started.

“I’ll hopefully be able to introduce her and Written Script properly at some point,” Aspect interrupted. “Maybe then they’ll both forgive me.”

“I sure hope so,” Realm added on, looking at Celestia. “Your mom’s one of the best works out there. Made sure she was in the best condition before I made myself this ‘coffee’ stuff.”

“Well, in case you were wondering,” Celestia said. “Bon Bon is father’s new marefriend. A little earth pony mare…”

“Oh ho ho, a new mother figure to completely scar?” Realm chuckled. “Oh, this is gonna be good. How much you want to bet she’ll think I’m just a talented colt?”

“Fifty bits says she figures it out before the end of the day,” Celestia said. “She’s rather perceptive, and has already learned we are not a normal family.” Then she looked at Aspect. “That’s if she comes back however. When introducing her to mother, what did you say again? That she was a ‘good friend’?”

“‘Oh hey Written, here’s the mare I’m banging now,’” Aspect replied dryly. “Yeah. That would have gone down a treat.”

“You could have said, ‘Her name is Bon Bon,’ and left it at that,” Celestia pointed out.

“She would have wanted to know why Bon Bon was in the room with all of us,” Aspect countered. “I’m willing to admit my plan wasn’t the best, but that’s not a situation that I was going to walk away from without telling her something about my new relationships. I approached it wrong and hurt someone, but I wanted to make sure it wasn’t such a shock to your mother.”

“And father, what do we do when we hurt somepony?” Celestia asked in her ‘Princess Teacher Voice’.

“We make it up to them,” Aspect sighed. “Fine. I’ll stop by their place before I go to the school to teach today. Maybe I’ll be able to salvage this relationship.” He pointed a hoof at Realm. “No breaking anypony.”

“But that’s the fun part!” Realm said with a grin.

“No! I already bucked up once—”

“Just once?” Realm asked, and Aspect groaned.

“Just...I’m out,” Aspect sighed. “Rainbow, try not to feed his dirty jokes. He may only be twelve, but he’s one of the more knowledgeable twelve-year olds out there.”

“Huh, really now?” the mare beamed and then looked at him. “Hey kid… you know what a prank is?”

“Oh, so that’s what they called all the things I did to the staff?” Realm giggled. “But seriously though, I think I better get the rundown from Celly here as to everything I missed. Or at least the highlights. Little tip: Sealing yourself inside a Pictomancy portrait so that you can last the coming ‘thousand tumultuous years’ your unicorn friend predicts is a good idea in theory. In practice...nah so much.”

“Huh… sounds, eggheady,” Rainbow groaned. “Oh hey, you should meet Twilight then, she’d go down a treat. Be right back!” And before anypony could argue, she blasted her way through the door, a rainbow contrail left in her wake.

“Well, why don’t you tell me what I’ve missed, sis?” Realm said, snuggling into Celestia’s side.

“Oh you know,” Celestia said with a wave of her hoof. “This and that, nothing big. Well, except for Luna being infected with a Nightmare Parasite and nearly destroying the world. Then ponies using the Artes to ignite a civil war… Oh, and my last student was corrupted by dark magic and fled to another dimension, there’s also that.”

“Ah, ponies,” Realm sighed dramatically. “Is there nothing they can’t do? Give them a country, they’ll try to ruin it. According to ‘dad’, that’s what they did to Dream Valley anyways. Wasn’t there for that.”

“Yes well…” Celestia didn’t want to think about Dream Valley. “So, what was it like to spend a thousand years in a painting? I imagine you’re feeling pretty brushed~”

“It was actually just as simple as preparing a room, then stocking the room and waiting for the magic to run out,” Realm informed her. “Wasn’t all that hard. And once the room ran out of magic, the painting froze. For me, it was like an eyeblink between then, and now. First thing I heard was Christopher saying he was sorry he never found me after restoring the painting.”

“Hmm, well at least it was quick,” Celestia said and nuzzled him. “Well, then I’ll be the first to welcome you to modern day Equestria. Try not to break my little ponies too much okay?”

“I will make no such promise at all,” Realm giggled.

“Of course,” Celestia sighed and sipped her tea. As if life wasn’t interesting enough…

The bell rang as Aspect pushed the door open, his head suitably bowed as he carried something in a wing. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too badly verbally mauled by his marefriend...if marefriend she still was.

The store looked as it always had, and Bon Bon was behind the counter, but her back was turned to him as she rummaged around for something under there, her flank swaying from side to side in beat with the music playing in the background. He opted to simply wait and not let on that he’d been looking at the show. She was still mad at him, probably.

She finally found what she was searching for, a small candy box? She turned around and placed it on the counter, looked up and…

“Aspect? Oh hello de—” She paused and her eyes widened. “ASPECT!”

“Hello Bon Bon,” Aspect smiled softly. “I, uh, brought you something to apologize.” He flared his wing and sent a bouquet of flowers to land on the counter in front of her. The flower trio had been very helpful in picking out just the right flowers to say ‘I’m sorry’ with.

“Flowers huh?” Bon Bon’s eyes fell into a flat stare. “Well… this is a bother now isn’t it?” She turned around for a moment, taking the candy box with her.

And a moment later, she turned back to him, presenting him with the gift-wrapped box. “So, what should I do with my apology gift to you?”

“I’m perfectly willing to admit that I was in the wrong,” Aspect said. “I should have come clean with Written Script about what you were to me. Heck, I wish you had stayed for the rest of the night, it turns out my house is even more crazy now. You’re gonna have to see it to believe it.”

“Aspect… no, Kris-toe-ferr was it?” That mispronunciation was cringeworthy.

“Close,” Aspect said, doing his best to put his ears back up. A thousand years as a pony and he still didn’t have full control over the things.

“Look, I’m not going to pretend to understand what you and your family have gone through,” Bon Bon said with a soft, sad smile. “I mean, I’ve seen things in my day, sure. But I doubt it’s a drop in a bucket compared to the ocean of crap you’ve had to deal with.” She pushed the box forward, filled with his favourite chocolates. Whether he knew they were his favourites or not.

Special talent, don’t ask.

“So, I can give you all the time you need,” she said. “Just… you will come back to me right? Do… you still love me?”

“Why would you ask that question?” Aspect questioned her. “I never stopped loving you. I just...wanted to build up to it for her.”

“I guess I acted like a silly pony huh?” Bon Bon sighed, looking to the side as the tips of her ears turned red. Aspect reared up, planted his hooves on the counter, and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. He was rewarded with a much cuter blush as she took one of the flowers, nibbling on it.

“So… you still teaching today?” she asked.

“Yup,” Aspect replied as he fell back on his four hooves. “It promises to be...interesting.”

Bon Bon looked at the clock and then smiled, a smile that made him feel warm in… certain areas. “How long until you have to be there?” She asked him as she moved around the counter.

“I think as long as I don’t take until after lunch here, that we should be good,” Aspect mused as he let his eyes roam freely over the earth mare’s form.

“Oh good,” Bon Bon hummed as she switched the sign to closed and drew the curtains down. “Plenty of time to… make up~”

“You know, just this morning I had the most peculiar visitor,” Aspect said. “A certain mare flew in her sleep and landed on my lawn. And when she eventually woke up, she lamented the fact that it wasn’t your cooking she was eating.”

“Oh, are you really talking about another mare right now?” Bon Bon asked as she sashayed towards him, her tail swishing to and fro.

“Well how else am I going to bring up the fact that she freakin’ nuzzled me in her sleep?” Aspect countered.

Bon Bon stopped and gave him a flat stare. “We will discuss this later,” she said with a tone that said discussion may involve loud words. “Right now… I’m going to try a few things Cadence told me about~”

“Just keep in mind, I cheat,” Aspect returned, flaring his wings.

Then the amorous earth pony pounced…

“Aspect,” Bon Bon said as they walked towards Ponyville school. “Did you get into Pinkie’s sugar stash?”

“Nope, why do you ask?” Aspect chirped as they continued on their walk.

“No reason,” Bon Bon chuckled and shook her head. “Stallions, give them a little and they think they’re King.”

“Nah, it’s more to do with the fact that I’m gonna be teaching!” Aspect smiled. “Oh, I do love teaching. Especially foals. They haven’t learned any of the bad habits adults have yet.”

“Oh?” Bon Bon couldn’t help herself. She moved in close, leaning against his side. “So tonight then, do you want to teach me some bad habits~” She moved her lips and nibbled his ear.

“I think you have plenty of those on your own,” Aspect muttered, flicking his ear a little and successfully fighting his blush down.

“Then maybe I’ll teach you a few~” she giggled and bumped his flank with her own. “So, any idea what you’ll be teaching today?”

“The basics of their tribal magics,” Aspect nodded firmly. “I won’t go beyond the basics, even that might take me a while depending on the class size, but that’s the idea today.”

“Hmm, well as far as I know, there’s only around a dozen foals, give or take,” Bon Bon said with a nod. “Ponyville is a small village at best. We’re certainly no Canterlot.”

“Still, it might take me a bit to cover the basics,” Aspect sighed. “Especially considering how long they’ve been forgotten…”

“Well then grandpa, good thing you have a semi-competent Geomancer with you hmm?” Bon Bon said and then her eyes widened. “Oh, I almost forgot. Somepony told me that you’d have a Sorcerer to help as well.”

“Well that’d be...relatively helpful,” Aspect said, his eyes narrowing. “Though I question how said sorcerer would know to be here at this exact moment…”

And when they reached the path that led up to the school, Balanced Aspect saw exactly who was helping him.

It was a white unicorn filly, with a cotton candy pink mane and tail with deep amethyst eyes. Her Cutie Mark was a smiling sun. She spied the stallion and smiled brightly, waving at him. He sighed, before walking up to the mare and shaking his head slightly.

“Celly,” he sighed again. “Really?”

“Nope! Incorrect!” the filly declared. “I am Sunny Daze, Number One student of Balanced Aspect and I’m here to help!”

“I do hope you didn’t leave Realm unattended,” Aspect mused. “That colt always did get up to all sorts of trouble.”

“Of course not,” Sunny shook her head as she jumped up onto his back. “Lulu’s with him… and I believe Miss Dash went to fetch Twilight.”

“Well suddenly my mind is put at ease,” Aspect returned with no small amount of snark. “Fine. Let’s see about teaching the foals their tribal magic without blowing them up.”

“Oh, this will be fun!” Sunny giggled as she took his mane in her hooves. “Giddy up Daddy!”

“You’ll give the game away if you carry on like that,” Aspect warned her as the three of them entered the schoolhouse.

“Boo, you’re no fun,” Sunny pouted as she jumped down. “Fine. I’ll be good, Teacher.”

Inside the classroom, Cheerilee tapped her hoof on her desk to get her student’s attention.

“Class? Listen up please. We have a very special guest with us today. But before we introduce him, do you all have those forms I sent home to your parents?”

They all nodded as the forms were passed forwards. Cheerilee looked over them and nodded to herself. So only a hooffull of students had gotten permission.

“Alright class. Now, I’d like to introduce you to Balanced Aspect.” She gestured to the door as the stallion entered, filly at his side and Bon Bon in tow. Cheerilee smiled and tapped her hoof again.

“Now class, say hello.”

“Hello Mister Aspect!” they all said with a well-practised tone.

“Hello class, I hope you all got permission for me to be here,” Aspect replied, smiling all the while. “It turns out, I may even have more I can teach later on, and I would really rather be allowed to teach it to you than have to refrain. My classes are going to be fun for you and me.”

A pink hoof rose into the air before the filly attached to it stood up. She was a little pink earth pony wearing a diamond-studded tiara. She had blue eyes and a white and purple striped mane.

“Excuse me Miss Cheerilee,” she said, making Sunny wince. She’d heard that tone before, from many a noble in Canterlot. “But the letter said something about magic. Pray tell, how does a Pegasus use magic? Everypony knows only unicorns can use it—” Then Aspect caught the sneer she shot at Sweetie Belle and a little blonde lavender filly. “—Well, most unicorns anyway.”

“That,” Aspect said, pointing a hoof at her. “Is an excellent question! Once upon a time, many years ago, ponies knew about more magic,” he weaved a story for the foals. “Magic that any pony could use, no matter their tribe. But ponies weren’t always kind with it. So as punishment for their cruelty, the knowledge faded from their minds. I,” the pegasus said, holding a hoof to his chest. “As part of being a knight of Celestia, went to a lot of old, dusty ruins, and found a few books everywhere. I put enough of the puzzle together to be able to reclaim the lost arts. So that’s why I’m here. To teach the kindest class this side of Canterlot the lost magics.”

“Whoa! You’re a knight of Celestia?” one colt asked, a little painted earth pony that bore an uncanny resemblance to Realm. “Me dad used to be a Royal Guard fore he got ‘urt.”

“Hammer Hoof,” Sunny muttered under her breath.

“I still don’t see how a Pegasus can use magic,” Diamond Tiara continued. “I say it’s a total load of—”

“Let me ask something of the pegasi, then,” Aspect said, turning to Scootaloo. “Little one, how do Pegasi fly or stand on clouds?”

“Magic, duh,” Scootaloo puffed her chest out.

“That again?” Diamond sneered and Aspect saw Scootaloo wilt. “Everypony knows you can’t even fly Blank Flank. You’re too scrawny to be an Earth Pony as well.”

“Little Scootaloo here came over to my house the other day and crashed into a session that I was giving to some other, bigger pegasi,” Aspect said, waving her forward with a wing. “Why don’t you come up here? I have faith you’ve not learned enough to bonk your head into the ceiling, and it’d be a good demonstration to the rest of the class.”

Scootaloo nodded and stepped up to the front. She spread her wings but Aspect could see her shaking a little. And under the gaze of the two bullies… no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t work up the concentration to even achieve lift.

“I wonder what a Cutie Mark in failing looks like?” Diamond giggled and bumped hooves with the silver filly next to her.

“Diamond Tiara!” Cheerilee started, getting out of her seat.

“Miss Cheerilee,” Aspect said, not even looking up from Scootaloo. “I must respectfully tell you that there are apparently two fillies I will not be teaching the secrets of Geomancy to. I will not allow the ancient arts to be misused ever again. And if they can’t be kind, then they won’t learn from me.”

Cheerilee nodded as the two fillies stared back with wide eyes.

“You can’t do that!” Diamond said. “My Mommy and Daddy are very influential ponies!”

Aspect looked up and glared. “I am a knight of Princess Sol Celestia, she who raises the sun. The only reason I am here teaching you is because she said there were no more monsters for me to fight. I am an adult, little filly. You cannot bully me. I have stared Death Himself in the face and made him blink. So sit your flank back in your seat and be quiet.”

Every colt and filly in the room stared at him with wide eyes, now suddenly quite fearful of the stallion.

Then Sunny stepped up. “I’m sorry, this old fuddy-duddy gets cranky in his old age,” That got a few laughs from the children. “But he is correct, we’re here because we listen only to Princess Celestia. We have the right to choose whom we teach. So currently, we will select just three of each pegasus, earth pony and unicorn to start with. If the teaching goes well, we can start to expand.”

“Nah, I like teaching,” Aspect said, waving off his bad mood with a wing. “You should see me before I have my coffee.” That drew a few more laughs. “Anyways! Please keep your comments to yourselves for a minute.”

Then he dipped his head and whispered to Scootaloo. “Remember. Remember the feeling. This is your moment. This is your time. Prove to them you are as much of a pegasus as any other pony. Show them who is right and wrong. They aren’t even a factor anymore. They don’t matter. Nothing matters but you...and showing the world that you can slip free of its bonds of gravity.”

“Time to make gravity my bitch!” Scootaloo shouted, much to Cheerilee’s chagrin. She spread her wings again and closed her eyes as Aspect felt the slight rise in Pegasus magic.

Even he couldn’t help the slight grin adorn him muzzle when she flapped her wings and her hooves left the ground, and then a steady buzz kept her aloft.

“The Gifts of the Sky,” Aspect said with a slight bow. “Capable of getting and keeping any pegasus pony aloft, no matter their wing size. Pure magic fuels the takeoff and the flight. The only downside is, the pony’s magic reserve is the factor behind how long they can stay up, not how skilled they are in flight school. If you run out of magic mid-flight, you can’t even cloudwalk until a little bit comes back.”

“Cause I’m awe-Oof!” Scootaloo went to brag, only to drop like a rock with an impressive faceplant. “...ow.”

“And that was a perfect demonstration of what happens when you don’t concentrate,” Sunny smiled.

“Excuse me, but who might the two of you be?” Cheerilee asked.

“Oh? I’m Sunny Daze, this old farts best student, and this is Miss Sweetie Drops, his assistant.”

When Aspect turned to see Bon Bon, he saw some kind of glamour spell around her, changing her coat and mane colour. Her coat was now a rich, milk-chocolate brown, whilst her mane and tail were a cream color.

“Sunny is going to be the practical instructor for Sorcery, which will be for the unicorns of our choosing,” Aspect illuminated, turning back to the class. “And Sweetie here will instruct some Earth Pony foals in the art of Geomancy. Anypony who has permission slips and wants to learn, please raise your hooves. My lovely assistants here will go through and pick the foals they want to tutor.”

Almost the entire class raised their hooves. So for Sorcery, Sunny went first. She hemmed and hawed over her choices before settling on three.

Sweetie Belle. Rarity’s sister, blank-flanked and apparently magic-less… for now.

Dinky Doo. Ditzy Doo’s daughter. She seemed to as powerful as Sweetie Belle when it came to magic.

Ruby Pinch. The daughter of Berry Punch. She had a rose-colored mane and tail and bright green eyes. Again, she barely knew how to cast at all.

As Bon Bon looked around, she needed to pick at least three earth ponies. In the end, she chose...

Pipsqueak, the little pinto colt from before. He was quite a bit on the small side, and lacked a Cutie Mark.

Applebloom, Applejack’s sister and one of the Cutie mark Crusaders.

Lily Longsocks, a little pink filly with a purple mane and a hedgehog Cutie Mark.

Meanwhile Aspect smirked down at Scootaloo and looked at the rest of the class. “Hmm...who do I pick?” he mused out loud. “I already have one student here…”

There were several pegasi present, such as Featherweight, Alula, Zipporwhill, Rumble, Piña Colada and Aura.

“You and you,” Aspect said, pointing a hoof at first Featherweight, then Rumble. “Come on up here.”

The colts nodded, some of the filly’s looking a little dejected that they didn’t get chosen.

“Hey now,” Sunny smiled again. “Just because you didn’t get chose this time, doesn’t mean you won’t the next okay. Our goal is to teach all of you eventually.”

“Mmhmm, but learning these things aren’t easy,” Aspect nodded. “And we have to make sure we’re doing it safely as well. Still, we will teach you all these ancient secrets. It’s not just a one and done thing. We’ll picking up new students eventually. Promise.”

“Okay class, the rest of you are dismissed for the day,” Cheerilee nodded as most packed their things and shuffled out. Diamond Tiara still shot a glare at Aspect as she turned and stormed off with a huff.

“Let’s take the lesson outside,” Aspect said to the assembled fillies and colts. “Miss Cherilee, you do have that weight and mat I asked for, right?”

“Yes of course, I’ve set them up out in the playground,” she said and led him out there. And true to word, she had a large crashmat made of cloud set up, as well as several different-sized weights.

“Excellent,” Aspect nodded approvingly, before nudging Scootaloo with a hoof. “You know what you should be doing over there. Go on, go exercise on the mat. I’ll talk to these colts and get them ready to join you in a minute.”

Scootaloo nodded and jumped up onto the puffy cloud, before taking the stance and concentrating. Aspect nodded and motioned the colts to stand in front of him.

“Line up, line up,” he urged the two pegasi. The colts did so, though they kept shooting glances at Scootaloo, whom was already airborne again.

“Okay, so,” Aspect spoke up, grabbing their attention before he flared a wing. “You’ll be learning what she already has. A pegasus’ magic is based around emotion. Specifically, around the emotions you feel when in flight.” He brought his wing down, and the wind...shifted. Now it was coming from behind him. “Okay, both of you, hold your wings out like this,” Aspect demonstrated, holding his wings perfectly level to either side of him.

They looked at one another, before shrugging and doing as he said, spreading their wings to mimic him.

“Now what Mister Aspect?” Rumble asked.

“Now, focus on the feeling,” Aspect replied. “Focus on what it feels like to have the wind in your face and running over your wings. Really lose yourself to it. Let me know when you feel a tingly sensation in your chest.”

They remained there for a moment, but so far it seemed to be taking longer than it did with Scootaloo. That girl seemed to have natural talent. It was a solid twenty minutes before Featherweight spoke up.

“I think I feel it?” he asked.

“I feel hungry,” Rumble nodded.

“Focus on building up that feeling, of that joy of what it feels like to fly,” Aspect urged them. “Bring that emotion to bear. Then when you feel a tingly feeling in your chest, imagine it flowing up to your wings, and give them one, good flap.”

They nodded and both gave a flap, Featherweight got a good foot off of the ground, whilst Rumble only got half that. A quick glance at Scootaloo showed her hovering at a height that would put her just over his alicorn form.

“It’s okay boys, this is one of the more difficult magics to actually learn,” Aspect praised them. “You have to both be in touch with your emotions...and not let them rule you entirely. It’s a delicate balance. Most just choose to be emotional. The rest is simply about building up your magic, which Scootaloo started doing yesterday. Speaking of,” he said, turning to her. “Not bad for two days worth of work, little one! We’ll have you on roofs in no time!”

“You know it-ooof!” She ate cloud as she failed to keep concentrating. “Dang it!”

“Recovery pose!” Aspect barked. “Even without magic it’ll keep you gliding. You should be assuming that pose whenever you feel yourself fall! Sheesh...I thought with no bad habits to unlearn, you’d be a quicker study.”

“Oh come on! I’ve been doin’ this for a day, cut me some slack Teach!” Scootaloo frowned as she stood back up and spread her wings, taking off once more.

“It’s hard to recover with only four feet of fall time,” Sunny giggled. “They’re foals teacher, not you. Or, should I tell them about the time you learned that magic~?”

“Fair enough, fair enough,” Aspect relented, before looking up at Scootaloo again. “Okay, fine, but from now on I want to see you gliding back to earth, not just falling, okay? The higher you go, the more important it is that you do that. Otherwise you might just break something, and that’ll stop you real fast.”

Scootaloo gulped as her ascendance lowered a little, her desire for soaring to the stratosphere wilted by the prospect of a sudden stop.

“There we go. A little more respect for gravity, even if you are ignoring it a little bit right now,” Aspect said with a nod. “Because it is a cruel and harsh mistress. So make sure you pay her all due respect as you come back to her embrace. As we go through the forms, you’ll learn a few things you can do besides gliding to slow your descent. But until then, if you go up high, the first thing I want to see you do when you feel yourself falling is snapping your wings out. Got it?”

“Yes sir!” they nodded as they headed over to the crash mat with Scootaloo, who actually started showing them what she was doing.

Meanwhile, with Sunny and her tiny charges…

“Okay,” she asked, looking at the three tiny unicorns. “Now, who knows how unicorn magic works?”

“Um, don’t you just concentrate really hard until something happens?” Sweetie asked.

“They don’t teach magic here,” Dinky pointed out.

Sunny sighed. Of course not. Still, as Aspect would put it, they had no bad habits to unlearn. “Some unicorn magic works like that, like levitating objects,” Sunny conceded. “Or making a light. That’s actually just focusing a lot of magic in your horn and willing it to be bright. But the more complex stuff needs runes, and formulas, and diagrams.” She paused for a moment, before smiling. “Sorcery doesn’t need any of that.”

“Wait, it doesn’t?” Ruby blinked. “Why not?”

“Sorcery works on a different level,” Sunny said. “It only needs two things, though it benefits from a third. The first thing it needs, is somepony with a strong will. The second thing it needs, is for you to get in touch with the musical nature that everypony has.” She nodded her head. “And the third thing that it benefits from, is spelling out what you want to have happen in rhyme. The best Sorcerers can carry a tune wherever they go and have a rhyming dictionary with them to help them look up words.”

“So wait,” Dinky held up a hoof. “We have to sing to use Sor-Ser… Saucy?”

“Sorcery,” Sweetie corrected her. “And yeah, we have to sing it?”

“You don’t have to sing it, but you do have to carry a beat in your head,” Sunny explained. “You do have to have a rhythm, a tempo. One, two, three, four,” she outlined. “One, two, three, four. You have to hold that rhythm in your head until the magic is cast, because that’ll be the basis for what it’ll do.”

“So does that mean Miss Zecora is a Sorcerer?” Sweetie asked. “Cause she rhymes. All. The. Time.”

“But she doesn’t have a horn,” Dinky pointed out and tapped her own. “So, can only unicorns be Saucy Miss Sunny?”

“Zebras have a special kind of magic that shares many things in common with Sorcery,” Sunny said. “They benefit from rhyming and carrying a tune in their heads, but they have their own ways of doing things. And Sorcery can be practiced by anypony, though non-unicorns will find it harder.”

“Oohhh!” the three fillies chorused.

“One more question,” Berry asked. “How come you’re teaching us when you look like the same age?”

“Ah…” Sunny paused and giggled. “I’m older than I look. Now, shall we get started?”

“Yes Ma’am!” the three fillies saluted and giggled.

“Okay, so, this is the important first lesson,” Sunny said, levitating a small ball over. “I want you all to get a feel for your magic, and a feel for a beat. Just a simple one. Raise your hoof when you think you have both. The magic should tingle in your horn, and the beat you should feel in your chest.”

“Um, how do we feel our magic?” Sweetie asked. “Because, I seriously doubt I even have any…”

The other two nodded. Miss Cheerilee was a great teacher, the best really. But, an Earth Pony just didn’t know how to teach magic…

“Yeah, this is where it gets tricky,” Sunny nodded solemnly. “Some ponies say they focus on what they like most in life. Others say they just think about magic and their horns glow. It’s different for everypony. You just have to try. The easiest way for a horn to get glowing is if you think about making it glow...which means you have to focus on it first, which will make focusing on the beat in your chest harder when you’re trying to maintain a magical glow. Nopony said Sorcery would be entirely easy, I’m afraid. But if you learn what to do, commit it to memory, it’s oftentimes faster.”

The three looked at one another, but nodded and closed their eyes. Sweetie went for the direct route, just picturing her horn glowing. Ruby thought about things she liked, like flowers and stuff.

Dinky went for the emotion road, think about her Mom and her sister… And lo and behold, she was the first to get a purple glow emanating from the tip of her horn. Ruby was second, getting a cerise glow to her horn. Sweetie eventually managed a small, flickering lime green glow from hers.

“Okay,” Sunny nodded again. “Now. I’m going to hum a simple beat. I want you all to hear it in your heads, feel it in your chests. Nod your heads when you have the beat and the magical glow going at the same time. Ready?” With that, the tiny unicorn hummed a simple ‘one, two, three, four,’ beat. Like a metronome, really.

Now this was interesting, whilst Dinky was the first to get her glow, Sweetie was the first to get the rhythm. Her horn’s light pulsing with the beat. Again, Ruby was second with Dinky coming up last, though hers was slightly off beat.

“Okay, so, miss Sweetie,” Sunny said, turning to the pearl unicorn filly. “Here’s what you need to do next. Bring that magic down from your horn and picture it filling your mouth. Sorcery works based on spoken component as well. We’re only going to try one spell right now, and it’s going to interfere with the others. So you two, don’t panic, okay?”

The three nodded, Ruby and Dinky doing their best to keep the beat going as Sweetie did as she was instructed, picturing the magic in her mouth… kinda like pudding.

“Now, and this is important, you can’t say anything while your mouth is full of magic unless you mean it,” Sunny said sternly. “Right now, I only want you to say one thing.” She put the weight between them and nodded her head once. “I want you to say ‘stop,’ or ‘halt,’ or ‘cease,’ or any meaning of the word. If you do it right, it’ll interrupt my magic, and the ball will fall. Got it? Nod your head.”

Sweetie did so, nodding her head once. The magic was tingly. She opened her eyes, her hoof tapping the beat as she stared at the floating ball.

“Stop!”

Instantly, the magic rippled through the world, and the ball fell to the earth. It also interfered with the other two fillies, temporarily interrupting their magic to their horns. The wave of null-magic just barely brushed against Sunny, making her smile at how strong a sorcerer the young Sweetie Bell was already.

“That,” the filly proudly exclaimed, “Is your first spell. It’s called ‘Dispel.’ And unless a work is warded against it, and most works of magic aren’t, then it can stop almost any sorcery or magic going on. This will prove most useful, I think, if three little fillies get it into their heads to practice sorcery off of school grounds.”

Well, there went her Crusading plans for this afternoon.

“Can we try next?” Ruby asked. Sunny nodded and lit up her horn after a moment, the ball levitating between her and Ruby.

“Now be warned, little fillies. This spell interrupts all magic for a moment. So don’t just go around telling ponies to stop what they’re doing. Because unless they’re warded against a dispel, they’ll fall out of the sky if they’re pegasi, or drop what they’re doing if they’re unicorns. Understand? It’s safe to practice here, because we’re all expecting it.”

“That… sounds pretty dangerous,” Dinky said. Her Mommy was a pegasus and she didn’t want to hurt her. Ditzy had enough trouble flying as is.

“Granted, you have to be taking these steps to make it work,” Sunny explained. “And most sorcerers take a simple precaution to make sure that they don’t go around dispelling things willy-nilly.” She paused for a moment before saying what it was. “They say ‘please’. ‘Please stop’ isn’t a dispel. Just telling somepony to ‘stop’ while you have a beat in your heart and magic on the tongue, is a dispel. Understand? So be careful.”

“So, we have to watch what we say?” Ruby said. “I dunno if I wanna learn this stuff now…”

“Sorcery is all about saying what you want to have happen, and then making music and magic do it for you,” Sunny said. “It’s really hard to accidentally do something, as a matter of fact. The two major parts of it are exertions of will. You have to have a beat. You have to have an idea of what you want to have happen. You have to summon your magic. It’s not like you’ll light up your horn and turn your classmate into a frog by accident.”

“So, we don’t have to worry about blowing stuff up with casual conversation?” Sweetie asked her, still looking worried, but not quite as much as before.

“Nope, but you also need to be careful to not say something you don’t mean when you start a sorcery, and you have to be sure you are meaning exactly what you say,” Sunny explained, before putting the ball down. “For example...if I were to simply say…” the unicorn looked down at the ball and tapped her hoof three times, before saying, “Rise!”

The ball slowly rose until it was about head-height, with no magical glow around it visible.

“Whoa!” the fillies gasped. Ruby and Dinky looked at each other and nodded. They mimicked Sweetie’s actions from earlier and followed Sunny’s instructions.

“Stop!” they echoed together. Instantly the ball plummeted back to earth, the magic rippling through the air as Sunny merely smiled at the three fillies.

“Now fillies, keep this in mind. Stop is your go-to spell to make something stop working. The more imagination you put behind what you say, the more the magic will try to do just that. Watch.” She tapped her hoof three times, then smiled and said “Rise!”

This time, the weight lifted up and circled each filly’s head, before returning to its original position between them all.

“See?” she pointed out. “Same word, but this time I thought about putting on a small show for you all.”

“So, it’s about how we think as well?” Sweetie asked her. “Urgh, this is hard.”

“Magic often is,” Sunny agreed with a nod. “But this way, you don’t have to memorize a long list of runes and equations and the like. You just have to think about what you want to have happen, and say what you think is the right word. And remember, simpler is better. You could draw out a long, tedious rhyme, to say you want the plates to go on the table...or you could simply say ‘Lift’ and have it happen just as you picture it. Or you could just say the word, and the magic would perform its basic function. It’s all really up to you and what you think you need.”

“My head hurts,” Ruby groaned.

“So… is that it?” Dinky asked. “We just focus magic into words? How come this is a lost art? It seems kind of...basic.”

Sunny turned pensive for a moment, thinking of the best way to say this to the fillies. “Because the unicorn ponies of ages ago...didn’t use their talents nicely. They kept saying things that the world didn’t like having happen in it, so the world made sure that they forgot how Sorcery worked. A curse of silence was put on all the unicorns that used their talents for mean, wicked ends, and the books were lost and forgotten. But now...now we hope that the ponies of this age are nice enough for us to bring it back.”

“That’s kinda scary,” Dinky gulped, Ruby nodding.

“Yeah, well a meany butt like Diamond Tiara might try that, but we won’t!” Sweetie Belle nodded. “Don’t worry Sunny!”

Sunny smiled at them and did her best to control her emotions. Such brave, proud fillies that were sure they wouldn’t let her down. It was almost enough to bring a tear to her eye. After all, her father wasn’t the only one who liked teaching.

“Can I tell you three a secret?” Sunny asked in a whisper.

They all nodded and leaned in close. They were young schoolfillies. Secrets were their bread and butter.

“The dispel can also disorient an earth pony for a moment,” Sunny whispered. “Makes them dizzy. But I know three nice little fillies like yourselves wouldn’t abuse that fact, would you? Only if you really needed to use it.”

They blinked, before that little tidbit caught on…

Then they grinned like three hungry piranhas…

“Remember, no abusing Sorcery,” Sunny said warningly. “You wouldn’t want to end up like the old mages.”

“Yes Ma’am!” they saluted again. Aww, they were so adorable.

Meanwhile, Bon- err, ‘Sweetie Drops’ was teaching her little students. She explained about ‘setting down roots’ as it were, that the longer you made a space your own, the more power you could draw from.

“For instance,” Bon Bon said. “Young Apple Bloom. For you, your farm would provide an incredible amount of power, probably more than anywhere else in Equestria. This playground is a good neutral spot. You kids spend a good deal of time here, and the land knows that and will protect you. But especially moreso for Miss Cheerilee. The land sees her as the guardian of this place, so she could draw much more power from it.”

Mental note, teach Cheery the Geomancy basics.

“So, what sort of things can you do with Geomancy?” the little filly, Lily asked.

“Hmm, well let’s see,” Bon Bon smiled. “Wait here just a moment would you.” She turned and left, returning a moment later with their teacher. “Okay, so for this, I’ll need Cheerilee’s help.”

“My help?” the schoolteacher asked, holding a hoof to her chest. “Um, miss Sweetie, I don’t know anything about Geomancy. What do you need my help for?”

“Well, whether you know it or not, this land listens to you and you alone,” ‘Sweetie’ smiled. “Geomancy is all about drawing power from the earth, and the earth lives as breathes as much as we do. I can use my power here, but that would require a good deal of coaxing, or brute force, the latter could damage the land quite a bit. So…” She turned and smiled at the schoolmarm. “I need you to give permission to the land for me.”

“I, um…” Cheerilee started, before looking at the faces of her students, practically begging her to let the mare show them something awesome. She sighed, but smiled as she nodded. “Okay. Just for a little bit. I...don’t even know how to do this, to be honest.”

“It’s quite easy,” Sweetie smiled. “I want you to close your eyes and and focus on your hooves. Tune out everything else, all the noise, your own thoughts. Feel the heartbeat of the land and focus on that. If the Land answers, you’ll hear it’s voice.”

Cheerilee nodded slowly and closed her eyes, her brow furrowing in concentration as she tried to focus on what the mare had told her. It took her a minute, but… “I...think I hear something? It’s...it’s more like one of my foals just went ‘huh?’ to be honest…”

“You’ve never spoken to it before,” Sweetie Drops smiled. “It’s alright. Introduce yourself, it will learn who you are. Remember, this is the land you’ve made your own. The land each and every one of your smiling flowers has grown upon. Even you yourself once bloomed here.”

Not a moment later, Cheerilee gasped and put a hoof to her chest. “It’s...it’s so warm. Like a thick wool blanket on a cold winter’s day. It’s so...welcoming.”

“That’s the Land’s magic. And that’s how everypony feels around you my dear,” Sweetie Drops smiled. Cheerilee smiled and put her hoof back down, before her brow furrowed again.

“Ah...okay. So I can...apparently talk to the land,” She voiced. “So...do I tell it to let you to do things now?”

Sweetie nodded. “Just ask if I have permission to tap a little of it’s power. Tell it you wish to grow your garden a little.”

“O-kay,” the schoolmarm said, focusing her mind again. “Um...I think I got an affirmative answer? It’s...it doesn’t really talk like we do. It’s more of feelings and impressions…”

“Mhm, you learn to read them as well as words the more you practice,” Sweetie Drops smiled as she attuned herself. Oh, Cheerilee was spot on, the land was kind of foal-like in its disposition. Though given the location and its inhabitants, that wasn’t at all surprising. “Hmm, let’s see here…” She raised a hoof and then brought it down in a soft tap, as flowers starting blooming around her hooves.

“Pretty!” Lily gasped, Apple Bloom nodding in agreement. Pipsqueak didn’t look that impressed though.

So the she brought up her hoof, a spire of stone following it and she tapped it once, some of the stone and dust fell away, revealing a small statue of Cheerilee.

“Oh my,” the schoolteacher blushed, having opened her eyes shortly after she heard her students exclaim about the flowers. “That is quite the impressive feat, miss.”

“Hmm, the carvings a little rough, I’m out of practice,” Sweetie sighed. “But yes, you can achieve many a thing using the earth. Let’s say… you’re in a forest and somepony gets lost. If the land listens, you can find them literally with your eyes closed.”

“Oh, well, that could prove most useful indeed,” Cheerilee admitted.

“Mhm, you can also do fun stuff like…” She turned and pointed at Aspect. He was busy teaching his own students, not noticing the vine creep up out of the ground and then smack his rump. The stallion whinnied and turned to look at the earth ponies with half a glare. Sweetie drops just whistled innocently as she turned back to her class, her feigned innocence ruined by two fillies and a colt cackling loudly at the prank.

“You can do lots of things really, speed up growth of plants, call upon the land to defend yourself and others. Sorcery and Gale King magicks are all about controlling oneself and the magic they use. Geomancy is about working together with the land. Do you understand so far?”

The foals nodded, friendship was an easy concept to understand.

“Right, now lets begin with the basics…” Sweetie looked at Cheerilee. “Do you want to stay and learn a little too?”

“I really shouldn’t,” the schoolteacher tried to deflect…

“Oh come now, you just got to talk with your Land. Do you really want to ignore it now?” Sweetie smiled... well, sweetly. “Besides, you’ll need to know the basics once these little ones start practicing. I won’t always be here to assist you know.”

“...I suppose I can learn a little something,” Cheerilee said with a happy smile, tapping one hoof on the ground as she thought about the voice she’d felt more than heard.

“Excellent,” Sweetie smiled. This… felt kind of nice actually. She loved it when the kids came into her store, but getting to know them like this? Getting to help shape their lives? She wished she had one of…

Her eyes widened.

“Oh ponyfeathers.”

“What do you mean, dad isn’t allowed to go out fighting monsters anymore?” Realm questioned Luna as he worked on a new portrait of her. “That’s kind of his thing. Go out, fight a monster, save a village, pass it off as just him doing his job, lather, rinse, repeat.”

“Except there aren’t really any monsters to fight,” Luna sighed. “We art as disappointed as thou Young Realm. But tis the sad truth… Equestria… has become boring.”

“Well if there’s one truth to what dad does, it’s make things un-boring,” Realm said as he put the finishing touches on the painting. Just a regular portrait, not a Pictomancy one. Those were more challenging, more fun for him to test his skills with. He turned the easel around and showed Luna the portrait he’d painted of her. “What do you think?”

“Hmm? A fair likeness,” Luna nodded. “But what is thy plan Realm? Do you wish to—” She was cut off as somepony knocked at the door.

“One of us should probably get that,” the pegasus spoke up after a moment. “...They know you’re here, right?”

“We do not know,” Luna shrugged. “We did have that wonderful festival the night before last. Perhaps a disguise would be prudent nonetheless.” She became her Cloudy Nights form and walked to the door, opening it.

When she saw who it was, she dropped the disguise and grabbed the mare, pulling her into a bonecrushing embrace. “Friend Twilight Sparkle! We have missed thou!”

“P-Princess…” Twilight gasped and tapped her back. “Breathe… can’t… guk!”

“Lulu, you know the only reason I can stand up to your hugs is because I’ve gotten used to them,” Realm called out from the drawing room. “Stop suffocating whoever it is you’re hugging and let them breathe.”

“Ah?” Luna released Twilight, the little unicorn gasping for some much needed oxygen.

“T-Thanks… for… the save,” she panted. “I thought I was gonna die.”

“Tch! Dramatic much?” Luna pouted.

“This family is all about drama,” Realm piped up. “I mean, have you seen what we’ve done lately?”

“...Thou makes a point, but We reserve the right to be most unhappy about admitting that,” Luna frowned, folding her forelegs and pouting some more.

“So who is it?” Realm called from a few rooms away. “And they know dad’s out teaching, yeah?”

“Teaching?” Twilight’s eye twitched. Aspect hadn’t told her about teaching. “Well to be honest, I don’t know why I’m here. Rainbow Dash just dumped me here, saying something about, and I quote ‘Painted Eggheads’ and flew off after that.”

“I’m not an egghead!” Realm replied with an angry snort. “I’m an adventurer. A traveler. But most importantly, I am an artist.”

“An artist… wait, who are you?” Twilight asked. “Don’t tell me you’re another one of Aspect’s children.”

“Adopted,” Realm said from the drawing room. “He didn’t make me, but he did teach me all the things I know. Then I outstripped him in Pictomancy and the Gale King. He threw a small party in my honor for outdoing him and making him prouder of me.”

“Pictomancy?” Twilight blinked. She was beginning to get used to her worldviews being shattered by this family. “What the heck is that?”

“See, this is what Clover predicted, back at the castle,” Realm sighed. “That our ways would become forgotten. I sealed myself in a painting for a thousand years until Pictomancy, such as Aspect practices it, came back. Then I popped out and took up the brush again.”

“Clover? As in, Clover the Clever?” Twilight hurried into the room to see a little pinto colt painting something at the table. “You knew the Clover the Clever!?”

“She and I had great fun at the castle,” Realm said, not looking up from his painting. “And then she went and showed that she could prophesize, meaning I had to prepare for the coming thousand years or risk Pictomancy being forgotten. Everypony thought I was dead, which I’m still sorry about, but hey! The art will live on.”

“Well yes, Clover made quite a few scarily accurate prophesies over the years,” Twilight nodded. “But Pictomancy? What’s that? And who are you?”

“Pictomancy,” the colt said, making sure to put a few more touches on the room itself that Luna was sitting in, “Is the art of bringing life and magic to paintings. It needs Spectra paint, which is apparently really rare in this day and age. And I,” he finished, flaring his wings. “Am the greatest Pictomancer of the Everfree Castle.”

“That old pile of ruins?” Twilight pointed out.

“Yeah...it used to be a more impressive title,” Realm sighed. “Still. All the paintings around here, I either did, or touched up.”

“All the paintings…?” Twilight looked around and… did that painting just wave at her?

Yes, yes it did.

So she did what any refined student of Princess Celestia would do.

She shrieked and fainted.

Realm snickered and looked up, before blinking. “Okay...I thought Clover was from a thousand years ago? Why am I looking at her now?”

Several portraits chuckled at him.

“Somepony’s got a cruu~uush~” he heard Written call out in a singsong voice.

“Not me, no sir, no way,” Realm said as he hung up the Luna portrait on the wall. “I just met the mare. Plus apparently she faints easy. Not something that I’m looking for.”

The fainting spell didn’t last long as Twilight groaned and sat up. She saw the moving paintings and sighed. “Oh wonderful, there goes a year or so off my life. Typical visit to the Aspect household…”

“I don’t blame you,” Realm said as he turned to look at the Clover lookalike. “Apparently Pictomancy’s been forgotten for ages. Plus you can’t really easily make or maintain the paintings without any Spectra paint, and that’s rare as heck these days.”

“Spectra paint, Pictomancy…” Twilight groaned and shook her head. “Okay, give me a second. It’s bad enough that there’s absolutely no reference books at all to any of this. I have no idea why, but the written history we have doesn’t match up with what Aspect has been telling me.” She looked at the colt and smiled. At least he looked normal. “Let’s start over. Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia!”

“Realm,” the pegasus colt said, sticking out a hoof. He waited until she was shaking it before he dropped the rest of his titles. “Master of the Gale King martial art, greatest Pictomancer to come out of the Everfree Castle, and adopted son of Balanced Aspect.”

“Yes, I caught all that before,” Twilight nodded and looked at the moving paintings. “So I’m guessing this is Pictomancy.”

“A part of it, yeah,” the colt said with a nod. “Granted, Pictomancy is to painting like the Gale King is to flying. A different way of doing the same thing, really. Only one of them’s a lot more fun.”

“So, what else is involved beyond magical paint,” Twilight asked as she looked at the Luna painting. “I mean, I’d imagine talent as a painter is needed. The more real the image, the more potent the enchantment?”

“That helps too,” Realm agreed. “But what really helps is imagination. Being able to visualize exactly what you want to paint. After all, Spectra paint’s not exactly easy to work with.” He walked over to a set of saddlebags and rummaged in it for a second, before pulling up a jar of what looked like liquid rainbow, with the colors constantly shifting and changing.

“You can paint with that?” Twilight blinked. “Ohh, could I please have a sample? I’d love to run some tests on it.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a spare jar, and Aspect’s got a pretty large batch of crystals,” Realm replied, before hoofing the paint jar over to her. “Little tip. Be careful trying to paint with it. Your imagination is what it draws off of, which is why most Pictomancers are hooves-on with the paint.” He flared a wing. “I prefer to slather it over a wing and draw it across a canvas. Physical contact is better, it has a better chance of picking up exactly what you’re thinking of.”

“Oh no, my art skills are pretty laughable,” Twilight giggled as she took the jar and stared at it. “What I’m interested in is the magical properties and why it can bring paintings to life. Aspect has been pretty stingy with telling me anything about all this magic that supposedly doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Oh no, it still exists,” Realm smiled at her, as his flared wing was suddenly coated in lightning. “I mean, I can still use my pegasus magic and the Gale King, so clearly it exists. Logic therefore dictates that at some point in time, ponies simply forgot about it.”

“Hmm,” Twilight tapped her chin and then smiled. This colt was far more open than stingy old Aspect. “Would you like to come over to my library? I can show you the town along the way.”

“Let me check my stuff,” Realm said, before sticking his head in his saddlebags. “Hmm. Paints. More paints. Canvas. Paintbrushes…” He pulled his head out and looked in the other side. “And still empty because of my time capsule project. And because I haven’t found any Spectra crystals on my own yet. Gonna need to fix that. Still!” He pulled his head out of his saddlebags and shrugged them on. “Traveling artist, ready to travel! Let’s see the outside of this mansion that Celly gave dad!”

“Oh, this will be fun~” Twilight clapped her hooves. Maybe now she’d finally get some answers~

Author's Notes:

HAH! I didn't forget this time!

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