WIld Magic Research: Liability

Using his magic, Summer Solo levitates a waste basket at his side as he patrols Canterlot at night. It’s easier to see the glow of these flyers when it’s dark out. Every time he found one, his lips curled in disgust. Tearing them off the wall felt satisfying.

As a green pegasus with a pink mane glided down beside him, he offered the glowing trash can out to her. She dumped an armful of balled-up glittering flyers into the basket and released a sigh.

“I still don’t understand why you’re so insistent on tearing these down.” she yawned and stretched her wings, “Sure, they’re garish, but they’re not hurting anypony.”

“Because I don’t trust these, Spring Serenade. We’ve been over this.” Summer Solo snarked.

“Actually, no, we haven’t.” she retorted cooly as she wrapped a loving wing around him. “You know what I think? I think you’re experiencing some big boy feelings and you should talk with your big sister about them.”

“If I wanted a big sister, I’d write to Winter Ossia.”

“We both know you two can’t get along to save your lives, so you’re gonna have to deal with the other big sister-” she uses her wing to dishevel his mane “-Is this about that mare you met? Brave Storm?”

“No! Well, yes. Not entirely.” He huffs in frustration as he pulls his head away. “Look, I don’t want to have girl talk with you or any of my siblings right now.”

“Oh, so it is a crush.” Spring Serenade teases, fluttering the tips of her wings at his nose.

“I didn’t say that, fart bag!” Summer Solo groans, taking a mocking bite at her feathers, just slow enough for her to pull them away.

“Yeah, yeah, sure. So what about these pamphlets bother you?” she asks, jumping into the air to pull off another colorful flyer. She balls it up and throws it toward her brother.

“Something about how they’re written makes this feel shady.” He explains, maneuvering the basket to catch the litter. “Who even is this Golden Sage character? I saw the ‘professor’ title and figured maybe they were with the Canterlot School of Magic, but then why isn’t the school itself announcing this project? Are they even a teacher there?”

“Hm, that is a bit fishy. I could ask Autumn Arioso if he knows if there’s someone teaching by that name.”

“Oh yeah, I do have a brother. I always forget that.” Summer Solo trailed off remembering the only other unicorn in his nuclear family. Autumn Arioso was the firstborn of his parents, so he was already in his late teens when Summer Solo was born. By the time Summer's magic settled, Autumn was already off to college.

“Bit of your fault, bit of his.” Spring Serenade vocalized with a twirling hoof as she skips ahead to another poster. Instead of immediately tearing it down, she takes a moment to read it over with a furrowed brow. “Why would the school send ponies off to Ponyville? Even if that’s where the lab is, I feel like they should send ponies to the campus grounds first.”

“You see what I mean?” Summer Solo fussed, relieved that somepony was finally taking his grievances seriously.

“Yeah, you have a point.” the pegasus admitted, making a gesture for her brother to levitate the basket in a specific way as she balled the poster. She took to the air, twirled a few times in a tight circle, and tossed the paper to the basket. Without Summer Solo having to move the basket, she made her shot and flexed her wings to boast.

“Nice aim, show-off.” Summer Solo complimented with a roll of his eyes and a playful smile. 

“Thanks, doofus.” she yawned and rubbed her eyes. “Canterlot is too big to make sure we got all of them, and I’m spent. Besides, shady nonsense aside, ponies will know what they’re signing up for.”

“Wait a second. That’s what it is! They don’t know what they’re getting into!” he exclaimed, pulling an unballed flyer from the trash and reading it over before continuing, “It doesn’t mention any sort of liability anywhere! It doesn’t say that it's a risky thing to sign up for anywhere on here.”

“Then maybe it’s safe?”

“Shouldn’t it say that?”

“Summer, we eat food all of the time that doesn’t assure us that it’s edible. It’s a little precious to ask that everything specify if it’s safe for us to do or not.” she countered as her eyes and ears drooped.

“But food is by default safe. Food has to warn us if it might be bad for us.” he explained, “This is Wild Magic that we’re dealing with. The rule is that it’s dangerous!”

“All right, fine, sure. I’m happy about your epiphany and I wish I could act more excited, but I really need sleep.” she punctuated with another loud yawn. “Good night. Maybe next time we can hang out at a decent hour. And do something, you know, fun.”

 “Yea, all right. That’s fair.” the unicorn huffed back. “Get home safe. I love ya, turd monger.”

“Love you, too, fart breath.”