Chapter One – Scale
Twilight Sparkle stood atop the highest balcony in the Ponyville Library in the darkness of the spring pre-dawn. Admittedly, the highest balcony wasn’t all that far from the dirt ground below. Perhaps twenty feet from the ground, just below the leafy canopy that covered the tree that in turn formed a shell around the library. The eastern sky was beginning to lighten with slight tinges of orange. To the west stars were still visible to the naked eye.
The unicorn, for such Twilight was, was facing north, towards Canterlot. She was looking out intently, searching the sky for any trace of a pegasus convoy. Her ruler and teacher, Princess Celestia, was sending her a delivery of books for her continued studies. Because Twilight was exceptionally gifted in magical pursuits, the Princess had sent her to rural Ponyville to research the magic of friendship. While she enjoyed the chance to explore new avenues of magic, it was not without its difficulties. Difficulties like not having the entire Canterlot Library at her disposal, hence the impending delivery.
The delivery was due to arrive shortly after sunrise. However, the impatient Twilight was unable to sleep in her anticipation. It was not the anticipation of new books, for she had read them all already, but the anticipation of more books. She had earnestly tried to keep busy while waiting inside, but her patience was lost after having sorted the library for the additions twice (alphabetically by author, divided further by subject) and deciding the order she would read them in (reverse alphabetical order by title). And so she waited outside, quivering slightly at the prospect of her delivery.
A cool breeze fluttered by the hamlet causing Twilight to shiver slightly. She considered popping inside for a moment to get a blanket, but decided better of it. After all, what would she do if the delivery arrived in the moments she was inside? The rational part of her mind told her that she would see the sky chariot at least twenty minutes before it arrived and that grabbing a blanket would take less than one. The other half of her mind shouted ‘B-But, books!’ as though it were an adequate rebuttal. Somehow that won the argument and she remained outside despite the chill sinking into her coat.
Half an hour later the sun peeked over the horizon. Twilight squinted slightly at the sudden light, but quickly resumed her watch. A small black speck had appeared at that moment to the north. It was out several kilometers, but contrast greatly with the lightening sky. Several minutes passed before Twilight could make out four smudges flanking the growing speck. The next handful of minutes was an unbearable wait for Twilight. The village around her woke during her wait, giving her mind something else to pay attention to.
It was still far too long before the speck became a chariot and the smudges four black royal guards, garbed as those belonging to the Night Princess, Luna. Twilight wondered why they were not Celestia’s white guards, and more importantly why there were guards in the first place. Surely a crate of books doesn’t warrant such protection. A purple blur whizzed from the balcony to the front door of the tree in a half moment while the chariot came in to land. Twilight’s speed defied all laws of physics, and half the laws of Pinkie Pie. The pegasi stopped a couple meters from the doorway.
“Miss Twilight Sparkle?” A dark unicorn stepped from the chariot, dressed similarly to the pegasi. An embroidered crest adorned his left breast. The leader, then.
Twilight nodded briefly before looking for the box that would contain her prize. “Sign here,” he said while bringing forward a form and quill from the chariot using dark grey magic. Paperwork first, books second. And third, fourth, and so on until the day was spent. She hastily scrawled her name across the bottom of the form and resumed her search for the books.
Once the form and quill had been safely returned to the chariot, the leader levitated out a medium sized crate, perhaps the size of a small table. A heavy padlock bound it shut and a note was stapled to the lid. Twilight took the note while the other unicorn floated the crate inside the library. The pegasi stood outside, keeping watch.
My faithful student,
As promised, here are the books you ordered. May they be a help to you as you advance in your studies. In addition to the books requested, I have included an old tome that you will find interesting. It contains some of the oldest and most powerful magics found in Equestria and beyond. This book is for academic purposes only and the spells within should not be attempted without either Princess Luna or myself there to aid you.
I trust that you will use this knowledge responsibly,
Your loving teacher,
Princess Celestia
Twilight trotted inside after she finished reading the note. Her anticipation before was nothing to how she felt now, knowing that a new book was waiting for her. “Spike! Wake up!” she shouted to her assistant. She expected the dragon to be sleeping upstairs. The sound of tired mumbling drifted down the stairs. She sighed before conjuring up her magic to ‘assist’ the dragon downstairs. A few second later the juvenile lizard came floating down the stairs supported by Twilight’s magical glow.
“Twilight, you said I could sleep in today,” the dragon whined as he was set down on the wooden floor.
“No. I said you could sleep in until the books arrived. The books have now arrived.”
The guard looked to Twilight for direction on where to place the crate, and when none came he lowered it to the middle of the floor next to a low table. “There you go. If you have any questions or concerns the Princesses are just a dragon’s burp away.”
“Thank you. Give Her my thanks.” The guard exited, shortly followed by the sound of clopping hooves and flapping wings. The sound disappeared a moment later as they flew back to Canterlot. She turned to the sleepy dragon. “Well? They won’t shelf themselves. The organizational guides are on the table.”
Spike sighed once before getting to work. By the time he got the papers on the table Twilight had already opened the crate. She removed the top book and took it upstairs, leaving Spike to his arduous task. She closed the door to her study and set the book on the table. It was dark brown with faded gold trim. Despite its age the book was in excellent condition. Twilight suspected that it was kept locked away safely most of the time.
Pulling over a cushion, she sat down and cracked open the book. A light layer of dust fell from the cover. Twilight sneezed before continuing into the book. The first page was blank. It was odd for there not to be a title page at the beginning. She closed the book and looked for a title. There was none. She shrugged and turned past the blank page.
A long table of contents was on this page, written by somepony with excellent penmanship. There were five chapters, each broken down into sections. Offensive magics, defensive magics, spatial magics, time magics ,and finally soul magics. It was the last section that caught her attention.
Soul Magics
Introduction 1794
Soul detection spells 1813
Soul manipulation spells 1876
Soul destruction spells 1942
Soul transfer spells 1998
Soul enhancement spells 2027 see 2053
Conclusion 2055
Someone had written ‘see 2053’ in the margin on the right side of the page. It was written in a neater, if less fancy, hoof than the original author. Twilight, of course, flipped through the book to page 2053. She caught glimpses of diagrams depicting magical casting circles and ancient symbols. There were occasional recipes or notes crammed into margins about various spellcasting techniques.
And then she was there. Page 2053. Halfway down the page a subheading read Soul Preservation and Extension with a footer. It read ‘See page 1496: Time Progression Altering’. She started to flip back through the book, but thought better of it and instead read the page before her.
By now you have a thorough understanding of the concept of the soul and its nature. You are able to manipulate them, bend them to your will, and draw energy from the souls of others. You can even destroy them should you choose to do so. Earlier in this section you learned how to reinforce, expand, and otherwise enhance souls, as well as the resulting effects to the physical form (body) of the soul. This subsection will teach you how to preserve a soul through time, and by doing so granting eternal life to the body that it inhabits. This spell will also remove the upper limit of power that a soul can contain. The result is an undying soul that can attain theoretically infinite power. While the being will have eternal life, it can still die from wounds and the most severe of diseases.
This spell has only been cast a handful of times. It was first done by an ancient reptilian race, now known as dragons. Their eternal life has been passed down the generations to the point that all dragons have unnaturally long lives. The spell in the following pages has been adapted for pony usage from the original cast by the dragons. It is limited to the caster only; attempts to extend the lives of others have had disastrous results for both caster and recipient.
The spell has thus far been unnamed. This is because of the immense power contained in the mere name of the spell. Some of its titles include The Spell of Life, The Spell of Souls, and (incorrectly) The Spell of Immortality.
Because the spell can only be cast on oneself, it can only be used by unicorns. A side effect of this spell, however, is the development of both earth pony and pegasi features. This will most noticeably cause the unicorn to grow a pair of wings. The effects from becoming part earth pony are less visible, although still present. Signs of this are increased physical strength and an enhanced understanding of the natural world. This new form is referred to as an Alicorn, being a mix of all the land based forms of pony.
Twilight stopped reading here. She felt that she had a far greater understanding of her monarchs, although it did not increase her respect for them. The thought of Princess Celestia the Unicorn horrified her. It was blasphemous, although it made more sense the more she thought of it. The sun used to be controlled by the Unicorn race before the settling of Equestria. It logically followed that Celestia came after unicorns.
She then thought of Princess Luna. Celestia’s younger sister, or so she said. Twilight thought it more likely that this was a ruse to explain why there were suddenly two alicorns instead of one. “‘She’s my younger sister. She came back from another land’ or something like that,” Twilight hypothesized in her head.
Her mind turned to the dragon sorting books on the floor below. Knowingly or not, he was under the influence of the same spell. “To live forever, even after I pass on,” she thought. It saddened her to think that her assistant would continue on after all his friends died, after Ponyville was just a footnote in the annals of history.
Her musings were interrupted by a knock on the door. She turned to see Spike poking his head in the doorway. “Miss Rarity says you had a book for her. A Guide of Equestrian Diamonds or something.”
Twilight closed the book on the desk and headed towards the stairs. “Yes. It should be in the box that arrived this morning.” The young dragon was already walking back down the stairs. Twilight followed to the main library below.
There were books everywhere. It looked like the crate had exploded some time after Twilight had gone upstairs. There were books on the floor and rug. There were books on all the furniture. There were even books hanging from the chandelier. In the middle of the mess was a beautiful white unicorn, about the same age as Twilight, contrasting starkly to the chaos around her.
Where Rarity gracefully ignored the mess around her, Twilight fell to her haunches in shock. “Spike! What is this? You just needed to put the books on the shelves.” Spike smiled sheepishly, but offered no excuse. “Ugh. Just go find the book.” Spike knew better than to say anything.
“Twilight! How good to see you, dear. How are you this fine morning,” Rarity distracted Twilight from the books lying around the room.
“Oh, not too bad. At least, not until I saw the mess that Spike made,” she glanced towards the dragon for a second before continuing. “The Princess sent me a new book and it seems to contain a bunch of new magic. I was just reading one of the spells.”
“New spells? Well make sure you share them with me.” They both knew that it would be futile, but time with a friend is never truly wasted.
A crease appeared in Twilight’s forehead as she hesitated for before answering, “Celestia said not to try the spells without her.” Rarity’s expression fell. “But I’m sure that it’d be fine if we keep quiet about it.” Twilight gave the other unicorn a sly grin.
“Okay, how does, say, Thursday afternoon sound?”
“Spike has a dental appointment. Thursday evening?”
“Aha! Gotcha!” Spike had found the book under one of the cushions on the sofa. He presented it to Rarity with a flourish and bow, managing to look both cute and incredibly corny. “Here, milady.”
“Why thank you, darling.” Rarity took the book in her blue magic and gave him a light peck on the cheek, causing the dragon to blush fiercely. She turned back to Twilight and continued speaking to her, “Thursday evening sounds wonderful. Come over to my place. Sweetie Belle will be out with her friends.”
They two unicorns walked to the door. “Great. I’ll see you then. Enjoy the book.” Twilight closed the door behind the other unicorn. She turned to see Spike standing in the middle of the room. He apparently had been stunned by the kiss from his crush. Twilight knew the solution to this.
A large, heavy book levitated silently behind the dragon. Twilight let the magic around the book fade. It fell. A loud crack startled Spike back to reality. “Focus, Romeo. We’ve got work to do. A letter, to be specific.” The dragon sighed heavily before going to grab a quill and parchment from an adjoining room.
“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight dictated after his return, “Thank you very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very much for the new book.” By the sound of Spike’s scratching quill only the first ‘very’ was included. “It looks intriguing and will no doubt be a great aid in my studies.” The letter continued for a short time and after a brief editing session with Spike the following was magically sent to Princess Celestia:
Dear Princess Celestia,
Thank you very much for the new book. It looks intriguing and will no doubt be a great aid in my studies. Of particular interest was a page added to the Table of Contents, page 2053, about a spell to empower the soul of the caster. It mentioned that it can be used to convert unicorns into alicorns. I am interested in learning more about this spell. As per your instructions, I have not attempted the spell by myself. I will continue to research the spell.
I await your prompt reply,
Twilight Sparkle
Princess Celestia read her student’s letter as it hovered in her magic before her. A small smile crept onto her white face. She magically sent three letters away and turned to begin her preparations.