“Got it?”
Ruby stared the spell book, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. She started to bite her lip as she kept rereading the spell over and over to memorize it. A smile appeared on her face and she got to her feet.
“Okay! I think I got it!” she said, taking a stance. “Here goes!”
“Remember Ruby, don’t’ rush it,” Twilight warned her.
“I know, I know.”
Ruby closed her eyes as her horn started to glow. She grunted while concentrating very hard and trying to not lose her focus. A red orb appeared around her and in an instance exploded in a bright red light, causing Twilight to cover her eyes. When she looked at Ruby, a big grin appeared on her face.
“Did I do it?” Ruby asked.
Ruby’s coat was no longer the deep red it was before, but was now the same color as Twilight’s. She looked down at herself and smiled.
“Oh my gosh! I did it! I can’t believe I did it!”
Ruby flew up into the sky and spun around, however, doing this made her spell wear off. In a flash of red light, her coat returned to its original color and her excitement turned into disappointment.
“Aww man…” she said, landing. “I couldn’t hold it…”
Twilight walked over to her and gave her a pat on her back. “It’s okay Ruby. The fact that you could change the color of your coat is enough for me and it should be enough for you too.”
Ruby looked at Twilight and gave her a smile. “You’re right. So… are we done for the day?”
“Well, no. You’ve only done one spell out of that entire book Ruby. We have a lot of work to do.”
Ruby groaned. “Come on Twilight! I was gonna help Apple Jack harvest some apples today!”
“You can help her later. We have some spells to learn,” Twilight said, levitating the spell book in front of Ruby’s face.
Ruby let out a big sigh and continued levitating the book with her magic to read the next spell.
“Twilight!”
They both saw Spike running out of the library toward them with a scroll in his hand.
“Princess… Celestia… sent you… a letter… and…” he struggled to say through his panting.
“Breath Spike,” Ruby said, patting his back.
Spike took in a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.
“Anyways,” he continued. “Princess Celestia sent you this letter and it’s pretty urgent. We need to tell Ruby’s brothers and sister too.”
Twilight and Ruby looked at each other, confused.
“What is it about?” Ruby asked.
“Well, it involves you and your siblings so I think we should read it with all of them here,” Twilight said.
All of Ruby’s siblings, along with Twilight’s friends, all gathered in the library so Twilight could read Celestia’s letter.
“Well, go ahead Princess Twilight, read us the letter,” Pazzy said, eager to hear what it said.
Twilight opened the letter and started to read.
My faithful student Princess Twilight,
Unfortunately, I have some terrible news regarding Ruby’s magic lessons. I wanted to inform Ruby and her siblings that this year’s Summer Sun Celebration will be held in at their home, the Magica Kingdom.
“Oh yeah, Princess Diamond told us about that a few months ago,” Safire said.
“Who’s Princess Diamond?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Just like Cadence is the princess of the Crystal Empire, Princess Diamond is the princess of the Magica Kingdom. The birthplace of magic,” Emi explained.
“Wait a second! The birthplace of magic?” Rarity exclaimed. “Magic was born there?”
“It’s a long story,” Emi said.
“Besides, what does that have to do with my magic lessons?” Ruby asked.
“I don’t know,” Twilight said.
“Keep reading Twilight,” Fluttershy said.
Twilight nodded and continued to read the letter.
I’m sorry to say that Princess Diamond has demanded that Ruby’s coronation is to take place on the same day as the celebration. However, her coronation is much different from yours or even Cadence’s. In the spell book that I sent you, there is a spell in it that Ruby is required to cast at her coronation. Your job is to make sure she learns that spell by the Summer Sun Celebration. I wish you the best of luck Princess Twilight.
Princess Celestia
“Okay…” Ruby said in a low, nervous tone. “That shouldn’t be too hard… right?”
Twilight opened the spell book and flipped through it to find a folded page toward the end of the book. She unfolded it and read it out loud.
“It says here that you have to gather the wielders of the Gemstones of Magic and the pony that wields the core of the Gemstones must cast the spell written here,” Twilight explained.
“That doesn’t sound too bad but… what the hay are the Gemstones of Magic?” Apple Jack asked.
“Well, they-” Emi started.
“Wait Emi!” Pazzy said, flying next to Twilight, front and center. “I wanna tell the story!”
Emi sighed and smiled. “Go ahead Pazzy.”
He jumped up with a big grin and then landed.
“Okay!” he started. “So, basically, a long time ago, the Magica Kingdom was where most of the unicorns resided. Why? Because all of the magic in Equestria was born there and that was where the portal was. What portal, you ask? Well, this portal was a gateway to where the essence of magic resided. All of the magic in Equestria came from this portal. Princess Diamond was the keep and protector of the portal. However, protecting a portal of all the magic in Equestria was no easy task, not even for Princess Diamond. So, every year the unicorns would gather and offer up a piece of their magic to help Princess Diamond protect the portal. One day, however, one unicorn was greedy and wanted all of the magic for himself. So, on that day when everypony gathered to offer their piece of magic, he casted a powerful spell on Princess Diamond to make all of the magic she obtained from the unicorns to transfer to him. With that magic, he sealed all of the magic from the portal into an opal gemstone, but, unfortunately for him, the power was too much for him to handle. He lost control of the magic and, in turn, was sucked into the gemstone along with the portal. With what was to be her last breath, Princess Diamond took the gem and separated it into five different gemstones, to keep the magic balanced and maintained in Equestria. Since that day, Princess Diamond has protected the Gemstones of Magic like she had with the portal.”
Pazzy exhaled and took a bow, feeling accomplished. Twilight and her friends all looked at him shocked, confused, and in disbelief.
“So, you mean to tell me-” Apple Jack said.
“That these gemstones-” Fluttershy continued.
“Contain all of the magic in Equestria?” Pinkie finished.
Ruby and her siblings nodded.
“Yeah right!” Rainbow Dash said. “There’s no way that’s true. I mean, if all of the magic in Equestria was really contained in those stones, how can unicorns still use magic?”
“The magic in within those gems, but it’s not sealed within them,” Emi explained. “If they were sealed, magic would cease to exist in Equestria.”
“Okay, so what do these gemstones have to do with Ruby here?” Apple Jack asked.
“Well,” Onyx said. “Ruby… is going to be the next keeper of the gemstones.”
“Huh?” they all said, including Ruby, Safire, and Pazzy.
“What are you talking about?” Ruby asked.
“Ruby, when you become the next Princess of Equestria, you’ll… be taking Princess Diamond’s place.”
“WHAT?!” everyone exclaimed.
“Is this true…?” Ruby asked Onyx.
He nodded with a frown and Ruby took a step back.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Either of you?”
“Princess Diamond was supposed to tell you when your magic lessons with Twilight were over with but… since there’s not that much time…”
“Oh my gosh! That’s right!” Rarity said. “Isn’t the Summer Sun Celebration a month from now?”
“A month!?” Twilight yelled.
“Wow… it is…” Spike said.
“How on earth do Princess Diamond and Princess Celestia expect Twilight to teach Ruby magic in one month?” Rainbow Dash said.
“Well, according to that letter, she just has to learn one spell for the coronation,” Fluttershy said.
“So, Twilight just has to teach her that one spell!” Pinkie Pie said happily. “No biggie!”
“Actually, big biggie…” Twilight said with a sad expression.
“What do you mean?” Safire said.
“I’ve never seen or heard of a spell this complex.”
“And that means…?” Apple Jack said.
“It means, how can I teach anypony a spell that I don’t even understand?”
Everyone was silent and lost the ray of small hope that had moments ago.
“That’s easy!” Pinkie Pie said. “You just have to learn the spell and then teach it to Ruby.”
“But who knows how long that will take…” Ruby said.
Twilight shook her head and turned to Ruby. “I’ll figure this out Ruby, don’t worry. You will know that spell in a month or my name isn’t Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight gave Ruby a reassuring smile and Ruby couldn’t help but smile back.
“We’ll help in any way we can,” Emi said, walking up to them with the other siblings.
“Us too,” Apple Jack, said the other girls.
Ruby looked at everyone with a smile and a tear rolling down her cheek.
“Thank you… thank you everyone.”