//------------------------------// // Mystery of a Magical Nature // Story: Crazy, Clever and Cunning // by Fresnor //------------------------------// Using the Crusaders and Selene to distract Twilight from her coming talk about bringing Spike into danger probably wasn’t one of my better ideas. Somehow they managed to stick every book in the library to the ceiling as Twilight just froze up at seeing the two non-unicorns performing magic in front of her. She wasn’t the only one annoyed by this as Applebloom somehow launched the contents of a few trees high into the air, knocking down a few passing pegasi, and Scootaloo somehow managed to inscribe a circle on her scooter which allowed her to launch herself really high off of some of her jumps. Luckily after her first and only attempt she was able to land on a cloud Rainbow Dash was sleeping on and just curled up next to her until she woke up from her nap. Of course by that time a good portion of the town had seen the two which, in her words, ruined her image of coolness. Luckily the young filly wasn’t around when she said this, but those that knew Rainbow Dash well enough knew she didn’t really mean anything by it and proud of her little ‘sister’ for what she did. Of course all of this eventually led to me and the Crusaders being strapped down in Twilight’s lab with the sisters of the fillies supervising. Selene was able to escape being strapped in with us since Luna decided to visit for a while though her alicorn status probably would have protected her as well. Either way the four of us were getting rather bored sitting there and the other three in the room didn’t look to be faring much better as the purple unicorn did her stuff with the machines. Glancing over I noticed that Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash had actually fallen asleep while we waited on Twilight to finish her preparations. I just idly play around with my magic while waiting, making my tails vanish and reappear in sequence. Applejack finally speaks up, much to the relief of everyone getting tired of listening to the random sounds coming from the machines. “Um Twilight, what do all of these fancy gadgets do anyways?” She looks over at her briefly before turning back to her work. “Oh they just detect the flows of thaumatic energies and then displays the readings on that machine giving a general view of the power and type of energy the subject has.” The apple farmer just looks even more confused, which is understandable as Twilight isn’t that good at explaining things to those outside of her areas of expertise. This does bring to mind something that I had been meaning to ask since the last time I was down here. “I didn’t think to ask last time, but what do the numbers mean exactly with the strength ratings? I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been last time, though I remember you saying I was at a 2.9.” I can see Twilight sigh at this as most being do seem to zone out when she starts getting into her research mode. “Well I told you before that the scale runs from 1 to 10, though it is still possible for things to land outside of those numbers. Anything below a 1 is essentially classified as a non-being and is most often things such as basic plants and other lower forms of life. A 10 or higher is pretty much impossible to really get a reading on as they tend to fry out any equipment used to try and get a value but thankfully those being are extremely rare and include Princesses Celestia and Luna as well as Discord. From there you can see a bit of where things would lie except that the system isn’t straight forward as a 2 isn’t twice as strong as a 1 or a 4 for a 2. Instead there is a complicated formula to figure out the exact differences between each level and even then it really isn’t exact on its own as it doesn’t take into account things such as talent or practice in spells or affinities as you’ve shown.” She pauses for a second as she seems to realize something while the others just watch on with glassy eyes. “Wait, what did you mean by ‘was’ a 2.9? It’s not that easy to raise or lower ones thaumatic strength in a way where it is noticeable. And it’s not like you’ve had any major power surges or anything.” She stops at this and quickly turns to look at me, or more specifically my three tails as I only had two when I was last here. I can hear the gears turning in her head at the implications of this and she suddenly turns back to the machine and quickly gets it all turned on. When it starts spitting out the readings she just glances over the three fillies before getting to mine when she gets a frown on her face. “This isn’t right, why is it showing your strength at only a 1? Wait, now it’s at 3.5… 2… 0.42… 3.5 again! What is going on with this machine, it works fine with the other three so why is it doing this now?” She starts to examine the machine frantically while I notice that the numbers change as I hide and reveal my tails. The others just look confused about the events while I smile and decide to play with this a bit more. Soon enough I can see Twilight’s mane is starting to get all frazzled as she tries to figure out what is going on while the others start to look a bit worried. I decide to give her a break, but not before trying one last trick and hide all my tails at once which provokes an interesting reaction. “No reading?! Flarenza are you okay what hap-“ She turns to notice that I am still sitting there completely fine and looks confused for a moment. Looking between me and the machine she finally notices that something is off about me and when she realizes what she just glares. “Really Flarenza? You’re going to play around like that when I’m trying to gather important scientific information and not only that scare me so badly by making me think the machines did something to you!?” I wince at the last bit and just give her an abashed grin. “Well I didn’t know that would happen at first, but when I did it just seemed like fun. Of course I didn’t know what would happen with the last bit, but at least you have some unique data to go over now, right?” She keeps glaring at me as this all goes through her head and I can see that she is starting to get a bit excited for a second before she calms down again. “Well I guess I can let you off this time, but if you do this again…” She leaves her threat hanging as I relax and stop playing around letting her get an honest reading. After watching me to make sure that I don’t try to pull anything else she turns back to her machine again to read the information it gives her. “Flarenza, are you sure you aren’t doing anything else? It wasn’t that long ago that you were here before but the difference is huge.” I shake my head at her and wonder what the results are. “Well you are showing a solid 4 now which is more than twice as strong as you were before. I wish I knew if this was normal for your kind or not but there doesn’t seem to be any books at all anywhere. The princesses don’t even know much and unfortunately anything from when they fought them is long gone.” I think on this for a bit and don’t know what to say as I wasn’t told much myself. “Well I can say that it sounds about right. After the fireworks incident I did feel as if my energy was easily double what I used to have. Getting used to it and not accidentally crushing my tableware took a while as well.” Hearing that even I knew nothing seemed to cause a glint to appear in Twilight’s eyes as she slowly brought out a scroll and quill. The others vacated the place quickly, knowing what the look means, but I was trapped there as she grilled me for hours trying to learn everything she could in the attempt to be the first to write a new book on kitsunes. <><><><><><><> After many weeks of having to help Twilight with her research into my abilities as well as the magic circles it felt nice to have a break. I almost wanted to thank Princess Celestia for distracting her with that old book even though if she knew she probably wouldn’t have sent it. I made a note to try and not rile up Twilight’s researching instincts again without an escape plan. I wondered what I should do for the day while cleaning up some of the mess left over from the Crusaders sleepover. I could hear them upstairs still as they plan whatever they had for today which hopefully wouldn’t destroy too much of the place. Seeing as I hadn’t done much of my own research lately I decided to play around with a spell I had wanted to try and expand on. After checking on the four fillies to see if they needed anything I raided me gem supplies for a number of yellow topaz I made my way outside. When I leave my home, however, I notice that things seem to not be right in town as the sky is filled with a checkerboard of clouds. My first reaction is to blame Discord but when I tested the area within my territory I didn’t detect any of his magic. “Now what in the world is going on now?” I turn to the door behind me when I hear hoofsteps and see the Crusaders look to be about to head somewhere. They stop when they see the chaos out there and look at me with questioning faces. “I have no idea what is going on, but it’s not Discord at least. Maybe you four should stick around here until it starts to clear up.” I realize my mistake at saying his name when I hear his chuckling come from nowhere. “Oh I’m touched that you would be thinking of me but this is just too orderly for my tastes.” I just shake my head in annoyance, not wanting to deal with him even if it can get entertaining. “Hey girls, have you tried for a draconequus catching cutie mark yet?” They look at me along with for a moment before their mouths turn up in a smile. Seeing this Discord starts to look worried before taking off with the four in hot pursuit. I chuckle as they all run off while patting myself on the back for chasing off Discord without resorting to magic for once. Seeing as the weather is in disarray as it is now I take a moment to clear the area above my home before pulling down a cloud to rest in front of me. Looking between it and the gems I brought out I ponder how to go about my experiment. Seeing as they’d fall through normally I start to crush the gems into a fine powder before starting to dust the cloud with the result. This, combined with a bit of magic to bind it, slowly turns the cloud a warm yellow color from the gems. Once I was sure that the cloud and gem dust mixture was stable and wouldn’t break apart I started trying to decide how to apply the cloud-walking spell on it. While there were already some clouds that allowed walking without needing the spell it tended to remove almost all the softness from it as well. They also tended to need a lot of extra maintenance to keep them working right and even then non-pegasi still fell through on occasion making them a rarely used cloud type. I’m not sure how long I spent working at it but I noticed that Rainbow Dash had started to clear the skies by the time I thought I finally got the spell to hold. Trying to enchant the dust from gems was much harder than doing it on a whole gem, and add in the fact that I was doing it without a magic circle just made it that much harder. I don’t think I would have even been able to make it work if it wasn’t for my recent increase in power. Prodding at the cloud to see if it worked I was pleased to find that my paw wouldn’t pass through it like normal. Taking this as a sign of success I hopped up onto the cloud and started bouncing around a little, marveling at the softness. I actually could see why Rainbow Dash was always asleep on one and decided to do the same for a while as I curl up on the fluffy object. I woke up sometime after dark to one of the oddest sensations I’ve ever had. I couldn’t identify what it was beyond it being somehow magical in nature and coming from the direction of Ponyville. Doing a quick check I noticed that Selene and the Crusaders were back in the manor and turning towards town I saw a purple glow emanating from it. With my curiosity piqued I decided to make my way into town quickly to see what was going on. I wasn’t surprised to find that the commotion was centered at the library though the presence of Princess Celestia was rare for this time of day. I did stumble a bit when I got a good look at Twilight and noticed that she was now sporting a pair of wings. I caught the word princess being thrown around, though from the distance I was I couldn’t tell where it was directed but it didn’t seem to be at Celestia. I noticed Luna flying in from Canterlot as well as a large and warm smile on Celestia’s face which pushed me into doing what I did next. “Well this is really a surprise. It wasn’t all that long ago when there was only one alicorn publicly running around yet now there are five of them.” Luna was just landing as I said this and stumbled when she realized what I just said. The others also froze up at my words though Celestia just sighed when she heard me. “I really hope you aren’t planning anything funny on this joyous occasion.” I sometimes wonder if it’s me she has a problem with or just what I am that bugs her as I haven’t done anything worse than what the others around here have done. She even treats Discord better and he did things to the entire world. Shaking off these thought I notice a look of confusion on her face while the others watch on warily. “Wait, what do you mean by five? There are only four alicorns in existence.” Seeing as the secret is being let out Princess Luna steps up to her sister. “That’s not quite accurate sister. Do you remember that filly I was telling you about that Flarenza was taking care of by the name of Selene?” Celestia looks thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “Yes I believe I remember you mentioning her though I was wondering why she was there. Wait, you mean to say…?” Luna nods to her sister, which causes her to turn and glare at me. “I can’t help but wonder why I wasn’t told of this before, especially if you knew.” She sounds a bit annoyed, though probably not as badly as it would have been during a less happy occasion for her. “It’s probably better to see why instead of just explaining it.” After saying this and at her nod I led the group out of town and towards my home. I catch Twilight trying to give me some sort of signals, probably wondering what I’m thinking right now. Soon enough we arrive at the manor and I do a quick scan to see where everyone was. Luckily Umbra seemed to be downstairs while the rest were upstairs so there wouldn’t be any awkward surprises. When we enter the lieutenant notices the princesses behind me and immediately jumps to her feet and salutes. Luna just nods to her while Celestia seems even more confused at the presence of the thestral. I point Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy towards the kitchen to grab some snacks and drinks for everyone while I head up to get Selene and the Crusaders. I find them all deep in planning for their next adventures, and I note that Selene actually has a Crusader cape though I’ve never seen her wearing it before now. “Can you four come downstairs for a second? There’s someone that wants to see you.” They all look at me in confusion but nod before they organize their things and follow me down. As we made our way down I was really hoping that I wasn’t making a mistake at doing this so early. I did my best to just shove my concerns away and reflect on them later while projecting a calm and confident exterior. Everyone had already moved to the sitting room and I caught sight of Pinkie and Fluttershy bringing food in ahead of us. At the entry to the room I take a moment to gather my thoughts one last time before heading in followed by the four fillies. There is a short lull in conversation as I enter, but when Celestia sees who is following me she freezes in place while the room descends into dead silence. Glancing back I notice that Selene had also frozen up upon seeing the princess as she tries to comprehend what is going on. Everyone else in the room is silently looking between the two while waiting to see what will happen first. I notice that one of Celestia’s eyes seem to have developed a bit of a tic as she tries and process what she is seeing. At this point I’m starting to have flashbacks of when Selene met Fluttershy and how long it took for them to do something constructive. “Well I guess it’s a good sign that nothing has been blown up yet.” Everyone in the room jumps when my voice breaks the silence and I can feel something hit my tails. Glancing over I notice that Selene chose that moment to hide from Celestia in them, while the princess was glaring at me again. “Do I even want to know why there is a filly that looks like Nightmare Moon here?” I raise an eyebrow at Celestia as I notice the words she used. I try to decide how to respond to this and decide to go with a bit of a headstrong approach. “Well you probably do considering that her being here is in part your fault.” I hear a few gasps from around the room while Luna looks at me strangely. Celestia seems a bit taken aback by my words though. “And how, pray tell, do I have something to do with this situation?” I’m a bit unnerved by her tone of voice and almost hope that Discord interrupts to kill the tension a bit. “Well you were the one who sent Twilight and the others to find the Elements of Harmony and when they used them on your sister Selene was born at the same time.” She seems a bit shocked at this revelation and I almost start laughing at the look on her face. I file the memory away for later as she slowly starts to get that thinking look I’ve seen on Twilight’s face so often. “If that’s so, why was I never informed of this development?” I’m actually a bit relieved to hear the hostility fade from her voice though she sounds a bit uncertain. I start in on telling her everything about Selene, from when I found her until now, as well as my reasons for why I did so. Through this the other three fillies were able to coax Selene out of hiding with some snacks, though she refused to be separated from them or go anywhere near the princess. While I was telling the story I could see a variety of emotions cross Celestia’s face. Just the fact that I could even identify the emotions themselves shows how shaken she was by the knowledge of Selene. Soon enough I come to the end of the telling and decide to add one last bit. “I wasn’t even planning on letting you find out today but the opportunity was too good to pass up. From my own experience you’ve judged more on what someone looks like than what they actually are. I’ve felt hostility towards me every time we’ve met and I didn’t want the same thing to happen to Selene.” I level a glare at this last bit which she surprisingly flinches at. I decide that a good long soak will be a good idea for tonight as I feel the stress and panic slowly pile up in the back of my mind. Everyone is quiet again as they all wait for her response to what she has learned. Eventually she looks towards Selene with a hint of sadness in her eyes before speaking. “I’m not happy at how this has happened, but I do understand why you did it. I need some time to think through all of this before I come to a decision.” There is a collective sigh at this as things could have gone much worse. Things wrap up pretty quickly from there though Selene still doesn’t get close to Celestia who seems a bit hurt by all this. Eventually they all head out as Twilight’s coronation is going to be in Canterlot the next day. I signal Pinkie Pie to wait though as an idea comes to mind. As they are all going to be gone tomorrow, and since it is probably best I don’t show up around Celestia for a while, I get her plans for the party she is going to throw Twilight so I can set it all up ahead of time. After receiving everything I need I wave to her as she leaves and I prepare for the night after checking on the Crusaders. Seeing that they are already asleep I take that long soak I planned while also having a minor panic attack as well. Afterwards I curl up for the night while thinking of my plans for tomorrow. The next day was rather quiet as most of the town had gone to Canterlot for the coronation. Setting everything up was relatively simple even without having access to Pinkie Pie’s talents though she could have done it much faster. I did make one small change though just as a bit of payback for the last few weeks. I made sure to keep the original banner behind the new one though just to make it easier to swap them out later. The wait for everyone to return was rather boring even with all the books in the library. I didn’t want to head out in case they showed up early as I wanted to see the look on her face when she saw my little surprise. Eventually I could hear the sounds of hoofsteps from outside as they were returning from Canterlot. Hearing this I prepared the camera I had ready to record this joyous occasion. When the door opened to reveal Twilight and her friends, as well as a few others from town, nothing was amiss. This all changed when they all saw what was now printed on the banner. “Congratulations Princess STARBUTT?!” Seeing the look on Twilight’s face a snapped a picture while laughing the entire time. I wasn’t the only one to start laughing as both Pinkie and Rainbow Dash had joined in soon after which earned them a glare from Twilight. Of course the flash from the camera and my laughter gave away who pulled this prank and it was obvious that Twilight wasn’t impressed. “FLARENZA!” I quickly took off running while playing keep away with the camera as Twilight chased me around the library.