Pagemaster/Nathan Quickfic Collection

by Nathan

Fiction Forecast (NEW)

Fiction Forecast

“Special delivery!” called a voice from outside Twilight’s library. The purple unicorn opened the door in time to see the yellow maned pegasus flying away, leaving a package on her porch.

Odd, thought Twilight, I don’t think I ordered anything recently. Taking the package inside, she set it on her desk to be opened later. It wasn’t long before her curiosity overcame her sense of responsibility. There was no return address on the package; there wasn’t even a shipping address. All the package said was, “To: Twilight Sparkle” and beneath that, “From: a fan.”

Blushing slightly at the thought of her, of all ponies, getting fan mail, she opened a corner of the package and peaked inside. Carefully undoing the tape in a slow, orderly manner, Twilight neatly removed the rest of the brown paper the thing had been wrapped in. She set the unwrapped book down on the her reading desk, taking some time to admire the smooth cover and bindings. It was clearly the work of an amateur, but a lot of heart seemed to have gone into the craftsmanship. Opening the book, she began to read aloud softly.

“Special delivery!” called a voice from outside Twilight’s library. The purple unicorn opened the door in time to see the yellow maned pegasus flying away, leaving a package on her porch.

Odd, thought Twilight, I don’t think I ordered anything rece—

Twilight paused, shaking her head. The passage was starting to seem very familiar. Lowering her eyes back to the text, she continued.

I don’t think I ordered anything recently. Taking the package inside, she set it on her desk to be opened later. It wasn’t long before her curiosity overcame her sense of responsibility. There was no return address on the package; there wasn’t even a shipping address. All the package said was, “To: Twilight Sparkle” and beneath that, “From: a fan.”

Blushing slightl—

Slamming the book shut, Twilight took several deep breaths. Okay, this is seriously creepy. This had to be some kind of prank, but then she couldn’t think of any spells that could do this. To actually have a story write itself and describe events as they happened was an incredible feat of magic.

Cautiously, Twilight opened the book again and flipped through the pages. Interestingly enough, all of the pages already had writing on them. The story had been written in advance. Turning a few pages ahead of where she left off, she picked a paragraph and continued.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash barged in through the library door, catching the purple unicorn by surprise. “Twilight, what are you still doing here?” the pegasus asked. “The premiere performance of ‘Daring Do and the Musical of the Malachite Monkey’ starts in half an hour! Don’t tell me you forgot!”

“Of course not, Rainbow Dash. I just…” Twilight glanced back at the book with an expression of pure confusion.

“Oh you and your books.” Dash sighed and flew behind Twilight, pushing her towards the door. “Come on we’re going to be late.”

“Wait,” Twilight balked, “just let me—”

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash barged in through the library door, catching the purple unicorn by surprise. “Twilight, what are you still doing here?” the pegasus asked. “The premiere performance of ‘Daring Do and the Musical of the Malachite Monkey’ starts in half an hour! Don’t tell me you forgot!”

“Of course not, Rainbow Dash. I just…” Twilight glanced back at the book with an expression of pure confusion.

“Oh you and your books.” Dash sighed and flew behind Twilight, pushing her towards the door. “Come on we’re going to be late.”

“Wait,” Twilight balked, “just let me grab the book.” She quickly snagged the book and a saddle bag with a thread of magic and retrieved them. Donning the saddle bag, she slipped the book neatly inside. “There.”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “Come on Twilight, as the pony who got me into Daring Do I thought you would be just as excited about this as me! You better not be reading during the play.”

“You don’t understand, Dash. This book can predict the future, look!” Twilight withdrew the book, opened it to where she had been interrupted and shoved it into Dash’s face.

Grunting in disgust, Rainbow Dash pushed the book aside and gave Twilight a flat look. “Really, Twilight? A book that can predict the future? Let me guess, it even tells you how the musical is going to end, doesn’t it?”

Twilight cocked her head to the side. “Actually, I haven’t gotten that far. I had just gotten to where you come flying in and interrupt my reading when you came flying in and interrupted my reading.”

“Yeah… right.”

“I’m being serious, Dash!” Twilight insisted. “Look, I’ll find out what happens in the musical.” She flicked forward a couple pages. “Huh, that’s weird.”

“What?” replied the Rainbow Maned pegasus.

“Well it stops after we walk into the theatre and has several blank pages before it picks up again.” Twilight puzzled over the book. “I wonder what it means.”

“Who says it means anything?” Dash replied. “Hey, we’re here. Let’s go find our seats.”

Sighing, Twilight packed the book back away and followed her friend into the theatre.

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“Wow, whoever they had for costumes clearly didn’t know anything about the source material,” Dash bemoaned as she exited the theatre with Twilight. “Daring’s hat was too dark, her coat was too light and Dr. Metalbeak wears a monocle on his left eye, not his right one.”

“Mmhmm,” Twilight hummed her agreement, only half paying attention to Rainbow Dash’s misgivings about the performance. She had begun reading the book again as soon as the cast had finished their bows.

“Ugh. Twilight, are you even listening?” Rainbow Dash swooped down in front of the purple unicorn and landed.

“Huh? Oh.” Twilight looked up in time to stop herself from colliding with Dash. “Sorry about that, I’ve just been trying to read as far ahead as possible. It could come in handy knowing how things are going to go before they happen and it’s not that thick of a book, so I figured I might as well enjoy it while it lasts.” She gestured to spot on one of the pages. “See, this is where we are now. And this is where—”

A sudden roar blasted through the air, shaking timbers and sending ponies scattering. Spouts of flame burst from the ground, catching rooftops and structures ablaze. From a deep crack in the earth rose a great and terrifying creature, wreathed in flames. It stood at twelve feet tall, bearing a mighty sword in one hand and a whip in the other. Great horns decorated its head and demonic wings extended from its back.

“Did your book say anything about this?” Dash shouted over the roar.

“Yeah, it’s called a balor; I was just getting to that part.” Twilight studies the book furiously. “If I read fast I might find out how we defeat it.”

“Forget reading it, just skip to the end and see if we all make it out alive.” The pegasus dodged the whip, circling to draw the demon’s attention away from the town.

Obediently, Twilight flipped to the last few pages of the book, scanning them quickly. “It doesn’t say!”

“What do you mean it doesn’t say? I thought your book there told the future!” Dash shouted down, fighting to keep away from the deadly blade of the balor.

Twilight franticly flipped through the book, cover to cover, searching for an answer. “There’s nothing here, Dash. The balor shows up, we start to fight it, try to find the answer in the book and then—”

The End

Comments

[PresentPerfect]

Kind of trippy. I do like how looking to the end made the story end. You could totally expand this and do more with it, though, it's an idea with endless possibility.