Crazy, Clever and Cunning

by Fresnor

I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost

It figures, the one night without a ghost keeping me awake or getting me up early and I wake up early anyways. Sighing at this as any chances of falling back to sleep are gone I instead turn my attention to the surrounding shelves. “Well if I can’t sleep I might as well find out some information on the area, didn’t have a chance to do that yet.” Pulling up my magic to do a quick search of the books I pull out two for some quick reading, a simple dietary needs book and one titled History of Equestria.

Seeing as the first one will be just a quick look on things I start with that one. After a quick search through it I find that a pony’s diet can consist of many different forms of vegetation, grains, fruits, and surprisingly fish as I found out at the café as well as a few other things. Looking into the fish part I find that it is mainly pegasi that need it to help keep their wings healthy, though the other races may eat it to a lesser extent though most prefer not to.

Smiling at the find I return the book to its place and turn to the more important one. Over the next while I find out about the general setup of the kingdom as well as the names of some important figures. Huh, so the princesses are named Celestia and Luna. Also the reason why the latter what the lost-sister is because she went evil and was banished? I ponder on the issue wondering how she is back again as well as not evil.

It probably had something to do with those mares being in the forest. I saw them go in and yet the next time I saw them was with both princesses. Thinking on that while I peruse the rest of the book I notice it starting to get a little lighter out. Taking a moment to stretch I finish off the last few pages of the book before returning it to the shelves and just browse the titles of other books as random.

Not much catches my eye as I look through them, though I do catch sight of one I heard mentioned before and pull it down. “Supernaturals huh? Wonder what this one is about if it’s not one on undead and other strange phenomenon.” Flipping through a few pages I find that it is actually an herbal remedy and the title is just a play on words. I do catch sight of a familiar flower as I flip through and make note to look this book up later.

Returning the book I turn towards the stairs, as I hear hoofsteps coming down them, to see Twilight yawning as she makes her way down. “Good morning there, I woke up a bit early and seeing as I couldn’t sleep again I took to browsing the shelves a bit, I hope you don’t mind.” She blinks a few times as she notices me there, probably forgetting that I stayed over the night, “Oh, good morning. No it’s fine, nice to see someone taking an interest in reading.”

With a bit of relief I turn back to the shelves again, trying to note the type of order they are placed in. Out of the corner of my eye I notice Twilight head to another part of the library and soon return with a cup of something. Taking a guess that that is a kitchen area I try and decide what to do for breakfast this morning. In the end I just decide to stop by and grab something while Twilight is leaving messages with her friends before heading out to deal with the ghost.

Casting another quick spell, I find a book on the properties of gemstones and minerals and bring it to a table. “So when do you want to try and clear out that problem from the manor?” I ask Twilight after she has gone through half of the cup of whatever. She pauses mid-sip to consider this, “It would probably be best to get it done early. No telling how long we will be in there and the sooner we get rid of it the sooner you can start settling in.”

I nod to her at this as I page through the book I make note to get a copy of it for myself for later experiments with enchanting said stones, noting the thoroughness the author went into the descriptions. “I’d really be grateful to be able to do that. Though after yesterday there is probably going to be much more to clean up as it started to tear down doors and cause other damage.” I grimace at this as I have no clue how much of the place was destroyed by it now.

Twilight winces at the mention of the doors and starts looking a bit worried about agreeing to this now, “I don’t think you mentioned that yesterday, just that it was much angrier after the spell.” I glance up apologetically, realizing that she is right, “Sorry, I did forget to mention it. Things just started getting out of hand in the planning yesterday. After this is I promise to do what I can to make it up to you.”

She calms down a bit and just waves it off, “It’s fine I guess, just make sure to give me all the information you have if you need help again. It’s bad enough that I couldn’t find anything on stopping that creature in the first place. It makes me wonder how you were able to find something so quickly…” She pauses and looks at me curiously while I try to ignore the look and focus on the book.

Turning the page my interest is caught on the entry involving salt. “Huh, salt has been used in purification rituals and in types of barriers.” This diverts Twilight’s attention from her previous train of thought, “It used to be when magic was more primitive. Considering how advanced things have gotten its use has fallen out of favor for other materials and spells. Though it still has a recreational use by many ponies.” She mutters the last line, but I’m more focused on the first part and make a note to stop for some as a precaution.

Looking outside I note that it has gotten a good deal brighter and it looks like other ponies are starting to move around outside now. “Well I should thank you for letting me stay the night and for helping me with this. It looks like stores are starting to open now and I want to pick up a couple things before we deal with the ghost so I think I’m going to head out now.” She once again winces at the word ghost, and after an attempt to get me to stay for breakfast at the very least she eventually gives up and agrees to meet outside of the manor once she informs her friends.

Heading out I stop by the usual place for a fast meal, then hit a few of the shops. After a time finding the items I may need, I head off to my home making sure everything is in place. “Okay, so a general medical kit, enough salt to fill two vials, parchment for notes on damages, and some more cleaning supplies. I’m probably getting ahead of myself with some of it, but better to prepare for the best case instead of worrying.”

I make my way back through town, only pausing to wave to Twilight and Applejack at her stand, and head to the manor. Once I arrive I circle the outside a few time while using the spell to locate the ghost. It seems to have settled down in the basement for whatever reason, but I know that can change in a moment’s notice. Settling down in the grass I wait for Twilight to arrive.

It doesn’t take long for her to trot up from town and we greet each other again in somber tones considering the danger. We head around back and I check the creature’s location one more time, “All right it seems to be settled in the basement for now, that could make things easier or harder.” Twilight turns at this, “Why could it be harder?” My response doesn’t reassure her, “It could be guarding what we need down there. While I didn’t find anything down there and it looked empty, I wasn’t searching very hard.”

She gets a bit worried at this but still climbs the ladder to the bedroom. I follow her in and once inside and gape at the fact that the door has been torn down since I was last here. Taking this in I notice that the moonstone is still intact, yet it is barely flickering now, “We need to hurry, this place is no longer safe and the sooner we get done the better, be ready to use that shield spell when it’s needed.” Twilight nods at this and we quietly make our way out of the room and down the hall.

We make it to the room without a problem, though we start to hear the ghost moving around as we enter the room. Finding the switch for the attic is easy, it being in a spot formerly hidden behind a picture, and return to the hall. There we find a set of stairs have swung down from the ceiling leading to the attic. As we ascend the stairs we hear the ghost’s scream rise in volume as it moves towards the second floor.

Looking at each other we hurry to the attic before it can see us. What we find there is not what we expected. Bones cover the place and the smell of decay assaults our senses causing us to gag, “This is bad, like really bad.” As I say this I stare around the room as we light it up with our magic. As we noted on first entering the place is covered in bones, what we missed though was the large circle drawn into the floor. Examining it closer I can tell it was done in blood, confirming my fears.

“The vilest of magic was used here, someone practicing the darker arts,” I quietly say this all while shuddering as memories of my past start to surface. Twilight seems to be in a fearful state as well as she takes in the disturbing imagery. We are interrupted from our respective musings by the ghost’s screech as it finds the open staircase. Twilight is the first to react, throwing a shield over the entry to stop it, though she soon takes on a strained look as things start to impact the shield.

“I’ll hold it back, you try to find whatever it is here we need to stop it,” she gets out in a strained voice. Nodding to her I turn to the room and try to find whatever it is I’m looking for. Discarding various objects that I find on tables around the room, I come across a thick book on a podium. I feel a strange aura from the book, but I feel an even worse one from the object on top of it, a blackened pony skull.

“I think I found it Twilight,” I call to her as I bring the skull towards her. Seeing her shudder as I near her with it I guess she also can feel something from it and nods to me. Setting it on the ground I rise up onto my hind legs and use all the force I can muster to stomp down on it. Unfortunately all that happens is a loud banging sound and a cry of pain from me as I twist something.

Twilight’s eyes widen at this and she tries to blast it with her magic only yielding similar results. This distraction is what the ghost was looking for as it suddenly shatters Twilight’s barrier, knocking us and the skull further into the attic. While both of us try to catch our breath, the creature makes its way up the stairs and turns to face us. Before it can do anything I climb to my feet and do the only thing I can think of, I blast it with the banishment spell again.

While this does pin the creature to the wall, it also serves to enrage it even further than it was, “Twilight, I’ll hold it down as long as I can, you need to destroy that skull fast.” Twilight just looks around in panic, “But how, physical force didn’t work, and neither did magic, what am I supposed to do?” What she says makes sense; even I don’t know how to destroy an object tainted by dark magic.

Wait, tainted? That’s it! “Twilight, there is some salt in my left pack, try using that!” Twilight just looks at me oddly for a second before she seems to remember the book this morning. Pulling out the vial she dumps it all on and around the skull then stares at it, “I used the salt on it, but what am I supposed to do now? I don’t know if I’m supposed to use a spell or just wait!” My mind races as I feel my strength slowly drain away from the spell so respond with the first thing that comes to mind.

“I don’t know, just set it on fire or something, fire always fixes everything!” Twilight looks at me oddly for a second but still tries it having no other options. Luckily it works, turning the skull into a miniature blue pyre. As the skull is engulfed in flames, the ghost’s screams cut off and it starts twisting in my spell as it starts to shrivel up. Eventually nothing is left of it except a scorch mark on the wall, and the faint sound of ‘thank you’ from somewhere.

Seeing that it’s over I cut the spell and collapse onto the floor, while Twilight staggers in place before joining me. “It’s over finally,” I say, “And I’d like to reiterate how much I hate undead, dealing with them is too much of a pain in the tail.” Twilight just nods to this as we both catch our breath.

As I recover I turn my eyes to the rest of the attic and examine the place better now that we don’t have to worry for our lives. Much of the clutter on the tables I searched earlier seems useless, mostly decayed from age. The bones scattered around the place aren’t easy to identify, most being from beasts, though a few look to be from ponies. The last objects I look at are the circle in the center of the room, and the large tome on the podium.

“That magic circle definitely has to go. Whatever it was for is definitely not something I’d want to repeat considering what we went through.” Twilight nods at this and looks towards the tome in interest. “True, it most likely was used to create that creature. The fact it’s drawn in blood makes it need to be destroyed. What was in that book though?” I slowly get to my feet and make my way towards it, Twilight following soon after. “No idea, I didn’t take the time to look though that skull was on top of it. I felt something odd from it though and it wasn’t a good feeling either.”

Once we reach it with both examine it curiously from different angles. The materials it is made from seem familiar, though the answer isn’t coming to mind. Glancing at each other we both nod once and flip the book open to a random page.

Immediately I cringe and force my burning eyes shut while slamming the book closed. I can hear Twilight stumbling over to a corner, retching the entire time at the sight of such evil. “This thing needs to be destroyed or locked up by somepony who knows how to if it can’t be!” As my eyes clear, I can see that Twilight is almost recovered, and is slowly turning towards me because of my exclamation.

“I agree, but I don’t think we should try to do so ourselves. I have no idea what would happen if we did, and we are drained as it is now. Princess Celestia will know what to do with it and will want to know about it anyways considering what has happened here.” My ears shoot up at this and I start to worry a bit as that’s the one pony I want to avoid, “Princess Celestia? While I know she’d want to know about this how would we get her attention. Wouldn’t there be a lot of ponies we’d have to go through before talking to her?”

“Normally yes,” she admits, “But being the Personal Student of Princess Celestia I have a direct line to her for important matters as well as my studies.” My worry turns into alarm at this information. Not only is she the student of the princess I want to avoid, but I just brought her into a dangerous situation. This is not good, I think to myself trying and failing to find a way out of this.

Seeing no way out of this I decide to try and hope for the best. With the aura given off by the tome, and the fact that the problem is solved, she might not take much notice of me. Bringing my attention back to Twilight I try to bury my misgivings, “Well that must be handy at times, and considering the contents of this she’d probably be one of few who know how to deal with it.” I bring out the medical kit and use the bandages from it to firmly tie the book shut before levitating it to Twilight.

“It’s probably best that you handle this thing from here. I’ve already had my fill of dark magic for the day, and the sooner I can clean up this place the better.” Twilight looks a bit unsure and nods at this before taking the bound book. Escorting her down to the front door, with a quick stop by my room for the keys, I wave her off as she heads back to the library to prepare for whoever will arrive to take that thing off her hands.

Once she is out of sight I turn back to my house and observe the damage. “Well one problem down, and now a giant mess to clean up. This is going to take a while,” I huff at the damage as I look at the shattered furniture, busted doors and scattered kitchen implements scattered all over the place.

Author's Note:

Well another chapter done, and I believe that's the 25k word mark, go me. Still accepting any comments and complaints, though at this rate I'll hit 100k words with nothing.

Comments

[Liarra Sniffles]

I'm here! :3

Uh... Good work so far! And uh, consider getting an editor. :3

.. I'm not good when I'm put in the spotlight :<

[Scipio231]

I'm enjoying this story and hope you keep updating.

Am i right in thinking that the main character is a Kitsune?

[Truthseeker]

Reading this chapter was like watching an episode of Supernatural.

[booman980]

6828564 without the sexy car baby(the impala)

[Gear_change]

4192132
No, its a changling

[Asolem2]

“I don’t know, just set it on fire or something, fire always fixes everything!” Twilight looks at me oddly for a second but still tries it having no other options.

It's true, and if it doesn't, it just means you're not using enough fire

[DerpTape]

I hope they said the words before picking the book up.