Of Books and Beginnings
Six months prior-
The sun was beaming down again in Ponyville, a perfect day, just like the Pegasi had forecast. Twilight Sparkle, as per usual, had fallen asleep in her bed just as it had started to rise. She had long since realized that she did her best thinking after dark, away from the hustle and bustle of the daylight hours. It followed, then, that Spike had to wake her up himself. This usually occurred around eleven in the morning, one hour before the library was scheduled to open.
Spike finished dusting the tops of the bookshelves, just like he had every Saturday prior for the past ten years. Checking the clock, Spike realized that he had been so engrossed in his task that he had neglected to wake Twilight at the proper time. As a matter of fact, he was a full fifteen minutes late. The dragon sighed to himself. "Twilight's going to kill me." he rumbled, allowing his weight back onto his front claws. He then climbed the stairs to Twilight's loft, careful not to let his tail catch on the shelves again.
Spike could no longer be called a "baby dragon". He had started to grow rapidly about eight years ago. The young drake was now considerably larger than the average pony, approaching but not quite the height of Celestia. Regardless, he now lived in his own room in the basement of the library, having woken up one morning with his old basket crushed under his increased bulk. His wings had finally grown in, although he could not fly for long yet. He was able to breathe fire hot enough to crack rock, and had accidentally cut through a sapling with his talons several years ago while showing off for his longtime friends, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Thankfully, his growth had slowed last year, and had full on stopped as of last Hearth's Warming Eve.
There was not a lot in Equestria willing to take on a partially grown dragon. Although Spike still retained much of his earlier friendliness, and was in fact one of the most polite and cordial dragons any pony knew of, he still commanded a healthy respect. This was especially true of the young fillies and colts of the town, who had a running quest to pick one of his scales as trophies. All this considered, Spike still felt a bit of dread as he crept up the stairs to Twilight's room, and hesitated before nudging open the door.
"Twi? You've overslept, time to get up! We open the library in thirty minutes!" A bit of a lie, but who would be hurt by tightening the schedule a bit? Twilight Sparkle responded by grumbling to herself and tossing over in bed. Spike felt a bit of relief at this. Twilight wouldn't be as high strung today, if she didn't want to get out of bed.
"Twilight, c'mon! I've made coffee and a sandwich for you, but you need to get up!" Not a word from Twilight. Spike switched tactics. He cleared his throat, expelled a bit of smoke, inhaled, and began to sing at the top of his lungs. "YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE, MY PONY SUNSHINE! YOU MAKE ME HAPPYYYYYY, WHEN SKIES ARE GREY!"
This got a response from Twilight. "Go 'way, Spike..." the purple unicorn mumbled. "Nope! You’ve gotta get up!" he replied, and bent over. Picking her up by the scruff of her neck, he carried her downstairs and out of the door.
"Spike, what are you doing? Ponies are looking at us strangely and- HEY! NO! NOT THE RAIN BARREL!”. Too late. With an almighty splash, Twilight landed soundly in the large barrel containing the runoff water from the house next door. Quickly, Spike fished her out and carried her back inside, ignoring the complaints all the way.
Once they were back inside, Spike inhaled again, releasing a warm wind which had her dry in moments. The end result was one clean, awake, and peeved unicorn. "Spike, that was rude of you! You didn't need to do that! I could have hit my head or broken something!" Spike said nothing, merely arching an eyebrow at her, which was impressive considering the fact that he had none. "Don't give me that look! This was serious b-business and s-somepony could have, heh... Somepony could have gotten, heh hehehe... Gotten hurt-hehehahahahaha!"
Spike grinned, his laughter rumbling along her higher pitched giggles. This much time together had changed both of them. Spike was far more organized and polite, whereas Twilight Sparkle had learned to see the humor in unplanned events and was altogether far less demanding of her still-number-one assistant. The two of them were soon on the floor, laughing as only two old childhood friends can do.
"So Spike," Twilight said to her oldest friend as she devoured her sandwich and coffee, "what do we have on the agenda for today? Anypony waiting on a delivery?"
"No, but the Crusaders are stopping by later to pick up books for their Magical Studies project over at the high school." Spike replied, putting away his broom and mop. The old wooden schoolhouse still stood on the outskirts of town, but now fillies and colts were sent to a new, bigger school building after their sixth year of schooling, completing ten years instead of stopping at seven.
"Also, we have the newest encyclopedia on Binding and Breaking spells due today. That's a big set, about ten volumes. After that, nothing really concrete. We could go out and get shopping done, or see how everypony else is doing. Oh, scratch that, one more thing. The Mayor wants to stop by and see you after the library closes today."
Twilight nodded and levitated the dishes into the sink. "Let's get the shopping done today, so we don't have any work to do on our day off tomorrow."
"Sounds good, then. Open in five!" Spike called, making sure the doors to Twilight's lab (and his room) were locked tightly.
Twilight trotted over to the door, switching the sign from "Closed" to "Open", and throwing open the shutters and windows. "What are the Crusaders working on? Let me guess, it's-"
"Cutie Marks, of course," rumbled Spike. "Not how to earn them, but an in depth study of where they come from, and why they show up when they do.". Twilight chuckled.
"I'd love to know how that turns out. Maybe they can figure out what the big brains at The Royal Academy can't." she said, checking herself for bedhead in the mirror.
"If anypony can, it's those two. A full year and a half trying to earn those things after they got together, and what do they do after they earn them but spend their spare time helping others find theirs? Honestly," Spike said, placing his hand on the doorknob, "I'm surprised that their marks weren't in finding Cutie Marks." He opened the door wide, allowing more of the spring breeze flowing through the windows to flow through the door.
Twilight rested her head against Spike's neck. "It's hard to believe, but as of next week we will have been living in this library for ten entire years, Spike."
"I dunno, Twilight. They've been good years. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't go crazy those first few. Out on your own at sixteen? Thank Celestia you only found as much trouble as you did!" Twilight laughed, heading back inside.
"I do thank Celestia for that, Spike. I thank her every day. Now, let's get ready, those Crusaders are nothing if not punctual. They're probably already on the way here." Spike turned, and followed her back into the tree, ducking his head slightly. He smiled to himself. Life was good here. It truly was.
The trio of adolescent fillies that soon descended upon the library were known throughout Ponyville, and throughout several neighboring towns as well, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders to this day. They were also known as an unholy, sentient disaster capable of laying material possessions as well as the laws of probability to waste in pursuit of their passion. Their special talents were each different, but their true passion had never left them. It was well known among the young ponies of Ponyville that if your special talent had trouble manifesting itself, these fillies were the ones to talk to. Finding Cutie Marks was something they were very good at, even if they had taken a while to find their own. Any filly or colt could approach them without fear, and they would enter into a solemn pact to help them find their Mark, or die trying.
In return, if the Mark was found, the young one in question would be given a sacred mission, to help another find theirs. If they should do this, they were made into an honorary Crusader themselves. Crusaders would often be found in a wooden fort that closely resembled a bird's nest located near the Whitetail Woods, on the edge of the Apple Family's property. Many around Ponyville could be found wearing their badges proudly. And most of the fillies and colts had their Marks, as well as being open and encouraging to others instead of putting them down for not having their Cutie Marks. If not for the collateral damage inevitably caused by the original trio and their younger counterparts, the Cutie Mark Crusaders would have been regarded as a wonderful project for the youth of Ponyville. As it was, many people regarded the CMC as an unstoppable force of change, like time or one of Sugarcube Corner's new "Four Alarm Cupcakes". It was always interesting when Crusaders were around, but there was a good chance of things not ending well for any pony involved.
It was this group of three adolescents that now stood inside the library, asking Twilight and Spike for every book they had on Cutie Marks, pony anatomy, and more interestingly, the Elements of Harmony. "Why the Elements, girls? This is about Cutie Marks, isn't it?" Twilight asked.
Sweetie Belle piped up, looking through her glasses. "Well, if the Elements are expressions of friendship and Harmony, wouldn't it make sense that something like a Cutie Mark would relate to them?"
"Yeah!" Scootaloo chimed in. "I mean, you have to be in touch with yourself and figure out how to help others with your special talent before you get a Cutie Mark. So, that seems to us to be the kind of thing the Elements do.".
Applebloom spoke up last. "What we're meanin' to say is, th' Elements of Harmony respond to ponies who fit in well with others, an' a Cutie Mark helps ya t' find your place in pony society!"
Spike looked at Twilight, and back at the girls. "Well," he said, reaching for a top shelf, "We have a few books on Cutie Marks. A study on hereditary Marks, like in the Apple family, several theories on where they came from, some investigations into why ponies are the only ones that get them. You three picked a hot topic for a lot of the top colleges. And I don't think I've heard of anypony trying to link it to the Elements. Oh, here's one more! Kind of old, though. Let's see... A Documentation of Talent Marks in the Major Equestrian Houses. Huh. This must be old, I've never heard of anypony calling them Talent Marks before. How about you, Twilight?"
"Yes, I have.". Twilight looked over the book with an expression of interest on her face. "Nopony has called them that for at least a hundred and fifty years. It's a very old book, and more than likely a bit outdated. Are you sure you girls want it?"
The trio exchanged glances. "Sure, Twilight," Sweetie Belle said, trotting forward to take a look. "It might come in handy. Looks a bit dry, but that's ok, right girls?"
"Yeah, that's alright with me!" said Applebloom, joining her friend in looking at the old book.
"I'll pass on it, but I'd love to take a look at the books on why we seem to be the only race in the world that get Cutie Marks." Scootaloo replied. "Do you have anything on th' Elements, Twilight?" asked Applebloom.
Twilight smiled, and trotted up the stairs toward her room. "I do, actually. My old copy of The Elements of Harmony; a Reference Guide is around here somewhere. I've written my notes all over the pages, so you'll have to excuse that."
She came downstairs holding the book in her telekinetic grasp. "I also have a few more scholarly articles on the history of the Elements, and one book on the properties they seem to possess. Other than that, not a lot. They're as big a mystery as Cutie Marks." she said, glancing at the nearby table the books rested on. A sizable stack of printed material teetered precariously in the center.
Spike glanced at the Crusaders, a smile curling his lips (again surprising, seeing as he did not have any). "I can't help but notice you've neglected to bring saddlebags. Were you planning on having Sweetie Belle levitate them? Or were you going to juggle them all the way back home?"
Sweetie did her best to emulate her older sister, with no small amount of success. "Actually, Spike...we were wondering if you'd be able to assist us on the way back to Scootaloo's to study. We'd love to have a set of hands to help tear down a tree branch for the old fort later, and you're probably the strongest one in town, even stronger than Big Mac."
Spike was a very well read individual, having been raised in a library. He was eloquent, and had a very quick mind and large vocabulary. This, however, along with the majority of his common sense, flew straight out of the nearest window when Sweetie Belle applied herself. This was something she was disturbingly good at, having spent a large amount of time with her older sister. Spike was about to attempt pulling himself together, citing his responsibilities at the library, and his errands that afternoon, when Sweetie Belle hit him with her best shot. She looked deep into Spike's eyes, getting uncomfortably close. Then, she fluttered her eyelashes and whispered gently, "Please, Spike? For me?"
There was the gentle sound of gagging coming from the general direction of Applebloom and Scootaloo.
Twilight realized at this point that she would be losing her assistant for the day. "Um. Uh. Duh... Ok, Sweetie. Sure." Spike mumbled, blushing. This was the third biologically impossible thing Spike had done today.
"Alrighty then, Spike! I'll be seeing you later then? Is there anything else I can help you girls with?" Twilight interjected, hoping to end the vaguely disturbing display in front of her.
Applebloom managed to wipe the exasperated look off of her face and turned to Twilight. "No, Twilight. Thank ya' kindly for all the help. When were these due back again?"
"Two weeks, Applebloom. Unless you come in to renew them. Have a good day, you all! Let me know what you find out!" Twilight called as they filed out, Spike in tow.
"Thanks, Twilight!" Scootaloo replied. "We'll bring them back as we finish them!". "No hurry! Good luck!" Twilight said, shutting the door behind them.
Turning to survey the library, she groaned. The Crusaders hadn't moved more than thirty feet from the door, and yet they had all tracked in enough dirt and mud and...dear Celestia, was that tree sap? Twilight furtively looked around to make sure nopony was watching. Satisfied, she bent down and licked it. Yes, definitely tree sap. Twilight reached for her magic, sending a beam of light at the floor and watching it scour itself clean, the mess breaking down into its constituent atoms. Thus satisfied, she pulled an old summary of the magecraft of the post-Classical era out and began to read.
It was dark stuff, post-Classical. The Classical era had been the height of the Alicorn Sisters' empire, ending with the defeat and banishment of Nightmare Moon. Directly afterward, pony civilization had entered a Dark Age as Celestia tried to restore order and repair the damage caused by the terrible confrontation. Other nations, notably the Diamond Dog tribes and the Gryphonian Oligarchy had attempted to take advantage of the weakness of the Equestrian Diarchy, now Monarchy, to seize land and valuables. Therefore, new schools of combat and new disciplines of magic had been formed. The biggest of these was necromancy, there being a plethora of bodies to reanimate, if one had the will. Twilight shuddered, and skipped that chapter. No, thank you!
She skimmed idly through the different sections. Divination, transformation, and scores of outdated or outlawed magic disciplines flicked at her through the pages of the book. Runes and potions and incantations were in abundance, with more obscure schools of the arcane showing themselves. Spells for memory, spells for possession, spells for youth or age. She could have learned how to summon creatures from distant lands, or how to see the future, or how to slow aging to a crawl. Each for the right price, of course. Cures, curses, and more were contained in this one book. No wonder she kept a hawk's eye on certain tomes. There was a passive spell over the whole library to ensure that certain books were never found unless somepony was looking for them specifically. Only Twilight was immune, as well as Spike. And of course, Celestia and Luna would be able to see through it like so much gauze.
Having lived in this old tree for years, Twilight had made some serious changes. There was a star map writing itself in a case downstairs, it being linked to a seeing spell near the top of the library that watched the sky every night. Each door and window was trapped with magical snares to prevent anypony with malicious intent from entering uninvited. A spell hummed through the ground, sifting out trace elements and metals for use in potions and inventions. In a fit of paranoia not entirely unrelated to Spike's growth, eight years ago Twilight had set a self-renewing spell that had pretty much fireproofed everything inside of her tree, as well as the outside. It warded away lightning, too. No branch would ever snap off in a storm now, and the tree kept most of its leaves during the winter.
In addition, Twilight had used a Pick-Me-Up spell in order to give ponies that entered the library a thirst for knowledge and a feeling of refreshment that they would carry with them for the rest of the day. A Stasis spell prevented too much wear and tear on the books while they were inside, and kept the temperature a balmy seventy five degrees year round. And Twilight wasn't sure, but the ambient magic may have caused time to move ever so slightly faster in the library, causing time to slow for the ponies who wandered in. Twilight refused to look into or fix it, because it gave her the opportunity to accomplish more, in a shorter span of time. Even if she did have to keep resetting the clocks.
If anypony were to use a spell allowing them to see magic, they would be shocked at the library. Violet lines of power writhed up and down the outside, and the tree itself pulsed with a magical light. A cloud of sparks appeared to orbit it constantly, and the door was crisscrossed with lines that one would have to walk through to get in. Nopony would be able to do that except for Twilight, of course, because she had set up one final spell that concealed most magical emission from the tree, and prevented the scrying of ponies inside it. Thus protected, Twilight had ample time to read and study new things, such as the book she currently had in front of her.
A section on combat magic caught her eye, as well as a chapter devoted to survival skills she marked to read later. Twilight soon headed down to the lab. Some of these spells sounded interesting, and she was itching to test them. Upon reaching the basement, she opened the trapdoor leading to a sub-basement she had hollowed out herself, avoiding the roots of her home and creating a long and straight tunnel, with three red targets at the very end. This was her testing chamber, for the dangerous or unpredictable spells. It was also an excellent space to relieve some stress. She lit the magelights she had installed one afternoon, and faced the target, reading the book on a nearby shelf of rock. "Shimmerstone's Freezing Fireball" sounded interesting, so Twilight faced downrange, pointed herself at the center target, and let fly.
Anypony in the library would have noticed the ground shaking for a brief moment, as well as a quiet "wumph" from somewhere beneath them. The library was empty, however, and thanks to Twilight's excellent engineering, the disturbance went unnoticed.
Twilight Sparkle blinked rapidly, trying to clear her head. She checked everything over, making sure she was alright, as well as the furniture she had down here, and her book. She made a mental note to dial down the power for these while she was inside, and scowled at the book accusingly. It had described it as "a minor casting for the Binding of opponents". Minor her back hoof! Grumbling, she went over to her trapdoor and pulled it open to clear the smoke out and warm up the room, as the thermometer on the wall informed her it was now close to freezing.
She was just in time to hear the *pop* of the delivery system Spike had lit in her fireplace. Instant mail was wonderful, and Twilight and Spike were working on ways to make it work for homes without an adolescent dragon to stoke the fire every day. Humming, she trotted up the stairs to check on her delivery, pleased that her encyclopedias had made it in one piece. Finding shelf room for them, she marked them for her late night reading, and then sealed them to make sure only she could remove the hefty tomes from the shelves. This was as a precaution only, so she could read them and make sure there was nothing dangerous or inappropriate inside before she lent them out to curious minds.
Speaking of, it was probably best to check and see if anypony had visited, and if so, what they had checked out. The register by the door made a note of who had taken books from the library, and how long ago. She checked it over. "12:15- 18 books out. Registered to Ms. Sweetie Belle, Ms. Applebloom, and Ms. Scootaloo. Due date- 14 days remaining. Fines owed- none. Books taken-..." Twilight looked over the list. Nothing new after that, so no books were out. She then checked the visitor's roster, just to make sure. Old habits died hard, after all. Nothing there either.
She checked her scanning spell over the door. Nopony had visited while she was downstairs. It was most likely going to be a slow day, then. Disappointed, she wondered why. Trotting over from her desk, she checked the window. Well, no wonder. It was a sunny Saturday, which meant that anypony with an ounce of common sense would be outside with friends, or family, or...suddenly she felt like she had been hit over the head with something heavy.
Their Special Somepony.
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I get the feeling this is going to be a good story. please continue as fast as you can.
Consider starting a new paragraph when you change speakers, it is the common practice for dialogue.
908982
Thank you. I've never been very good at dialogue, and that is exactly the kind of advice I need in order to improve. Any further comment? Drop me a message if you have more advice.
Best typo ever:
I like what you did with Sweetie Belle and Spike here. I'm not usually one for their shipping, but when you gave reason for it I was pretty much on board the entire way; especially when the reasoning fit so perfectly!
WHAT ARE THEIR CUTIE MARKS!!!????
*Cough*
That aside, good, cant wait to read the rest.
love it!
minor grammatical complaint, you seem to be starting a new speaker on the same line as the old one, common practice states you start a new line for every new speaker.
anyways, this story gives on some definate dis gon b gud vibes, i'm looking forward to it
scrying....
somepony's been reading eragon
"YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE, MY PONY SUNSHINE! YOU MAKE ME HAPPYYYYYY, WHEN SKIES ARE GREY!"
I had this on my wall lol.
2345130 That, right there. That made my day.
Her house reminds me of mine in Minecraft whenever I play any form of tech/magic modpack. Everything automated in such a small area, thousands of sub-basements I planned to use, and the sense of having done it all.
So far it's kind of sad to know she is going to fail, unless of course Luna shows up.
2605382 your profile pic turns me on and I don't know why.
2729404
Your profile pic is a chubby pegasus.
That is a typo. There are quite a few of them.
You might want to fix them.
Other than that, pretty good.
>although he could not fly for long yet
I suggest adding "very" between "for" and "long"
>had full on stopped
There should be a dash connecting "full" and "on"
>If anypony can, it's those two
What happened to there being three of them?
>"Well," he said, reaching for a top shelf, "We have a few books
The second w should be lowercase
>The Elements of Harmony; a Reference Guide
I'm pretty sure that the semicolon should be a colon, and the a should be uppercase
>a balmy seventy five degrees
That's way too hot to be healthy, unless your version of the ponies changes that
>the opportunity to accomplish more, in a shorter span of time
Delete the comma
>Anypony in the library
There are two spaces between "Anypony" and "in"
>a quiet "wumph" from somewhere beneath
I think that your spelling should be less ambiguous. "wumph" can be interpreted as any of these:
>wump
>wumf
>wumpf
>she marked them for her late night reading
You have two spaces between "them" and "for. Also, there should be a dash connecting "late" and "night".
>Speaking of, it was probably best to
I'm pretty sure that this should say "Speaking of which", not just "Speaking of"
Two people speaking in the same paragraph. I don't know if I'm missing something, but that's a no-no.
Did it again.
909258 you could also consider using indents on thy paragraphs....
3140377 I know its proper for him to do that, but I like it without indents
Great story, Airstream
So far this thing is loaded with grammatical errors, and some of the phrasing is... odd. But the story itself is pretty good so I will not pass judgment yet.
P.S. No offense, but you need an editor.
I find this chapter boring. Absolutely nothing happened.
[quote"If anypony can, it's those two.]this is a error right cus for a second I thought somepony died ...
An Ice fireball sounds so cool to have in real life.
Sounds like Twilight has a problem with special someponies or something like that.
And I have a feeling that what that book says will be important later on in the story. Like everything in that book.
Will edit later when not on phone. By that I mean I am writing this on my phone and I don't like it.
Just finished reading through this earlier today, and I’m aware that the author doesn’t seem to use FimFiction any more, but I feel the need to express my amusement at these asides from the narrator. 3 impossible things that day reminds me of the Queen of Hearts from Wonderland - who claims “sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast”.
Well, uh, about that...
Just started reading. The phrasing is off, but, I'll see if I can get into this.