//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 - Quality Time 
// Story: Glint Stones: Answers 
// by Middle Ground 
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The new morning came with Twilight waking up, fixing her mane, and brushing her teeth like always. She slept quite well in the comfy bed and saw Spike still sound asleep. He always was a deep sleepy. Twilight left the room for the kitchen for breakfast, and as she made her way towards the room, the smell of toast and pancakes filled her nose and she darted inside. Princess Luna was making breakfast like always with Princess Celestia preparing the table.
"Good morning, Twilight. I hope you slept well." Princess Celestia then joined her sister after readying the table.
"Yes, I did. Spike is still asleep. But I'm sure he'll be here when he smells breakfast." Twilight sat down to wait for breakfast to be served.
"That's fine. He is a growing dragon after all. Do you have any plans for today?" Princess Celestia and Princess Luna magically placed plates of pancakes and toast on the table when they were finished. With a basket of apples to go with their breakfast.
"Actually, yes I do. I'm going to find more answers on the Spellbind Family in the various libraries in Canterlot and then I'm going to spend time with my friend, Moondancer." Twilight began to magically spreading butter over her toast.
"Moondancer...? I believe she was one of your classmates when you were in Magic Kindergarten. She has become a great help to the scholars of Canterlot University. I hear she is quite brilliant." Princess Celestia sat down and began making her breakfast. Princess Luna knew who they were talking about, but remained silent for the sake of Moondancer's privacy.
"Yes, she is. She's a great friend too. I hope she won't be too busy today." Twilight began eating her breakfast. Suddenly, Spike dashes into the room in excitement.
"I'm here...! I'm here for breakfast!" Spike sat in his seat to enjoy breakfast.
"Good morning, Spike. Glad you could join us." They all laughed and continued to enjoy their breakfast.
"Twilight, after breakfast, there is something I would like to discuss with you in the throne room before you leave for the University." Twilight knew Princess Celestia wanted to talk more about the Spellbind Brothers.
Twilight swallowed her food and replied, "Yes, Princess...." She was nervous since the Spellbind Brothers are certainly out of the ordinary. And the term 'Ordinary', to Twilight, is used very loosely since ponies wielding great magical power isn't anything new in Equestria.
"Spike, I would like your help with cleaning up after breakfast if that is alright."
"You can count on me, Princess." Spike continued to eat joyfully. They eventually finished their breakfast and did what the four planned to do. Twilight and Princess Celestia made their way to the throne room as planned while Princess Luna and Spike stayed behind in the kitchen.
"Twilight, do you remember what I have asked you yesterday?" Twilight was confused since she received her instructions just yesterday.
"Yes, I do. You asked me to keep an eye on the Spellbind Brothers and report back to you. Why do you ask...?"
"I would like to know if these four brothers have shown any signs of strange behavior. Anything unusual about them?" Twilight began looking back at the last week and nothing really came to mind. Except for one event.
"Well...there was this one time where Glint Sparx collapsed for some reason. He was burning with a fever and her was passed out for hours."
"Did something happened to have caused him to collapse?"
"Well, my friend, Starlight Glimmer, wanted to see just how powerful the Spellbind Brothers were and she let them show off their powers. If my friends and I didn't stop them, they could have destroyed Ponyville by mistake. I got into a fight with Sparx and then he collapsed. He's doing fine right now." Twilight's words concerned Princess Celestia since ponies don't just passed out for no reason.
"Anything else...?"
"Not...really. That's really all I know. Then I left for Canterlot. That's all." Even Twilight was concerned. Princess Celestia then turned to one of the stain-glassed windows and was concerned about the dark clouds that covered Equestria.
"Twilight, I don't want to say this, but I can't help but find it strange that these dark clouds just so happened to have formed when these four brothers made their appearance. Don't you find that strange...?" Twilight then felt a chill from what Princess Celestia was implying.
"Princess...you don't think the Spellbind Brothers are the cause of these dark clouds, do you?" Twilight didn't want to share in the accusation.
"Twilight, without the light of the sun, Equestria may suffer. Plants will die, farmers won't be able to grow their crops for food, and who knows what else could happen. I will not pass judgment on the brothers until I am certain. What really matters is resolving this issue. Until I meet with these brothers, do what you must." Princess Celestia then left the throne room to attend to her daily duties. Twilight was alone with the thought of the Spellbind Brothers being the cause of this strange darkness. She knew they were strange, but she also knew that they could never do anything to harm others without good reason. She then left for the nearby library, hoping to find anything on the Spellbind Family in any history books. The first library she found had two floors filled with book cases filled with countless books. She visited this library many times when she was still Princess Celestia's student. Visiting this place made her feel nostalgic.
She walked up to the front desk, "Excuse me, can you help me?" The librarian was looking through some papers.
"Oh yes, what can I help you with?" The librarian stopped his work to help Twilight.
"I'm looking for a book on aristocratic families. Particularly the Spellbind Family. Do you have anything like that...?" The librarian started looking through the many lists of books in the library until finally he found something.
"I could not find anything on the Spellbind Family, but I did find a book on famous families. It is titled 'Canterlot Families' and you can find it in the History section under the letter C on the second floor. Do be careful with it. It is quite old." The librarian pointed to the second floor to where the History section was on the left side of the library.
"Thank you." Twilight then flew up to the floor to start searching for what she was looking for. She looked through the History section until she found the row of books with titles that started with the letter C and eventually found the book titled, 'Canterlot Families'. Just before she could grab it, another pony was about to grab it. What surprised Twilight even more was that it was Moondancer that was going to grab the book herself.
"Twilight...? You're here too?" Moondancer adjusted her glasses.
"Moondancer...! You're here!" Twilight was happy to see her. But her sudden outburst was a bit too loud and the many visiting ponies hushed her. Twilight was embarrassed and the two left the History section with the book they were looking for and sat down at a nearby desk.
"So you're looking for some information on the Spellbind Family too? Why...?" Twilight was surprised to know this.
"Well, I wanted to help you. And I was curious since I think I've heard about the family as well. Maybe this book could help us." Moondancer opened the rather old book to find the table of context. They looked through the table and were happy to have found the name 'Spellbind' on the list. They turned to page 128 to find the name of the family on one of the pages.
"The Spellbind Family. A family of very powerful and very eccentric magic-users. The family was regarded as master makers of spells, enchantments, and even magical experimentation. While they were highly respected, they were also highly feared as a number of their members were gifted with power far beyond any pony's natural ability." Twilight knew this was true since she has witnessed this great power herself.
"Because of constant monster attacks, the Spellbind Family was tasked to aid in any actions necessary for the defense of those who couldn't defend themselves. However, a tragedy occurred which resulted in the deaths and disappearances of it's family members. This tragedy, however, goes unknown to even Princess Celestia. Without knowing who or what caused this tragedy, the mystery of the family's deaths remains unsolved. The Spellbind Family, may they rest in peace for their services." Twilight finished reading all that was written in the few pages. She was frustrated to find that there was hardly anything in the book she didn't already know.
"So...the family just died for unknown reasons? Just like that?" Moondancer got a shiver down her back down to her tail.
"So it seems. And if I must help the Spellbind Brothers, I must find a way to help them remember their pasts." Twilight closed the book and left to return it to it's place. Moondancer adjusted her glasses and followed Twilight. Afterwards, they left the library to enjoy some lunch. Twilight was still frustrated she couldn't find anything else about the Spellbind Family.
"Cheer up, Twilight. I'm sure something will turn up soon. Maybe when the University discovers something from their studies on that black rock." Moondancer was concerned for Twilight. She did her best to lighten the mood. Twilight gave an annoyed groan as she ate her newly-served muffin. Moondancer's efforts had little sway on the mood. After lunch, they made their way to the University hoping for some progress. When they entered the room, they saw a group of Unicorns shooting streams of their magic into the rock.
"Ah, Twilight and Moondancer...! Welcome back! You two are just in time for the next phase in our studies!" The rock was being propelled slightly into the air thanks to the combined magic of all the Unicorns. It was chained down to prevent any over-shots. A light shined through the black rock, but nothing else was happening.
"I thought you guys weren't going to use any magic on the rock or do anything to upset it." Twilight was slightly annoyed by this sudden change in decision.
The lead scientist laughed nervously, "Well...um...this was decided by a unanimous vote. Besides, up to this point, nothing we did had any real affect on th-" Suddenly, the rock dropped back to the ground with a loud thud. All of the Unicorns were exhausted from expelling most of their magic. The light radiating from the rock faded and returned to it's pitch black color.
"I guess magic doesn't work either...." After their failure, the many scientists and volunteering Unicorns vacated the study zone to recover their magic. The lead scientist was discouraged by yet another failure.
"Maybe the multiple minerals and metals inside the rock might have repelled the magic completely. That might have been the light that shined from within the rock." Twilight continued to study the rock from all angles.
"You...might be right. Certain metals have been known to have a resistance to magic. We should have foreseen this from the start." The lead scientist became even more discouraged.
"Then there's only other method we can use."
"Yes, you're right. We will have to dig into it. But not now. After today most of our fellow scientists have used too much magic to continue operations. We will continue tomorrow morning." Twilight gave an annoyed sigh from the unfortunate set-back. Moondancer continued to look at the black rock. She felt the same kind of chill run down her back again for no reasons. She shook it off and ignored it entirely. Twilight and Moondancer left the University and made their way to Moondancer's home. Moondancer made tea to ease Twilight's frustration.
"It's alright, Twilight. Everypony makes mistakes sometimes. We just have to learn from them." Moondancer then served Twilight her cup of tea.
"I know.... It's just that something about all this keeps bugging me. Like there is something hidden beneath all of this. And no matter what we do, we're always back to where we started." Twilight took a sip of her tea to calm down.
"I'm sure the answers will come to you in time. We just have to wait until tomorrow." Twilight didn't want to accept this, but she had no choice. They then spent the rest of the day enjoying some quality time. Time flew by and it was already 9:23 pm in  the evening.
"I think I better go back to the castle now. We have a big day tomorrow and I will need my sleep." Twilight left the books she was reading and made her way to the door.
"I guess it is pretty late. I'll see you tomorrow then." Moondancer was reluctant to see Twilight leave.
"Good night, Moondancer."
"Good night, Twilight." Twilight left the house and made her way to the castle. She entered the throne room to see Princess Celestia looking over some paperwork like always.
"Welcome back, Twilight. How was your day?" Princess Celestia stopped her work to see Twilight.
Twilight yawned, "Disappointing." Twilight told Princess Celestia everything that happened today.
"I see.... That is rather disappointing. Then we will just have to wait. Go get some rest, Twilight." Princess Celestia went back to her late-night paperwork.
"Good night, Princess." Twilight left with a yawn and made her way to her room. She found Spike already asleep with Princess Luna tucking him in.
"Oh, Twilight. I was just tucking Spike in. He worked so hard today with us today. He tuckered himself out." Princess Luna began to leave the room.
"Thank you, Princess. I'll be going to bed too, so I'll see you all in the morning." Twilight then flew to her comfy bed without hesitation.
"Then I will leave you to it. Good night, Twilight. Sweet dreams." Princess Luna left the room to attend her dream-walking duties. Twilight quickly went to sleep when she tucked herself in bed. After all the disappointment, she hope tomorrow was more promising.