//------------------------------// // An Interesting Evaluation // Story: The Ties that Bind // by the7Saviors //------------------------------// Ancient Scroll had finally found what he was looking for while the girls had filtered back into the room and he addressed each of them with a bit of excitement. "You girls are in for a treat," he said with a hint of anticipation in his voice, "I've been meaning to find a use for this old thing, and now..." The three fillies looked on curiously as he placed something on the desk in front of him. Ancient Scroll raised an eyebrow at their non-reaction before realizing they couldn't see over the desk. "Oh, right," he said with a sheepish chuckle, sorry about that, here..." He lifted the object in his magic and brought it down to the fillies eye level so that they could get a better look. Their reactions ranged from intrigued to confused and in Sunset's case, surprised. What Ancient Scroll had shown them, was a horn ring. It shone a bright silver in color and was marred by a single tiny chip on one side. At first glance, it seemed like any other anti-magic horn ring. But that was only at first glance. Upon closer inspection, Sunset had noticed small engravings surrounding the outside of the ring. Carved into the ring were strange symbols. Strange and familiar symbols. "Uncle Scroll," Sunset said, eyes widened in surprise, "this ring..." "Yep," Ancient Scroll finished, "you're correct on that one, little filly. That is indeed ancient Runic script." Twilight looked from the ring to the old stallion in shock. "You managed to get your hooves on an ancient artifact?" she asked in bewilderment, "I thought the Princess had seized all the artifacts in Equestria?" Ancient Scroll gave a somewhat mischievous chuckle as he dropped the ring into Sunset's hoof. "She didn't get her hooves on this one, little filly," he said with a wink, "found this one myself in some underground ruins beneath the Badlands years ago," he stared at the ceiling as he idly stroked his beard, "had a nasty run-in with some changelings, but I managed to make it out okay in the end," he reminisced, "clever little buggers, those changelings... much more than I gave them credit for at any rate." As the old stallion rambled on about his past adventures, Trixie turned to Twilight. "What on Equus is a changeling?" she whispered. Twilight's only response was to shake her head and shrug helplessly. Sunset meanwhile, was busy looking over the ring she was given and paid Ancient Scroll no mind. "...all the way to Saddle Arabia to get the blasted thing appraised! And it was not cheap, let me tell you-" "Um, Uncle Scroll?" Twilight interjected, "this is all very interesting, but weren't we supposed to be doing an evaluation?" Ancient Scroll blinked and looked towards the bemused fillies. "Oh, yes... yes you're right, sorry about that, little filly," he cleared his throat and floated the ring from Sunset's hoof and into his own, "now then..." Without preamble, he placed the ring on his own horn. The moment it was in place, the runes began to glow a bright green. The girls gasped as the glowing runes expanded and elongated, wrapping themselves around Ancient Scroll. They encircled the stallion for a few seconds before coming together in the form of a slowly rotating magic circle in front of him. The fillies watched in awe as Ancient Scroll brought out a blank piece of parchment and placed that on the desk. He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, they were completely enshrouded in green light. The circle once again broke apart into several lines of runes which shrank and lowered down to the parchment. There was a sudden flash and the glow died down. After a minute of stunned silence, Ancient Scroll lifted the parchment off the desk and lowered it down so the girls could see. Imprinted on the parchment were softly glowing runes that, even as they watched, began to reform themselves into a readable script. The light faded, leaving three simple lines for the fillies to read. Ancient Scroll Thaum Count: 752Ꮦ Lym Count: 774Ꮭ Trixie looked up from the parchment to give Ancient Scroll an unimpressed raise of her brow. "That's it?" she asked flatly, "all that flair and pizzazz for three simple pieces of information you could get at any small town clinic in Equestria?" Ancient Scroll rolled up the parchment and set it back on the desk with a shrug. "Originally, the ring was supposed to give all sorts of information - including magic affinity," he replied, "but according to the appraiser, it was damaged at some point and only reveals the thaum and lym counts of a unicorn - unfortunate yes, but just perfect for what we need, and besides," he raised his own eyebrow at Trixie, "do you see any clinics around here?" Trixie just looked away with a small pout. "I still think it's fascinating," Twilight added, eyeing the ring with immense interest, "it's actually a lot faster than the methods we use nowadays and you only need the ring and a piece of parchment." "It is convenient," Sunset said with a nod of agreement, "even if it only shows a small amount of information." "What Trixie doesn't understand," the blue filly commented, turning to Ancient Scroll, "is what the numbers mean." "Trixie," Twilight said rolling her eyes, "it shows what they mean right on the-" "That's not what Trixie meant," Trixie replied, shaking her head. She pointed a hoof towards Ancient Scroll, "do the numbers that showed up mean he has a lot of mana or is it an average amount or what?" "Well," Sunset answered, putting a hoof to her chin, "the average thaum count for an adult pony is between 400 and 600 thaums and the average lym count for an adult unicorn specifically is around 650 lyms." "So it's above average then," Trixie surmised. Sunset nodded, "It isn't all that surprising. Mana wellsprings expand naturally overtime to fit the natural increase in mana as we grow older, and Uncle Scroll is pretty old," she turned to Ancient Scroll with an apologetic smile, "no offense, Uncle Scroll." "None taken, little filly," he replied with a chuckle, "you're right about that after all." Twilight said nothing and sat on her haunches looking contemplative. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Scroll spoke once more. "Here," he floated a piece of parchment over to each of them, and the ring over to Sunset specifically, "why don't you girls give it a go?" "How does it work?" Sunset asked, eyeing the ring curiously as it floated in her own red aura. "Just pop it onto your horn and it'll do the rest," he said with a tap of his own horn, "just make sure you have the parchment ready." Sunset stared at the ring for another moment before she shrugged and placed the ring on her horn. She inhaled sharply at the sensation and the other two fillies watched as the earlier scene played out once more with Sunset. This time however, the glow was the same shade of red as Sunset's own aura. Twilight for one, was grateful that Sunset didn't notice the glow. The rather ominous looking red light sent a chill down both Twilight and Trixie's spines. After a few moments, Sunset placed the parchment flat on the floor and the runic script imprinted itself onto the paper. The glow dimmed and all three of the girls leaned down to see the results. Sunset Shimmer Thaum Count: 409Ꮦ Lym Count: 355Ꮭ "Is... is that good?" Trixie asked with a bemused frown. They all looked towards Scroll for a verdict. He leaned back in his chair and stroked his beard as he cast an impressed glance at the orange filly. "The mana count is actually very impressive for a filly your age," he replied, "most foals your age would fall somewhere between 200 and 300 thaums, yet here you are with enough mana to rival the average adult unicorn. The wellspring depth however..." he tapped a hoof on the desk thoughtfully. "It's about average for where I'm at right now, but the lower lym count means I have a lot of mana leakage," Sunset finished, putting a hoof to her chin, "that means I'll have to be careful how much mana I put into my spells..." Twilight remained sitting quietly as she looked at the ring on Sunset's horn nervously - something that didn't escape Ancient Scroll's notice. As Sunset lost herself in her thoughts, Trixie took the opportunity to swipe the ring off her horn. "Trixie's turn!" "Ah - hey, Trixie!" Sunset cried angrily, "you could've just asked!" Trixie ignored the orange filly as she placed the ring onto her own horn. The room was briefly lit by a pink glow as the horn ring did it's work and before anypony knew it, it was over and the results made themselves clear on the parchment. Beatrix Lulamoon Thaum Count: 317Ꮦ Lym Count: 413Ꮭ They all stared at the parchment with varying degrees of surprise, none more so than Trixie herself whose eyes had gone wide at the result. "Wow, Trixie..." Twilight finally said with some awe, "I guess Uncle Scroll was right. Even with these numbers it's still risky, but if you're careful, there's a chance you could do that Decoy spell after all." Trixie nodded absently before rapidly shaking her head. "T-Trixie knew she was talented all along, so this is no news to her!" she gave Twilight another smug look, "and to think, Twilight Sparkle, you had the nerve to doubt Trixie's abilities." Twilight just gave a shrug and a small chuckle in response. Sunset glanced at Trixie with a slight smirk of amusement. "You never told us your full name was Beatrix," she teased. The blue filly rounded on Sunset with a glare. "And do you have a problem with Trixie's full name?" Trixie challenged. Sunset laughed and held up her hooves placatingly. "No, no," she said, still chuckling, "I think it's fine... Beatrix." Trixie was about to give an indignant retort, when Ancient Scroll spoke up. "Come on, girls," he admonished as he floated the ring off of Trixie and over to an anxious looking Twilight, "there'll be plenty of time for fooling around later, were almost done here," he turned a solemn, knowing gaze to Twilight, "are you ready, little filly?" Twilight swallowed nervously and nodded. She tentatively levitated the ring onto her horn and it began to glow a bright magenta color. As the runes floated around her, Ancient Scroll noticed that it seemed to take a bit longer to form the magic circle - almost as if the Runic spell was having a hard time deciphering the information. Eventually the magic circle appeared and Twilight laid out the parchment. The Runic script imprinted to the parchment and with the spell complete everypony gathered around to look. Twilight Sparkle Thaum Count: 507Ꮦ Lym Count: 0000Ꮭ Twilight blinked. Sunset's jaw had dropped open in disbelief, and Trixie just gave a confused tilt of her head. "Trixie doesn't get it," she said with a bemused frown. She turned to Twilight and tapped the ring on her horn, "did this thing suddenly break?" Ancient Scroll frowned as he levitated the ring off Twilight's horn and inspected it with narrowed eyes. "It is an old device, granted," he muttered before turning to the lavender filly with a contemplative furrowing of his brow, "but I don't think that's the issue..." "What do you think it means, Uncle Scroll?" Sunset asked, "I mean, you can't just not have a lym count. Every unicorn has a lym count from the day they're born." "I don't know," Twilight said, looking from Sunset to Ancient Scroll with increasing worry, "maybe... maybe the ring is broken?" Ancient Scroll stared at Twilight with an unreadable expression long enough for the filly to shift uncomfortably. After a moment he sighed, rubbed his temples, and floated the ring back into the drawer beneath his desk. "I don't really know what this means for sure, little filly," he said tiredly, "but it seems I might have some more research to do." He turned back to Twilight with an unsure expression. It looked to the lavender filly like he was trying to decide on something. "Is there something else, Uncle Scroll," she asked hesitantly. "Well..." he hummed to himself before shaking his head, "ah, to Tartarus with it," he muttered before looking at Twilight, "if I can't find anything in my collection, then I suppose we can take a trip to Canterlot for some new books." Twilight and Sunset's eyes widened in shock and they gave each other quick glances full of equal parts excitement and apprehension. Trixie didn't fail to notice the looks and furrowed her brow as she looked between the two. "What?" she asked the other two, "is Trixie missing something? Why is it a big-" "We'll tell you after we're done here, Trixie," Sunset promised. She turned to Ancient Scroll, "are we done, Uncle Scroll?" "Hmm?" Ancient Scroll, who had been staring at his desk with a contemplative frown, looked up at Sunset's question. "Oh, yes," he said distractedly. His horn lit up and he absently began pulling some books from different shelves, "you three are free to go for now. Don't forget to keep me updated on your studies." With that he waved them out the door and they took that as their cue to leave. "Will you two please tell Trixie what is going on here?" the blue filly asked impatiently as she witnessed the two give each other more nervous looks. The three of them trotted out of the room and Twilight motioned for them to head towards the bedroom. "Don't worry, Trixie," Twilight said giving Trixie a solemn look over her shoulder, "I meant to tell you about this anyway, but I don't want Uncle Scroll to know the real reason I wanted to go to Canterlot - at least not yet."