//------------------------------// // Magical Problems // Story: The Struggles of Running a Book Store // by arcanica_scripta //------------------------------// When Arcanica woke up that morning, she was expecting to have a relaxing morning, especially now that the drama from her big reveal had finally blown over. Get a cup of coffee, read her paper and enjoy her morning. Of course, now that her identity was no longer a giant secret, she also had started getting fan mail directly to her store. Apparently, her suppliers had seen the article of her interview and figured out who she was, so they started spreading the word and sure enough, the occasional fan showed up and the mail poured in. It was as she flipped through her fanmail behind her trusty counter that she heard a loud commotion outside. Setting aside a letter from somepony asking if there was a theme of class struggles in her books, she went to investigate the noise that had disturbed her quiet morning. After a quick walk to Town Hall, she found the cause to be some showpony in a cape and wizard hat of all things doing parlor tricks on the stage. Does she seriously think this is impressive? Sure, her own magical skills were nothing compared to somepony like Twilight, Arcanica at least knew that most of what the mare, who apparently called herself “The Great and Powerful Trixie”, was showing off were actually reasonably simple spells. Not the basic stuff they teach young unicorns, but certainly nothing on par with the schools in Canterlot. Making her way through the crowd, Arcanica was able to track down her friends (still an extremely foreign idea to her; she had actual friends!) and joined them as Trixie continued on with her bragging and showboating. “Does she really think this is that impressive?” The showpony set off several fireworks at another one of her declarations rather than use her magic to recreate the same effects. “Not to sound arrogant, but I’ve made better illusions for foals on Nightmare Night.” “You’re telling me,” whined Rarity as she rolled her eyes. The others all threw their two bits in, with the genuine agreement being that there was nothing worse than somepony who bragged and showed off how much better they were. “There’s nothing wrong with being talented, right?” Arcanica threw a look at Twilight. Something in the way she asked that didn’t sit right with her. “Nothin’ at all.” Applejack sent a reassuring smile to the Unicorn before turning an unamused look at the Unicorn on the stage. “Unless of course, you’re showing off like a schoolfilly with fancy new ribbons.” On the stage, Trixie made a bouquet of flowers appear as she waved her hooves in front of her. Because that wasn’t hard for most unicorns. Rarity scoffed at the act and threw her mane back. “Just because one has the ability to perform lots of magic, does not make one better than the rest of us!” Twilight seemed to shrink at that statement, while Arcanica nodded. “She’s right. Everypony has something they can do well compared to everypony else.” She narrowed her eyes at another overhyped parlor trick. “But if you go around acting like that and showing off for the sake of showing off, you’re certainly not better than anypony else.” Rainbow Dash let out a laugh. “Especially since we’ve already got me being better than the rest of us!” Applejack leveled an unamused glare at the cyan Pegasus. “I mean… YEAH! Magic Shmagic!” She loudly started boo-ing at Trixie, all while trying to ignore Applejack glaring at her. The showpony scoffed as she stopped doing tricks. “Well, well, well. It would seem we have some neigh-sayers in the audience!” The crowd inched back, be it deliberately or subconsciously, leaving the seven of them and Spike standing on their own. “Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Arcanica rolled her eyes at the posing being done in front of her. “Do they not know that they are in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria?!” Rarity softly blew a raspberry. “Just who does she think she is?” “Yeah!” Spike pushed his way past the mares to make himself known. “Especially since we all know that Twil-” The Unicorn mare quickly cut him off before dragging him off. As the two talked, Trixie set off more fireworks and spinners, creating even more fanfare as she posed dramatically, much to everypony’s disgust. Sick of her antics, Rainbow Dash flew up into the cerulean mare’s face. “SO, Great and Powerful Trixie,” she said, practically spitting the words with sarcasm, “what makes you think you’re so much better than us, anyways?” Trixie scoffed at the question. “Why, only the Great, and Powerful Trixie has the magical power… to VANQUISH… the dreaded… URSA MAJOR!” She yelled this as dramatically as possible, the horns on her stage firing fireworks into the sky to form a bear made of magical energy, much to the crowd’s amazement. “When all hope was lost, and the ponies of Hoofington had nopony else to turn to, the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in, and with her awesome magic, vanquished the Ursa Major, sending it back to its cave, deep within… the EVERFREE FOREST!” As she narrated her story, the lights showed a version of her waving a wand before defeating the creature. “That’s a load of crap,” muttered Arcanica. Fluttershy looked at her sharply, though she was pretty sure it was for the language. “There’s no way a pony can defeat one of those, they’re a class five monster. Only the elite squadrons of the guards could chase one off.” As she explained that to the cream-colored Pegasus, Snips and Snails were arguing with Spike over her claims. Honestly, she was half tempted to just walk back to her shop. She had mail to finish sorting, and a book to keep writing. But when the mare bragged that she was the strongest in Ponyville and dared them to prove her wrong, she decided that could wait if it meant dealing with a spoiled brat. Applejack decided to take the first go, deciding to show off her skills with a lasso as she used some of her better rodeo tricks to leap through her spinning lasso before finishing it off with snagging an apple for herself to quickly snack on. The crowd started cheering, happy to see the skills one of their own happened to possess. The mood quickly changed when Trixie made the rope dance like a snake before hog-tying the farm pony and shoving an apple in her mouth. Rainbow took the second swing at her, deciding to try showing off her own skill and bravado. What better way to beat a braggart than with somepony who actively seeks to back up her claims? While she barely knew Rainbow Dash, the number of times the Pegasus tried doing stunts all over Ponyville was enough for her to know the mare actually had skill. Racing off at her usual high speeds, she returned several seconds later with enough water trailing behind her to slam into her still flared-out wings. The ensuing mist created a distinct rainbow over her head; which Trixie then turned into a tornado to spin the Pegasus fast enough to leave her dizzy and nauseous on the ground. “Ok, that does it!” Arcanica climbed on the stage, annoyed at the way this mare humiliated her friends. “Being able to turn my friends’ tricks on them like that is one thing, little Miss Boastful, but a simple manipulation is nothing impressive.” She heard everypony in the audience murmur at her declaration as she quickly ran through the prepwork for her favorite illusion spell. “True magic and talent comes from the depths of the mind, something not possible by just anypony.” Flaring her magical aura, she created an almost life-like image of one of the first creatures she created in her book: the Idrik’Kilan. Compared to the Gods she often wrote about in her works, it was reasonably tame. With large lion paws attached to the body of an indeterminate reptile, the wings of a large bat, a funtioning claw for a tail and a flower-like head, it was certainly a sight to see. Standing beside her, the illusory beast opened its petal-like mouth to let out a piercing roar of defiance, daring Trixie to best its creator. “You may have your little fireworks, Loud and Boastful Trixie, but true feats of magic replicate life!” The audience was in awe of her little display, only a few of them knowing about her interest in illusions from when she volunteered on Nightmare Night. Hopefully, nopony would notice the small beads of sweat on her brow from maintaining this particular illusion. “Can you compare to this?” She scoffed at the challenge. “Trixie does not need lessons on illusions from a nopony like yourself!” She grinned maliciously at the defiant crimson Unicorn. “But perhaps Trixie can teach you a lesson of your foolishness!” With a quick zap of her horn, the Idrik’Kilan jumped in front of Arcanica before roaring loudly in her face. Abruptly, the roar was cut off as it swelled up like a balloon. As it did so, it quickly glowed bright white before bursting like a firework with colorful sparkles filling the air and amazing the crowd. Arcanica didn’t see any of that, however, as the flash of her illusion bursting like that temporarily blinded and dazed her, causing her to stumble around like an idiot before falling face-first from the stage. As she fell, everypony in the crowd chuckled, not realizing how seriously she was stunned. “Arcanica!” As her eyes began to force themselves to see straight once more, she could just barely make out a large yellow and pink blob in front of her face. “Are you alright?” Hearing the voice, she was quick to realize it was Fluttershy who was standing in front of her. She hesitantly nodded. “I think so, just as soon as my eyes decide to start seeing in more than one color.” She could hear Rarity declaring how a Unicorn needed to possess style and elegance. Unfortunately, or fortunately considering what apparently happened next, she was unable to see any part of the following conflict. From what she could hear, however, it must have been terrible for Rarity. “Come on, Arcanica.” She saw the yellow blur that was Fluttershy vanish from her sight only to feel something gently helping her up. “I’ll help you back to your home. Um… That is… if you don’t mind…” “That sounds wonderful, Fluttershy.” She turned to the slightly clearer blob with a grateful smile. “It’s above my store, so if you can just get me there that would be lovely.” She saw the mass of color bob gently before cautiously leading her through Ponyville. The walk was very peaceful, both because Fluttershy was naturally quiet and because Arcanica wasn’t sure what to even talk about with her. Ultimately, she decided to break the silence. “So… um… what kind of animal was that back there? You know… that you made with your illusions… I… um… haven’t seen something like that before…” She chuckled. “It’s something from early on in my writing career. It’s called an Idrik’Kilan, and it was one of the creatures used by this cult in my works to hunt ponies down.” She still remembered having to explain that one to her editor back when they first started working together. “Oh. It looked… interesting…” Any further discussion ended as they arrived at Untold Tales. “Well, we’re here.” Nodding, Arcanica unlocked the door with a quick spell, grateful her eyes were recovered enough to get around her own abode. “Thanks a bunch, Fluttershy,” she said as the yellow mare followed her inside to make sure she was alright. “Would you like some tea before you go?” “Oh no, I couldn’t. I wouldn’t want to be a bother.” She hid behind her mane as she gave her reply. “It’s fine,” she assured the Pegasus. “I could use some after the mayhem that obnoxious blowhard caused, and I want to show you how much I appreciat your help.” She quickly gathered up her mail before moving towards the back of the store. “Well, when you put it that way… I suppose it wouldn’t be that bad to have some tea.” She cautiously followed the author to the back room, and immediately understood why she went there when she saw the staircase leading up to the second floor. Once up there, she began taking in the apartment around her. “Wow, Arcanica. I really like your apartment,” she said happily. “It’s nice and homey in here.” The mentioned Unicorn turned her head to her with a smile as she placed her stack of mail on her table. “Thanks, Fluttershy. It may not seem like a lot, but it’s my home.” Lighting the stove to warm up her tea kettle, she grabbed a couple mugs from a cabinet. “You can go wait in the sitting room. I’ll be in with the tea shortly.” “Ok, if you say so.” Taking the hint and noticing the direction Arcanica pointed her, Fluttershy went through the door frame, leaving her host to her own devices. As she waited on the tea, Arcanica decided to make a couple daisy sandwiches for the two of them to enjoy with their tea. That in itself wasn’t a difficult task, so she also added the tea bags, a lovely black tea she ordered from Trottingham, to their cups. When the kettle finally started whistling, she quickly added the water to the cups while setting up a tray with sugar and the sandwiches. Once the cups were on the tray, she levitated it and started walking towards the sitting room. CRASH! The tray slammed to the ground, the plates and cups breaking from the impact. “AGH!” She slammed a hoof to her head as she suddenly felt like a spike was going through her brain. WHY NOW?! “Arcanica? Are you okay?” She heard gentle hoofsteps followed by a gasp as she stayed crouched, holding her head in pain. “What happened?” Fluttershy carefully flew over to her, placing a gentle hoof on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her. “Did you hurt your head?” HeaR… SeE… REmeMBeR… “The cabinet…” she growled out. “There are some pain killers in there…” She grunted as the pain pulsed again. “Next to the fridge…” She heard a couple cabinets opening and the sink running. “Here, I got you some water too.” Opening her eyes, she saw the still flying mare offering her a couple of pills and a tall glass of water. Not even bothering with her magic, she used her hooves to grab the pills before downing them. She then practically chugged the water before handing it back to the concerned mare. “Thanks.” Her headache was still pulsing in agony, but she still forced herself to stand up despite her body’s protests. “Let me just… clean this up.” “Absolutely not!” she said firmly. “You’re getting into bed, right now!” Arcanica looked at her with what was meant to be a look of amusement but stopped when she saw the mixture of concern and disappointment on her face. “Arcanica, you almost collapsed. You shouldn’t be cleaning when that happens.” She opened her mouth to argue the point, but Fluttershy held up a hoof to stop her. “It’s either that, or I call the doctor. I don’t want my friends getting hurt. Please, just go to bed and let me clean this mess for you.” The Unicorn writer wanted to at least try arguing against her friend, but could tell by the look in her eyes that she would regret doing so. Instead, she sighed heavily before nodding. “Fine, I’ll go lay down.” Starting towards the door way to her room, she stopped and looked at Fluttershy. “Also, thanks… for caring so much.” She got a gentle nod before continuing to her room as Fluttershy began cleaning up the mess. A dull, orange sun hung high above her, unmoving. She wasn’t sure what was happening, but the place she found herself in was most certainly not Ponyville. What gave her an uneasy feeling wasn’t so much the strange sun, or the empty streets around her. Rather, it was the dark grey buildings around her. Each of them was monolithic in nature and reached to the sky in warped, tapering points. The shadows being cast ahead of her formed a web of twisted, mangled shadows. “Hello?” Her voice echoed through the empty streets, not even the wind replying to her call. “Is anypony there? Where am I?” Still nothing replied to her call. She felt a compulsion to move through the abandoned streets. Hesitantly, she began a slow, cautious trot down the empty streets, wishing all the while that she would and wouldn’t find anypony. “Hello?” sEe… She put a hoof to her head at the quick flare of pain. What the hell was that? As the pain faded, she heard the sound of soft hoofsteps up ahead of her. Lowering her fetlock to look ahead, she saw an intersection in the strange streets. “Hello?” She started to pick up her pace towards the intersection. “Is somepony there?” The hoofsteps got closer, but when she turned the corner, she stopped in shock. A large shadow of a maneless Earth Pony was cast on the buildings, somehow standing out perfectly against the dark stone of the buildings. What made her stop was the fact that there wasn’t a pony tethered to the shadow, yet it moved as if there were still somepony connected to it. SEe… The world around her shook as a loud roar filled the air. The sun above her began to glow as the world began to shake violently and crumble. ReMEmbEr! Arcanica bolted upright in her bed screaming. The voice from her dream still ringing in her ears. Remember? Remember what? The roaring came through again, quickly revealing it wasn’t something from her dreams. “What in the name of Celestia is that sound?!” Jumping out of bed, she pulled her curtains aside, revealing that not only was it the middle of the night, but there was a large bear made of stars and blue energy rampaging through Ponyville. “Is that an Ursa Major?!” As she stared at the rampaging beast, and the interestingly fleeing Trixie, she watched Twilight appear with her horn blazing as she stood in defiance of the bear. Seeing her about to do something potentially suicidal, Arcanica turned from her window and began a quick run downstairs, intent on at least trying to talk her friend to safety. By the time she opened her door, however, Twilight was floating the creature back into the Everfree Forest. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief and joined everypony in congratulating Twilight for saving Ponyville. That being said, finding out they had actually been attacked by an Ursa Minor did not help her state of mind. What did help her state of mind was watching the “Great and Powerful” Trixie running off like a coward after setting off a smoke bomb. Of course, she quickly became confused when the punishment Twilight assigned to the colts responsible for bringing the Ursa to town was moustaches, but to each their own, she supposed. Arcanica sighed as she swept the floor of her shop. For the last couple weeks, it had seemed like the world was trying to keep everypony from coming to her shop. It was just one disaster after another with this town. Last week a dragon had apparently decided to make its home in a nearby mountain, so Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony had gone off to get it to go away. While she had been grateful for not having to tag along to go climb said mountain, the dragon’s smoke cloud had been enough to keep everypony inside all day in fear. Then of course, there was today’s fiasco. Somehow, Cloudsdale had been backed up when it came to their rainstorm quota for the last couple weeks (something that continued to amaze her could even happen), so they had to send out a number of heavy storms. Ponyville was up next, and the storm had been raging for almost an hour now. Naturally, nopony wanted to be out in a storm like this one. “I suppose I might as well close up,” she muttered in mild annoyance. “Not going to get any customers with a storm like this one.” She flipped the sign in the window before stowing her broom in its resting place. Not that I need this shop considering how successful my writing career is. Quickly putting out the lanterns that lined her store, she began to make her way to her often used staircase. A flash of lightning lit up the store, briefly showing her the way. As a mighty crash of thunder rang out, the door was kicked open, scaring her as she quickly turned around, her horn glowing. “Who’s there?!” Standing in the doorway was a tall, broad figure. Their form, barely visible in the gloom from the storm, had no sign of a mane and flowed almost sinuously from the front, if it weren’t for a strange rectangular shape that broke up the silhouette. “Arcanica Hoofcraft?” came a deep stallion’s voice. “I’ve been looking for you.” “Who are you?” she demanded, trying her hardest to not let her fear work its way into her voice while keeping herself from shaking. “What do you want?!” “My name isn’t important,” he told her. “But as for what I want? Well, let’s just say I have something for you.”