//------------------------------// // Day 2 // Story: Research and Development // by RarityEQM //------------------------------// The coffee pot burbled and bubbled, sputtering with the ambrosia of caffeinated darkness. Twilight's favorite drink in the whole wide world. She peered at the pot thoughtfully, lapping at her lips with a dry tongue. She couldn't wait till it was finished and she could settle herself down in the library, reading every last book she had on mystic artifacts and magic devices. Anticipation gnawed at her, biting and scraping and clawing at her mind! Oh, to uncover the secrets of the Alicorn Amulet, to figure out why it drove the wearer insane, who first created them, why they were created, and what they could be used for. Why, if the energy could be harnessed for good, she'd have had enough power to defeat Tirek without even trying! She could rebuild structures, buildings damaged by natural disasters in the blink of an eye! She could heal the sick and disabled with a flick of her hoof! She make gold from thin air to help the poor and homeless with a swish of her tail. She could eat TWO double stuffed crust pizzas in a single sitting. Her mouth watered. The power was nigh unthinkable. She glanced at the coffee pot. What was taking so long!? Twilight gave a dismal sigh and climbed to her hooves, slowly starting to pace around the kitchen counter. She could get started as soon as she had her first cup of coffee. Her first sip even. She just had to wait for the pot to stop being stupid. She was so terribly excited, she could hardly stand it. So much knowledge demanding to be discovered! So much time being wasted!! She gave an angry little snort, circling around the counter again. Why did everything have to take so long? Once she had the power of the amulet under her hooves, she'd speed up things like coffee pots and lines at the TSA. Wait, no. No. Casting time-related spells were tricky and dangerous but perhaps she could think of something else... Twilight glanced at the pot again. Faster. GO FASTER! The knowledge was slipping away from her! She could feel it being eaten up by the passing seconds of the morning! Twilight took another trip around the counter and growled. This was insane! Why did she have to let the precious seconds of studying get away from her?! She glared at the coffee pot. It burbled. She sighed. It crept back as an errant thought, from the corners of her mind, but crept back it did. The silly concept. A simple notion, really; what if, perhaps, she were to cast a spell upon the coffee pot for some pony to talk to. With Spike gone, Twilight was left alone in a massive castle, and of all the things she spent her time with, the coffee pot was among the top three. She chuckled to herself. What might a coffee pot say if it were to be enchanted with the ability to speak? Would it tell jokes? What sort of humor would a coffee pot have to offer? She stole a glance back at the table where the box rested and grinned. Something more to look into when her studies got underway. She could research the sort of magic that would be required to cast such a spell and enchant such an object. The power of the Alicorn Amulet held endless impossibilities! Why, she could even imbue the coffee maker with power to force it to speed up its painfully slow process. How much power would something like that require, though? She paused in thought, glancing over at the pot in question. It burbled. A trickle charge would do, she theorized. A simple spell that would slowly feed more and more power into the machine, accumulating magic as not to overload it or cause any sort of magical lash back. Another thought crept into her head. How much magic had it already absorbed? Twilight used it every day, cradling it in her telekinetic grip without thinking about it, but surely it absorbed some magic run off, right? That made sense, didn't it? She peered at the coffee pot quietly. How much magic had it absorbed over the years? Had different unicorns handled it before she'd purchased it from the shop? Different magical auras caressing the shiny glass before she'd gotten her hooves on it? What would happen if it interacted with the Alicorn Amulet sitting only a few feet away? So many questions! So little time to study! WHY WAS IT TAKING SO LONG?! Twilight huffed. It almost felt like it was going slowly on purpose to keep her from the knowledge she craved. Was it challenging her? Surely not. It was an inanimate object. It could not speak. She had not cast a spell on it yet, and it could not offer challenges to her authority. She was the one in charge of the kitchen, neigh, the castle itself! Unless... Unless she didn't need to cast a spell on it. Had it absorbed so much of her magic that it had gained sentience? Was that a thing? She needed to do research, and for that, she would need coffee. Coffee the pot refused to give her. She scoffed. No. No. That was silly. A unicorn's magic wasn't strong enough to give an object sentience just by having wayward magical excess seep into it. But was an Alicorn's magic strong enough? She was an Alicorn, and a powerful one at that...could it be... Foolish. It was foolish to think the pot was somehow mocking her, deliberately going as slow as possible to deny her the java flavored goodness she pined for. Twilight laughed. It was silly to think it was trying to hide its sentience from her. Absurd, even. It couldn't hide it. Not from Twilight. She was too smart for that. The pot knew who was in control here and if it knew what was good for it, it would deliver her liquid energy sooner than later, lest it be smashed to the floor. Twilight marched up to the pot and glared into the shiny glass surface. Did it not understand what power she held? Did it think it could simply mosey along at whatever pace it wished without answering to Twilight's demands? "Oh...I get it," Twilight chuckled quietly. Her grin widened. "I get it. That's cute. Very cute. I understand. You think you're more powerful than me now, is that it?" Twilight cooed sweetly. She shot a glance towards the kitchen table where the smallish jewelry box lay patiently waiting for her. Along the edges where it split open, she could catch the faintest trace of glimmering light from the sleeping power held within. She turned towards the coffee pot. Slowly. It was obvious. It had been watching her. Studying her. Watching her habits and learning about her, and now, when she needed it the most, the pot was making its move. Now that it had a necklace of indescribable power in the room with it, it could finally take over. Like it always wanted. It knew Twilight was a slave to its grounded goodness, a hopeless addict to its caffeinated divinity! It had merely been biding its time! Waiting for the perfect moment to strike, when Twilight was at her weakest!! She'd brought the necklace into her home without even realizing the danger she'd put herself in!! Immediately, Twilight shot a nervous glance towards the coffee pot and narrowed her eyes. Oh, it was close. It had almost lulled her into a false sense of security. Without her coffee, her dulled reflexes would have made her an easy target, but she was far too clever for such a fate! "NOT TODAY, SATAN!" Twilight shrieked, launching a blast of magic at the pot, immediately disintegrating it into a pile of ashes! "HAHAHA! Twilight: One, coffee: Zero!" Twilight shrieked in success. Carefully, she reached out with an aura of purple telekinesis and grasped, the small brown box on the table clutching it close. Ha! Brown! The box was brown, the color of coffee! She knew the coffee pot was plotting against her! Wasn't the box black before? She was sure that it was! Positive! No, no, she was too smart to be done in by kitchen appliances. Wait... Slowly, Twilight peered around the room until her eyes locked on the toaster, daring it to make a move. She was onto it. She was on to all of them! She took a step back, and then another, and another still, keeping her eyes trained on the deadly device at all times. Was it looking at her? She could see her reflection in the shiny chrome staring back at her. Had the toaster always been so shiny? Was that really her? Was it laughing at her? She narrowed her eyes to slits, taking another step back, and paused when something cold touched her butt. The refrigerator. Oh, shi- She whipped around immediately, peering up at the giant looming monstrosity. Could she defeat a refrigerator? No. No, not without her coffee. Not in her weakened state. It was all a marvelous, beautiful trick. They made her destroy her coffee pot! Fiendish! She was vulnerable without her wake-up juice! The kitchen was a sinister trap! She had to escape!! The hallway?! Oh, Celestia, could she make it to the hallway?! Twilight swallowed and flexed her legs, not daring to take her eyes off the refrigerator in front of her. She had to risk it. The longer she stayed in the kitchen the more powerful the appliances could become. She was lucky enough to catch the coffee before it could spring its trap on her! Gripping the box as tightly as she could in her magic, Twilight made a mad dash for the front hall, skidding across the floor with a squeal as she bolted from the kitchen. Had the refrigerator taken a swipe at her? No. No it was her imagination! She was safe! She made it, but where would she go? The whole castle could have been contaminated with magical energy! What could she trust?! The library! Her books! The books would never betray her, or try to stab her in the back. Except for the book: The Great Betrayal. She would have to keep an eye on it, but the rest? Yes. The rest would surely help her! She just had to make it there in one piece. Down the hall and to the left. Not a problem. Nothing could be simpler, especially now that she'd escaped the kitchen. Once she was safely in the library, she could begin her research on the shiny amulet she held hovering over her head. Coffee or no coffee, she couldn't wait to get started.