//------------------------------// // The Braggart // Story: The Mares in the Moon // by Flashgen //------------------------------// My slumber was peaceful, and I awoke well-rested to tackle the day before the sun began to crest the horizon. I took the liberty to make breakfast while Spike was still asleep. I prepared apple slices, oatmeal with cinnamon, slices of toast with a slight daisy dusting for my own, and some apple juice. I took it all out on a tray into the library, leaving Spike’s meal on the center table while I sat down at the desk by the window. Looking outside between bites, I found that the heavy downpour from the night before had ended, but there was still a large swath of storm clouds that tinted the morning sky a bleak grey while blanketing the town in a drizzle. It only doubled my resolve to find out how the weather ended up mismanaged this close to the Solstice. Once my breakfast was finished, however, I still had to wait for Spike to wake and eat as well. I grabbed two tomes of prophecy, both accredited to Moon Willow. My original look into prophecy was focused more on those of the past that saw the coming of The Princess like Clover the Cryptic, or that lived through the early centuries of what should have been Her eternal rule. Perhaps, I assumed, it was my mistake to think such a prophecy about usurpers rising against Her had to come from ages past for me to not have heard about it, that it should be buried in antiquity to avoid Her gaze. Moon Willow was only two generations removed from me. His style was more poetic than other prophets I had studied back when I thought I may have been able to grasp the gift. Meter and rhyme and florid descriptions littered every page, every prophecy, even those he told with certainty and specificity; he even took the time to include his works unrelated to prophecy. In a way, it made them much more cryptic than the predictions that gave Clover her namesake; in certainty, it made them much more taxing to read and comprehend. I only made it halfway through the first book by the time Spike was ready. Donning my boots, hat, and coat with my insignia attached, I made my way with Spike out into town. The mud and mire had once more taken hold of the streets of Ponyville, the drizzle of dawn still yet to stop. It was easy to ascertain the cause was the clouds yet to be fully cleared, blocking the early sun from doing what little it could to dry the muddy roads. Making our way through what I assumed before was a marketplace, and now had various ponies setting up stalls for the Solstice, I asked if anypony could direct me to Rainbow Dash. While the mayor’s letter had mentioned her home being north of the town, it being in the clouds would be difficult to locate given the weather, and that was ignoring that I lacked the ability to reach such heights easily. The only advice I could get was to look for some rainbow-colored blur in the skies, or to shout her name and hope she wasn’t napping. As if my expectations couldn’t have gotten lower for the mare. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to find her after leaving the marketplace and heading towards the north side of town. Unfortunately, it came via a sudden collision instead of any other sort of meeting. Spike was trailing behind, checking over a list for me and struggling to do so while keeping the umbrella over his head; it was the only reason he didn’t end up covered in mud. I turned to try and ask him for clarification on something, and then saw the rainbow blur the townsponies had mentioned mere moments before it collided with me. I was sent tumbling head over hooves several times, rolling through thick patches of mud until friction brought me to a halt. My hat was tossed aside in the commotion, leaving much of my mane and tail coated with muck, and my coat (thankfully just my clothing) utterly ruined in the process. I heard a groan and then realized the weight of another pony was bearing down on me. I cleared my throat, nudging a hoof upwards and managing to hit them. “If you wouldn’t mind?” I spat out, luckily without getting mud on my lips. There was the sound of splashing mud as the weight shifted about on top of me, back and forth, and then a low chuckle that was barely stifled. “Sorry, sorry, you should just see the mess you’re in,” she said, before flapping her wings and lifting off of me. I felt a few more flecks of mud rain down on me, so I shielded my face with a hoof until I could finally look up at her. The first things that stuck out were the shades of her mane and tail that I could see under patches of brown, a variety of colors almost as varied as a rainbow. Her coat was a shade of blue, I assumed brighter than it looked in the light of a dreary overcast. While she hovered, flapping her wings and smiling, yet more mud rained down, which Spike tried to avoid. “I was taking that last turn a little too fast and kinda spun out. You’re alright though, right? I mean, I didn’t break anything, so...” Descending, she held out a hoof for me to lift myself up. As soon as I was on my hooves again, I did what I could with my magic to remove the mud from my mane and tail, though I could only wipe off so much of it. “Other than the mess, no worse for wear. I assume you’re Rainbow Dash?” What little concern I saw on her face was gone in an instant, replaced by a confident smirk. She rubbed some of the mud on her barrel away with a hoof before landing and striking what I assumed was a pose. “The one and only. You’ve heard of me?” Focused on wiping the mud off of my coat, I heard Spike rush over to my side, offering me the shade under his umbrella. “In a way,” I muttered, finally getting the last bit of filth off that hadn’t stained the fabric. “My name is Twi—” That was all I could get out before I heard her gasp. When I looked at Rainbow Dash, I saw her staring at the now visible insignia I wore. She quickly shook her head and snapped into a military salute, gaze upward and above me. “Apologies, ma’am.” Her tone shifted, sounding more gruff and serious. “If I’d known you were out and about, I would have found you sooner.” It was only after a few moments that I noticed her still holding the salute. I gave Spike a nervous look, but he only offered a shrug in reply. “At ease?” I offered. Thankfully she relaxed. “As I was saying, my name is Twilight Sparkle and I’m here on Her Majesty’s service. I was actually looking for you.” “You were?” She tilted her head only slightly before straightening up again. “I mean, of course you were, ma’am.” Wings fidgeting at her sides, she looked up and down the muddy road we were standing on. “About uhhh…” she trailed off before finally looking up at the clouded sky. “The weather! Right, the weather. Still working on that.” Sticking her wings out proudly and holding her head high, I started to notice how little mind she paid to the rain. I offered a bemused look. “It doesn’t seem to be going that well. It’s rained the past two nights I’ve been here, and if it doesn’t let up soon I doubt this mud will dry before the Solstice.” The pride and confidence in her drained only slightly, visible in the drooping of her ears and wings, a quick swish of the tail. “You think I can’t handle it.” Her eyes narrowed to a glare, but softened when she looked at my insignia once more. “Uhh, ma’am?” There was the ticket; pride was an easy thing to stoke in others. “If you aren’t able to, I can procure some help. I’ll admit I’m not well-versed in how pegasi manage the weather, but a few extra pairs of wings and hooves wouldn’t hurt.” A hoof came up to her chest, wings flaring out just a bit farther. “Oh, I can handle it. I’m the fastest pegasus in Ponyville, maybe even Equestria.” I looked back up to the sky, leaning out from under the umbrella to do so. “With six days left?” “Exactly, it’s plenty of time.” She took off into the air, far quicker than I could follow. High above, I heard a few soft pops, like hooves kicking against a pillow. The drizzle on the umbrella died down and a sliver of sunlight cut through a gap in the clouds. However, I ended up in the shade of a smaller, pure white cloud descending from the gap. “See?” I heard Rainbow Dash say before she poked her head out from atop her perch. “I’ll get the rest of it cleared up in no time, ma’am.” She offered a more half-hearted salute before turning around, and I was left unimpressed. “Then I’d have to wonder why I ended up soaked and trekking through mud when I arrived here before dawn yesterday. If you can clear that patch so quickly, why not the rest?” I did my best to choose my words carefully. It was obvious the pegasus had talent, but she wasn’t exactly applying it. “Seems rather slow to be the fastest pegasus in Equestria. The Wonderbolts wouldn’t be impressed.” I immediately saw her ears perk up and it was a second later that she was hovering a few inches in front of me. It took every nerve I had not to stumble back and fall into the patch of mud yet again. “You know the Wonderbolts?!” Blinking, she caught herself once more, flying backwards until there was a few feet between us. “Sorry, I just… The Wonderbolts have been my dream ever since I started flying.” Just like they are for most pegasi with a penchant for flight and a desire to prove themselves, I thought. “I do, in general. And in specific I’ve met with a few on certain occasions. Obviously they don’t have the opportunity to find themselves somewhere like here very often… It would be hard to get noticed, I know.” The Wonderbolts were often deployed or otherwise doing recruitment drives in cities around Equestria. The chances of them showing up in a small town like Ponyville was slim to none. Getting into them was another story entirely, of course. Only the elite of the elite pegasi in Her Majesty’s military were given the rank of Wonderbolt. Harder still, it took the right combination of recommendation, commendation, and nepotism; knowing the right ponies was about half of it. It was the perfect bit of bait, really. “Being able to verify some exceptional flying on your part wouldn’t hurt your future… prospects.” Still hovering, she gave a stiff salute, “Just watch, Twilight Sparkle.” This time, prepared, I could follow her more closely. She took off like a rocket, leaving a faint trail of her tail colors behind her. Diving, weaving, spinning, and kicking, she tore through patches of clouds, turning thick swathes of greys into puffs and then into open air. Blue sky and sunlight slowly won out over every inch of stratiform. It took an hour or so before the majority of town, as far as I could see, was completely cloudless, save for the small white fluff she’d left as a perch just above us. It was to that Rainbow Dash returned, head high and I was certain slightly larger. “See? Not a problem at all for a pony like Rainbow Dash! Hold your applause..." Truthfully, I couldn’t help but clap my hooves, though not as enthusiastically as her ego wanted. “Quite impressive, though you’ll need to keep clearing the sky until the Solstice itself.” Kicking off from and dissipating the cloud, Rainbow Dash did a loop in the air and landed in front of me. Striking another salute, her tone was serious once more. “Yes, ma’am.” Breaking the salute, her expression soured. “Though, uhh...” She looked down at the ground and rubbed one leg with her forehoof, her tail swishing back and forth. “I’m sorry. That it got like this, I mean.” “It’s fine, really. What matters is that preparations are finished by—” Rainbow Dash stamped a hoof down, thankfully into a dry patch of dirt. “No! No it isn’t, I…” She took a deep breath, eyes closing as she let it out. “Mayor Mare chose me for this and I’m the one who accepted, but… The weather here has always been a little hard to control, a little wild. I know I should have started sooner.” My curiosity was piqued. “Is it?” I asked while nudging Spike with one of my hind hooves. I could hear some scribbling afterwards. “The weather, I mean, is it difficult to control?” “Yeah. AJ deals with it a lot down at Sweet Apple Acres, but it hits the town pretty hard too. It’s not always ‘always,’ but… there’s patches from the Everlorn that creep in, mix with the weather and,” she gestured to the muddy road. “There’s a few ponies on the weather team, but I’m kinda the pony in charge.” Despite her sour expression, I could hear the pride in her voice at that fact. “I see. As I said, regardless of what the mayor may have decided, I’m here to ensure that the Summer Solstice Celebration is up to… appropriate standards. If you need help, I’ll make sure you have it.” Ponypower was easier to acquire, sometimes, than money or supplies. Devotion to The Princess had that effect. “Right. I… I’ll take care of it, promise. I’m not gonna walk back on giving my word, to the mayor or to you.” Once more, slowly and with purpose, her eyes wandered to my insignia. “Or to The Princess. I’m not gonna let Ponyville or anyone else down.” I offered her a smile and nod. “Very well. If you’re not aware, I’m staying at Golden Oaks Library. If I’m not there, leaving a note at the door will suffice.” I looked to Spike, who’d already checked off my concerns on the weather and was rolling up his scroll. “Maybe we’ll be able to handle some other matters today, Spike. What was the ne—” “Wait!” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “About… the Wonderbolts.” “Of course, I’ll make sure—” “No, I mean,” she sighed, hoof scraping the ground. “Look, I get what you were doing and I know it worked. I just, I don’t need a recommendation or whatever.” Seeing my confused look, she puffed out her chest and flapped her wings. The pose was confident, if a little excessive. “I said I’m the fastest pegasus in Ponyville, and I will be the fastest one in Equestria. If that’s not enough for them, I’ll just get better.” Foolish, though I didn’t say as such. “Very well. If you change your mind, we’ll see how the skies are by the Solstice.” “Right. Catch you later, Twilight Sparkle, ma’am. And uhh… dragon, Spike?” She turned to fly away, but stopped once more. “Oh… you know The Princess, right? I mean, everypony knows The Princess, but—” “I am her protégé, yes, and the current Royal Scholar.” Rainbow Dash whistled. “Nice… Ummm, don’t bring up the whole crashing into you thing, if you can. No hard feelings on that?” She offered a sheepish smile. I rolled my eyes. “None at all, Rainbow Dash.” “Cool, cool.” There was no second goodbye as she took off into the air, flying north I noted. I let out a sigh of relief and looked at Spike. “Well, that was certainly a different run-in than I expected.” “More like a crash-in,” he said before chuckling. I swatted my tail lightly in his direction, though it only seemed to heighten his giggling. “Well, we should go back to the library, I suppose. A change of clothes is probably a good idea, and a bath if possible. Tracking mud around and looking less than presentable while doing it, is a bad idea.” The trip back to the Library was uneventful, though the arrival was less so. I found the door unlocked, and with Spike distracted behind me I held up a hoof to stop him. Cautiously, I considered the possibilities. It was the town library, yes, but having locked the door before leaving and that it had been assigned my personal residence during my stay left me considering a break-in. There were any number of valuable books I had brought with me, as well as my own personal effects. It was likely that the mayor had informed some number of ponies around town I was staying there, and there were those like Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and now Rainbow Dash who knew for certain. Then again, it could have been a simple misunderstanding. While the mayor’s letter made it seem the library was not often used, it could be that any number of ponies in town, or even ones visiting, had come there seeking something to read. It wouldn’t be hard even for a visitor to find someone in town that had a key besides me. With all of that in mind, I opened the door, horn at the ready. Rather than a complete stranger, I found Pinkie Pie perusing the shelves, humming a tune as she tugged one book after another out and onto the floor. I’ll admit my immediate reaction was less than calm. “What are you doing?!” I shouted, rushing to pick the books up in my magic and trying to sort them back onto the shelves. She was still focused on the shelves, pulling one book out, looking at the cover, shaking her head, and then tossing it to her side or, even worse, over her shoulder. I caught three more books in my magic before I grabbed a tight hold of her hoof, freezing it in place. Her leg shifted and strained once, twice, then three times before she dared to look at her hoof and the magical aura that surrounded it. Her eyes went wide, her mouth agape, and she began to prod at the magic with her other forehoof. “Shiny, shimmery, sparkly… purple-y?” Finally, she looked over her shoulder at me. “Purpler point!” I let go of her hoof and straightened up; despite my ruined clothing, I wanted to seem somewhat stately. “My name is Twilight Sparkle,” I stressed my name, saying it slowly. “Were you looking for something, a book perhaps?” As soon as her hoof was free of my magic, Pinkie Pie began to move it back and forth. Glancing at it, she frowned, “Aww, Sparkle’s sparkles sparkless.” Closing her eyes, she shook her head quickly back and forth. When she opened her eyes, she looked straight at me. “Sorry, I lost my marble.” Eyes drifting to the books I was still holding in the air, she gasped and nodded. “Yes, yes, I wanted a book! I needed to check my predictions.” I moved the books up and sorted them, doing my best to put them back in their proper place, or close enough. “Your predictions?” I looked over my shoulder at the desk I had been using for my studies; it still had a few books of prophecy sitting on it. “You’re looking for a book on prophecies?” Pinkie Pie nodded more vigorously. “It’s mine though. It’s super duper important.” She turned back to the shelves, thankfully only looking at the spines instead of grabbing and throwing them to the floor again. Confident the book wasn’t on that set of shelves, she bounded over to another. “Past Pinkie left it here for Me Pinkie. Well, Me Pinkie left it for Future Pinkie, but then Me Pinkie became Past Pinkie and Future Pinkie turned out to really be Me Pinkie and—” I rushed to keep up with her, placing a gentle hoof on her back. “I think I understand what you mean, Pinkie Pie.” I looked over to see Spike still standing at the entrance, head cocked to the side. “Spike, could you prepare some food? Just a snack.” I felt a set of hooves pushing down on my back, only to turn my head and see Pinkie Pie trying to crawl over me as she looked at Spike. “Ohhh, make it sweet, spiky Spike. Sweets works for Past Pinkie, Future Pinkie and Me Pinkie! Maybe cupcakes, did Mr. and Mrs. Cake pack cupcakes for the library or was that just for Mayor Mare?” As she asked herself the question, looking deep in thought, she dismounted from my back and sat down. I heard faint muttering under her breath, what sounded like a disconnected series of names and times and dates. Sure enough, Spike came back with a small plate of three cupcakes, along with a pitcher of water. Setting them down on the large table at the center of the room, the cupcakes’ colors caught my attention. There was one with pink cake and cotton candy frosting, another with a light mulberry cake and jagged green frosting, and the last with purple cake and a trio of blue, rose and purple frosting. Pinkie Pie was quick to grab the one that matched her coat and mane, and Spike didn’t think as he picked up his own, nor did he dwell on the fact he had sat down in front of it. I held the cupcake up in my magic, but didn’t dare to take a bite. “You said the book was yours, Pinkie Pie?” The sound of smacking lips and loud chewing was the only reply at first, but it didn’t take long for Pinkie to finish messily eating her cupcake. “Yeah. My predictions. Past Pinkie left i—” “Yes, yes, you said before,” I interjected, placing a hoof over her mouth. “I apologize, but I’ve been doing some study on prophecies myself. There’s a possibility I might have taken it from the shelf already. Do you have the title?” Pinkie Pie tilted her head. “My predictions,” she repeated plainly. After a few moments of silence, her ears twitched, and I swore I saw her tail had as well. “Ohhhh, you did read it!” Standing up, Pinkie bounced over to my desk at the window, grabbing one book from the bottom of a pile in her teeth and wrenching it free. I winced as the other books teetered and shook, before coming to a halt still stacked, if less neatly. As Pinkie Pie came back, I recognized the book. “Oh, Predictions and Prophecies. I suppose ‘my predictions’ makes sense if it’s your copy.” Pinkie Pie nodded and muttered something, but it was muffled by the book still in her mouth. As she had the day before, she giggled and set the book down on the table before repeating herself. “Predictions are protected in places with plenty of print piles to prevent peeping. I keep the important ones at home though.” Abating my awe at her adept alliteration, I wondered for a moment what “important ones” she had. I assumed it was other books on prophecy, though a part of me did wonder about the pages missing in Pinkie’s copy. “Well, I’m glad you could find it. Is there anything else you need?” “Nope!” Pinkie picked up the book in her mouth once more and quickly gave Spike a pat on the head and me a sudden hug. Then she bounded off and out of the library, muttering something with a mouthful of book that, this time, she didn’t repeat clearly. I sighed and paid it little mind. Despite our strange first meeting, I found myself warming up to the mare, even if she was odd. After all, she hadn’t done any harm, yet. I finished off a glass of water and finally took off my coat before heading upstairs to draw a bath. While waiting for the water to warm, I finally took out the foreign books of prophecy from my luggage. I brought two, in fact; I felt a good soak would be relaxing and ensure there wasn’t any mud left in my mane, tail, or Princess forbid my coat. They were interesting reads. The first was by a Yakyakistan seer by the name of Yavonrus the Five-Eyed. I quickly found that yak prophecies were at once less florid and far more… bulky than pony prophecies. One particular passage dealing with the prediction that an elder of one of their outlying tribes would die from an illness went on for eighteen paragraphs about the origins of his illness, every yak and creature that came into contact with him, the specific past failures he dwelled upon on his deathbed, and even the last words he spoke to his eldest daughter. It then pontificated on the impact of his death on his tribe and yaks as a whole. I wondered if it was fully indicative of all yak prophecy. Certainly, the prophecy I sought could not have come from this seer, but if this was the detail they gave… No, I had to consider, as before, the possibility that it was planted by enemies of Her rule. And so I read on, but no prophecy within Yavonrus’s book spoke of The Princess. It did, however, talk of Tsasan the Towerback, and the end He would meet, and yet had already met. His was a life of cycles, Yavonrus said, to roam the frozen north to exhaustion, fall into the deep cracks of the earth, and let His body become a bountiful mountain on which His progeny may flourish. It was a much more accepting outlook on the grim finality of what should be an ageless, eternal creature. Perhaps it was metaphorical? The yaks had kept to themselves, outside of defensive wars and one of aggression on Equestria centuries before. Maybe they, and Tsasan, understood their place within destiny, their part to play. Just like the cycle that had brought Their return a millennium before, maybe all of destiny was cycles. I found myself philosophizing for far too long, but eventually left the book to open another. This one had come from Abyssinia, a collection of works from many of their prophets. A foreword spoke that it had been a peace offering to The Princess, gifted by The Pharaoh of Black Suns on promise of something not privy to mortal ears. Rather than dates, many of the prophecies were accompanied by star maps, laying out the night sky in excruciating detail. It seemed that, rather than peering beyond the veil of time itself, Abyssinian seers looked to the future reflected in the void. As I read, I saw why it was proffered in the name of peace. It spoke of wars, bloodshed, disaster, deception, but always it spoke of Kurraxis. The prophecies were the perceived plans and machinations of Their kin, strikes to be made against either of Them and sometimes both. Halfway through the book, star maps and prophecies gave way to incantations, runes, spellweaves, and alchemy. There were diagrams of vivisected bodies, organs, pressure points, and minitaeu on the capabilities of undisguised swarms. Pages and pages went on about how best to unmask them, which methods kept them from communicating with Kurraxis, how their deceptions worked around that which forced them to tell the truth, how much pain they could tolerate before expiring… I shut the book to keep my morbid curiosity at bay. I wouldn’t find what I wanted there. Satisfied with my research and cleanliness, I left the bath and dried myself off. I took the opportunity to walk upstairs to the balcony. A warm breeze blew down the stairwell, and I was thankful to find the skies still mostly cloudless. Rainbow Dash had kept working, though now that I was higher up I could see the work she had ahead of her still. Off to the south, drifting out from over the Everlorn, I could make out storm clouds. The sky behind them was barren and empty, and yet a dark grey seemed to eek out from them to taint the bright blue. At the edges of that I could see a kaleidoscopic haze; I thought of a clouded prism with its rainbow tainted by muddied insides. And just as the growing cloud inched over the grassy fields outside of the Everlorn, a streak of pure, sweet rainbow struck through the cloud like a spear. It faded into smoke and then to nothing but a memory. I left Rainbow Dash to her work and trotted downstairs. It was just after midday, and I considered a trip out into town to check on one of the other tasks still left on our list. When I came to the library, I saw an envelope sitting on the table. “Spike?” I asked, looking to the side to see the dragon lounging next to the kitchen and reading a book. “What is it, Twilight?” he asked, not looking up. “Did somepony stop by while I was upstairs?” The question was enough for him to put down the book and scratch his chin. “I don’t think so.” While I trotted over to the desk, Spike stood up. “You were up there a while. You didn’t fall asleep did you?” I picked up the envelope and turned it over. There was no name, either who it was addressed to or who it was from, and there wasn’t a wax seal on it. In fact, the envelope hadn’t been sealed at all. I thought back to Pinkie Pie’s departure and couldn’t for the life of me recall her having an envelope. Had it been on the table when I arrived and gone unnoticed? No, I surely would have seen it, or Spike would have. I assumed Pinkie Pie would have drawn attention to it if she noticed it. Did that mean it was from her or that she had at least delivered it? Slowly, I opened it and pulled out the letter within. On the neatly folded piece of paper, I saw only one sentence. “The Princess’s gaze sees less than you think, but The Mares in the Moon look down on us all.” I placed it back in the envelope, holding it close to my barrel in my magic. “What did it say?” Spike asked, now at my side. “Nothing important, Spike.” The bitter lie stung my throat. “Do you think we have the time to check in on something else today? I’m sorry my bath took a little longer than expected. I got caught up reading a book of foreign prophecies, a very interesting one.” I went on as Spike nodded along, my eyes glancing about the room for more signs of intruders. I knew I wouldn’t see anything, not if this was the only message left to me. At the time, I only had one consideration: did they know about the prophecy? I could only reach one conclusion, a gnawing certainty that not only did they know of it, but they knew that I had discovered it as well. There were very few ways to know this. The first was to be Spike, but I knew he would do nothing so malicious. Second was an agent of The Princess. Perhaps, despite allaying my fears of the prophecy, she had decided to send someone to watch over me and observe what I found. But yet, what reason would they have to doubt Her, Her gaze? That left a horrid realization, a dreaded uncertainty that grew less so by the second: what if it was who had written the prophecy? It was easy enough to write runes, weave spells, mutter incantations that could alert someone to intrusions or trespassers. I knew this from my studies, though they were often placed in residences instead of possessions. I took the chance, with Spike bored of my prattling, to excuse myself and trot over to my desk and grab the book of legends. I scanned every page, every inch of the cover, and could find no sign of runes. I felt the flow of magic about the book, if it ebbed and flowed against my horn’s grip, but there was not even the faintest hint of unicorn magic. Timidly, I pressed it to my chest, hooves against the opposite cover. Feeling the depths of magic within my blood, I let it flow out to my hooves, through the book, back into my chest. I tasted its age, years passing through and out of me like grains of sand and fetid winds. I felt gnawing eyes, heard pages turn and become the countless who had read it before me, smelt sinuous seasons. With every breath the cycle continued, but I felt no magic flowing into me that was not me. Not even eldritch magic had tainted this book. And yet I was unconvinced. I knew that such magic could be hidden or lost over time. Even when effective, it could be difficult to detect if cast by the proper mage, etched by the proper scholar, cast by… somepony like me. “Spike.” I waited for him to come to my side and continued, “I think I hit a breakthrough. We can wait until tomorrow to handle more of the preparations. If you’d like to do anything around town, you can go ahead. I won’t need your help with it and there’s still plenty of daylight out.” He gave me a suspicious look, but believed me all the same. Soon I was alone and I was able to begin.