//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Letter to the Princess // Story: Equestrian Celestial Forge // by TheDriderPony //------------------------------// From the Desk of Twilight Sparkle Apprentice to HRH Princess Celestia Golden Oaks Head Librarian Notes and Observations on Anomalous Magical Event Dictation taken by Spike the Dragon, 20th of Summer Page 7 of XX ...which sums up my initial observations on the subject. I can already tell that the extradimensional space and its attached Keys are something I'm going to spend a lot of time studying. It's only been a few hours since this was discovered, but I've learned several important things about these Keys. First off, they're magically bonded to each of us, one per pony. I've only been able to run tests on my own Key so far but current evidence implies what I've learned should be true to all six. A Key left alone will disappear after a few minutes, only to reappear in my hoof with just a thought. My Key can open any locked door I've tried it on, from my keepsake box to the library’s front door, even if the keyhole should be too small to fit it. Obviously some of these make an opening too small to pass through, but even lockboxes and windows always open to the same crystal chamber and the same space between Pinkie Pie's door and Rainbow Dash's. However, so long as the door is open the Key cannot be removed from the locks by any means I've attempted, nor can a door be fully closed while the Key is inserted. I can imagine this will be incredibly useful for cutting down travel time, but I doubt that's its intended purpose. I'm sure I've only scratched the surface of what we've discovered, but there's just so much to investigate and study. Which brings me to the main focus of this scroll: our strange new abilities. My current working hypothesis is that, through some manner of magic still unknown, my friends and I have somehow each acquired a second Special Talent in addition to regaining our original ones. --yes Spike, I am serious. No, don't write this part. Look, just cross it out and remind me to do an ink-lifting spell before you send it-- It's common knowledge that everypony has a Special Talent, something they are preternaturally good at, signified by the Cutie Mark they earn when they discover it. Aside from a few famous historical outliers (such as Plain Sight, a former Royal Spymaster whose Cutie Mark was the same color as his coat, and Sheer Bluff, a con artist whose Special Talent for improvisation let her fake having multiple Talents) for thousands of years there have been no verified cases disproving the fact that every pony gets one Cutie Mark, one Special Talent and that they are an intrinsic and immutable part of a pony's being. At least that was true until yesterday morning. Starswirl's final unfinished spell (new name pending now that it has been finished) was capable of altering a cutie mark, specifically swapping them between ponies. Even if this wasn't the intended effect, the fact that it's even possible means we need to reevaluate everything we know about the topic on a fundamental level. I'll put that aside for now though, as it more than deserves to be its own research paper. For the time being I'll instead focus on the effect experienced by my friends and I. Without access to his other journals, I can't say whether gaining a second Special Talent was the intended goal of Starswirl's spell (it certainly sounds like something a peerless wizard of his caliber would pursue) or a side effect of my attempts to modify his work to undo the swap. --You're right, one does seem much more useful than the other, but who are we to question a genius like Starswirl? Where was I? Right.-- My theory is supported by the changes evident in my friends and I. Mostly. -Don't write that- Personally, I appear to have acquired a Special Talent for woodworking. Though I've previously never made anything more complicated than a Mother's Day picture frame, today I managed to make several complete pieces of furniture with nothing more than the scrap lumber in my basement. I contacted Wicker Mare, a local pony with a carpentry Talent, and had her appraise some of them. Her assessment was that they looked like the work of somepony with both a niche Talent and a few years of experience. Her specific comparison was "a mid-level apprentice: somepony decently skilled and trained, but who hasn't broken out of the basics and found their own style yet". She left with a chair for personal use.   It's more than just skill, though. I know how to cut the wood, how to spot defects in it, the best way to join it together, how to add flourishes and details without compromising strength. I can see the finished product in my head before I start working with a step by step checklist of everything I need to do to achieve it. It all feels as simple as plugging variables into an equation. Rarity's experience has been similar, though more difficult to detect. Aside from her normal skills as a seamstress, she claims to have a new Talent for weaving. Testing has been... less than thorough, due to her only having a hobbyist loom, but the results are promising. Fluttershy has been harder to identify, but far easier to notice. My working theory is some sort of enchanting Talent. Overnight, she crafted a collection of pins with a variety of minor magical effects (though they don't seem to follow the common conventions of enchanting as I learned them as CSGU), and claims to be able to do much more but lacks the proper tools and materials. Applejack and Rainbow Dash have had much subtler effects, but the former claims that repairs around the farm have been significantly easier than usual and the latter that clouds she's made herself are easier to bust. More testing is needed. Spike's Note: Twilight got a little distracted and went on a rant here about not having enough time in the day to study everything she wanted to. I'm pretty sure she didn't want me to include it, so I didn't. I will be the first to admit that my hypothesis of second Special Talents is not perfect. As usual, Pinkie Pie is the oddball exception to an otherwise sound theory. Unlike the rest of us, instead of a new Special Talent Pinkie seems to have gotten a toolbox. We found it inside the Crystal Nexus—  --no, scratch that out. We need a better name for that place. Maybe... perhaps... no. Spike, help me out here. Sure, that'll do. Why are you still writing? Fine, it's a first draft anyway-- We found it inside the Hub behind the door marked with crossed arrows. No one was able to open the door until she arrived, and after the toolbox was removed it sealed shut again. At first glance it looks like a perfectly ordinary toolbox available at any hardware store (aside from it being customized with Pinkie’s colors and Cutie Mark) however the interior is what makes it special. It appears empty to any outside observer, yet Pinkie can pull out tools from within, far more than should fit inside the space. Normally I'd say this wasn't unusual for her, except she started to pull out tools even she didn't recognize, yet still knew the name and function of. This brings me to the biggest hole in my theory: knowledge. A pony with a baking Cutie Mark will have a much easier time cooking and whatever she makes will be better than the same dish made by a pony with a different Talent. However, she still has to learn the recipes. Merely getting her Cutie Mark doesn't mean she suddenly knows how long a soufflé should bake or what a croquembouche is. For whatever this phenomena is, that's not the case. I know what kinds of wood are best for different projects, despite only a passing interest in botany. Rarity offhandedly wished she had some Jade Cocoon Silk to weave, then when asked admitted that she had no idea what it was. Fluttershy has brought up several plants and creatures that I can find no reference to in either textbooks or mythology. Something is different between our new skills and normal Special Talents. Either Starswirl was on the brink of breaking through some sort of threshold to an unprecedented kind of Special Talent, or my own spellwork has discovered (or created?) something wholly new. Seeing as my assistant, Spike, has just told me his wrists are getting tired, I'll end this scroll here. My next one will cover the specific data I've gathered on my new abilities, followed by that of my friends. Spike's Note: Princess, could you please send her the instructions for a dictation spell or something? I'm sure something like that exists. I don't think my poor claws can take much more of this! Princess Luna lowered the scroll as she acknowledged that the rest of it was just inky claw marks. "And she has sent you how many of these?" As if in response, a puff of green smoke swirled its way into the Throne Room through the cracks in the windows. It made a lazy wander through the air till it arrived just above the throne where it materialized into a new roll of parchment, bound by a ribbon and wax seal. It fell as Spike's draconic magic faded, dropping into a hastily erected metal chute through which it clattered and banged about until it landed atop an overflowing basket of identical scrolls beside the throne. Princess Celestia swept up the errant scroll in her magic and swapped out the basket for an empty one. "I admit I've lost count, but I fear she's winding up to a publishable paper." The Royal Throne Room of Canterlot was empty save for the pair of them. Day Court had been cancelled in preparation for dealing with the ramifications of Twilight's ascension, though the pair of diarchs found themselves with a totally unexpected dilemma to fill the day instead. "Such curious fortune," Luna mused as she plucked another scroll. This one appeared to be a more in-depth description of Fluttershy's emblems. "And she's yet not an alicorn?" "Not in the slightest." Celestia rifled through the basket for a moment. "Even if I thought her tunnel vision was so great that she could somehow manage to completely overlook a pair of wings, there's a scroll—Ah, this one—where she attached a medical evaluation of herself courtesy of Dr. Horse at Ponyville General. Nothing odd for a healthy unicorn of her age." "Curiouser and curiouser," Luna pondered as she silently lamented the minor fortune she'd lost. Now what was she supposed to do with a warehouse full of collectible Princess Twilight merchandise and memorabilia? Not to mention the additional cost to buy the silence of the craftsponies who'd made it all. "But she still has the potential?" "Oddly enough, yes. I would have thought that whatever she did would have drained it, but she feels just as primed to ascend as she has for weeks." Small mercies then. She could keep all the new princess paraphernalia in storage until the filly finally reached her destiny. She thanked the stars she hadn't had any of it dated. Luna set aside the scroll and turned her attention to the pile of... experiments Twilight had also sent. To be honest, she would have never pegged Twilight as a woodworker, or any kind of artist, really. Such arts took patience and a willingness to incorporate mistakes on the fly. Not exactly the prominent qualities of her sister's student. And yet, the talent in the pieces she had sent was indisputable. A sturdy but simple bookshelf. A rough but recognizable filly-sized model of a Royal Guard in armour. An alicorn-sized wicker rocking chair, laced with still-living ivy. It was skillful, but not in a thousand years would she have guessed it to be the work of Twilight "neurotic perfectionist" Sparkle. "My student's over-attention to details aside, that's not what I wanted your opinion on." Celestia's tone brought her attention back to the present. The frown on her sister's face said much more than her words. She held out another scroll, indistinguishable from the rest. "This is what has me concerned." Luna took it and gave it a quick overview before frowning. "Strange dreams during their lost time?" "All slightly different, but following a clear theme," Celestia nodded. "For Twilight, it was constellations of stars and a being she could only call indescribable. For Applejack, it was a grove of titanic trees bearing golden fruit and a bearded figure made of stone and wood. For Fluttershy, a massive spider web and a grandmotherly millipede. And so on and so forth with the others. Their recollections are dim and half-forgotten, but the truth shines through." She shook her head. "I don't think I need to explain why this troubles me." Luna nodded. "Tis impossible. I know not what realm they went to, but wherever they were, it was not in the Dreamscape." "I thought as much. That was no dream. When they transcended the Aetherial Plane, they met something there. Something that has granted them power for a price they do not remember." Dark memories rose to the surface of Luna's mind. Memories from the early days of their rule, when the world was wild and lawless and the safety of their little ponies hinged on alicorns keeping the monsters at bay. And what monsters there had been, in those days, and not all of them inequine. Even in the past few months, the return of Discord, the Changelings, and King Sombra had proven that long gone threats were not nearly as defeated as they were thought to be. But there were supposed to be warnings. "The prophecies said nothing of this?" For something powerful enough to interfere with an ascendance, there surely had to have been some signs of its coming. "Not a word. I checked the records myself." Celestia gave her sister a look that forestalled her interruption. "Yes. Even Cornerstone's journal." Luna held back a flinch at the name of that madstallion, then her eyes widened in realization of what it meant. "But to access that, you must have—" "Yes." Celestia's voice was tight and grim. "I went to the vault and accessed the sealed archives." She gasped. "Mother and Father's—" "—and the rest. For something of this magnitude, I deemed it necessary. Don't worry, I reinstated the wards before anything could activate. But Twilight is important. Her role to play in the coming years is crucial." "Agreed. We must take precautions." Losing young Twilight to darkness would be catastrophic. "But we must not be hasty and overreach ourselves." "What do you mean?" "The return of so many old foes as of late may have us seeing threats where none exist. The being or beings the Bearers encountered may not be dark whatsoever." "You would have us take that risk?" Her sister's stare turned hard. "As opposed to turning on our most powerful weapon against such threats based on nothing more than suspicion? Yes I would." Luna leveled an equal stare back. "You asked for my counsel and this is it." The battle of wills persisted for a long, tense minute before Celestia let out a breath and turned away. "Perhaps you are right. Maybe I am jumping at shadows." A blue wing found its way around her shoulders. "I would not fault you for it. These are strange times and more dangerous than they have been in centuries. But if Twilight has, in fact, discovered some grand revelation in magic, we would be remiss to crush such a boon in its infancy over imagined threats." The solar diarch remained silent for a moment as she digested her sister's words. Then she smiled. "I missed this." "Missed what?" "This. Us. A spirited debate over the right course of action. Somepony daring to call me out on a plan that may not be the best. It's incredible how hard it is to find good advisors that aren't yes-mares." Luna gave her sister a shove. What did decorum matter when they were alone? "Someone has to keep your head out of the sun and on the ground." They shared a good-natured giggle. "So what will you do about Twilight?" "For now? Observation only." Celestia summoned a quill and parchment and began preparing a missive. "I'll make an excuse for her and her friends to come to Canterlot and bring the Elements of Harmony with them. I know a few discrete spells that should assuage most of my worries, if they are indeed still untainted. But even if they pass, I might assign an Agent of the Crown to keep an eye on them in Ponyville, but take no direct action otherwise. We'll watch and we'll wait. If Twilight has truly sundered what we thought was a fundamental law of magic, then I don't doubt that sooner or later we'll be needing that stockpile of new princess merch you paid for out of the royal treasury." Luna made a sound that caught somewhere between an indignant squawk and a surprised yelp. "But if she has become a conduit of some dark patron, even unknowingly, then I will be prepared to do what is necessary for the sake and safety of our kingdom." The sisters nodded in a moment of solemn agreement. A moment which was swiftly ruined by another scroll popping into being, bouncing off the rim of the chute, off the top of the throne, off both their horns, and landing onto the ground in front of them. The wax seal broken by the fall, it unrolled across the carpet, bearing its short message in Spike's hurried scrawl for all the world to see. APPLEJACK JUST GOT ANOTHER ONE!!