//------------------------------// // Ch. 1: Magic // Story: The Elements of Excess // by cleverpun //------------------------------// This fic is now Canceled. Ch. 1 Magic BY: cleverpun The six ponies disembarked from the train, still visibly fatigued from their epic battle with the Corrosive Creature of the Caustic Caverns and its army of acidic assistants. They all were too tired to say much. The big talk and the small had run its course on the train ride. A few farewells were exchanged and that was it. Twilight waved goodbye to each of her friends as they all headed home. Spike was already fast asleep on her back as she left the train station. Twilight yawned loudly. After the grand adventure they had just been through, his convenient sleeping arrangements were more than a little enviable. The walk to the library was uneventful; Twilight's hooves began to drag a little near the end, but the moonlight made it easy to see. She was at her door in no time at all. She dumped her bag on the floor, then went right upstairs and tucked Spike in. Normally her toothbrush, floss, and mouthwash would’ve been her next stop, but her bed drowned out every other thought. She made a mental note to admonish herself for skipping them later, and a separate mental note to add “self-admonishment” to her checklist tomorrow. She let out another yawn and slipped under her covers, the smooth blankets so warm and comfortable. After spending all day obliterating poisonous monsters, perhaps anything would’ve been. Then they had to stop by Canterlot to put the Elements back in their vault. She hadn’t been able to sleep on the train, but the long day was finally over. Now she could let herself sink into the mattress and wait for sleep to take her. Except, it didn’t. The minutes slowly ticked by, and Twilight didn’t feel herself getting any closer to slumber. One minute. Two minutes. Five minutes. Ten minutes. After fifteen minutes of fruitlessly laying there, Twilight flung her sheets aside. She lurched out of bed and went to get a glass of water. As she walked out of her kitchen she saw a shelf of books and a thought occurred to her. Hmm…my brain must be processing all the things that happened on our trip. I just need to calm it down with some light reading. She began to scan the shelves for a suitably boring book. She passed over several dictionaries and textbooks for being too interesting, and rejected a book on calculus for being too exciting. After a few minutes she found the perfect tome: Elementary Magic for the Educated Equestrian. It was a beginner’s guide to magic, published forever ago, designed to help self-learners who knew next-to-nothing about the delicate art of using their spark to manipulate the world around them. It was outdated, antiquated, and far below her skills. It was perfect. She took it to one of the desks—didn’t want to wake up Spike after all—and opened it up to a random chapter. Levitating Large Objects. Twilight laughed to herself a little as she remembered her own experiences with that particular subject. She began to read. The book's delivery reminded her in every way of one of her professors from her classes ages ago. Attempting to attend to the page was exactly like trying to stay awake in the face of his bland, never-ending drone of a voice. The blocky font even evoked his accent. The memory was so strong her eyelids immediately began to droop. She instinctively reached for a better read, as she had done during so many of his lectures. Her hoof groping for a nonexistent bookbag and its copy of a more exciting textbook caused a thought to flit into her mind. Why am I wasting my time with this when there’re so many spells I don’t know? Well that was a silly notion. She just wanted to fall asleep, after all. Despite the initial dismissal, and against her better judgment, Twilight found herself growing attached to the idea. Something about it agreed with her, inexplicably. She went up to her room and grabbed her copy of Advanced-Level Magic: 3rd ed. The purple pony knew she shouldn’t—she really should get to sleep—but as she cleared a space for the book and began reading, it just felt right. Twilight was the element of magic, after all! It was only proper that she know as many spells as possible. And so she read, the night ticking on in the background. Spike awoke to the sound of something sizzling in a pan and pulled off his covers to the smell of eggs and bacon and…sausage? Oh my! He rolled out of his basket and went downstairs. Sure enough, there was a flurry of activity in the kitchen. There were also a bunch of books scattered across the floor. Weird, Twilight usually is super strict about keeping those organized. Just as he finished thinking it, he stepped into the kitchen and saw a dozen pans, spatulas, knives, forks, spice jars, and other things floating about, making breakfast of their own volition, each surrounded by a lilac aura. “Uhh…Twilight?” “Over here, Spike!” Twilight was sitting at the kitchen table, a fork, plate, glass of juice, and three books all floating around her. The fork and knife were cutting up her omelet, then feeding it to her as her eyes darted from page to page. Spike ducked under the cloud of kitchen supplies floating around and walked up to Twilight. “Okay, I give up. What’s going on?” “Nothing, just practicing my multi-object levitation spells.” She didn’t look up from her book. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do this many things at a time!” “Yeah, I ran across the guide for it about three books ago and I—done!” she happily announced mid-sentence, tossing aside Complex Cantrips and Incantations: 5th ed. and summoning another thick volume from the stack behind her. “Three books ago? Twilight, how long have you been awake?” “All night. It’s not a big deal, though; I used a rejuvenation spell on myself after I figured it out a few hours ago.” The various utensils stopped shoving food into Twilight’s mouth, and she got up from the table and walked into the foyer. She didn’t bother to look up from her book but navigated the piles of paper perfectly regardless. “Twilight, shouldn’t you—” “Don’t worry, Spike, there’s plenty left for you. I’ve got to get back to these. So many spells I still don’t know…” She trailed off, Spike’s concern already forgotten. The studious student sat down in the center of a circular pile of various papers and books and continued reading. Spike shrugged and left her there. Can’t be that big of a deal, he thought to himself. Just another one of her cram sessions, and, boy, those eggs smell good! Spike finished breakfast at his usual indulgent pace, savoring every bite. Once he had stuffed himself on the unusually large breakfast Twilight had made, he went to see how she was doing. Her focused nature had gotten her in trouble before, so it couldn’t hurt to check on— Hmm, was that pile of books that small when I left her here? “Twilight, are you alright?” “Yes, Spike, I’m fine.” She actually bothered to look up from her books for a moment. “But you know, I’ve been thinking.” “About what?” “All the great wizards and sorceresses and spellcasters have a nice big epithet to go along with their name.” “A what?” “You know, a surname, a bonus title; Starswirl the Bearded, Clover the Clever, Daybreak the Mighty. I realized, after all the things I’ve done, all the spells I’ve learned, I deserve one too.” “Uhm, ok…like what?” “How about Twilight Sparkle the Amazing? Or Brilliant? Or Brilliantly Amazing and Powerful. And Great! Yeah, Twilight Sparkle the Brilliant, Powerful and Great. Maybe something a little longer—can’t sell myself short.” “Twilight, you’re great and powerful and all, but last time we were practicing you only knew twenty-seven spells, give or take. I mean, you’ve done great things and all, but—” “Oh, Spike, weren’t you listening? I’ve been up all night learning new spells. Sure some are less useful than others, but now I know one-hundred-and-fifteen of them!” “What!?” “They’ve just all been so easy, Spike. It’s not like before where I had to practice, study, and be careful…now, I just read about it, and after a few tries it happens. I’m even more of a magical prodigy than I thought I was! Twilight Sparkle the Brilliant and Powerful!” She went back to reading. “Oooh, maybe I should add a new adjective for every fifty spells I learn? If I hurry, by lunch I could be Twilight Sparkle the Brilliant and Powerful and Beautiful and Amazing…” Spike slowly backed away, inching towards the door. “Well, gee that’s, uh, interesting, Twilight, but I just remembered I needed to ask somepony something about, I dunno, something.” “Okey doke, have fun! I’ll be here if you need me.” Spike made it out of the door and quickly slammed it behind him. Okay, something is definitely wrong with Twilight. I better go find somepony to help, before this gets serious… Not sure who that somepony should be, he thought for a moment, then ran off into town.