Chapter four: Mentality.
“oof!”
Purple eyes sprang open in shock as Demonheart was woken up to the sensation of his fillyfriend jumping onto him. For a moment he looked up at her from beneath her, a shy smile and blush on her face, before smiling and rolling around on his particularly large, heavy beamed bed, Fluttershy holding on for dear life. The pair laughed, Fluttershy’s higher pitched giggles and occasional squeals shadowed by his deeper laugh, somehow just as compelling as his speaking voice. Eventually admitting defeat, Demon stopped rolling and lay on his back, looking up at Fluttershy whilst the both of them caught their breath. After a momentary breather, he lifted his body up and embraced the mare upon him loosely, touching his nose to hers, eyes closed and she kissed him gently….
~*~
Talisman woke up, blushing furiously, eyes wide and body temperature uncomfortably hot. That was undeniably, inevitably and most emphatically NOT what he was trying to see. Whilst he was attempting to utilise the scrying spell, the last thing he wanted was to see that. Scrying was the art of creating a portal between one place and another that allowed one to see what was happening and, if strong enough, hear what was happening at any given time. However, depending on the spell, it varied on whether or not these portals were one or two way. This one was only one way.
Traditionally, Scrying was attempted using a flat, reflective surface such as a calm body of water or a mirror. These mediums were the easiest to utilise. However, other mediums included the use of light, shadows, any reflective surface at all, crystals or fire. In this case, Talisman was attempting to use his own mind as a medium, and was being fairly successful. However he simply could not fix his vision upon that which he wanted to see. It was as though his spell continuously got distracted and wandered over to something it thought was much more interesting.
“What did you see? And why are you blushing like that?”
Twilight sat across from him, watching him closely. Beside her was a pair of tea cups, each with a translucent orange tea within. She’d been watching him since she’d come down from her room and found him, slumped over a book with several around him, asleep. His face had been resting on the book for so long, his fringe had been plastered to his forehead. Talisman looked anywhere but at her.
“Uh, you probably don’t want to know. Suffice to say it wasn’t what I wanted to see. On the other hoof and on a totally unrelated note, I think Fluttershy and Demonheart are going to be happy for the rest of the day.”
The ever oblivious Twilight sighed and shook her head.
“It’s not all that difficult Talisman, even if you’re using your mind as the magical medium. The focal point of your magic is being projected back into your subconscious rather than something on the outside world, like a mirror or open flames, so theoretically, envisioning your subject matter and therefore focusing your spell should be foal’s play. I don’t understand why you’re having so much trouble with it.”
“Because I cannot control my subconscious perhaps?” Talisman asked coolly in return, earning a slight glare from Twilight.
“That has nothing to do with it. It reacts to conscious thought, not subconscious or unconscious.”
Her horn sparked momentarily and he felt his fringe flick out of his eyes. She’d been doing that all morning, and every time she looked more and more annoyed at the rebellious fringe. Hers, he’d noticed, had been cut so it didn’t fall into her eyes. The last time he’d done that to his it had grown back overnight.
“And I don’t understand why you don’t get your fringe trimmed. It must drive you crazy!”
He snuffed a laugh and shook his head and cautiously levitated his tea over next to him and took a sip. It certainly wasn’t the best tea he’d ever had, but it certainly wasn’t the worst either.
“I tried that once. It grew back through the night. It makes no difference how, why or with what I cut it with. I could shave my entire mane off and it’d be back the next day.”
The look Twilight gave him told him she obviously didn’t believe him. He laughed again and her expression softened.
“You’re so full of it. Unless you’re making it regrow, it won’t simply grow back, it’s an impossibility.”
Tal raised an eyebrow and smiled.
“Why not do so and find out? Trust me, it’ll still be there in the morning. You can even monitor my spells if you like.”
Twilight pursed her lips in thought and smiled. Tal smirked in reply as a pair of scissors floated over to Twilight’s hooves.
~*~
“I must ask, what’s the stone? I thought it was perhaps a rune stone, but I’ve studied runes extensively and never seen any of the symbols on it.”
Talisman sighed softly as a piece of his mane fell to the floor. She seemed to be taking his challenge very seriously and had decided to, instead of just his fringe, trim his entire mane. She was clipping away with deadly precision. Okay, maybe not as precise as somepony like Rarity would, but precise all the same. And thankfully the scissors were sharp.
“It’s complicated.”
Twilight perked up at the answer.
“So, like a puzzle?”
Talisman huffed.
“No, not like a puzzle. It’s complicated.”
“A mystery then? Something one has to figure out?”
He shook his head, making her frown.
“No. It’s simply too complicated to put into words. I don’t want to talk about it anyway.”
Twilight pouted, irritated at not having all the answers and there being something she didn’t know about or understand, but she dropped the subject. For now anyway. The room descended into silence save for the occasional ‘snip’ of the scissors.
“So,” Twilight ventured curiously, “Pinkie thinks you can read her mind.”
Talisman laughed quietly.
“Does she now?”
She let the scissors float over and drop onto the table.
“Yes, she does. She’s convinced you’re some sort of mind reader.”
“Well then, she has a heck of an imagination doesn’t she?”
“I looked it up again.”
“Did you?”
“That sort of magic hasn’t been developed. And if it has, it’d be outlawed by now. Too dangerous.”
“Good for you.”
Twi felt an stab of irritation in her swelling with her frustration.
“Are you saying you can’t read minds?”
“I’m not sure, am I? Why not use that logic of yours to figure it out?”
Twilight took a moment to take a deep breath and calm down before sighing.
“Alright then. In that case I’d say you’re not possibly capable of reading minds since the magic for which either does not exist or has been scratched from any recorded developments because of its potential dangers.”
Without turning around, Talisman responded.
“And say, theoretically, I discovered one such recorded instance of its use that hadn’t been destroyed?”
Twilight almost growled, frustrated at the smug sounding unicorn.
“I’d say that it would have been your duty to deliver it to the princess or destroy it yourself. Did you come across such a work?”
Talisman turned and looked at her, faux shock on his face.
“Good heavens no Twilight. That’d be silly.”
He trotted away and into the library proper, leaving Twilight in a frustrated, angry way with steam practically coming out of her ears. She stormed after him.
“Now wait just a minute! Why suggest something that’s so absurdly silly in the first place, then say it was silly even thinking that it could have happened when it could legitimately be done?”
“Because it’s a silly idea Twilight,” He replied patiently, reaching for a book, “Honestly, mind reading. You’ve been reading too many fantasy stories. Mind reading doesn’t exist.”
He took his book over to a reading desk, Twilight following him closely, trying to put together a viable reply. He sat down and went to open his book only to have Twilight slam it closed and lean on it, glaring at him angrily. He looked at her in mild surprise.
“Now that’s silly. Magic is the expression of a unicorn’s will. Theoretically it would entirely be possible to create a spell that allowed one to see into the mind of the other.”
A flash of amusement crossed Talisman’s features, enraging Twilight further as he too leaned forward before speaking calmly.
“You and I both know that magic like that would be dangerous and unpredictable. You’d have to compensate for the knowledge being absorbed straight from the mind of another to make sure the reader would keep his or her identity instead of becoming a heap of other ponies instead of themselves.”
“But it IS possible!”
“Is it?”
Silence fell over the pair, Talisman with his short cropped mane leaning on his hooves, elbows on the desk, Twilight with both hooves pressed down upon the book, glaring at him angrily. Talisman was the epitome of calm, he even looked a little amused. Spike walked into the room before seeing the pair and slowly backing out, afraid that Twilight would turn her anger onto him. The two were inches from each other, Twilight’s nose almost touching his and for a bare moment, She was lost in his eyes. She never lost her nerve however, and searched those blue orbs for any sort of chink, doubt or possibility that he was concealing something from her. She found nothing and huffed angrily. He smiled, a genuine, non mocking smile and sat back, leaving her still glaring at him.
“You know, you must be the first pony I’ve ever met that manages to still make a cohesive argument when they’re angry, especially on topics like this.”
Her glare softened a little before falling apart completely and she sat down, blushing.
“Sorry… I just… I got caught up in the whole thing and I guess I went a little far huh?”
He chuckled and shook his head.
“Not at all Miss Sparkle. It was quite the little argument.”
Silence fell again. It was approaching late afternoon now. The time had flown past the pair without either of them realising it. It was Talisman who felt the pangs of hunger first and he sighed.
“Ah, Hunger. I suppose I’ll be going to get myself something to eat.”
Twilight looked at him.
“Oh, right. Just tell me, honestly, before you leave. Is Pinkie right?”
He smiled as he stood up, stretching his muscles as they screamed at him from being still for too long.
“Oh, I’m not mind reader. But I pick things up here and there. Emotions are much easier, but here and there I pick up a thought or two. Only recent ones without any sort of effort though.”
Twilight stared as he made to leave. To this day, she would not understand, even after careful analysis of her thoughts, actions and surprise she had felt at his answer, why she spoke up. But she did, and she said what she said and, with no way of taking it back without being rude, she had to stick with it.
“Hey… you can eat here if you like, I’m sure Spike wouldn’t mind.”
He stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her, mild surprise on his face as well.
“That… would be excellent, thank you Miss Sparkle.”
She giggled, another thing she thought long and hard about later.
“Please, just Twilight will be fine.”
He smiled.
“Alright then, Twilight.”
As he left the room she cursed herself. Now she’d be stuck with the one stallion who seemed to know exactly how to annoy her for the entire night.
And it was her own fault.