//------------------------------// // The Tears Of A Kind-Hearted Princess // Story: Visual Prowess // by UgalaaWriter //------------------------------// It had taken them longer to get back to Ponyville than it had to get to the mountain, and it wasn’t just because of Fluttershy’s condition, though that was obviously part of it. Mostly everypony in the group was tired, besides Sasuke. He could’ve kept going for days at such an easy pace like this, but he said nothing. He knew how weak they were. He just walked slowly and went along with it, because he’d only get lectured for leaving them. The return trip was mostly quiet. No one really talked, except when they were fussing over Fluttershy. She was having trouble walking- unsurprising, considering the level of her injury. It had turned out that the flames had not only ruined her wing, but they had burned one of her legs pretty badly, too, and as a result, if the pain of the wing wasn’t enough to slow her down, she was limping on three hooves as they hobbled homeward. Sasuke was still contemplating on how prideful Celestia had been to send her own student and her friends against a dragon, especially when there was a safer, assured alternative right in front of her who had even volunteered to go. She’d certainly feel bad when she saw soot-covered Twilight- could’ve easily been grilled Twilight- Rarity, who had her backside, hind legs, and back slashed open- and the wounds looked worse than they were, because she also limped on the way home- and then worst of all, horribly burnt, little innocent Fluttershy. The mood wasn’t exactly somber, but it wasn’t cheery or excited, either. Applejack seemed to constantly glance between the three battered ponies- Twilight and Rarity, as unicorns, were more susceptible to physical damage, and the throw against the cave wall had done more to Twilight than it looked like it had- and Fluttershy, who was being held up by Rainbow Dash, who she leaned on. Pinkie Pie walked on in the middle of this, looking strangely calm- probably still in shock of the ordeal, and all six of them, behind Sasuke, who was technically their savior . Even if he’d rather be killed than be recognized as one. “Why won’t you just accept the thanks?” Twilight asked, more than a little frustrated that Sasuke seemed to take their gratitude and discard it into the dirt that they were passing by. He was unusually silent throughout the entire walk back, only speaking twice. “I’m no hero,” Sasuke said. It had the usual accompanying sneer, but there was something that lied deeper within it. Twilight couldn’t discern it, though, and left the issue as it was, obstinate shinobi winning because of his stubbornness. The wounds of the other ponies besides Fluttershy, while not minor, were not as threatening or serious as what the yellow Pegasus suffered from. She winced after nearly every step. Flexing the wing at all was a painful, agonizing chore. It really did look like a bat wing- even more, after they’d cleaned the wound some and really looked at it. Rarity had to struggle to not look away in disgust, but not only would she ever not do that to Fluttershy, she was suffering from wounds as well, and she wasn’t a hypocrite. Fluttershy’s wing was worse than originally thought. It stretched out painfully, with melded skin that had bonded together after melting from the horrible heat of the dragon’s fire. The melting skin, after melding together, had only went to make movement even harder, considering that the entire shape of the wing had changed. Blisters coated the entire limb, and were spread out across the charred, seared flesh that was Fluttershy’s wing. No feathers remained, most if not all having been burned off, and the rest falling off after. Twilight had at first thought that her wing had a small chance of recovering, but Twilight now knew that, unfortunately, she probably would never get her wing to recover back to the way it was. She might be able to regain wing use after extensive magical surgery and therapy, but she would still be an even weaker flier than she was before. Somehow, though, Fluttershy didn’t let it get her down. She held a small smile on, and it only ever wavered when she stepped- as the pain exploded throughout the left side of her body- the burn, while deadening many of the nerves, still hurt tremendously. Sasuke thought he was crazy, because, as he occasionally glanced behind himself to look at the wounded ponies he was leading back to town, he felt a smidge of compassion. It was so small- just like his Guilt, who still ranted repeatedly inside of his head. It didn’t talk, though. Not yet, anyway. Guilt still did, though. You could’ve easily attacked the dragon and made it leave much, much earlier. Instead, what do you do? You let them go first, even though you realized the danger of the situation. That’s what you always do though, right? You love being right- after all, you’ll go to practically any lengths to get it, even going to the point of allowing the pony who’s taken care of you the entire time be burned horribly in dragon’s fire- the scream, did you hear the scream she made, when she was being burned and torched and having her wing melte- Sasuke tuned it out. The thing that made him worry was, though, that it was getting harder to do so every time. It seemed that he had to make a conscious effort to sustain control over his mind- sustain control of the voices, that wouldn’t leave. He wished that they would leave, but they wouldn’t. He snarled wordlessly as his Hatred began. Even though his Pride and Anger were the most talkative besides Guilt, who never shut up, out of all four of the voices, the worst one was his Hatred. Mostly because his hatred was the loudest. I CANNOT BELIEVE THE WEAKNESS THAT YOU POSSESS, SASUKE! ARE YOU SERIOUS? KILL THEM ALL, AND SPARE NONE OF THEIR LIVES. EVEN TALKING BACK TO YOU SHOULD BE PUNISHED. THEY DO NOT REALIZE THEIR PLACE. YOUR HATRED IS WEAKENING. I MUST REMIND YOU OF THE IMPORTANCE OF HATRED. DO YOU NOT REMEMBER YOUR BROTHER? YOU ARE WEAK, SASUKE… BECAUSE YOU LACK HATRED. LET YOUR BLOOD BE REPLACED BY BLACK, TERRIBLE MALICE THAT RUNS DEEP INSIDE OF YOUR HEART. LET THE ABHORRENCE CONTROL YOUR SOUL, AND USE THE POWER THEY GRANT TO DESTROY AND TAKE WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY YOURS! YOUR VENGEANCE, YOUR CLAN’S REVIVAL! USE THE HATRED, SASUKE. LET THE HATE FLOW THROUGH YOU! LET THE HATE- Sasuke let out a pained grunt as he managed to shut up his Hatred. He’d listened to it before- but now… it was just overbearing. It reminded him of Orochimaru in some ways for some reason, and he hated that. He wasn’t sure how to fix any of this. Not to mention that he couldn’t have the time or concentration to even think anyway, with all of the idiotic ponies around him, and the voices in his mind that wouldn’t shut up. “Sasuke, are you okay?” Pinkie Pie asked, concerned, and he brushed her off with a short nod, which she seemed to accept, even though she didn’t smile while doing so. Many would be surprised at Pinkie Pie having such ability- that is, the ability to read people. It wasn’t something she had been born with- it wasn’t her special talent, either. It was something that she had learned over the years after becoming someone that had hosted parties- the ability to read someone, read their emotions… read their problems, in some ways. It didn’t work when she was sad, or when she was happy, but only when she was calmed. Thus, she only used it rarely. It required her to calm down- something she had never really enjoyed- and really concentrate on the person. But when she did- she could just tell. He was clearly in pain, even though he had told her he wasn’t. There was so much weight on his shoulders- and it wasn’t just because he was slouching while he walked that she could tell. He seemed… strangely thoughtful, and not completely full of anger or frustration, like Pinkie thought he would be. And… he was worried about something. She couldn’t get more than that. That was about as far as she was ever able to tell, and that was already pushing it. It was often hard to calm herself down to use the ability, but it had been easier after the dragon attack, where she’d been crying for Fluttershy. Instead of simply allowing herself to become incredibly joyful once more as they began walking back to Ponyville, she used her self-control- it existed? - And tried to see how her friends were feeling. The less obvious something was, the harder it was to spot, because it was mostly all based off of body language. And her friends seemed to all be feeling down- but she didn’t even need to calm herself to be able to tell that. Pinkie sighed, and put on a smile. Maybe she’d be able to cheer up her friends by being happy, at the very least. They walked into town not too long after that, and immediately marched to the center of town, where Celestia was still waiting. At first, she’d worried because the smoke didn’t clear- still didn’t clear, still didn’t clear… but later, when the smoke had finally stopped spouting from the mountain, and she could barely see with her great eyesight a small, red figure tumbling and falling down the mountain before running away, she knew they’d succeded. She just didn’t know how. Celestia had anxiously awaited them while they came back, and sat in the middle of the town square, looking patient and confident, even if she wasn’t feeling so. Her guards, as silent and loyal as ever in clean, pristine armor, waited faithfully next to her. The townsponies were beginning to calm down- after all, they rarely saw their princess, but at the same time, after staying for hours and waiting, they had grown used to her extended presence, though everyone still bowed when coming by and she still had ponies waiting on her. “Do you need anything else, Princess?” Asked one mare. “No, no, I’m fine.” Celestia said with a smile. She attempted to disarm them with her grin- mostly hoping they would assume that they had sated her, and that what they had already done, waiting on her foreleg and hoof, would be enough- but sadly, it hadn’t. If anything, it had probably made it worse. After that, the townsponies really didn’t leave her alone. It wasn’t that she minded the attention. It was more that she was completely worrying about Twilight- and even felt a little guilty, that she wasn’t paying attention to the townsponies. If they left her alone, then it wouldn’t bother her, and she could wait for Twilight with no interruptions. She practically knocked aside everyone, including her guards, when she Sasuke entering the town. She’d have been lying if she said that she wasn’t worried about Twilight. Sasuke’s statement had gotten to her more than he’d ever know. Even as she busted through the crowd- which Sasuke had probably missed, as he was only turning toward her just now- she began to calm herself, and put a cool, composed mask over her surprised face- she’d been practicing it for millennia. It wasn’t hard to do it, even now. Even as she was making her way over to them, she knew something was wrong. Twilight seemed to be covered in soot- which worried Celestia, but she didn’t appear to be very injured, which calmed the Princess quickly. Rarity didn’t look comfortable, but from this angle, Celestia could see nothing wrong with her- except a red streak on her side. But Celestia knew she had made a mistake when she saw Fluttershy. All composure thrown to the wayside, she galloped over to the group, who waited for her patiently as she sped across the town square to them. Ponies stared, mouths open. Ponies whispered. Ponies talked. She knew the scene she was making- rushing to normal ponies. And she couldn’t care less. She stopped right in front of the group- Sasuke, with a triumphant grin on his face. Celestia only frowned at him, but if anything, it only made Sasuke’s grin wider. “What happened?”Celestia asked. “We-“Twilight began, but was cut off by Sasuke. “Oh, nothing, Princess.” Sasuke said, as he looked over at Celestia. “Only Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy being hurt, and all because of you telling them you could get a dragon to leave the diplomatic way. Instead, I ended up having to take care of it, by burning it, which was what was going to happen anyway, regardless. It’s too bad that you wouldn’t let me go alone in the first place. Now look at poor Fluttershy. She’d have died if I didn’t interfere.” Sasuke said, pointing to her. Celestia only glared at Sasuke for how he tried to rub salt in her wounds, but soon enough she focused on the ponies who’d been hurt by her pride. She looked in horror over Fluttershy’s wing- not that she’d never seen a burn before. It wasn’t the fact that it was burned, because she’d seen more than one wing like this in all her time alive. That wasn’t what made it terrible- that wasn’t what made it hurt in her breast. No, what made it hurt was that it had been her that had ordered them to go. And what else made it hurt was that he had been right. “What happened, Twilight?” “We went up to the mountain and tried to talk to it. I went first… and I couldn’t do it,” she said, ducking her head in embarrassment and failure, “so Rainbow Dash tried, but that didn’t get anywhere, and then Rarity got cut up, but then Fluttershy…” Twilight only limply pointed with one hoof to Fluttershy’s ruined wing. “Rarity and Fluttershy… I must apologize.” Celestia said, laying her ears flat on her head. “For… for what, Princess?” Rarity asked. With a grimace on her face, Celestia continued. “For ordering you to go. Sasuke was right in this instance- this one instance- but he was still right nonetheless. And because I overestimated your strength, and had to be right, you all were hurt. Severely.” Sasuke was loving it- eating it all up. He grinned with sadistic glee as he watched someone other than himself suffer from Guilt. He wondered if anyone else had that feeling- he hadn’t heard this voice ever talk until recently, but he wondered if this was what having a conscience felt like. What an annoying thing. No wonder people were always ‘good.’ If their Guilt would never shut up, that’s probably the only reason they did ‘good’ things. “No, no, Princess!” Twilight said, even as her mentor turned away from the group in shame and began walking away. “Somepony had to go, right? Wasn’t it good that it was us and no one died, instead of you sending somepony else, and them dying instead of us getting hurt?” Celestia turned around, rainbow mane drifting in the air regally as she faced her student, student’s friends, and Sasuke, who looked straight at her. I told you so, his eyes seemed to say. She wanted to yell at Sasuke, but instead turned to Twilight. “When I first got you as a student, Twilight, you were just a filly. You’re nearly completely… innocent. There are plenty of things out of my control, and not everything is perfect. But Equestria, for the most part, is a happy place. What saddens me is that I sent you and you got hurt. You have to understand, Twilight. You’re not Luna or me; you don’t possess the same level of powers we do. I don’t know why I thought you could go against a full-grown dragon. It takes many unicorns of a certain magical level to take one down. Even you by yourself could not do it, as is obvious here. I take responsibility, Twilight, because I promised myself I’d never hurt you. And now… I have. Both you, and your friends.” Twilight could only stare in shock at Princess Celestia, who was crying. Clear, solid tears streamed from her mentor’s cheeks as she looked at Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy. “I’m sorry, Rarity. Those slashes look deep. They may take time to heal. But besides that, both you and Twilight will be fine in the long run. The pony I really have to apologize to is Fluttershy.” Fluttershy squeaked as she watched the crying Princess Celestia walk over to her, slowly. Celestia put one wing over her and covered her with it, speaking softly as she did so. “I’m sorry to inform you of this, Fluttershy, but… you may never heal from what has been done. The damage to your wing may be too severe.” “Oh,” Fluttershy said. It sounded so dead and emotionless that Celestia couldn't bear to face her mistake- she sobbed a few times, and ran away. Twilight only looked after her in horror as she gathered her guards and left immediately. The guards even seemed distraught; despite their good training and instructions on never changing face- always following the orders of the Princess, never looking surprised, no matter where you go or what happened- it was impossible not to react to that, even in the smallest way. Nopony alive had ever seen Celestia cry- the last time she had had been many, many years ago. Twilight watched as the chariot flew away. “Ah…ah can’t believe it.” Applejack was the first one to speak, out of them all. “Ah’ve never seen the Princess… cry, before. Never seen it in my whole darn life.” Everypony in the entire group was silent, save Sasuke, who had to speak up, one last time. “This is why I wanted to go alone.” He muttered, and looked at the group behind him, most of which were glaring at him. Twilight spoke first. “You didn’t have to do that!” She screamed, walking up closer to him. Predictably, not only was he not intimidated or scared in any way, he instead seemed to be amused by the little display that was going on. “You didn’t have to rub it into the Princess like that… so what if she made a mistake? Ponies make mistakes all the time!” Twilight said, throwing her hooves into the air as she continued her rant. “Tell me this, Sasuke! If you knew this was going to happen, why didn’t you just go in first?” “None of you stupid horses would let me.” “Ponies! We’re ponies. And it’s not like any of us could’ve stopped you. So why not go first? I have to know, now. I just have to.” “Then I’d be the one getting into trouble. You remember what Celestia said. If I wanted to have a chance of getting home, and her helping me, I had to follow orders. I was order bound. Your stupid, sentimental orders of not hurting a dragon. Of talking to it, instead. Completely ridiculous. It may not be something that matters here, but back where I come from, insubordination is a bigger deal than you might think.” Twilight could only glare at him as she realized he was right. “Still. You didn’t have to do that… to the Princess.” “She deserved it. I don’t care what you think, I know I’m right. I’m not going to save her feelings just so I don’t hurt her a little while I criticize the mistake she made.” The rest of them could only glare at him as he then asked another question. One that he’d never be expected to ask. After Twilight answered, they could only gaze in shock. “Where’s the hospital?” “You’re not hurt,” Twilight replied, still furious, but pointed in one direction with a hoof anyway. Sasuske responded by picking up Fluttershy as quick as a flash, and carrying her, set out for the hospital. “Alright. This is a onetime thing, do you understand? You’re all lucky I’m even doing this. You two can walk. She’s more hurt than you.” Sasuke said as he lifted Fluttershy’s body, and then leapt high into the air, and began traveling to the hospital. Unsurprisingly, he made it to the hospital within twenty or thirty seconds after leaving the group. By carrying Fluttershy, even though she slowed him down slightly, he could finally move at the speed that he wanted. Fluttershy had squeaked and whimpered the entire time, both from the pain of her wing- it wasn’t like Sasuke was going slow, so he jostled her more than once- and from going at such a fast speed. She’d never gone so fast before, and to Fluttershy, it was frightening, as he leapt and sprinted all the way to the hospital. As soon as Sasuke arrived, he walked inside and placed Fluttershy on the floor, who immediately sunk to her belly, hooves on either side. She didn’t have the strength to stand up anymore- the trip there had taken a lot out of her, and she was already exhausted and tired from the simple pain of the wound, anyway. Once she had the attention of Nurse Redheart, who looked, horrified, at Fluttershy’s melted wing, Sasuke left the building immediately. On his way back, he saw Rarity limping, making her way over. He didn’t bother helping her. Unlike Fluttershy, she’d never done anything truly important for him. He stopped randomly in the middle of Ponyville, and glared all around as the ponies looked down on him as an outsider- he’d never fit in here, anyway. Staring back at those who dared to stare at him, he watched the town for a few more minutes before he started to wander in the direction of The Golden Oaks library. It had been several minutes since he’d taken Fluttershy to the library. He didn’t bother knocking, and just came right on in through the front door as Spike still seemed to be organizing books or something. Ignoring him, and walking right past him, Sasuke began to search the building for Twilight. He found her within a few minutes of looking around the entire building. She’d just exited her bathroom after cleaning herself up-wiping most of the soot out of her mane and coat. She frowned as she saw Sasuke waiting, remembering Celestia, but still thanked him. “It was nice what you did for Fluttershy.” “I just had a debt to repay. Don’t expect something so weak like that again.” “Okay, whatever you say.” Twilight said, but she had a feeling that Sasuke wasn’t as bad as he tried to make himself out to be. Twilight thought that he was changing, even if it was really slow- really slow- and that he might be turning different. “Why are you here, though?” Twilight asked as she toweled herself off, completely drying herself and walking down the stairs to go back down to the first level of the library. “I figured that you could help me find a way home now. Celestia would probably have you do it anyway since you’re the least stupid horse out of all of them.” “It’s Princess Celestia, and ponies. I guess, probably, but I don’t know where to start. I was going to write a letter to her, anyway. I’ll ask her where I should start.” Dear Princess Celestia, I’m sorry that you still feel it’s your fault about what happened. I don’t blame you. I blame Sasuke. He could’ve jumped in earlier but chose not to. He says it’s because you would’ve blamed him, but I don’t think you would do that. You aren’t cruel. Sasuke says that he wants me to help him find a way home, but what I’m sure he doesn’t know is that teleportation and portal magic is extremely complicated. I have no idea of where to start. He did do the job you requested after all, even if he SHOULD’VE jumped in earlier, so… do you have a book or some resource I can look into so I can get started? No one blames you for what happened. Sincerely, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle Twilight encased it in an envelope and passed it to Spike after calling him over. “Spike, send this letter to Princess Celestia.” “Okay, Twilight!” With a plume of emerald fire that appeared from the baby dragon’s maw, the letter disappeared and went off, out of the window. “Now what?” Sasuke asked impatiently. “Now we wait. We have to give the Princess time to reply.” Twilight said as she went to some other room. Sasuke only glared at Spike as he waited. Spike seemed to notice, and gulped, but didn’t do anything, just continued to re-organize books. Sasuke waited impatiently. He knew that the reply would come, but the problem was that he had nothing else to do. He couldn’t practice any real techniques because first, ponies would get scared and he would get blamed, and two, there was no space or room for them anyway. He could easily burn down the entire town by accident with one great fireball jutsu. Grumbling under his breath, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. It was a nice afternoon, but it was boring to Sasuke, and he had to watch and wait as Twilight and Spike did mundane activities. Twilight had went into the kitchen to fix herself some tea, and she drank that, and watched Spike put up all the books while she was drinking, and once finished, she helped him organize. The library was a mess with how hectic it had been for the past few days, and they were finally getting around to cleaning it up. So Sasuke waited, and he waited, and he waited. It was an impossibly long while later- to Sasuke, probably forever, but in actuality, an hour or two- when the dragon suddenly burped, and coughed out a letter that seemed to be bulging. Twilight picked it up with her magic, and noticed that it took a lot more strength to hold it up then it should have. Walking over to her desk, and placing the enevelope of the letter upon it, she hesitantly ripped it upon and read the message. It just so happened that Celestia had included a transformation charm inside it, and what was probably a mite of dust before, but without losing the weight it bore, became a giant, heavy brown tome, that slammed into the desk the second it was released. Naturally, Twilight immediately began to squeal, but she still read through the letter before moving onto the reading material that Celestia had sent her, no matter how badly she wanted to read it. Dear Twilight, Thank you for your compassion, my faithful student. I’m glad to know that you think it’s not my fault- but, in my opinion, it still was. You didn’t fail any tests or exams, Twilight. I was overconfident and began to figure that you could handle everything, because I taught you so well. I both overestimated my own teaching ability, and the strength of you and your friends. If Fluttershy never heals, no matter how many times I say sorry, it will not be enough. Now, onto the other manner of business. The letter I sent you, as you certainly know by now, held a transformation charm that contained a large tome within. This is the reason why the reply is so late- I went into the royal library, and had to dig deep, for a while. Even for me, these spells are ancient, and many of them are nothing but theories. What you hold in your hooves is a book that has some of the rarest work in Equestria. It is a book containing some of the only collaboration work that Starswirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever ever did together. Now, they both lived in the same age, but were born in different times. As Starswirl the Bearded was growing old, and eventually, dying, Clover the Clever was an up-and-coming strong, smart unicorn with things to prove, and theories to think up. You know the time periods, I don’t have to explain that to you. What most ponies don’t know is they did work together, even if only for a short time. What resulted is some of the greatest magical theory in the history of Equestria. Now, Twilight, before you crack that book open, and I know you are- Twilight’s eyes bugged out as she watched the letter predict her movements. She hesitantly closed the book and sighed, and went back to reading the letter. You must listen to me. There is a reason that this work is unknown. Now, again, as it is known that Clover the Clever and Starswirl were very, very powerful and intelligent unicorns and the best of their generations, it is also known that magic is dangerous. Some of the spells in here are dangerous, and even the ones that are mostly theories, which are the majority, must be approached with extreme caution. This has not been touched on in a very long time, and most have forgotten about it, including myself. I only recently remembered because your letter reminded me of it. I personally kept the research hidden away, unsure of what it could do to Equestria. But being a Princess is busy, and as such, I never got alone time to study it, and it grew layers of dust trapped away inside a wing of the royal library. Sasuke did help, so use the genius potential for magic that you have, Twilight, and try to send him home. There is no time limit on this assignment, and I wouldn’t blame you if it took a while, anyway. And you may keep the book afterwards, also. I know that you would like to study absolutely everything inside of it, and I trust your judgment on what is dangerous and what can be attempted. Sincerely, Your Mentor, Princess Celestia. Twilight looked up from the long letter and glanced at the huge, brown tome that dominated her desk. It really was massive- bigger than most of the books she had. It astounded her that all of this was the work of only a SHORT time of collaboration between the two genius unicorns. Both were so famous they were still studied inside magic theory and magic history classes today. She imagined professors she knew getting their hooves on it, and giggled. The Princess had truly given her an amazing gift. She held it up in her magical grip as if it was a gift from the gods themselves- in a way, it was, if Celestia could be considered a goddess, which some of her subjects did consider her one- and instantly placed it back on her desk, and heaved with her magic, flipping over the front cover of the unmarked brown book like it was as heavy as a wall. It made an audible thud once coming into contact with the wood. The first few pages were blank; unsurprising, considering the number of pages and the size of the book that contained them. She set to her task, and began flipping through the book for a few moments. The emptiness of it all only lasted a few pages in the beginning, and then Twilight soon broke into a slack-jawed stare once she began reading some of the material. The wording in here was incredibly complicated- diagrams had all sorts of lines and markings, some of which she barely remembered. She could understand all of it, it was just… Twilight retrieved her notes and began looking through the book in earnest. It had several pages about leylines, the very tail end of which Twilight was now reading- As my friend Starswirl says in the paragraph before me, leylines are extremely important, you see. Once you understand your leylines, which, as all unicorns know, is the magical veins in your body that carry magic throughout you, performing magic becomes much easier. Accurately using your leylines is what seperates a good unicorn from a bad one or a great one. I can do a spell more accurately, faster, more impressively, and all of this things, while losing less energy than a less talented unicorn. Leylines are thought up to be something given to unicorns, though some disagree with this theory- Starswirl included. Leylines come into use in all kinds of magic-the most important being plane materialization, or traveling between planes. Plane materialization consists of a two to eight ratio of white to black magic… Twilight continued to grow more and more engaged as she read on. It talked about plane materialization for a while longer, it seemed. A few more chapters of it- fifty or so pages of it, and it all ended with this phrase- Now, obviously, this all still in theory, so no unicorn should try this without first studying up on it. Now, moving onto to something considerably more interesting, at least to most- battle magic. Leylines are extremely useful during battling with magic, as… The chapter continued on there, and Twilight frowned as she realized her answer lied inside the explanation of plane materialization. Despite the fact that it was work that was very difficult to understand, she got the gist of things the first time through. Knowing how dangerous it was, however, she didn’t attempt anything. Gather up paper and pencil, she began taking notes, humming to herself in delight as she did so. Sasuke watched as the scholar did her work. He knew that she’d be working for a while, probably. She might not even get it today, or tomorrow- Sasuke had no idea whether magic was difficult or not, and he wasn’t going to ask her. After a few bored minutes of watching Twilight read through the book and then begin taking notes, he decided to leave. He knew that nothing of importance was going to happen, even if he stayed for a while, so he got up and left the library, leaving Twilight with some comment about getting him if something happened. He exited The Golden Oaks Library, and once outside in the town square with everyone staring at him, he decided to go somewhere else. He didn’t like their looks, and right now Pride and Hatred were raging on about killing them, and Guilt was still calmly listing all of his mistakes in a monotone voice. He’d rather be somewhere else. Sasuke sighed before walking slowly outside of Ponyville and on the road to Fluttershy’s house. Sasuke walked that road for a while, but soon grew bored. There wasn’t a point to even going to the house, because Fluttershy was at the hospital. He could go sleep, but… it seemed like a waste of time. He wasn’t tired anyway. Still, there was nothing else to do, so sleeping it was. He’d rather have extra energy if he needed it for when the time came to go back. Hopefully, for his vengeance’s sake, it would be fairly soon. After continuing on for a short while and walking further to Fluttershy’s house, Sasuke stopped. He didn’t stop because of fatigue, or because he’d seen something interesting. He stopped because he’d heard the booming again. It was loud- incredibly and only echoed throughout the forest for a few seconds. Sasuke knew that it wasn’t normal for the forest to be making that sound- he only wondered why the ponies hadn’t investigated it yet. Maybe it was because they were afraid of the forest. Deciding to investigate, Sasuke jumped into the forest and sprinted for a while, going through trees and branches, and avoiding natural, stupid predators in there that wanted to kill him. More than once- no, several times- he had to fight off timberwolves or manticores who were hungry. After killing the most recent manticore, he continued on in the direction that he’d thought he heard the sound in. Only, there was nothing there. Sasuke scowled as he looked throughout the forest. Something in here had to have caused the noise- he was sure of it. He heard leaves rustling. He turned. “Who the hell are you?” The shinobi said. Following close behind him was Killer Bee. Sasuke grinned. TO BE CONTINUED If anyone wants to know what I listen to when I write Visual Prowess, it's this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0A9aEOt4MM