Theory & Practice

by LonelyBrony42

Part 1: Theory

She sat in the darkness, alone. It wasn’t what she preferred, but it would have to do. Far safer at night when prying eyes were less likely, she figured. A light, delicate yawn bubbled up from her lungs as she shifted in her chair to a comfortable reading position.
Without a thought, she lit the candle before her and it illuminated her reading desk. On it lay a quill and inkwell, a small stack of blank paper for notes, and an ominous black book, very old, with a unknown marking of some sort. Twilight found it fascinating to stare at and guess its meaning. What little research she had done into the matter revealed next to nothing. Nevertheless, she liked the mystery of the symbol; it represented that nostalgic feeling of the unknown every foal feels when learning something new.
She chose that evening in particular to read the book. Spike was gone, away visiting Canterlot for a few days.

She had found the book in the Royal Canterlot Library, far in the back among the older, less-modern spell books. At first, she couldn’t believe her luck; having found such an ancient tome in readable condition and after a cursory glance through its pages, she knew she had discovered something special, something dark, and something forbidden.
“Necromancy…” she whispered under her breath, as if the very word itself was dangerous.
Granted, most of the darker magics were illegal to perform, and when it came to such texts, Twilight only heard: “you really shouldn’t read things like this, my dear, nothing good can come from it,” or whatever it was her mother had once said.
How had this book managed to slip by the librarian? How long had it gone unnoticed? Did anypony know what was sitting on that bookshelf for so long? Twilight’s mind speculated how the book could have ended up in general circulation.
Her curiosity trumping her better judgment, Twilight managed to check out the book without drawing suspicion.
“Thank Celestia for apathetic librarians,” she said aloud with a chuckle.

The moment of reverie passed and Twilight focused her attention back on the book. She had waited so long to read it, and finally she had the opportunity to do what she had been dying to do for three weeks. And now it was time.
With utmost care, she opened the book, its bindings audibly flexing due to age. She took a deep breath; she loved the smell of old books. The first page bore the same marking as the one on the cover, and Twilight still didn’t really know what it meant. Carefully, she turned the page to find a crude table of contents, which lacked page numbers, to her disappointment.
The book was written in Old Equestrian, so it must have dated at least a thousand years, before the time of Princess Luna’s banishment.
Nothing I can’t handle, she thought with a smirk.
She turned past the table of contents, and began reading the book proper. Her eyes growing wider and wider the deeper into the book she delved. After only a few pages, she felt a chill run down her spine; she explained it away as nervous anticipation.
An hour later, the candle had burned down low enough that Twilight had to replace it. As she got up from her chair, she felt just how badly she was in need of stretching her legs, and decided to take a quick walk downstairs to do just that.
Some coffee wouldn’t be so bad either. She was already able to smell the roasted beans and creamer.
Twilight was trotting down the stairs to her kitchen when she heard what she at first thought was a sigh. She froze in place for a moment, before shrugging it off and continuing on her way.
“The book must be getting to me,” she jested, rolling her eyes. She wasn’t sure if she truly believed everything in the book—it was written at least a thousand years ago and was rife with superstition.
But what if it were actually possible to… Her thoughts trailed off as she entered the kitchen and shifted her mind to the task at hoof, namely, fixing a nice, warm pot of coffee.
As she went about her perfectly memorized steps to the art of coffee making, Twilight’s mind couldn’t help but wander back to her beliefs regarding such things as necromancy. She had known there were darker sides to unicorn magic, but also that virtually nopony practiced such things. Those terribly few who did were normally isolated and far away from any governing powers. But conjuring the dead… she wasn’t sure if it was even possible.
“There is one way to know for sure…” Twilight immediately cut herself off. “No. I’m legitimately researching an historical topic,” she reminded herself. Besides, if necromancy were possible, why wouldn’t the Princesses make use of it for the betterment of ponykind? This thought puzzled Twilight as she finished pouring her fresh coffee into her favorite mug.
Just as she began cantering back to the stairs, there was a knock on her door.
Now who could that be?
For a split second, she wanted to just pretend she was already asleep, so she could go back to reading in peace. But that would be dishonest and unbecoming of a bearer of an Element of Harmony, she figured.
Passing a clock on her way to the front door, Twilight noticed it was only 9:00 PM. Not quite late enough for a friend’s visit to be deemed unusual.
The knocking increased in intensity.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” she called out as she half set-half dropped her cup of coffee on an end table. Having approached the door, Twilight stopped a moment to put a stray strand of hair back in place.
She pulled open the door with her magic, and behind it were a pair of rose-colored eyes, darting to and fro nervously.
“Hi Twilight!” said Rainbow Dash, a little too loudly for that time of night.
“Good evening, Rainbow. What brings you here at this hour?” inquired Twilight, trying her best to be sound as polite as possible, despite her frustration.
“Nothing,” Rainbow answered with a shrug, “I just wanted to drop by and say ‘hi.’”
Twilight could tell that wasn’t the real reason Rainbow was here; Rainbow was only marginally a better liar than Applejack. She wanted something, and this irked Twilight, as she wanted nothing more than to just get back to her reading. However, she would never turn away a friend in need.
“I’ve just made a pot of coffee, would you like to come in for a few minutes?” offered Twilight.
“Well I don’t want to intrude, but if you insist…”
Mentally, Twilight sighed and almost visibly rolled her eyes.
“I insist, Rainbow.”
“Cool!” said an obviously relieved Rainbow Dash.
Twilight led her winged friend to the kitchen, where a freshly brewed pot of coffee eagerly awaited. After pouring Rainbow a cup, and topping off her own, Twilight decided it was time to see what was troubling her friend.
“So… how was your day?” Twilight probed.
“Fine.”
“Anything on your mind?”
Rainbow stopped froze mid-sip, and then set her cup back down. Her eyes would not leave her cup.
“Well… I’m really nervous about tomorrow’s storm. There’s already a big one building up over the Everfree and I don’t know if I can handle it on top of the storm that’s already been scheduled. I mean, what if it blows over Ponyville while we’re still working on the other one…
“I’m sure you’ll do fine, Rainbow,” Twilight cut in, already having figured out that all Rainbow needed was a small confidence boost. “And I’m confident that you and the weather team can handle anything the Everfree can throw at you.”
“You really think so?” Rainbow brought her eyes up to meet her friend’s, the worried look on her face already beginning to dissipate.
“I know so,” said Twilight with a strong, emphatic nod.
Rainbow smiled, and finished the rest of her coffee in a three sloppy gulps.
“Thanks, Twilight, that means a lot.”
“Anytime.”
“I need to head on home and get to bed, tomorrow’s gonna be a rough day, after all,” said Rainbow as she lifted herself from her chair with her wings and began to hover in place.
“I hope you get a good night’s rest, Rainbow.”
Twilight followed her friend to the door, and Rainbow left without another word. Sighing, Twilight shut the door and turned her thoughts again to the book. With a good downpour scheduled for tomorrow, she’d have an excuse to read all day after she attended to her daily duties.
Perfect.
She returned to the kitchen to put away the dishes, and poured herself the last of the coffee. A moment later, she was already back in front the book, reading away the night.

The next morning was hazy. Twilight groaned softly and rubbed her head while feeling around for her alarm clock. Twilight rubbed her hooves over her face as she tried to recall when exactly she had finally gone to bed. She could not, and could only conclude that she needed one thing: coffee.
She begrudgingly left the warm comfort of her bed to head to the kitchen. Even through her morning haze, she still glanced at the book she had spent most of the night reading as she passed it by. A small part of her hated the book for keeping her up so late. At least she had little to do today.

With her chores finished, and the rainsquall already well underway, Twilight prepared to continue her investigation into the ancient art of Necromancy. She carefully picked up the book with her magic, and went downstairs to read more comfortably in her den. She figured nopony would be out in this weather anyways.
Just as she set the book down, a thought crossed her mind. What would she do if somepony decided to show up? Part of her wanted to return to her room, where nopony would see the book if they came to the library for whatever reason. Her train of thought spiraled downward as Twilight began worrying about the legality of her even being in possession of the book. She began sweating. What if somepony caught her? What if the Royal Canterlot Library finds out what the book truly is? What if Royal Guards show up to take her away? What would Princess Celestia think of all this? Would she banish her?
Before she knew it, Twilight found herself curled up and lying on one side on the floor of her den, stroking her tail repeatedly.
“It’ll be fine, it’ll all be fine…”she reassured herself. “ I’ll finish the book this afternoon, and then return it to Canterlot tomorrow when I go to get Spike… it’ll all be fine.”
Taking a deep, calming breath, Twilight composed herself and settled into a comfortable position on her couch in front of the fireplace. The fire had gone down since earlier that afternoon, but Twilight was too engrossed in her reading to pay heed to it.

The sun had set, and night overtook day as Twilight approached the end of the book. She had learned much, and at the same time, very little. Superstition aside, there were some valid spells, but actually attempting any of them didn’t immediately cross her mind. Those thoughts would come later.
It was well into the night, when Twilight was up late, lying in her bed and staring at the ceiling debating what to do, if anything, with the information she had accrued.
“Should I go to the Princess and tell her everything?” she thought aloud. She managed to wrench her train of thought back on track before she had a repeat of earlier that day.
“I’m fairly certain it isn’t illegal…”
Immediately, more thoughts rushed into her already chaotic mind: plans, ideas, schemes; she knew she could pull it off in secret if she truly wanted to.
But what of my responsibilities as a Bearer of an Element of Harmony? She was torn. On one side, her sense of duty and responsibility. On the other, her insatiable curiosity.
She threw her hooves onto her head in frustration, and let out an exasperated sigh. Deep down, she knew her curiosity would drive her insane if she didn’t at least try some of the spells the book described. Though the spells were different in nature from typical unicorn magic—being almost exclusively ritualistic—Twilight was confident she could pull them off relatively easily. If the spells even did anything, that is.
She tried in vain to think of anything else, but every thought strayed back to her dilemma. After almost an hour internal debate, Twilight finally yielded to her curiosity, and cut a deal with her divided mind: she’d return the book, but keep her notes.

The following morning, Twilight finished the last of the book, and hastily recorded as much information into her notes as she could, as this was the day she planned to return it. Spike would be waiting for her outside the castle, so stopping by the library beforehand would be no problem, in theory. And as she would learn over the next few days, theory and practice can be radically different.