//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: Spell It // Story: Ducenti Septuaginta Septem // by Capacitor //------------------------------// Part One: The Prophecy, The Princess and The Portal Chapter Six: Spell It Element of Generosity name unknown expert garment designer The original Element of Generosity got affected by a love poison and killed by a dragon 505 before Princess Luna's Banishment. Used by Princess Celestia to petrify Discord. Used by Princess Celestia to banish Princess Luna. “I don't think so” Twilight said. “The similarity is probably a coincidence. This is more than a thousand years old, after all. But there's something else that is remarkable here.” She didn't wait for Spike to express his curiosity and urge her to continue. He probably wouldn't have done that, anyway. “What happened to this 'original Element of Generosity' bears a striking resemblance to the origin story of Hearts and Hooves Day. It would be interesting to find out whether this old legend actually holds some truth. I'll have to keep it in mind for cross-referencing.” Spike just rolled his eyes. Twilight smiled and set the first page aside to take a look at the second. Element of Honesty name contains the word 'apple' competent farmer note: wears a hat The original Element of Honesty was run over by a brigade of troopers 501 before Princess Luna's Banishment. Used by Princess Luna to petrify Discord. Used by Princess Celestia to banish Princess Luna. Spike snorted in a mocking way. “A 'garment designer' that looks like Rarity and a farmer that looks like Applejack are of course just a coincidence. Did I mention they are also the Elements of Generosity and Honesty?” Twilight bit her lip, ignored Spike and pointed out the second impossibility on the sheet. “I don't understand why they give the date relative to the year Luna was banished. This was written before that happened, after all. Whoever wrote this would have to know how the future would look like.” Element of Kindness name unknown skilled beastmaster The original Element of Kindness was caught in a soda-anvil thunderstorm 499 before Princess Luna's Banishment. Used by Princess Celestia to petrify Discord. Used by Princess Celestia to banish Princess Luna. Spike eyed Twilight, daring her to point out how impossible this all was. Twilight in turn sighed. “Well, if the Pinkie Sense taught me anything then that precognition is apparently not entirely impossible.” They looked at the next page. Element of Laughter Pinkamena 'Pinkie' Diane Pie improbable baker The original Element of Laughter got stuck in a semi-stable time loop 1713, 1079 and 503 before and 1001, 1337, 2618 and 15713 after Princess Luna's Banishment. Used by Princess Luna to petrify Discord. Used by Princess Celestia to banish Princess Luna. “I asked for it, didn't I?” “What is a semi-stable time loop?” Spike asked. “I don't know.” Twilight shook her head, not understanding any more of it than he did. “I guess Rainbow Dash is next?” Element of Loyalty Rainbow monosyllable word legendary weather pony The original Element of Loyalty got her mind and soul ripped off and was sealed into a gem 489 before Princess Luna's Banishment. Used by Princess Luna to petrify Discord. Used by Princess Celestia to banish Princess Luna. She sighed. Spike's face showed a complicated mixture of fascination, confusion and discomfort. He even managed to keep it steady for longer than five seconds. “It is really creepy how all these horrible things happened to the ponies who wielded the Elements before you. Do you know anything about that?” “Princess Celestia never mentioned anything.” Element of Magic Dawnstar, Dusk Shine, Twilight Sparkle or a similar name master magician The original Element of Magic fell on her head, lost her teeth, was turned into a reptile and sent to the future 497 before Princess Luna's Banishment. Used by Princess Celestia to petrify Discord. Used by Princess Celestia to banish Princess Luna. She groaned. “I just don't—This is getting ridiculous! I was looking for information on our distant past, not pictures of me and and my friends and obscure notes on some ponies' misery. Not to mention the information suggests foreknowledge of centuries, which, differently than the Pinkie Sense, I have no indication of its existence.” Twilight glared at the paper as she turned the page. Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle, (While that is most probably Your name, I am not infallible and apologise if that should not be the case.) I write to You 1471 years before Your birth in the 983rd year after Princess Luna was banished into the moon for trying to bring eternal night. Even though we are set apart more than fourteen centuries, I know comparatively much about You. You were born the most talented unicorn in 2037 years, maybe even longer. You wield the Element of Magic and have used the Elements of Harmony to cleanse Princess Luna after she returned from her millennial banishment and to imprison Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, nearly two years afterwards. You have now, about four years after You first wielded the Element of Magic, risen to the status of a princess and transformed into an alicorn. Alas, You are more than all this. You are also a keen scholar of the arcane, a friend of books, a seeker of knowledge. I honour that as I myself only strive to learn. It is my hope and desire that we may learn from each other, so that You may teach me the magic of friendship and I may teach You the ways of time and space or the lore of Those Beyond or whatever lies within my grasp and sparks Your interest. However, I am weak here and I cannot reach You from my cold and lonesome state, for I am not of this world. I can only send You this letter, written by the hooves of my faithful student, hope that it may reach You and wait for Your reply. In case You decide to converse with me, You can use the enclosed spell, which, as You can easily see, opens a link of time and space through which light and sound may travel. I eagerly await and hope for an opportunity to speak with You. Yours sincerely on behalf, Princess Everfree, 489th year before Princess Luna's banishment, 473rd year after the founding of Equestria P.S.: I compiled and enclosed some material on the wielders of the Elements of Harmony. I just thought it might interest you. With every line she read, the frown dominating Princess Twilight's face deepened. After finishing the supposedly impossible document, she flipped it a few turns, in the faint hope there would be some kind of explanation on the backside. There was not. “Who wrote this? Why do they want to talk to me? And who is Princess Everfree?” She turned to Spike to have somepony to direct her rant at. “Do you know that this letter here practically rules out any other logical explanation than predicting the future? And, even worse, its not just some hunches or glimpses of the immediate future or obscure and imprecise prophecies. No, this suggests accurately determining exactly what will happen several centuries later—Huh?” She blinked and looked down at Spike, who had picked a piece of parchment that had fallen of her desk. “What is that?” “It's one of your oh so important historical thingies. You got so worked up you blew it away.” He pointed a scaly digit at her widely flared wings. Twilight blushed slightly. Truly, she had not noticed flapping them while going on about the insidious letter. Wings are really something to get used to, she thought as she grabbed the sheet Spike was holding in her spell. She immediately noticed the different writing style. Where the other pages had featured a fine, narrow, and simplistic variety of letters, this particular sheet of vellum featured the wide, complex, ornate and somewhat elegant runes that composed the abstract symbol language of spellcraft, introduced long ago during the Two Sisters' reign by some forgotten Arch Mage of the Magi's Guild – an organisation that had by now transitioned into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. The spell on the tattered and worn piece of parchment was possibly one of the most intricate and complex spells she had ever laid her eyes on. While it didn't have the massive power requirements of, say, an age spell, it was definitely comparable to long distance teleportation. The high difficulty of this spell was for the most part due to the precision and multi-layered thinking that was required to execute the different sub-routines at the same time without disturbing the delicate calibration of the main components. Some of the secondary patterns seemed familiar, though. “A confined illusion? But where do you specify it?” Instead of using a pre-made descriptive matrix or a direct imprint by its caster's mind, as was customary, the spell referred to a particular part of its basic structure as a dynamic source of describing matrices. Quite many of the basic patterns were very similar to that of a teleportation or another instantaneous transmission spell that relied on space-time warping. But while her teleportation spells encased her inside a threedimensional space bubble that would move along the hypothetical fifth and sixth dimensional axes to traverse variable distances, this spell would created a pinpoint curvature, a hyperbolic funnel not in physical space-time but in a separate, yet linked vectorial space, some kind of non-physical plane overlaying the physical world. A few quick calculations and a look at Star Swirl's 'Universal Model of Time and Space' confirmed that the plane in question was in fact the highly theoretical astral plane, a place where Star Swirl believed all magic and all minds were rooted, also acting as some kind of overhead for the empirically proven dreamscape. Thus, the spell would presumably create a warp in a layer of existence where only thoughts and magic could exist. “An information tunnel... but where to?” Once again, the spell would not accept any direct influence from its caster, but rather followed a peculiar and indeterminable pattern of actions. Tracing the mechanisms back to their origin, Twilight discovered the answer to her question: Similar to some ritualistic spells, this one required a suitable focus to channel and control the arcane energies and some of its major components. She eyed the encircled polygon at the centre of the parchment. This sigil would direct the astral funnel, but it still didn't give her any valid position in time or space. Even with her understanding of how the spell would interpret the rune composition, the specifications it gave seemed wrong, out of place. Looking at it searching for spatial coordinates was like measuring a remaining angle in a right triangle with the result being a volume divided by a tensile force. Nevertheless, it now seemed clear to her what the spell did. “It channels information from one place to another and creates an image from that information. With such a spell, you can talk to somepony that is miles away. Even better, the spell should act regardless of distance in space and time. A few modifications, and it might allow us to see into the past! That is, if it actually works.” And this was, in fact, the question that filled her with burning curiosity. The question whether the spell would work could, however, not be answered simply by studying its structures. It was far too complex and extended into many areas of magic that had not been sufficiently researched, as, for example, the astral plane. The only way to find out was to try. Twilight felt uneasy. The last time she had tried a spell of uncertain use, things had become rather unpleasant. She glanced down at the spell again as she wondered how to resolve the issue of the potential hazard casting the spell would present. In the area of testing experimental spells with the possibility of dangerous side effects, research unicorns often employed so-called arcano-hermetic seals, a type of magical forcefield that could absorb most magical impacts. They were quite simple to cast, but didn't really have any use aside from containing rogue spells or shielding off magic radiation. Any somewhat accomplished sorcerer could bypass them with little effort, and solid matter went right through them. When testing the effects of a new spell, at least one researcher would erect such a seal while their colleague would perform the spell inside the shielded area. She, on the other hoof, was alone. Theoretically, it was possible to create such a field, then bypass it without destroying it and cast a spell inside the field while safely standing outside the field. Once in place, the field would take little effort to sustain. In fact, the largest strain would arise from the amount of magic this would require. A hermetic seal, while comparatively simple and incredibly effective against uncoordinated magic energy, took quite a lot of power to cast. It would be immensely difficult to do this with this particular spell, but as long as she prioritised the forcefield, there wasn't really anything that could go wrong, aside from her failing to cast this information transit spell. If one considered the possible gain, however... Twilight decided it was worth a shot. She put the heap of ancient parchments under a decent preservation spell, stored them in the Marked Box where she had found them and proceeded to clear an area in the centre of her basement lab. After she had moved piles of books, alchemical set-ups and a few heavy worktables to the walls, she arranged several of her high-end technomantic measurement devices around the free space. She had also used some of them when trying to find an explanation for the ominous 'Pinkie Sense' and now figured that using these sensitive devices to measure the arcane fluctuations caused by the spell, she would get some results even if she didn't manage to cast it or if it failed for some other reason. Naturally, they would have to be calibrated properly, so she cast the arcano-hermetic seal and adjusted the sensors to account for the distortion caused by the forcefield. When all of them had been aligned to the centre of the spherical field, it was time to put the spell's focus into place. She looked at the page again and concentrated on the central polygon. Ever so slowly, an exact copy of the eight-sided star took shape before her eyes, composed completely of her soft-glowing magenta magic. As the construct was finished, it sunk lightly onto her waiting hoof. It was delicate as a snowflake, like an ink drawing from which the paper had been removed. It was now, alas fragile, able to exist independent from her concentration, a two-dimensional slice of proto-matter, a thin sheet of solidified magic. Twilight grasped it in her telekinesis, slowly moving it towards the hermetic barrier. She held her breath. This was the crucial part of the preparations. She would now have to circumvent the seal while contemporarily sustaining it, without crushing the focus by accident. Slowly, the floating diagram sunk into the surface of the forcefield, in fact a difficult process akin to manoeuvring a thread through the eye of a needle without fraying its end (or without breaking a snowflake attached to said end). After a painful minute of vigilant silence, Twilight finally released her breath. The focus was suspended inside the barrier, her telekinetic grasp, the magic that was an extension of her will, had bypassed her own seal. She regarded the machines to check whether they were working as they were supposed to. A quick glance showed her they were registering her construct right as she had created it. She gave a small smile, wiped away the thin film of sweat that had accumulated above her brows and reset her tiara. Now, everything was ready for the spell itself. She charged her already glowing horn further up and started the third of the three spells she was parallely casting: First, the containment seal; second, a minor suspension spell to keep the focus aloft at the forcefield's centre; lastly, the information transition spell she was actually trying out. It was by far the most difficult of the three. Due to its decentralised, parallelised sub-routine structure, casting it was on its own like casting at least four different spells. Still, this wasn't the only peculiarity the spell featured. Instead of branching out from a central basis around which several functional components were aligned, this spell required a basic structure to be in place first, like a framework into which the other parts had to be fitted with minute accuracy. If any of the components where placed incorrectly or slightly malformed, none of the rest would fit and the whole spell would fall apart. She put the framework into place and waited for it to accept her focus. It quickly did so, extrapolating various patterns from the octagon-bound rune complex. Now Twilight would put the spell together piece by piece, first realising a sub-component as a magic pattern and then precisely integrating it into the framework. Every now and then, she looked at the graphs the machines were spewing out as she poured more and more power into the spell. It didn't really do anything until she placed the last component, a connective grid which would allow the other sub-components to interact not only with the mainframe, but also directly with each other. As the final piece snapped into place, the spell autonomously severed the connection to its caster and started warping the astral plane around it into a narrow funnel, as the graphs seemed to confirm. The floating, glowing focus rotated with increasing speed, shrinking as it was slowly filling the deepening warp in the other dimension. For Twilight Sparkle, it was some kind of relief as the spell would now function on its own. The only spell she would have to keep up was the forcefield. The funnel was now completed, the spell stuck in it like a cork in a bottle. Then, suddenly, the very centre of the funnel started fluctuating wildly, indicated by the readings from the apparati. She reasoned this would be the connection being established as the funnel connected to wherever the focus it had directed to. The spell was now only visible as a small, vibrant orb of light. And then, the orb expanded, flashed and quickly changed shape and colour. There, inside the hermetic field, stood a violet unicorn, or at least the fascinatingly realistic image of a unicorn. In fact, the only thing that made Twilight make this distinction was that she knew the spell would create illusory images and that her unreal guest lacked magic of her own. The unicorn was rather young, even younger than she had been when she first came to Ponyville. She also was thin, not the desirable slim-and-attractive-thin though, but rather the unpleasant been-through-a-famine-thin that was the result of a low food per time density. Below her light blue mane, a pair of yellowish – the greenish yellow of autumn leaves, not the one of sunflowers – eyes gave her a piercing gaze. The mare bowed slightly, a smile playing around her lips. “Greetings, Princess Twilight Sparkle. It is a great pleasure to finally meet you. Would Her Highness mind if I dropped the formal tone and spoke to Her as one does to their next?” Twilight stared at the other pony. The spell had worked, that much was clear. She had, while the possible use of such a spell for means of communication was discernible, not expected it to be in such a direct manner. The question that escaped her before she could think of a better one was indeed the most obvious. “Who are you?” The smile returned, wandering across the unicorn's face like a reader's eyes wandered across a book's pages. “Who am I?”, she repeated, showing glee at receiving the question. “That is a question with a multitude of answers and I do not yet know all of them. Nevertheless, I will attempt to answer it to a certain degree. What you see before you is the illusory image of my dear friend Goodwyrm and what you hear is a reconstruction of her voice, both utilised to commune. My role in history is that of a selfish benefactor. While my actions were serving the sole purpose of enabling this very conversation, Equestria would be in a arguably less favourable state now if my past influence had not been. My calling is that of a scholar, I seek to know what there is to know. As to what I am , I am afraid I do not have a precise answer as I only have a vague idea of my state of being. And if you wish to know my name, I will have to disappoint you as I do not know it.” Taken slightly aback by the strange answer, Twilight half stated, half asked “So you wrote that letter.” The smile had faded, making way for an expression of mild curiosity, one that signalled the conversation to be pleasant, nonetheless to be costing very little mental effort. “As much is obvious,” she confirmed. “Yes”, Twilight said as another thought struck her, a detail that caught her attention. “But why don't you have a name? Doesn't everypony have one?” “I am afraid you misunderstood.” An eyebrow arched upwards into a nearly flawless parabola. “My name is indeed existent, only unknown. Its nature is such that knowing it is equivalent to knowing all that is knowable. You can not know my one true name if you are not omniscient. Consequently, if you know my name, you are in fact omniscient. It is a mutual dependence. An equivalence. Aside from my one true name, however, if I consciously bind myself to an existence within a world, I take a name for the way I exist in it – and the other way round. Again, these are mutually dependent. I personally prefer to call this named existence an incarnation because it often involves gaining a physical body. As I am currently not incarnate in Equestria, I do not know my name here because I have not chosen it yet and also can not do so at this moment.” A little into that monologue, the unicorn had begun idly wandering the basement, casually passing the hermetic barrier just like a normal pony would. Twilight decided to remove the seal as there wasn't really much point to it if the spell it was supposed to contain was not actually in it. She also noticed that the spell, despite being separated from her, didn't seem to destabilise, a sign that it was maintained from elsewhere. Wherever this nameless other magic user was, she claimed not to be in Equestria. Though, she had used that name as if to describe the whole universe, not just the kingdom, which made Twilight wonder. “If you are not in Equestria, where are you?” she asked, minding to keep the wording the same as her partner in dialogue. The illusory pony, Goodwyrm, rose a hoof to her chin, just as if the notion of location was a quite curious one. “For the most part, I do not exist at all. While I do so at a number of places and times, the portion of me that is is, while immense, infinitesimal when compared to the part that is not.” That didn't seem to make sense. Either this other pony had some very... unique views on reality, or she was quite confused regarding the topic. Partial non-existence? What was that supposed to be? Apparently, Twilight's confusion had been visible on her face as Goodwyrm quickly begun to elaborate. “Imagine a foggy night in Ponyville. Outside, you have the darkness. This is the Void, where nothing is. There is also the fog, which is me. It pervades the darkness and therefore is not. In the village, you have houses. These are like your world. The houses are full of light, so that the things inside exist.” Goodwyrm's horn glowed, and the translucent image of a house appeared above her. Of course she was not really using magic, as Twilight noticed, but merely expanding the illusion that made her appear. The house was small, light shone from its curtained windows, billowing fog surrounded it. “The fog can peek inside through the windows and catch a few specks of light, but it can not get in. What you are doing right now is looking through a gap between the curtains and talking to the fog outside.” The fog pressed itself against the glass, taking on strange shapes wherever the light fell on it. The curtains moved, and a small pony peeked through them, smiling and waving down at Twilight. Princess Twilight slowly nodded. A unique view it was. Still, she did not know whether this truly was a non-pony being from outside the world or just a pony gone mad. However, the facts that this being was supposedly more than fourteen centuries old and that the focus had not targeted a normal place or time seemed to make the former much more likely. She assumed this as her working hypothesis and looked up at the little house. “And if somepony opens the door, the fog can get in and that is your incarnation, right?” “Yes,” Goodwyrm hissed, putting great emphasis on the last letter. “However, only a small fraction of the fog can enter the building. As the outside is many times larger than the inside, most of the fog is not to be contained within the light. This is how the world appears to me. There are those who are like the ponies inside the house. They are mortals because they live finite lives in time, space and matter. Then there are Those Beyond who are alike the fog. They are without time and space and matter and such not limited by them, eternal and endless. I am one of them. But we can not see each other because there is no light. We exist separately, or rather not-exist separately, therefore we are alone. Of course, this allegory of light, fog and darkness fails as you illuminate other aspects, but it still is a nice way for you to imagine it, even if it is largely inaccurate.” It was an intriguing idea, the concept of a being that existed ('exist' didn't seem to be the right word) independent from what was commonly referred to as reality, Twilight had to admit. But what was currently more interesting then the fact she could talk to such a being like to a normal pony was what this being had just implied. “So there are more like you?” Twilight was somewhere between fascination and fearful irritation. “We are alike, brethren, but all different,” Goodwyrm confirmed. An amused glint lit up in her yellow eyes. “I believe you have already encountered One of Those Beyond, who is incarnate Discord.” All fascination vanished and she took an instinctive step backwards as Twilight's stomach clenched, feeling as if it had fallen into icy water. “You are like Discord?!” Twilight blurted out, her voice on the edge between alarm and hysteria. The creature that used Goodwyrm's shape threw her head back and chuckled. “Calm child. Saying I am like Discord is like saying you are like Sombra. We are akin, but vastly different. We both are from beyond, yes. But while he is Chaos, I am Knowledge. He is like, and yet unlike me.” She glanced at Twilight's sceptical expression. “You do not trust me. That is good, for else you would have been naïve. And if you were, it would only benefit those who want you ill.” The glint returned, this time accompanied by a tight-lipped smirk. “In a royal, naivety can turn out to be quite the lethal disability.” Twilight was glaring some more at the self-righteous illusion when realization struck her like one of Pinkie's rich chocolate cream cakes. “You wanted me to get suspicious. You knew how I would react. Just like—”, her eyes widened as she remembered the infuriating letter, “—you knew I would cast the spell. There are perhaps half a dozen ponies alive who could pull that spell off, but you somehow knew I would. You knew I was going to get that letter...” she trailed off. Goodwyrm was looking at her, head tilted to the side, eyebrow raised. “You dated the letter in relation to when Luna was banished. You knew she was going to turn into Nightmare Moon. How could you know all these things before they actually happened?” Clicking her tongue, Goodwyrm dismissively waved a hoof. “It is really not that big a mystery. In fact, it is mainly a matter of perspective. For me, looking at the course of history is a bit like watching a delectable dessert on a parabolic arc through the air. You can estimate what path it will take, where it will land and that the floor will have to be cleaned afterwards, but not much more. I know what will most probably happen by extrapolating what has happened, but nothing too detailed, just as you might estimate the course of an object by its trajectory. However, this course is affected by even the slightest breeze, just as a single word at the right place and time can change the fate of a nation a hundred years later. To conclude, I foresaw, for example, the day of your birth 535635 days before it took place, but that we now talk to each other has stemmed from my intent and is the result of my doing.” She clapped/clopped her front hooves together. “Now that we are on the topic of our very conversation, I would like to negate its excessive one-sidedness and ask you how you managed to correctly rewrite Star Swirl's spell. I knew you would, but the technical details eluded me. For centuries I have been looking forward to learn them.” Having not had an opportunity to elaborately discuss the details of this spell, Twilight could hardly resist going on another lecturer's rampage, even given the odd circumstances. “It may sound a bit strange, but I'm actually not quite sure what Star Swirl's spell was supposed to do.” She blinked, flashing a nervous smile. “I know it switched my friends' cutie marks, but it didn't work right, after all. I can only assume that Star Swirl wanted to use the Elements of Harmony to empower a pony so that they can fulfil their destiny. It doesn't make much sense, because the Elements of Harmony first appeared when the Princesses used them to defeat Discord. Even though Star Swirl could not have known them and didn't understand their base principle, friendship, the spell was designed to interact with the Elements and actually managed to do so. If anyone else but an Element bearer happened to use the original version written by Star Swirl, nothing would have happened.” Goodwyrm was listening focusedly and nodded both to express approval of her thesis and to invite her to proceed. Encouraged such, Twilight quickly continued. “Thus, it has to have been a spell made to transfer magic from the Elements to a pony. Any other explanation would be even more implausible. Still, Star Swirl did a great job considering he understood neither how friendship or the Elements work. You see, both the Elements and friendship act on a common principle of—er...” She fumbled, for an instant unable to find a fitting expression. “Togetherness, yes. The Elements of Harmony can only work when all of them are used together. A single Element can do next to nothing, just like a single pony cannot form a bond of friendship. Star Swirl did not know this, so his spell does not reflect this togetherness, but rather the sense of egocentricity and individualism prevalent to his era.” She smiled at the image of Goodwyrm, hoping for a sign of approval. “'From one to another, another to one. One mark of destiny singled out alone, fulfilled.'” Goodwyrm quoted in agreement. “Yes, I see what you mean.” “What I realised was that, just like friends help each other, a spell utilizing the Elements would have to be supported by friendship, by all the ponies connected to them. It isn't just enough to activate the Elements together, you have to activate them together with your friends. You mustn't think of the Elements as something separate when you use them, the Elements and the bearers have to form a unity. Once I had figured out what that meant for the spell, I only had to listen to my heart to tell me how to set it right in detail, to find a wording that reflected what I thought and felt.” She noticed the expression on Goodwyrm's face had changed from eager curiosity to—something new, an emotion she didn't think she had ever seen before. The strange look the other pony gave her made her feel uneasy. “It isn't as silly as you might think. Like friendship itself, the magic of friendship stems from the heart, and like the heart guides the friendship, it guides the magic. “ She averted her gaze, not wanting to look into the eerily probing yellow eyes. “I suppose it is a bit difficult to understand without experiencing it yourself.” “I understand,” Came the voice of Goodwyrm, carrying a tone like a truckload of tombstones. “As it appears, I envy you because you can listen to your heart. It seems to simplify things greatly.” She looked up to find Goodwyrm giving her a sad little smile. She blinked, trying to reclaim the track her thoughts had been travelling along. “Anyway, in some ways I understand how the Elements of Harmony work, I understand how to use them and how their bearers interact with each other and with the Elements, but I don't really know how the Elements interact with each other or how their magic works, other than that it is based on the magic of friendship. Because I don't understand the Elements completely, I also don't really know what the spell does,” she explained. “The Elements of Harmony,” Goodwyrm commented, her voice light once more, “are a whole world just by themselves.” “Speaking of which, what is the matter with these 'original Elements of Harmony' you mentioned in your letter's appendix?” Spreading slowly, a knowing smile contorted Goodwyrm's features. “Dear Twilight”, she said, “I think it is time I told you the tale of the Six Princesses.” She cleared her throat, which, in spite of being a pointless thing to do for an illusion, served the purpose of creating a brief pause before the story itself and giving her time to flare up her horn and make a floating frame appear before Twilight, inside which a moving picture accented her tale. “Our story begins in a setting which you are undoubtedly familiar with: Fleeing from a long, harsh winter and a devastating famine, the three pony nations of old each discovered the plentiful land of Equestria, each nation claiming it for themselves in spite of the other two. The ensuing war did not only further weaken the three tribes, but also attracted the herd of windigos who brought the cold with them.” The frame filled with a dark, cloud-covered sky and a bright, snow-covered plain. Countless dots moved to and fro amongst the snow, like ants swarming their hill. Every now and then, a flash of light erupted from one of the dots, courtesy of the offensive spells hurled by the unicorn war mages. “The situation worsened till the day of the final battle. This day might have been the end of the ponies, they would have fallen either to their brethren's hooves, horns and wings or the deadly chill of the windigos. But this is not what happened.” All movement in the picture ceased. The dots grew, ponies became recognisable, pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, all ceased to fight, all stared at the sky, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, ears twitching to sounds Twilight did not hear. Then fear started to spread on the faces as they saw the malicious spirits circling above, beginning to comprehend the dreadful demise they had brought upon themselves. “When the ponies realised they had unknowingly sealed their own fate, a single unicorn stepped forth, one known as Clover, and spoke to the armies. He spoke of peace, of friendship, of happiness, of overcoming hate, of overcoming the windigos, of overcoming the winter. He spoke of the sun, of spring, of growth, of love and warmth. In short: he spoke of the hope for a better future. And when he had spoken, a wonder happened: the ponies believed in what he said.” A stallion came into view, arguing, gesturing, quickly pleading to the rallied soldiers. As his mouth closed, his shoulders slouched, his hopeful gaze swept over the ponies, the sun rose behind him and a rainbow of colours burst forth. Multi-hued light soared across the skies, sweeping away the heavy clouds. The ponies looked up again, hope reflecting in their faces. Clover's eyes began to glow, and purple flames erupted from his horn. The picture faded. “You all know what happened next: The Fire of Friendship ignited, the three tribes made peace, Equestria was founded. During these early days of the newly founded land, six fillies were born, two from each tribe, all on the same day. These fillies were something utterly new, possessing an earth pony's strength, a pegasus' wings and a unicorn's horn. They were children of destiny, destined to Harmony. So strong was the bond of their destiny, each of them had her mark since their first days.” The symbol of Harmony appeared inside the frame, six gems set in gold; the Elements of Harmony. Then the golden ornaments broke away and the gems aligned in a line: violet, orange, green, blue, red and purple. From the gems grew six beautiful mares, horned and winged, their flanks adorned with the gem they sprouted from. “They were the first bearers of the Elements of Harmony: The Princess of Generosity, who thought of those in need and who gave in abundance. The Princess of Honesty, who was a righteous judge and an open mind. The Princess of Kindness, wishing to put an end to all suffering and to heal all wounds. The Princess of Laughter, full of joy and optimism. The Princess of Loyalty, whose first care was always for her subjects. The Princess of Magic, clever, powerful and a wonderful friend. They were brought together as newborn foals and they were raised together, sisters in everything but their blood. Through their natural might, their cooperation, their embodiment of the ideals Clover had envisioned and their destined control over day and night they quickly came to hold power over the three tribes and led Equestria to her first golden age of prosperity. Through combined effort, they led the nation to become what Clover the Clever had imagined: a land in which the ponies of all tribes lived in peace and friendship and the tribes would coexist for their mutual benefit. After their reign had lasted four decades, 'alicorn' had become just another word for 'princess' and Equestria now encompassed what had remained of the tribal nations and exceeded them in wealth. After four centuries, Equestria was nearly as big as she is now. There was peace with the neighbouring countries, bad harvests were a thing of the past, clothing was a decorative luxury, not protection from the weather. The windigos were thought to be extinct, what remained of the great monsters of the past had been imprisoned in Tartarus. 'Alicorn' had become just another word for 'goddess'. Equestria's glory and her princesses' power had reached their zenith.” Gleaming cities and great castles with shining spires flew by. Wide fields bore rich seas of golden grain. Big, colourful fruit hung from the great trees of opulent orchards. Crowds of ponies jubilated, cheering up at the Six Princesses. “Its downfall was heralded by a single unicorn prince, who wished to court the Princess of Generosity. Blinded by his love and his fear of rejection, he listened to a spirit that promised him an end to his doubts and reciprocation of his feelings and gave him a love potion's recipe. Arranging a dinner with the Princess, he replaced the drinks with the potion and as they both took a sip and gazed into each others' eyes, they fell under its spell, hypnotised by their emotions.” Two ponies, mare and stallion filled the frame, staring into each others eyes over a dinner table. “The exact convolutions of that day have been preserved as the Tale of Hearts and Hooves Day. I do not have time or reason to expand on them. What is important for our story is that by the time the remaining princesses arrived at their sister's castle, nothing but smouldering ruins were left of it and the Princess of Generosity had died in the dragonfire.” Flames consumed the image and the six alicorns appeared once again. The first burst up in flames and quickly burned to a pile of ashes. “The spirit revealed himself and declared his rule over Equestria. What followed in the years after this could be described as a war in which the Princesses fought the spirit to hold him at bay. In truth, they never stood the slightest chance. They could not even stall him. The fight only went on because it amused the Spirit of Chaos. And he crushed them, one by one. The spirit shattered and scattered the Princess of Laughter over the whole of reality. The Princesses of Honesty and Kindness fell victim to the havoc he wrought.” In a flash, one of the princesses broke into contorting, iridescent smears that glittered for a moment and vanished. Another fell down and was trampled by many feet. A third was crushed by a humongous chunk of iron. “The Princess of Magic challenged the spirit to a magic duel and lost.” One of the last two princesses started shaking, slammed to the ground and turned into something small and green before vanishing in a vortex of blinding colours. “And when the last princess invoked his ire, the spirit made her destiny become reality.” The remaining alicorn shrunk away until only the gem that had been her cutie mark remained. Finally, the frame emptied again and faded. “That is the brief tale of the Six Princesses, from their birth up to their end, the tale of the rise of Equestria, her first golden age and her fall and the beginning of the Reign of Chaos.” As she wrapped up her story, the tranquil and slightly absent expression that had appeared while she had been talking disappeared and made way for a grim little mixture between a frown and a smile. “Alas, while I have thoroughly enjoyed it, we will have to cut this conversation short. Hopefully, it will only be the first of many.” She gave a bow and backed away a few steps. Having looked forward to asking some questions about the story, Twilight frowned. An actual frown with furrowed eyebrows, not the tight-lipped thing Goodwyrm had on her face. “What's the matter?” She inquired. Goodwyrm raised both eyebrows as simply raising a single one didn't seem to suffice. “Our time is up. Alea iacta sunt. You have an appointment.” As far as Twilight remembered, and she did as clear and bright as a diamond in daylight, she had scheduled the whole day for studying (though she had done a terrific job getting distracted), so there weren't any appointments. The statement was puzzling and, even worse, seemed illogical. “What do you mean?” Goodwyrm once more recycled the good old knowing smirk. “If somepony asks about me, tell them about the gate and the key.” And with that, she imploded as the spell that created the illusion dissolved into a tacky little wisp of magenta smoke that elegantly twirled upwards. After Twilight had spent approximately π seconds (matching up to at least seven digits) blinking, staring at the space were the image of Goodwyrm had stood and being generally puzzled, a very unique noise interrupted her confusion. It was a very characteristic noise, and if you had heard it once, you would probably recognise it as soon as you heard it again. It was a mechanic sort of noise, like a very hard-working engine, starting on a high note and finishing on a low one, a metallic, resonating sort of screech that lasted for about a second. Twilight's ear twitched. It had come from above, she noted as her confusion was replaced by more confusion. The noise repeated itself, stronger this time. It has to be Pinkie, she decided as she climbed the stairs while the recurring noise kept up. We have left her alone upstairs and now she's up to something crazy. But, differently than she had hoped, it wasn't Pinkie Pie who was creating the noise. It was a big blue outhouse with a spinning light perched atop its slightly peaked roof, and it was slowly materialising right in the middle of Princess Twilight Sparkle's living room. For some indiscernible reason, the sight of the noisy blue box filled her with the notion of psychotic pepper-grinders thoroughly disliking this box. She quickly discarded the thought, though, and decided to be angry. This was her living room, after all. Her living room, in her library. Which was supposed to be quiet. It was okay if things appeared when she cast spells that would make things appear. It was not okay if strange blue boxes appeared, well, out of the blue. She glared at its blue door. It opened, and out stepped a rather unexpected guest. He regarded the room with a quick glance and then smiled at her widely. “Good afternoon, Miss Sparkle. I'm the Doctor.” Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow.