Applied Starlight

by Unknownlight


4 – Secret

“Any progress yet, Twilight?”

“On the spellbook?”

“What else?”

“Eh, not much. I’ve learned that whoever made this enchantment was a far more skilled and experienced mage than I am.”


she was
though maybe not for long

“Well, that’s a good thing, right? If Starshine was less skilled than you are, then whatever secret magic or whatever’s in there would probably be a lot less impressive, I think.”

“Not necessarily; strength in one avenue of magic doesn’t mean a pony will be strong in others. But yes, it’s a good sign. This book is so aggravating, though! It’s designed to mess with your magic if you try to break the spell, which means that the more time I’ve spent trying to figure it out, the more difficult it is to cast proper spells!”

“Mess with your magic? How can it do that?”

“Sorry, that was poor wording on my part. Hmm… this is difficult to explain properly. Okay, imagine this: there’s a target on the wall, and you have to throw a ball to hit the target.”

“Yeah?”


she sits up and lectures

“But while you do this, you’re wearing glasses that use mirrors to distort your vision. Everything looks off-center to, say, a few hooves to the left. So, when you throw the ball, it always strikes the wall to the left of the target even though your throw appeared to be perfect. The only way to hit the target is to compensate by deliberately throwing the ball slightly to the right.”

“That sounds annoying.”


she laments her fate

“It is, but that’s not all! Imagine if every time you fail to hit the target, the glasses change and add to the distortion—say, the target looks like it’s few hooves to the left and a few hooves above where it actually is. It becomes more and more distorted the more attempts you make. Luckily, the book isn’t a source of magic itself, so for the distortion framework to run it needs magic to be pumped into it—said magic, of course, comes from the spells used by the pony who’s trying to break into the book. If I let it sit for thirty minutes, then the residual magic runs out and the distortion resets, but that’s not helpful because it means that after every failed attempt I either have to try to break an even harder lock or wait half an hour before I can try again!”

“That… is actually pretty cool.”


thank you

“Oh, I absolutely agree! It’s just hard for me to appreciate it right now.”

“I wonder what could be so secret that this pony put that much effort into preventing anypony else from reading it?”

“That’s a very good question, Spike. And the only way to find out is to break the enchantment.”

“Hah, of course! So, if Starshine was hiding some big, world-ending secret, and anypony who reads it goes mad or brain dead because they can’t handle the revelation, the only way for us to find out is if we… read it! If we read it and don’t go mad, then it’s safe!”

“I think you’ve been reading too many comic books.”

“Of course, it’s not very hard to make you go mad. Add a sprinkle of ‘tardiness’ here… a dash of ‘the Princess is disappointed in you’ there…”

“Hmph. I’m a princess too, don’t you forget. Anyway, this book is bugging me, and I’m hungry. I’m going to head over to Sugarcube Corner and get some lunch. Do you want to come, or should I bring something back for you?”

“Nah, you can go. I’ll stay here, thanks.”

“Suit yourself. Be back in a bit.”


please do

“See ya, Twilight!”