(Ponyville)
"And now you are going to stuff your face with pastries." The white pegasus, WK, sighed. "I'm so jealous."
They were travelling at a sedate pace, enjoying the pleasant afterglow. The spa visit had been absolutely wonderful.
"You do know we are the same, no?" The cerise-haired unicorn, WQ, asked with a quirked eyebrow. "Once we dispel, the patterns of mental energy will be implanted onto every single remaining one, giving them our memories. You will enjoy those treats just the same as I - if you don't dispel earlier, that is, which would give us your memories."
"And what memories." He waggled his eyebrows, lightly bumping into her. "I still feel shivers from the extra treatment."
"Me too." WQ sighed contently. "Do you want another go some other time?"
WK became pensive for a moment, though without stopping - Rainbow Dash would be waiting for WQ, so time was of the essence.
"Is it weird how we, as ponies, are always like that?" He asked. "If you weren't me, I'd probably smack you for getting sidetracked with that."
"Not any weirder that having discussions with ourselves." She giggled. "And my oh my - threatening yourself. What does that say of our sanity?"
"Sanity is relative, and all of the really powerful, interesting characters have their eccentricities anyways." WK snorted, shaking his head and making his mane whip about. "Those of us that master the secrets of ubiquity have a different standard, that's all; insanity does not factor if you are a separate mind - or even a hive mind."
"And being casual with such techniques, the powers of shape-shifting, and everything in general is the reward for such mastery." WQ chuckled politely. "Having the magical equivalent of a translator rocks absolutely. Need earth pony-aligned magic, but in the shape of a unicorn spell? No need to hunt for the elusive plant-mark-bearing unicorn, or a friend of diaphanous wings with unusual aptitudes, just do it yourself. Same with turning pegasus magic into unicorn magic to apply a 'caster only' spell meant for the latter while you are the former."
"Got its own share of problems, though."
"As anything, I suppose. On better news, that visit to the spa was much better than a full night's sleep and three meals in recharging magical energy."
"No wonder why Rarity likes it so much."
*****
(Blueblood, noon)
The prince stared at the map, hard.
Really, really hard.
Any harder, and his gaze would physically manifest and make a hole on the parchment.
Bramble and Fresh Bread, the ponies that had accompanied him on the trip that earned him his cutie mark, were more than glad to join him. He beg-requested that they help him for old times' sake.
Bramble's 'playful' punch to the shoulder still hurt; it felt like that time he fell down the stairs because the dre-... the... garment he was wearing was too long and snagged one of his hooves.
Ah, to be five years old with a princess for a second mother.
Oh, yeah, Bramble and Fresh Bread. Right. They would be an immense help.
"Did you request my presence, sir?" That playfully mocking tone could only be-
"Wind Strider, what a pleasure." He chuckled, looking away from his map for the first time in minutes to face the albino mare.
"If you want to set something on fire, a match is more effective." She smirked. "Or is your memory really that bad?"
He couldn't let her know that he was currently seeing an imprint of the map on her coat from retinal fatigue - she'd never let him live it down.
Wind Strider was a pure white pegasus that wore sunglasses everywhere - her eyes were too sensitive to light, even if there was a spell to help correct and protect the eyesight of an albino. She only wore things that she liked, public opinion be darned, and she liked Carousel Boutique's designs; unfortunatelly, that meant that seeing her was a reminder of his atrocious 'goof', as they would say.
That seamstress was just too refined for her own good. Really, how was he supposed to know that she wasn't a gold-digger?!
He sighed, ignoring her little jab.
"Are Beloved and Dagger up to an adventure?" He asked with a smile - a genuine, if tired, one. Strider was one of the few non-staff who knew the real him, so there was no need to weave an intricate dance of fake politeness - she would just try to cut through to the issue, in any case.
"Of course! They might act stoic all the time, but I can tell that they are getting bored - they are still my kids." She chuckled behind her hoof.
"Good!" He clapped his hooves twice, and a maid quickly served some tea. Auntie hired good ponies; if he didn't know better, he would have sworn that the maid had appeared out of thin air and read his mind - they were like ninjas or something. "Thank you, Grace."
Graceful Touch bowed, then did that thing maids did all the time, when they seemed to vanish. He knew that she was actually behind him, if only because the tray was polished to a mirror shine.
"Do you have what I asked for?" Blueblood couldn't keep a hint of excitement from becoming known.
"Yes, dear, what did you expect? All of that money from the cinematographic industry has to be good for something. I assume that you have 'the perfect supplier' for the winter gear?" Strider gave him a knowing smile, and, though her eyes were covered, he knew she had one of those looks in them.
"Well, I thought it an appropriate start to making amends." He coughed.
"And that a certain 'Bookish Delight' lives in the same town has nothing to do with it." She grinned wider, leaning forward.
"I-I do not know what you are talking about." He stammered, looking away in indignation.
"Mm hmm. So there will be no detours to see that dreamy scholarly beauty?" She leaned even further.
"I-I still don't know what are you insinuating." He leaned back, blushing faintly. "I merely wish to visit the local library to get updated maps."
"Ah!" She stifled a gasp with a hoof. "So that was the reason you were staring at the map! You wanted an excuse!"
Suddenly, she was just about to press her muzzle against his.
He yelped and fell over backwards. She laughed, clapping her hooves.
"Bluey and Sparkle, sitting in a tree!" She couldn't keep singing from her laughter; the sight of his luminescent blush was just too funny.
"STRIIIIIDEEEER!!!"
*****
(Celestia, teatime)
"... needs the Elements and some friends, that much is obvious..." Celestia mumbled, trying to decipher the meaning of the spell.
She had thought the last entries to be separate spells, all incomplete yet unrelated; Starswirl tended to work on several projects in parallel, and so it would not surprise her.
Not quite.
The spellbook was very thorough, ridiculously so, and yet the components cancelled each other out along the way; only a few weaves became involved in the actual casting. Each component, by itself, was not complicated; any unicorn capable of using all of them, however, would be one of the talented ones, indisputably. Wildly different spell systems that, given the odds, would no doubt clash with a given unicorn's personal style more than once.
Still, it was time for a brief recess from guilt- scaring- court, and she wanted to talk some more with her... business partners.
Typhon's adoptive daughter, a senior member of his original band, and the daughters of another member.
She stored the book away to study it in more detail some other time.
She listened to the tale of their meeting with Typhon, and almost managed to get lost in thought.
If he could truly be in two places at once, that explained how he managed to do everything he had in such times. Heck, just remembering all of the things she had on her plate gave her a headache.
"Being in two places at once was the very start." Flitter, the White Queen, said. "We made spells to do that and more."
"This one..." Prosperity gestured to herself. "Is an advanced one. It appears to be easy, and it truly is uncomplicated, and does not require material components beyong the scroll I used as a channel-slash-focus; the requirements are harsh, however, and is virtually made of red flags. I would not recommend casting this without the OK of an experienced user."
"Wind Whistler worked her tail off to make sure she was able to direct it properly." Flitter commented, sighing.
"Hmm? Why would she do something like that?" Celestia found herself asking before she could reign in her mouth.
"What do you remember of her?" Prosperity looked at her in the eye... still hurt, naturally.
"I remember how hard she and Windstorm worked, and how they were joined at the hip-"
Immediately, Flitter fell to the ground, laughing her head off - at least it was a private room. Her loud guffaws betrayed her frail appearance and usually calm voice, and her thin legs struck the (carpeted) floor harder than Celestia thought she had it in her. Prosperity hid her face behind her claws.
"Oh sweet Swadhisthana! That's priceless!" She bellowed uproariously, hood thrown back and kicking her hindlegs into the air. "No more! No more! I drank too much! BWAHAHA!"
"Not. One. Night." Prosperity grumbled, barely audible from behind her claws. "Ever since their first time. Not one night."
Celestia then realized what she had said, what it could be construed as, and the benefits of having a double that for all accounts truly was you to do things in your stead.
Celestia's rosy coat turned a stronger shade of pink.
*****
(Typhon)
Nightmare Night is fast approaching.
It's a night of full moon.
See, I once heard that there are not enough miracles to go around, that the crickets have arthritis, that taking a miracle means that you are not letting someone else have it.
"Isn't that the stupidest thing you've ever heard?" I told myself. "Crickets can't get arthritis... and if there are not enough miracles... you move past the miracle-worker, and go for the miracle-maker."
I was going to get some answers, and add more information to our 'little' library.
I - my friends - we are more than simply magic users, more than 'just' spell-casters.
Each of us is a full-blown Thaumaturge, blending magic both old and new with science, dreams with reality, all to make what we want to happen, happen. The Essences of Hope and Light alone mean that there was very little we could not do, and even that can be worked around.
I was absolutely sure of it.
See, back before Equestria, before a lot of things, there were numerous creatures and phenomena that - should they be here today - would stomp anything short of Celestia, Luna or the Elements to the ground... and yet, they were defeated or overcome - sure, some thanks to the Elements, but they were not the only option, just the fastest and most powerful.
How? I can almost hear the question.
Well, I wasn't sure - not at hundred-percent certainty - but I was confident that the answer I had was accurate.
Harmonization with Magic. Capital 'M' Magic with bold, italics, underscored, in gigantic letters of fire with glitter and angelic chorus and divine light with a whole lot of black for contrast.
The original Typhon, Echidna, old, legendary wizards, the more Starswirl and I studied them the more certain we were that they didn't use magic the way others did. Can anyone imagine beating something as strong as Tiamat or Celestia with only a few years' worth of experimental techniques born from half-defined principles? At least Celestia and Luna had the age, raw power, and a lot of experience from trying to get around my own techniques and/or get them for themselves.
Not to mention all those other bonuses, but I don't feel like spending three hours explaining all I know about the sisters, immortality, the Elements, alicorn-hood, and the like.
Magic that reacts to your thoughts and wishes, with no need to control it consciously because your control is already completely and totally perfect. Just like The Breeze is for me, particularly now that I am a god-tier level player - I suspect that now I don't have to worry so much about activating powers from the wrong class at the wrong moment; it seems to do what I wanted, my will made manifest in the wind. Just like Fire is for Suzy, Wood for Seiryu, Water for Genbu, and Metal for Byakko - along with all of the powers Associated to the names of the constellations under them.
Progress enough, and I bet that two of the greatest illusions people hold would bow down and disperse. I mean, I could still use magic, in certain ways, despite it not getting along well with my human body.
Warning, just because the shape-control is perfect, that does not mean that the restraint-control is. I could just will tornadoes into existence before my Ascension with no practice needed, but I still had to measure myself; a human can control the delicate and the strong motions of his or her hands, but throwing a punch with the right technique and amount of force consistently still takes its fair share of practice.
Even yet, a heavyweight boxer can out-punch the gifted-but-young trainee no matter how much the young one's technique is better. (That's why we have diversity, by the way - to find an angle that works regardless of the apparent disadvantages).
That is the reason the Tirek from the season four finale is no threat - not here. Ponies are just a little more in-tune with their own magic, and the cores of it, their cutie marks, are slightly better understood than in a 'canon' universe; draining the magic itself, or absorbing spells themselves, only means that a particularly-determined pony would be able to pull back their magic, causing the balloon he made himself to be to pop. And it would be as gruesome as it sounds. To absorb magic itself, or spells - instead of just the magic reserves or the spell's power - requires some very special things and mentalities... for example, one of the central themes of Darkness is Acceptance (the dark might rush back when the candle is blown out, but the dark alone cannot - will not - put out the candle or extinguish its light), tainted darkness cannot accept, and thus, cannot truly hold the magic.
I read Fairy Tail, Psyren, and Negima; I know the phenomenon, and how it can be countered. That guy does not stand a chance against filly Dash, much less a teacher of Celestia's school actually worth peanuts. Also, the Tree of Harmony is a metaphor in this world.
Twilight, being not only a magic-talent, but The one chosen by the Element of Magic, could, in theory, catch up with our thousand-and-a-half years of magic research in a few decades, and that was assuming that she resisted certain required changes in mentality. Once Starswirl's spell is cast, I doubt that she will have much trouble.
As it stood, I was currently doing preparations for the chamber my... experiment was about to happen. Suzy was handling the searing of the appropriate circles and runes, leaving me with some spare time to jot down my thoughts in my journal.
If this experiment worked, then that meant that I would gain a great advantage. I would also be one step closer... well, I, as I have so many times said, hold no delusions; if things hit a dead end, then that was that, and I would not hold it against anyone, nor be depressed - it simply could not be done by the means available to me.
I can accept that.
I could wait.
There is always a way, even if it wasn't the way you wanted.