Child of Misery
By Nebula Star
Chapter 1: The Princess
***
“Spike! Can you get me the Elements of Harmony reference guide!?” Twilight called from her work desk in the Ponyville library. In front of her, spread across the desk were dozens of pages of notes on her latest project.
It had occurred to her that since they'd returned the Elements to the Tree of Harmony, it would be prudent to try to come up with some kind of substitute or replacement in case they were needed. So far, however, she hadn't even come close to duplicating their power.
With a sigh she looked down at the golden necklace set on the back of her desk behind the pages of notes pertaining to it. It was modeled after the necklaces that had once held the elements but instead had a single large diamond in its center. It was her own creation and in truth it was promising, but still nothing compared to the real Elements.
“Here you are, Twilight,” Spike said as he stepped to her side holding up the book she'd asked for. “Are you trying to figure out where to find the keys for that box the tree gave you?”
“No.” She sighed again as she took the book in her magic and opened it on the desk. “I have thought about it, but even after all this time, I honestly have no idea where to begin looking. Right now I'm working on another project related to the Elements, but it's not going all that well either.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“Well, I was trying to recreate the Elements or at least create a substitute. But so far I've just barely been able to tap into the power of friendship.” She shook her head. “Not nearly enough if we have to fight another Nightmare Moon or Discord.”
“I'm sure you'll get it. You're awesome at magic!” Spike told her with his usual enthusiasm.
Twilight couldn't help but smile. “Thanks, Spike. For now though I hope we don't have anything major come up. After the past few years I'm starting to worry we're overdue for a doozy.”
“Don't worry, even if something does happen, I'm sure you and the girls will save the world like you always do,” Spike said waving his claw dismissively.
“I hope so, but it never hurts to be prepared, just in case,” Twilight told him picking up her quill again and turning back to her work.
“Well don't forget, the Crusaders are coming for Twilight Time later today,” Spike reminded her returning to his own chores as well.
“I won't. It's on my schedule,” she told him already absorbed in her notes once more.
An hour and a half later she finally called it quits on the project for the day. Continuing to test the capabilities of her creations would have to wait; the three crusaders were due to arrive soon and teaching them was something she'd come to enjoy a great deal. Especially now that they were all showing exceptional progress in their studies.
In fact, Sweetie Belle was ready to move on to something more challenging in her magic, and it wouldn't be long before Apple Bloom advanced in her potion making beyond what Twilight could teach her. After that she'd have to either try something else or start going to Zecora for further lessons. Scootaloo's mechanical expertise was likewise improving; she'd already made a few improvements to her scooter.
Twilight smiled as she put away the necklace she'd been working on in the jeweled box she use to keep the real elements in, adding the notes to it as well. There were five other identical necklaces already in the box. She did want to keep working on them, but at the same time she'd never want to miss a chance to teach. The three crusaders were so enthusiastic and full of energy, she truly enjoyed working with them.
A knock on the door made her smile widen and after placing the case containing the necklaces back in its spot on the shelf, she quickly went to answer.
“Hi, Twilight!” The three fillies on the porch said together smiling up at her; each had their saddle bags laden with whatever they would need to continue their studies.
“Good afternoon, girls. Come on in,” Twilight said letting them into the library. “Have you all been practicing and studying on you own?”
“Of course!” Sweetie Belle chirped happily.
Twilight smiled. “Well get set up then you can all show me what you've learned since last week.”
Sweetie Belle, of course, needed little setup as her studies were in magic. So while the other two went to work, Sweetie demonstrated how much she'd improved with her levitation magic over the past week.
“Very good, Sweetie,” Twilight said approvingly as the young filly levitated four books at once, moving them around in a circle above them. “There's not much more for me to teach you on levitation; all you need to do now is practice.”
“Really?” Sweetie Belle said lowering the books back down to the table in a haphazard stack. “But then what are we going to do now?” She asked as Twilight used a quick burst of magic to straiten the books.
“Well levitation, being so commonly used by unicorns, is the normal starting place when learning magic,” Twilight told her. “The question is, what do you want to learn next?”
Sweetie Belle's eyes lit up with excitement. “Oh, could I learn teleportation!?”
Twilight let out a laugh. “Well, that's a bit too advanced for you just yet, Sweetie Belle.” And truth be told, she didn't want to know what kind of mischief the crusaders might get into with powerful magic such as a teleportation spell at their disposal.
“Oh... um...” She thought for a moment and her eyes lit up again. “How about the come-to-life spell!?”
“The come-to-life spell?” Another potential disaster in the hooves of a crusader, but Twilight was curious. “why would you want to learn that?”
“Because then I could, I could enchant instruments to... to...” She broke off, blushing and sounding embarrassed.
Twilight just smiled. “To play for you when you want to sing?” She finished for her with a knowing smile. Timidly, Sweetie Belle nodded. Twilight wasn't surprised at all that that was the first thing Sweetie Belle thought of. But she was also certain that it wasn't the only thing the spell would be used for if she were to teach her. Twilight considered that for a moment before deciding. “Well, the come-to-life spell is still fairly advanced. I think you could learn it, but it will be very difficult. You still want to try?”
She nodded eagerly.
“Alright then, we can get started later. For now, let me see what the others have been up to this week,” Twilight told her. She knew she may regret teaching her such a spell at some point, but she could never turn down somepony eager to learn.
~~~
A couple hours later Twilight sent the crusaders on their way. It had been a good day, though she could tell Sweetie Belle was a little frustrated by the difficulty of the spell she'd chosen to learn... And Apple Bloom's attempts at a new potion had exploded turning Spike's spines a darker green... And Scootaloo had managed to cause a small dust-devil in the library when testing out the adjustments she'd made to her scooter. Her wings were growing stronger every day it seemed.
All in all, it was a pretty normal day with those three.
After the crusader's Twilight Time, she had only a short break to relax though. There was one more thing on her agenda for the day: A party.
Twilight smiled thinking about it. It was just another of Pinkie's random parties and only a small one for just their friends, but such parties were never to be missed. She had just enough time to relax for a few minutes before she had to get ready.
She glanced back at her wings. Or perhaps I'd better get started now, she thought with a sigh as she was reminded of her least favorite part of having wings: preening. Unfortunately her wings needed it again after working with the crusaders. Particularly after the dust-devil.
After a quick shower and the chore of preening -- she still didn't believe Rainbow that many pegasi couples enjoyed preening each other -- she and Spike closed the library and headed to Sugar Cube Corner where the party was being held.
“There you are, sugar-cube. We were just about to get this shindig started without ya!” Applejack was the first to greet Twilight as she entered the bakery.
Twilight raised a brow as if offended. “Are you suggesting that I'm late?”
Almost instantly a bead of sweat appeared on her forehead. “Eh.... ah... nope.”
Twilight grinned at her friend's expense. “It's alright, I'm joking, Applejack. But since it seems everypony is here, why don't we get this party going!”
“You got it, Princess!” Pinkie almost shouted and the next instant the lighting changed and the music started. Soon they were all having a night of carefree fun together. Pinkie never failed to make a party truly enjoyable.
~~~
“So, Twi. I haven't seen you out much the last couple weeks?” Rainbow Dash said some time later when they were taking it easy and enjoying the refreshments Pinkie had provided as well as the cider courtesy of Applejack. It was late in the party and while the music was still going most of them were worn out from games and dancing.
Twilight just shrugged. “I've been a little busy.”
“Yeah, she's been working on a new project...!” Spike added.
“Spike, I wasn't going to talk about that!” She interrupted but the damage was already done.
Rainbow grinned as the rest of their friends joined them clearly curious as well. “A new project, huh?”
She sighed knowing that they'd just pester her until they got some information out of her. “Yeah, its just something I've been working on the past couple weeks, but I'm not quite finished testing them yet; I promise I'll show you all when I'm done with the testing.”
“Them? So there's more than one?” Rarity asked.
Twilight nodded. “If they work there will be one for each of us. And, well, let's just say it will be interesting to see what we'll all be capable of with them.”
“Oh yeah? So what do they do?” Rainbow persisted but Twilight just shook her head.
“You'll just have to wait and find out when I'm done. I think you'll like it though.”
“Dang it, I hate waiting,” Rainbow grumbled.
Twilight just smiled and took another sip of her cider. They'd just have to wait, after all, she wanted to make sure she knew exactly how the necklaces worked before they tried using them.
After another couple of hours the party finally came to a close and the six exhausted ponies headed back home; one carrying a baby dragon, already asleep, on her back. Once back home in the library, Twilight found just enough energy to tuck Spike into his small basket bed before she collapsed on her own bed falling asleep almost instantly. It had been an exhausting, but all together, very good day.
~~~
Morning always seemed to come too early the day after one of Pinkie's parties. Twilight often wondered if Celestia raised the sun extra early on those days just to mess with her. There was no escaping the sun coming in her window though, it was just too bright.
Looking at the clock she saw it was still fairly early in the morning, less than an hour after sunrise in fact. Despite how drowsy she felt, though, she knew it would be futile to try and get more sleep. She'd already slept in later than normal and years of living on a strict schedule wouldn't allow her to sleep in any longer.
Rolling out of bed she groggily stumbled to her hooves and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Less than an hour later she emerged again feeling refreshed. Spike was still snoring away in his basket so Twilight decided to let him sleep a little longer and headed downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast.
BONNNNGGG!!!
It was like a single enormous bell tolling in one mournful tone. Twilight froze at the bottom of the stairs clutching her head in pain from the sound that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Then another sound joined the first. It started out like distant wind but quickly grew in volume as it seemed to be drawing closer. The volume of the wind grew and grew until it roared like a hurricane seemingly all around her. It was overwhelming and she soon felt consciousness slipping away from her. The last thing she remembered before slipping into darkness was laughter.
~~~
Morning court was in session in Canterlot and for once Celestia didn't feel like strangling the noble making the presentation of his proposal. He was one of the few nobles that truly earned the respect of his title. His proposal was for the creation of new power stations using Canterlot's waterfalls to generate electricity in order to supplement the current power grid that was mostly generated though magical means. The idea would save a lot of unicorns a great deal of strain on their magic while still keeping them employed as the new facilities would still need ponies to maintain them. What was more, he had gone to great efforts to design the power stations in a way that they would be all but invisible, mostly hidden behind the waterfalls themselves, thus preserving the city's beauty.
Truly Celestia had been convinced in the first five minutes of his presentation to support the project, but he had clearly put so much effort into his presentation that she had decided to let him finish in order to be polite. That and the longer he took the less time she'd have for dealing with the rest of the petitioners with decidedly less than noble requests.
Without warning a wave of magic swept over her that set off every magical nerve in her body. Celestia's eyes widened. She would recognize that magic anywhere. Reaching out with her senses she tried to pinpoint the source before it disappeared again. What she found nearly made her heart stop. It had come from somewhere in Ponyville.
With no warning to her guard or the noblepony petitioner, her horn lit up and with a flash of golden light Celestia vanished from the room, teleporting directly to Ponyville and reappearing right in front of the library tree. If that monster was in Ponyville, she had to warn Twilight.
As early as it was, nopony was around to see her as she opened the door and rushed inside.
It was like running into a thick pudding. She barely got past the door when she was dragged to a halt. Too late she saw the rune circle glowing on the floor. Then two more rune circles lit up in the air to either side of her and she was lifted off the ground, her legs and wings outstretched by an unstoppable force. Realizing her mistake too late she looked down at the alicorn sitting in the center of the room.
Her coat pale gray like ash, her mane and tail wisps of shadowy green smoke, and her acid green eyes dancing with amusement; Achlys began to laugh.