//------------------------------// // The Shelf of Doom // Story: Adventures of a Magic-Craving Filly // by gokenshadow //------------------------------// Chapter 1: The Shelf of Doom A single candle flickered on a desk in a quiet little room, shining on a pile of books neatly arranged into awkward but functional stair steps. A tiny purple filly with dark circles under her eyes strained her tired little muscles, pushing a tome almost as large as herself up the book steps. With a quiet grunt, she slid the tome into place, finishing her architectural masterpiece. She clambered onto the new highest step and looked up. On the top of a shelf stood a single book that nearly made her drool: A Beginner’s Guide to Magic. It was so… beautiful. Slowly, cautiously, quietly, she stood on her hind legs and reached toward its shimmering, gold-encrusted cover. "Almost theeere." she whispered. She forced herself onto the tips of her hooves, which felt awkward but gained her a few inches. "Just a little mooore." She shifted all her weight onto one of her hooves and rotated her outstretched shoulder upward, upward, upward. "Come oooon." Her hoof was literally millimeters from the the book of her dreams. She could almost taste it. She flicked her hoof, trying to knock the book off the shelf, but it was still just a pinch out of reach. She decided to take a big risk. Tentatively, very very tentatively, she grabbed onto the shelf, which creaked in protest, and gave herself a slight boost. Her hoof finally made contact with the book. "Yes!" she whispered, flicking it toward the floor. KATHUMP! Her muscles tightened and her heart froze as she clung to the shelf in fear. That had been way louder than expected, and she definitely did not want to get caught in here. This room was completely off limits to her. It was where her father stored all of the precious, first edition tombs he and his ancestors had collected over many generations (why he also chose it as the storage place of the only copy of A Beginner’s Guide to Magic in the house was anyone’s guess). If she were caught, she’d be dead for sure. She heard a slight shuffle from the room next door, then silence. It took an agonizing minute of said silence before she could safely assume she hadn't woken anyone. “Whew,” she whispered, flicking the sweat from her brow, “that was a close woah--” The weight of her outstretched hoof had titled the top-heavy shelf she was still holding on to. “--yaaaaAAAAAHH!” PAPHOMSHAFAFAFAFAFOOFOFOODUMDUMDUMDUM! Every single book crashed onto the floor in a deafening cacophony of thumps and page flickers, burying the screaming unicorn in a huge pile of rare, first-edition literature. A short moment passed. “Pwaaaa!” the little filly screamed, penetrating the surface of the of the pile of books, taking in a huge breath of life-saving oxygen. This was not good; this was definitely not good. BUMP! One of the books she had pushed slid down the pile and made contact with the candle-laden desk, knocking the flickering flame onto the floor. It rolled until it stopped at the pages of the stray book, which began to burn almost immediately. The filly’s eyes widened. She desperately jumped out of the pile, grabbed one of the books around her, and slapped the ominous flame with it repeatedly. This, unfortunately, caused the book she was using to catch fire, which she didn’t notice until-- “Oww” she said, blindly throwing the thing into the air and stuffing a burnt hoof into her mouth. The flaming book flew backwards like a fireball, doing several flips before landing, dead center, in the middle of the big pile of its kin. All of the books burst into flames, filling the entire room with a glow of hellfire and making the filly scream, tears streaming from her eyes. “What’s all the ruckus!?” a blue stallion said, nearly breaking the door down; he was wearing a sleeping cap. The purple filly turned toward the stallion, whimpering. He stared, completely horrified at the glaring scene before him. A moment passed before his eyes narrowed tightly enough to look like thin lines. He turned toward the now red-eyed filly. “Twilight Sparkle, you’re in BIG trouble young lady!” he said; his eyes were twitching. Twilight sniffled as her father quickly grabbed a bucket, filled it with water, and dumped the water unto the fire, putting it out in one fell swoop, completely ruining most of the first edition books. “How many times do I have to tell you before it sinks IN!?” he said, throwing the bucket down to emphasize his point. He stomped forward and slammed his hoof right in front of her, looking into her enormous eyes. “If you’re gonna start a freaking bonfire, you have to invite ME, dammit!” he said, looking absolutely heartbroken. ♫Doo Do Doo Doooo♫ ♫When it's least expected♫ ♫He’ll inject it♫ ♫To his wife’s dismaaay♫ ♫Smile, Twilight’s dad’s on aciiiiid♫ ♫With a hocus pocus♫ ♫He’ll loose focus♫ ♫On what's happeniiiiiiing♫ ♫While, Twilight’s dad is tripping♫ Twilight had absolutely no idea how she had gotten away with destroying several of her father’s precious tomes, but she didn’t dare question it. He had angrily told her to go to her room and get back in bed, so here she was, staring at the star charts that lined her walls, A Beginner’s Guide to Magic clenched between her nervous teeth. She closed her door and placed the book on her desk, climbing into her bed and underneath her star-themed covers. What the hay happened back there? She had absolutely no idea. Her dad usually got much more angry than this when she messed with his stuff. It took Twilight an hour of pondering before she was able to drift off into an awkward sleep. For some reason, she dreamt about lamely executed references to old-as-dirt TV theme songs, whatever the hay that meant.