//------------------------------// // Enlightenment // Story: Enlightening Circumstances // by ExoskeletalEccentric //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Enlightenment The air was stiller than I would have expected forest air to be, free from noise aside from the occasional bird singing that was often cut off mid chirp. By what, I dread to think. A shiver ran up my spine as I felt a small furry creature scramble over my foot, but I resisted the urge to shriek. It didn't seem right, breaking the silence. But I liked this place less and less the longer I stayed there, the excitement from the discovery of my changes had long worn off at the quiet hostility of the tree entangled forest. I glanced back to my newest set of appendages, and they seem slightly more menacing than before; now that I thought about it, I had no idea how I had even gotten them, or my unusual eyes. The thought of someone, or something, messing around with my body was... unnerving, to say the least. Lost in thought, I tripped over yet another tree root, and cursed my new centre of balance once more. The wings were cool, and all, but I had no idea how to use them. I stopped suddenly, seeing a cave up ahead. It looked dark, but I was sure I could get a fire going. However, I realised that to just go in and light a fire would be foolhardy. For all I knew, there could be a bear or something in the cave. So, I decided to attempt to make a torch. To start, I looked around and selected a reasonably dry stick from the ground. Then I got stuck. I had no idea how to make this stick into a flaming torch. All I knew about making fire is that you twisted a stick it really fast between your palms, and it caught fire. I tentatively took hold of the stick between my palms. I held the end I wasn't holding against the ground, and spun the stick between my palms. It snapped after about five seconds, and all I ended up with was a splinter. Sucking the wound, I picked up a sturdier looking stick and tried again. No dice. 5 minutes twisting, and not as much as a spark. I was fed up. It worked in films, so why not for me? "Gah! Why. Wont. It. Work!" I shouted in frustration, punctuating each word by hitting the earth with the stick. And that’s when it caught fire. On the end I was holding. "Wohayayaya!" I shrieked incoherently and dropped the stick immediately. However, I had received no burns, and quickly picked it back up, at the unlit end this time, and held it aloft triumphantly. "Ha! I knew it would work! Just needed to show it who's boss! Me! That's who! With my newly lit torch in hand, I considered the plan I had masterfully constructed. It went like this: Sneak in with torch, stick torch ahead. If there was nothing there, I would sleep! If I saw even a trace of brown fur, then I would get the heck out of there. So, armed with a burning stick, I stepped into the dark cave, wondering what horrors awaited me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Twilight felt the sun on her face, and slowly stirred from her study induced slumber. "Huh? Buwu...bwa." She blinked at the seemingly harsh sunlight beaming in from the window, greeting her a very unwelcome morning. "Gah. It's morning? I don't remember falling asleep..." She looked down at the books and notes adorning her desk. This was not the first time she had slept like this, and it would not be her last. She had been researching ways to control the unstable amount of magic exuded from the Spellbloom plants, after her last disastrous encounter with the tricky plant. If she could- Spike walked in, having heard her getting up. "Oh, hey, you're awake! I made breakfast. It's downstairs." He wandered over to the desk and jumped up to see what it was that had kept Twilight so busy. He usually couldn't understand half of it, but he knew it helped Twilight to explain the problem to someone else. "Oh, hello Spike. Well, given our last encounter with them, I felt it would be prudent to look up more about Spellblooms. I think that if I could somehow control the magic output, I could create a special high magic background space to practice the more advanced spells. At their current output, there is simply far too much magic for a spell to handle, and so it overloads, so to speak. I think that if I were to tweak the amount they give out, or maybe the amount that gets through, or-" Twilight was now fully awake, giving the problem her full attention. Spike knew that Twilight kept obsessing over a problem until late at night, whereupon she was in no fit state to be thinking. Then in the morning, she nearly always had an epiphany in the suns first light. Spike had tried telling her to just get to sleep a little earlier, as there was no sense in staying awake for something that would invariably be of no use to her, but Twilight could be stubborn as a mule about some things. Quite a lot of things, actually, Spike mused. Twilight had been speaking, unaware of her less than attentive audience, not that she would have cared if she did. "-of course, increasing the amount of magic the spell can take could work, but it would take a lot of valuable time and effort. There has to be an easier way! Like... of course! If I combine both... yes that could work. But I would need..." Twilight continued muttering to herself, now oblivious to the little purple and green dragon. "Your welcome." Spike rolled his eyes at her. See, if Twilight would just listen to him, she would be saved a lot of trouble. But nooooo. No one listens to Spike. He sighed and walked back to the stairs. "Your breakfast is still on the table, if you want it." He called over his shoulder. Twilight waved at him dismissively. "I'll be down in a moment, Spike." Oh great. Now I'll never see her again. Spike had come to learn that whenever Twilight Sparkle said that she'd "Be down in a minute", she would disappear for hours on end, puzzling over her latest problem. However, on this day, that law was broken. For no sooner than Spike had sat down to eat his breakfast, Twilight barrelled down the stairs, jumped, and landed in front of the table just as the hungry dragon was about to take a bite. It had been exactly one minute. "Spike!" Twilight exclaimed hurriedly. "We are going to the Everfree Forest! I have figured out how to manage the problem of to much magic flow with the Spellblooms! I remember where they were, so we just have to go and-" "But Twilight!" Spike interrupted. "You promised Pinkie you'd be at that "I'm so glad we survived that rockslide" party! You don't want to miss another of her parties, do you?" They both shivered as they remembered what had happened last time when Pinkie had thought that they didn't want to be her friends anymore. "N..no, Spike. I forgot about that. Tomorrow, then." "Watching Rainbow Dash at that tournament?" "Oh, yeah. Thursday, then." "You promised to help Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom see if magic was their special talent." "Oh, no I forgot about... hey! Scootaloo and Applebloom don't even have horns! How can their special talent be magic?" Spike shrugged. "I think they were hoping you would tell 'em." Twilight sighed. "Well it seems that I have a busier week than I thought. I'll just have to go on Friday." Sigh. A whole 3 days away. I hope the Spellblooms will still be there. Still, Pinkie Pie's party wouldn't be such a bad idea; she had been feeling kinda stressed lately. "Well, nevermind." Twilight moved to sit down opposite Spike, but then stopped, having suddenly thought of something. "Spike, wait! Grab a parchment and quill! We need to make a checklist of this!" Spike looked horrified. "But...what about breakfast?" "Breakfast can wait! Quill, now!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Oh. My. Goodness." Jewels. Hundreds. Thousands. All piled up in the middle of the cave, along with golden trinkets, baubles, and beauties with all degree of shapes, sizes, and tackiness. The light from my torch reflected off of them, filling the cave with a golden light. It was beautiful. I practically floated into the cave, entranced by the bright shine. When I reached the stack, I felt something call to me. My eye was drawn away from the intricately designed jewellery, and towards a simple, but beautiful, deep blue gem: a sapphire. With an air of reverence my hand closed on it, and I pulled it closer. It was smooth, and ovoid, as if shaped by the wind itself, without an imperfection to be seen, save one: a jagged hairline crack went through the middle. I placed it in my pyjama pocket, and examined the rest of the pile. It had been seemingly intricately arranged, smaller gems and prizes at the bottom, with larger, more expensive looking treasures place higher, as if they were trophies. Almost as if someone had stored them here, like a treasury, a trophy room- A hoard. Then, I felt it. Hot breath against the back of my neck, and the smell of molten rock and sulphur. Oh my god. This is the part you see in films, when the monster is behind them, they feel its breath, then they turn around slowly, it roars, they scream, and then the monster... it's okay. I just have to not turn around. Don't turn around. Don't turn- The thing behind me breathed a second time, the barest hints of a growl could be heard. Oh god oh god I'm turning around, I can't bear it any longer! I turned around slowly, and found myself staring into the cold, reptilian eyes of something ancient, powerful, and impossible. A dragon. The green dragon roared in my face, forcing me to cover my ears and scream. Then it the sound stopped, and I opened the eyes I hadn't even realised that I had closed just in time to see the beast open it's mouth again, and... Speak. "What, are you doing in my cave, insect?" It growled at me. I was speechless for a moment, but I quickly recovered my senses. "Um.. I..uh..didn't know it was your..cave.." "Didn't know? And you expect me to accept this and leave you alone?" I was delirious with fear, and that is the only excuse I have for what I said next. "Um, yes?" The dragon's eyes widened at this, then narrowed again. "You have a nerve, creature! Die for your foolish trespass!" The enormous reptile lifted his gargantuan tail, which promptly grew spikes long enough to skewer me in one stab. He then brought it around in a wide swing. I saw the tail coming, and managed to duck with an agility I never knew that I had, but this only seemed to further enrage the dragon, as it brought it's great clawed hand down for a swipe. Somehow dodging again, I ended up cornered in part of the cave, the colossal scaly form of the dragon blocking my exit. The dragon laughed when he saw this, and positioned himself with his mouth pointing at least. "You have provided momentary distraction, insect, but now you pay the price for your transgression." His mouth opened wide, and he inhaled deeply. If I knew anything about dragons, I knew what it was about to attempt. I had to do something. And then, I saw them. Like red clouds of glowing dust in the air, guiding the way to the dragons head. I could feel it buzzing inside of me, eager to follow the path outlined for it, all I had to do, was release it. And so, I did. The sizzling lightning bolt that flew from my palm slammed into the chin of the dragon, jerking it upwards at the last minute, causing it to release it's fiery breath into the ceiling instead. It grabbed it's face in pain with it's paws, and I realised that it would recover from its surprise in a moment. It was now or never. So I ran between the dragons legs, and out through the entrance of the cave as fast as I could, hearing the dragons angry cries fading into the distance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I sat there in the damp cave I had found, staring at my hands. I had done something amazing back there, back with the...dragon. I had shot lightning from my hands! I looked up, and concentrated, trying to replicate the feeling I had before. Nothing happened. I stood up, faced the wall of my cave, and concentrated on the feeling of power I had. With excitement, I realised I could feel something buzzing, and pushed it into my palm. Then, I tried to push it out of my palm, and... A few sparks jumped out of my palm and drifted forlornly to the ground, where they winked out of existence. I slumped back down, and concentrated on pushing the power into my hand. As I watched the sparks danced between my fingers, I remembered something that had happened when I had created a lightning bolt. I had seen red dust leading the lightning to where I wanted it to go. So I looked back up, excitement renewed, and tried to form a path. It was difficult at first, but it got easier as I kept on trying it, making paths in curves, straight lines, zig zags. I noted that most of the time, there was a certain way the path wanted to form, and following this made it easier to make. Then, when I was sure I had the hang of it, I tried pushing the power to my hand, and then forming a path. I felt what I had felt earlier, the energy I held straining to follow the path I had made. I grinned widely, and released it. The bolt screamed along the path I had forged for it and crashed into the side of the cave with a bright flash, and a boom of thunder. ... "Yes! I did it!" I crowed in excitement, pumping my fist in the air. "I am so awesome!" I ran over to the glowing scorch mark on the wall, feeling the heat of it. "Well, at least I won't have any trouble with making fire!" This thought cheered me immensely; making the torch had been very annoying, especially seeing as I had dropped it in the dragons cave. I looked outside, and my face fell as I saw dark clouds forming overhead. Oh no! I thought. I need to get some firewood quickly! Dashing outside, I collected as much dry sticks and leaves as I could, and put them in a pile in the back of my cave. I used a smaller lightning bolt to light the pile, and with some poking and prodding, soon had a nice fire going. "And not a moment too soon !" I murmured, as the first drops of rain began falling. I lay back on my improvised bed of leaves, and sat in the warmth of the fire. Today had been a good day. I learned how to shoot lightning bolts, slew a dragon (Kinda) and made a fire all by myself. Yes, today was fine by me. ... "Damn it, I forgot to try to fly!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Authors Note: Well, folks and folkettes, that was the second chapter! I totally promise not to give her crazy godlike powers, okay? Trust me, it'll be fine. Speaking of her, though, I dont actually have a name for her yet... I will have to think of one! Suggestions accepted! So please review, and let me know what you think. Remember that I can't change it if you don't tell me what it is, though! Predator20 out.