Scion of Chaos

by SilentBelle

Chapter 3 - Awakening

The pair of ponies made their way down the staircase, descending into the library. Sweetie Belle felt her fatigue in every step she took. By the end of the flight of stairs, she could hear her heart's palpitations pulsing in her ears; she was out of breath.

The young filly panted slightly as she leaned against the solid living wall of the library for support. Her green eyes wandered the library before her. It was a disaster, even worse than the other day when she had visited with Rarity. The piles of books were heaped even higher, and nearly no books remained upon the shelves. Sweetie Belle was certain that there was no possible form of organization present in the scene before her.

She was about to voice her observation aloud, when Twilight caught her attention. The lavender unicorn motioned for silence by raising a fore-hoof to her lips. She then directed the open-mouthed filly's gaze to a pile of books on the opposite side of the room. Sweetie Belle could just make out a certain purple-scaled form, resting peaceably upon a makeshift bed of books.

The two unicorns exchanged smiles and shared a bout of silent laughter at Spike's choice of bedding. They then proceeded to tip-hoof between the canyons of literature and made their way to the basement door as silently as possible.

The heavy oaken door seemed to be made out of the very tree itself, for it fit nearly seamlessly with surrounding wall. Sweetie Belle didn't think it would be possible for anypony to open it without the aid of a considerable amount of magic.

Twilight, however, walked right up to the door and lightly pushed upon it. It gave way easily, silently swinging inward, revealing another set of stairs, spiraling downward to the basement. To Sweetie Belle's surprise, the entire room below them was filled with some sort of ambient light, as if they were outdoors on an overcast day instead of inside an enormous tree.

This lighting perplexed the young filly, filling her with a little more unease as she followed the scholar down the new flight of stairs. Her perplexity quickly transformed into a feeling of humbled wonder as she descended from the final step.

The room she was in was very much the same shape as the other floors she had been on. But that was to be expected, given that the whole building was fashioned into a still-living tree. What did give cause for Sweetie Belle to gasp was what filled this room. There were shelves along the wall which contained not only the standard fare of books, scrolls and tomes, but also held numerous potions of varying colours and sizes. A few cabinets were filled with an assortment of chemical ingredients, a few of which Sweetie Belle recalled seeing at Zecora's hut. Some strange, wired apparatuses stood to the side of the room, their purposes Sweetie Belle could only guess at. In the very center of this ring of instruments and ingredients was a section of floor, kept clear of clutter, although various burns and scrapes marred its surface.

Sweetie Belle stood slack-jawed in amazement. She was only just beginning to guess at the reasoning behind some of the fixtures around her. Twilight saw this and chuckled at the filly's wonderment.

“Feel free to look at any of the apparatuses and mixtures, just don't touch them. The burn marks on the ground over there didn't make themselves,” Twilight warned with a smile. “Now, I am going to set up the test. It will take a few minutes of preparation, then we can start.”

Sweetie Belle made her way to the nearby cabinets as Twilight levitated a book over to herself with her magic and quickly flipped through its pages.

The cabinet before the filly held an assortment of beakers and vials. Each one had a label on its side, neatly marked with numerous letters and numbers. They looked to be in some sort of code or abbreviation that she had never seen before. Sweetie Belle felt a genuine curiosity about the mixtures in the case, and, had her friends been with her, even in spite of Twilight's earlier warning about the danger, she was certain she would have been motivated enough to figure out what the properties of the compounds were, in hopes of finding a cutie mark in chemistry; but alas, the other crusaders were not with her. So instead, the filly looked around the room for some other interesting sights with the hope of curtailing her building curiosity of the chemicals.

Twilight watched from the corner of her eye as she gathered the necessary materials listed in the book, which she levitated before her. The scholar was well aware that the filly could, and often did, get into sticky situations. Twilight was also quite certain that Sweetie Belle would disregard any warnings that were given if it meant she had either the chance of getting her cutie mark, or the chance to figure out how something worked. Both scenarios, however, seemed likely to end up with neither of the intended results; instead, Twilight was quite certain, Sweetie Belle would unintentionally figure out how things broke.

On one hoof, Twilight thought it might have been a better idea to outright forbid the filly from approaching the various instruments, but her sympathetic nature had won out. For the scholar could not find it in her heart to stifle the curiosity of youth; instead, she was determined to keep an eye out for the filly and intervene should natural curiosity get the better of her. Besides, Twilight could procure the necessities for the test as easily with one eye as she could with two.

Before ten minutes had passed. Sweetie Belle had done a whole circuit of the room and now had more questions than ever before. She had just made it back to the first shelf and began crafting her plans to find some answers to those particular questions. She only needed to find a way to gently slide the glass cabinet door open when Twilight wasn't looking, and see what some of the compounds were.

Her half-baked plan faded from mind as quickly as it had sprung up, when she heard something--multiple 'somethings'--settle to the floor behind her.

A sense of bewilderment befell the filly as she turned to see Twilight standing in the center of the room with numerous books, candles, paint, matches and a small paintbrush.

“Are we making arts and crafts?” Sweetie Belle asked, raising an eyebrow in skepticism. “I thought you said we were going to be running a test.”

Twilight chuckled and smiled kindly. “I know this stuff looks kind of strange for a test, but it is quite necessary. For you see, I am going to put together a ritual.”

“A ritual?” the young unicorn interjected, as she made her way over. She inspected seven identical silver candles spaced equally apart in a circle. The sheen of the sizable wax fixtures was entrancing. She was certain they were magical in some way. “I never heard of rituals before, well other than brushing my teeth.”

“Oh, rituals have been around for quite some time Sweetie,” Twilight responded as she levitated the paintbrush into a vial of silvery liquid. Much like the candles, the paint, if it could be called that, shimmered with some hidden energy. “They were used before Celestia and Luna, before the founding of Equestria even. Unicorns used to be the ones that raised the sun and moon, but that is a feat that takes an incredible amount of magic. So the unicorns of old had developed ways of distributing, focusing, sharing, and manipulating the magic of multiple unicorns. Those age-old techniques have since been modified and improved for many purposes. In fact most recently they are being applied in a practical manner to many new appliances-” Twilight was cut short as the filly interrupted her.

“So, what is this 'ritual' thing going to do?” Sweetie Belle interjected, steering the conversation back to the matter at-hoof.

“Well,” the scholar began, a slight tone of annoyance entering her voice at the interruption, “it's known as a 'Battery Ritual', and the purpose of this ritual is simply to feed any spell a continuous and even source of power so that even as the spell dissipates, it is being continually reinforced. This will, in turn, allow me to fully assess what has happened.”

“But I don't get it. How is this any different from just using the spell normally? Why the candles and the ink?”

Twilight let out a small sigh as she began marking the simplistic ritual design with the silvered paintbrush. All the while she silently pondered how she could explain the process to a filly who had no prior experience in the field of magic.

Once the pattern was completed and triple checked against the book levitating beside her, Twilight set aside her instruments neatly and began her explanation. “Alright, I'll break it down for you. These candles are specially crafted candles that hold a certain amount of magic within them. They release that magic as they burn, and that's exactly what they are going to be doing. As for the ink, it is also special. It is going to take the magic from the candles and essentially cast the spell continuously and regularly for me. That will, in turn, leave me room to concentrate on the information that the spell brings back; otherwise I would have to be constantly re-casting the spell and couldn't concentrate on the results of the actual spell.”

“Oh, I get it now,” Sweetie Belle chimed in, “it's like you're filling up a bathtub with water for a bath, but if you have to go out to the well and boil the water yourself, one bucket at a time, by the time you fill the tub up completely, all the water will be cold. So the candles and ink are like pipes that bring hot water to the bathtub.”

Twilight was a little taken aback by the filly's comparison, how Sweetie Belle had decided to use a bathtub as an example was a question that the lavender mare was certain she would never find an answer to.

“Well, I suppose that's one way of looking at it. Though there would also have to be a minimum requirement for the volume of water in the bathtub, as well as a minimum temperature for the water, in order for the spell to go off without a hitch.”

“Huh,” the filly responded with a hint of skepticism. “Well, anyway, is this 'battery ritual' thing ready yet? I'm tired of standing around.”

“Don't worry, Sweetie Belle, the ritual is all ready except for one last thing. I am obligated to ask you this before we start,” Twilight said staring directly into the Sweetie Belle's green eyes. “Are you certain you want to take part in this test?”

“Of course I am!” the smaller unicorn shouted, a hurt expression apparent upon her face. “I want to know what's the cause of all this as much as you do.”

Twilight's response was to smile sincerely. “Sorry, Sweetie, it's just a precautionary measure. I promised Rarity that I wouldn't run any tests unless you agreed to them first.”

“I see. I'm sorry I yelled,” Sweetie Belle said as her tension released and her voice carried a suddenly serious tone that Twilight had never heard the filly speak with before. A frightened look became evident in the foal's eyes as she followed up. “Truthfully, I'm scared Twilight. I've been trying not to think about it, trying to distract myself, but the same questions keep coming back. What happened? What if it can't be fixed? And why has this only happened to me?” Sweetie Belle swallowed as she blinked back tears from her eyes. “I'm scared of what the answers might be, but I'm more scared of never knowing. So, I want you to promise me something. Let me know everything you find out about my... condition.” The filly paused as she looked directly into Twilight's eyes. “Even if it's really bad, I want to know.”

Without a second of hesitation Twilight pulled the filly close and held her in a firm and gentle hug. “Sweetie Belle I promise you that I will tell you about all my findings, good or bad,” the lavender unicorn whispered before relaxing the embrace. “And I also promise to find a way to fix whatever the source of this problem is, but to do that we have to get started. Are you ready?”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “Uh huh!”

At Twilight's instruction, Sweetie Belle sat in the center of the seven silvery candles and the spiderweb of ink that ran between them. She watched as the elder unicorn lit up a match and efficiently lit up all the candles in a matter of a few seconds.

As soon as the wicks were lit, Sweetie Belle felt a gentle warmth spilling forth, as if she were laying before a well stoked hearth fire, instead of sitting on a hard wooden floor surrounded by seven candles.

“Okay Sweetie, I am going to begin the spell. It should take about a minute,” Twilight announced as she set the now extinguished match to the side.

The filly simply nodded and closed her eyes lightly as she basked in the comforting warmth of the candles. It was calming, almost enough lull her to sleep.

Suddenly, she felt an eerie tingling sensation travel down her spine. She opened her eyes in surprise. It felt similar to how her legs sometimes got after she spent a whole morning sitting at a desk in Cheerilee's classroom. But never before had the filly felt that same sensation along the core of her being.

With just a few seconds, the feeling quickly faded away. At the same moment, the cloud of exhaustion that had hung over the filly all morning started to dissipate as well. Her muscles felt refreshed and she pulled herself out of a slouching position she hadn't realized she was in.

Before Sweetie Belle could speculate on the cause of the strange, invigorating feeling, she let out a gasp of sheer amazement. Right before her eyes, the area around her was slowly beginning to glow. Gradually the light took shape out of the very air itself, it looked as if an intricate design of a hundred silvery translucent laces were woven around her, billowing softly from some intangible wind.

But that wasn't all, she could suddenly hear the mysterious wind as well, like the softest of whistles. And her sense of smell changed too; the prevalent musty atmosphere of the basement became suddenly subdued in the wake of the strange new scent. It was a scent she had never smelled before. If she had to describe it, she would have conceded to saying it smelled like what the moon looked like on a cloudless night. And all of these senses emanated from the tangle of magic surrounding Sweetie Belle.

In awe, the young filly traced the gentle flow of the shimmering threads before her. They intertwined as they came closer, all of them shifted along with every movement of her head. With open-eyed wonderment, Sweetie Belle discovered that all the strands converged right above her. She could just make it out from the periphery of her vision, her horn was sheathed in a silvery and emerald sheen as the strands were drawn in.

The bands of silvery magic continued to grow in their splendor, until it became too harsh for the young filly. The whistling grew loud and keen, and the smell drowned out the stuffy scent of the library. Her eyes watered as she tried to comprehend her blinding surroundings.

A sense of worry fell upon Sweetie Belle like a wave. But it's not me feeling nervous. Is that... Twilight? she thought in incredulity.

She squinted, trying to see through the flashy display of ever-flowing silver cords. She could just barely make out the mare's expression. Twilight's eyes were closed tightly in concentration, a sharp crease was formed in her brow as she struggled to keep herself from falling.

The feeling of worry was quickly replaced by understanding and dread. “But, that's not possible,” the older unicorn gasped out as she collapsed under the strain of the spell. In the same moment, the silver strands dissipated into a fog that filled the room. The mare's feelings faded from Sweetie Belle's mind as Twilight drifted into unconsciousness.

“Ah, indeed, you are quite correct, Twilight Sparkle. But when have possibilities ever mattered in the wake of the truth?” A condescending voice echoed from every direction.

“Twilight!” Sweetie Belle shouted, as she leaped over a ring of melted wax to land beside the fallen unicorn. Her form was still obscured by the cloud of dissipating fog. “Scoddri! Something's happened to Twilight, what do I do?”

“Oh, it's so wonderful to be heard again Sweetie, you don't know how boring it's been for the last two days.”

“It's nice to hear you too,” Sweetie Belle responded anxiously, “but something happened to Twilight. What do I do?” the distraught filly repeated her question again.

“Why don't you take a look for yourself? After all you are the one who drained her magic.”

“Drained her magic?” the white unicorn asked in sudden horror. “You mean I caused her to collapse?”

“In so many words? Yes, my dear, you took almost all of her magic. And doesn't it feel wonderful?" Scoddri asked in his mocking tone. “To feel the exhaustion leave you in the matter of seconds and to be able to experience the world as it should be, sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. Truly there is no greater gift in all of Equestria.”

“No,” Sweetie Belle rebuked, “this is not wonderful! It's awful! Twilight's hurt because of me. It's all my fault. So tell me,” she demanded to the faceless voice, as tears welled up in her eyes. “How can I help her?”

“Hmm,” Scoddri hummed, “Perhaps it would be best if you stopped draining her.”

“What?” Sweetie Belle glanced up at her horn and saw a faint emerald light shimmering. As the silvery fog finished clearing, she could make out pale emerald strands protruding from her own horn wrapping tightly around the unconscious mare before her.

The filly let out a shriek in her realization. “How do I stop it?! How do I stop it?!” she begged Scoddri for an answer. But the only answer she got was mirthful chuckle.

Sweetie Belle focused as much as she could, and she felt the magic flowing from her heart, to her horn, and back again. But she had never actually controlled her magic beyond that simple circuit, she didn't know what to do. She tried to will the strands flowing from her horn to stop, but it felt like trying to plug a running hose with a hoof. Her best efforts only caused the slightest of bending in the bands of magic that flowed from her; and in the following moments they would elastically straighten themselves. Nothing she had tried stopped the magic, all it did was summon the beginnings of a headache.

So her struggle quickly turned to panic as she tried formulating a plan out of pure desperation. I can't stay here. If I run far enough away, the spell will stop. It has to!

So the filly charged up the stairs with her now-replenished stamina and opened the door with a buck.

The accompanying crash of the door colliding with a bookcase didn't even cause Sweetie Belle to flinch as she leaped over the sea of unsorted books in the library. When she landed, she sped to the front door, bucked it open as well and scrambled out into the early morning sunlight. She then broke off into a canter, all while keeping an eye on her horn. Pleading for it to stop glowing.

A certain startled dragon was pulled from his deep slumber by the sudden cacophony that filled the library.

“Twilight?” he groaned his question out from his bed of books, as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and blinked a few times, only to see a white blur flash right above him.

Spike let out a gasp as he fell from his precarious position. “Ow!” he exclaimed, rubbing his head as he looked to see the front door hanging wide open. “Was that Sweetie Belle?”

Sweetie Belle ran as fast as she could. Blind to the world around her. Shouting ponies chastised her as she barreled past them, but she paid them no heed. Their voices seemed miles away, for she was focusing only on her horn and putting distance between herself and Twilight. She wouldn't stop until she was sure it was safe.