//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: “There isn't a spell that just lets you create things out of nothing?” // Story: The Might of a Quill // by derpyland //------------------------------// Twilight felt someone shaking her. “C'mon, Twilight, wake up!” The purple alicorn slowly opened her eyes. She was exhausted, she was sore, and she did not want to be awake. “What's the emergency? Is the castle on fire?” “You fell asleep! You're supposed to be working, remember? We have a deadline!” Twilight's eyes finally came into focus, and she realized that Rainbow Dash was talking to her. Why did I fall asleep in my library, and why is Rainbow here? What could possibly– Then she remembered, and a flood of grief and sorrow washed over her. Applejack had died three days ago. If anything, the feeling of loss had only grown with time. “I brought you some coffee,” Rainbow Dash said cheerfully. She set a steaming white cup down onto the desk – and right on top of a rare, first-edition book. “It's nice and fresh! Pinkie told me that it's a special blend that is great at keeping ponies awake.” “You talked to Pinkie?” Twilight said groggily. She levitated the cup off the book and put it on a coaster. “But it's dark outside. What time is it, anyway?” “Oh, I dunno. 3 am, maybe? Could be 4, I guess.” “Three in the morning?” Twilight exclaimed. “You got Pinkie up at three in the morning? Are you out of your mind? She was probably trying to sleep!” “Oh, she was fine,” Rainbow said casually. “She wasn't upset at all, once I told her what I was doing. In fact, everyone in Equestria has been eager to help. The whole country is pulling for you to bring Applejack back to full health.” “All of Equestria?” Twilight echoed. “Just how many ponies have you told about this?” “Just, like, everyone,” Rainbow Dash bragged. “I mean, c'mon! It's been four days, and we only have three left.” “I thought it had only been three days.” Rainbow shrugged. “Well, it's after midnight now, so technically it has been four days. But enough with the chatter. This is the time to be hustling, not sleeping!” “But I am so tired. I need to sleep, Rainbow. If I can just get some sleep them maybe I can clear my mind. I can't think when I'm this tired.” “Sure, sure, I get it,” the pegasus replied. “But just look at your desk! You've got books opened, and hoof-written notes, and there's a gizmo thingey there. You were in the middle of something, right? A breakthrough, maybe?” Twilight suddenly remembered something. “Wait a minute! I sent you to Manehattan on an errand. What are you doing back here so quickly?” “Oh, I hustled,” Rainbow replied. “I couldn't wait until morning, so I just flew all night to get back. You know – the quicker I get back, the quicker Applejack returns. No time to waste!” “You flew all the way from Manehattan to Ponyville? And at night? But that's a journey of at–” “Eh, no biggie. Not for a pro like me, anyway! The stuff that you wanted is right over there in that bag. I'm glad I had you write all those names down, by the way. I couldn't even pronounce half of them. What do they do, anyway?” “They're for use in mental transfer spells,” Twilight explained. “If I can somehow create a new body for Applejack then we're going to have to – wait a minute, did I send you any bits to pay for those items?” “No worries – I covered it,” Rainbow Dash said quickly. “It's not a big deal.” Twilight Sparkle sat up straight. “Rainbow, it is a big deal! That equipment is very costly and very rare. You can't possibly afford that kind of expense!” “What we can't afford is to fail,” Rainbow said. “And we're not going to. Right?” Twilight sighed. “I don't know. I just don't know. I mean, I'm trying, but I just don't see how we can pull this off. No one has ever done anything like this before. To be honest, I think this is completely impossible. Applejack is gone, Rainbow. We're not going to get her back.” Rainbow Dash froze. She stood there, staring at Twilight. She didn't say a word. “It's not true,” she said, her voice wavering. “Applejack isn't dead! She can't be. She can't be.” Tears began to form in her eyes. “Tell me it's not true! Tell me you can bring her back.” Twilight paused before saying anything. I've tried everything I know to try. I've read every book on this subject. There's nothing left to do. It's over. But she could not bear to crush her friend. “Fine,” she sighed. “I'll give it one more try. But I'm just too tired to think right now. Can you make sure that no one disturbs me? If I can just get some sleep then maybe I can think of something.” “Got it,” Rainbow said. “If you need anything else just let me know.” The blue pegasus darted out of the room, closing the library door behind her. Twilight was going to say something else, but she was too tired. She sunk into her chair and fell back to sleep. * * * * * Once again she felt someone shaking her. “Twilight? Are you awake yet? Have you had enough sleep?” Twilight opened her eyes. This time she felt more rested. She was still sore, but that was probably due to sleeping in a chair instead of her bed. Light was streaming through the window, which meant that Celestia had raised the sun. Morning had come. “Yes, I'm awake,” Twilight told Rainbow Dash. She yawned, then got up and stretched her legs. “Thanks for letting me sleep.” “No problem! I told you that I'd make sure you weren't disturbed, and that is exactly what I did. Nopony gets through on my watch! Can I get you anything for breakfast?” Something about Rainbow Dash's tone of voice struck her. “What's that? What did you do, Rainbow?” “Just making sure you got a good night's rest! That's all. Nothing much, really.” “Why?” Twilight asked. “Did someone come by?” “Well, yeah. Princess Celestia came over. She wanted to talk to you about your research. Celestia said something about it not being healthy to keep obsessing over the dead, or something like that. To be honest, I didn't quite catch everything she said. Once I realized she wanted you to give up I kinda stopped listening to her. I just sent her straight back to Canterlot. She didn't even make it through the front door.” “You did what?” Twilight exclaimed. “You sent Princess Celestia away?” “Of course I did! You wanted your sleep, right? So I made sure you got your sleep.” Twilight winced. “I am really going to have to apologize to her. If Celestia wants to talk to me–” “You can talk to her after you've succeeded,” Rainbow Dash insisted. “But if she wants me to stop–” Rainbow interrupted her. “You can stop when Applejack is back. I'm sure she'll forgive you. It'll be fine. So, where do you want to start?” Twilight sighed. She looked at the giant mess that had once been her well-organized library. There was nothing but chaos and diagrams as far as the eye could see. “Well, um, let's see. If we had a body, we could probably transfer whatever is left of Applejack's mind into that body. That is, provided the mind in the new body was blank, and the body was in working order. Since Applejack's head is still intact–” “Great!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “I'll go grab you a body. Does it have to be an earth pony?” Twilight turned pale. “Wait! Hold it right there. You cannot go and dig up some random corpse in order to get a body. The body has to be alive. That's the whole problem! If we could somehow create a new body for Applejack that was exactly like her old one, then we might have a chance of pulling this off. But there's just no way to do that. There is no 'create a cloned body out of a blood sample' spell.” “No worries – I'll just grab a living earth pony, then. I'm sure you've got a 'mind erase' spell, right? Then you can just transplant Applejack's mind into that one, and–” “We are not going to do that,” Twilight said firmly. “There is no way I'm going to kidnap some random earth pony and sacrifice their mind just to get our friend back. Even if I was willing to do that – and I am not – Applejack would never stand for it. As soon as she found out what you had done she would knock you into next week. She would be furious.” “But what if the pony was willing?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Like, um, me, for instance? Would you do it then? I mean, I know I'm a pegasus and all, but–” “No, Rainbow, we're not doing that either. It's very noble of you to offer, but I'm not going to sacrifice one of my friends in order to save the other. Do you really think Applejack would be happy with that?” “But she'd at least be alive,” Rainbow replied stubbornly. “But you wouldn't.” Twilight sighed. “No, we're going to have to come up with a different solution.” “So you're sure you can't just make one? There isn't a spell that just lets you create things out of nothing? Like, 'Hey, make me some–'” “'–cupcakes'” Twilight finished. “Of course! Could it be that easy?” “Cupcakes?” Rainbow Dash asked, surprised. “What in Equestria do we want cupcakes for? We can get all the cupcakes we want from Pinkie. She's, like, the cupcake champion. We don't need a magical spell for that.” “But there was one time Pinkie created cupcakes out of thin air with pure magic,” Twilight said excitedly. “That may be the answer!” “She did what? No way! Pinkie's not a unicorn, Twilight. She's never used magic in her life.” “Have you already forgotten that one time we got sucked into that Power Ponies comic book and became superheroes?” Twilight asked. “What was the very last thing that Pinkie did when she was Filli-Second?” “Um, let me think. Didn't she go and get cupcakes or something?” “That's exactly what she did. Before that comic book disappeared she went to the bakery, grabbed cupcakes, and took them out of the book and into the real world.” Twilight grinned. She felt a heavy, dark cloud lift from her spirit for the first time in days. “I know what to do now. I think we may have a chance after all! It's time for me to run an errand.” “Great! Let me do it. What do you need?” “No, I'll handle this,” Twilight insisted. “I've got something else I need you to do.” Rainbow looked at her, frowning. “Well, ok, but are you sure about this? Are you really going to go out into Ponyville looking like that?” “What do you mean? Is there a problem?” “Yeah, I'll say there's a problem! You haven't bathed in, like, four days. There are actual flies buzzing around your head. I'm pretty sure nobody is going to let you get anywhere near them – even if you are a princess. Ponies have standards, you know.” Twilight trotted over to a mirror and looked at herself. “Oh. Right! I guess I kinda forgot. So why didn't you say something before now?” “Priorities, of course! We have bigger things to worry about right now than your mane style.” “My mane style!” Twilight exclaimed. “Oh my goodness! I completely forgot about Rarity and Fluttershy. Did anypony ever find them?” “Yeah, that's old news,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Rarity got back in town two days ago, and they found Fluttershy yesterday. I told them not to bother you, though. You're pretty busy right now.” “You... told... them... not... to... bother... me.” Twilight said slowly. “I am going to owe so many apologies when this is over. Who else has been trying to see me that I don't know about?” “Um, well, a lot of ponies, I guess?” Rainbow replied carefully. “Don't worry, though – I've got it covered. Spike is staying with Rarity until you're done.” Twilight face-hoofed. “You told Spike not to return to his own home?” “Oh, yeah, I guess he does kind of live here,” Rainbow said. “Oops. My bad.” “Go get him,” Twilight growled. “Then clean up this library. Spike knows how I keep my books organized, so you can consult with him to learn the proper filing procedure. While you do that I'm going to go and take a bath, and then I'm going on an errand. When I return we will have a lot of work to do.” “Got it!” the pegasus said. She raced out the door. * * * * * An hour later a clean and refreshed Twilight Sparkle walked up to a small store that was tucked away in a corner of Ponyville. On her head she wore her crown – which was quite unusual for her – and over her flank she had her trusty saddlebag. The bag seemed unusually full. When the princess made her way through Ponyville in search of that particular store, the residents of the city were glad to see her. It was the first time Twilight had set hoof outside the castle since the day Applejack died. A few ponies walked over to speak with her, but when they saw the determined look on her face they backed away. It was clear to everypony that Twilight was on a mission and did not want to be disturbed. The princess glanced up at the wooden sign that hung over the door. In old, elegant letters it read “Ponyville Comic Emporium”. This must be it, she thought. The princess opened the door and walked inside. Twilight had spent countless hours in bookstores, but she had never been inside this particular store before. Up until today, comic books had held no interest to her whatsoever. A good book on history could keep her intrigued for hours, but comics were a completely different matter. She was therefore surprised to see that this was not like any bookstore she had ever visited. The shelves were lined with more than just comics. There were giant posters, clothing, records, action figures, and merchandise of all kinds. It was a bit overwhelming. A few ponies loitered around, browsing. All of them stopped and stared at her when she walked in. No one dared to say anything to her. Twilight was going to say something, but then a particular item caught her attention. She walked over to it to get a closer look. When she realized what it was her eyes widened. “You have action figures of me?” she said incredulously. “Of course!” Frosted Arrow called out from behind the cash register. He quickly walked over to the princess. “As a matter of fact, you're a very popular item. Only Princess Luna outsells you. We have you in both alicorn and unicorn varieties – there are a few die-hards who prefer the older models. We also have the rest of the Elements of Harmony.” “That's crazy,” Twilight said. She levitated the figure off the shelf and brought it closer to her. The detail was impressive – her cutie mark was right, her mane was captured perfectly, and she could see every feather on her wings. “Why didn't I know about this?” “I have no idea. I'm sure Celestia is sending you your cut of the licensing revenue. This is all official merchandise, you know. Besides, didn't you notice that Spike had a Rarity doll? Where did you think he got it?” “I guess I thought he made it himself,” Twilight said. “Oh, not at all! You see, you and your friends are heroes, and heroes are big business. A lot of ponies wish that they could be you. Playing with your action figures is sort of the next best thing.” “That is really weird,” Twilight commented. “I'm not sure how I feel about that.” “You should be honored,” the white stallion replied. “It means you're loved.” “How would you feel if they sold action figures of you?” “Actually, that would be really cool! I should check into that.” Frosted Arrow smiled. “But I'm sure you didn't come in here to talk about that. How can I help you, princess? I have to admit I'm a bit surprised to see you in here. I thought you weren't interested in our products. You made that pretty clear the last time we talked.” “Well, ordinarily, they're not really my thing,” Twilight admitted. “But I've been a bit busy lately, as you might have heard.” A shadow came across Frosted Arrow's face. “Oh, right – Applejack. I am so sorry about what happened. I never had a chance to meet her, but I know she was a true hero. I'm sure you must miss her terribly.” “Well, actually, that's why I'm here. Do you have any enchanted comics?” “Well, sure, we carry comics from that publisher,” Frosted Arrow replied, a bit confused. “Was Spike missing a particular issue?” “No no no – that's not what I mean. Do you have any comics that are actually enchanted?” “Oh – ok, sorry. Yes, we carry those too. I thought Spike didn't like those, though.” Twilight shook her head. “These aren't for Spike – they're for me. I want all of them that you have.” “Really?” Arrow asked in amazement. “Wow. Well, let's see. The only line of comics that was ever produced that was actually enchanted was the Power Ponies storyline. I've got quite a few of them in stock, but I'm missing a couple of the earlier issues–” “I don't care which ones you have,” Twilight said quickly. “I just want all of them. As in, all copies of all of them that you have in stock.” “Are you kidding?” Arrow exclaimed. “What could you possibly want with nine copies of issue #7? I mean, I admit it was a pretty good issue, but–” “Just give them to me,” Twilight interrupted. “I need them. It's very important.” “Well, if that's what you want,” Arrow said slowly. “I've got to warn you, though, they're pretty expensive. It takes a lot of skill to enchant those issues, and that really impacts the price. Each one has to be enchanted separately – they can't be mass produced like the others. At fifty bits an issue, that will cost at least–” Twilight Sparkle ignored him and walked over to the counter. Using her magic, she opened her saddlebag and brought out an enormous bag of bits. She levitated the bag over the counter and turned it upside-down. A shower of golden bits rained everywhere, covering the counter and cascading onto the floor. “I am a princess of Equestria,” she said in a determined tone. “Money is no object. I want all of them. Now. This is a matter of life and death.” Frosted Arrow looked at the pile of bits, and then back at the princess. “Are the rumors true, then? Are you really trying to raise Applejack from the dead? I just couldn't believe that a pony as smart as you would attempt anything that crazy, but I guess I was wrong. Is that what this is all about? Because if it is, I have to tell you that these are just comic books. You're not going to find Applejack in them. The Power Ponies may have been inspired by you and your friends, but they're just stories, princess. Nothing in them is real.” “Just give them to me,” Twilight said. “I know what I'm doing.” “All right, if you insist,” Arrow replied. “Never let it be said that I refused to help a paying customer. The issues that you want are right over there. Let me bag them for you.” “Thank you,” Twilight replied.