//------------------------------// // Ch3 - Magical Research // Story: Ponyville's Tiny Librarian // by CommanderX5 //------------------------------// Ponyville’s Tiny Librarian - Chapter 3 Magical Research “Go to sleep already!” Spike pleaded once again, this time loudly with clenched fists as Twilight looked at him with her thin pupils. “It’s three in the morning! You cannot spend so many restless nights on your research.” Twilight frowned as her forelegs buckled a little from the pressure they were enduring. The little unicorn bit her lip and straightened her legs before taking a deep breath. “The blessing Nightmare Moon honored me with can only be researched at night.” Spike groaned. “Besides, the moon keeps me awake and stronger than I ever could've imagined,” Twilight said in determination as yet another drop of sweat fell onto her muzzle. “But this is your tenth sleepless night, Twilight! The more you research it, the more tired you’ll be the next day! You’re really worrying me!” Spike said with a concerned look, but Twilight just ignored him as she poured more magic into her horn. A one-ton load in the appearance of a few bookshelves, levitated in mid air. The pressure of casting so strong of a levitation field made her tiny body forty times heavier, as both the levitated weight and pressure gave Twilight’s hooves and horn quite the workout. The young dragon stomped and said, “Fine, do whatever you want, I don't care anymore.” He walked upstairs, leaving his adoptive mother alone to her research, as he finally gave up on convincing her to get some rest. Steel Blade had given up on this futile quest three days ago, while Overwatch had lasted six before she gave into the fatigue. After a few more minutes of struggling and sweating, Twilight placed the bookshelves on the floor and levitated a miniature notepad and pen. “I think I have enough data to eliminate any potential mistakes,” she remarked before noting the weight of bookshelves and the time she managed to keep them suspended in the air. “If my calculations are correct, my raw power increases by twenty percent at night compared to how much magic I can use during the day and my reserves recover fifty percent faster, all thanks to Luna’s blessing. Wow, the moon really does fill me with magic.” Twilight placed the notepad and pen on the floor as she lit her horn, now focused as a large object slowly advanced towards her, blocking any light from reaching her tired body. The tiny unicorn raised her head and looked up at the horse-like statue floating over her. The wooden statue is hollow, though it still weighs fifty kilograms at best, ten more than my body just a moment ago, Twilight thought as she started the stopwatch before releasing her telekinesis, and a loud thump followed. Twilight grit her teeth while her tiny legs trembled as they fought against the crushing weight with all their might, keeping her muzzle just a few millimeters above the floor. Meanwhile, the notepad was lying on the ground next to the pen, waiting for more information to be added. “Wake up!” Overwatch tapped a hoof impatiently as she glared at her current problem. It was already one o'clock in the afternoon, and her partner was outside convincing Rainbow Dash that Twilight couldn’t come out and play for the fifth time today. To top it all off, Spike was snoozing in his own bed, completely dead to the world. “Right! Plan B!” Overwatch shouted, using her levitation to sweep the curled-up unicorn from her basket and shake her violently. Twilight’s eyes snapped open in alarm, and the guard could easily see the bloodshot eyes of her little charge. “Oh umm… hey Overwatch. W-what time is it?” Twilight asked with a yawn before dozing off, her legs hanging down motionlessly like those of a doll. The guard mare rolled her eyes and proceeded to trot to the bathroom, her captive in tow. A minute later, Twilight found herself unexpectedly drowning under a stream of cold water. With a shriek, she opened her eyes again, though there wasn’t much to see with the shower spray obscuring her vision. The moment she was removed from the waterfall, Twilight brought her forelegs up to wipe the water from her eyes. “O-Overwatch!” she managed to blubber out. The charcoal mare levitated Twilight up to her nose and took a couple preliminary sniffs. She grimaced, sticking her tongue out in disgust. “Sweet Celestia, you smell like Steelie after he chaperones his guard buddies to the bar,” Overwatch said, before levitating over a bar of lavender-scented soap and scrubbing furiously at Twilight’s fur. “Mostly just puke and sadness.” “W-w-what are you doing?” The tiny unicorn sputtered, waving her hooves around as she tried to see through the wet mane flopped on her face. “Well before, I was doing what you told me to do, but now there’s a fifty-fifty chance I shove a bar of soap up my nose,” Overwatch replied, bringing Twilight up to sniff again before putting her back under the stream. “What I t-t-told you t-to do?” she asked, shivering from the cold. “I didn’t a-ask y-you t-to f-freeze me.” After taking one final sniff, Overwatch gently placed the tiny unicorn on a towel. “You asked me to wake you up at this specific hour if you overslept,” she said, watching as Twilight shook herself like a dog, causing tiny drops of water to land on the towel and Overwatch’s foreleg. “Not my fault that you sleep like a rock after nine sleepless nights. You try this again, and I’ll start adding ice cubes to your wake-up bath.” With the help of her magic, Twilight wiped her fur with the blanket until her body shone and sparkled. Not wasting a moment, she jumped onto the floor and ran past Overwatch’s hooves before leaving the bathroom, her guard following right behind her. “Well, at least the shower did what it was supposed to,” Overwatch remarked. “Where’re you going now?” “To continue my research, of course!” Twilight remarked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, causing Overwatch to roll her eyes. In just a few seconds, the little mare levitated several books and research equipment right above her head as she ran downstairs to the basement. My own underground laboratory, the princess sure thought of everything. Two alicorns under the disguise of illusion magic were eating ice cream cones, enjoying their break after Cadence had shown Luna the wonders of Canterlot. Not everything went calmly during their excursion though as more than once she ended up restraining the night princess from beating up a few nobles for… how Luna phrased it? ‘Being a band of useless, snobbish good-for-nothing traitorous bags of hay.’ “Luna, you cannot just assault your subjects like that,” Cadence whispered as they sat under an umbrella at the restaurant, trying not to capture any pony’s attention. “Those ponies deserved it,” Luna whispered in defense, “How can our sister even put up with them?” She licked her ice cream. “The fact that our sister even let such an ungrateful bunch grow under her nose to the point where one house even dared to take hostages at her student’s birthday party is shameful. We prefer the fools who fear our night, but at least work hard for the good of Equestria, rather than this bunch of bit-wasting flanks.” Cadence lowered her head and spoke, a smile no longer present on her face, “Position and power corrupts, Luna. After Celestia–” she bit her lower lip before continuing, “–banished you to the moon because of that huge misunderstanding,” Luna frowned, but inclined her ear anyway, “-she found that she couldn’t do it alone. Despite my best efforts to help, Auntie Celestia couldn’t rule Equestria by herself; she needed ponies who could help her rebuild it, so she shared her rule with the more deserving and trusted ones.” Cadence sighed deeply. “Nobles from the first three hundred years were very dedicated to leading Equestria into a bright future as we faced a war, famine and other disasters that followed. However, as the situation improved, every following generation cared less and less. Holding a high position while having great influence, made them think they were better than other ponies. Outside of the Sparkle and Pants’ houses, the majority of nobles are nothing but dead-weight.” Luna blinked. “House Sparkle, like... Twilight Sparkle?” Cadence smiled and nodded as she spoke cheerfully. “Correct, Twilight belongs to a house that was formed a thousand years ago by several very talented unicorns, who dedicated their lives for self-improvement and research to better Equestria. Every subsequent generation worked harder and was more powerful than the previous one.” Luna raised her head proudly as she swallowed the last piece of ice cream. “Pity that thy worthless nobles would not take an example from the Sparkles. I am sure that while the upper class wastes their time and bits on pointless parties, our sister’s student is doing some diligent research as we speak.” Cadence nodded. “I am sure she is too, and Auntie Celestia was even kind enough to equip the library basement with a laboratory many years in advance.” Luna paused. “Our sister did what?” Cadence put hoof on Luna’s mouth before looking around, luckily no pony seemed to look in their direction. A chuckle quickly followed as she spoke, “I forgot she didn’t tell you. In her original plan, once Twilight saved you from Nightmare Moon’s influence, Celestia wanted to convince her to stay in Ponyville with the other Element Bearers. Knowing her student’s nature, she prepared the library with all kinds of advanced equipment for her to work with.” Luna stood and walked away from the table. “We think We may need to have a talk with our sister. Please excuse us, Cadence,” she said before walking away from the table. Cadence quickly levitated bits to pay for the food before following. “No underhooved treatment of your sister, please!” “So umm... why are we here, Twilight?” Steel Blade asked hesitantly, glancing down at the cables attached to his body. His partner, Overwatch, shared the same fate, though with much less concern. Twilight turned away from the monitoring equipment and jumped on Steel Blade’s nose, hanging onto it with her forelegs. “Because I need additional test subjects for my experiment,” she answered matter-of-factly. “When I scanned my body a month ago, I couldn’t detect anything but unicorn magic. The day after the Nightmare Moon incident, I discovered that I have both pegasus and earth pony magic.” Steel Blade’s eyes flickered towards a line of bottles on a shelf, dark fragments of Nightmare Moon’s flesh were isolated in each one like samples for some sort of secret magical experiment. He shook his head quickly, dispelling the memories of the night’s events. Twilight, however, completely missed his moment of trepidation, mistaking it for surprise at her words as she plowed on, “My friends Applejack and Rainbow Dash also possess both pegasus and earth pony magic. My theory is that it has to be connected with the Elements, since that’s the only thing we’ve all shared since then.” “So let me get this straight,” Overwatch started. “You think that the Elements of Harmony gave you and your friends… magic. From the other types of ponies.” Twilight jumped from Steel Blade’s nose right onto Overwatch’s, clinging to her muzzle instead. “Of course! According to what I’ve learned from Celestia, she had already suspected that the Elements chose us. When the Elements activated in the ruins, I saw how the rainboom linked all of my friends together in acquiring our cutie marks.” She jumped back to the floor, gesturing grandly with a hoof. “It’s so simple! Once we activated the Elements, they gave us more than one type of magic to make us even stronger. The Elements must have boosted our inner magic so we could face even tougher upcoming challenges! ” Twilight raised her head high, looking at each of them in turn with a gleam in her eye. “Also, it seems that my earth pony magic and pegasus magic get a little stronger the more I use them. My dreams of being as strong and athletic as an earth pony and as agile as a pegasus may finally come true!” Steel Blade let out an amused snort. “Right, cause you're not strong or agile enough already.” Twilight beamed at him. “I knew you’d understand, Steelie!” Overwatch, however, just looked confused. “Well, that still doesn't explain why you need us to do anything.” Twilight pointed her hoof at them in turn. “Well, you're a unicorn, Steel Blade is a pegasus, and neither of you were affected by the Elements. By scanning your magic, I can be sure that my spell is working correctly as well as help establish a baseline to compare my data to.” “That’s all?” Steel Blade asked. Twilight lit her horn and responded, “That’s all.” The guard pegasus let out a sigh, having realized his role in his charge’s important research amounted to little more than acting as the control. The scanning spell passed through him quickly, and Twilight noted the result on a clipboard she had levitated over. “So, how strong is my magic?” he asked, a hint of interest in his voice. “Well…” Twilight started, giving him an awkward smile. “For a Royal Guard, the results are fairly standard, I guess.” “And compared to Rainbow Dash?” Steel Blade asked. It was difficult gauging the weather manager’s formidable flying prowess from just watching her or attempting to shoo her off from bothering Twilight, but knowing how he stacked against her meant that he could figure out exactly how formidable she really was. Twilight muttered something under her breath and Steel Blade leaned in closer. “Wait, say that again?” She coughed. “Twenty percent.” He blinked. “W-what…?” His eyes widened, and his mouth fell agape. “What?” Overwatch snickered. “Wow, Steelie, looks like you’ve already been struck with senility.” “Haw haw, laugh it up,” Steel Blade said without amusement, poking at the floor with his hoof. “I thought I’d be able to do a bit better than that after two decades in the guard.” Overwatch pouted, nuzzling at her partner’s cheek. “Aww, don’t be like that, Steelie. It’s unbecoming of you to be all moody and depressing,” she said, before flashing him a smile. “It’s not like anyone’s going to turn Rainbow Dash into a guard just because her magic’s stronger than yours.” The guard stallion just snorted, rolling his eyes. “She might as well be, with how often she comes by the library.” The charcoal mare glared at him a while longer before he finally relented. “Alright alright, fine. I’ll try not to be jealous.” The little unicorn looked between the two, somewhat cluelessly, before she shrugged and cast her scanning spell on Overwatch. At the first pass through, she stopped. Twilight cast it again. And again and again, and every time she did so, her eyes grew wider than before. “Is something wrong?” Overwatch asked curiously as her little charge started to look between the tiny notepad and her in a panic. “Is there something wrong with my mag—” The guard’s expression froze, and she stared dumbly as Twilight appeared on her muzzle in a flash. “You don’t have even the slightest bit of unicorn magic in yourself!” Overwatch stared for a moment longer, before bursting out into laughter. “Wow, that explains why I’m so trash at magic! My C.O. hated how long it took me to learn more than how to point and shoot,” she replied with a chuckle, rubbing her neck under her scarf as Steel Blade raised an eyebrow at her. “Y-you sure you didn’t just miscast it, Twiny?” “No, it can’t be. No matter how badly I perform this spell, I can always detect what type of magic is in the targeted pony. Whatever magic is in you, it’s something I have never encountered before.” Twilight’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she jumped onto Overwatch’s head and climbed up her horn, dancing on it like an acrobat. “Oooh... this is so exciting! First I get to research Luna’s blessing, next I find out that my friends and I possess more than one type of magic, and now it turns out that you possess magic that I’ve never even known about!” Twilight jumped down from the horn she had stood on, landing on the floor. She sprinted upstairs, yelling, “I can’t wait to find out what kinds of secrets my friends and Ponyville are hiding from me!” Once the miniscule scientist finally disappeared, Overwatch’s grin waned, turning into a grimace. She cleared her throat quickly. “W-well, it looks like she’s off again. I should uhh… make sure she doesn’t get herself in trouble,” she said, quickly disentangling herself from the wires and trotting off upstairs. “Just make sure Spike doesn’t get into any trouble while I’m gone. Meet us in town if you decide to go out!” Steel Blade’s brow furrowed as he watched the charcoal mare disappear through the doorway. It didn’t take a lifetime of guard experience to tell him that his partner was uncomfortable about something, and it wouldn’t be the first time that Overwatch had attempted to deflect his attention off of it. He let out a sigh. Maybe now, he might get a glimpse of what it was. Well, after making sure Spike doesn’t do anything silly like set the library on fire. *** Twilight galloped between the giant wooden houses, while ponies still gave her an occasional odd glance, not yet used to the tiny librarian. The incident with the ticket to the ‘Grand Galloping Gala’ had only increased the tension between her and the town folks, but Twilight didn’t mind as her attention was focused on the earthquakes she felt under her hooves. A moment later she could hear Rainbow Dash yelling something far above her, but she couldn’t understand a single word. The little unicorn started to bounce off the ground as the earthquake became even stronger. She saw ponies start to panic and run around. “Thhhiiiisssss mmmmaaaakkkeeesss mmmmyyyyy vvvvooooiiicccceeee sssooouuunnndddd sssssiillllyyy,” Pinkie Pie said as she bounced right next to Twilight who, in order to regain control over herself, started to self-levitate above the ground thanks to her magic. She slowly floated onto the shoulder of Mayor Mare, who was busy trying to calm everypony. “Whatever shall we do?” Rarity asked while making a dramatic pose. Rainbow Dash flew right between them and pointed towards the closing cloud of smoke hiding hundreds of cows. Twilight climbed onto the head of Mayor Mare to take a better look, yet failing to see what was happening due to the distance and small size of her eyes. She exposed her ear, listening to the discussion between her friends while hearing praises for Applejack’s accomplishment. It seems that Applejack and her dog saved the town. I’m really lucky to learn about the earth pony magic from such a brave and dependable friend. I wish I could reward her somehow. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie fell from above, body slamming into the ground with a loud thump, as Twilight fell off the Mayor’s head from the vibrations. How did she even get up that high in the first place? Twilight thought as she shook her head and stood up, now staring at Pinkie Pie. Maybe she gained unicorn’s magic and learned how to teleport, I’ll need to look into it. Wait... my research! how could I forget? Twilight flinched as Mayor Mare stomped next to her and spoke authoritatively, “We must do something for Applejack to thank her for single-hoofedly saving the town.” Pinkie Pie nodded and suggested in excitement, “How about we organise a party in Applejack’s name?” Everypony cheered in agreement, sharing her enthusiasm. Being unnoticed by others who either followed Pinkie Pie and Mayor Mare to help them, or just headed back home, Twilight followed Rarity. Pinkie is going to be busy and Dash already flew away. Rarity it is. She grabbed her hind leg in attempt to get her attention. Stopping, Rarity looked back as she raised her leg, noticing her friend now sitting on her rear hoof. “Oh, hello Twilight. I didn’t see you there.” The little mare climbed up onto Rarity’s back before reaching her ear as she now hung onto it. She whispered, “Rarity, can you help me with some important research?” The fashionista held a hoof under her neck as she thought deeply. “I should be helping with the party preparations, but I see no harm in sparing a few minutes.” She smiled, still feeling Twilight’s weight as if she was her ear decoration. “What kind of research do you have in mind, darling?” *** “T-Twilight, isn’t t-this slightly... overdoing it?” Rarity asked with a tired voice as she stood on her rear hooves, three hundred kilograms of heavy stone tied to her back. A piece of wood was being levitated in front of her. “Come on, Rarity, you can do it! Just put more spirit into it!” Twilight cheered, jumping around on her hind legs while gesturing with two feathers in her forehooves, role-playing as a cheerleader. Rarity gulped and grit her teeth. She bucked her hind legs and jumped, kicking the wood as it cracked in half. The heavy stone on her back pulled her to the ground with great force and a loud thump as she could feel sweat falling from her head. Wasting no time, she levitated a piece of soft material to her forehead. “Good job, Rarity! Only thirteen jump-kicks left and we’re done, isn’t it easy?” Twilight asked enthusiastically as she levitated another piece of wood towards the bigger mare. “Show this piece of wood who’s the boss!” Rarity sat and sighed while her ears drooped flat against her head. She looked down at Twilight with a raised eyebrow and asked, “Remind me, why I am doing this in the first place?” Twilight sat and entered her lecturing mode. “This is very simple. Besides your unicorn magic, which isn’t really too strong,” Rarity frowned at this remark, “lately, you’ve also gained a little bit of earth pony magic. I want to test if its amount will increase with intensive exercise.” Rarity shook her head. “I can understand weightlifting, Twilight, but whatever do I need to kick a piece of wood for? It is so uncouth.” Twilight chuckled. “Well… when you thought I was a rat and tried to throw me away like garbage,” Twilight said firmly as Rarity blushed in embarrassment. “In my defense, I had sent the broom and the shovel against you, and you fought them off using martial arts.” Rarity rolled her eyes at the response, the memory of that dreadful event flashing in her mind. She just had to show her hoof to hoof combat abilities, she just had to fight off some random cleaning devices, and now her little friend thought of her as an Equestrian warrior or a martial arts master. With a deep breath, she once again fought against the heavy weight on her back as she struck the wood with another solid kick. I am so going to need a hooficure after this. After a very solid exercise and one long hooficure, Rarity and Twilight trotted towards Town Hall where the party preparations were going at full speed. To make up for Rarity’s absence as her assistance in the decoration department was crucial, Twilight assisted wherever she could. It didn’t take long before her guards and Spike joined and helped with the preparations. *** Twilight was balancing with a single hoof on Overwatch’s horn to get a better view over the crowd, listening to Rainbow Dash’s praise about Applejack’s ‘sick moves’ while Pinkie Pie added that she got to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time. She was pleasantly surprised to see Fluttershy giving her own speech in front of the entire town. Finally, Mayor Mare made a speech and pointed out a giant, shining, golden trophy next to her before presenting Applejack, when the curtain revealed an empty space. Twilight almost lost her balance, biting her lip the moment part of her forehoof pressed against the sharp horn. The crowd gasped while Spike exclaimed how awesome Applejack's entrance was. “Awkward,” he said, noticing his mistake. Twilight rolled her eyes, only to notice the guest of honour coming towards the crowd. She buckled her leg and used it to jump and turn herself towards Applejack in mid air before landing on her other hoof. Her attention focused on the farm mare who had on her back, to Twilight’s confusion, baskets full of apples. She could see Applejack passing her for only a few seconds, but it was all she needed to notice the bags under her half-closed eyes. Repeating her previous trick, Twilight landed on her other hoof while turning towards the stage, only to see Applejack body checking the Mayor Mare away from the platform. The farm mare murmured something to the crowd before walking towards her large reward. She started acting weirder than Pinkie Pie, who apparently couldn’t help herself and joined, mimicking Applejack. Twilight bent her foreleg again, this time putting far more strength into pushing herself from Overwatch’s horn as she landed on somepony else. The little unicorn quickly started to jump from head to head until she landed on the stage before jumping onto the giant golden cup. Once on top of it, she gave Applejack a suspicious glance as the giant farm pony had just dozed off in front of it. “Are you alright, Applejack?” Twilight asked gently as she shuffled her hooves in worry. Upon getting no response, she lit her horn and shot Applejack’s head with a weak bolt. “Huh, wha? Oh, thanks,” Applejack said with a tired sleepy voice before she pulled the trophy with her teeth. Twilight still stood on top of it, sending waves of scanning spell into the mare, only to receive worrying results. Her earth pony magic and stamina are half-spent, not to mention the obvious lack of sleep. She kind of reminds me of myself whenever I overtax myself during my training, Twilight thought. “Applejack, you need to take a break!” she advised, only to be ignored. “Applejack, I know that you always work hard, but you’re slowly reaching your limits!” She frowned. “Are you even listening to me?” After minutes of asking and pleading, Twilight jumped off the reward back on Overwatch’s horn as the guard had followed her this entire time. The little mare frowned again as she pointed at Applejack with the foreleg she wasn’t standing on while maintaining balance. “She’s pushing herself too hard, not sleeping long enough and when I ask her to stop and rest, she just ignores me then does whatever she wants. It’s so annoying!” Twilight said with irritation in her voice. Overwatch, Steel Blade and Spike exchanged a look. And then promptly burst out laughing.