//------------------------------// // L: Search // Story: Memoirs of a Magic Earth Pony // by The Lunar Samurai //------------------------------// “I’ve got more books than you could hope to read!” Amethyst shouted as the door to the lab swung open. “Excellent work, Amethyst,” Evenstar said as he carelessly shoved the contents of the nearest table to the floor. “You’ve got to be more careful, Evenstar,” Amethyst muttered as she caught the items in her aura. “No time. What did you find?” I stepped to other side and watched as she splayed the wealth of information before us. “Alright, since you wanted to start from the beginning, I looked for the oldest texts I could find. Our library dates back nearly a millennium with some reproduced works. That should be a good starting place.” “Alright,” Evenstar muttered as he started poking through the books. “I see, lots of ancient history regarding the monolithic structures in the southern deserts… Makes sense I suppose, but why did you grab ancient star charts as well?” “Uhh… Well… I think I just got a little carried away,” Amethyst said quietly. “I figure there must be some benefit in looking to the stars for answers as well. After all, that’s what our ancestors did.” Evenstar slowly nodded. “Yes… good idea.” Then, without warning, he turned to me. “What do you think, Starswirl? Where should we begin?” “What? Oh, I don’t know, you two are th-” I caught myself before I could downplay my role any more. There was something about his question that felt as though he was genuinely interested in my response. “I…” My voice trailed on as I started looking at the titles before me. All of them seemed mildly fascinating topics, something that I wouldn’t find any interest in reading. I was about to admit this fact when my eyes drifted to a small book on the corner of the table. It bore no title but rather, in its cover, a lone circle was engraved. “What’s that one?” I asked as I pointed to the mysterious book. “I’m not sure, to be honest,” Amethyst said as she scratched the back of her head and lifted it from the table. “I grabbed it because it was in between two other books. It’s probably not relevant, but we can give it a chance I guess…” “Alright,” Evenstar started as he looked across the table. “Starswirl, I’m going to have you start out with that strange circle book. See if you can make any sense of it. Amethyst,” he said as his gaze drifted to the small pile of books in the center of the table, “Start with the monoliths and see if you can figure out what the ancients did to construct them.” “And what about you?” I asked. “Hmm… I think I’ll wait and see if either of you find anything. I’ll be working on the equations, just throw something if you make a breakthrough,” he chuckled. “I’ve got another hunch, although I’m almost certain I’m wrong on this one too.” Amethyst and I quickly grabbed our books and settled on the floor to read. It was strange how calm yet energized the air felt as we started turning the pages. Amethyst was a much faster reader than I could have ever dreamed of being, but I didn’t say anything as she rifled through the pages an order of magnitude faster than I did mine. Instead of focusing on the intermittent noise, I tried my best to keep my attention on the subject of my circle book. Its text was lightly faded, but the wording was older still. Our language was always in constant development, that much was obvious, but despite the language barrier thr story itself was strangely fascinating. Through the broken sentences and grammar, I realized that this was the tale of the wheel, or rather, ancient machines that had been constructed over the ages. It was an interesting perspective, although I never found out who wrote it, the wording felt as though the author had seen, firsthand, the benefits of such contraptions. Screws to lift water from one level to another, wheels that made carrying materials and supplies farther and faster, and even rudimentary attempts at shipbuilding came to life in the circle story. There were hundreds of tales, some short quips, others pages long, of such devices. Each one had their own impact on the world around them, and allowed others to follow in their tracks toward more impressive devices. Wheels gave way to axels which became commonplace in the world soon after. “Oh hey, look at this!” Amethyst said as she tapped on the book floating before her. “It looks like there was a way they ancients calculated the dimensions of the monoliths…” Evenstar and I both turned our attention to her. “Well,” Evenstar prodded as he stepped to her side, “is there anything useful?” “You tell me,” she said as she held the book before his face. “They used numerals differently, but it almost looks like they’re… describing multiplication.” “You’re right…” Evenstar said after a moment of silence. “Great find, Amethyst. Here, mark this place and we’ll come back to it.” I slowly approached the two of them. “Can I take a look?” “By all means!” Evenstar said as the book floated to me. “It’s on the right page, about half way down.” I tried to make sense of the symbols before my face, but no matter how hard I tired I couldn’t understand how they were drawing such a conclusion. Regardless, I kept my mouth closed. If they saw it, I figured it had to be there. “Interesting…” I said, as I peered even closer. I wish I had paid genuine attention to their statement, but I was stuck on my own conundrum. The book I had been plodding through had started to allude to something. I wasn’t able to place exactly what it was, but it didn’t sit right with me. The book had a secret to it, a secret that I had yet to discover, but I was working through its obfuscation. Despite its poor writing quality, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something deeper to the story. I plodded on for hours, dismissing the frequent discoveries from Amethyst as she scanned through book after book. I wasn’t focused on her speed anymore; I had become fully enraptured in the notion that this circle book would reveal itself to me. However, as morning turned to evening and the light began to fade, I realized that my revelation would take more than just scanning through a book. I needed a reference, something to provide outside insight into what I was taking in, and there was no better place to start than by checking the table once more. “No longer a statue, I see,” Amethyst quipped as I met her at the table and began searching through the pile. “What’s got you so fascinated in that book, anyway?” “I… I don’t know,” I muttered as I poked through the stack. “I feel like its got some sort of secret that I just can’t piece together.” “A secret?” “Yeah, like there’s a deeper meaning to it than just small stories about machines.” I grabbed another unmarked book from the table, tossed it’s cover open, and frowned at the astronomical subject within. “I’m looking for something that talks about it… Something where another pony has a theory about its meaning.” “I think you’re trying too hard,” Amethyst chuckled as she lifted a book from the pile and held it before my face. “Start reading something else. The only way you’re going to cross reference something like that is through luck.” “I suppose you have a point,” I muttered as I took the book in my mouth and walked over to my reading spot. I turned to the first page and read the title aloud, “Magic and Mathematics, a history.” “Sounds pretty relevant,” Evenstar muttered from his whiteboard. I shrugged and curled up against the floor. The waning light of evening made it difficult to start reading my new book, so I scooted closer to the mantle of the fireplace, hoping the small crackling fire would provide a small bit of illumination. Mathematics is the language in which Magic is written. For thousands of years, our comprehension of our magical abilities has walked alongside our abstract understanding of numbers and how to use them. The further I read, the more I appreciated how clear it delivered its message compared to the other, but I still occasionally thought about that circle book. There was something hidden there, and I was going to find an answer. It wasn’t until much later that night that I was torn from my reading once more. Magic and Mathematics, a History was not a small book, and despite reading at a much quicker pace, I was only a fraction of the way through it when my attention was torn from it once more. “You still reading that?” Amethyst asked from her table. “Yeah, why?” “Hmmm… I need it to look at ancient algebraic development again. The book I’m reading is trying to insinuate that the development of magic stared around 100 years after mathematics, not in tandem. I need to check other sources.” She stepped to my side and looked to me and then to the fire. “What’s wrong?” “I… well… it’s nothing… How far have you gotten?” She asked as she rubbed the back of her head. “I just got to the development of zero.” Without a word, Amethyst stepped over me and laid down on my right. She lifted a number of pages from her side of the book and began reading in the soft purple glow of her magic. I had a train of thought until she slid herself against me. Then the only thought that dominated my mind was her presence next to me. I couldn’t shake it despite my attempts to do so. Instead, I found myself reading the same line over and over again, unable to comprehend what I was reading. This went on for quite a while, or at least, it seemed that way. I can’t say for sure how long we sat there, but I cherished every moment. I started noticing the nuances of the experience. The way I rocked side to side as she breathed, the way her eyes darted across the page as she searched for an answer to her question, it all made me feel at ease. My head bobbed under its own weight as I started to drift to sleep. There was something about that security that was so comfortable I simply couldn’t help myself. I’m not sure if Amethyst noticed or not, but I pushed myself closer and laid my head down on the book, a moment later, and I was fast asleep.