5. Tricks before Twilight
Being a top student at the Academy for Gifted Unicorns has its perks. Despite getting into trouble on average twice a week, usually by proxy of being friends with Moondancer and Sunset Shimmer (the two took turns providing each day's dose of hijinks), Twilight Sparkle's reputation was still so high that she was given free reign at the academy's library, long after it was closed for the public. And while having Spike usually made her job easier and more enjoyable, he was still a baby dragon and needed his night's sleep.
And no, he was banned from ever drinking coffee. Never again would she let a mistake like that happen again.
While she wished Sunset and Moondancer could have been here to keep her company, at least she was getting a lot of work done in solitude. And considering her latest essay required a lot of source material, it was just easier to stay overnight than check out twenty books and risk not having what she needed.
Before she announced herself ready for studying, she reached for her checklist and went through it one last time.
"Checklist for checking my preparations?" She glanced at the document from both sides, and then happily marked the first position. "Check!"
"Papers? Check!"
"Quill? Check. Replacements? Check!"
"Ink? Check!"
"Coffee maker, coffee beans, milk, sugar, tea spoons? Check, check, check, check, check."
"Mug with hot coffee already in it?" She glanced at one such thing, sniffing the aroma going from the boiling hot drink. "Mmhmm. Check."
"Joe's Donuts? Check."
"Key to the toilet? Check."
"No Mrs. Bookmark making snarky remarks and hushing me every two seconds?" She looked around, then giggled and nodded to herself. "Check!"
"Books?" She looked around the library. It wasn't flooded, burning, smelling, being robbed, teleported to another realm or cut into little pieces. "Chhhhhheeeccck!"
"Now that everything is in order, nothing can stop me from achieving knowledge!" She beamed proudly at herself for a moment, then rolled the checklist back into a scroll and went towards the table. "But first, get'em while they're hot!"
Her magical aura enveloped the cup of steaming hot coffee with liberal dose of milk and sugar. Unlike some other ponies she knew (Sunset), she wasn't afraid to enhance her drink with sugar and milk, which some (Sunset) thought was blasphemous and would rather spend all her allowance getting so called "proper coffee", which had all the taste, but no utility. She levitated it towards herself to first delect her nostrils with the sweet smell of third grade coffee (it's not the taste, but the staying power that made it her favorite), blew at it a few times so she wouldn't burn herself with the first sip, then gladly touched her lips to it and slowly lifted it higher, and higher and...
"Huh?"
She inspected the mug closely and couldn't help but raise her eyebrow. She turned it upside down only a single drop fell to the ground.
"What the...? Didn't I just...?" She put the mug back at the table, breathed in and out a few times and slowly calmed herself down. "I guess I must've drunk it before. Oh well, I'll just make another and waste five minutes of studying... Ugh, so much for the perfect plan... and I should stop talking to myself!"
Approximately one hour later, her coffee didn't disappear, so she finished it by the time she was done with her current batch. She proudly looked at all the notes she had produced, noting that those five wasted minutes didn't impede her progress... much. Done with that part, she grabbed all four tomes she was using and levitated them after her, going to their respective shelves. It was part of the deal- clean after yourself and reshelf all the books in their proper places. That was the least she could do to show respect to those great sources of knowledge and power. Also, it made Spike's job easier.
"Can I have that one?"
"Sure." Twilight passed her current one to her right without thinking.
"Thank you.
"No prob--- wait, who what?"
She quickly turned to her right, dropping the last tome from her grip, only to notice... nothing. Nopony was there with her, yet she could've sworn she heard a female voice just before. And that tome she hoofed over was gone. Coffee she could forget about, but books?
"Hello? Anypony here?" She asked around and walked between a few shelves, but saw nothing. No signs of any other living being, aside from some random bugs that probably crept somewhere out there, reminding her to not spoil Spike TOO much, it looked like he was getting tardy at his librarian duties.
Eventually, she shrugged it as just hallucinations born from hunger, so she took a small break to get more coffee and a donut. She went back and unsealed a six pack she brought with herself, helping herself to a caramel donut before going back to work.
Two tomes, another mug of caffeine poison delight, two more donuts and who knows many hours later, Twilight noticed some discrepancies in her notes. She inspected it over and over, but the error was there, as two sources couldn't agree on one principle. She blamed it being written by two rivaling scholars, roughly at the same time. She couldn't have an error and two versions would be unthinkable- there was only one truth, if two great magicians couldn't agree on it back then, then somepony else later had to settle on it. With that in mind, she left her workplace and went searching for a more modern publication.
As she went away, she glanced at the open donut box, where two more treats still waited for her.
"Wasn't there supposed to be three?" She looked at the box confused, but shrugged it away as simply not paying attention to low things like food while searching for enlightenment.
She yawned, as she slowly trotted over the bookshelves, scanning the labels for something she could use. She wasn't sure which one it was, but there had to be one that had some answers. As she walked, she heard faint noises at her back. She jumped and turned back, horn glowing with light, but she found nothing.
"Hehe, nothing... okay, I gotta give it to the girls, the library at night is a bit spookier than..."
Another faint noise made her jump and squeak, her horn brightening even more, ready to form a blast of energy to fire any second.
"H-hello?" She swallowed. "I-if somepony's around, could you please tell me?" Silence. "No? Okay, then it's probably just wind. Nopony's here with me, right?" Yet another noise could be heard, this one clearly of some hoofsteps. She jumped at that direction, her breath getting heavier. "Spike? Mrs. Bookmark? Guards? ...Princess Celestia? ...Princess Luna?" She waited for the response. "Moonie, Sunny, I swear, if this is some kind of prank, it's not funny, only distracting!" But still, there was nothing.
She swallowed. "There's no ghost in the library, it's just an urban legend..." She muttered to herself, as she walked by the giant hall, slowly peeking out of every corner just in case. "Then again, if there is no ghost, is it... a trespasser?" She gasped, shaking in place, continuously turning in any direction, blowing at her hair every time she accidentally got part of her mane at her face. "No no no, no way anypony could sneak in! There's a state of the art security system! Not even Discord could penetrate it, I'm sure of it... I hope..."
She jumped as she heard a few more steps in the distance. Somepony was here, she had no more doubts about that. The entire academy has many layers of magical wards and barriers of different kinds. Whoever got inside was good. Really, really good. Anypony not approved by headmistress would have to be a genius to get past it. Since only students and staff are ever approved, they couldn't learn how to do it in the first place, which left very few beings capable of such a feat, not necessarily ponies. She wouldn't be nearly as scared if Nightmare Moon hadn't roam free just a few weeks ago, thus turning out one legend to be true. Her first instinct was to run away, just go towards the exit, or window, whichever happened to be closer, leap away or teleport, whichever is faster, alert the guards and the Princess and get away safely. That was the safe thing to do. Smart thing to do.
However, she looked around her and noticed a lot of things. Knowledge. Power. All within hoof's reach. Whoever got inside now had access to all of it, there was no telling what they could find. Or how much danger that would produce later down the line. She remembered that one book Sunset once found and how it almost ended in a disaster, no telling what else could be hiding around here. On a side note, why do they keep something this dangerous in the public library*? And the only thing that stood on the way, was her, Twilight Sparkle. Top student of Princess Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns. The most promising magician of the century (not her words, but she couldn't disagree).
Whoever the trespasser was, he/she/it knew that, which is why he/she/it avoided her like plague.
Twilight smiled viciously. The tables had turned. The hunted became the hunter. Whatever was here with her was in deep trouble once a member of the Sparkle family caught up to them. With her newfound resolve and bravado, she turned towards the recent source of noises. A few more steps could be heard, confirming her hunch. She galloped in that very direction, charging her horn with the most powerful magic missile she could.
Spellbook entry #375: Magic Missile: Do I really have to explain?
She galloped forward, going west, closer to the walls. She smiled, knowing that despite this being a maze of a building, she knew it inside out and the direction the trespasser was coming from was a dead end, meaning that whoever was there had nowhere to escape, especially after she used her brother's copyrighted (performed under fair use laws) barrier spell. She jumped out of the corner and faced the intruder with her horn burning up and spirit high.
"Gotcha! Surrender now and... and..."
Like a balloon poked by a needle, all her bravado popped away from existence as Twilight Sparkle noticed the so called trespasser. It wasn't a pony, or any other creature with sentience. It did made the weird, irregular noises that resembled hoofsteps, even though they were anything but.
"A... a window?" Her eyebrow twitched as an single, open window moved along with the wind, occasionally colliding with the wall and frame, producing ominous noises that carried over the giant, echoing empty chamber. "...ha... haha..." She snorted, then emerged into a fit of laugher.
She closed the window shut, making sure that yes, none of the layers of the barrier were ever breached. Sighing with relief, she slowly went back to her table, still giggling over her little overreaction.
Girls were right, she though, this isn't healthy. She yawned, bringing another point. I'm getting tired and my mind is playing tricks. That would explain why I miscounted the donuts, or coffee. I mean, how in the world would somepony, or something, drink a whole cup of steaming hot drink in a few seconds? No way. It was all just my imagination. Oh well, there's still plenty of time to finish the essay, no need to stay all night. I'll get it done in the afternoon, after a solid six hours of sleep. That should be enough.
She walked by a few more bookshelves, halfway towards her destination, when another though occurred to her.
"Wait, where's that book I gave away? Did I accidentally place it in the wrong shelf?"
She was about to scoff at herself for thinking weird things, when the next turn over the corner placed her at the same place where she supposedly gave it away. She stopped mid-trot, when she saw...
...her. A mare, dressed in an elaborate purple cape adorned with golden stars, wearing a pointy wizard hat, just standing there, just a few yards away, reading a book. That book. A small, glowing orb levitated above her, providing the light she needed to read, while also casting an ominous shadow, obscuring her face.
"...uh..." Twilight raised her hoof, but with her previous bravado gone, she was unsure how to react.
The mare turned her head at her, pointing her purple eyes at Twilight. An awkward moment followed, in which the two sets of eyes blinked one after the other a few times. Then Twilight made a single step towards her, at which point the mare pulled something out of her cap and tossed it into the ground, exploding in a puff of smoke. Twilight coughed, fanning the smoke out of her eyes, only to realize that the mare was gone!
"Hey! Get back here!"
She immediately jumped past the smoke cloud, ending up at a crossroads of bookshelves. Turning left and right, she caught a glimpse of a cape vanishing in the corner to her left. Wasting no time, she galloped after, following her as she cut corner after corner, her cape being always just barely visible, until eventually Twilight lost her way and was torn between two turns. She had to give it to the trespasser- she was good at escaping on hooves, but Twilight wasn't about to let her go that easily. She had an ace up her sleeve. And eyes. Or rather, horn, as she cast another spell.
Spellbook Entry #285: Thermovision: Replaces regular sight of the caster with the ability to see changes in temperature in the surrounding area. Lasts for a few minutes, depending on the caster's magical power, or until canceled.
"You can't hide away from me!" She looked around the cold, unmoving library, except now her entire view was different. No longer was she able to see regular colors or details, only general shapes in the nearest vicinity; but instead was able to see changes in temperature, which obviously all living beings emitted and couldn't easily hide, unless the stranger knew a counterspell. And judging by the red/orange-ish shape she sensed nearby, contrasting with the dark blue of anything else, she couldn't. Twilight slowly walked towards that place, then jumped from behind a shelf in front of her.
"There's no escaping now! Surrender and explain yourself! How did you get here, who are you, what are you planning to do?" She got nothing in response. "Answer me!"
Nothing. Twilight looked at the mess of red and orange colors in front of her. She could feel radical temperature changes, but no movement similar to what she supposed would be breathing. And come to think of it, wasn't that a little too hot for a pony? She closed her eyes and safely removed the spell from her eyes, regaining her regular vision, only to notice... her coffee maker, boiling with fresh drink ready to consume.
"STUPID USELESS THERMOVISION!" She kicked the table out of frustration, instantly regretting it and massaging her pained hoof. How she managed to get back to her station was anypony's guess, but she wasn't done yet. She cast the thermovision again (making a mental note to learn a better vision spell) and looked around again. Finding another moving object of different (and regular) temperature in the distance, she gave chase again and eventually caught up to her.
The two once again stood face to face, though Twilight only saw the red heat, pretty sure that in the darkness she wouldn't be able to recognize her face anyway. That, and if she was about to get away again, she wasn't about to cast it again, her eyes hurt enough even without using magic on her eyeballs all the time.
"Stop! Right! There!" She ordered.
The mare once again pulled a smoke bomb from her cape and threw it at the ground, but this time Twilight was ready. No amount of smoke was going to mask her own temperature, this wasn't even going to buy her time. She once again gave chase, galloping into the smoke cloud as fast as possible.
"That trick won't work on me twi--!"
SMACK!
Her nose collided with something, making her fall down on her rear. She massaged her hurting snout, muttering some less than decent words.
"!@#$ stupid !@#$ thermovision!" She removed the spell to look at the bookshelf she collided with. It was wobbling dangerously, the content shaking and in danger of falling and creating a domino effect with every other shelf in its way. Twilight yelped, got up and surrounded the shelf with her entire magical might, trying to stabilize it in its place. Once it stood firmly in its spot again, Twilight wiped her sweat and sighed with relief.
"Phew, that was clo--"
SMACK!
She was too late to notice a lone, hardcover encyclopedia falling right at her forehead.
"Twilight? Twilight, please wake up! Twilight!"
"Ugh... wha?" She slowly, lazily opened her eyes, to see a familiar face right above her. "Spike?"
The little dragon shed a few tears, before hugging her tightly. "Oh Twilight, I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Uh, thanks, I guess!" She embraced him as well, trying to get up from the cold, hard ground, as a massive spike hit her head and prevented her from getting up any further. "Ugh, what happened? Spike, what are you doing here this late?"
"Late?" Spike unhugged her and gently helped her get on her four hooves. "It's almost seven in the morning, I was about to open the library."
"Seven?" Her eyes shot wide. She hummed, looking around her surroundings and trying to recollect as much of yesterday as possible. The chase, that caped unicorn, smoke bombs- it all sounded too surreal, almost like a dream she had once she passed out after too much studying. There was no way anypony, much less some strange unicorn in a silly cape, would be able to breach the library or outsmart her with silly tricks.
Girls were right- studying all night in an empty library was not a safe thing to do. She wasn't going to do it again, until she learnt a spell that would allow her to stay late or recover her fatigue faster (the one she knew currently was too tiresome to use on herself with any visible effect).
"Oh well, it's probably nothing," she shrugged, then looked at the still worried Spike "I'll get some breakfast and go to my room and..." She scratched her head in what was going to be a sheepish manner. However, her face noticeable soured, as her hoof touched something that wasn't supposed to be there. She immediately summoned a small mirror and looked at her head with it, her eyes shooting wide when she noticed a large bandage wrapped around her head, right over the place that hurt her the most.
"B-but... but... Spike, did you do this?"
"No, you were like that when I found you. Why? What's wrong?"
Spike didn't get an answer until a few minutes later, when Twilight's eye stopped twitching. As if she had seen a ghost.
Or did she?
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It begins!
And, books be dangerous for these three.
5764065 Books are to Maresketeers what Punches are to Stallion Six.
A symbol of friendship and pain, in copious amounts.
Spike... opens the library alone? He's still full-time-job-as-a-child guy who lives and breathes his work?
That is less potentially heartwarming when his work isn't "Help someone he loves all day long."
*rereads the description of the intruder* Oh, that pony. I wonder what the timeline for the other stories this is.
5764129 Opening or closing a library isn't exactly a complicated task for a smart little dragon.
As for the timeline, this chapter is set shortly after Enthusiastic Admirer.
Um...
You mean aquiring.
I sense a disturbance in the Force. As if a lavender nerdy unicorn was about to become the butt of many jokes.
Called it.
3 times now.
I'm pretty sure Discord could penetrate it, but not the point.
Yep.
Trixie, interesting. Also, capE.
USELESS ASS PSYCHIC POWERS!
And yet...
It's beautiful ;_;
Trixie time!
That was fun to read. I wonder if Twilight will ask the girls for help.
Makes me wonder if Trixie will become the D'artagnan of the Maresketeers.
Dangit, Trixie!
Then again, at least she was polite enough to bandage Twilight up.
5765799 I like this idea.
5765799
And here I thought Spike would become one instead.
5766122
Now there's an idea
5774490 Its totally canon. Just because Trixie's adult doesnt mean she can't look for knolwedge in library.
That and Blueblood is still a student (though his case is special) despite being the same age as Trixie.
EDIT: Also, this isn't exactly high-school. It's more of a mix of high-school and university.
5764129 He breathes something, and it sure ain't work.
It's "hijinx". With an X.
So Trixie, despite running away when Twilight sees her, still decides to yoink some coffee, a donut and a book from Twilight right when the library's closing, risking Twilight discovering her early on?
Makes sense
It's interesting how episodic this is. I have't read a long form story like it.
And thus started the endless rivalry of Twilight and Trixie