Book, Blade, and A Whole Lot of Magic

by Frustaz

Chapter 2

Cheerilee sighed inwardly. The last time they had a field trip to the Canterlot Gardens, Discord had escaped, the school was upside down for weeks, and clouds that rained chocolate milk destroyed her lily garden. Thankfully, this was the last stop of the field trip, Sunset was around the corner, and the garden had a great view of the horizon. “Alright then, colts and fillies, since we have been working on history, who can tell me what this statue is?” Pointing her hoof at an old statue, depicting a tall, slender creature, garbed in a mixture of form-fitting and loose cloth, a curved blade on her hip and a thick magical tome in her hand.

“Is that one of those mythical humans Ms. Lyra keeps going on about?” a dark orange filly spoke up, her purple mane sharply contrasting her coat.

“Naw, it can’t be. Miss Lyra said they were s’posed ta be bigger and harrier!” A cream-colored filly countered; her crimson mane tied back with a bow.

“I like her Mane.” A filly whose mane couldn’t decide between pale purples and pinks spoke up.

The terrible trio, The Cutie Mark Crusaders. Cheerilee facehooved, groaning internally. Why today. “Anyways children.. This is indeed a human, the only known one in Equestria. While there are some fossils that have been found in some especially distant corners of the world, This is the only one we have any written history on. This is Illua, the Blood-Stained.” She lifted her hooves in a manner to scare the little ones, eliciting giggles. “She was the leader of the Revolution of the Courts, also referred to as the Commoner’s Rebellion. This gave all ponies equal rights in the eyes of the law, and relegated the nobility to a less involved role in the creation and enforcement of laws.” A colt, chocolate brown and definitely smaller than his classmates, raise a hoof curiously. “Yes Button?”

“Is Illua a villain? Discord was a statue here as well, and he was evil for a while. Starswirl is here too, and he’s a hero… What gives?”

Cheerilee put a hoof to her chin taking a moment to think. “Well… History says she made it for Ponies like us to have education, become merchants, and even protected the weak against cruel governors of the various territories that Equestria was once divided into. Meanwhile, she used powerful, unknown magics and masterful swordplay to hurt and kill many ponies, and stories even say she nearly crippled Celestia…”

The foals collectively gasped, their imaginations running wild with the implication. “Easy, my students. The Princess, even if she was injured, would have been healed many times over by this time. Anyways… Illua disappeared shortly after the Treaty of Blooming Life was signed, but-“ The teacher continued to explain once more, only to be interrupted.

“So she was a villain!” Button piped up, earning a stern look from Cheerilee.

An equally small, but lanky foal joined in. “Yeah! I bet Twilight and them would protect the princesses from someone like her!”

The class’ laughter was infectious, eliciting chuckles from bystanders watching the field trip. “Come along everypony, we’re going to watch the sunset before we return. We will be able to see the sisters do their magic if we’re lucky...”

A sudden crunch resounded in the garden, directly from behind Cheerilee.

Oh my stars. Not again.

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Well, good to know my reputation is thoroughly tainted.

And? What does that matter. We are killers after all.

Oh fuck off. I’ll talk to you once we’re home.

Oh, I’m sorry, it’s not like I was sealed with you, but forced dormant all these years because of ‘the magic of friendship.’ The first time I’m awake and you curse at me.

We. Will. Talk. Later.

Refocusing on the real world than my spirit companion, I began to push against my basalt coating, Discord’s magic acting as a wedge in each crack, widening the gaps until the shell shatters.

“Hnng…. Hello there, children.” I stretched my stiff bones, groaning as the pops and creaks begin to subside as I hop down from the pedestal I had been mounted on. The stunned silence was deafening for only a moment, before the screaming started. “And I thought history lessons were important.”

The teacher had fainted, the foals had scattered, and guards were being called upon to contain myself and the chaos. I began to jog towards the edge of the maze, looking for one of the stone walls as I passively flicked through my grimoire for my teleport sigils. I need to hop to my old base in the forest.. hopefully it’s not too damaged from the years. Maybe Celestia is a bit too preoccupied- My concentration was broken by the beam of gold light grazing past my cheek.

“Halt, Illua. I will not miss the next time.” The Solar Diarch landed with a heavy thump, her horn ablaze with her potent aura. “Who freed you? Who did you deal with your escape?” Her eyes dripped with malice, and her traditionally regal persona was dropped for the warrior she kept hidden away for the safety of her citizens.

“Oh Celestia, I can’t reveal that. That would be too generous. However, I’m finally free, and I’m not deal with this right now. See ya!” A quick cast of Shell, a defensive magic, I zipped into the hedge maze, as the Princess took flight to chase me down. Firing from on high, she scorched the earth behind me, my spell deflecting the beams of raw energy away from me. I bounced back and forth, evading her spells.

Quickly reaching the stone wall, I began to cast one of my sigils, just as she landed behind me once more. A focused beam broke my protection, grazing my upper arm. I cried out in pain, holding the fresh burn as I glared at the Sun Tamer. “I’m not warning you again, Human. Cease and Desist.” She practically growled, her horn beginning to match the sun the sky.

“Celestia, I think you fail to see the problem. You’re not being given the option of capturing me once more today.” Spears of stone lunged out of the wall, entrapping the alicorn as I slipped out of range. “Sigil Magic: Warp Circle. Goodbye for now, Celestia.” I called out as I jumped into my portal, collapsing it to prevent any pursuit.

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“Illua, no!” Celestia shouted, as the stone lunged at her. She was pinned in place, but none of them pierced her side. A flare of her magic broke the trap, only to see the escaping human evade capture as if it were nothing more than a game. “BUCKING HELL!”

“Sister, Thou shan’t use that kind of language amongst the presence of foals. Pray tell, what has thine mane in a flurry?” The lunar diarch, Luna glided down to stand beside her sister, a cup of coffee swathed in the midnight blue aura belonging to her.

“We… need to talk.”

“Indeed, we do.”

“One of the statues- “

Luna groaned, putting her face in her hooves. “Sister, I love you dearly. I really do. But you cannot simply ‘seal away’ your problems. You and I sealed Discord as a statue with the Elements, but that was the only way we knew how to deal with him. You sealed me in the moon, and I’m betting that this being you’re going to enlighten me to was sealed as a statue in a similar manner to Discord. Please, tell me I’m wrong.” Luna sipped her elixir of wakefulness, eyeing her sister.

Celestia shied away from Luna, unusual for the unflappable millennial leader. Luna sighed. “Contact the Elements, Let them know the next apocalypse is upon us and we shall discuss how to respond appropriately this time. I’m off to wander the dream realms. I’ll see if I can find a new mindscape tonight…. No more secrets. I mean it this time, Celly.” Luna took off to the night sky, blending almost effortlessly amongst the stars as she retreated to her tower.

The alicorn of the sun began a solemn trek back to her own bedroom, the letter to Twilight already forming inside her mind.

Author's Note:

The Second chapter of the Rewrite.

I will be deleting Chapters as they are rewritten or no long relevant.

Comments

[DisplacedWriter]

Is everything alright in your life?

[ForgottenBackgroundPony]

Welcome back, what happened? Are you okay?

[Velvet-Fresh]

can't you just heaivly edit the chapters you already posted? It seemed kind of a hassle to type everything up again and just delete the old chapters

[Goldspoon]

I have read all versions of this story so far, but never saw the point in the mute/anemia thing at the start.
If she had stayed mute, it would have made her social interactions kinda interesting.
If the anemia had stayed, she could have been like a glass cannon, with her stressing about ending fights as quick as possible to not keel over mid battle.
As I have never seen anything like that in any version it's kinda a pointless thing to have.

[EnderHooves]

Pretty good. I like it. I think you really captured Luna's exasperation with her sister here.
I look forward to seeing this continue.

[Frustaz]

10301376
I know, and I saw that and failed to address that in previous versions. I'm currently working on that part right now.

[Frustaz]

10300948
It's better now than it was.

[DisplacedWriter]

10302317
That's good. Ya had me worried considering you haven't replied to my pm I sent a year ago.

[Vigriff]

Luna's reaction got a chuckle out of me, good job.

[Xblaster]

And sunbutt is the very much over used anti human crap, and immediately goes and think the human id trying to end world despite all the obvious good she's done and all, this is going to be wacky