The Might of a Quill

by derpyland

Chapter 3: “That was pretty freaky. Did it work?”

Rainbow Dash stood guard outside the door to Twilight's crystal castle. Her sharp eyes scanned the evening sky for signs of trouble. “I just know they're out there,” she muttered to herself. “I can feel it. They think they can pull a fast one, do they? Well, no one's faster than me! Just try something – I dare you.”

The sun was low on the horizon and cast long shadows upon Ponyville. Luna was just moments away from raising the moon and plunging the world into darkness. Some ponies loved the night; others were terrified of it. But this time Rainbow Dash was guarding against a very different kind of twilight.

In the distance the pegasus heard a humming sound. The noise was faint at first; in fact, it was so muted that she wasn't quite sure if she was really hearing it or not. Then, slowly, the ominous buzzing grew in intensity. As the full moon began to rise in the sky and take the place of the sun, Rainbow Dash spied a swirling dark cloud that was rapidly moving in her direction.

Changelings!

Rainbow was tempted to dive right into them and knock them into next week, but she held her ground. Come on – get a little closer, she thought to herself. You're not going to get inside this castle, you little monsters! I'm going to buck you so hard you'll–

The blue pegasus felt something shaking her. She glanced around but didn't see anything. “Who's there?” she called out.

Something shook her again – and then she heard a different sound over the roar of the oncoming changeling army. “Rainbow Dash, wake up! I need your help!”

To Rainbow's dismay, the dream vanished. Figures it'd end just when things were getting good, she thought. Since going back to sleep apparently wasn't an option, she opened her eyes and looked around. The room around her was dark, lit by eerie glowing lights. She could see shadows but she couldn't make out any shapes. “What's going on?” she called out.

“Come on, Rainbow, I need your help!” the voice repeated.

“Gimme a minute,” Rainbow said groggily. “I feel like I've been run over by a train. Just hold on, will ya?”

Rainbow Dash stretched, yawned, and tried to get her eyes to focus. This was the first time she had fallen asleep in several days, and she found it very difficult to regain consciousness. It took her several minutes of effort to finally be able to focus on what was going on. What she saw was deeply unnerving.

Rainbow was in the lowest level of Twilight's castle, in a large room with a cobblestone floor and crystal walls. The walls were covered with enormous arcane symbols that gave her the creeps. Half of the symbols were glowing an eerie red light, and occasionally a random symbol pulsed and emitted a low tone. Are the walls trying to talk? Rainbow wondered. What has Twilight been doing? When did she have time to do all that?

Rainbow glanced at the floor. In the middle of the room was a large red circle that was filled with even more symbols she had never seen before. In the center of the circle was a black void. Its surface rippled, as if it was a liquid pool of pure nothingness. It did not look inviting.

The only light in the room – aside from the eerie glow that the magical writing emitted – came from the fireplace that was a few feet in front of her. Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep in an overstuffed easy chair that was right in front of the fire. The flames, though, weren't yellow; they were a sinister green color. Most fires put out a lot of heat, but this one somehow made the room colder. Just looking at it seemed to sap the warmth from her blood.

In front of the fireplace was a large bag of gold. No, scratch that – there are six bags, Rainbow realized. Where did Twilight get all that money? And why does she keep it in here?

Most of the floor space was occupied by two long wooden tables, which were arranged in parallel to each other. The wooden tables were covered with books, parchments, multicolored crystals, and the magical instruments that Rainbow had purchased from Manehattan a few days ago. She also saw a couple comic books lying around, and even more comic books stacked on the floor. A few of them were pretty tattered; two of them looked like they had once been on fire. Somepony has certainly been busy. Apparently I missed some good stuff.

In the far corner of the room, not far from the tables, was a plain wooden coffin. Rainbow Dash didn't have to ask who was in it; she already knew. The sight of the coffin reminded her what was going on.

“Do I need to shake you again?” Twilight asked impatiently. “Are you awake now?”

Rainbow Dash turned her head and saw that Twilight Sparkle was standing right behind her. Compared to the room they were in, she looked surprisingly normal. “Twilight, are you seeing all this? This dungeon of yours is one of the creepiest things I've ever seen! This is all just a dream, right?”

A puzzled look came across Twilight's face. “I don't understand. What's wrong with my lab?”

“Nothing, I guess. I just – oh, forget it.” Rainbow yawned. “Couldn't you have let me sleep for just five more minutes? I was having the best dream ever!”

“Really? Do you mean you were dreaming about reading books?”

“Of course not! That's crazy. No, I was dreaming about a changeling invasion. This huge flock of 'em was heading straight for this castle, and I was–”

Twilight shuddered. “I hate changelings! That sounds more like a nightmare to me. Since changelings can change into anything, you can never tell what's real and what isn't. They make you doubt the reality of your best friends and everything around you. I am so glad they never returned.”

“But kicking their tail was so much fun!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Really? I'm pretty sure that they kicked our tail. If it wasn't for Cadence and Shining Armor we'd all be changeling food right now.”

“Aw, we got some good whacks in there,” Rainbow insisted.

Twilight shook her head. “Enough about dreams – we've got some work to do. I need your help.”

“Great! So – what can I do?”

Twilight walked over to the long table that was nearest to them and levitated a few pieces of white parchment. “Well, first, you can sit and listen while I explain to you what's going on.”

Rainbow Dash groaned. “Aw, c'mon, can't we just cut straight to the action? You know magic's not my thing. I don't care how you bring Applejack back; I just want to have her back. I promise I won't tell anypony that you've been using forbidden dark magic.”

Twilight looked startled. “Dark magic? Where do you see dark magic?”

“Um, like, everywhere? Hello, but do you not see what's going on? The walls are trying to talk, you have a fire that burns cold, and you somehow created a pool of nothing. You can't tell me any of that is healthy.”

The purple alicorn shook her head. “It's not what you think – really. Yes, the green fire is a little weird, but it didn't start out that way. Apparently that's what happens to flames when you burn enchanted books. I'm not really sure why; I'll have to study it one day. It doesn't seem to do any harm, though.

“The symbols on the walls are needed to keep this room stable. Some of the things we're doing in here are just a little tiny bit dangerous. The 'pool of nothingness', as you call it, is actually a pool of unmatter. It's sort of an undefined metamaterial that responds to magic in interesting ways. I need a lot of it because it's what the books are made of. Originally I thought the books were just enchanted paper, but it turns out–”

“Blah blah magic magic,” Rainbow interrupted. “I don't really care. Have you got it to work? Can we get Applejack back?”

“That's what I was trying to tell you! This is all really complicated. I'm pretty sure that I'm making progress, but I need to think this through. That's why I need you to sit there and pretend to be a rubber duck.”

“You need what?” Rainbow Dash turned pale. “Look, I want to help and all, but please don't turn me into anything unnatural. I really, really like being a pegasus.”

Twilight grinned. “That's not what I mean! You see, Rainbow, creating new magic is actually really hard. It's like trying to solve a complicated math problem. One of the tricks they teach you in magic school is the rubber duck technique. Basically, what you do is take a rubber duck and explain whatever problem you're having to that duck. The act of explaining the problem in detail is usually enough to show you what you're doing wrong.”

“That sounds, like, really dumb.”

“I know, but it really does work! It's just a way to think through something that's complicated.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Fine. So you need me to sit here and do nothing while you say things that I don't understand, right? I think I can do that. But, like, couldn't you have done that while I was asleep? You don't expect the duck to talk back, do you?”

“Well, there's more to it,” Twilight replied. She hesitated. “I'm going to need a favor from you at the end of this conversation, and you probably won't like it. But we'll get to that.”

Rainbow settled into the chair and yawned. “So. Yesterday you went to the store and bought all those comic books. Then you poked them for hours and I kinda fell asleep out of boredom.”

Twilight nodded. “Right. The reason I bought all those comic books was to study how their magic worked. I learned some interesting things. First of all, you can enchant a comic to contain anything you want. You can create any world that you can imagine – even worlds that don't make any sense and that violate all the laws of physics. As long as you are inside the comic it is completely real. However, there's a catch: you can't take anything out of the comic. All of the new magical things that get created are forever trapped inside the comic.”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash asked. “That doesn't sound right. Are you sure? I mean, Pinkie was able to swipe those cupcakes, remember?”

“Exactly! That's what told me it actually was possible to create things out of pure magic. It turns out you're not supposed to be able to do that. The only reason Pinkie succeeded was because of her enormous speed – she was Filli-Second, remember? Because she moved with incredible speed she was able to bypass the barrier and bring something out of the comic and into the real world.”

Twilight shuffled through the notes she was levitating. “Once I realized what was going on, I developed a new type of enchantment that didn't have that limitation. I was able to create a new comic book, write the definition for a bag of bits, and then bring it out of the comic and into the real world.”

“So that's why there are six bags of bits over here,” Rainbow commented. “I was wondering where you got all that money.”

“Right. So, as I was saying, hyperspeed is no longer a problem. However–”

Rainbow interrupted her. “Wait a minute! You can create bits? Doesn't that mean you can create infinite wealth? You could be the richest pony in all of Equestria!”

“Who cares about bits?” Twilight asked. “I think you're missing the point. The only reason you need bits is to buy things. I don't need bits anymore because I can make anything I want. Making bits is just a waste of time. At least, it will be, after I figure all of this out.”

Rainbow started to say something else, but Twilight silenced her with a wave of her hoof. “Quiet, rubber duck! As I was saying, I discovered a reliable way to extract things from the enchanted comic. However, that's when I discovered the next problem. When the story is over the comic vanishes, and anything created by the book disappears 47 seconds later.”

“Really? Then why didn't those cupcakes that Pinkie swiped disappear?”

“Have you ever seen a cupcake last an entire 47 seconds around Pinkie Pie?”

“Point taken,” Rainbow replied.

Twilight continued. “So far I haven't found a way around that particular limitation. However, I did come up with a way to keep the comic from self-destructing. I can enter and leave the comic at will and take whatever I want out of it. As long as the comic itself isn't destroyed, anything that I take out of it will continue to exist.”

Rainbow looked at all the money that was sitting by the fireplace. “So all that money would just disappear? Just 'poof' and it's gone?”

Twilight nodded. “Bits are really easy to experiment with because they're small, simple objects that are easy to define. As long as I don't destroy the source comic, those bits will continue to exist. In fact, they're actually completely indistinguishable from ordinary bits. If I destroy the comic, though...”

Using her magic, Twilight levitated a brown book off the desk and tossed it into the fire. The book erupted into green flames and turned into ash. Twilight then grabbed a stopwatch and started counting. Less than a minute later, one of the bags of bits disappeared. “See? Exactly 47 seconds!”

“Ok,” Rainbow said slowly. “So you're telling me that when we bring Applejack back, her life will depend on the comic that we got her from?”

“For now,” Twilight replied. “I'm sure there's a way around that limitation, but we're running out of time. This is late into day 5, and her corpse is going to start decaying if we don't act now. I'll solve that particular problem later. Until I can sever the connection without losing the object, we'll just need to make sure that nothing happens to her comic. That won't be a problem, though. I can enchant comics with a preservation spell and have them last hundreds of years. They're a lot easier to preserve than the dead.”

“Well, that's good, I guess,” Rainbow replied. “So can you do it? Can you bring Applejack back? You can, right?”

“I think so. The thing is, I want to do this as precisely as possible. There are a couple different ways to bring her back. One option would be to just write a definition for her, the way I did for the bits. That's not really precise enough for me, though. I don't want to create a pony that matches what I thought she was like; I want to bring the real thing back. I want the new Applejack to be exactly like the original one. Any definition I could possibly write would leave things out. She would be missing things – maybe really important things.”

“That makes sense,” Rainbow replied. “So if writing a 'definition' – whatever that means – isn't good enough, then what's your plan?”

“Well, my plan has two parts. The first thing we will do is take a sample of her blood. I'll then use my magic to extract the genetic material out of her blood and merge it with the comic. That way the comic will have her exact physical makeup. It will be a perfect definition! Once we've made sure that worked, I'll use a memory spell to copy the memories from her brain and merge them into the comic. If all goes well and the comic doesn't catch fire, the new Applejack will have the same body and mind as the original.”

“The new Applejack?” Rainbow Dash asked, confused.

“That's right. That's what we're doing here – we're using magic to recreate Applejack.”

“So we're not really raising her from the dead, then,” Rainbow replied. “We're actually creating a copy of her.”

Twilight shook her head. “It's not like that. Think of it this way. Since Applejack's old body was completely destroyed, we're going to create a new one for her. We will then copy her mind into that new body. When it's done we will have a living, breathing Applejack.”

“And you're sure this is the same thing as raising her from the dead? I mean, I don't know about all this magical stuff and all, but it sounds kinda different to me.”

“Positive,” Twilight replied firmly. “There won't be any difference whatsoever between the old Applejack and the new one. They will be just like the bits – identical in every way.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Let's get to it!”

“That's why I need you,” Twilight replied. She levitated a needle off the table and gave it to Rainbow. “Could you, um, use this to take a vial of her blood and fill that small beaker right there? It's just that – well, her corpse – that is, ...”

Rainbow grimaced. “Can't you get Spike to do it? I mean, not that I'm afraid or anything, but I don't exactly have medical training. I'm more of a flying pony.”

“And you think that Spike does have medical training? Seriously, Rainbow. Yes, normally I could just ask Spike, but he's upstairs asleep. He's had a long day and he needs his rest. He is just a baby dragon, you know.”

“Fine, fine, I'll do it,” Rainbow muttered. “Never let it be said that I left a friend hangin'.”

The blue pegasus walked over to the coffin and raised the lid. When she saw what was inside she shuddered and closed her eyes. “All right, c'mon. You can do this. For Applejack. Just pull yourself together.” Rainbow steeled herself, opened her eyes, and used the needle to extract a small amount of Applejack's blood. She then quickly closed the coffin, carried the needle over to the table, and filled the crystal beaker.

“Thanks,” Twilight said. “By the way, we're going to need her brain for the next step.”

Rainbow's eyes widened. “No way! I am not doing that. You'll have to find some other way.”

“Fine, fine. We'll talk about that later. Now give me a minute to transfer this material.”

Twilight's horn lit up. The alicorn levitated the crystal beaker off the table and stared at it. After a few seconds the beaker began to emit a pale red light. Around the room the symbols on the wall came to life, and weak filaments of magic arced from the symbols to the vial of blood.

“Good, good,” she muttered. “Now...”

Twilight's eyes glowed white. A wind swept through the room, coming from nowhere. A few loose sheets of parchment were blown off the table and onto the floor. Twilight ignored them and continued to focus on the vial.

The blood in the vial turned from red to black. It began emitting a dark green glow.

Without breaking her concentration or losing her grasp on the vial, Twilight levitated the comic book she had been writing off the table. Her horn glowed brighter, and sparks began to leap out of it. She steadied herself, refocused her mind, and continued pouring mana into her spell. Small beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, but she did not buckle.

Rainbow Dash almost screamed when five glowing magical symbols appeared in the air around Twilight's head. One by one the symbols shot out a ray of black light into the vial of blood, and then connected the vial to the book. Wait a minute – black light? What's up with that? What the hay is Twilight doing?

As the eerie light from the vial intensified, Twilight's body lifted off the ground and became suspended in mid-air. The glow from her horn increased until it was blinding.

The alicorn moved the vial of blood until it was directly over the book. Black filaments stretched down from the vial, grasping at the book below. As she slowly brought them closer together, the glowing symbols that surrounded her head merged into one.

Twilight waited until the last symbol began to pulse with magical energy. She then carefully brought the vial into direct physical contact with the book. Instantly there was a brilliant flash of green light, and the vial vanished.

Twilight's eyes returned to normal and she fell back to the ground. The light from the walls died down, and the room returned to normal.

“Woah,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “That was pretty freaky. Did it work?”

Twilight panted, trying to catch her breath. “Give me a second and I'll see,” she gasped. “That was kind of intense.”

For a few minutes Twilight sat on the floor with her eyes closed. Rainbow was dying to ask her questions, but reluctantly decided against it. Twilight finally opened her eyes, stood up, and picked up the comic from the desk. She began browsing through its pages.

“Well? Did it work?” Rainbow demanded.

“I think so,” Twilight said uncertainly. “I've never done this before, but I think that might have worked. What I'm seeing in here looks pretty promising – it's what I was hoping to see. I guess in order to be sure we'll need to go inside the comic and check.”

“And what are we going to find there?”

“That's a good point,” Twilight said thoughtfully. “I've been doing this all night, but you haven't so I guess I need to prepare you. First of all, this isn't going to be like the time we became the Power Ponies. You and I are going to stay exactly who we are in the real world. We're not going to change into somepony else. Second, the only thing I've defined in this book is Applejack. The rest of the world is blank.”

“What do you mean, blank? Just how blank are we talking?”

“You'll see. Now, you'll be able to breathe, and I did create a default ground and sky, but there won't be anything else. Since we're only using this comic as a hack to recreate our friend, I didn't see a reason to add anything else to the world. We're not going to be selling these in stores, you know.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Rainbow replied. “So what is Applejack going to be like? Will she recognize us?”

“I don't think so. The spell I just cast should have recreated her body and brought her to life, but her mind will be blank. Since we haven't given her any memories, though, she won't know who we are or what's going on. Before I take that next step I want to make sure the spell worked and she's alive. There's no point in trying to give memories to someone who's dead.”

“Then let's go! So how do we do this?”

Twilight turned the comic to its front page and set it down on the desk in front of her. “I've changed the way this works. Normally you read the story and get sucked into the adventure when you reach the last page. Since these comics don't actually have a story, I put the portal on the first page. The rest of the pages just have the magical definitions that create the world inside the comic.”

“So that's why there aren't any pictures,” Rainbow commented.

“Right.”

Rainbow walked over to Twilight and stared at the comic. “So all I have to do is place my hoof on that sinister-looking glowing square and I'll see Applejack again?”

“That will suck you into the comic, yes,” Twilight replied. “But the pony you find inside will only look like Applejack. It won't actually be Applejack again until we restore her mind. Now, she should be able to talk because I already transferred that sort of basic knowledge into her mind, but she won't have any of her old memories. When you see her she'll probably be pretty confused about what's going on.”

Rainbow positioned her hoof over the glowing panel. She hesitated. “There's no reason to be nervous,” the pegasus said aloud. “It's just Applejack. Back from the dead. Without a mind. It's nothing to be afraid of. This is all perfectly normal.”

“I wouldn't go that far,” Twilight remarked.

Rainbow glared at her. “Not helping here!” She shook her head in an attempt to clear it, and then pressed her hoof against the page. The pony instantly disappeared in a flash of light.

Twilight followed her a moment later.

* * * * *

When Rainbow Dash materialized inside the comic book she found a blank world. The sky was a featureless white color, and the ground beneath her hooves wasn't dirt – it was just a solid gray substance. The ground had no texture at all; it was simply a featureless gray slab that extended endlessly in all directions. The air had no scent to it and there was no wind. There wasn't even a sun in the sky. The world was filled with light, but the light didn't seem to come from anywhere. It just existed.

Creepy, Rainbow thought. Yup. Definitely creepy. So where is Applejack?

Rainbow Dash looked around and finally spotted her. About fifty feet behind her an orange pony was wandering off into the distance. “Wait!” Rainbow called out. She leaped into the sky and raced after her.

The orange pony with the yellow mane halted, turned its head, and looked at Rainbow. She stopped and stood still.

Rainbow Dash landed in front of her and looked at her closely. “Is that you?” she asked.

“I don't know,” Applejack replied. “Who are you?”

At that moment Twilight Sparkle materialized into the world. She looked around, saw the two of them, and galloped over. She came to a stop beside Rainbow Dash and looked at Applejack.

“It looks like it worked!” Twilight exclaimed. She breathed a sigh of relief. “She looks pretty authentic to me. Her coat color, her mane – even her cutie mark is right. I wasn't sure if that would transfer over or not.”

“Her hat is missing,” Rainbow commented.

“Of course it's missing! Her hat isn't part of her genetic makeup. Did you think it was a physical part of her or something?”

“I guess not,” Rainbow replied. “Her hat was just part of her look, that's all. She looks kinda weird without it.”

A confused look crossed Applejack's face. “Um, you two are acting sort of weird. Do I know you?”

Twilight hesitated before replying. “That's kind of a complicated question to answer. Do you mind if I examine you? I want to make sure you're in good health.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Applejack replied. “By the way, how did I get here, and what is this place? I don't seem to remember anything. Do I have a name?”

“What's wrong with her voice?” Rainbow Dash asked. “That doesn't sound anything like her at all. What happened to her over-the-top country accent and slang?”

“We already talked about this, remember?” Twilight replied. “She is a blank slate right now. All she has is the basic knowledge that I gave her. She won't revert to her normal self until we transfer her memories.”

Applejack spoke up. “Transfer my memories? Is that why I don't remember anything? Are you doctors or something?”

“Something like that,” Twilight agreed. Her horn lit up, and she encased Applejack in a magical field. Twilight then walked around the earth pony and used her magic to gently examine the pony's physical structure.

“You never did tell me my name,” Applejack said.

Rainbow spoke up. “It's Applejack. Your name is Applejack. You are – um, a friend of ours. A really good friend.”

“Ok,” Applejack said slowly. “So how did I lose all my memories? Did something bad happen?”

“You could say that,” Rainbow replied, as tears began to form in her eyes. “Something very, very bad. But I think it's going to be all right now. How is she looking, Twilight?”

Twilight shut down the magical field around Applejack and let her go. “She looks fine to me! As far as I can tell she is perfect in every way. I don't see any abnormalities. I think it's safe to proceed to the next step.”

“Awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed. She immediately rushed over to Applejack and threw her front hooves around her neck. “This is so awesome. You have no idea how good it is to have you back! I have missed you so much.”

Applejack looked startled, but hugged Rainbow back anyway. “Um, ok. That's good, I guess. But I still don't know who you are.”

Rainbow let go of her and grinned. “Who am I? Well, my name is Rainbow Dash. I am the queen of Equestria, and rule over pretty much everything in a totally awesome way. I am, like, your hero. Since you were a little filly your goal in life was to be exactly like me in every way. I am just that amazing.”

Twilight glared at the pegasus. “Rainbow, what are you doing?”

Rainbow quickly put a hoof over Twilight's mouth. “As I was saying, you and I are the best of friends. Your goal in life is to one day be as cool and talented as I am.”

“Really?” Applejack replied. “Then why do I have apples for a cutie mark? Are you the princess of apples or something?”

“It's because apples are awesome,” Rainbow Dash explained. “Especially apple cider. You see, you and your family makes the best apple cider in all of Equestria. The next time you make a batch, you're definitely going to save it for me, right?”

“Well, sure,” Applejack replied. “Since you're the queen that seems only fair.”

Rainbow laughed. “This is so much fun! I could do this all day.”

Twilight whacked Rainbow on the back of her head. “This is not the time to be pranking her! You're worse than Pinkie Pie. We still have work to do.”

Twilight turned to face Applejack. “I know you have a lot of questions and are pretty confused. Don't worry, though. I promise that despite Rainbow here, you are in good hooves. We have to leave now, but we will be back soon. When we return your mind will be restored and everything will be clear. Just sit tight and don't wander off anywhere.”

“If you say so,” Applejack replied. “Although from what I can tell, there's really not anyplace else to go.”

“This won't take long,” Twilight promised. She and Rainbow Dash then disappeared, leaving Applejack alone.

Comments

[King Sombrony]

Can always count on Dumbass Dash to try and ruin something

[Awesometacular]

That was pretty funny, the princess of Apples, Dashie you little scoundral. Also I'm with Dashie on this one, the way it's discribed is just replacing Applejack with an exact duplicate, the real one would still remain in the after life.