Chapter 2 Revised
The Crusaders looked at the pages in confusion. The very words seemed to swim before their eyes and not a word could be read. They flipped through several pages to the center of the book and encountered the same situation; even what was obviously a drawing of a complicated spell was lost to them.
“The hay is this supposed to be?” Scootaloo asked in bewilderment.
“Ah don’t know. Sweetie, flip back to the beginning and see if there’s a guide er somethen.” Applebloom suggested.
“Okay.” Sweetie said as she flipped to the first page with the books title. “Let’s see…” She scanned the words towards the bottom of the page and read the fine print out loud for her friends to hear, “‘Contained within this tome-’”
“What tomb? I didn’t see any zombie ponies.” Scootaloo interrupted as she looked around skeptically.
“Not that type of tomb, you dodo! It’s talking about this book.” Sweetie explained impatiently.
“Why would ya store a dead pony in a book?” Applebloom asked, her head beginning to spin at the thought of a dead pony hidden among the pages.
Sweetie Belle face-hooved hard enough to leave a small bruise. “There is no dead pony!” Her outburst silenced her friends, allowing her to clear her throat and continue, “‘Contained within this book is a complete… a complete…’” Sweetie stumbled upon a word she didn’t know, but got the context of it. “Basically it’s a list of spells from really easy to like the princess’s level.”
“Wow…” Applebloom and Scootaloo awed.
“So why can’t we read it?” Asked Scootaloo.
“Well, it says something about a spell that makes it so it can only be read by ponies it thinks are worthy, and even then it keeps the stronger ones ‘locked away’ until the one that is worthy is strong enough for it. The author of this really thought of everything.”
“That’s lame. You should be able to just skip to the good stuff.” Scootaloo pouted.
“Well, are ya worthy er whatever?” Applebloom asked Sweetie Belle.
“I don’t know, hold on…” Sweetie Belle began flipping through the book a page at a time, looking intently for anything she could read. Soon enough she gasped in delight at a page she was able to read. “I found something!” She called to her friends in glee.
“Well go on, what’s it say?” Applebloom encouraged.
“Okay, let’s see… It says ‘The following section details the use and knowledge to those who are worthy, Alteration Magic. These spells manipulate the physical world and its natural properties. Spells included in this section are of a defensive type with several utility spells such as Water Breathing, Telekinesis, and Paralysis.’” Sweetie finished reading in awe. Not only did the magic of the book find her worthy, but she was going to finally learn to use her magic!
“That sounds amazing!”
“Totally awesome! What’s the first trick?”
“Trick?!” Sweetie gasped in false shock as she smiled at her friends and did her best impersonation of Twilight, “Magic is no trick! It is a scientific study!” The three burst into great guffaws of laughter. Once Sweetie was able to breathe properly again, she picked up the book once more. “Let’s see… It looks like I can only read the first spell, by the description it’s something like a unicorn lighting up their horn. Give me a second.”
Sweetie Belle looked over the mechanics of the spell a few more times, making sure she had memorized every detail of the spell. She set the book off to the side and took a wide stance with her eyes squeezed shut tightly and furrowed her brow in concentration. After a few seconds of nothing happening she grunted as she redoubled her efforts. She was rewarded with a spark popping off the tip of her horn before she collapsed in exhaustion.
“I can’t do it!” Sweetie cried out in despair. “I thought that because the book let me read it, I could do it!”
“Hmm…” Applebloom rubbed her chin with a hoof in thought. “Maybe ya’ll tried too hard?” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo gave her a confused look. “Okay ah don’t know much about magic, but ah got to thinken about the time ah helped Big Mac plow the north field. At first ah couldn’t do it and ah thought it was be’cause ah wasn’t strong enough. No matter how hard ah pulled, the plow didn’t budge. But then Big Mac said it was the way ya pulled, not how hard ya pulled. He showed me how and when ah tried, the plow moved like it was nothen!”
“So, you think it might be something to do with how I’m casting it?” Sweetie asked.
“Well it was just a thought.”
“Thanks, Applebloom. I’m going to ask Rarity about it tonight.”
After another long day of crusading, the sun was setting over the trees in the forest to the west as Luna’s moon was beginning to peek over the distant mountains in the east, signaling the end of the day’s crusading. After saying their farewells and breaking off in the direction of each of their homes, Sweetie opened the door to her sister’s house and workplace.
“Rarity, I’m back.” She called as she closed the door and cleaned her hooves on the mat.
“Oh good evening Sweetie, you’re just in time for dinner. Come in and set the table will you?” Rarity asked as she poked her head in from the kitchen.
Sweetie trotted happily into the kitchen. Time spent with Rarity was something she always looked forward to, and after the Sisterhood Social, the times together became something special. In no time at all she set the table while her sister procured a pair of bowls. By the smell, they were having vegetable stew. Not the most luxurious meal, but Sweetie loved it.
Rarity carried the bowls over to the table in the grip of her magic and set them down on the plates to catch any spill should one of them eat unladylike. Sweetie watched with anticipation as Rarity eyed her work at setting the table and noticed one of her eyes twitch. She had knowingly set the spoons on the wrong side of the plate. Seeing her sister’s inner turmoil with her OCD was always a treat.
“Good job…” Rarity’s eye twitched again. “Setting the table Sweetie…”
“Thank you sis! I memorized it exactly the way you wanted it!”
“Eh hehe… Let’s dig in shall we?” As Sweetie lifted her bowl to her muzzle and began to sloppily slurp down the mixture, Rarity quickly moved the spoons to their proper places. As a side thought she placed an extra mound of napkins in front of Sweetie in an effort to contain the inevitable mess.
“How did the paper go?” Rarity asked as she sipped the soup off the spoon daintily.
Sweetie set the bowl down, “Not very good-” she blurted out before she could stop herself.
“Oh? Why’s that?” Rarity pressed.
Sweetie never wanted to tell her sister or Twilight that she was given a spell book of advanced magic by mistake. She thought that they would take it away from her. So thinking quickly, she thought up a clever lie. “Well, the cover was pretty beat up, but the pages were even worse. The ink was all smudged and made the pages stick together, so we decided to just go crusading.” Sweetie smiled inwardly, the best part about a clever lie was the amount of truth actually told.
“Hm, well I’m sorry about that, I’ll have to stop by Twilight’s and get you girls a different one. So how was crusading?” Rarity asked in an effort to keep talking about her sister.
“No such luck. Oh but I did try some magic!” Sweetie said excitedly.
“Oh, wonderful! How did you do?” Rarity asked, excitement creeping into her voice as well. A unicorn’s first spell was akin to speaking for the first time. It’s such a proud experience.
“Well, I tried to light up my horn, but I just got a spark. Applebloom thought it might be that I’m trying too hard and there is some technique to casting a spell.” Rarity pondered for a moment before clearing the table with a bit of magic and focusing her attention on her sister.
“Okay Sweetie, try this.” Rarity moved into the main room of the boutique with her sister in tow and sat on her haunches, Sweetie did the same across from her. “Close your eyes and relax. Visualize yourself in the middle of a field on a beautiful day. See the clouds in the sky, floating in the vast expanse of crystal clear blue. See the grass, so much grass, see all the blades as they reach to the sky and feel it growing beneath your hooves. Feel the wind over your coat and in your mane, watch as the wind bends the blades of grass in a gentle sway. Now add some flowers to the field. It doesn’t matter what kind. Smell the fragrance of the flowers wafting on the wind and completely relax. Now, visualize yourself performing the spell in the field. Feel the magic seem to come from the ground, through your hooves, up your legs, and into your back. From there, guide it forward to your horn. Take all the time you need. Now, move it from your horn and into the spell. The spell knows what to do, just let it take its shape.”
Finished with explaining her technique, the fashionista watched in excitement as her sister was about to perform her first spell, a simple light spell by the look of it. Sweetie Belle’s horn began to glow a soft white, the same color as her coat. The glow began to condense at the end of her horn into a small pale ball. It slowly grew as Sweetie carefully fed it more magic. It stopped growing when it was the size of a ball slightly smaller than a baseball.
Realizing that was the limit of the spell, Rarity said softly, “Okay, Sweetie, now… release the hold.”
Sweetie took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes as she cut off the flow of magic. She watched in glee and fascination as the ball of light slowly floated toward the ceiling, where it remained suspended and cast a soft glow over the room.
“Oh my goodness, Sweetie Belle!” Rarity swept her sister up in a big hug and they danced around in a circle. “Congratulations with your first spell! Mom and dad are going to be so happy!” She squealed.
“Thanks sis! But, do I have to do all that every time I cast a spell? It seems a little excessive.”
“Oh no, of course not! Magic is hard at first and you need the right mindset. But once you start casting spells regularly, it’s like wiggling your nose.” Rarity wiggled her nose at her for emphasis, gaining a laugh at the silly face. They were interrupted when the magical light orb slowly dropped to the floor with a small sizzle as the magic dispersed. Once it hit the floor it disappeared with a small ‘pop!’
“Although, now that I think about it, a unicorn usually just lights up their horn,” Rarity lit up her own horn like a light, “I haven’t heard about that type of light spell though. Where did you learn it? From one of Twilight’s books?”
“Umm, no. I think I just messed up the spell.” Sweetie said as she looked around embarrassed.
“Oh there’s no shame in that. Who knows, it just might have something to do with your special talent!” Rarity encouraged. Sweetie Belle visibly brightened at that prospect. “Now, you’ve had a very eventful day and I think it’s time for you to go to bed.”
“Okay…” Sweetie said with false sadness as she turned and headed upstairs. Inside she was full of energy and excitement; she had cast her first spell! The book she got was the real deal, and she was determined to learn all she could from its mysterious pages.
Rarity watched her sister half walk, half skip up the stairs to her bedroom. She turned back toward the kitchen with a smile and set about putting the rest of the soup in sealed containers and placed them in the fridge for leftover night.
A few minutes later, she was finished with cleaning the dishes, and made her way upstairs to her bedroom. When she reached the top she heard excited giggling from her sister’s room. Getting a closer look, she saw the soft light of an orb similar to the one before radiating out from under the door. Rarity smiled to herself and let her sister have her fun as she turned in for the night.
Sweetie wanted to see just how far she could push her new ability, so she began casting orb after orb with reckless abandon. Soon, just as her sister said, her casting speed was increasing greatly. Now she was able to cast up a second orb before the first one fizzled away. Soon her entire room was light up with about a dozen orbs of light.
“Wonder if I can make it even brighter?” She said to herself. She took a moment to rest, beginning to feel magical fatigue for the first time in her life. Eventually the last orb fizzled away like the others, casting her room in darkness.
Sweetie readied herself and stood on her bed, her eyes closed in concentration as she focused on the feeling of magic within her. This time, instead of putting a portion of her magic into the spell, she overpowered it, pouring in as much energy as she could.
Her eyes opened in panic, she could feel it, the spell was going to fail and blast the energy out into the room, causing some damage and possibly even hurting herself. Just as she braced for the backlash, she felt something touch her forehead at the base of her horn.
Her eyes widened, she understood what was happening and how to channel the extra power into a spell grid designed for the extra amount. She abandoned the original grid for the stronger one, the magic becoming more stable as it was handled properly. Once she finished feeding it through the grid, she released it.
The result was magnificent, the orb of magic was huge, almost as big as her! The orb shot up to the ceiling and pressed against it, like it was trying to get higher but the ceiling didn’t budge. Instead it rained down rays of light comparable to the sun itself.
Sweetie stared up at it in awe, the bright light not affecting her. She studied the spell matrix weaved into the orb, captivated by its beauty. She was suddenly overcome with fatigue, her eyes drooping as she let out a yawn. She mustered the last of her energy and snuggled under the covers, the light of her spell unhindered her sleep as she slipped into the realm of dreams.
A shadow crept out from under her bed. It rose into a standing position at the bedside, forming a short, lanky figure. It raised its appendage and made a ‘snap!’ The orb of light dissipated, casting the room in darkness once again.
The shadow’s form solidified in the darkness, revealing a green imp. It chuckled quietly to itself as it observed the sleeping unicorn. It reached out and placed a hand at the base of her horn, and reached into her pools of magic.
There he saw, this unicorn was indeed different than others of its kind. The magic was still pure, untainted by the forms of magic incompatible with the spell book. The imp thought to itself, perhaps this one may indeed carry on the old master’s legacy and not fall victim to madness like so many others. Great things could be accomplished, both evil and benign, but great none the less.
A soft laugh echoed through the room as the imp dissolved back into the darkness and faded away. A moment later the door opened, Rarity stuck her head into the room to tell Sweetie to go to sleep. She paused, Sweetie was sleeping. Rarity shrugged and closed the door, then headed back to her own room for the night.
Canterlot Archives, 02 TSR, same time
Princess Luna, overseer of the night, was once more surrounded by many mounds of books in the back section of the archives. Tonight, she was researching the tax system, something that was implemented a few decades after her banishment, and was now something she wished was written in a way she understood.
She had spent the last few hours reading a single book, ‘Taxes for Dummies,’ and was still unable to wrap her head around the system. ‘everypony pays a bit of tax for everything they buy, the store pays tax on top of the tax of their items, then when a pony gets paid there are taxes removed, and at the end of the year if you haven’t paid enough taxes you pay even more taxes! This is ludicris!’
She looked up as her candle suddenly flickered. Glancing around quickly, she saw nothing that would create the small breeze to flicker the flame. Rolling her eyes at her foolishness, she went back to reading.
“Making any sense of the tax codes?” Luna shrieked loud enough to shake the dust from the ceiling as she half jumped, half flew backwards into a book shelf, knocking all the books to the floor and burying herself in the process.
“TIA!!!” Luna yelled in rage as she stood quickly, throwing books helter skelter across the library. “What hast we told thee about thy shenanigans?!”
“Lulu, you’re slipping up again.” Celestia said calmly as she watched her sister with great amusement.
Luna huffed in aggravation before she said in a calmer tone, “Sister, what have I told you about your pranks?”
“Pranks? Me, the princess of the land, bringer of the sun each and every day? Are you suggesting I commit such acts against my dear beloved sister? For shame, Lulu.” Celestia feigned innocence and posed dramatically against the bookshelves.
“Oh stop it, Tia!” Luna burst into a fit of giggles at her sister’s antics. “Just be ready for when I enact my revenge.” Luna looked around at the books that were strewn everywhere, “But I think we should probably clean these up first.”
With that, the sisters set about cleaning up the books, which took almost no time at all with the help of their magic. Luna decided to search the other rows for any stray books when she set her eyes upon something that made her blood run ice-cold. “Tia!” She called to her sister. “I’m all for light hearted pranks, but this is low, even for you!” Luna let the fear and betrayal she felt enter her voice.
“Lulu? What’s…” Celestia trailed off as she saw her sister staring with pure hatred at a pedestal behind a cage. “Oh…”
“‘Oh!’ Is that all thou canst sayeth?! ‘OH!’??” Luna turned on her sister, the hurt clearly expressed on her pained face as her speech slipped into Royal Canterlot again.
“No, Lulu, this is not a prank.” She explained, “The book was stolen from its chest over four hundred years ago by my last personal student. I don’t know what he intended to do with the book, but we managed to surround him in the Everfree Forest. We found him, maimed and barely alive, the book not far from him. He tried to evade my guards but accidentally fell sideways, impaling himself on the spear of a young recruit. Anyway, I made haste back to the castle and placed the book here and surrounded it with a great many spells to keep it safe from our ponies.”
Luna looked deep into her sister’s eyes and detected nothing but the truth. “Did thou open the cover?”
“N-no, of course not. I feared it would consume me as it did you all those years ago.”
Luna shook her head sadly, “Tia, it takes more than just looking at the pages for that to happen. But if what thou-you, has said is true, then I fear for the safety of all our ponies.”
“Lulu, I don’t understand.”
“Tia, you know the book is indestructible, right?” Celestia nodded, “Then why are the pages in that book worn and yellowed with age while the binding is coming undone?”
Celestia rushed past her sister to get a good look at the book, and true to her word, the pages were a sickly yellow and seemed to sag as the binding was letting go of its hold to the cover. “You don’t think…” She trailed off.
“Sister, did your student have time to make an impressive duplicate?” Luna asked quickly.
“… I don’t know.” Celestia replied in shock.
“Release the seals.”
“W-What??”
“Sister, release the seals. We need to verify if this book is a fake. If it is indeed a fake then the most dangerous book ever written has been in pony hooves for over four hundred years. I don’t want to think about it, but it is possible that an underground militia has been forged from the book’s powers.” Silence fell over the two as they imagined the worst possible scenarios involving the book. “Open it!” Luna said urgently.
Celestia focused on her magic, her horn glowing like the sun for a moment before an audible ‘click!’ echoed through the archives. The barriers fell and the bars themselves slid down into the floor. Luna summoned a ruler into the air in front of her and cautiously used it to open the cover of the book. Not knowing what to expect, they closed their eyes and braced themselves for a blast of black magic.
After a minute of that not happening, they opened their eyes and beheld the pages of a dusty old book, the ink was faded terribly which rendered it illegible. They released the breath they were holding in a relieved sigh before quickly sucking it back in with panic.
“Tia! We have to warn-” Celestia covered Luna’s muzzle with a hoof, silencing her.
“No! We can’t let everypony know about this! It will start widespread panic throughout Equestria and beyond!” Celestia explained in a hushed whisper.
“Then what do you propose we do?” Luna asked, mimicking her sister’s hushed tone.
“We will do nothing that will raise any suspicion. I will continue on with my duties as princess of the land while you study as you have been, except I want you to look into any and all cults that have existed in the past thousand years. Find the locations of their hideouts, ritual places, meet ups, everything. Report to me your findings and dispatch several of your guard to look for evidence of the book. Questions?”
Luna shook her head, “No sister, but we wish to begin immediately.”
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Got a feeling that the book is going to turn Sweetie Belle evil....OH! Can I make the new villain if she does, this is going to be VERY bad ass...go SWEETIE BELLE! Also so, always nice to see the CMC and Rarity having fun and being family...this is getting really great, thanks for an awesome monday.
881494 sorry but no, the plot is already laid out and saying more will ruin the expeience.
Isn't it 'exact my revenge' not 'extract my revenge'? Meh, anyway, I'm enjoying this. Sweetie Belle antics are always fun. (Like messing with her sister's OCD)
881533 Damn...very well, can't wait for more nonetheless.
881740 maybe... but thank you, it has been updated.