Power of the Mind

by Bookpony579

Chapter 1

Fall in Canterlot was in full swing.

Leaves were turning various shades of reds, oranges and yellows, the temperature was dropping and people were bringing out their cold weather clothes they had stored away.

It was going to be a beautiful October to be sure, which also meant another celebration....

"No."

"Oh come on Twilight! Please?" Rainbow begged. They were in the halls of Canterlot High just before classes were to begin.

"I told you, I don't know anything about fortune telling!" Twilight said as she gathered her books out of locker. On a nearby wall was a poster for Canterlot High's annual Nightmare Night Carnival. Even though it wasn't on the actual holiday, it was fun and helped raise a lot of money for the school.

"Oh come on! You'll be a natural at it! Didn't Sunset say you were part Gypsy?"

"The correct term is 'Romane', Rainbow. And only through my maternal grandfather." Twilight sighed and turned to her friend. "Besides, not all Romane are fortune tellers, most of them are merchants and traders. Plus, everybody knows fortune telling is fake!"

"Of course everybody knows that! It's part of what makes it so much fun! All you have to do is read their palms or something and tell them their future."

"Nobody can accurately predict the future."

"Well, then just make stuff up! Isn't that what real fortune tellers do?" Twilight was beginning to get sick of her friends begging and tried to walk away, unfortunately Rainbow was trailing right beside her.

"Why do you want my help anyway?"

"Because everyone else is already doing something for the carnival. Plus, you already kind of look like a Gyp-....err, Romane! Please Twilight!"

Twilight just rolled her eyes at this, "You know, you wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't bet Hoops that you could break a black board with a golfball."

"Hey, I won that bet!" Rainbow said proudly before drooping her shoulders again. "...and for my detention it's either help set up the carnival or clean toilets! Toilets Twilight!"

"Are you sure a fortune telling booth is a good idea?"

"I already ran it by Principal Celestia and she said it was fine as long as I could get somebody to do the fortune telling! She even said Vice Principal Luna could give us a hand!"

This didn't surprise Twilight, from her years of tutoring under the woman, she knew that Luna had a heavy interest in the occult....even in the things that were considered 'odd' by magical society!

Twilight thought through this. As much as she was reluctant to do this, she figured there wouldn't be much harm in doing it. After all, nobody could blame her if her fortunes didn't come true. Besides, she had no other plans for Saturday anyway. After glancing at Rainbow's puppy dog eyes, Twilight finally gave in.

"Alright, I'll do it."

"Yes! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Rainbow gave Twilight a hug. "We'll talk to Luna during training to get help setting up!"

Twilight just hoped she wouldn't regret this.

---

"I'm actually quite pleased you girls chose to do this."

Rainbow and Twilight were in Luna's office. Rainbow had just informed her that Twilight had agreed to participate.

"As much as I detest the flanderization and stereotyping attributed to fortune telling, It's a fun activity, especially with Nightmare Night coming up. In fact..."

Luna got up from her desk and approached one of her bookshelves. "...I should have a few things that will help you out." After a moment of searching, she pulled out a book and handed it to Twilight. "That's a guide to basic palm reading. Might as well have a little accuracy for this. Actually..."

She walked over to another and picked something up with both hands. When she turned around, Twilight and Rainbow saw that it was a crystal ball!

"This might help keep up the appearance as well. You can collect it before the carnival." With that, she put the crystal ball back on it's proper place.

"Sweet! Thanks Vice Principal Luna! Now all we gotta do is get you a costume! I figure'd that Rarity could maybe stitch something together..."

"Actually, I should have something at my house that we could use." Twilight suggested. "We can check it out after school."

Rainbow immediately agreed, before realizing she had never actually been to Twilight's house before.

---

"Woah, nice place." Rainbow said, wide eyed when she saw where Twilight lived.

It was large, to say the least. With stone pathways and columns along with several stained glass windows, it definitely did not hide the fact that it in a 'nice' part of town.

"Oh...it's nothing." Twilight tried to brush it off as they approached the front door.

"'Nice'? Darling it is simply charming!" Rarity gushed. She had come along so she could appraise and make adjustments to the outfit Twilight picked out.

"Yeah I figured that Crystal Prep kids had money..."

"Look it's not a big deal ok?" Twilight insisted, cutting Rainbow off as she opened the door and entered the house. Despite the intimidating outer appearance, the inside radiated with warmth and comfort, making sure visitors knew it wasn't just a house, it was a home.

"Mom? I'm home!" Twilight called out.

"Coming sweetie!" From the kitchen appeared Twilight Velvet dressed in a t-shirt, sweat pants, hair slightly messy and in the middle of eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "How was your day?"

"Good. Mom, this is Rainbow Dash and Rarity." Twilight introduced her friends and Rarity even managed to hide her disgust at Velvet's slobbiness to act with courtesy.

"My goodness! Your Twilight's mother? I would have thought you were her older sister!"

Velvet grinned while Twilight rolled her eyes. Velvet the, while still holding onto her sandwich, gathered Rainbow and Rarity in a big hug, much to their discomfort.

"Oh! It is so good to finally meet you! Twilight has told me all about you girls! Sorry I'm a bit of mess, but I'm in the middle of writing my next book you know?" She explained excitedly before letting them go, still grinning.

"Mom, the school is having a Nightmare Night carnival this Saturday and I'm helping with the fortune telling booth. Do we have any old clothes that would work?"

"Fortune telling? Oh that sounds like fun! I'm sure there's something in the attic we could use." Velvet led the others up through the house, quickly devouring the rest of her sandwich on the way.

---

Twilight's attic was what you'd expect from any other attics: dark, stuffy and full of old stuff.

"Sorry about the mess. After my mother passed on a few years back I just never got around to sorting through all her stuff." Velvet explained as she turned on the light and began searching through various boxes. "Ah ha! Here we go!" She pulled out some clothes for the girls to inspect.

There was a beautiful embroidered off the shoulders purple blouse along with a long skirt consisting of various blues, pinks and purples tied with a dark blue sash. "They were your grandmother's. They're a little big, but nothing a little mending won't fix. I think there's a pair of boots that'll fit along with a headscarf and some jewelry."

The girls were impressed. "Oh my. They are simply gorgeous." Rarity appraised the outfit. "I should have the modifications done by Saturday."

"It's going to be perfect for the booth!" Rainbow exclaimed. "This is going to be an awesome carnival!"

"I hope so..." Twilight said, though couldn't shake the feeling something bad was going to happen....

Author's Note:

And the final story of the first arc sets sail!

For reference, you can see EQG's Twilight's house here: https://derpibooru.org/1502991?q=monday+blues

You can imagine the characters in their old or redesigned outfits. (Though to be clear, this Twilight still doesn't wear glasses.)

Comments

[Comickook]

Hey there. Thanks very much for getting this next story started. I really appreciate you going to the effort. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-ups are all well done. I particularly liked Twi's (initial) reluctance to join in on the "fortune teller" idea, Rainbow's reason for wanting to do the fortune teller booth bit (indeed, the idea of cleaning toilets gives me A LOT more respect for professional maids and janitors), Rarity's reaction to meeting Twi's mother, the added details concerning Twi's family background in this universe AND the added bit with Luna's particular interest in the occult.

And, yeah, Twi, I don't blame you for getting a bad feeling. Something ALWAYS ends up going wrong in these kinds of stories (albeit "going wrong" in the way that makes for good story telling). So the bad feeling is, at least, you being at least partially Genre Savvy.

And, yeah, I will DEFINITELY be looking forward to more of this.

[Bookpony579]

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