My Most Faithful Mortifer

by hamishwarfare

Chapter. 17 – Settling In

Chapter. 17 – Settling In

Honestly the party was good; the games were fun, if a little childish. The food was also tasty, if simple. The ponies were polite and friendly and overall not total country bumpkins. Just, mostly. In the best way possible of course.

But as the afternoon turned to evening, the party goers slowly trickled out until all that remained the host, and her two guests.

“So Trixie, Spike; how did you enjoy the party?” Sunset asked as she was washing the few remaining pieces of utensils used at the party. Her two guests were seated on a blue two seater couch; it was a simple and honest fabric couch that had clearly been there for some time. It was situated in front of a plane wooden table where two mugs rested half full and a bowl that contained a selection of apples. Sitting by the wall just beyond the head of the coffee table was a cast iron log burner; with a large glass window showing wood set up and waiting for a spark.

“It was fun! Especially those crusaders, they were a blast. But Miss Shimmer, where did you guys get all those gems for me? Those cupcakes were delicious.”

“There’s a quarry not too far from here that has a nice selection of them. When I accepted that you two were going to stay here, I had my friend Rarity teach me a spell of her own creation; it tracks down gems. It took me all of half a day to get you enough gems to last you a week. Hopefully.”

“Well how thoughtful of you.” The blue unicorn’s face was neutral but her horn was glowing as she brought her mug up and took a small drink; the effect could almost have been intimidating.

“Thanks Trixie, but this is my first time hosting anyone here for this long; so I wanted to get everything set for you.”

“So you’ve hosted before?”

“Only once, and it was only for a few hours, but they left smiling; so I think I did well. So, shall I give you what’s left of the tour of the place and then allow you two to fully settle in. There’s still a couple of hours of daylight if you want to explore the town more; though do not go into the forest to the south. That’s the Everfree Forest and it is not a safe place to go, even during the middle of the day.” With the last of the dishes dried and put back where they belonged, Sunset had walked over to where her two guests were seated.

“I can handle anything that that forest can throw at me.”

That raised an eyebrow from Sunset. “I’ll be the judge of that. There’s a lot in there that even I’d hesitate to directly fight.”

“Well that just says so much about your magic training. If you’d have gone to Celestia’s School for gifted Unicorns, then maybe you’d feel a little more confident in your prowess.” Gone was the neutral expression on Trixie’s face and it was now replaced with a frown. The mug was back down on the coffee table, forgotten, as her focus was directed at the amber coated mare in front of her.

“Unlikely, my mentor and Masters trained me very well. I don’t see how a school, no matter how good, could be better than one to one training. You should agree with me, being the Princess’s personal student.”

“While I do agree with you in theory; Celestia’s school is second only to her personal teachings. Your fear of the Everfree is proof of that.”

“I respect the Everfree Forest.”

“Then why are you telling Trixie not to go in there!”

Sunset raised an eyebrow at the mare who had just spoken in third person. Her eyes trailed over to the little dragon to see his reaction; he had placed his claws into his face. ‘Huh, this must happen often. Or is it her attitude that he’s embarrassed about?’ “Because there are Ursa Major’s in there for one thing, as well as a number of other star beasts. As another point the forest can hamper your ability to cast magic if you allow it.”

“Just admit it; you’re afraid of that forest.” Trixie had leaned back into the couch’s cushions and had crossed her forehooves over her barrel.

“Only a fool would say they are not afraid of the Everfree Forest. I’ve been in there numerous times and I can tell you it is not a walk in the park” ‘…For most ponies anyway.’ “Why are you angry all of a sudden anyway?”

“You think you know better than Trixie.”

“About the Everfree Forest? Yes. About magic? I don’t know, but probably…Ah I get it, this is stemming from my offer to show you a thing or two about magic isn’t it. I wrote that to Princess Cadenza when she mentioned that you still had studies to do and would need at least an hour every evening for them. I just thought you’d prefer something more practical than books.”

“There is nothing you can teach Trixie.” gone was the crossed forehooves over her barrel; replaced by leaning towards the still standing unicorn.

“I bet there are lots of things I can teach you, just as I bet there are a few things you can teach me.”

“Duel me!” the statement was emphasised by a moderate impact of a hoof hitting the coffee table.

“Excuse me?” for a clearly surprised statement, there was little reaction on Sunsets face. Not even a blink of an eye.

“If you think you have anything of value to Trixie, then prove it in a Mage’s Duel.”

“…Look I bet you’re tired. Just calm down and relax tonight. Have a bath, do your homework, or whatever; and if you still feel that way in the morning them maybe I will duel you. Sigh, I’ll leave you alone for now.

“The stairs keep going up to the bedroom; and further still to an observation deck where my telescope is setup and ready to use for star gazing; feel free. You too Spike. That door there is the bathroom, and that concludes the tour of this place. I’ll be down stairs in the main library area or in the basement, which is the door beside the stairs. Have a pleasant evening.” And with that Sunset trotted out of the living area and down the stairs.

“Trixie what was that all about?” Spike had waited several seconds to make sure that Sunset had left before confronting the blue unicorn.

“Sigh, pride Spike, nothing but pride; maybe tiredness and travel stress too. She has to be the same age as me, but she’s already done with her education; so it was either not as good as what I’m getting, or she’s a genius. The way she talks and holds herself says the latter.” Trixie had the decency to look ashamed of how she handled the situation.

“Perhaps you should go apologise? I mean she is our host while we stay here. It would make things easier if we can all work together; especially if she can help us find out the reason why aunt Celestia wants to have the celebration here. Chuckle, though to be honest those cupcakes were really good; perhaps we were a little hasty in brushing off that theory about the Princess having the celebration at places with good bakeries. Those apple pies too were something special.”

Trixie let out a small giggle at Spike’s antics; somehow he’d improved her mood with just those few sentences. “I’ll apologise in the morning. But right now I think we both could do with a little space right now; I’m just not use to having such a peer around me. Well the offer was there so I’m going to have that bath I’ve been promising myself since we set off.”

“Well I’m going down there. If nothing else I wouldn’t mind seeing what’s available in this library; maybe they have some comics.” Trixie just smiled before heading towards the door that led to the bathroom, leaving Spike to his antics.

---

Spike retraced his steps back to the stairs and headed down them to the main floor. Halfway down, however, Spike was stopped dead in his tracks with the sight he was witnessing; Sunset Shimmer was cleaning up the main floor of the library using her magic. In one of the most convoluted ways he’d ever seen.

All the moveable furniture was currently suspended in the air while black rubbish bags were getting filled with the leftover debris of the party. Once filled the black bags were tied off before settling down by the main entrance. Finally to make this impressive display of magic even more so, there was a mop going around washing down the floors. And there in the middle of it all was Sunset Shimmer deep in concentration.

Spike thought he was being quiet but apparently not quite enough, as she half turned to face him; a slight smile working its way on her face. It looked suspiciously natural for how much work she was currently doing. “Hello Spike, is there something I can help you with?”

“Well I can see why you weren’t worried about tiding up after everyone left. Did you expect an argument with Trixie and planned to use this as a way to vent your frustrations?” He continued down to the main floor and couldn’t help but marvel at the display.

“No not at all. I planned to do this tonight after you both went to bed; this is just a convenient use of my time right now.” Her voice held the strain of effort, but she could clearly still talk to him while maintaining everything.

“This is quite an impressive display of magic; all the different sizes and weights of the items you’ve got within your Telekenetic grip, and none of them hitting each other. On top of that you’re also manipulating a mop to go over the floor; you’ve definitely have the Telekinesis spell down to an art.” ‘It’s impressive but nothing that students from Princess Celestia’s school couldn’t learn to achieve.’

Sunset’s forehead was beginning to glisten slightly, even through her fur; but her face remained un-phased and was still smiling lightly, it was a little unnerving. “This is not Telekinesis; but you should go see Rarity if you want to witness that spell as an art form. While she cannot lift excessive masses; her control of multiple objects, precision and finesse are almost mesmerising to watch.”

Spike scratched his head in confusion. “What do you mean this is not Telekinesis? You’re clearly moving objects around. What, you’ve invented a slight variation on the spell? Or are you doing a three way split with the Levitation spell; something that is almost impossible to do?”

“Grunt, technically this is only a two point five split. The furniture is only being suspended and nothing else.”

Spike was now looking at this unicorn in disbelief. “Seriously, you’re using Levitation? Most every scholar agrees that after two times your focus is too split to be able to concentrate on what you’re doing, and the spell collapses. I think there has literally been only a clawful of unicorns in all of recorded history, who have managed to demonstrate a three way split on the spell.

“And that is definitely a three way split; you’re talking to me while you work and you’re making sense. But why bother going through all this though? You’re not saving any extra time, and it must be so much harder than just using Telekinesis.”

By now all the rubbish had been gathered by the door and the floor had been mopped. Slowly and carefully the furniture was returned to its rightful place and a proud sound of tired accomplishment escaped her mouth. “I am trying to learn how to duel cast.”

Spike was once more confused by the mare in front of him. “Aren’t you kind of doing that already with that spell; and there are other spells that cast multiple times easily, like Telekinesis, or Major Image. Wait, that’s not what you meant, is it? You want to actually cast two different spells at once; you want to, like, Teleport and Levitate at the same time don’t you?”

“Well done, Spike. Yes that is what I’m aiming for. Not that combination of spells specifically but close.”

An old forgotten warmth developed within Spike at the praise, but he was too distracted by the rest of her statement to fully notice. “Now that is definitely impossible; what, are you hiding a second horn somewhere?”

“My theory is that you do not need a second focus. Spells such as the ones you were first describing already exist and work well together with only a single magical focus; I believe that it is the mind that is the problem. Currently I’m trying several things and hoping that at least one of them works.

“Enough about that though, down here’s finally cleared up and ready for tomorrow. Are you down here looking for a book? I do believe we have some comics as well if you’re looking to relax. Just the basic ones I’m afraid; those enchanted ones I feel are too dangerous for kids to handle.”

Spike was really tempted with the comics and to just relax the rest of the day away; but he knew their time here was limited. “I don’t suppose you have a history of the town available do you?”

“Why yes I do. There’s quite a few of them, all within the local section here. Most have been donated by the Apple family, since they’re the ones who founded the town; with permission from Princess Celestia of course.”

“You don’t say. Well thank you for your help; I’ll just pick one and see what I find.” Walking up to the section that was being pointed out to him; Spike grabbed the first book that sounded promising, before making his way back up the stairs to the living area.

Near the top of the stairs he paused and looked back down to the main area of the library where his host was now occupying herself with a book. It was held in a single forehoof as she walked about as a biped like it was nothing; the other forehoof gently scratching the base of her muzzle lazily.

‘Is she trying to mimic the way I walk? Trying to annoy me by walking around like that? No, that’s not it. If that were true then she would be wobbling, or have even fallen over by now; her posture and balance looks really good, she’s not even using her tail as a counterbalance. No, she’s been doing this for a long time. Perhaps not quite long enough for it to have become second nature, but she’s still comfortable standing like that. Geez, if she’s able to do all that magic from before and still able to balance like that without gasping for air; then I hope Trixie decides against that duel.’

He shook her head a little before continuing up the stairs towards the residential part of the tree. But try as he might there was something about that mare that Spike just could not leave alone.

‘There’s something seriously strange about all this; no way is she just a librarian. She’s clearly smart and is succeeding in achieving magical feats thought impossible; she’s also got the magic to back up her words. Is she a secret agent or something? I mean Celestia was only slightly hesitant letting us stay with her; that alone tells me that she knows this pony, and even sees her in a good light…Especially without an escort.’ His eyes widened with realisation as he plopped back down onto the simple, but comfortable couch; the book still held in his clawed hand.

‘Normally, if Trixie goes anywhere she’s got at least two royal guards along with her, even myself if I’m going anywhere. But all of a sudden we don’t when we’re supposed to be staying with a stranger? No, I’m not buying that; Celestia knows Sunset Shimmer and trusts her too, at least to some extent. I suppose the question is how? I’ve never seen her at the castle and I know Shining doesn’t recognise her, so she’s not a part of the guard. Urppp-’

A particularly large and long belch of emerald fire came straight out of his mouth and from ashes formed many sheets of paper, with the top one rolled into a scroll addressed to Trixie. Looking the scroll over he saw the wax seal securing the message was of Princess Celestia’s cutie mark; this was all from her. The letter was for Trixie and judging from the small frowny face next to her name; it was not a social call.

Looking over all of the other papers it became clear what all this was; it was all of the assignments that Princess Celestia went out of her way to write up for Trixie specifically for this trip.

With a small shake of his head Spike extracted himself from the surprisingly comfortable couch, and made his way to the bathroom door; taking his reading material with him.

“Hey Trixie,” Spike asked as he calmly knocked on the door. He waited for the hum of acknowledgment; clearly she had already gotten into the steaming water. “I’m just letting you know that you received a letter from Princess Celestia. It’s nothing that needs an immediate reply, so don’t rush your bath over it. I’ve left it on the coffee table for you. I’m gonna go find a quiet place to read.” He waited just long enough for a reply before taking the staircase further up the tree. Sunset did say there was a nice star gazing platform at the top didn’t she?

---

Her library was quiet; it sounded like the young dragon had ventured further up the tree and she had already heard the faint sound of running water. With both of her guests occupied for what sounded like the foreseeable future, Sunset opened the door that led to her basement.

Due to the library only having one bedroom, she would be sleeping down here.

The wooden staircase continued its curving path around the primary root system of the tree; as the surprisingly large storage area of the library opened itself up, after descending half the staircase.

It was quite a large basement with a high ceiling and almost had the same floor space as the main floor. The walls were still made out of the tree, but there were thick roots systems meandering along them like support beams; before they buried themselves into the final layer of floorboards. A few small windows were scattered around the ceiling to give what little natural light they could.

Laid out near the stairs was a thickly padded white futon covered in a grass green duvet; all set and ready for her to sleep on. She walked past her resting place, heading towards the back of the room; where a few boxes were stacked on top of one another obscuring the wall they sat in front of.

A quick sweep of her magic aura revealed her destination.

Stuck at head height was a very large cork board holding a map of Equestria right in the centre; with smaller maps of Equestria’s external provinces positioned at the outer edges.

Every main city was skewed with a pin, and each pin had a sister securing a sheet of paper. Each piece of paper held place names and dates; some of which had crosses in front of the names. Each set of matching pins were connected together by a piece of uniquely coloured thread.

Sitting to the left of this board was a table, with its surface set up to be a very comfortable writing desk. There was a book set to one side, as well as everything needed to write and send letters to ponies. In between all the stationery and the book, was a blank working space revealing the tables wooden top.

This is Sunset’s work station for her most important project; this was her work station finding out her past life. This was the place where she would find her child.

When she first set out on this endeavour of hers, Sunset knew it would be difficult; that it would be full of papers that she would have to go through. What she did not expect was all this resistance from the orphanages.

She had reached out to all of the orphanages in Vanhoover, stating her name and asking if she had been an orphan there. They had all replied back, none of them had records of her.

This confused sunset a little, so she broadened her request to other cities and their respective orphanages, trying to find her home city.

It has already taken a lot longer than she wanted it to, and not just because the postal service was a slow bloated behemoth. Gathering sufficient information from each city to ensure that she does not miss an orphanage is quite the challenge. Then there was the individual research of each orphanage, before finally composing the correct correspondence to get the information that Sunset was looking for; namely if she use to live at said orphanage.

Then it was a waiting game to see what the response was. So far not a single one had any knowledge of who she was; if the letters she received back from the orphanages were to be believed.

Overall she’s sent letters to what she would guess was around a third of the orphanages in all of Equestria; not a small amount to be sure, but statistically it was still early days in her search.

The thought of just asking her masters the name of her orphanage did filter its way to the front of her mind; however she was determined to find out on her own. Besides, her masters had never once mentioned the name before, perhaps it was a final test for her; discover her old life from before Predator. Show that she was capable of tracking down ponies with almost nothing to go on.

Settling down to work, Sunset gathered her book and started to take notes for the next orphanage she was getting into contact with. The book itself was a listing of companies within Los Pegasus, and what they did. It was slow and meticulous work going through it and collecting the names of every orphanage.

It was not quite an hour of work later when she heard a frightened scream coming from the upper floors of her tree.

Sunset’s head shot up to the ceiling with a frown. Nothing had set of any of her wards protecting the library tree; however as a good host, and as a request from Princess Celestia herself, she wasn’t about to take any chances.

Leaping into a battle ready stance Sunset cast her Teleport to the living area of the tree; the last place she had seen her guests.

“What, what’s wrong?” A quick scan of the room told Sunset that nothing significant had changed in the time that she had been gone. None of the windows appeared to be damaged, there were no scorch marks to indicate an attack; everything looked fine. The only thing out of place was a small stack of paper sitting on the coffee table.

Sitting on the couch was her guest Trixie. Well not sitting so much as trying to scrunch up into the couch’s corner closest to her log burner. She was currently staring fearfully in Sunset’s direction; while resting innocently next to her, on the other large cushion of the blue couch, was a scroll of parchment.

The tapping of clawed footsteps could be heard running as quickly as they could from the stairwell leading up the tree; however they appeared to be getting louder instead of quieter.

‘Must be the baby dragon, Spike, coming to see what was wrong as well.’ Sunset thought as she slowly started to relax her four legged combat stance; her ears still swivelling around, still trying to detect if there was anything amiss.

“Trixie, are you all right? I heard you screaming all the way from the basement.” Sunset asked the scared mare, who was trying her best to squeeze in between the couch cushions.

“Oh, she’s finally gotten around to reading Princess Celestia’s letter. From the little frowny face I saw on the scroll, I’m guessing she wasn’t happy finding all of Trixie’s assignments still in the castle.” The smirk that graced the young dragon’s face told of an interesting story, one Sunset may ask about another time.

But from what he had said, Sunset was slowly piecing together the chain of events. “Let me guess. Princess Celestia, I don’t know, went into Trixie’s room and found all these assignments still resting on her work desk. Assignments that the Princess had taken time out of her very busy schedule to bulk draft for her pupil, so that she keeps up with her studies while out of the castle.

“Felling a little miffed she somehow sends it all the way here with a note attached stating, what, that before she left it would have been ok if only half of them were completed upon her return. Now Trixie has to complete all of them by the time she returns to the castle, or there will be a punishment of some sort.”

As Sunset was stating her finding’s Spike had continued crossing the room towards the couch. Picking up the note left abandoned on the large blue cushion; he gave the royal letter a quick read. That Trixie hadn’t already snatched it out of his paws, told him it was ok to read; or that she was still in shock.

“Wow, not too far off Sunset. Celestia did go into Trixie’s quarters after a tip off from one of the maids about the stack of paper. She sent everything through me thanks to the Fire Sending spell along with this note stating, you guessed it, that all the assignments are now due upon her return to Canterlot. Well Trixie, at least you’re in a library.”

“Indeed Spike. Trixie, you have total access to all the materials in the library. If we don’t have what you may need, then just tell me and I’ll get them from Canterlot; though they will need a day to get here for a rushed order. And when you’re ready to ask, I’m also here to help.

“However I think my help is not yet wanted; so I’ll leave you alone. Spike, how high can you cast your fire breath?”

“What? Oh, umm pretty high. A few meters at least.”

“Perfect. I am going to go for a walk to allow Trixie a nice peaceful environment to work in. Spike, if I’m needed please launch your fire from the top of the tree as high as you can. I’ll see it and teleport back here in an instant.

“I’ll let you know when I return and I shall also setup your bed, Spike, down here; but other than that I’ll see you both in the morning for breakfast. Speaking of which, if you want, help yourself to anything in the kitchen if you need to; there’s coffee, breakfast tea, as well as jasmine tea, and coffee. Not to mention all the leftovers in the fridge.”

With everything set, and the mention of pleasant dreams; Sunset teleported herself to destinations unknown.

“Woah, Hey Trixie did you see that; Sunset just teleported right out of here. I didn’t even hear it cast, or anything. Well, I guess that proves she’s not all talk, eh Trixie. Trixie? Hey, are you all right? Come on, sure you forgot to take your assignments with you, and now have a third more work than you were expecting; but that’s no reason to have a panic attack?”

Spike was a little worried at Trixie’s lacklustre response; he climbed up onto the couch right next to Trixie, waving his paw in front of her face.

This finally got a response. Trixie released a shudder and shook her head rapidly before locking her eyes onto Spike’s. “Spike that Sunset Shimmer is no normal mare. Her teleports are silent!”

“Well, yeah I noticed that just now. She didn’t make a noise when she teleports–”

“No noise? No noise! Spike, there was no magical build up when she teleported! Everypony emits magic when they teleport; both at their destination and their starting location. The magic joining the two places vibrates like a string and is something magic users are able to detect with the right training. But hers were silent! No vibration of magic when she teleports! No magical build up at her destination! That’s impossible!”

“Well clearly it’s not; she just did it, twice.”

“Well it’s supposed to be impossible! Even Princess Celestia can’t do something like that.” Trixie was breathing heavily, her mane had hairs springing out of position and her eyes had an almost manic look to them.

“Uh, look I’ll go get a pot of that jasmine tea on for you. Why don’t you calm down, do some of those breathing exercises that Cadance showed you. Then we’ll tackle your assignments together; try and get a few of them done tonight, ok?” Spike didn’t wait for a response; he leapt off the couch and quickly made his way over to the kitchen area and started rummaging for the tea pot.

Maybe he should stay quiet about what he saw Sunset Shimmer trying to accomplish down in the main library area.

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[DarknessHusarz]

1.19 mornig Regards