The Mysterious Book

by Late Empire

Chapter 2: Except That One Time, I Guess

The basement laboratory was pleasantly cool. Twilight placed the book on a workbench, and rolled back the rug, uncovering a large expanse of stone floor.

“Now, safety first,” she said, digging in a drawer for a piece of chalk. “Magic books can be unpredictable. So, whatever’s in there, we have to bind it to prevent any leakage.”

Applejack and Rarity looked at each other. The basement seemed to be getting chillier. “Leakage?” asked Applejack carefully.

“Stray magic,” said Twilight in a distracted way, floating a half-dozen heavy-looking books in front of her. “We don’t want to melt the building or turn ourselves into fruit bats. Now, what we need is a good solid binding spell. I haven’t actually... Ah! Here we go.”

Most of the floating volumes returned to the shelves, leaving behind a surprisingly new-looking spell book. Quick Spells For The Busy Book Enthusiast thumped down on a carved wooden lectern, as Twilight flipped through it. “You know, I just got this last week. Good timing!”

Chalk flew as Twilight concentrated on the instructions. Every now and then she paused, scraped out a mistake and then carried on. Slowly, an intricate circular pattern took shape on the basement floor.

“Why, it looks positively bold!” exclaimed Rarity. “With a very interesting and, um, oddly screw-like motif? Although you’re the expert, of course.”

“Kinda looks like a cider press,” said Applejack, tilting her head to view the circle better. “Maybe whoever wrote the spell was drunk.”

“Well, most ponies who research binding magic are crazy,” said Twilight, with a dismissive flip of her hoof. “They spend half their time being attacked by escaped eldritch beings.”

Rarity gulped, as quietly as possible. “When you say eldritch, dear, what exactly... I mean, how many teeth...”

“Done!” Twilight exclaimed, dropping the chalk back onto her workbench. With an eager smile she lifted the wrapped book and placed it in the exact center of the circle. Everypony held their breath, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited...

Applejack gave up holding her breath, quickly followed by Rarity. Twilight frowned and poked the book experimentally with a hoof.

Nothing seemed to be happening.

“Is, uh, is something wrong?” asked Applejack. Twilight looked down at the book with a puzzled expression. “Well, normally when an object is placed in a binding circle, the runes light up. I mean, not always, but...” Her horn glowed as she bumped the book up and down a few times, as if hoping it would trigger something. “I’m sure it’s fine. Probably the book just needs to be unwrapped before the circle will engage.”

Rarity was learning back as far as possible without falling over. “Twilight, dear, are you absolutely sure this is the right circle?”

Twilight gave her a hurt look. “Rarity, this reference book was a gift from Princess Celestia! And it says this spell is specifically approved for library use! Here, take a look for yourself.” Twilight levitated Quick Spells off its stand and passed it to her.

”Clover’s Circle of Stout Binding,” Rarity read aloud, as Twilight delicately began to unwrap the book. The silver clasp made a quiet “pling” sound on the stone floor as she cast it aside, and began opening the inner set of wards.

”This spell allows high-quality and stable binding of any magical text, with the exception of certain dragon-authored works whose construction uses a mineral base...”

Another “pling” as an inner layer of wrapping, rich with gemstones, joined the previous one on the floor. The outline of the mysterious book was becoming clearer.

”It is guaranteed to produce an absolutely reliable result, even for softcovers in lending-library circulation, provided an approved glue is used and the finished bound book is not overly abused by patrons...”

Rarity dropped the spell book, looking frantic. “Twilight, STOP!”

But it was too late. The final layer of wrapping came off. Startled by Rarity’s shout, Twilight dropped the now-exposed book into the circle, where it landed with a hollow-sounding thud. To everyone’s horror, the cover came open, pages flapping freely within the circle’s useless magical inscriptions.

Rarity covered her face with a hoof, wondering which end of a pony hungry eldritch abominations tended to start with. Applejack crouched, pulling out her lasso and preparing for battle. And Twilight just stared blankly down at the flowing, ornate letters on the title page, unable to comprehend what she was seeing.

It was...

... Daring Do And The Temple Of The Sea Ponies.

The room was silent for a moment.

“No,” said Twilight eventually, pointing an accusing hoof down at the book. A few strands of hair popped loose from her mane. “No, this isn’t possible. You aren’t possible.” Her horn glowed as she turned to a random page, reading desperately:

... skidded to a halt behind the castle wall, the coral creatures’ unearthly shrieks echoing in her ears. Daring’s heart pounded in terror. They had been ponies once...

“No, no, no!” The pages flipped again:

”... with shellfish!” sneered the Crown Princess, twirling the keys just out of reach. “You, and your friends, will find the waters of the deep ocean can be dangerously hot...”

Twilight’s horn went out, and the pages lay still. Her mind raced, trying desperately to avoid the obvious, inevitable conclusion.

Silently, she turned and looked up the staircase, towards the closed basement door.

---

Rainbow Dash wasn’t reading.

Or rather, despite the enormous size of the book in her hooves, and the fact that barely twenty minutes had gone by, she had somehow impossibly finished reading. The book lay open to the last page, flyleaf wavering gently in the still air of the library. She gazed vacantly into the middle distance, with a mute, horrified expression.

Twilight crept forward. “Dash, what book do you have there?” Applejack waited, nervously, at her side. Rarity waited, more nervously, across the room.

Ever so slowly, Rainbow Dash turned her head, and stared unblinkingly at Twilight.

“...,” she explained.

Maybe it isn’t, thought Twilight desperately. Maybe Creased Page didn’t really mix them up before mailing them. Maybe there were two copies of the same book, and she read it really fast, and the Sea Ponies were just unexpectedly scary...

She gently closed the cover of Dash’s book, and winced at the savage-looking alien letters on the spine.

“No no no no no no no!” Twilight trotted frantically in place, before rushing over a nearby bookshelf. “How could I have let this happen?”

“Let what happen?” asked Applejack, waving a hoof ineffectively in front of Dash’s face. Finally she just grabbed her friend’s shoulders and shook her. “Dash!”

Dash continued her staring, mane flying and head flopping loosely from the shaking. The Blueberry Blast! pile fell over with a metallic crash, soda cans rolling off in every direction across the library floor. “She’s stuck or something! What’s wrong with her!”

“I don’t know!” cried Twilight, now just pulling books off the shelves, levitating some and piling others in an enormous heap. “She doesn’t have a binding circle! It could do anything!”

“What do you mean, anything? It’s a book! Somepony sat down and wrote...”

“Not a pony,” Twilight corrected, frantically wrenching open the card catalog and ejecting the contents. “Felis sapiens. I mean, we think,” she rambled desperately. “All we have is the author’s name, and...”

“Felix who? You’re saying she’s stuck like this because... because the magic in there...” Applejack trailed off, crouched in the index-card snowstorm, holding Dash’s head in her hooves like she was afraid it might collapse.

“Twilight?” asked Rarity, softly. “Exactly what kind of things are supposed to be in this story?”

Twilight froze, looking at them nervously. A chaotic constellation of books and index cards, along with a few stray pieces of library shelving, hung motionless in the air while she tried to think what to say.

“... bad things,” she finally whispered.

Rainbow Dash made a noise.

Twilight turned around so fast she nearly fell over, and stood gaping. Rarity surveyed the scene from a nearby end table, swiftly redecorating the floor around it with a shattered-lamp motif. Even Applejack took a step back, giving her friend some space.

“Dash? You, uh, feeling alright?”

Rainbow appeared to be trying to speak. Her mouth worked soundlessly, muzzle scrunching up. She drew breath.

“Ahhhhh......”

“Dash?”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....”

Applejack looked helplessly at Twilight. “Is she broken?”

“Ahhhhhhhh.... CHOO!”

The sneeze was thunderous; both Twilight and Applejack jumped back, and Rarity’s end table wobbled dangerously. The room instantly lit up with a blinding flash of magical light, along with a tremendous champagne-cork POP! that shook the library to its foundations. There was an overwhelming sensation of blueberries.

On Rainbow Dash’s right foreleg, just above her hoof, a strange device had appeared.