> A Boundless Rivalry > by Chris-Cross13 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Librarian's Apprentice > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Now Christian, do I have to explain the rules again if you're going to work in my library?" Twilight asks. "Wha? Sorry I wasn't paying attention." He glanced up at Twilight as he was reading his book: 1,000 Ways To Shoot A Crossbow. "Ugh! Focus!" Twilight tapped on a nearby chalkboard. "Rule One: Don't touch anything without my permission. Rule Two: Don't use the alchemy lab. And Rule Three: Don't call me "Twitlight". Christian laughed lightly and got up from his seat. "Ok, here's what I think of your "Rules"." He grabbed an eraser and chalk. "Rule One: Don't care, Rule Two: Don't care, and Rule Three, by a unanimous vote: I don't care!" Twilight sighed. He was non-negotiable. She doesn't even know why he wanted a job at her library! Most likely, Christian wanted a few cheap shots with some tranquilizers while Twilight worked. "You know what? Forget it. Just watch the library while I take a shower." She says as she goes upstairs. "Probably gonna take a while for a pony with no hands!" He yelled up. Christian sat back down and starting reading his book again. "There aren't going to be any customers, I don't understand how this place is still in business." As Christian reads, the door opens as a unicorn steps inside. He scans the shelves before he approaches the desk and rings the bell. "Hello! I would like to purchase a book." The unicorn said kindly. Christian ignored the ringing. Technically, he wasn't hired yet. So customers weren't his problem. The unicorn rang it a few more times, obviously trying to get the stubborn human's attention. Christian kept caring less and less by the ring. The unicorn grew angry as he became impatient. "Insolent pony! Listen to me!" He yelled at Christian. Christian immediately slammed his book shut in anger and rose from his seat. How dare someone call him a pony! "Who you calling a pony, you stupid..." He stopped mid rant and stared at the unicorn before him in shock and awe. The unicorn was a pitch-black, with an electric blue mane. His tail was a stripped mix of the two colors. His hooves were also a nebula purple. But what really made Christian stare was his cutie mark: A black hole. "You...look...AWESOME!" He shouted. The unicorn stared back at him in awe as well. "You're...you're that human ambassador, aren't you? Christian is it?" Christian nodded. "The one and only! And you are?" "The name is Supernova. Delighted to meet you." The unicorn replied in a very high manner. It was as if Christian was supposed to know who this guy was. "Same here." Christian answered back. Christian quickly started acting proper and appropriate. He wanted to make a good impression on this guy. "Now, how can I help you?" He said in the most proper tone. "Well, I'm looking for a book on Astrology. You know, the study of the stars and space?" Supernova responded. He was a little stunned at the human's reaction to him. "Of course! I love space! It's so..." Christian couldn't think of a word to fit the dark void. "Enigmatic?" Supernova finished. "Yea, that's the word! Hang on a sec..." Christian started skimming through the bookshelves, looking for any book relating to space, planets, anything! "No, no, ahh! Here it is!" Christian plucked a book from the third shelf. He presented the book to Supernova. " Is this the book you're looking for? The Stars of Equestria's Sky: A Study." "Yes! That's it!" The satisfied unicorn exclaims. The book is quickly enveloped in a light blue glow. It is pulled from Christian's grasp and into a light blue pack on the back of the dark unicorn. "This is just what I need! Some odd activity is going on with a nearby star. This book will help me greatly with my studies!" Supernova shook the human's hand in gratitude. "Thank you Christian! I must get to work right away!" Supernova heads for the door in a hurry. He had work to catch up on! Christian grew a little annoyed when he went to leave so quickly. "Wait!" Supernova turns toward the human as he is halfway out the door. "Are you sure you have to leave now? Can't you stick around for a bit?" He asks. "I've been hanging around with mares every since I started coming here, besides Vague. It would be nice to hang with a stallion for once. You know, someone I can relate to. Sort of." Supernova thought about this. The star's activity wasn't that peculiar. It was only some excess gamma rays and star growth, Nothing out of the ordinary. Plus, this human seemed interesting enough. He sighs. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt if I stuck around for a bit." Supernova closes the door and trots back toward Christian. Christian grinned eagerly at his response. A few minutes later, they are both sitting down in some chairs Christian found, drinking tea that Supernova whipped up, and asking questions about each other. "So, how are you liking Equestria?" Supernova asks as he lounges. "It's cleaner than Earth, I'll give it that." Christian responds. Supernova chuckles. "Indeed!" He exclaims, then moves on to another subject. "So, what are your...abilities?" "Well, my aim with a crossbow is pretty slick. Observe." He fires his crossbow at a nearby mirror. The dart binks and flies around the room. Supernova ducks as it flies over his head and out a window. Supernova looks at the human, unimpressed. "What was the point of..." "Wait for it." Christian interrupts as he puts a hand up. After a few moments of complete silence... "OUCH! What the..." A yell is heard outside from a bystanding pony, followed by a thud as they pass out from the tranquilizer. "Impressive." Supernova comments, impressed at the precision. Christian bows. "Thank you! And I can now communicate with animals, as of two days ago." "What, like an animal whisperer?" The black unicorn asks. "I guess you can call it that." Christian says as he sits back down in his seat and picks up his cup from the counter. "Alright, my turn to ask the questions. I've noticed that most unicorns use and study magic. What made you turn toward the field of science?" Christian asks as he sips some tea. "Ahh! An excellent question!" Supernova leans toward him a little. "You see, I used to actually study magic back when I was little. I was top of my class, the best of the best, until...She came along." "She?" Christian asks confusedly. "Who's she?" "I wish I could remember her name. She was the one who decided to show off her skills." Supernova growled. "What did she do?" Christian asks. He wanted to know more about this show off. Maybe she knew about Twilight and hated her too! Christian might finally be able to relate to a pony! "She never was that good at magic, until she hatched a dragon from an egg!." Supernova yelled. "Whoa." Christian had seen some of the dragons roaming Equestria. They weren't as deadly as the ones in Skyrim, but they were still a force to be reckoned with. They did eat gems like they were candy. "What unicorn had the skill to hatch a dragon?" Christian thought. "And that's not all." Supernova said as he took a quick drink. "Celestial saw her "skills" and that stupid little filly became her star student! Can you believe that! I hear now that she lives somewhere around here and is an "Element of Harmony". Nonsense! All of it!" He stomps the desk, making his cup spill. Christian nearly choked on his drink when he heard this. "Star student and an Element of Harmony? You don't say." He said nervously. "Do you remember her fur color?" "Umm, I know it was a cold color, like blue or green. Hmm... I believe it was purple. But, it was a very light purple, like a lavender color." Christian gulped quite loudly. "That's what I was afraid of." "If only I could remember her name. Light bright? No. Midnight? That's not it..." Christian hesitated before giving him a suggestion.. "Was it... Twilight?" He wanted Supernova to say yes, but Christian figured that if Supernova found out that he and Twilight were frienemies, Supernova would hate him too. "Hey Christian! Who was at the..." Twilight comes down the stairs with a towel wrapped around her head. She jumps as she sees the black unicorn sitting with him. Christian tries to tell her to leave the room, but she doesn't notice. Supernova is unaware of the lavender unicorn, as his eyes are closed when he was thinking of his "adversary's" name. "Twilight! Yes, that's it Christian! Twilight... Sparkle." He glared over at her. Twilight looks on angrily. "Supernova! It's been awhile." She approaches him slowly. Supernova gets up from his seat and walks toward her in the same fashion. They meet in the middle, only a few feet away from each other. Supernova and Twilight then start circling around each other, each snarling and looking at each other with great disdain and annoyance. Christian looks on in awe. Heck, if they get in a fight, the fireworks oughta be awesome! "Well, if it isn't Celestia's "Star student" herself! How's the magic treating you?" "Oh you know, saving Equestria three times really wears a mare out." "Heh, I've done more than that with my studies." Supernova gloats. "Yea right!" Twilight protests. "Indeed! Without my knowledge of wormholes and portals, Christian wouldn't be here right now!" Supernova beamed. He knew he completely one-upped Twilight. Twilight looked at him, bewildered by the confidence in his response. Christian quickly gets up. "Wait, YOU built the portal?!" He asks astonished at his amazing work. That portal branched two worlds together for crying out loud! Without it, both worlds would be enslaved right now! "Yes Christian. I designed and built the portal. The very portal you use to get here. The portable portal was actually a prototype of the main one in the town square." Supernova smirked toward Twilight. Who in return, growled at him. "Get out, and never come back." She said sternly. She wanted nothing to do with this...troublemaker. Supernova growled. "Fine. I overstayed my welcome anyway." Supernova went to leave. Christian looked at the purple unicorn angrily and then quickly ran to the door. "Actually Twilight," Christian slammed the door as Supernova opened it. "Supernova is staying." Christian smirked at his stallion friend. Twilight's eyes widened in disbelief. "Christian! Are you crazy! Supernova is nothing but trouble for me ever since school!" Christian doesn't show any care for his purple frenemy. He mocks her whining harshly. "Oh, boo hoo! I don't care Twitlight! He is now here in Ponyville as my guest, which means, you can't touch him!" He turns toward the smirking dark unicorn. "Come on Supernova, let me introduce you to the others." They go to leave the library. "Twitlight?! Oh, good one Christian!" He laughs hysterically as they leave for town, leaving Twilight standing there. She falls into a sitting position, perplexed as what just occurred. Her rival since school, randomly walks in and just befriended her human frenemy, who is also Earth's ambassador to Equestria. The towel that was on her head falls into a pile next to her, making her hair spring up. Twilight takes no notice as she still ponders the events she just witnessed. "What...just...happened?" > Bragging Rights > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight was pacing back and forth across her library, wondering why this one stallion has come to Ponyville and more specifically, her library. She became more disgruntled as it made less and less sense. Spike watched at her observantly. It was rare to see Twilight in this sort of state. "I can't believe this! Out of every single pony in Equestria, He has to be the one that crosses my path!" She punches a pile of books off a table in frustration. Spike runs over, wide-eyed and bewildered as he picks them up. "I haven't seen that stuck up smart alike for years! Then suddenly he shows up and befriends the guy who hates me the most?! Fantastic! I might as well just stand out on the train tracks and get rammed!" She stops momentarily to breathe deeply. "So, what's your deal with this 'Supernova' guy anyhow? I rarely see you like this Twilight." Spike interrupts. Twilight glaces over her shoulder with fury in her eyes. "My "deal" with Supernova happened back when I was young." She daydreams back to her young days at school, before she became Celestia's star student, even before she obtained her cutie mark. she remembers walking into class for the first time and automatically eyeing a young black unicorn. "The moment I saw him, I knew he was trouble. He always tried to one-up me. I cast a light spell, he creates a star. I write an essay, he writes a book!" "Ok, so he's competitive." Spike points out. "It's not just that! He always rubbed it in my face. I never did anything to that jerk, but he kept pestering me like it was his job. That's way I loved it when I hatched you Spike. The moment he saw me do that, he simply got up and left, probably jealous." She sighs again. "But now that he's back, he's most likely up to something." "Like Trixie?" Spike says suddenly. Twilight is about to say something, but she thinks about this. Supernova was essentially the male version of Trixie, but much stronger. Granted, Supernova lacked the magical skill. But who knows what he's capable on the scientific level? Twilight knew her fair share of science and inventions, most were extremely deadly. "No, much more dangerous." She heads for the door. "C'mon Spike, we're going to see what he's up to!" Spike hurriedly follows Twilight out the door toward town. Spike jumps on Twilight's back, still confused by her motives. Meanwhile at Sugarcube Corner, Christian and Supernova were just arriving to meet the others. Pinkie, while eating one of her cupcakes, looks toward the human's companion with confusion as they get closer. The others turn toward where Pinkie was staring. "Hey Christian! Who's the unicorn?" Dash asks. "Guys, this is Supernova." The stallion waves at them friendly-like. "Supernova, this is AJ, Pinkie P, Fluttershy, RD, Rarity, and Vague. Vague is my human friend I was telling you about, and the others are the..." "Elements of Harmony! Of course, I know them!" Supernova cuts him off. "Greetings to all of you!" He rushes up to all of them and rapidly shakes their hooves, making each pony a little shaken. "A pleasure to make your acquaintances!" "Well, ain't you a friendly one!" AJ says to their new guest. He seemed nice enough, besides the whole dark and evil look. "He looks evil." Pinkie blurts out. She jumps out from the counter and gets in Supernova's face, making him extremely uncomfortable. "Are you evil?" She asks curiously. Supernova is too disturbed to answer. Christian, noticing the awkwardness his friend was feeling, shoots Pinkie with a tranq. She falls over with a yawn and becomes unconscious. "Yea, probably should have warned you, she's a little...jumpy." Christian says, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Supernova brushes off his front legs. "That's alright. I'm used to it. I do have a... sinister look don't I?" "Okkkkaaayyyy, let's switch topics before she wakes up. Tell us about yourself Supernova." Vague says kindly. He blushes a little. "Are you sure? I have quite the skill set. I think it'll just bore all of you." "No way! I bet it's interesting! Go on!" Dash exclaims, urging the black unicorn on. He sighs. "Alright. Well, for starters..." Twilight finally arrive at Sugarcube Corner. She knew Christian and the little show-off would be here, It was the typical hangout for them ever since Christian came here, He can't get enough of Pinkie's cupcakes. She enters the bakery to see her friends and Christian huddled around by the counter. Whatever they are hearing, they were really amazed by it. Twilight knew exactly what that "it" was. As she approached, she started hearing a familiar and irritating voice. She cringed slightly at the tone. "So anyway, I was looking through my telescope in my observatory right outside of Manehattan, searching for anything particularly eye-catching. I was about to give up when I saw what looked like a small, blue marble in the far reaches of space. I zoomed in a few hundred times and BAM! I found Earth!" Supernova took a deep breath and sighed as he finished his little story. The others oohed and ahhed at the conclusion. They clapped vigorously as they cheered. "Oh! Another! Another!" Dash yelled. "Simply fascinating!" Rarity congratulated. "Encore! Encore!" The awoken Pinkie cheered. Supernova blushed again, embarrassed by their enthusiasm. "Oh stop, you're all just being nice." He persisted. They all denied his accusations. "No! It was great! The fact that you built the portal and found Earth is remarkable!" Vague shouted. "Without that, You would all be captives, and me and Christian wouldn't be here right now!" "I also wouldn't be half pony, but I can put that behind me... Maybe." Christian stated, eyeing his new friend with a bit of anger. As Supernova took the cheer and praise, in the midst of it all, was one angry lavender unicorn. Supernova grinned as he paid no attention to her. He had achieved his goal in annoying Twilight and amusing her friends. Now he wanted to up the ante. He sarcastically greeted her. "Oh, hello Twilight! Fancy meeting you here! Did you enjoy my story?" Twilight's right eye twitched a little in rage. "I came in late. I didn't hear any of it." She said plainly. "Aww, too bad Twilight, It was really something!" Dash said. "Yea! Did you know that he..." Twilight cut off Pinkie spewing factoids. "Found Earth? Invented the portal gate? Is one of the smartest ponies in Equestria?" Her friends gawked at her. Spike looked at Twilight bewildered. She said that the last time she saw him was after he was hatched. How did she know so much about him? "Well, I don't mean to brag, but yea. All of that and more." Supernova rubbed his hoof on his coat in a show-offy way. He glanced up at the irate pony and her bewildered friends. "More?!" Christian shouted. "Like what?!" The others quickly surrounded Supernova again; wide-eyed and focused. "Well, I do know some magic that Twilight doesn't for starters." As he said this, Twilight burst out laughing. Spike was shaken off her back as she rolled around and howled. The others took no notice and kept their focus on the black unicorn. "Indeed." He said, concerned about the lavender hyena in the room. "There are some spells that only ponies who have devoted their lives to science can unlock their potential. Reason being, are that these spells are not chants or magic words, they're complex equations and formulas. It's quite interesting." Twilight stood back up and approached the unicorn just as he finished, still chuckling lightly. Her friends made a gap in the crowd for her to confront him. "There is no spell that I can't do, Supernova." She glared menacingly at him, dead in the eyes. "Oh? Then would you care to prove it..." He paused as he tried to think of an insult. He turned toward Christian, who was stuffing his face with cupcakes. "Christian, what did you call her again? Nightlight? Dimlight?" "Twitlight." Christian said, almost inaudible from his full mouth. "Thanks." He turned toward Twilight, his muzzle meeting hers. "Then prove it Twitlight." Twilight laughed. "Little do you know Supernova, I know a bit of science myself. I'm quite the genius. I can do any of your spells, piece of cake!" She restated mockingly. Supernova backed away from Twilight and eyed her foolishly as he reclined in his wooden chair. "That so? Well then how about a challenge? You vs me. You can use...whatever magic, and i'll use mine." He stomped his hoof on the wooden table. Twilight nodded slightly. "Alright, but let's make it...interesting." She scratched her head momentarily. She gasped as a thought came. "If I win, you leave town." She stared at him, challenging her wager on her enemy. Supernova smirked at the petty bet. "Fine. I'll meet you outside." Supernova nudged Twilight out of the way. The crowd opened as Supernova left. He opened the door and stood in the frame for a moment."I look forward to our duel!" He shut the door. They all stared, jaws agape at the disgruntled Twilight in the middle of the crowd. Christian was the first to break the abrupt silence. "Ok, so I have no idea what the heck just happened. But, I think someone is going to be embarrassed, mad, and possibly weeping in the next ten minutes." Twilight rudely pushed him out of the way as she headed for the door. She turns toward the others. "If you want to see some fireworks, meet me outside." She muttered under her breath as she left. "I'm gonna make him cry." As the door slammed shut, The Five looked at each other, confused and curious about what was about to go down. A magic duel between a scientist and Celestia's star student. After standing around for a minute, Vague flew for the door. "Well?! What are you waiting for?!" He soared outside. everyone else shrugged and followed him outside. They stared out into the open field to see the two unicorns, poised and ready. Determination was painted on their faces. Christian quickly darted his eyes around and looked around him and The Five. "Someone get some popcorn ready! This is gonna be GOOD!" > Thinking With Portals > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The air grew still outside of Sugarcube Corner. The crowd comprised of Twilight's friends, Vague, and Christian watched the two rivals. Twilight and Supernova remained still across the field, eyes locked on to one another, burning with anger and determination. Her friends' looks of worry stayed frozen on their faces, until they heard a small crunching sound. They turned to see Christian munching on some popcorn, (courtesy of Vague) patiently waiting for the first strike. He notices the ponies' staring at him and looks down at his snack. He shakes it in front of the ponies temptingly. "Want some?" "Christian, really?" AJ says sternly. "This isn't some sort of act. Two unicorns are about to enter a duel, one of them being our friend. If anything ya'll should..." "YUM! POPCORN!" Pinkie pushes Applejack to the ground and starts helping herself to the yellow treat. AJ gets up off the ground and picks up her hat. She brushes some of the dirt off of it. "Ugh, Nevermind." She and the others return their attention to the two unicorns, still unwavering to each other. A deathly silence now falls onto the battlefield. Sweat is running down the temple of the two rivals, waiting for one of them to do something. Finally, Supernova breaks the everlasting silence. "Well 'Element of Magic', I'm waiting!" He yells over to the lavender mare impatiently as he throws his light blue pack over to the door of Sugarcube Corner. Twilight growls from afar. She starts mumbling to herself in anger. "Big shot. First he thinks he can beat me, now he's taunting me? UGH!" She starts yelling. "Oh, don't worry! i'm just preparing myself!" Supernova chuckles to himself. "You need to prep yourself? Wow, that's sad!" Twilight's eye twitched. She had finally cracked, that smart alike was gonna get. Twilight immediately fired a purple beam of magic from her horn. Supernova quickly turned his attention toward the oncoming attack, but did nothing to stop the magic, no shield, nothing. The audience looked on as the projectile moved closer, zipping past there heads. Twilight smirks at the purple projectile as it finally reaches its target... ...But yet, it misses. The beam continues down its path toward the horizon line, disappearing from sight. The others' eyes widen in disbelief. Supernova vanished, but without using a teleportation spell, as there was no flash of magic. Twilight's eyes quickly darted around, trying to find her missing target. After a few minutes, she gave up and starts laughing. "Ha! The coward must have given up! I knew it all along!" She marched right up to Christian, who was still eating his popcorn. "So much for your little friend! I told ya he was scared!" Christian just raised a brow and blinked. "Oh, quite the contrary Twilight. I simply wanted to gain higher ground. To win of course." Twilight was startled at the voice. She and the others quickly look up at the roof of Sugarcube Corner to see the stallion leaning against the top spire of the building. All of them dropped there jaws in shock and awe... Except for Twilight, who gritted her teeth in anger. "HOW THE HAY DID YOU GET UP THERE?!" She screamed. Supernova smirked. "Remember those formula spells I was talking about?" Supernova suddenly leaped into the roof. Not off of the roof, INTO the roof, much to the crowds amazement. Twilight thought he had simply jumped down somewhere secretive. But when she backed up, She saw that there was no feasible way that he could have jumped down without being seen. Twilight yelped as she felt a hoof on her back. She turned to see Supernova standing next to a black hole in the ground behind her, with a cocky grin. "This is one of them." He points to the void. "It's a portal spell. Created it myself. In fact, the devices and the gate actually are just containment devices for the spell, so other ponies can use them." "Big deal! Teleportation is much quicker!" Twilight announced. Supernova laughed lightly as he proceeded to circle his opponent. "Maybe so. But teleportation drains more magical stamina then my portal spell. I mean sure, you can teleport a few times before becoming dead tired. But my portal spell can be cast tens of hundreds of times without making a unicorn out a breath." He pushed his face into Twilight's, rather uncomfortably. "Then again, a novice scientist such as yourself won't know." Twilight growled as she began to charge another beam. "I'LL SHOW YOU NOVICE!" With lightning speed, she cast another spell. Supernova gasped but quickly fired a portal at his feet. The lavender beam just barely whizzed over his mane as he disappeared. Twilight's eyes quickly darted around to find the coward. "Where did he go?!" She repeats frantically as she zips around; searching in trees, bushes, and underneath Pinkie, who was still munching on Christian's popcorn. "Over here!" Twilight turned to see Supernova waving by a far off tree. Twilight fired off a volley of purple magic at the tree. Supernova jumped into another portal as the shots soared over him, reducing the tree to nothing. Supernova reappeared in front of the crowd of Twilight's friends. "Right here!" He stuck his tongue out and mocked her. Twilight was now completely enraged at her moving target. She no longer had focus. She wanted to take down Supernova NOW! She fired another volley at the black stallion. Supernova quickly vanished once more, leaving her friends completely exposed to the oncoming attack,. "TWILIGHT! DON'T!" They screamed as they get thrown back from the blast. They flew into the front of Sugarcube Corner with a crash. Twilight grimaced as she saw the impact. Her friends lay mangled in a pile, Christian being the first to recover, looked toward the rest of the disaster area. "Oh dear sweet Celestia!" He quickly searched around in the pile of unconscious ponies. He grabbed something and pulled up to find a red and white container. He sighed. "We're good! The popcorn's fine!" Pinkie's head quickly popped out of the pile like a gopher out of his hole. "Phew! That's good!" She stuck her hoof into the box and continued to eat. Supernova reappeared next to the contorted mess. "Well at least you hit somepony!" Twilight veered toward him and fired again. Supernova dove into another portal and reappeared, making Twilight fire again. Christian and Pinkie watched intently as this cycle repeated for a few more minutes. Finally, Twilight started to become tired. She started to sweat heavily and pant. As Supernova disappeared and reappeared around her, her magic started to grow weak. Her purple beams become thinner and more translucent. After one more shot she collapsed onto the ground, dazed and feeble. As she tried to catch her breath, A black hole appeared in front of her as Supernova leaped out of it. He stood above the lavender unicorn, victorious and boasting. "Well, well, well, what do we have here? The famed 'Element of Magic', lying on the ground in defeat. Face it Twilight, I was able to defeat you with only a single spell, and I haven't even broken a sweat!" The rest of the group gets up to see the outcome of the duel. They rush over to help their friend up, even Christian. "Twilight, are you ok?" Spike asks. Twilight looks up at the others, their faces hold concerned looks, Twilight ignores them and quickly looks back down in anger. She pushes them aside and walks back to Sugarcube Corner in a disgruntled fashion. She enters the building and slams the door angrily. "She's probably just a sore loser."Christian exclaimed. He patted Supernova on the back. "Nice job Supernova, that was a pretty crazy duel. I'll make sure Celestia hears about that miss-fire though." He glaces back toward where Twilight stomped off. "Oh, don't worry about it. If anything it was my fault." Supernova pleads. "If you say so." Christian rolls his eyes. "Anyway, now that that little...whatever is done with, where to next Supernova?" Rarity asks. "Actually, I have work to attend to. Very urgent in fact. I must be off." He shakes Christian's hand vigorously. "Thanks once again for showing me around! It was nice to meet you all!" He casts a black light onto the ground at instantly, another portal opens. "So long everyone!" He jumps through the void and the portal closes after him. The remainder of the group blink emotionless. "Cool guy." Vague comments. "I still think he's evil." Pinkie adds. "Whatever." Christian starts off for the castle. He turns back to see the motionless group. "Well? Are ya coming to help tell what happened to Celestia, or are you going to let Twilight rot in the dungeon?" Christian heads toward the castle once more. Dash looks at her friends behind her worryingly and nudges them to quickly catch up to Christian. The race after him to make sure Twilight stays out of some sort of trouble. Twilight peers through the thin crack of the door as they leave. When the coast is clear, she emerges from the bakery, irate at her defeat. "A novice? A NOVICE?! I can't believe that little stuck up punk! He'd better stay out of town if he knows what's good for him!" She turns to stomp angrily back home, when she notices something brightly colored over by the side wall of Sugarcube Corner. She approaches the object to inspect it further. She's wide eyed at what she finds: Supernova's neon blue backpack, discarded like a crumbled up piece of paper. Twilight snickers to herself. "Well, i'm sure Stupidnova won't mind if I 'borrow' his backpack and return it when he apologizes for the way he acted." With that and a malicious grin, Twilight snatches the backpack and races back to her library. The sun was now pecked over Manehatten, it was lunchtime on a blissful Saturday afternoon. Everypony was taking a break from the hustle and bustle to breathe and relax for a bit. However, just on the outskirts of the busy city, relaxation was the last thing on the mind. On a nearby hillside lies Supernova's massive observatory, shining in the hot sun. Inside, a black portal appears from the ground and a certain black stallion jumps out. "Well, today has already been quite interesting!" Supernova said contently. "But now back to business." He calmly walks toward the far end of the room to the massive telescope. He sits down in a revolving chair and peers into lens with one eye. Supernova flips a switch and the gadgets around the telescope roar to life, beeping and cranking. To the left of the giant telescope is a table cluttered with notes of many formulas and observations of the night sky he has made in the past. Underneath the mess is a small marble ball that lies inside the table, used to navigate the immense telescope. Supernova uses his hoof to maneuver it. "Now, let's see if that star has changed any bit from last night." He looks out toward one of the many instruments and punches in some random coordinates. He looks back into the telescope toward a nearby solar system expecting to see a giant, bright red star smack in the middle of the planetary field... "This can't be right! The star is gone!" Supernova starts to frantically search the surrounding area, trying to find the missing light. "Ma... Maybe I punched the coordinates wrong! Yes! That's it!" He turns toward the coordinate display again and looks down at one of the many pages of notes to spot the written X and Y coordinates. "No, that;s not it. It's a perfect match! But then how did it vanish?" He peers back to the empty void, when something alarming near toward where the star was. Supernova pushes the ball down to zoom in a hundred times to spot a small asteroid hovering, not moving at all. It seemed to be getting smaller as it reached the center of the star's original coordinates. Supernova scratches his head in confusion. "That's not possible! Asteroids are affected by gravity! They can't just be stationary in space! Unless..." Supernova quickly looks back to find the asteroid has vanished from sight... along with half of the system's planets. Supernova slowly looks away from the lens. His eyes wide eyed with fear. "Dear sweet Celestia..." > Darkness On The Horizon > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So let's get our stories straight." Christian said calmly as they walked up the steps of the castle. "Fine. How are we gonna explain it AJ?" Dash nudged. "Twilight was dueling Supernova and hit us by accident. She then stomped off in rage because she lost." "I thought we were going to lie!" Dash exclaims. "Brilliant girls, asking the Element of Truth to lie." Christian starts clapping slowly. "Bravo. Real impressive." The other sneer at him. "Well anyway we explain it, I think Twilight is a little..." "Done for?" Vague finishes. "Pretty much." Christian confirmed as he stopped at the castle doors. He firmly put his hands on the doors and instantly they swung open, revealing the luxurious castle throne room. As the group approached the opposite end, Celestia emerged from upstairs, with a VERY stern and grim look on her face. Christian looked at the others very worryingly. They looked back the same way. He gulped nervously as Celestia sat down in her throne for an explanation. "Uhh... Celestia, We... umm... we have a problem." Celestia nodded agreeingly. "Indeed we do. So, what do you attend to do about it?" Christian was shaking at little. He honestly didn't want to send Twilight to the dungeon or anything, but she did entice Supernova... Well, sort of. "Well, I think we have no other choice but to punish Twilight." Celestia raised a brow at the answer. "But, I don't think sending her to the dungeon is appropriate." The others smiled at Christian's friendly gesture. Celestia on the other hand, had a completely perplexed look on her face. "What are you talking about? That has nothing to do with the black hole!" Christian and the others sighed in relief. Twilight wasn't going to the dungeon, finally a happy ending! They thought. But then their faces went completely white when they remembered the last part of Celestia's answer. "Did she just say black hole?! Because I think she just said black hole!" Vague announced. Christian and the others pivoted their heads toward the alicorn, waiting for her word on the subject. Celestia sighed. "Yes, I said black hole. I was hoping you knew about it. We need some sort of..." "AHHHHHHH!" The five screamed at the top of their lungs at the news. Christian covered his ears at the deafening sound. He painfully turned toward Vague, who was simply rubbing his forehoof against his coat to shine it. Christian peered at one of Vague's orange ears to spot an ear plug. After Christian's outburst, Vague must have started carrying them around to prevent from going deaf again. The screaming finally started to die down, with Pinkie leading the booming choir to a slowed silence. "What's a black hole?" She asked confused in her normal manner. The others nodded in agreement. Christian rolled his eyes and faced plamed. "Seriously?! No, seriously?! You don't know what a... Then what was the point of..." Christian can't make head or tail of that performance of sheer stupidity. "Celestia, please explain before a blood vessel breaks in my head!" "Actually, let me explain!" A familiar voice said from the staircase. They all looked up to see Supernova standing there. As quick as a flash, Supernova shot at portal and warped in front of the group. The five were shocked at his presence... and a little disgruntled. "What are YOU doing here?!" Rarity demanded rudely. Supernova became cross at the insolence of the proper unicorn. "Saving Equestria. Thank you very much!" He responded. He turned toward Celestia slowly. "Celestia, my chalkboard please." Celestia's horn glowed vibrantly as a black chalkboard instantly appeared in the room. The others cocked their heads at the board. It was full of formulas and scientific nonsense; x's, percentages, decimals, pi, it was like Supernova copied down everything Einstein ever thought into one place. Supernova took out a pointer and started tapping on the board. The group sat down in front of him and started to listen intently. "So, as you see here, The star: EQ-876 has just ended it's life cycle. Now due to the star's mass, which is 1,000 times greater than your Earth sun, a supermassive black hole has formed. This makes it grow when ever it takes in mass. Now, I have been able to calculate the trajectory using the Quantum Field Theory and..." Christian yawned softly as he listen to the rant of scientific whatever. He wearily turned toward the rest of the group. Pinkie was facedown on the floor sleeping, Dash and Vague were snoring loudly next to each other, and Rarity was forcing her eyes open as best as she could with clothespins. He turned toward his left to see Fluttershy and Applejack still listening carefully. He shrugged and turned back toward the informative unicorn. "...So as you can see, the black hole is expanding with every little bit of mass that it consumes. I estimate that within the hour, Equestria will reach the hole's event horizon line and... become spaghettified." "Hmm... Interesting. Now, can ya explain it in english?!" Applejack yelled. Christian sighed. "A hole that acts like a really, really, really, powerful vacuum from space is going to grow to Equestria and make the planet and everything in it become very thin and make every tiny bit of everything explode slowly and painfully." Applejack blinked momentarily. "Oh, is that all?" "Is that all?! Is that all you have to say?!" Spike shouted. "Well how am I supposed to react to that?" AJ replied. "Can we stop with the obvious references and focus?!" Christian yelled, waking up the others who alertly turned toward Supernova. "Ugh, I think I spaced out for a second. What goes on?" Vague asked lazily. "Black hole destroying Equestria." Christian blatantly put Supernova's long winded speech. "Actually, that's not all." Supernova spoke up. "What do you mean?" Celestia asked anxiously. "Well, you see, the main portal gate in the town square acts like as it should: a gateway across the galaxy." Supernova explained. "And?" "Well, once the black hole destroys Equestria, it will use the portal as a tunnel to Earth." "So what you're saying is, Earth is also doomed?!" Christian shouted. "Yes." Christian grew wide eyed as he imagined the incident taking place. An enormous black hole consuming the U.S, China, Europe, everywhere! And it would be on his head. He could hear the painful screams now. Christian shook his head and snapped out of his glazed over look and took action. "Is there a way to stop it?" Supernova nodded. "Yes, we need that book you gave me at Twilight's library. In it, there is a complex spell to turn the expanding black hole into a shrinking white hole, reversing the effects and restoring order. But we have to do the spell soon, because if the black hole is too close, the spell will have no effect. So, give me the book." He motioned an outstretched hoof. "You had it remember? After I gave it to you, you put it in your saddle pack thing." Christian states. "Well as you can see, it's not on me!" "Well then where is it?!" Christian yelled. "I DON'T KNOW!" The others started to panic. Without that book, they were toast. Everyone started searching for the book around the castle, but to no avail. Dash thought for a minute and flashbacked to the magic duel. She remembers Supernova waiting for Twilight to attack and then she saw him through something light blue at the wall. "I know where it is!" She yelled. "WHERE?!" "Sugarcube Corner! Nova threw it down before he dueled Twilight!" "Wait, Supernova dueled Twilight?!" Celestia gasped. "To be fair PC, Twilight did entice Nova... more or less." Christian said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "We'll deal with that later. Right now, all of you get to Sugarcube Corner and find that book!" Celestia boomed. The group nodded. Supernova cast an enormous portal on the floor of the castle. They all instinctively jumped in at the same time. Instantly, they appeared at the front door Sugarcube Corner. Everyone looked around the bakery, searching for a glimpse of light blue. After a few minutes they all meet back in the front. "Anything?" Supernova said worryingly. The rest of them shook their heads. Supernova kicked the ground in failure. "Curses! Somepony most have thought it was trash and threw it out! Without that book, it's hopeless! Bye bye Equestria! See ya Earth!" As Supernova ranted on about his failure, something caught Christian's eye over by the left side of the bakery. He went over to inspect it, and was shocked at what he found. "Guys! Tracks! Over here!" He yelled as he motioned the others to move to his location. They rushed over to see a group of four hoof prints leading away from a patch of grass that was flatter than the surrounding area. "I bet if we follow these tracks, we'll find the book!" Christian started to quickly dash after the trail. "C'mon! The black hole could come at any second! Let's go!" The others quickly went after him. Christian raced as fast as he could, looking down and following the prints, until he crashed into the object that the prints ended at. "Well that was painfu..." Christian could not finish his sentence, as the others knocked into him without noticing that he stopped. "Hey, watch it!" Dash yelled. "Sorry. Anyway the trail ends here. At... Oh dear sweet Celestia..." He pointed to the building a few feet from where they were. The moment the others saw who's building it was, shock washed onto all of their faces. Christian and Supernova both exchanged the same look of disdain and anger. The others frowned disapprovingly at what was in front of them: Twilight's Library. They couldn't believe it, even Christian, whose mouth was slightly agape at the sight. Supernova gritted his teeth as he muttered under his breath: "Twilight, you stupid little mare." > Doomsday! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK* "Uhh Christian, I don't think that's working." Dash says, scared out of her mind. Christian was like an animal when he was enraged. Heck, she was able to hear his deafening scream from Cloudsdale when he had his meltdown! *KNOCK* *KNOCK* "OH TRUST ME! I'LL WORK!" *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK* "TWILIGHT! OPEN THIS DOOR, OR SO HELP ME I'LL..." The door on the library opens quickly. Twilight looks at the group quizzically. She looked at the front of the door to see the wood have bents and stress all over it. She raises a brow before asking: "Why are you destroying my door Christian?" The human's eye starts twitching wildly. Was Twilight trying to tick him off? But he quickly simmers down. Now is not the time to make her lose her hearing. After a few deep breaths, he calmly answers. "Twilight, we know you took Supernova's saddlepack. Give it back please, we need it." Twilight still has her eyebrow cocked. "I don't have it. But if I did, why do you need it?" "Because a black hole thingy is going to turn us into spaghetti!" AppleJack says. Twilight starts laughing uncontrollably, tears streaming from her eyes like waterfalls. As she falls over onto the floor, Supernova peeks behind her and into her home. He spots his light blue, cutie-mark buckled, can't-miss-by-a-mile saddlepack sitting over by the edge of the stairs. Twilight's howling stops as she notices Supernova peeking into her home. She yelps and quickly blocks his view. "Well, I doubt any black holes are going to destroy us." She shoves Christian and Supernova a few feet back. "Thanks for stopping! Bye!" She goes to slam the door in Christian's face. As she forcefully shuts her door, Supernova sticks a forehoof into the gap of the door. He forces the door open once more. Twilight starts to retreat backward slowly, She needs to get rid of that saddlepack. "Twilight, if you don't have my pack, then what's that?" He points to the object Twilight is blocking from view. "What?" Twilight answers innocently. Sweat starts to drip down her fur as the stallion started to unravel her lie. "THAT. The object behind you!" Twilight turns halfway in both directions and shrugs cluelessly. Playing dumb was her last option. "I don't see anything. You must be making things up to get me in trouble for stealing! Really Supernova? You stoop that low!? Unbelieveable!" Twilight starts to pout. Vague flies up a bit to get a better view inside. He locates the object resting behind Twilight's lavender body. "I think he's talking about that light blue saddlepack with his cutie mark on it Twilight." Vague says matter-of-factly. Twilight gulps as she reveals said object. Her eyes dart nervously back and forth as she delves deeper into her web of lies. "Oh, would you look at that! There it is! Wonder how that got in here? Oh well." She approaches the angered unicorn. "You're more than welcome to have it back Stupidnova as soon as you apologize." She raises her nose into the air snottingly. "For what?!" He replies hasingly. "For the way you acted!" "The way I acted?! You're the one who started it?!" "No apology, no book!" Twilight sticks her tongue out like a little filly. Supernova, irked at the behavior, is about to shout out some insults when Applejack interveins. She jumps in the middle of the both of them and pushes them in opposite directions. "All right, that's enough outta y'all!" She turns to Twilight. "Twi, you best give Nova here the book, 'cause I don't wanna get sucked into a hole from space!" Twilight pushes her friend away and into Supernova. Then crash into the wall with a thud, making the others become a bit more defensive. "Seriously?! You're all still buying this?! Guys, there's no way a black hole will grow to..." A sudden rumbling fills the room, cutting Twilight off from here rant. Books from the nearby bookcases fall into piles onto the floor. Supernova and AJ try to steady themselves back up, but are quickly brought back down. Outside, Pinkie's body starts spazzing wildly as she is overcome by one of her 'doozy' senses. But that's not the only feeling that something is about to go horribly wrong. Christian hears a nearby bird's nest, overcome with cries for help. The horrid sound is inaudible. He looks to see that Fluttershy is acting the same. "You hear it too?" He asks as he covers his ears. "Yes. The birds sense something." "Oh really! The shaking wasn't enough to tip you guys off!" Dash yells. "Uhh, I don't think the shaking is our main problem guys..." Rarity points up toward the sky as a massive black void fills the air, sucking in the nearby clouds and... "Hey wait a minute! Aren't black holes invisible to the naked eye? What the hay?! How come we can see this one?!" PInkie exclaims as she interrupts the narrator. Her shaking stops momentarily as she wants for a response. "Is it better to see what's about to destroy you or let it be invisible?" Dash asks. "Good point. But it still doesn't make sense." Pinkie pouts. "Twilight quickly! Give me the book! Inside there's a spell I can use to reverse all of this before somepony gets hurt!" Supernova demands at Twilight. Twilight nods and quickly rushes over to the pack and retrieves the book. She starts flipping through pages wildly. "What page?!" "87!" Twilight quickly locates the correct page and the corresponding spell below. The Black Hole Reversal spell. "Got it! "Excellent! Now all I need to do is use your telescope to amplify the spell into the void! Quickly Twilight! There's no time to lose!" Twilight looks onward toward the black unicorn and sneers. Supernova grows uncomfortable as he reluctantly goes to collect the book. Twilight goes to hand it off but instead, she gives Supernova a forceful, magical push backward toward the others. Supernova shakes off the sudden push as he stumbles out of the group to see Twilight standing in the doorway. "Come Spike, we'll show Supernova I'm no novice at anything!" Spike obeys and rushes into Twilight's abode. Supernova quickly gets up to stop her but is once again shot back by the introduction of a magic shield surrounding Twilight's home. The others get up and start yelling toward their friend from outside. Has she gone mad? They think to themselves. Inside, Twilight ignores the yelling and goes to the top of the tree to her telescope. The others spot her outside. "What was that?!" Dash yells. "It seems that Twilight is going to try to perform the spell to show me up. She really is insane!" Supernova comments. A thought pops into Christian's head. "Supernova, you said that only you could do the spell to reverse this. What's gonna happen if Twitlight attempts it?" "I never said I was the only one who could do it. I said it takes a pony who has the scientific capability and knowledge to perform the spell, with no magical distractions." "But Twilight's the smartest pony we know!" Rarity includes. "Maybe so, but this spell is very different from the ones she knows. She could screw it up." "What will be the repercussions?" Christian asks. "If she messes up, it'll hurt. A LOT." "Alright, let's prevent that! Me, Vague, and Fluttershy will try to find an opening toward the top while you guys stay here and try to take down the shield." Dash says. Her plan was... cliche, but it was something everyone could agree on. "Wait! What about every other pony... no, every other creature in Equestria!" Christian exclaims. "If light can't escape from a black hole, i'm pretty sure normal creatures can't either. We have to stop this thing NOW!" Supernova exclaims. He starts to fire a concentrated beam of light blue magic toward Twilight's barred off door. "WELL?!" Supernova yells as he struggles to maintain the magical flow. The pegasi fly toward Twilight while Pinkie starts firing her party cannon to help Supernova. Christian also helps out a bit by firing a few darts into the shield. Meanwhile, Twilight is making the final adjustments to prep herself for the spell. She moves her hoof down the page and follows each step. "Alright, let's see: Telescope? Check! Aimed at center of black hole?" Twilight looks into the scope and adjusts the trajectory. "Check! Spell? Better believe it! Alright Spike! Let's show Supernova who can cast what!" "Uhh Twilight, maybe that's not such a good idea..." A burst of lavender is shot out of Twilight's horn and into the telescope. A low whirring sound is heard from within the telescope as the spell bounces off the lenses inside. Suddenly, a huge blast of purple flies out of the other end of the telescope and shatters the shield. It soars it to the center of the black hole and prevents it from enlarging, much to the amazement of everyone else. The three pegasi get knocked back to the ground from the blast. They get up without a scratch. "That the spell?" Dash asks. "Indeed." Supernova replies. "Shoot, that's powerful. Wish it took out the rest of the shield though." Christian says, still firing at the blocked door. "Told you Twilight was smart!" Rarity sneers. "Yes. But now she must solve it." Supernova says sternly. "Solve it? What do you mean solve it?!" The beam is kept focused on the center of the oncoming void. Twilight has barely broken a sweat. For a spell that was supposed to be challenging, it was a cakewalk. "Ha ha! This is easy! I told Stupidnova I could do any spell! Now, what next?" She flips to the next to page, proud and boastful. She looks down at the next page, ensuring her victory will be sealed. "Uhh, Twilight, what's wrong?" Spike looks at the mare, a frozen look confusion and fear has suddenly washed over her. She starts scanning down the page, gawking and babbling at what was before her. "Wh...What the? Carry the two, multiply by the square root of 9,372,654, then add the constant of pi, while finding the radius of Equestria's moon, then divide by the hypotenuse of Luna's horn, and then..." While she tries to decipher the problem in front of her, her horn begins to glow, but instead of a vivid purple, it starts glowing white. The more Twilight tries to figure out the equation, the brighter her horn glows. Soon, it starts glowing like a small star. The group below notices the increasing brightness. "What's going on Supernova?!" Pinkie yells as she covers her eyes. "Oh no..." "Th...This doesn't make any sense!" Twilight exclaims, tossing the book aside. It lands next to Spike, whose eyes have grown wide in fear. Twilight's horn then starts to spark wildly. She tries to quickly stop the spell, but to no effect. "Oh boy..." A magical explosion envelops the upper portion of Twilight's library in a bright, white light. It was as if someone had blew up the world's largest disco ball over Ponyville. Ponies from the surrounding area, running for their lives, stop momentarily to gaze at the detonation. The group in front of the library, while being the closest to the blast, remain standing. They uncover their eyes to reveal that the magic shield has vanished from the library's vicinity. The library itself hardly took damage, only some leaves were blown away by the shockwave. The three pegasi quickly fly upward toward where Twilight was seen. Christian and the others barge into her home and rush upstairs. They pass Spike, who was stuck inside a bookshelf. Arriving at the balcony, The others join the pegasi as they gather around Twilight, who was just coming to. "Wha...What happened? I...I tried to do the spell, and the next thing I know, i'm lying on the ground in a daze." "I told you to let me do the spell and look what happened!" Supernova said sternly. He trots over to the fallen telescope and expects the damage. He growls. "Perfect, the lens is cracked! Congratulations Twilight, we're all doomed because of YOU!" "Because of ME?! You're the one who started it!" "Oh! So I was the one who stole my book!?" "YOU'RE BOOK?!" "YEA! MY BOOK!" The two of they start yelling at each other, breaking out into a shouting conflict. The others glance silently at each other, then toward their impending doom. If this argument raged on, they would be history in a matter of moments. Vague, hovering above them, notices Christian's right eye starts twitching. Not good. Christian then starts to grit his teeth in anger as the voices get louder and the void grows larger. "You're an idiot!" "NO! I'm resourceful, you're the idiot Stupidnova!" "Oh Stupidnova, real clever you..." "SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!" Christian booms in a deafening tone. Everypony covers their ears, except Vague, who sits back and watches the outburst unfold. "YOU GUYS DECIDE THAT NOW WOULD BE THE PERFECT TIME TO START AN ARGUMENT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THAT BLACK HOLE IS A FEW MINUTES AWAY FROM DESTROYING US ALL, AND THIS IS HOW YOU WANT TO SPEND IT?! BICKERING ABOUT HOW YOU BOTH HATE EACH OTHER BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED IN SCHOOL?! GET OVER IT! THE TWO OF YOU STOP MESSING AROUND AND FIX THIS PROBLEM TOGETHER OR I SWEAR TO CELESTIA I WILL THROW BOTH OF YOU INTO THAT BLACK HOLE HEAD FIRST! Twilight and Supernova have grown deathly silent, with only the flapping of Dash's wings the only source of sound. They may have covered their ears, but they heard his message loud and clear. Burying the hatchet wasn't Twilight's ideal way out of this, but with a gigantic black hole looming over them, it didn't leave that many options. Twilight and Supernova look each other dead in the eye apologetically. "I'm sorry Stup... Supernova." "As am I Twit... Twilight Sparkle." The two of them stayed locked eye to eye with small smiles barely visible on their faces. The mood transitions into a peaceful manner, like the two of them were going to hug or something. Twilight's cheeks actually start to glow a soft red from the tension. Until Vague decides to butt in. "Sorry to interrupt, BUT HOW DO WE STOP THIS THING?!" Vague screeches. The trance breaks as quickly as it went, and the two of them nod simultaneously. Supernova picks up the damaged telescope and points inside. "Well, without another lens, the spell can't be amplified enough to stop the black hole!" Twilight inspects the damage. The lens was cracked halfway down and when she tried to take it out of the scope, it snapped in two. Twilight pondered over the shattered glass. After a sudden moment of clarity clearance, she enveloped the pieces in a faint light as they started to levitate in the air. Carefully, a small magic shield started to form around the two pieces, and then unifying into one purple lens. The old glass pieces, now useless, fell from Twilight's magical grasp and shattered completely. Twilight held up the new magic lens and grinned. "Here!" She yells as she maneuvers the lens in front of Supernova's face. "I used the shield spell to copy the concave shape of the telescope lens! If my calculations are correct, this makeshift lens should provide the same amplification that would occur with the old glass lens!" Supernova plucks the new lens out of the air and inspects it. He turns it around a few times in his hooves to make sure every measure was perfect. He smirks and nods to Twilight in confirmation: Perfect. He quickly places the lens into the scope and puts the whole thing on the tri-pod. Supernova readies himself as he prepares to do the spell, reading over the spell carefully and slowly. He takes a few deep breaths as the black hole looms over Twilight's house. Slowly, a faint cyan glow envelops Supernova's horn as he starts to read the spell. Suddenly, a burst of magic flies out of his horn and into the telescope. Twilight bites her cheek, hoping her makeshift lens would work. A low whirring sound is heard once again from inside the telescope, which is cut off by the magic exiting from the other side, much more brighter and faster. The beam hits the center of the black hole head on, freezing it in its tracks. Christian looks at the others, all worried and scared out of their minds, and sighs. "Well, if this is the end, I just want to let you all know that...Its been cool." The others nod and smile softly, as that's the only thing they can manage as they fear for their lives. Vague slowly trots toward his friend and pats him on the back reassuringly. "And Christian, I want you to know that...I was the one who ate the last cupcake in your fridge." Christian's eyes grow wide. "You did WHAT!?" Vague quickly rushes back to Dash as he comforts her. "And I blamed my little sister!" He mumbles to himself. The sky flashes violently and all attention is returned toward the black hole, the beam still going strong into the center. Sweat dribbles down Supernova's forehead as he tries to comprehend the rest of the formula. It drips down and is instantly evaporated from the heat of the magic, not even touching the wooden balcony beneath him. Supernova's horn starts to spark slightly, informing the others that he can't figure out the last portion of the equation. Twilight quickly rushes over and views his work, hoping to find the solution. She understands some of the problem, but most of it was gibberish. She quickly eyes the final portion, where Supernova was stuck, to find a variable missing. Twilight quickly plugs in some numbers in her head into the equation. After doing the mental math, she realizes nothing fits, and sighs in defeat. Supernova's horn starts to spark even more, effectively making the beam thinner and thinner. The rest of the group shuts their eyes tight, waiting for their impending fates. Supernova was still racking on the equation, his brain was throbbing painfully. "What was the last variable?!" He thought to himself. At that moment, Pinkie bounces over to Supernova and Twilight. She peers over them and eyes the spell before them. "So...How's it going?" She asks playfully, as if the world wasn't about to end. "Not now Pinkie Pie, this is a matter of life and death!" Twilight answers demandingly. Supernova's eyes quickly grow wide with realization. His jaw hangs from his mouth and he starts to stare into oblivion. He trembles as he attempts to form words. "That's it....THAT'S IT!" He exclaims. He quickly starts writing down a new set of numbers and proportions. Twilight eyes him curiously. "What's it?" She asks. "The answer of course! How could I have been so blind?! It was so obvious! The only thing that fits into the equation is pi!" He continues writing out a long, complex equation. "Now if I take pi and put it into The Law of Universal Gravity...then we should get...our...answer!" He puts down one final mark, and instantly the beam becomes brighter and thicker as it pierces the black hole's core. The inside of the black hole starts to get whiter as the spell finishes. The concentrated magic from Supernova's horn stops as he collapses to the wood floor. He looks up successfully as the rest of the magic flies into the void. Briefly, a silence overtakes Ponyville. The group opens one eye slowly just to close it again as the black hole lights up with the brightest light anypony has ever seen. The vortex quickly starts to recede into the sky, spitting out every planet, asteroid, and star that it engulfed before it returns to its point of origin and shirks into nothingness. A voluminous roar is heard from Ponyville, cheers of joy and happiness from the citizens as they stomp their hooves and dance in success. Celestia and Luna, far off in Canterlot, smile toward the area, proud of the teamwork between the two rivals. Christian and Twilight help Supernova up, who is a little wobbly. Supernova turns toward the lavender mare. He snickers. "Looks like you owe me one heck of an apology!" Twilight laughs a little. "Yea, I guess you're right. I'll get right on it." Applejack pats Twilight on her back. "That was some quick thinking Twi, without that shield thing, we would all be toast!" "Yes, it looks like Twilight's magic really saved your plot Supernova!" Rarity announces. Supernova nods in agreement. "Indeed, I guess magic and science need to coexist in order for perfect...Uhh..." "Harmony?" Twilight finishes. Supernova laughs and agrees with his rival. "I suppose that fits perfectly! Harmony!" The others laugh with them, a chorus of ponies having fun, except Christian, who was studying the reversal spell. All of the numbers made Christian a little light headed. "Uhh, hey Supernova, what's the answer to this thing anyway?" Supernova's laughing slowly comes to a halt as he walks over to the book and points to the final answer. The Mane Six join him as they crowd around the book and look at his work. Christian and Vague start laughing hysterically at the final answer. The others grow confused over their sudden laughter, each eyeing each other with puzzled looks. What was so funny about the number forty two?