A Lesson from the Dead

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

“Hurry up Spike, we don’t want to be late,” Twilight called, “I promised Pinkie Pie that we would help put up decorations before the party.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” the young dragon replied from the bathroom, “just give me a sec.”

“It’s already been five minutes, what’s taking so long?”

“Gee- sorry Twi, I just want to look my best before going out in public.”

Twilight could have argued the point further, but she really didn’t see a point to. She knew full well what was causing Spike’s sudden concern about his appearance, and she smiled slightly thinking about it. Today was Rarity’s birthday and Spike surely wanted to look good for her. Still, Twilight wished he would hurry up.

Twilight sighed as she peered out the bedroom window. It was cloudy, and the mid-afternoon sun managed to find only a few cracks to shine through. It looked as though the Weather-Pegasi were on schedule for that night's storm.

The sound of the bathroom door opening made Twilight turn her head. Spike emerged boasting a small red bowtie, and a curly black mustache.

“Ok,” Spike said, “I’m ready, let’s go.”

It was getting late as Twilight trekked back toward the Ponyville library. Pinkie’s party for Rarity had taken up the whole afternoon, and while it had been fun, the purple unicorn was ready to call it a day.

“I still can’t believe you made me take off the mustache,” Spike grumbled from atop Twilight’s back.

“Not the mustache again,” sighed Twilight. It was the same argument they partook in on the way to the party. “As I told you before, Rarity appreciates you for who you are, you don’t need the mustache to get her attention. You may have noticed she was wearing her fire-ruby necklace today. You know–the one that you graciously provided the gemstone for…”
“Yeah,” muttered Spike, “still…”

“Besides, I can’t take you seriously whenever you wear that thing; you’re still just a baby dragon after all.”

As they approached the library, the door opened with the aid of Twilight’s magic. It had been quite a long day and Twilight heard her soft bed calling to her. As she got into bed, heavy raindrops could be heard outside; the promised storm having just begun. Twilight was glad she was warm and dry in her bed as she drifted off to sleep listening to the pounding of the rain.

BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!

Twilight sat bolt upright in bed, her heart pounding. The storm was raging worse than ever outside, with the rain falling hard and fast, and the winds roaring. Twilight jumped as yet another ear-splitting boom ravaged the air. It wasn’t often that a storm was this bad. The unicorn remembered that last time Ponyville had experienced a storm this bad was the night of her first ever sleepover; the weather had prevented Applejack and Rarity from returning to their respective homes.

Twilight’s heart-rate had settled down, but try as she might, sleep wouldn’t return to her. After lying in bed, wide awake, for what felt like ages, Twilight decided she might as well make use of her time. Getting out of bed, she made her way over to her desk. On top laid a book; it was Twilight’s favorite of the many adventures of Daring Do. Opening to the page marked by a small piece of fabric, Twilight felt herself becoming emerged into the story of the fearless golden-yellow pegasus.

With all her concentration focused on the story, Twilight had lost her sense of time and had no idea how long she had sat at her desk reading. The sound of the storm letting up was what finally dragged her back into reality. She looked out the window and saw that the rain had stopped. It was only then Twilight realized just how tired she was.

After marking her page, the unicorn stood up and started heading for her bed. Something in the corner of her eye however made her stop and turn. A strange light outside her window had caught her attention. The unicorn stared out across Ponyville in the direction of the Everfree Forest. She now understood the source of the mysterious light. Twilight gasped as she recognized the area of the woods that had been enveloped by the light. She had ventured there on many occasions to visit her friend who lived in the forest.

“Oh no,” Twilight thought aloud, “Zecora!”

Mud slashed out behind Twilight as she galloped down the path leading into the woods. Rounding a turn, Twilight was met with a horrendous sight. It was fire. The flames towered over Twilight and she could feel the intense heat from her position several yards away. Momentarily frozen in place, Twilight gaped as she tried to come to grips with the severity of the situation. From her distant window the fire had seemed much more manageable.

“Twilight, you are a pleasant sight. Have you come to aid my fire fight?”

The voice snapped Twilight out of her daze, and she turned toward the sound of the voice. Before her stood Zecora who, Twilight noticed, was drenched in sweat.

“Zecora! Are you alright?” Twilight asked feverishly. The zebra’s mane was singed and there was a rather large burn running down her side. Looking past Zecora, Twilight noticed that the flames were dangerously close to the zebra’s tree home. There was little time to act.

“I am fine Twilight, I thank you for your concern, but we cannot let this fire continue to burn.”

“No we can’t,” Twilight agreed. “Zecora, where is the nearest source of water?” the unicorn asked.

“Over there if you care to look, you will find yourself a babbling brook.” The zebra’s hoof directed Twilight’s attention in the direction of some trees that had yet to fall victim to the hungry inferno.

“Ok,” Twilight said after some quick thinking, “here’s what we’ll do. Zecora, you should run into your house and retrieve any items that are of the upmost importance to you just in case the fire reaches them. Bring them outside and place your caldron on top of them. That should protect them from the flames. I’ll use my magic to bring as much water to fight the fire as possible.”

The zebra nodded at this and began moving toward her house. Twilight galloped toward the spot Zecora had indicated earlier. Sidestepping a few trees, the unicorn spotted the brook that was flowing merrily. She frowned, the brook, while it might be an excellent source of water for drinking or washing one’s hooves, its size was rather disappointing when compared to the towers of flame engulfing the forest. Still, it was all that was available, and Twilight was determined to make it work.

The unicorn’s horn glowed pink as she began pulling water out of the creek. Twilight navigated the stream around the trees and over to the blazing fire where she began to apply it directly to the trees closest to Zecora’s house. The zebra could be seen skirting about within gathering together her most priceless possessions and herbs, placing them beneath her caldron. Twilight’s stream of water was doing little to fight the fire. She concentrated with all her might, calling her immense stores of magic. Her horn glowed brighter still as she pulled as much water as the brook had to offer, but to no avail. The stream simply did not contain enough water.

Zecora exited her house dragging her caldron just as the canopy of her tree caught fire. Twilight watched as her efforts barely affected the spreading fire. The unicorn was awestruck at how easily the fire was able to spread even with all the trees being wet from all the rain. It must be the immense heat from the fire that allowed… OF COURSE! How could she have been so foolish?! The storm had left the whole area drenched in plenty of water!

“Zecora, you should probably take a step back,” Twilight told the zebra who had just arrived beside her. The light from Twilight’s horn rivaled the light cast by the blaze as she called every ounce of magic she had. Rain water began flowing off from atop the plant leaves. Streams of water rose up from the damp ground, cracks forming in the dirt that had been mud mere seconds before. Hoofs planted firmly on the ground, Twilight was forming the streams of water into a single hovering mass that grew larger with each passing second. Eyes screwed up with the effort of it all, the unicorn directed a large stream of water from her personal reservoir towards Zecora’s house. The fire that had begun to engulf the home was no match for Twilight’s efforts this time, becoming easily extinguished by the onslaught of liquid. The flow was then directed toward the nearby trees, the water overpowering the blaze easily despite its intensity and heat. Twilight had drenched the trees in the surrounding area and saved Zecora’s home, yet the fire continued to burn while she stood there with her zebra friend. Using the last of her collected water, Twilight managed to drench one last tree before collapsing on the hard ground. Her efforts and lack of sleep had left her completely exhausted. The unicorn had done all she could.

“I can’t do it,” Twilight moaned from the ground, “the fire is spread out too far, and there still isn’t enough water.”

“Don’t be hard on yourself, you saved my home; something I could never have done alone. And just because the fire isn’t put out, it isn’t a reason to moan and pout. For up above what do I spy, but your good friend who loves to fly.”

Zecora’s words made Twilight look up. Up in the sky, and heading their way, was what appeared to be a large bundle of gray storm clouds. The large mass of cumulous was being pushed toward where Twilight stood by a dozen or so pegasus ponies.

“Just a bit further!” yelled one of the pegasus. Even from a great distance there was no mistaking that multihued mane.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called.

“Heya Twilight,” the pegasus called back, “you didn’t think we’d let you fight this fire all by yourself did you? Ok. Get ready to release the water!” Dash yelled out the last part to her fellow pegasi.

“Zecora, we should move,” Twilight said to the zebra guessing what was about to happen, “if we don’t want to get wet.”

“Ready…NOW!” Rainbow Dash yelled. The pegasi positioned at the top of the cloud began jumping on top, while all those to the sides began pushing inward. As the water was squeezed out of the clouds, it fell in a heavy downpour onto the flames below. The introduction of this vast quantity of water was too much for the fire, as it had already been weakened by Twilight's efforts. Slowly but surely the fire began to die out as the pegasi forced every bit of water out of the cloud mass. At long last the catastrophe was over as the last of the embers were quenched. It had been quite a long night for Twilight, and although the first rays of sun were peaking over the horizon, she wanted nothing more than to get to bed.

“So there I was, sleeping soundly in my bed, when all of a sudden, this foul smell met my nose. The smoke had reached my bedroom all the way up in Cloudsdale! It was then that I jumped out of bed; I knew something was very wrong if smoke was invading my bedroom. Looking out my window I spied one of the most terrible yet awesome sights I have ever seen; the Everfree Forest was engulfed in flames! And this was no average fire, oh no. It must have been at least the size of Ponyville!”

The fillies and colts surrounding Rainbow Dash gasped. Twilight smiled to herself, she thought this was stretching the truth a little far. The fire had been a fierce one, but the unicorn doubted they could have dealt with it, had it been as massive as the town. Still, Twilight didn’t feel inclined to correct her friend as she munched on her daffodil and daisy sandwich.

“So what did you do?!” asked a highly enthusiastic Scootaloo: an orange coated, fuchsia maned, pegasus filly to whom Rainbow Dash was something like a god.

As Rainbow Dash went into a long winded explanation, Twilight finished up the last of her sandwich and stood up. She wasn’t busy this afternoon and had decided earlier to pay Zecora a visit in case she needed any help recovering from last night’s events. Leaving a few bits on the table, Twilight headed out from the café in the direction of the Everfree Forest, passing Rainbow Dash and her group of admirers. As she walked by, Twilight heard Scootaloo ask the pegasus to recount the story of how she acquired her cutie mark.

As she walked into the forest, Twilight found herself dwelling on the day she had acquired her own cutie mark. It had been then that Twilight discovered her special talent for magic, a rare talent, even with the vast number of unicorns living in Equestria.

While Twilight had been wrapped up in her own reminiscing, she had arrived at the part of the woods that had been revenged by the fire. There was ash everywhere, and it was a rather depressing scene as Twilight hopped a fallen tree as she moved in to assess the damage further. The trees in the area were nothing but charred skeletons of what they had once been. It made Twilight thing of winter as she surveyed the leafless trees that surrounded her.

There was one tree in particular that looked much worse than all the rest. Moving nearer, it was apparent what was different. Most of the trees had been left looking semi-intact, the fire really only having burned away the thinner branches completely. This tree, however, had a split running the entire length of the trunk, as though something had desired to rip the tree in half.

It wasn’t until Twilight was right next to the tree, that she noticed yet another absurd object. Semi-concealed by some of the tree’s roots laid a tan colored stone. What had caught the attention of the unicorn was not the color, however, but the strange looking scratch marks that had been etched into the stone. The scratches seemed to have some sort of pattern, and Twilight saw many of the markings etched in multiple places. The unicorn assumed that the symbols she saw were a part of some dead language that had used symbols to convey messages. Intrigued, Twilight broke off some of the dead tree’s roots in order to get a better look at the stone.
Question after question filled the purple unicorn’s mind as she tried to make sense of her situation. What were these symbols and what did they mean? Why had a tree been growing on top of this strange stone? What had caused the tree to rupture so spectacularly?

In an attempt to try and answer some of her questions, Twilight used her magic to break away more of the dried roots before removing the stone to examine it further. As she pulled the stone from its resting place, its purpose suddenly become clear. Where Twilight had naturally expected to be ground, was instead a staircase that had been concealed by the stone. The stairs appeared to lead down into an ancient, forgotten ruin.

Not sure what she should do, Twilight simply stood there staring down into the dark depths of the ruin. What could be down there? What should she do about it? Should she tell someone? Should she perhaps, venture in?

“Twilight is that you I see? Why do you stand by that dead tree?”

The voice made Twilight jump. She turned quickly around, but as she did so, she covered the stairs with the stone once again.

“Hey Zecora, I didn’t hear you walk up,” Twilight said as she carefully kicked some dirt on top of the stone with her left hind leg. For now the ruin was going to remain her secret.

“Lightning has struck that tree dead, that was the cause of the burning red,” Zecora said in answer to Twilight’s unasked question.

“Oh, now I get it,” Twilight said,“it was the storm that started the fire last night, I had wondered about that. I guess that also explains why this tree was ripped apart.” Then, to ensure that Zecora did not look too closely at the tree and notice the stone now fully exposed beneath, Twilight asked the zebra, “So uh, did your house hold up ok?” The unicorn hoped to shift Zecora’s attention away from the split tree.

Turning away from the tree, Zecora started off toward her house, indicating that Twilight should follow. The zebra explained in her usual rhyming manner, that her house was in rather good condition thanks to the unicorn’s actions, and that any repairs wouldn’t be too hard to make. She explained that while the fire had destroyed a few of her household decorations, all her important possessions, like her many remedy books, had been preserved due to Twilight’s quick thinking.

The unicorn only half listened to this however, as her mind continued to wander back to her mysterious discovery. What secrets were hidden under the forest in the ruin that had been concealed for so many years? As Twilight continued to dwell on it, a wonderful idea floated into her mind. Ever since she had been a little filly, she wished she could be brave and adventurous like her favorite storybook characters, well this was her chance. She could be like Daring Do, and conduct her own exciting adventure, she even owned a hat just like the one her hero always wore, it was going to be so perfect. This thought infected Twilight’s mind and she spent the rest of the day picturing herself as Daring Do, wandering through mysterious corridors of an ancient ruin, escaping traps, and outwitting her foes. As Twilight turned in for the night, she decided that tomorrow, she was going to venture into the ancient ruin. Laying in bed, with the thoughts of the personal glories that were soon to come, the unicorn drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Twilight once again found herself looking down the flight of stairs into the dark void below, a sight made even more eerie from the early morning fog hovering close to the ground. Twilight gulped, while she may be confident, there was no hiding the fact that she was slightly scared. She shook her head slightly to clear away her moment of fear, she wanted to do this. It was like a dream come true and Twilight planned to enjoy it. There was nothing to worry about, right?

Ensuring her hat was firmly on her head, the unicorn placed a hoof on the top step and began her slow decent. The steps were covered in dirt and spider webs and Twilight saw the bugs fleeing from the sudden light and noise as she continued further downward. The light pouring in from the entrance was having less and less impact on the impeding darkness as the unicorn moved further. Twilight lit the surrounding area with magic and saw that the stairs ended a few feet further, at a small landing. The rest of the route was blocked off by a solid stone wall. The wall held more symbols similar to those at the entrance to the stairs except these were written in a circular pattern around a large round stone. It was the door to this ancient building.

Horn glowing brighter, Twilight’s magic surrounded the stone which was rolled aside a moment later. Where the stone had been was now a large opening through which the purple pony could see the interior of the ruin. Taking a quick moment to psych herself up, Twilight ventured forth into the unknown. The air that met her nose was dry and dusty; nopony had been inside here for a long time. The light cast by Twilight’s horn fell upon a torch bracket that was connected the stone wall. With a little encouragement from a fire spell cast by Twilight, the torch that resided in the wall mount came to life, casting it’s golden light on the nearby stone. As Twilight moved onward, she lit torches she walked by. Not only was their light comforting to the unicorn, but, she thought to herself, they would be an excellent means for finding her way out if she got lost, because just then Twilight was faced with an intersection of two corridors.

Twilight looked to her left and right in the + shaped intersection. Those corridors looked identical to the one straight ahead. Deciding to have a logical approach to her exploration, Twilight chose the left path. If that path turned out to be a dud, she would retrace her steps, and pick the path second to left, and so on. Moving down this corridor, Twilight felt some of her initial excitement ebb away. This ruin had so far been boring, yielding nothing but more stone corridors. It was as if it was all just a big maze. The only interesting things that happened was a wall might have a few more symbols on it, or a spider would scurry away from the sudden light.

It was only down a path sprouting from Twilight’s third intersection where that all changed. The unicorn stood facing yet another stone door, just like the one at the entrance. The only difference was that somepony had chiseled a picture in this one. The picture depicted a strange looking creature that Twilight though looked like a cross between a dog and a monkey. Pushing the stone aside, she stepped into a large, square room. The room was relatively empty, with just a random assortment of pots and containers standing by the far wall. Twilight’s attention was focused, not on those, but on the stone pedestal positioned behind them. Perched on top was a small, ornate, ruby statue that gleamed in the light cast by Twilights magic.

The feeling of excitement that had been wavering inside Twilight for the past half-hour now returned back to its full strength. Suddenly all her wandering was worth it. Twilight took a step forward, but as she put weight on her hoof, the stone underneath it sunk into the ground slightly. To her left and right came a small clicking sound. Twilight ducked instinctively using a hoof to keep her hat on. Heart pounding, she heard two objects speeding through the air toward her. Removing her hoof from the stone, Twilight took a step back. She focused more magic into her horn so she could see the room properly. As the light spread further across the floor, Twilight noticed two arrows, one on each side of the room, lying near the walls. She would have to tread more carefully if she didn’t want to have any more arrows fired at her.

Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself, and took that moment to think. It was clear that the ground in front of her was rigged up to traps that would shoot arrows at her if she tried to approach the pedestal. But who said she would have to walk across the floor. Concentrating hard on the statue across the room, Twilight used her levitation magic to pick it up from across the room. That had, at least, been the plan. Yet no matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn’t make the idol budge. It appeared that the ruby figure was surrounded by some sort of anti-magic field that was resisting her levitation spell. This was not going to be as easy as Twilight originally thought.

After her failed attempt to levitate the statue, Twilight directed her attention down at the stone that she had triggered the trap with earlier. Having been so transfixed with the ruby idol across the room, Twilight had failed to notice that the tiles that covered the floor in front of it were arranged in an 8x8 grid, and each had a symbol etched on them. Many of the symbols appeared more than once, but there seemed to be no specific pattern. Twilight examined the symbol on the stone she knew triggered the arrows. It looked a lot like this: µ. She figured, therefore, that any of the stones bearing the symbol were also not safe. That ruled out about ten stones, but that still left a large majority that Twilight couldn’t be sure about. How was she supposed to figure out the correct path across?

Suddenly, a possible answer popped into the unicorn’s mind. If she was looking for a path, then she should look for a continuous line of symbols that links one side of the room to the other. Sure enough, there was a twisting line of stones that all shared the symbol: ψ. Twilight assumed that was the path she would need to take in order to cross the room. Moving over to the first stone in the line, Twilight tenderly stretched out a leg and pressed down with her outstretched hoof. The stone sank in, but nothing flew through the air this time. Stepping all the way on top of this stone, Twilight directed her attention to the next one in line. Each time she gingerly placed her hoof on to ensure it was safe to move on, and each time the stone sank down but nothing happened. Moving this way across the length of the room, Twilight finally found herself standing next to the elevated ruby figure. Tempted as she was to remove the statue from its perch, Twilight was hesitant of doing so. She had come across this scenario many times in stories, and was sure that the pedestal was trapped, just like the floor.

Twilight racked her brains to remember precisely how the ponies in her stories had outsmarted the trap. She seemed to recall that in several, the trap had be activated because once the weight of the object was removed, the center of the pedestal was able to rise and activate the trap. That meant all she needed was an object to take the place of the statue. She looked over at the nearby wall and all the containers and pots that stood against it. Trotting over to the nearest container, an oddly shaped box, Twilight eased open the lid and peaked inside for an object that looked to be roughly the weight of the idol. What she saw however, made her gag. Inside laid the dried remains of one of the dog-monkey creatures. Its body had been preserved and then stored in this ancient ruin. No this ancient tomb.

Twilight stepped slowly back from this horrific sight as she felt her weak stomach squirming inside her. She glanced at the many other containers and began wondering just how many were buried in this room. She didn’t have long to dwell on that however as she felt something touch her flank. Twilight turned in time to watch the ruby idol tumble in the air and smash on the stone floor. She looked in horror as the stone pedestal began to sink away into the floor; the trap had been triggered. Twilight felt a strange sensation wash over her body, as though she was being coated in some foreign energy. She didn’t have time to dwell on the strange feeling because just then Twilights ears picked up a low rumbling sound. The sound seemed to emanating from the surrounding walls themselves.

Twilight jumped as, from behind her came a loud crash. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that a stone had fallen out of the ceiling and hit the floor. The tomb was collapsing, and Twilight was inside. Without a second thought, the unicorn ran toward the door, still remembering to run the special path past the arrow traps. As she emerged into the corridor several more stones loosened and fell from the ceiling. Twilight was glad she had the torches to follow, because all the corridors looked the same. Before she knew it she had turned one last corner and found herself at the bottom of the long staircase. As she began to climb, the corridor at the bottom completely collapsed, and now the staircase began to crumble. With a final burst of speed, Twilight reached the end of stone steps and leaped out onto the solid ground outside the ancient tomb, safe.

Heart still pounding, Twilight looked back at the staircase to find that it had completely caved in. That had been way too close, Twilight thought to herself. That had been plenty of adventuring for one day, and now Twilight was just looking forward to her lunch.

The walk home from the Everfree forest had given Twilight plenty of time to let her heart-rate settle down once again. It had also given her time to think about all that had happened, during which she determined that, while it may have ended badly, it had still been an excellent experience. She did remorse the fact that the ruby idol had smashed, not because she was one to steal, but because it would have made a wonderful memento for her to keep, showing that she had accomplished one of her childhood dreams.

As Twilight approached Ponyville’s library, the door opened, and she saw Spike standing there with a look on his face that was a mixture of being both happy to see her, and angry with her.

“Twilight, there you are! Where have you been,” the dragon demanded. Twilight had not thought about what she would tell Spike. She had left him a note, but it had said she wouldn’t be out for too long. Admittedly, however, she had been gone for longer than she had intended.

“I was in the Everfree forest,” Twilight said simply, being both truthful yet purposely unspecific.

“You were gone all morning, what were you doing?” Spike asked.

“I’ll give you the details in a bit, but right now I want to wash up. We’ll talk about it over lunch.” A bath would give Twilight plenty of time to decide exactly what she wanted to tell Spike, he didn’t want him reporting her actions to Princess Celestia in case it made her seem irrational. She also simply needed a bath.

“Alright, I’ll start on lunch while I wait.”

Twilight smiled at this, and headed inside and upstairs. She opened the bathroom door with her magic and headed inside. Pain shot through Twilight’s body as she staggered backward, blinking stars out of her eyes her hat falling to the floor. In her exhaustion she hadn’t noticed that the bathroom door had remained closed, and she had walked headlong into it. Rubbing her nose and blinking away a few tears, Twilight opened the door with her hoof. That was the second time today that her magic had failed her, she had assumed that the ruby statue had resisted her magic. That didn’t explain why her magic had done nothing to the door. Twilight stepped over to the mirror to examine her nose, there was thankfully no blood. A bruise was blossoming on her check but it wasn’t a bad one. Other than that her face looked perfectly fine other than some dirt on her face and in her mane. Twilight suddenly put a hoof to her head to see if her eyes had merely played a trick on her. She began rubbing her head franticly.

Twilight screamed, her eyes hadn’t played a trick on her, her horn really was gone.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Twilight laid in her bed, consumed by a feeling of dull emptiness. It had been only the day before that she had discovered her magic was stripped from her, and the unicorn had shut herself in her room and refused to let anypony in. She had told Spike she was incredibly ill, and that she didn’t want to get him sick, but it was only a matter of time before the dragon suspected it was something much bigger than that. Twilight knew he was already suspicious because she had made sure he didn’t call for a doctor. She didn’t want anypony knowing, and frankly, she wanted to forget the whole thing herself, wanted to believe it was all just in her head.

The bitter reality was that it had happened, and she felt terrible, as if she was missing half of who she was. Twilight also couldn’t shake the feeling of shame from the way she was acting. There were plenty of earth ponies in Ponyville, who didn’t have wings or magic, yet they seemed perfectly happy with their lives; especially a certain pink pony Twilight knew.

There was a knock on the door, and a voice called out from the other side.

“Twilight open up, I made you some soup. It should make you feel better.” Twilight couldn’t hide forever, and Spike was bound to find out the truth anyway. She would much rather tell him herself than to have him guess that something much worse was ailing his friend. Twilight got up from bed and crossed the room.

“Thanks Spike,” Twilight said opening the door, “but first there is something I need to tell you.”

“What’s up?” the dragon asked as he walked in the room holding a bowl filled with what appeared to be tomato soup.

“Well………I uh…sorta…” and she told him everything. Told him about the lightning struck tree and how she discovered the tomb, how she had longed for the adventure, how she had found the sarcophagus room with the ruby statue, and how she had accidentally knocked the statue off the stone platform which caused the whole place to collapse. She concluded with how she had only noticed her magic was gone when she had run into the door, and how it hadn’t been a spider that had caused her to scream.

When she had finished, the dragon sat there thinking for a moment, before he finally spoke.

“Well it’s obvious what we need to do.”

“And what’s that?” Twilight asked her assistant.

“We write to Princess Celestia of course, if anyone knows how fix this, I’m sure it’s her.”

“Are you crazy!?” Twilight asked, “I can’t tell the Princess about this. The reason I know Princess Celestia so well is because I'm her private student. It’s all because of my magical talent. What if there is no fix, and she forgets about me and just moves on to a new pupil?! I can’t risk that! I’ll just have to figure this out on my own…somehow.”

Twilight blinked back the tears in her eyes. What if she never got her magic back? How would she live? Her special talent was magic; what was she supposed to do now that it was gone? She had lost something that was irreplaceable. It was too much for Twilight. She dropped to floor as the tears began rolling down her cheeks.

Sitting there on the floor, Twilight cried and cried, and as she did the weight of everything that had happened lifted slightly. When the tears let up, she felt better. Spike offered her a handkerchief and she blew her nose, her eyes red and puffy.

“Do whatever it is that makes you comfortable,” Spike said, “just don’t forget that you don’t have to face this alone.” Spike walked over to Twilight, gave her a hug, and then added, “Now eat that soup, I still think it will make you feel better, even if you aren’t actually sick.” He took the soup bowl, reheated it with a small blast of fire, and then set it on Twilight’s bedside table before exiting the room.

Twilight sniffed, no matter what happened, Spike would always be there for her and that went a great length to cheer the pony up. Twilight stood, a little shakily, and moved over to her bed where she sat down again. She picked up the bowl filled with the crimson soup and drew in a deep breath taking in its rich smell. Lifting the bowl with her hooves, Twilight sipped at the warm liquid, one final tear rolling down her cheek.

Twilight had a plan. She was going to write to Princess Celestia, but before she did, she was going to prove that she was still capable of accomplishing things, even without her magic. If she was successful, then she was pretty confident that the Princess would not forget about her, and instead realize that despite all that had happened she could still remain strong and determined. Still be worthy to be her pupil.

To start, Twilight turned to mundane tasks. These proved to be more difficult than she thought they would be. Suddenly she was forced to so many things without magic that had become second-nature to her with magic. No longer could she open doors with her magic, she could no longer levitate her toothbrush, the food she ate, the books she wanted to read. Never before had Twilight considered just how much she used her magic, she had used it for practically everything. She was determined to look past that, it was going to be hard, but she was willing to learn to get by without her magic.

By far the hardest challenge that faced the pony was learning to write with her mouth. It was a skill she had never needed to learn. It felt awkward to have a quill in her mouth, just unnatural. Her writing looked terrible; it was like a filly’s writing, possibly even worse. It was all rather draining, but Twilight kept at it.

The next problem Twilight had to face was very different than learning to cope without magic. She had to confront her friends. She wasn’t sure how her friends would take the news. Part of her wanted to keep it a secret, but the other part knew she couldn’t hide forever. They hadn’t seen Twilight for several days; and her friends came to the library to find out if anything was wrong. Each time one of them came to the door, Twilight hid and told Spike to inform whoever it happened to be that she was ill. She wasn’t even exactly sure why she was lying to her friends, but for now Twilight felt the need to keep them in the dark.

It was a week after she had lost her horn, and Twilight had made some excellent progress in coping without magic. She had even re-shelved all the books in the library without any magic, a feat of which she was quite proud. He writing was actually legible now too.

Twilight was practicing her writing once again, when there was a knock on the door.

“I’ve got it this time,” she told Spike confidently as she strode towards the door. Whoever it was, Twilight was now ready to face them. Peering through the window in the front door, Twilight saw her friend Applejack waiting patiently on the doormat. When she opened the door, Twilight saw her friend’s face light up.

“Twilight! Boy, it sure is good to see ya!” Applejack exclaimed.

“It’s great to see you too Applejack, come in.”Twilight stepped back to allow the orange pony enter. “So, what brings you here?” Twilight asked.

“I wanted to be sure you were alright. Why, I haven’t seen you for days. Spike said you were sick, but I guess you’re better now.” Applejack looked at Twilight and smiled. The orange pony’s smile faltered however as she continued to look at her friend. “Uh, did something happen to your horn? It’s not there.”

“Yes, my horn is gone.” Twilight explained all that had happened for the second time. When she had finished, Applejack just stood there, staring. Her face was hard to read, but Twilight suddenly felt uncomfortable, sure her friend would abandon her because of how she reacted to losing her magic.

“I don’t get it,” Applejack said eventually, “why didn’t you say somethin’ before now?” It was a fair question, and Twilight thought for a moment before speaking again.

“I guess I was just scared. I had felt so bad when I lost my magic, like there was a part of me missing. I had convinced myself that I could never recover from this. But then I felt terrible for my selfishness because earth ponies like you don’t have magic and yet you all get by fine, and there was me feeling like my world was over. I didn’t want you to be angry because I was being so shallow. It’s okay if that’s how you feel, you can leave if you want to. I just figured that I owed you the truth.”

“Why would you ever think I would be angry at you Sugarcube? Your magic was a part of who you are, it wouldn’t be normal if losing that didn’t upset you. I’m your friend, and I’ll always there if ya need me.” Twilight’s heart lifted, Applejack wasn’t angry at all and in hindsight it seemed foolish to have ever thought she would be. “Now why don’t you come back with me to Sweet Apple Acres, some fresh air after having been inside all week ought to do ya some good. Not to mention some of our famous apple cider.”

“I’d like that.”

“Whoa, that’s incredible! Well it’s bad, but still pretty cool. I mean, sure you lost your horn, but you got to wander through an ancient tomb! I wish I could go wandering through some ancient tomb. But what if it was really dangerous? It would still be fun though.”

Twilight waited patiently for her excitable pink friend to calm down. She had come across Pinkie Pie when she had been walking back from Applejack’s, and the pink pony had noticed right away that Twilight was missing her unicorn horn, who had now just finished recounting the events leading up to her mishap.

“You know what we should do!? We should go bake cookies! Cookies always make me feel better, and you don’t need magic to bake. I should know, I do it allllllll the time!” Pinkie Pie was smiling widely.

“Oh, sure, why n-“

“GREAT! Let’s go!” Pinkie was bouncing up and down excitedly. She started to hop in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. “OH, what kind of cookies should we make? We could make sugar cookies, chocolate chip, chocolate with chocolate chips….”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile as her friend continued to ramble, wondering aloud if popcorn cookies even existed. It seemed that no matter what happened, Pinkie Pie would always continue to love life.

“Let’s give it another go!” Pinkie Pie said as she tossed the third bad batch of ruined cookies, baking cookies was something Twilight hadn’t done before. The pink pony had also insisted they invent their own cookie type, and Twilight hadn’t attempted to reject the idea for she knew that convincing Pinkie to change her mind, was like convincing a Rhino to stop charging toward you: both illogical and impossible. So they had attempted to make cookies without a recipe, and their results were dismal.

Pinkie Pie seemed determined as ever as they mixed a new batch of cookie dough. Just as they sent yet another tray into the oven, there was a knock on the door.
“Oh no! Is that the guests?!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, “I haven’t set up the decorations yet!”

“Pinkie, what’s going on? Do you have party planned for today?” Twilight asked her friend.

“Of course! Today is Cheerilee’s birthday. I got so distracted by the cookies that I didn’t set up the decorations.” Pinkie Pie ran out of the kitchen and could be heard rushing around in the room next door. Seeing that her friend was obviously busy, Twilight went over to answer the door. Opening the door with her hoof, she looked to see who the visitor was. Her eyes met those of Zecora. The zebra was wearing her brown traveling cloak. Standing next to her, Twilight saw Spike who was holding a book she didn’t recognize.

“Twilight, there you are,” the young dragon said, “we’ve been looking all over for you.”

“For me, why?” Twilight asked, stepping aside to allow them to enter.

“To help you get your magic back. You said that you didn’t want to tell the princess, so I tried to think of who else might know what happened. It was then that I thought of how Zecora helped cure you of the poison joke, and I wondered if she might be able to help with this.”

“Spike, while I appreciate your concern, this is different than the poison joke incident. We knew what caused all the problems that time. I have no idea why my magic is gone.” Twilight said.

“Spike brought me to the tomb you described, and there, a stone with ancient writing I transcribed,” interjected Zecora. Twilight stared at her.

“You can translate what was written on that stone?” Twilight asked her mind thinking back to the stone that had covered the staircase. Zecora nodded and motioned over to the book Spike held in his hand. Twilight looked toward it. Rune Translations was the title, and it looked very old which would explain why it wasn’t a book the Ponyville library had.

“From the forest fire, that book was saved, now the text can come to your aid.” Zecora said.

“So what exactly did the stone say?” Twilight asked. At this, Spike pulled a sheaf of paper from the center of the book. At the top of the paper the symbols from the stone had been copied, and underneath those was what appeared to be the translation. The dragon cleared his throat.

“It says, ‘For those who enter filled with greed, the tomb will remove what you most need. But if without it you learn to live, then-’” Spike broke off as there came another knock on the door and Pinkie Pie came rushing into the room.

“Coming!” Pinkie pie yelled as she ran to the door. Twilight looked over at the door as it was opening. At the front of a sizable group of ponies, she saw Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo. They rushed in with the gifts they had brought for their teacher. Twilight turned away from the door and back to Spike hoping to hear the rest of the translation. His attention however, was still directed towards the door, and he had a dreamy look on his face. Twilight followed his gaze and realized he was staring at Rarity who had just entered with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Rolling her eyes, Twilight reached out to take the paper and read it herself, but before she could grab it, the young dragon had already begun walking toward his crush.

Twilight made to follow, but she found her path blocked by Rainbow Dash who had rushed over after spotting her purple friend amongst the crowd.

“Twilight it’s been days,” Dash announced, “I had begun to wonder if everything was alright. It’s good to see you again.”

“Oh yes it is. Spike had said you were ill, but that it was nothing to worry about. But I was getting worried.” Futtershy had also spotted Twilght and walked over to her. The yellow pegasus however, noticed what her blue counterpart had not. “Uh, Twilght…um… what happened to your horn.”

“What?” Dash asked, clearly confused. She looked closely at Twilight and gasped. “Yeah, Fluttershy’s right, it’s gone. What happened?”

Twilight sighed as she began retelling the story of what happened. Rarity walked over to her group of friends and Twilight had to start over to fill in her unicorn friend as well. The silence that followed was broken up by the arrival of Pinkie Pie who had just finished showing Cheerilee inside.

“This is a great party!” the pink pony stated to her friends. They all laughed, her over-enthusiasm brightening up the mood that had come with the conclusion of Twilight’s story.

“It certainly is,” Twilight agreed, glad the conversation had shifted away from her. And for that moment, everything was happy and peaceful, but then that all changed as a foul odor hit Twilight’s nose.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Twilight’s heart raced as she followed her nose to the source of the odor. It led her over to the kitchen where she was hit with Déjà-vu. The purple pony found herself face to face with fire once again. As she stood there in the doorway, a small crowd gathered behind her, many others having noticed the smell of smoke as well. From her vantage point Twilight could see that the source of the fire appeared to be the oven.

“Oh no, the cookies!” Pinkie Pie yelled from behind Twilight, obviously having come to the same conclusion as to the fire’s source. With all that had transpired after Pinkie had placed the cookies in the oven, both ponies had completely forgotten about them. Now the fire had spread out of the oven’s confines. The wooden cupboards above the oven had caught fire and the fire was growing larger with each passing second.

Twilight closed her eyes, thinking hard. After a second or two she opened them, a plan formulated in her mind. Using her organizational skills, she began to direct her friends.

“Applejack, start leading everypony outside in an orderly fashion,” Twilight said to the orange pony on her right. Applejack nodded and began directing the crowd outside. “Rainbow Dash, take Fluttershy and any other pegasus that are around and try to round up some storm clouds again.”

“You got it!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Come on Futtershy!” Dash moved toward the door, Fluttershy close behind her. Twilight turned to her remaining two friends.

“Rarity, take Pinkie Pie and gather up anything that could hold some water and start bringing them to the river. I’ll stay here to help Applejack make sure everypony gets outside. We’ll send anyone willing to help your way.” The unicorn nodded and started heading for the door as well, taking Pinkie Pie with her.

Thanks to Applejack, all the ponies that had been inside left the premises in a calm manner. Once they were all outside, Twilight stood on the top doorstep and looked out at all the ponies gathered outside.

“Everyone,” Twilight called out from her elevated position, “I would like anypony who is willing to help to listen to me. I need you all to form a line from here,” she indicated a position near the outside kitchen wall, “to the river. There Rarity and Pinkie Pie will start handing you containers of water. I want you to pass those down the line till they get to this end where we will toss the water on the fire. Anypony who isn’t part of the line should carry the empty containers back to the river to be refilled. Any questions? No? Good. Let’s get to it!” They all moved and started forming the line, everypony willing to help. It wasn’t long before water was being passed down the line.

“Where’s Apple Bloom!” Twilight heard somepony scream. It was Sweetie Bell. She and Scootaloo were searching desperately for their friend. Twilight ran over to the two fillies.

“Didn’t she come out with you?” Twilight asked. She had been pretty sure everypony had been evacuated.

“Yeah she did,” Scootaloo told Twilight, “but then she disappeared and we’re not sure where she went.”

“Well what happened right before you noticed she was gone?” Twilight asked frantically.

“I think it was right after we saw Dinky Doo crying about a doll she dropped,” piped in Sweetie Bell. “Oh no! You don’t think…” She seemed to have come to the same conclusion as Twilight.

“You girls stay here!” Twilight ordered of the two young ponies. “I’m going in after her.” Apple Bloom must have been determined to retrieve the doll from inside the bakery. Twilight reared and galloped off in the direction of the doorway. Twilight coughed as she entered the smoke filled room. In all the time it had taken to organize everypony outside, the fire had spread far through the building.

“Apple Bloom! Are you in here?” Twilight croaked. She turned her head as a noise came in response to her call. The sound had come from behind some flaming debris that had fallen down from the ceiling. Twilight ran over to investigate the source of the noise. “Apple Bloom, is that you?!” she called.

“Twilight I’m here,” Apple Bloom answered from behind the burning wreckage.

“Apple Bloom!” Twilight cried. “Hang on in there, I’m going to try and move some of this.” Looking at what was containing Apple Bloom, Twilight saw that one of the ceiling struts had fallen, and that was what had the filly trapped. “Ok, here we go. As soon as you can, I want you to run out from there and head out the door. Understand?”

The filly nodded. At this Twilight moved forward and began lifting the burning ceiling strut. She ignored the pain that she felt as her neck was burned by the fire as she continued to lift. Adrenaline surging through her body, Twilight strained all her muscles as she lifted the beam. Apple Bloom darted out from her fiery prison and headed for the door, a doll in her mouth. Twilight threw down the beam and turned for the door. She had done it, even though she didn’t have her magic. Twilight felt great despite the severe burn on her neck, she would worry about that later. She looked to the doorway were Apple Bloom wore a smile of relief on her face. Twilight smiled back and headed for the door.

Wham!

The air in Twilight’s lungs was knocked out as something heavy fell onto her back. Pain shot through the pony’s body, as stars filled her vision.

“Twilight!” Apple Bloom yelled from the door. Twilight tried to stand, but she was pinned to the ground but what she assumed was another ceiling strut. Now she was the one trapped. “I’m gonna run for help” Apple Bloom cried out.

Twilight was having a hard time breathing, the smoke was filling the room and her lungs were compressed by the weight on top of her. She had broken a couple ribs making every breath painful. Twilight closed her eyes taking it all in. She didn’t cry. In fact, at that moment she had never felt more peaceful. She thought about everything that she had done up to that point. She had no regrets. She had lived a great life, had enjoyed so many things; but none more so than the friendships she had shared in Ponyville. Twilight smiled to herself as, above her, the weakened ceiling gave out and collapsed completely.

Twilight kept her eyes closed. She felt grass underneath her as she continued to lie on the ground. It was a comforting feeling, cool against her warm body. Taking in a breath, Twilight winced. If she was dead, why did her whole body ache with pain? Still keeping her eyes closed, Twilight listened to the sounds that reached her ears.

“No, not Twilight!” Twilight recognized the voice, it was Applejack. She sounded close to tears. Twilight opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was lying on the ground across the street from Sugarcube Corner. In front of her stood all the ponies that had been fighting the fire, they all stood still as they looked at the partially collapsed building. Nopony had noticed Twilight on the grass behind them. She saw Applejack standing at the front of the crowd with Apple Bloom, staring into the fire.

Twilight tried to call out to her friend, but she was breathless and just couldn’t get the words out. Yet, she had to let her friend know that, somehow, she was ok. Pain shot through the pony’s body as she stood up. She began limping toward the crowd of ponies. Twilight’s head was aching with pain, and she put a hoof to her head in an attempt to massage the pain away. Rubbing her head, something poked her hoof. Twilight heart skipped a beat. Her horn, it was back! Her miraculous escape now made sense; she must have gotten her magic back and teleported herself out of the building without even thinking about it. With newfound happiness flooding her entire body, Twilight managed to speak.

“Applejack, over here! I’m ok.” The orange pony turned her head. A look of disbelief spread over her tear streaked face. Applejack stood like that for a moment. Then she smiled in relief as she ran over to hug her friend.

Twilight lay in one of the hospital’s soft beds. The fire had been the day before, and she was covered in bandages from all her burns, but those would heal. Rainbow Dash had returned with storm clouds to put out the rest of the fire. The fire had damaged the building pretty good, but it could still be salvaged. Twilight looked to her left at Spike, who sat in a chair next to her bed. Moments before he had read the full translation that had been interrupted earlier.

-For those who enter filled with greed, the tomb will remove what you most need. But if without it you learn to live, then back what you lost the tomb will give-

Spike had explained that Zecora had deciphered the meaning. Anypony who entered tomb would be cursed and loss their most precious attribute. But those who could learn to live without that piece of themselves, would have it returned to them. It was an ancient spell to protect against thieves. Anypony with a greedy heart would never be able to live without their most important characteristic. It was a way of teaching anypony who trespassed, a lesson.

It now all made sense to Twilight. Her magic had been taken away when she touched the idol, but she had proved herself worthy of having it returned to her when she saved Apple Bloom without her magic.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Over this past week I learned a very important lesson about friendship. I learned that even if you’re feeling down, your friends will always be there for you. I learned that even if I stop believing in myself, they will still always have faith in me. We each have our own special talents that we all hold dear, and we’re not jealous of each other’s talents, and as friends we remind each other that we are all still capable of so much more.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle