The Joker said to the Thiefby Spell BoundChaptersPrologue Chapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Prologue Prologue A hooded figure dressed in black dashed across the streets of Canterlot silently, attempting not to draw any attention to themselves. The night was cold and wet, as the Pegasi had scheduled a week long rain storm to descend upon the city, causing minor flooding of the streets and gutters. The figure was a rather small pony shaped being. Its cloak was black and tattered, and on closer inspection you would see that underneath, it was as black as the cloak it was wearing. A bundle was tied to its back, as he headed towards the Canterlot orphanage. As it arrived on the door step, a green glow came from under the hood, and the bundle lifted of its back and was laid on the front steps. The figure chattered slightly at the bundle as it started to move. With a great sigh the figure started to back away from the bundle into the shadows across the street, as the bundle began to cry out. It did not take long before the front door opened, and a Unicorn and Pegasus mare stood in the door way looking at the bundle. “Oh my.......someone left a child.” The Pegasus spoke and looked around trying to see anyone who might have left it. “Leave off it Cherry. The pony who left it obviously wants us to look after the poor creature.” The Unicorn spoke, before lifting up the pony in a soft azure aura. Moving the folds of the bundle to better look at the child, both of them gave a slight gasp, as the creature inside seemed pony like, but was not. It seemed more insectoid, as its skin was grey, and its legs, mane and horn had holes in them. As they stared at the changeling child, it gurgled looking at the two mares, before his horn glowed green and it was encompassed in a green fire. The fire lasted for about 5 seconds before it dissipated, and the changeling child appeared like a normal pony. The two mares looked at each other very confused before solidifying there looks and speaking. “Pony or not, it’s our job to look after the child.” The Unicorn said. “Agreed, but what are we going to call it Dawn?” Dawn looked at the changeling once more before smiling. “I think this pony is going to be good at magic, if it could do that at this young age. Let’s call it, Spell Bound.” Smiling the two ponies turned and took the child into the orphanage, shutting the door behind them. As they did, the figure moved out of the shadows with its hood down, revealing it too, to be a changeling. Softly it chattered after the two mares, which translated to Equestrian would mean “Take care young one. And remember......remember what the joker said to the thief.” Its cryptic message spoken, it quickly shed its cloak, and flew off into the night, it’s mission complete. 5 years later “OK everypony, time for lunch!” a chorus of cheers erupted from the orphanage play ground as the little fillies and colts ran inside and sat around the huge table awaiting lunch. Doing a head count, a slight worried expression overcame Cherry Flowers face, as they were one head short. Scanning the hall of faces, she quickly knew who it was and where to find them. “Miss Dawn Sky, would you kindly go get our book worm from his studies?” The Pegasus called out. Dawn Sky gave a slight chuckle and quickly trotted out of the dining hall smiling, and made her way towards the orphanage library. Once arriving at the library it took a total of 10 seconds to find the book fort, and the young colt who had made it while reading. “Come along darling, you’re missing lunch.” Spell’s ear pricked up at the mention of food and quickly closed his book and ran off towards the dining hall giggling. Dawn stole a glance at the book he was reading, and smiled slightly knowing her predictions of him was true, as the book was titled “Starswirl’s Magical Theories for young ones”. Tapping a hoof against her chin she thought for a minute before running out of the orphanage and down the streets of Canterlot. Spell sat at the table happily. Food, the one thing he loved as much as his magical studies, if not more. Still, he felt slightly nervous around the other ponies around the orphanage. He had a rather unusual ability that none of the others had, and if they found out they might be afraid of him. Unlike most ponies, he could see, sense, feel and taste emotions. While he was nervous around them, he was quite glad to be around them during meal times, as their emotions seemed to enhance the taste of the food. Smiling and joking with the other colts and fillies around him he ate his lunch in peace until Miss Dawn Sky ran into the dining hall out of breath, causing everyone to look at her. “Could..........Spell..........please.........come...........here” She panted out trying to catch her breath. Nervously Spell got up from his table and walked over to her. “Y....yes Miss Sky?” Smiling Dawn Sky floated a sheet of paper in front of Spell. Looking at it, a huge grin over took his face and he started hoping about happily. “THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!” Cherry shot a confused glance at Dawn, who in return mouthed out Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, before turning her attention back to the hoping Unicorn. “Ok Spell, calm down. You still need to pass the entry exam, but I am sure you can do it. Your exam is tomorrow.” Spell ran back over to his table and finished his lunch before running back to his room to get prepared for his upcoming entry exam. 10 years later Spell sat in front of and old Oak tree in the Canterlot park eating his lunch with his two closest friends, Cotton Needle and Twilight Sparkle, if you could call friendship with Twilight friendship. She was more focused on her studies and saw Spell simply as a study partner. Cotton Needle was a seamstress pony, who was studying sewing and necromancy magic at the school, and was quite gifted at both. Her fur was a light shade of pink, and her mane was a darker pink at the top, purple in the middle and seemed to be black at the very tip. Her hooves also had a tendency to glow black when performing necromancy, and her cutie mark was a thread spool surrounded by a sewed heart. Spell had also recently gotten his Cutie Mark. It was a leaf surrounded by stars, indicating his speciality at nature magic. He excelled at his Nature Magic class both in theory and practice, while his other classes, such as teleportation, Necromancy, and Pyromancy he was barely scrapping through the practical half of them. They ate their lunch in silence. Soon their final exams would take place, and they would go their separate ways. Twilight would go to the Canterlot castle to continue studies under Princess Celestia herself, while Cotton planned to head to a town called Ponyville to start a fashion shop. As for Spell, he didn’t really know what he was going to do. He thought about simply travelling the world to learn more about magic and its mythical beings, but also wanted just to settle down and do something productive with his life. As they finished their lunch they heard a bell ring. “Well, looks like it’s time. Good luck everypony.” Spell said as they stood up and headed towards the exam hall. 5 years later Spell sat in his cottage outside of the Ever-free forest smiling. He liked it here. It was close to nature, and the forest was full of undocumented creatures. Not only that, he was near two of his child hood friends, as Cotton still lived in Ponyville, and a few years ago Twilight moved into the Golden Oaks Library. However soon Spell would be going back to Canterlot for a temporary job at his old school teaching Nature magic. Sighing he stood up and decided to take a walk. Looking up at the sky he smiled and said to himself, “Today’s a good day. Doubt anything bad will happen soon.” Little did he know, that the changeling invasion of Canterlot, had already begun. Chapter 1Spell waited at the Ponyville station whistling, laden with saddlebags full of books, waiting for the train to Canterlot to pull in. He was rather excited to return to the place of his childhood, and even more excited about the idea of teaching younger generations what he had learned. Of course, he had to get to Canterlot first, and that seemed like it was going to take forever seeing how overdue the train was. It was supposed to have arrived at 12:05, and it was now 12:15. Sighing, he looked in the direction of Canterlot, and a quizzical look came over his face as he saw the purple bubble around it. He recognized it as a magical shield, but didn’t understand why there was one of such magnitude around the capital city. There hadn’t been a war in hundreds of years, so there was no need to have such active defenses around. He snapped out of his musing as the train whistle blew, signalling it was pulling in. Smiling, he quickly boarded the train and found a table seat, putting some of his books onto it, and began to sort through his notes and write up a lesson plan of what he was going to teach. “Right, first magical theory, then how magic ties in with Nature, but what after that?” He muttered to himself tapping his chin with his hoof thinking. Twilight and her friends sat in the middle of a park enjoying a nice picnic. Rainbow Dash had managed to keep the weekend clear of rain so they could enjoy their picnic without getting soaked halfway through it. They sat around a picnic laughing as Spike ran over to them. Out of breath Spike panted for a minute before handing Twilight a letter sent from Princess Celestia. Twilight took it in her magic and read it out to everypony. “Dear Twilight, I am sure you are as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot.” She looked at her friends confused. “Wedding?” AJ and the others simply shrugged as she continued reading. “I will be presiding over the ceremony, but would very much like you and your friends to help with the preparations for this wonderful occasion. Fluttershy, I would like you and your songbird choir to provide the music.” “Oh my goodness, what an honor” Fluttershy said softly before Twilight continued. “Pinkie Pie, I can think of no one more qualified to then you to host the reception.” Pinkie Pie performed a quick cartwheel across the picnic blanket. “Hip. Hip. Hooray!” Twilight fixed the teapot Pinkie knocked over and continued reading out the list. “Applejack, you will be in charge of the catering of the reception.” “Well color me pleased as punch” AJ said happily as Rainbow yawned trying to act uninterested. “Rainbow Dash, I would very much appreciate it if you could perform a sonic rainboom as the bride and groom finish their I do’s.” As this was said Rainbow jumped up in the air flying slightly shouting “YES!” “Rarity you will be responsible for designing the dress for the bride and her bridesmaids.” Rarity’s jaw fell open as she stuttered out “Princess Celestia wants me bah beah wedding dress for a Canterlot weeding ahyeah wooo” Before falling over fainting in happiness. “As for you Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all, making sure everything goes as planned. See you all very soon, yours, Princess Celestia.” Twilight looked at the back of the letter confused. “But I don’t understand, who’s getting married?” “Oh wait, I was probably meant to give you this one first.” Spike said sheepishly as he handed Twilight another letter. Twilight rolled her eyes as she read out the second letter. “Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mia Morea Cadenza and...” She gasped loudly surprised at the second name. “My Brother?!” Spell shivered as he went through the magical shield. It felt strange to have another Unicorn’s magic to wash over all of him. In most instances it would be considered a violation of a pony’s privacy, but considering all the royal guard stationed around the train station no one really spoke up against it. He stretched putting his books back into the saddle bag, and walked out into the sunlight. He breathed in the city air and trotted off towards Celestia’s school for gifted Unicorns. It had been several years since he had walked the streets of his childhood. Smiling he looked around and saw old shops he used to visit frequently. He checked the time before making a quick detour into a candy shop to get some sweets. “Hello Toothy! Miss me you old goat?” Spell called out as he entered the shop. The old stallion nicknamed Toothy came out the back of the shop. “Spelly? That you young lad? How ya been? It’s been ages since you came in here.” Toothy chuckled slightly. He was a brown Unicorn with a short jet-black mane. His proper name was Sweet Tooth, but in his older years he had lost quite a few, hence his nick name Toothy. “Well I spent a few years traveling before I came across a nice little town named Ponyville. Such an amazing forest nearby as well.” “He he he he he! You an’ your nature. Such a strange stallion you are. Anyway, you’ll be wantin the usual aye?” “If you can remember it old man.” Toothy chuckled happily and scooped up a mix of fudge, candy corn and marshmallows pouring them into a bag and placing it on the counter. “That’ll be 5 bits young un.” Spell smiled slightly and place 10 on the counter. “Keep the change. A gift if you will.” Chuckling Toothy scooped the bits and put it into the cashier as Spell took his sweets and left the shop. Happily he ate a bit of the fudge as he walked down the main street. “Now that I’ve got some sweets, time to check in at the hotel.” Silently he made his way towards the hotel as night began to fall upon the city. Author's Note Won't be an update tomorrow probably. Most of the day will be consumed by a World of Darkness campaign. The next few chapters will be sort of filler episodes. After that, it'll focus mostly on Spell as the plot progresses. Chapter 2By late afternoon Spell had booked into his hotel and set up the room to a way which was pleasing to him. This involved pouring magical energy into the few plants in the room to make them grow more and blossom. After that he taped several notes onto the walls of the room so he could look at them easier. To the untrained eye most of them would be random squiggles, but they would be recognised as magical algorithms and diagrams of spells and ancient artefacts. Looking at the time he figured he’d have plenty of time to quickly make his way over the castle. It had been a while since he stepped foot inside the library, and he wanted to see what textbooks they had so he could advise his new students to check them out for his courses. Plus it was a chance to say hello to old friends within the castle. Making sure that he had the key to the room, he locked the door behind him, and then cast a spell on the door adding a magical lock on to it. He was trusting of his fellow ponies, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t careful. Some of his notes were not meant for others eyes. Satisfied his room was secure; he made his way to the castle. Along the way, he heard a slight gaggle of voices. Normally he’d ignore it, but a wave of emotions hit him that forced him to stop and look. These emotions were different to most of the ponies in the city. Most were excited and happy emotions, as if they had been told great news, but one was full of anger. It was the anger that had made him stop, it smelled and tasted familiar. Looking to find its source, he smiled to see a certain purple Unicorn in the group. He went to raise a hoof to wave, but stopped when he caught a glimpse of her eyes. They were full of anger, which sent shivers down his spine. Spell decided it was best to leave her alone for now, and try to catch up later. He waited for the group to pass him by, before continuing on. He wasn’t too surprised to see Twilight was heading towards the castle. It was to be expected as she was Celestia’s personal student, and her brother was captain of the royal guard. “Right every pony. You have your orders. Go to them.” Shining Armour said to his men. He gestured to his right first, receiving a salute from the two grey and one white unicorn guard there. As they moved off he gestured to his left and received salutes from the two white and one grey pegasi guard before they moved out as well. His face was stoic, but the back of his mind was racing, torn in two. The first part was really excited about the fact he was getting married to his teenage crush, and the other half really concerned about the threat to Canterlot and his person. His mind was snapped out of this as he saw his little sister coming across the field to him. “I’ve got something to say to you mister!” Immediately in response the guards at the wall pointed their spears at Twilight, not recognising who she was to begin with. “Twily!” Shining said happily, taking off his helmet. At this, the guards stood down to let their captain deal with the matter. He ran down the stairs with a smile upon his face. “Ah I missed you kid! How was the train ride? I-” he went to pull Twilight into a hug but she ducked underneath him and began to tell him off. “How dare you not tell me in person that you are getting married?! I’m your sister for ponies sake!” She frowned and looked behind her as not to look at her brother. A saddened look came over his face at his sisters words. “It’s not my fault. Princess Celestia has requested a major increase in security. Didn’t you see all the guards at the train station?” “Yeah! There’s a big wedding coming up. Maybe you heard about it?!” Twilight moved away from her brother in an angry walk to stare into the small pond. Shining moved over to her while talking, highly confused at his sisters actions. “It has nothing to do with the wedding. A threat has been made against Canterlot.” That seemed to cut through to Twilight, who looked up at him, her eyes softer than they were a minute ago. They reminded Shining of when she was a filly and was sad about not being able to get another cookie. “We don’t know who’s responsible for it but Princess Celestia ask I help provide additional protection.” Turning back to face his sister, he lifted his hoof up to under her chin, and bring her face back up to face his. “This, you need to see.” He backed away a little bit and stood straight, channelling magic through his horn. He sent a blast of purple energy up to reenergise the magical shield. As soon as the spell was done, he felt the headache return. He rubbed his head slightly and it quickly subsided, for the time being. “The burden of keeping Canterlot safe and secure lays squarely on my shoulders. Staying focused on the task at hand is in my top priority.” He explained to Twilight as they walked back up the stairs onto the castle parapets. Twilight frowned, feeling ashamed with herself as she followed behind her brother. “Ok, ok I get it. You have a really important job protecting all of Canterlot with a force field only you can conjure up. But still, how can you not tell me something as big as your wedding? Am I not that important to you anymore?” Shining laid a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “Hey, you’re my little sister. Of course you’re important to me.” He looked forward slightly with a sly grin. Buut I’d understand if you didn’t want to be my best mare now.” Twilights features instantly brightened. “You want me to be your best mare?!” “Well, yeah.” “I’d be honoured!” The two quickly hugged, before Twilight pushed him away slightly. “But I’m still pretty ticked you’re marrying somepony I don’t even know! When did you even meet this Princess Mia Morea Cadenza?” Shining smiled and chuckled slightly. “Twily, Princess Mia Morea Cadenza is Cadence.” Spell quickly ducked into the castle Library as soon as he arrived. He wasn’t too keen on the increase of guards in the city, and he didn’t like the flood of emotions he could sense within the main hall. Everypony seemed to be preparing for some big event, but he’d be damned if he knew what it was. He decided just to get to the sanctuary of books as soon as possible. It only took him a few minutes to navigate himself around the castle and find the Library. He walked the path so many times he could do it in his sleep. As soon as he entered the Castle he breathed in deeply, smelling the library air. It was comforting to him, and reminded him of a time past where he spent several hours in the library studying up on his courses. He took a little time to wander the several shelves, looking at both new and old additions to the library. Some titles he recognised, having read them several times over and could probably tell you word for word what the first few chapters said. Others were new books that he didn’t recognise, and a few were titles he only had heard of in passing, as they were thought to have been lost to time. When he finally came across the nature magic section, he was slightly disappointed in the lack of choice they had. There were several copies of the same book, which would be good for a class to check out, but there were so few advanced books. However, much to his surprise, he found a couple of books he had written on the subject. The last thing he would of expected was for his writings to ever make it into the Canterlot Library. “Well, when I heard you had written books, I couldn’t help but get them and see if they were actually worth the money.” A voice behind him said, almost as if it had been reading his mind. Turning around, Spell came face to face with the old Librarian. He wasn’t necessarily an old pony, but you could tell he was no longer young. Spell smiled widely at seeing his old friend. “Silver Scroll! How have you been!” He was greeted with a smack on the head with a scroll and a shh for being loud, before Silver Scroll returned the smile and embraced the young stallion. “I’ve been fine. And what of you eh? Published author? Regular expert on Nature Magic? When I heard they were bringing you in as a teacher I couldn’t believe it.” Spell kept up his wide goofy smile while they talked. They reminisced about times past when Spell was a student, as well as their most recent adventures. They kept on talking for several hours before they realized night would soon be upon them. Spell excused himself, and with another hug, had set off once more for his hotel. He stopped briefly on his way to stare up at the night sky, admiring the beauty that Luna created, before going into the hotel and up to his room. After a day of travel, he went straight to bed and was asleep quickly. He had much to do the following day, he had an introductory lecture to give in the afternoon. Chapter 3Levitating in a turquoise aura, the chalk quickly scrawled on the chalk board as Spell Bound talked. “Good Morning Class. I am Spell Bound, and I shall be your teacher for this course.” He looked over the class. Many were seniors; about the age he had been when he started the course. A few were advanced students, ponies in the younger years who progressed quicker than their counter parts. Inwardly he frowned; it could be a problem seeing as students like them would not be happy with the basic text books he could suggest from the Library. Still, that would be a bridge to cross later. “And this Course is Nature Magic, both practical and theory, mainly practical as I bet many of you would like a hoof’s on approach. But don’t be fooled, there is still plenty of Theory and you will have to know both if you want to pass. Now, who knows the basic idea of Nature Magic?” A few hooves were raised into the air as he asked the question. He looked across the class and chose one of the older students. She was a light blue unicorn mare with her long strawberry blonde mane tied up in a pun. A few strands that had escaped had pink highlights, and her eyes were a deep purple. “Sir, the basic idea of Nature Magic is sometimes considered a branch of white magic. It can be used to grow and manipulate general plant life at a basic level, while at an advanced level it can be used to create plant life where there was none, and to decay other plant life and have a finer manipulation of it. It is said that those who are at the mastery level can manipulate the plants so they are like an extension of themselves.” Spell smiled at the student and nodded. “Gold star Miss…” He consulted his register which had pictures next to each name. “Mystic Aura. Well done. But there are other applications to it. Within Nature Magic lies the path to alchemy, and healing magic. As you said, it is indeed a branch of white magic, much like Pyromancy is a branch of Dark Magic. Do not let the names fool you though. White Magic can still be used for ill. It is possible to use Nature Magic as an offensive magic, but I will not be teaching you that. I’m not training soldiers, I’m teaching students.” For the next 45 minutes he talked, asked questions and scribbled notes on the chalk board. Many of them consisted of what they would be covering over the year. “Right, before I let you all go; are there any questions?” He was slightly surprised when quite a few of hooves went into the air. “Well then, a curious lot aren’t you? Well that’s good. Very well, first question from you Mister Bass Fortune.” Bass was a tall skinny colt with a dark maroon coat. His hair was cut similarly to the famous DJ Pon3, except it was a dark purple outer layer and a light turquoise inner layer. His eyes were a dark penetrating blue. “Sir, are you a former student?” Spell Bound smiled. He liked this class very much; they would be enjoyable to teach. “Yes Bass, I was a student here. I come from a local orphanage and my carer enrolled me and I was allowed into the practical examination, which I thankfully passed. Yes Miss Steam Amethyst.” Steam was one of the lower class students who were advanced enough to be moved up. Her eyes were very green, and her mane was slightly messy and purple. Her coat was sky blue. “Yes, sir. Um..are you the Spell Bound who wrote the book Nature Magic: The practitioner’s guidebook and The many uses of Poison Joke?” There was a slight murmur around the room, and Spell stood slightly surprised. He hadn’t expected anyone that young to bother reading his books. He felt proud almost and quickly smiled at the young filly. “Indeed I am. I wrote those two and a few others entailing the uses and theories of Nature Magic. You are all very welcome to check them out of the Canterlot Library, as well as the Collective text books about the subject. Well, I think that’s all the time I have for today. All of you off to your next lecture or break or whatever you young colts get up to with your free time now days. Just don’t burn down the big tree in the park. The grounds keeper might think it was me. Again.” He smiled in remembrance of when he accidentally set the big oak tree on fire while demonstrating what he had learned in his Pyromancy course to Cotton Needle. Needless to say, the grounds keeper was not happy with the young colt. He waited for all his students to file out before wiping the board of all its notes and packing away his own personal notes and books. With his own personal effects tidied up, he left the room, locking it behind him so no students would be tempted to play in there during a free study period. As he walked through the halls into the teacher’s lounge. Once there his already present smile widened even more as he saw his old Pyromancy teacher. “Flaring Inkwell! Well I never thought I’d see you in this school again!” The pony turned to face his former student and returned the wide smile. “I could say the same thing about you, you rascal! I thought they’d never let you back in after that tree incident. Burnt the whole thing to the ground! The grounds keeper was demanding your expulsion.” Both of them laughed at this. “Well, he was always demanding some student’s expulsion for some accidental slight.” Spell said with a smile. He gave his old teacher a hug giving him a pat on the back, before moving away slightly. “So, what ever happened to retiring?” Flaring brushed a hoof through his mane. It was a fiery red, though years of being around exploding spells and experiments had left a permanent soot layer in his mane, which only helped add to the fiery and professor look. His coat was a darker red, and his eyes blue as water. He chuckled at Spell’s question. “Well I was about to, but then I heard they were bringing your sorry flank in as a teacher, so I just had to stick around a bit longer.” They both laughed once more a talked with each other. Spell saw quite a few familiar faces amongst the staff in the lounge. A few were old teachers while others were fellow students who had also become members of staff. After a while though both teachers had to go. Flaring to teach a new class about the health and safety rules about Pyromancy, and Spell to head home. He was done for the day, and needed to regroup his notes for the next lesson as well as get some lunch. Later in the day Spell sat in his room eating some more of the fudge he had bought the day before, looking over his calendar. He marked down to visit the Orphanage in which he had grown up in three days. He figured it would be best to wait till after the royal wedding before visiting his ‘family’. As soon as he had this thought he smacked himself in the head slightly, only just figuring out why there was so much added security and all the preparations in the castle. “God Spell, for a smart pony, you can be a real idiot.” He said aloud to himself before shaking his head with a sigh. He finished up planning his week before calling it a day. Luna’s night was already rising and he felt tired. Night was in its early hours, and on a summer’s evening, shops would still be open and ponies would be walking the streets. In one such shop, the Bearers of Harmony sat around talking about the wedding preparations while enjoying their drinks. That is, until Twilight walked up and plonked her drink on the table. “I can guess what you’re all thinking.” She said in a sing song voice. “Cadence is the absolute worst bride to be ever!” Everyone else at the table looked at her kind of shocked, as if she had just grown and extra horn out of her left nostril. Spike looked at her shocked before lifting up a tiny porcelain Cadence and said in a high pitched voice “Who? Me?” “Spike!” Applejack said sternly. “That goes on the cake!” Spike looked ashamed and put the figure on the table in front of him and AJ, before chuckling nervously. Twilight at this time was drinking from her milkshake. “Twilight whatever are you talking about?” Rarity asked before smiling happily at her. “Cadence is an absolute gem!” Twilight stopped drinking and pushed the drink away looking sternly at her friend. “Rarity, she was so demanding!” Rarity simply rolled her eyes and waved this away. “Well of course she was. Why shouldn’t she expect the very best on her wedding day?” Twilight pulled a quizzical face that had traces of confusion and anger mixed in with it, before turning to AJ. “Applejack, did you know after she told you how much she just ‘love love loved’ your hors d’ouvres she just threw them in the trash?” Applejack looked at Twilight dumbfounded for a brief second before smiling. “Ah she was probably just spare my feelings.” She then went back to drinking her drink. “No, was just being fake and totally insincere!” Twilight said waving her arms around. Everyone at the table fell silent looking around slight confused and uncomfortable. Fluttershy after a few seconds raised her hoof as she spoke. “She did raise her voice at one my birds during rehearsal.” “See! Rude!” Twilight said triumphantly as she crossed her hoofs and nodded to herself. “But he was singing really off key.” Fluttershy finished, raising up her hoof again with a bird on it, who warbled off key, loudly and horribly. Everypony at the table cringed and covered their ears. Twilight turned to her pink bubbly friend looking for support. “Pinkie Pie, you had to have noticed how Cadence treated-” she stopped midsentence at seeing Pinkie and Spike playing with porcelain replicas of Cadence and Shining, making them kiss each other while making kissy sounds and giggling. “Never mind.” Twilight said rolling her eyes. “Well Rainbow Dash, you’re with me right?” She asked as she stood up. Rainbow answered by flexing her arm and stretching her wings before answering. “Sorry Twi, been too busy prepping for my Sonic Rainboom to pay much attention to the brides bad attitude.” Twilight, who had returned to sipping her drink slammed it down back onto the table and growled in annoyance. Rarity quickly placed a reassuring hoof on Twilights arm. “The princess is about to get married, I’m sure any negative behaviour she might be displaying is simply the result of nerves.” Twilight brushed Rarity’s hoof off of her as she stood up once more growing more frustrated by the minute. She slammed her hoof down on the table, causing her drink to jump as she spook. “And I’m it’s the result of her being an awful pony who doesn’t deserve to even know Shining Armour let alone marry him!” Her friends stared at her once more before Applejack spoke up. “Think maybe you’re being just a tiny bit possessive of your brother?” The other girls and Spike at the table nodded with an hmm-mh sound. “I am not being possessive! And I am not taking it out on Cadence! You’re all just too caught up in your wedding planning to notice that maybe there shouldn’t even be a wedding.” She finished her sentence with slamming her hoof down on the table knocking all the drinks over and breaking a few of the glasses. Finished with her rant, she turned and stormed off away from her friends, leaving them all in a confused state. Author's Note What's this? Two updates in one day? I know! Crazy! Today was just a good writing day. Words came fairly easily. Now, I am going to sleep. Because it's 12:37am here and I am tired! I hope you enjoy. Soon things shall be gooood Chapter 4Shining Armour stood at the would be altar next to his soon to be Aunt-in-law and Spike. The arch behind them was decorated in wreaths of purple and pink flowers. From the windows the entirety of Canterlot city could be seen, and the ever present pink hue of the shield protecting them from an unknown threat. Spike stood a couple steps below Shining, holding the pillow upon which the wedding ring rested. All their attentions were drawn to the door as Five of the bearers of Harmony, now acting as substitute bride maids to Cadence, Walked in slwoly and in Sync, all of them smiling happily. "Perfect Girls, no need to rush." Celestia praised them from afar. Rainbow dash winked to Rarity, and they both stopped, bringing their front hooves to their face giggling happily. "Then of course, Cadence will enter." the princess of the sun cut in. All eyes turned expectantly towards the doors once more. The two unicorn guards enveloped each door in their magical, one glowing gold, the other azure, and opened them up to reveal the bride-to-be. A goofy smile overtook Shining's face as he saw his fiance, watching her intently as she slowly made her way up to the altar. Celestia then continued running through how the ceremony would take place. "I will say a few words, and then we'll begin with the vows." Cadence and Shining Armour nuzzled each other slightly, before looking at Celestia once more. "Shining Armour, you'll get the ring from your best mare." Shining turned to look behind him expectantly, but his smile was quickly replaced with a frown and look of confusion at seeing where Twilight was supposed to be standing empty. Instead, all they saw was Spike sitting on the steps, playing with the little dolls of Cadence and Shining Armour again. "Do you?" he said, imitating Shining's deeper voice, then responded to himself in a high voice as he accidentally let shining's doll go flying "I do!" "Hey, has anypony seen Twilight?" Shining asked. At that moment, the distinctive sound of magic was heard as Twilight threw both doors open with a look of determination on fer features. "I'm Here!" she announced, shooting daggers at everyone and yet no one with her eyes. She began marching forward towards the soon to be married couple, announcing her intentions along the way. "I'm not going to stand next to her, and neither should you!" Shining grimaced with embarrassment, his eyes darting to his fiance briefly, and then to spike, before facing Cadence once more. "I'm sorry, I don't know why she's acting like this." Cadence looked sideways at Twilight, her own eyes full of anger and daggers now as well. "Maybe we should just ignore her." "You have to listen to me!" Twilight shouted from across the chamber. She gritted her teeth together and glared at Cadence. "Oh goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed floating over to her friend. "Are you ok?" "I'm fine." Twilight responded, moving herself away from her friend, only to find Applejack in her face. "Are ya sure bout that?" Frowning in annoyance Twilight used her magic to shove Aj's hat into her face and resumed her march towards the altar. "I have something to say!" The rest of her friends watched on in horror as she continued her march. Once she reached the stairs, she raised her hoof and pointed accusingly at Cadence. "She's evil!" Due to the wedding taking place in the afternoon, student and teachers got the day off as a public holiday was called. A few shops were still open as he trotted through the city, but they to would close when the wedding actually began. Guards still patrolled every street and stood constant vigil, but even the threat of aggression couldn't stop the cheer of ponies on this day. It was almost intoxicating, quite literally in Spell's case. Everyponies happiness seemed to float into him and his head began to spin. Seeking a reprieve from the bombardment of emotions, he made his way towards the Canterlot gardens. Oddly deserted, seeing as everypony was crowding around the front gates hoping to get in, Spell walked through the gardens in utter silence, a sense of serenity flooding through him. He paused briefly to stare up at the statue of Discord. It stood in a different position than that which he remembered, before recalling how the spirit of Disharmony had broken loose during the summer of last year. Shaking his head, he entered the restored Canterlot maze, heading towards the center. As he entered, he paused briefly, hearing a strange buzzing and clicking sound, followed by a soft melody. Deeply disturbed, he cast his eyes around him, trying to find the source. Unable to find anything, he warily continued on his path, unaware that above him a swarm was gathering to batter at the magical shield. Upon reaching the center, Spell attempted to meditate in peace, drawing in energy from the plant life around him. His peace was disturbed by a voice that was not his own going off in his head. "Begin the attack my subjects. Time to feed." Spell's eyes shot wide open and he jumped to his hooves, eyes darting everywhere, trying to find the cause. He was in the process of working himself down from a panic attack when a loud cracking noise came from above him. Looking up, he saw lines appearing in the shield, and hundreds if not thousands of black flying creatures battering into the shield. Rooted to the spot, he could do nothing but watch as the defensive barrier fell apart, and came crashing down into the ground. The creatures hovered in the air for a precious few seconds, before enveloping themselves in green fire and dive bombing the city.
Prologue Prologue A hooded figure dressed in black dashed across the streets of Canterlot silently, attempting not to draw any attention to themselves. The night was cold and wet, as the Pegasi had scheduled a week long rain storm to descend upon the city, causing minor flooding of the streets and gutters. The figure was a rather small pony shaped being. Its cloak was black and tattered, and on closer inspection you would see that underneath, it was as black as the cloak it was wearing. A bundle was tied to its back, as he headed towards the Canterlot orphanage. As it arrived on the door step, a green glow came from under the hood, and the bundle lifted of its back and was laid on the front steps. The figure chattered slightly at the bundle as it started to move. With a great sigh the figure started to back away from the bundle into the shadows across the street, as the bundle began to cry out. It did not take long before the front door opened, and a Unicorn and Pegasus mare stood in the door way looking at the bundle. “Oh my.......someone left a child.” The Pegasus spoke and looked around trying to see anyone who might have left it. “Leave off it Cherry. The pony who left it obviously wants us to look after the poor creature.” The Unicorn spoke, before lifting up the pony in a soft azure aura. Moving the folds of the bundle to better look at the child, both of them gave a slight gasp, as the creature inside seemed pony like, but was not. It seemed more insectoid, as its skin was grey, and its legs, mane and horn had holes in them. As they stared at the changeling child, it gurgled looking at the two mares, before his horn glowed green and it was encompassed in a green fire. The fire lasted for about 5 seconds before it dissipated, and the changeling child appeared like a normal pony. The two mares looked at each other very confused before solidifying there looks and speaking. “Pony or not, it’s our job to look after the child.” The Unicorn said. “Agreed, but what are we going to call it Dawn?” Dawn looked at the changeling once more before smiling. “I think this pony is going to be good at magic, if it could do that at this young age. Let’s call it, Spell Bound.” Smiling the two ponies turned and took the child into the orphanage, shutting the door behind them. As they did, the figure moved out of the shadows with its hood down, revealing it too, to be a changeling. Softly it chattered after the two mares, which translated to Equestrian would mean “Take care young one. And remember......remember what the joker said to the thief.” Its cryptic message spoken, it quickly shed its cloak, and flew off into the night, it’s mission complete. 5 years later “OK everypony, time for lunch!” a chorus of cheers erupted from the orphanage play ground as the little fillies and colts ran inside and sat around the huge table awaiting lunch. Doing a head count, a slight worried expression overcame Cherry Flowers face, as they were one head short. Scanning the hall of faces, she quickly knew who it was and where to find them. “Miss Dawn Sky, would you kindly go get our book worm from his studies?” The Pegasus called out. Dawn Sky gave a slight chuckle and quickly trotted out of the dining hall smiling, and made her way towards the orphanage library. Once arriving at the library it took a total of 10 seconds to find the book fort, and the young colt who had made it while reading. “Come along darling, you’re missing lunch.” Spell’s ear pricked up at the mention of food and quickly closed his book and ran off towards the dining hall giggling. Dawn stole a glance at the book he was reading, and smiled slightly knowing her predictions of him was true, as the book was titled “Starswirl’s Magical Theories for young ones”. Tapping a hoof against her chin she thought for a minute before running out of the orphanage and down the streets of Canterlot. Spell sat at the table happily. Food, the one thing he loved as much as his magical studies, if not more. Still, he felt slightly nervous around the other ponies around the orphanage. He had a rather unusual ability that none of the others had, and if they found out they might be afraid of him. Unlike most ponies, he could see, sense, feel and taste emotions. While he was nervous around them, he was quite glad to be around them during meal times, as their emotions seemed to enhance the taste of the food. Smiling and joking with the other colts and fillies around him he ate his lunch in peace until Miss Dawn Sky ran into the dining hall out of breath, causing everyone to look at her. “Could..........Spell..........please.........come...........here” She panted out trying to catch her breath. Nervously Spell got up from his table and walked over to her. “Y....yes Miss Sky?” Smiling Dawn Sky floated a sheet of paper in front of Spell. Looking at it, a huge grin over took his face and he started hoping about happily. “THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!” Cherry shot a confused glance at Dawn, who in return mouthed out Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, before turning her attention back to the hoping Unicorn. “Ok Spell, calm down. You still need to pass the entry exam, but I am sure you can do it. Your exam is tomorrow.” Spell ran back over to his table and finished his lunch before running back to his room to get prepared for his upcoming entry exam. 10 years later Spell sat in front of and old Oak tree in the Canterlot park eating his lunch with his two closest friends, Cotton Needle and Twilight Sparkle, if you could call friendship with Twilight friendship. She was more focused on her studies and saw Spell simply as a study partner. Cotton Needle was a seamstress pony, who was studying sewing and necromancy magic at the school, and was quite gifted at both. Her fur was a light shade of pink, and her mane was a darker pink at the top, purple in the middle and seemed to be black at the very tip. Her hooves also had a tendency to glow black when performing necromancy, and her cutie mark was a thread spool surrounded by a sewed heart. Spell had also recently gotten his Cutie Mark. It was a leaf surrounded by stars, indicating his speciality at nature magic. He excelled at his Nature Magic class both in theory and practice, while his other classes, such as teleportation, Necromancy, and Pyromancy he was barely scrapping through the practical half of them. They ate their lunch in silence. Soon their final exams would take place, and they would go their separate ways. Twilight would go to the Canterlot castle to continue studies under Princess Celestia herself, while Cotton planned to head to a town called Ponyville to start a fashion shop. As for Spell, he didn’t really know what he was going to do. He thought about simply travelling the world to learn more about magic and its mythical beings, but also wanted just to settle down and do something productive with his life. As they finished their lunch they heard a bell ring. “Well, looks like it’s time. Good luck everypony.” Spell said as they stood up and headed towards the exam hall. 5 years later Spell sat in his cottage outside of the Ever-free forest smiling. He liked it here. It was close to nature, and the forest was full of undocumented creatures. Not only that, he was near two of his child hood friends, as Cotton still lived in Ponyville, and a few years ago Twilight moved into the Golden Oaks Library. However soon Spell would be going back to Canterlot for a temporary job at his old school teaching Nature magic. Sighing he stood up and decided to take a walk. Looking up at the sky he smiled and said to himself, “Today’s a good day. Doubt anything bad will happen soon.” Little did he know, that the changeling invasion of Canterlot, had already begun.
Chapter 1Spell waited at the Ponyville station whistling, laden with saddlebags full of books, waiting for the train to Canterlot to pull in. He was rather excited to return to the place of his childhood, and even more excited about the idea of teaching younger generations what he had learned. Of course, he had to get to Canterlot first, and that seemed like it was going to take forever seeing how overdue the train was. It was supposed to have arrived at 12:05, and it was now 12:15. Sighing, he looked in the direction of Canterlot, and a quizzical look came over his face as he saw the purple bubble around it. He recognized it as a magical shield, but didn’t understand why there was one of such magnitude around the capital city. There hadn’t been a war in hundreds of years, so there was no need to have such active defenses around. He snapped out of his musing as the train whistle blew, signalling it was pulling in. Smiling, he quickly boarded the train and found a table seat, putting some of his books onto it, and began to sort through his notes and write up a lesson plan of what he was going to teach. “Right, first magical theory, then how magic ties in with Nature, but what after that?” He muttered to himself tapping his chin with his hoof thinking. Twilight and her friends sat in the middle of a park enjoying a nice picnic. Rainbow Dash had managed to keep the weekend clear of rain so they could enjoy their picnic without getting soaked halfway through it. They sat around a picnic laughing as Spike ran over to them. Out of breath Spike panted for a minute before handing Twilight a letter sent from Princess Celestia. Twilight took it in her magic and read it out to everypony. “Dear Twilight, I am sure you are as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot.” She looked at her friends confused. “Wedding?” AJ and the others simply shrugged as she continued reading. “I will be presiding over the ceremony, but would very much like you and your friends to help with the preparations for this wonderful occasion. Fluttershy, I would like you and your songbird choir to provide the music.” “Oh my goodness, what an honor” Fluttershy said softly before Twilight continued. “Pinkie Pie, I can think of no one more qualified to then you to host the reception.” Pinkie Pie performed a quick cartwheel across the picnic blanket. “Hip. Hip. Hooray!” Twilight fixed the teapot Pinkie knocked over and continued reading out the list. “Applejack, you will be in charge of the catering of the reception.” “Well color me pleased as punch” AJ said happily as Rainbow yawned trying to act uninterested. “Rainbow Dash, I would very much appreciate it if you could perform a sonic rainboom as the bride and groom finish their I do’s.” As this was said Rainbow jumped up in the air flying slightly shouting “YES!” “Rarity you will be responsible for designing the dress for the bride and her bridesmaids.” Rarity’s jaw fell open as she stuttered out “Princess Celestia wants me bah beah wedding dress for a Canterlot weeding ahyeah wooo” Before falling over fainting in happiness. “As for you Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all, making sure everything goes as planned. See you all very soon, yours, Princess Celestia.” Twilight looked at the back of the letter confused. “But I don’t understand, who’s getting married?” “Oh wait, I was probably meant to give you this one first.” Spike said sheepishly as he handed Twilight another letter. Twilight rolled her eyes as she read out the second letter. “Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mia Morea Cadenza and...” She gasped loudly surprised at the second name. “My Brother?!” Spell shivered as he went through the magical shield. It felt strange to have another Unicorn’s magic to wash over all of him. In most instances it would be considered a violation of a pony’s privacy, but considering all the royal guard stationed around the train station no one really spoke up against it. He stretched putting his books back into the saddle bag, and walked out into the sunlight. He breathed in the city air and trotted off towards Celestia’s school for gifted Unicorns. It had been several years since he had walked the streets of his childhood. Smiling he looked around and saw old shops he used to visit frequently. He checked the time before making a quick detour into a candy shop to get some sweets. “Hello Toothy! Miss me you old goat?” Spell called out as he entered the shop. The old stallion nicknamed Toothy came out the back of the shop. “Spelly? That you young lad? How ya been? It’s been ages since you came in here.” Toothy chuckled slightly. He was a brown Unicorn with a short jet-black mane. His proper name was Sweet Tooth, but in his older years he had lost quite a few, hence his nick name Toothy. “Well I spent a few years traveling before I came across a nice little town named Ponyville. Such an amazing forest nearby as well.” “He he he he he! You an’ your nature. Such a strange stallion you are. Anyway, you’ll be wantin the usual aye?” “If you can remember it old man.” Toothy chuckled happily and scooped up a mix of fudge, candy corn and marshmallows pouring them into a bag and placing it on the counter. “That’ll be 5 bits young un.” Spell smiled slightly and place 10 on the counter. “Keep the change. A gift if you will.” Chuckling Toothy scooped the bits and put it into the cashier as Spell took his sweets and left the shop. Happily he ate a bit of the fudge as he walked down the main street. “Now that I’ve got some sweets, time to check in at the hotel.” Silently he made his way towards the hotel as night began to fall upon the city. Author's Note Won't be an update tomorrow probably. Most of the day will be consumed by a World of Darkness campaign. The next few chapters will be sort of filler episodes. After that, it'll focus mostly on Spell as the plot progresses.
Chapter 2By late afternoon Spell had booked into his hotel and set up the room to a way which was pleasing to him. This involved pouring magical energy into the few plants in the room to make them grow more and blossom. After that he taped several notes onto the walls of the room so he could look at them easier. To the untrained eye most of them would be random squiggles, but they would be recognised as magical algorithms and diagrams of spells and ancient artefacts. Looking at the time he figured he’d have plenty of time to quickly make his way over the castle. It had been a while since he stepped foot inside the library, and he wanted to see what textbooks they had so he could advise his new students to check them out for his courses. Plus it was a chance to say hello to old friends within the castle. Making sure that he had the key to the room, he locked the door behind him, and then cast a spell on the door adding a magical lock on to it. He was trusting of his fellow ponies, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t careful. Some of his notes were not meant for others eyes. Satisfied his room was secure; he made his way to the castle. Along the way, he heard a slight gaggle of voices. Normally he’d ignore it, but a wave of emotions hit him that forced him to stop and look. These emotions were different to most of the ponies in the city. Most were excited and happy emotions, as if they had been told great news, but one was full of anger. It was the anger that had made him stop, it smelled and tasted familiar. Looking to find its source, he smiled to see a certain purple Unicorn in the group. He went to raise a hoof to wave, but stopped when he caught a glimpse of her eyes. They were full of anger, which sent shivers down his spine. Spell decided it was best to leave her alone for now, and try to catch up later. He waited for the group to pass him by, before continuing on. He wasn’t too surprised to see Twilight was heading towards the castle. It was to be expected as she was Celestia’s personal student, and her brother was captain of the royal guard. “Right every pony. You have your orders. Go to them.” Shining Armour said to his men. He gestured to his right first, receiving a salute from the two grey and one white unicorn guard there. As they moved off he gestured to his left and received salutes from the two white and one grey pegasi guard before they moved out as well. His face was stoic, but the back of his mind was racing, torn in two. The first part was really excited about the fact he was getting married to his teenage crush, and the other half really concerned about the threat to Canterlot and his person. His mind was snapped out of this as he saw his little sister coming across the field to him. “I’ve got something to say to you mister!” Immediately in response the guards at the wall pointed their spears at Twilight, not recognising who she was to begin with. “Twily!” Shining said happily, taking off his helmet. At this, the guards stood down to let their captain deal with the matter. He ran down the stairs with a smile upon his face. “Ah I missed you kid! How was the train ride? I-” he went to pull Twilight into a hug but she ducked underneath him and began to tell him off. “How dare you not tell me in person that you are getting married?! I’m your sister for ponies sake!” She frowned and looked behind her as not to look at her brother. A saddened look came over his face at his sisters words. “It’s not my fault. Princess Celestia has requested a major increase in security. Didn’t you see all the guards at the train station?” “Yeah! There’s a big wedding coming up. Maybe you heard about it?!” Twilight moved away from her brother in an angry walk to stare into the small pond. Shining moved over to her while talking, highly confused at his sisters actions. “It has nothing to do with the wedding. A threat has been made against Canterlot.” That seemed to cut through to Twilight, who looked up at him, her eyes softer than they were a minute ago. They reminded Shining of when she was a filly and was sad about not being able to get another cookie. “We don’t know who’s responsible for it but Princess Celestia ask I help provide additional protection.” Turning back to face his sister, he lifted his hoof up to under her chin, and bring her face back up to face his. “This, you need to see.” He backed away a little bit and stood straight, channelling magic through his horn. He sent a blast of purple energy up to reenergise the magical shield. As soon as the spell was done, he felt the headache return. He rubbed his head slightly and it quickly subsided, for the time being. “The burden of keeping Canterlot safe and secure lays squarely on my shoulders. Staying focused on the task at hand is in my top priority.” He explained to Twilight as they walked back up the stairs onto the castle parapets. Twilight frowned, feeling ashamed with herself as she followed behind her brother. “Ok, ok I get it. You have a really important job protecting all of Canterlot with a force field only you can conjure up. But still, how can you not tell me something as big as your wedding? Am I not that important to you anymore?” Shining laid a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “Hey, you’re my little sister. Of course you’re important to me.” He looked forward slightly with a sly grin. Buut I’d understand if you didn’t want to be my best mare now.” Twilights features instantly brightened. “You want me to be your best mare?!” “Well, yeah.” “I’d be honoured!” The two quickly hugged, before Twilight pushed him away slightly. “But I’m still pretty ticked you’re marrying somepony I don’t even know! When did you even meet this Princess Mia Morea Cadenza?” Shining smiled and chuckled slightly. “Twily, Princess Mia Morea Cadenza is Cadence.” Spell quickly ducked into the castle Library as soon as he arrived. He wasn’t too keen on the increase of guards in the city, and he didn’t like the flood of emotions he could sense within the main hall. Everypony seemed to be preparing for some big event, but he’d be damned if he knew what it was. He decided just to get to the sanctuary of books as soon as possible. It only took him a few minutes to navigate himself around the castle and find the Library. He walked the path so many times he could do it in his sleep. As soon as he entered the Castle he breathed in deeply, smelling the library air. It was comforting to him, and reminded him of a time past where he spent several hours in the library studying up on his courses. He took a little time to wander the several shelves, looking at both new and old additions to the library. Some titles he recognised, having read them several times over and could probably tell you word for word what the first few chapters said. Others were new books that he didn’t recognise, and a few were titles he only had heard of in passing, as they were thought to have been lost to time. When he finally came across the nature magic section, he was slightly disappointed in the lack of choice they had. There were several copies of the same book, which would be good for a class to check out, but there were so few advanced books. However, much to his surprise, he found a couple of books he had written on the subject. The last thing he would of expected was for his writings to ever make it into the Canterlot Library. “Well, when I heard you had written books, I couldn’t help but get them and see if they were actually worth the money.” A voice behind him said, almost as if it had been reading his mind. Turning around, Spell came face to face with the old Librarian. He wasn’t necessarily an old pony, but you could tell he was no longer young. Spell smiled widely at seeing his old friend. “Silver Scroll! How have you been!” He was greeted with a smack on the head with a scroll and a shh for being loud, before Silver Scroll returned the smile and embraced the young stallion. “I’ve been fine. And what of you eh? Published author? Regular expert on Nature Magic? When I heard they were bringing you in as a teacher I couldn’t believe it.” Spell kept up his wide goofy smile while they talked. They reminisced about times past when Spell was a student, as well as their most recent adventures. They kept on talking for several hours before they realized night would soon be upon them. Spell excused himself, and with another hug, had set off once more for his hotel. He stopped briefly on his way to stare up at the night sky, admiring the beauty that Luna created, before going into the hotel and up to his room. After a day of travel, he went straight to bed and was asleep quickly. He had much to do the following day, he had an introductory lecture to give in the afternoon.
Chapter 3Levitating in a turquoise aura, the chalk quickly scrawled on the chalk board as Spell Bound talked. “Good Morning Class. I am Spell Bound, and I shall be your teacher for this course.” He looked over the class. Many were seniors; about the age he had been when he started the course. A few were advanced students, ponies in the younger years who progressed quicker than their counter parts. Inwardly he frowned; it could be a problem seeing as students like them would not be happy with the basic text books he could suggest from the Library. Still, that would be a bridge to cross later. “And this Course is Nature Magic, both practical and theory, mainly practical as I bet many of you would like a hoof’s on approach. But don’t be fooled, there is still plenty of Theory and you will have to know both if you want to pass. Now, who knows the basic idea of Nature Magic?” A few hooves were raised into the air as he asked the question. He looked across the class and chose one of the older students. She was a light blue unicorn mare with her long strawberry blonde mane tied up in a pun. A few strands that had escaped had pink highlights, and her eyes were a deep purple. “Sir, the basic idea of Nature Magic is sometimes considered a branch of white magic. It can be used to grow and manipulate general plant life at a basic level, while at an advanced level it can be used to create plant life where there was none, and to decay other plant life and have a finer manipulation of it. It is said that those who are at the mastery level can manipulate the plants so they are like an extension of themselves.” Spell smiled at the student and nodded. “Gold star Miss…” He consulted his register which had pictures next to each name. “Mystic Aura. Well done. But there are other applications to it. Within Nature Magic lies the path to alchemy, and healing magic. As you said, it is indeed a branch of white magic, much like Pyromancy is a branch of Dark Magic. Do not let the names fool you though. White Magic can still be used for ill. It is possible to use Nature Magic as an offensive magic, but I will not be teaching you that. I’m not training soldiers, I’m teaching students.” For the next 45 minutes he talked, asked questions and scribbled notes on the chalk board. Many of them consisted of what they would be covering over the year. “Right, before I let you all go; are there any questions?” He was slightly surprised when quite a few of hooves went into the air. “Well then, a curious lot aren’t you? Well that’s good. Very well, first question from you Mister Bass Fortune.” Bass was a tall skinny colt with a dark maroon coat. His hair was cut similarly to the famous DJ Pon3, except it was a dark purple outer layer and a light turquoise inner layer. His eyes were a dark penetrating blue. “Sir, are you a former student?” Spell Bound smiled. He liked this class very much; they would be enjoyable to teach. “Yes Bass, I was a student here. I come from a local orphanage and my carer enrolled me and I was allowed into the practical examination, which I thankfully passed. Yes Miss Steam Amethyst.” Steam was one of the lower class students who were advanced enough to be moved up. Her eyes were very green, and her mane was slightly messy and purple. Her coat was sky blue. “Yes, sir. Um..are you the Spell Bound who wrote the book Nature Magic: The practitioner’s guidebook and The many uses of Poison Joke?” There was a slight murmur around the room, and Spell stood slightly surprised. He hadn’t expected anyone that young to bother reading his books. He felt proud almost and quickly smiled at the young filly. “Indeed I am. I wrote those two and a few others entailing the uses and theories of Nature Magic. You are all very welcome to check them out of the Canterlot Library, as well as the Collective text books about the subject. Well, I think that’s all the time I have for today. All of you off to your next lecture or break or whatever you young colts get up to with your free time now days. Just don’t burn down the big tree in the park. The grounds keeper might think it was me. Again.” He smiled in remembrance of when he accidentally set the big oak tree on fire while demonstrating what he had learned in his Pyromancy course to Cotton Needle. Needless to say, the grounds keeper was not happy with the young colt. He waited for all his students to file out before wiping the board of all its notes and packing away his own personal notes and books. With his own personal effects tidied up, he left the room, locking it behind him so no students would be tempted to play in there during a free study period. As he walked through the halls into the teacher’s lounge. Once there his already present smile widened even more as he saw his old Pyromancy teacher. “Flaring Inkwell! Well I never thought I’d see you in this school again!” The pony turned to face his former student and returned the wide smile. “I could say the same thing about you, you rascal! I thought they’d never let you back in after that tree incident. Burnt the whole thing to the ground! The grounds keeper was demanding your expulsion.” Both of them laughed at this. “Well, he was always demanding some student’s expulsion for some accidental slight.” Spell said with a smile. He gave his old teacher a hug giving him a pat on the back, before moving away slightly. “So, what ever happened to retiring?” Flaring brushed a hoof through his mane. It was a fiery red, though years of being around exploding spells and experiments had left a permanent soot layer in his mane, which only helped add to the fiery and professor look. His coat was a darker red, and his eyes blue as water. He chuckled at Spell’s question. “Well I was about to, but then I heard they were bringing your sorry flank in as a teacher, so I just had to stick around a bit longer.” They both laughed once more a talked with each other. Spell saw quite a few familiar faces amongst the staff in the lounge. A few were old teachers while others were fellow students who had also become members of staff. After a while though both teachers had to go. Flaring to teach a new class about the health and safety rules about Pyromancy, and Spell to head home. He was done for the day, and needed to regroup his notes for the next lesson as well as get some lunch. Later in the day Spell sat in his room eating some more of the fudge he had bought the day before, looking over his calendar. He marked down to visit the Orphanage in which he had grown up in three days. He figured it would be best to wait till after the royal wedding before visiting his ‘family’. As soon as he had this thought he smacked himself in the head slightly, only just figuring out why there was so much added security and all the preparations in the castle. “God Spell, for a smart pony, you can be a real idiot.” He said aloud to himself before shaking his head with a sigh. He finished up planning his week before calling it a day. Luna’s night was already rising and he felt tired. Night was in its early hours, and on a summer’s evening, shops would still be open and ponies would be walking the streets. In one such shop, the Bearers of Harmony sat around talking about the wedding preparations while enjoying their drinks. That is, until Twilight walked up and plonked her drink on the table. “I can guess what you’re all thinking.” She said in a sing song voice. “Cadence is the absolute worst bride to be ever!” Everyone else at the table looked at her kind of shocked, as if she had just grown and extra horn out of her left nostril. Spike looked at her shocked before lifting up a tiny porcelain Cadence and said in a high pitched voice “Who? Me?” “Spike!” Applejack said sternly. “That goes on the cake!” Spike looked ashamed and put the figure on the table in front of him and AJ, before chuckling nervously. Twilight at this time was drinking from her milkshake. “Twilight whatever are you talking about?” Rarity asked before smiling happily at her. “Cadence is an absolute gem!” Twilight stopped drinking and pushed the drink away looking sternly at her friend. “Rarity, she was so demanding!” Rarity simply rolled her eyes and waved this away. “Well of course she was. Why shouldn’t she expect the very best on her wedding day?” Twilight pulled a quizzical face that had traces of confusion and anger mixed in with it, before turning to AJ. “Applejack, did you know after she told you how much she just ‘love love loved’ your hors d’ouvres she just threw them in the trash?” Applejack looked at Twilight dumbfounded for a brief second before smiling. “Ah she was probably just spare my feelings.” She then went back to drinking her drink. “No, was just being fake and totally insincere!” Twilight said waving her arms around. Everyone at the table fell silent looking around slight confused and uncomfortable. Fluttershy after a few seconds raised her hoof as she spoke. “She did raise her voice at one my birds during rehearsal.” “See! Rude!” Twilight said triumphantly as she crossed her hoofs and nodded to herself. “But he was singing really off key.” Fluttershy finished, raising up her hoof again with a bird on it, who warbled off key, loudly and horribly. Everypony at the table cringed and covered their ears. Twilight turned to her pink bubbly friend looking for support. “Pinkie Pie, you had to have noticed how Cadence treated-” she stopped midsentence at seeing Pinkie and Spike playing with porcelain replicas of Cadence and Shining, making them kiss each other while making kissy sounds and giggling. “Never mind.” Twilight said rolling her eyes. “Well Rainbow Dash, you’re with me right?” She asked as she stood up. Rainbow answered by flexing her arm and stretching her wings before answering. “Sorry Twi, been too busy prepping for my Sonic Rainboom to pay much attention to the brides bad attitude.” Twilight, who had returned to sipping her drink slammed it down back onto the table and growled in annoyance. Rarity quickly placed a reassuring hoof on Twilights arm. “The princess is about to get married, I’m sure any negative behaviour she might be displaying is simply the result of nerves.” Twilight brushed Rarity’s hoof off of her as she stood up once more growing more frustrated by the minute. She slammed her hoof down on the table, causing her drink to jump as she spook. “And I’m it’s the result of her being an awful pony who doesn’t deserve to even know Shining Armour let alone marry him!” Her friends stared at her once more before Applejack spoke up. “Think maybe you’re being just a tiny bit possessive of your brother?” The other girls and Spike at the table nodded with an hmm-mh sound. “I am not being possessive! And I am not taking it out on Cadence! You’re all just too caught up in your wedding planning to notice that maybe there shouldn’t even be a wedding.” She finished her sentence with slamming her hoof down on the table knocking all the drinks over and breaking a few of the glasses. Finished with her rant, she turned and stormed off away from her friends, leaving them all in a confused state. Author's Note What's this? Two updates in one day? I know! Crazy! Today was just a good writing day. Words came fairly easily. Now, I am going to sleep. Because it's 12:37am here and I am tired! I hope you enjoy. Soon things shall be gooood
Chapter 4Shining Armour stood at the would be altar next to his soon to be Aunt-in-law and Spike. The arch behind them was decorated in wreaths of purple and pink flowers. From the windows the entirety of Canterlot city could be seen, and the ever present pink hue of the shield protecting them from an unknown threat. Spike stood a couple steps below Shining, holding the pillow upon which the wedding ring rested. All their attentions were drawn to the door as Five of the bearers of Harmony, now acting as substitute bride maids to Cadence, Walked in slwoly and in Sync, all of them smiling happily. "Perfect Girls, no need to rush." Celestia praised them from afar. Rainbow dash winked to Rarity, and they both stopped, bringing their front hooves to their face giggling happily. "Then of course, Cadence will enter." the princess of the sun cut in. All eyes turned expectantly towards the doors once more. The two unicorn guards enveloped each door in their magical, one glowing gold, the other azure, and opened them up to reveal the bride-to-be. A goofy smile overtook Shining's face as he saw his fiance, watching her intently as she slowly made her way up to the altar. Celestia then continued running through how the ceremony would take place. "I will say a few words, and then we'll begin with the vows." Cadence and Shining Armour nuzzled each other slightly, before looking at Celestia once more. "Shining Armour, you'll get the ring from your best mare." Shining turned to look behind him expectantly, but his smile was quickly replaced with a frown and look of confusion at seeing where Twilight was supposed to be standing empty. Instead, all they saw was Spike sitting on the steps, playing with the little dolls of Cadence and Shining Armour again. "Do you?" he said, imitating Shining's deeper voice, then responded to himself in a high voice as he accidentally let shining's doll go flying "I do!" "Hey, has anypony seen Twilight?" Shining asked. At that moment, the distinctive sound of magic was heard as Twilight threw both doors open with a look of determination on fer features. "I'm Here!" she announced, shooting daggers at everyone and yet no one with her eyes. She began marching forward towards the soon to be married couple, announcing her intentions along the way. "I'm not going to stand next to her, and neither should you!" Shining grimaced with embarrassment, his eyes darting to his fiance briefly, and then to spike, before facing Cadence once more. "I'm sorry, I don't know why she's acting like this." Cadence looked sideways at Twilight, her own eyes full of anger and daggers now as well. "Maybe we should just ignore her." "You have to listen to me!" Twilight shouted from across the chamber. She gritted her teeth together and glared at Cadence. "Oh goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed floating over to her friend. "Are you ok?" "I'm fine." Twilight responded, moving herself away from her friend, only to find Applejack in her face. "Are ya sure bout that?" Frowning in annoyance Twilight used her magic to shove Aj's hat into her face and resumed her march towards the altar. "I have something to say!" The rest of her friends watched on in horror as she continued her march. Once she reached the stairs, she raised her hoof and pointed accusingly at Cadence. "She's evil!" Due to the wedding taking place in the afternoon, student and teachers got the day off as a public holiday was called. A few shops were still open as he trotted through the city, but they to would close when the wedding actually began. Guards still patrolled every street and stood constant vigil, but even the threat of aggression couldn't stop the cheer of ponies on this day. It was almost intoxicating, quite literally in Spell's case. Everyponies happiness seemed to float into him and his head began to spin. Seeking a reprieve from the bombardment of emotions, he made his way towards the Canterlot gardens. Oddly deserted, seeing as everypony was crowding around the front gates hoping to get in, Spell walked through the gardens in utter silence, a sense of serenity flooding through him. He paused briefly to stare up at the statue of Discord. It stood in a different position than that which he remembered, before recalling how the spirit of Disharmony had broken loose during the summer of last year. Shaking his head, he entered the restored Canterlot maze, heading towards the center. As he entered, he paused briefly, hearing a strange buzzing and clicking sound, followed by a soft melody. Deeply disturbed, he cast his eyes around him, trying to find the source. Unable to find anything, he warily continued on his path, unaware that above him a swarm was gathering to batter at the magical shield. Upon reaching the center, Spell attempted to meditate in peace, drawing in energy from the plant life around him. His peace was disturbed by a voice that was not his own going off in his head. "Begin the attack my subjects. Time to feed." Spell's eyes shot wide open and he jumped to his hooves, eyes darting everywhere, trying to find the cause. He was in the process of working himself down from a panic attack when a loud cracking noise came from above him. Looking up, he saw lines appearing in the shield, and hundreds if not thousands of black flying creatures battering into the shield. Rooted to the spot, he could do nothing but watch as the defensive barrier fell apart, and came crashing down into the ground. The creatures hovered in the air for a precious few seconds, before enveloping themselves in green fire and dive bombing the city.
