A Purple Alicorn Vs. A Purple Book
A Purple Alicorn Vs. A Purple Book
Twilight Sparkle Vs. A Book
by Nugget
After the devastating loss of the Golden Oak Library, Twilight Sparkle was blessed with the gift of a brand new castle that contained all the features that usually come with a typical royal palace. With a meeting circle for The Counsel of Friendship, her own master bedroom for her and Spike to sleep in, and so on... The whole place was perfect for Equestria’s newest princess to live in. Oh wait… I did forget one more thing…
Located in the central hub of the castle, “Twilight Sparkle's Grand Tower” played host to an iron staircase that spun its way up the middle of the palace’s tallest tower. As for its crystal walls, they were conventionally constructed to serve as brand new bookshelves for a certain somepony that liked to read. To which, it didn’t take Twilight less than a day for her to fill each counter and rack with new copies of same books that were lost in the explosion. Quickly accomplishing the easy task, Twilight called the new area her “Personal Library.” It immediately became her location to spend time studying any subject that seemed to pique her interest.
Whether it be any advanced mathematics, such as Calculus and Differential Equations, to the simple subjects of art and music, Twilight was always able find a book that contained the exact discipline she wanted to focus on. This provided her with the perfect opportunity to finally learn about a skill she personally lacks. A skill that was worth the countless minutes of searching across her entire collection to find the single book that pertained to what she wanted to read about. Meanwhile, as Twilight set the text down upon her wooden desk, Spiked cocked his head to the side and scratched it.
“Um, Twilight?” said Spike, placing a lit candle beside it.
“Yes, Spike?” she answered, while looking down upon the purple book. It was wrapped around by two painted gold braces.
He extended his left arm out and pointed at it. “What's that book?” he asked.
“Ugh,” she grunted. “It’s called A Procrastinator's Guide to Ponies Who Wish to Master Procrastination… by Sloppy Writer.”
When Spike heard that statement, he couldn’t help himself to feel a bit conflicted. In fact, he questioned the fact that Twilight, one of the busiest ponies he knew besides Rarity, wished to understand the trait of being lazy. Shouldn't she already know how to do that? he thought to himself.
Not coming up with an answer to his own question or reasons as to why she wanted to learn to be more apathetic, he then knew he had to ask her. Clearing his throat, Spike told her, “Um, Twilight… Why are you wanting to read a book about procrastination?”
“Ugh,” she grunted, again. “Because Spike... With me balancing out my duties as a princess and devoting my time to studying, I have come to realize that my hard work has made me forget how to relax!” She crossed her forehooves and slammed them down on the desk, burying her head within those arms.
Spike continued with his questions. “Well… Why do you need a book to tell you how to do that?”
Twilight raised her head up and snapped at him, “Because Spike! It’s just who I am! And that I would just appreciate someone else telling me… WHO ISN'T my friend or any physical pony for the matter being… to tell me how to relax… ok!"
“ok…” replied Spike, trembling behind his pillow armor.
Twilight let out another grunt before planting her head back down on the desk. Almost letting out a huge scream from within her confinement, her memories of the past week reminded her about the stress that came with the job of being a princess. That she had to be one to solve nearly every single tiny problem that occurred within Ponyville and the surrounding areas, to figure out and delicate the proper sentencing of each pleading and crying case she had to hear, and to be the unfortunate one to taste Pinkie Pie’s newest creations. After all, she must be the one to make sure they are edible. Sounds easy right?
As Twilight lifted her head back up to gaze upon the book, she noticed the two braces had combination dials. If a certain pony knew the two correct codes, the dials would instantly unlock the binds and make the book readable. Otherwise, as Twilight knew, they will remain clapped to book and keep it in an unreadable state.
However, this doesn't limit the potential reader from getting creative on figuring out how to pick the locks open.
“Hmm…” said Twilight, raising the book up and into the candle’s light. She thought to herself for a moment before she shouted, “Ah, ha!” Before long, her horn began to glow along with the tumblers contained within each separate lock. Making the digits become a visible blur, Twilight cast a spell that caused the lock combinations to begin spinning upon their own build-in axis. Turning to Spike, she boasted to him, “See… This will be an easy job for the un-locking spell I just learned… In fact...”
*Click* *Click*
“See! I knew it would…” she broke midway through her speech as she tried to pry the book open. However, upon her own unsatisfying discovery, her spell failed to unlock the welded braces. Almost agitated by the result, Twilight decided to re-cast the spell upon the book and make the tumblers spin again. Hearing the same two clicks from before, she tried to open up the book, but found no success in doing so. Instead, she saw the same number displayed on each of the dials… “Zero.”
Twilight was agitated, yet still determined to get the book open. After all, the secret to her life becoming peaceful was contained within the bindings of a book that she was denied to read. Under this situation, it fueled her desire, along with the impending rage within her, to try a more drastic measure to open it. Therefore, Twilight spoke out to Spike that she had to rely on the physical world as her leverage for destruction.
Upon hearing her idea, he tried to talk some sense into the deranged pony. “You know, you could just send a message to Celestia about the book…” he paused. “Maybe she might know how to unlock it?”
Twilight giggled. “Oh Spike, besides the fact that it is almost 10:30 p.m and that she would properly be asleep by now... If she would have known how to unlock the book, she would have done so before handing it over to me.”
Spike squinted. “Are you sure about that?”
Twilight reassured him. “I am positive… In fact, isn't this the only book that we have found in our library to be actually locked up?”
Spike replied, “Well, when you put it that way-”
“-Great, I’m glad you understand!” interrupted Twilight in a hasty tone. “Now stay down here while I fly up to the top of this tower to drop it... ok?”
“ok…” replied Spike, not confident with the plan.
After Twilight levitated the book from her desk, she scooted out her chair and placed all four of her legs down upon the tile floor. Unfolding her wings, she began to flap them while lifting her entire body off the ground and up into the depths of the high tower. Climbing with the book encased in her magic, she saw the main floor become slightly smaller and smaller with every single staircase level she passed. Before reaching the peak of the main tower, she looked down to see the purple dot that was her assistant.
She yelled at him, “Are you ready Spike?!”
“Yeah!” he echoed back.
“Whelp, here we go!” replied Twilight.
When she released the book from her magical grip, the natural force of gravity didn't waste its time anchoring the text. It sent it barreling through the same staircase levels that it passed on the way upward. As it increased its velocity towards the first floor, Twilight could see the mass of the book decreasing in its size while Spike saw the outline of it coming within the vicinity of him. Then after a few more seconds, the bounded text collided with the tile floor.
*SLAM!*
As the book smacked the ground on one of its long, flat sides, the purple alicorn soared down from the top of the tower and landed near her dropped book. While Spike walked up next to his friend, they stood near the text while Twilight began to check the braces for any possible signs of damage. Sadly, upon her discovery, the bind and locks remained completely unscathed from the one-hundred foot plummet. This result didn't please the princess.
“Are… you… kidding me!” she shrieked.
Spike couldn’t help himself to say, “Wow, this book is insanely tough to open.” He then turned his head towards Twilight and saw an image that made him crack an agonized grin.
Twilight was angry. Not only did her spell not work, but dropping it from an incredible height didn't even put a single scratch on the locks. Instead, they completely remained in working order as Twilight spun the dials over and over again in desperation. She hoped to just get lucky and spin the correct four digits to open the up one of the latches.
“Zero, Zero, Zero, One,” she said. “Nope… ugh!”
As she placed the book back on the desk and turned away from Spike, he managed to successfully sneak out of the room and head off to bed. Tired of the shenanigans and the long day he spent, the little dragon left the purple pony alone to deal with her problem.
Meanwhile, Twilight sat back down in her chair and scooted it up. Oblivious to the disappearance of her friend, she repeated, “Zero, Zero, Zero, Three….. And Nope! Maybe Zero, Zero, Zero, Four? no… five? nah…”
Continuing to spin the each of the dials in single order, her previous frustrations begun to build upon itself with each incorrect combination she came across. Then as the minutes became hours of failure, the intense focus on her goal fueled her deepening hatred for a certain thing that was constructed out of nylon. Causing her, to an extent, to make her feel the passing of each mental milestone in her anger. Thus, another wrinkle or misplaced hair showed up on her face and mane. Meanwhile, she still continued to spin the dials, but at a much faster and urgent rate.
“Zero, One, Twenty-four? no… Zero, One, Twenty-five?...” She tensely said those words before the dials stopped turning.
Frozen in their place, they were unable to move by the simple stroke of her hoof.
“Eureka!” she shouted. “I think I did-” her statement was broken by the movement of the last dial from “five” to “six.”
While it was only stuck in its position for a quite a few seconds, this passage of time was enough for a stressed out horse to completely forget her own logic and reasoning. Instead, she mentally opted for violence. Her need for the destruction of the braces were now imminent.
“GGGGRRRrrrrrraaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!” she screamed as Pinkamena, from the void, handed her a sledgehammer to levitate.
While she encased the tool in a purple aurora, Twilight bit down on the book and twisted her head to fling it over her shoulder and across the room. Landing nearby with a loud thud, the fully enraged alicorn sprung out of her chair and charged over towards the thrown object with her floating hammer. Arriving at its resting spot, Twilight looked over the text like it's going to be her own victim of ruthless and utterly mindless torture. Crying out a maniacal laugh towards what was about to come, she positioned her choice of weaponry above the forsaken literature and grinned.
Then as the right moment came to her, Twilight brought the sledgehammer down upon the book and struck the one of braces.
*BANG!*
She behind an impressive scratch in the material, but the nylon brace remained unbroken. This compelled Twilight to lift the hammer into the air and thrust it back down again.
*BANG!*
The second hit left behind an even bigger scratch on the lock, but the brace’s strength proved to be highly resistant to the shock of the hammer’s force. This compelled Twilight to increase the intensity in her magical grip. It resulted in the hammer reigning down a multitude of uncountable shots.
*BANG!**BANG!* *BANG!**BANG!**BANG!* *BANG!**BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!**BANG!**BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!**BANG!* *BANG!**BANG!**BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
Twilight paused, tired from her extreme rage.
Then as she rose the hammer up for a final time, the helpless book continued to lay on the floor with its braces still locked together. Beaten into, they prevailed the previous attacks unbroken. However, they were immensely scathed and decorated with cuts and strands of its own material. While it rested on the top of the purple hardback, some of the strands leaped into the air with the text as the sledgehammer propelled upon the braces a final time.
*BANG!*
After she saw the locks remain unbroken, yet heavily damaged, Twilight mentally and physically gave up as she collapsed upon the tile floor in her own sweat and anger. Curling up next to what remained of the book, she accepted her defect when she let go of the hammer and set it aside her desk. Patting the source of knowledge, Twilight began to treat it as a living creature by expressing her apologies for the beating that it endured. She vowed to never mistreat a book ever again.
As she maintained her caressing of the brace’s layer of jagged cuts and scrapes, Twilight couldn’t help herself to feel a tiny hole that protruded into the lock. Rubbing it a few more times by using her left hoof to cross the gap back and forth, Twilight had a major epiphany before she conjured a needle that was small enough to poke into the hole. Pressing it down into the depths, a sudden click was heard as the first nylon brace broke its grasp from the book. After it was removed with ease, Twilight repeated the same procedure with the second brace and popped it off and onto the floor.
“Padlocks,” she said to herself, almost laughing at the fact that she fell for the fake combination dials. Nevertheless, the locks were off and all that stood now between Twilight Sparkle and words of the book was a single hardback flip to the first page.
She took in a deep breath and held it. Thinking to herself, Here we go, she slowly exhaled her air and turned over the purple front cover to the supposed page marked with the number “one.” Skimming through each pre-body section of the, Twilight’s immediate attention stopped her at the dedication page.
A single quote caught her eye. From the text, she read aloud the words, “Sometimes, the best lessons are the ones we all realize through our experiences and failures. Or they are the ones that will stare back at us and make ourselves regret or think about the actions we have done beforehand.” Twilight nodded her head.
“Well, I can agreed with that,” she said, flipping pass the page to “Chapter One.”
A sudden scream came from her.
The chapter was empty of words. A barren wasteland that was deprived of the knowledge that Twilight sought, but didn't find. Thus, it caused the princess to frantically search throughout the rest of the book for anything that could be a sign of text that she could read. Sadly, the whole rest of the volume was blank as well.
This internally made Twilight give up on her book as she externally let out a final booming grunt. It was followed by her grabbing the book and flinging it over her shoulder again. Twilight then proceeded to leave the room frustrated.
She knew that she shouldn't have worked herself up over nothing.
