Twilight
My tongue tingled pleasantly as I sipped from the small, white porcelain cup that held a warm and deliciously honey-blueberry flavored tea. The smell of a forest was present at my nostrils. The warm, sweet golden glow of dusk tinted everything in the homely cottage with it's light touch. I could hear the tiny creatures scampering around, through, and in Fluttershy's house. I closed my eyes and took a moment to appreciate the calm serenity. As I opened them again, I saw that the butter-yellow pegasus was staring intently out of the window to her left while she was curled up on her couch. Her ears were perked and at attention. I set my cup down on the small wooden, decorative table between us and released it from my grip of magic. Not wanting to disturb her, I kept silent. Yet I was quite curious as to what had captured her attention so raptly.Within moments, without turning towards me, she spoke in her soft, whispering voice"Twilight, did you hear that?".
"No, what was it?" I asked. I expected her to answer with "Oh, it was nothing" or some other way of brushing off what was scratching at her hidden, inner thoughts. She tended to do that often, hide her thoughts and troubles even from those of us closest to her. Albeit that it was her nature to be shy and reserved, however I wished that she would become more sociable and communicable with others. I suppose that is part of why I have been spending more one-on-one time with the mare at her home as of recent.
"I swear that I just heard a high pitched cry. " gently communicated the flowing pink-maned pony before me. I listened, but ultimately failed at discerning any semblance of the noise that Fluttershy had described to me. All I heard was the occasional pitter-patter of tiny animal paws on the floor, and the chirping of birds outside. All was quite normal and unexceptional to me at the moment.
"Well it was probably nothing too extraordinary, otherwise wouldn't your animals let you know?" I asked her.
"Yes, I guess you're right... Oh! But what if some poor, little creature is out there hurt and scared? I just have to go and see, Twilight" responded my yellow feathered friend as she pleaded at me through her sparkling emerald eyes.
I smiled and said "Okay Fluttershy, we will go walk around and make sure that no animal is hurt or in need of our assistance". She smiled in relief as I got up from my chair that had seated me, and began to walk towards the front door of her cottage. It opened, being surrounded by the magenta glow of magic at my command. Once we were outside, I paused to listen for whatever noise that Fluttershy could have heard. I thought it was nothing at first, but then I barely heard something that lead me to think differently. It was extremely faint, but I was quite sure that I had not imagined it. She quietly stepped up beside me, her mane slightly flowing in the soft breeze. Her eyes closed again and her ears were up, focused, listening. There, I saw her ear twitch in response to some sort of stimuli. And as the wind picked up slightly, I heard it again. It almost sounded like a squeal. An idea had just occurred to me and I voiced it to my friend.
"Fluttershy, I could cast a spell that would detect sound waves and alert us to the origin of them. It would be a bit like if you were blind and had to find another pegasus in the sky by flying towards the current produced by her flapping. Sound is just a similar disturbance caused by a vibration that sets in motion a domino...".
"Thank you Twilight." Fluttershy interrupted, somehow politely. "But I am afraid that if you take too long explaining it to me, then by the time we find the poor creature, it might be too late" She said as she cast her soft smile at me. I nodded, then closed my eyes and began to concentrate on the spell. Manipulating magic was easy to learn, but impossible to master. There are always new spells and new ways to manipulate it. The electrical signals that coursed through my brain's synapses were energy that carries information. When directed, the energy around, and within me receives that information and interprets it into my thoughts' directions, thus my will is enacted upon the world. The tingling sensation that soon followed was evidence of my magic beginning to work. Once the spell took effect, I began to feel intense and disorienting vibrations at my horn from a multitude of directions and locations. It was a madness that made it impossible for me to locate any one source of sound. However they all seemed to come from somewhere above me.
"Fluttershy! Tell the birds to stop making noise!" I gritted my teeth in heightened discomfort as I said this. And soon the storm of perdition passed as she followed my stressed command. Now I could gather my thoughts in an organized fashion due to the lack of intensity that bombarded me.I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with oxygen, attempting to clear my head and gather my thoughts. Then I exhaled as I stood up on all fours and began to attempt to decipher my sensations. I felt a keen sensation that came from the right of me. It was like a small, thin stream of water was colliding into my horn.
"Okay, I think it's this way. Let's go" I stated with unsure trepidation. I saw the tree-line arrive and disappear behind us as I followed the tiny, tingling sensations I felt on my horn. There were a fair number of game trails within the overgrown forest for us to follow. The air became heavy, thick, and dark as it was customary for the everfree forest's atmosphere. Fluttershy kept close to me, for the presence of comfort and security I'm sure. And I was on edge as well. The everfree forest was always a place to be wary of no matter who went in. I froze as a stream of ice ran down my spine when I detected the next sonic disturbance with my spell and ears.
"That's the sound of a baby foal" I thought. I looked over to Fluttershy, whose delicate features bore the expression of shocked horror. Apparently she had heard the same noise and reached a similar conclusion as I had. I rushed forward through the brush and foliage, and used my magic to create a concave field of energy ahead of me that bashed and destroyed the vegetation in my wake. The sound spell and my ears let me know that I was very soon close to the foal's location. So I let the force field dissipate as I went further ahead into the darkening woods. When I was close enough to see it clearly, all I thought was... "What?"
Author's Note
Anyways, please let me know any errors that you happen to see. As well as advice on how I can be a better writer. And if you didn't like it then please, please, oh please, let me know why. Thank you so much you are all pretty awesome and so is this fandom.
P.S. Most of the credit goes to Brodash for coming up with the idea. That guy is great!
Okay, so due to some feedback, I changed a number of things in this chapter. Let me know of any other changes that I can make to better the story.
Believe it or not, this is the album I listened to while writing this.
Fluttershy
I stopped when the sound reached me. Twilight was likewise frozen a few steps ahead of me. The piercing cry of a baby's call that penetrated the ever-present darkness of the Everfree was unmistakable now that we were close enough to hear it properly. Oh, no. We should be very careful. It's mother could be around and I don't think that I could even begin to calm her down if she thinks we are threatening her baby. I was about to voice my thoughts to Twilight, but then she took off galloping with a force-field in front of her.
"Twilight!" I tried to call her name, however I suppose she didn't hear me as she continued forward. So I took off after her, but she was much faster than me and had a head start. I did my best to keep up with her and not lose sight of the purple tail in front of me in the dim, fading light caused by the shadows of the forest trees. The coming dark set me even more on edge. I never enjoyed being in the forest in the daylight, and even less so at night. Finally Twilight let her magic down and moved through the underbrush towards the infant's wails.
I was fearful when she stopped and didn't move. I thought maybe she found a dangerous creature. Oh, she might have encountered a cockatrice or even been paralyzed by any of the numerous plants and animals that have that kind of poison. I hope that I have the right antidotes and antivenins at home just in case. These thoughts of worst case scenarios played through my head as I neared my lavender coated friend.
"What..." confusion and uncertainty laced her surprised exclamation. Curiosity quickly began to replace my fear of impending conflict with one of the forest's inhabitants.
"What is it Twilight?" I asked as I stepped up beside her. And what I saw on the ground in front of her was something new, and not natural. The object was shaped like an egg, but bigger than any that could belong to an animal that I had seen. The egg was grey and metal, or at least that is what it seemed to be made of, and it was the size of a young school filly.
"I have no idea... It looks like an egg but... Fluttershy have you ever seen any creature with this kind of egg before?" Twilight questioned me.
"...No, I haven't..." I replied, my focus, still on the egg before us.
The wailing came again, muffled and from inside the egg. But it was far too low to have been heard from my house, so how had I picked it up when we were there? The cry reached my ears again, but it came from above me. I looked up and saw a mocking jay in the branches of a tree, the mimicked sound coming from it's open beak. "Um, ma'am?... could you please not do that right now? We don't know what this is and it could be dangerous. You really should fly away to safety while we handle it." I politely told her. She blinked and flew off into the woods, leaving us with the puzzling object. "What should we do Twilight?" I posed the question to her, unsure of what action would be the wisest take. We could turn around and leave, but then what if this thing is dangerous and ends up hurting somepony or even the animals? But then what if we take it and it tries to hurt us?
"I don't know." came the reply from my purple, strait-cut maned friend. We both stayed there for a moment, unsure of what to do. After a few seconds of silence, Twilight spoke. "Okay, I am going to cast a spell that will examine whatever is inside. And if it does have an infant of whatever species lays this kind of egg, then maybe we can help it hatch.". She said this with what sounded to me like nervous excitement. The muffled wail continued from the strange ovular object.
"O-Okay. I just hope that the poor thing is alright. It is crying quite a lot..." I said with concern while I continued to watch the egg. Twilight nodded to me as she began her examination.
A few moments later Twilight said "What? That can't be right.". She sounded confused and began to concentrate as she cast her spell again. The magenta glow from her horn touched everything around us with it's reddish tint due to the fading light. "I am not picking up any magic from this thing at all!" Twilight exclaimed.
"What does that mean?" I asked her, curious to discover what this thing was.
"It means that whatever this is, it most certainly isn't alive. it shouldn't even exist!" she said.
"...But what do you mean Twilight? Why shouldn't it be here?" I questioned the alicorn as the cries persisted from the object in question.
"Everything in existence has some sort of magic that holds it together and makes it what it is. Anything without magic can't exist, so it is nothing. But this is here, right in front of me! Yet when I try to use my magic to feel it, There's nothing there." Explained the educated pony.
I tried to contemplate what Twilight had informed me of. So from what Twilight said, she can't sense it with her magic. And if she can't sense it, then isn't there. But I am looking at it right now. So it certainly does exist. Well this is a strange contradiction. Perhaps Twilight might have made a mistake? Certainly there are exceptions to everything?.
"Well it doesn't have a spell protecting it from magical detection. Wait, it could be a false image." Twilight declared triumphantly. Then she picked up a nearby stick with her magic and poked the egg. It made a small "Tink" sound as the tip of Twilight's stick contacted the surface. And it moved across the ground slightly as she began to apply pressure. The cries seemed to increase with a piercing vigor.
"Um, Twilight? I think that it's real." I told my poking friend.
"But it can't be. It breaks the laws of existence as we know!" Twilight pleaded. "Okay, let's just take this back and keep it somewhere safe. Then I can contact Celestia and inform her of this discovery. She will know what this is and what to do with it." Twilight decided.
"But Twilight, what if there is some poor, hungry, and scared creature in there? We can't just leave it like that, that's too cruel." I pleaded to her. The cries were too unsettling for me. I just wanted to let the poor thing know that everything was okay, and that it was safe.
"Fluttershy, trust me. This thing shouldn't even be in reality, much less alive." she reasoned to me. The cry penetrated the shell again, causing my to cringe slightly at the sound.
"Please Twilight, can't we just open it a little bit? Just to make sure that nothing is in there that needs help?" I begged. My caring instincts were simply too strong to ignore the pleas coming from the metallic egg.
"Okay, I will try to open it and make sure that nothing inside is alive." Twilight conceded. Her horn glowed as she activated whatever spell she thought would open the egg.
"Wait, what the..." I heard Twilight behind me say this with renewed confusion.
"What is it?" I asked, concerned.
"It's... I can't even touch it with my magic! It's like I am reaching for nothing but air..." Twilight said with unbelief.
"Well, why don't we take it back and try to open it with some kind of tool?" I proposed.
"But how are we going to carry it back? Magic can't affect this thing directly and it is way to big to pick up manually..." Twilight rambled off into murmurs of thought as she sought a solution. Then came the moment where it seemed like a light had turned on in Twilight's head from the expression she displayed. "I can bundle sticks underneath it, and then use my magic to levitate the sticks so the egg is carried by them." She declared triumphantly. Her horn became alight with a magenta aura as she went to work gathering nearby fallen branches. Once an adequate amount had been woven under the egg, it began to rise off of the ground on it's magical, flying nest.
"Alright, let's go" Twilight said and nodded for me to continue back. The return trip through the forest was full of tension. The cries, however never left. I was almost certain that one of the monsters in the forest would hear us. However we weren't bothered on our way out. I breathed a little easier when we broke free from the treeline and into my field. The low grass was much more agreeable for my hooves than the thick underbrush and roots of the everfree's floor. My home sat upon the hill that now hid Celestia's sun from our sight. The dim, low grey and blue colors of the evening sky made my cottage look all the more welcoming. And the egg's pleas seemed to quicken our pace.
We hurried inside and closed the door behind us. Twilight set the nest on top of my kitchen table and began to examine the egg. I went around and assured my little friends that they should stay in their homes, but not to worry. "Everything is going to be fine, don't worry little mice" I said to console them and the other little residents of my walls.
Upon making sure that all of my animals were hidden away, I returned to my kitchen to see that Twilight had managed to turn the egg over, revealing a small rectangular box on the lower end of the egg. Upon closer inspection, the box had a thin screen that gave off a soft, eerie blue light. Below the blue screen were ten buttons with symbols on them that I had never seen before. They each glowed with the same blue light as the screen above them. They wails hadn't ceased, and neither had my concern for whatever might be inside.
"It looks like a key pad, but with a completely different number system. That is, if these symbols are even meant to represent numeric values. I haven't seen these characters before, or anything like them in the obscure texts I came across." Twilight intoned as she copied her recordings using her notepad and quill. "There are seam-lines that run along the surface on this side of it. I presume this is where it can be opened. But it does appear to be locked with the keypad. The proper combination would open it... but judging from the five available spaces provided on the screen, there is over one hundred thousand possible codes. We just don't have the time and resources to pursue that solution. There must be circuits that connect from the keys to the lock that can open it when stimulated with the correct electrical signals. And the locking mechanism can be deactivated manually if we can reach the release. Hacking isn't a viable option, since this technology is alien to us and we can't understand the information contained in their gadgets." she took a slight pause in her tirade of thoughts and continued. "It would be highly unintelligent for me to recommend a dissection of this artifact in Fluttershy's kitchen. I propose that we relocate this item to my castle and inform Princess Celestia of present, on-going events and request advisement on further actions taken to pursue knowledge of the artifact discovered." Twilight finished by levitating her quill and pad back to her saddle bags by the door. "Okay, Fluttershy? Let's go." she said before levitating her saddlebags onto her back and fastening the straps around her barrel.
"Oh, okay. I just hope that we don't run into anypony. This would be really difficult and strange to explain." I told her before following the purple princess out of my front door.
Twilight
"Oh please, please, please, please, please, shut up please..." I begged the strange artifact that produced it's ever-present muffled wailing. Ever since we left, the sound of it's crying was constant and persistently annoying me to degrees of unwanted distress. I set the magically woven nest of sticks that contained the object of my annoyance down in a cell in my dungeon. I thought that this would be the safest place to store the artifact for now.
"Are you sure that it's going to be okay?" Fluttershy asked me as I placed the crying anomaly on the ground in first cell to my right. The small crystal room had enough space to stand up and stretch, but not much else. The ceiling was double the height of a normal room's. There were no comforts or anything to rest on other than the cold crystal. Six bare sides comprised this confining space.
"Yes Fluttershy. It should be relatively safe here." I informed her.
"Relatively?" she questioned, unsure.
"Mostly." I answered. Upon seeing her unsatisfied look regarding my response, I affirmed "Yes, it is safe. It couldn't be safer than it is as of right now. Don't worry so much. We are going to contact Celestia and sort this out quickly and without incident to a satisfactory conclusion.".
"Okay, I hope your right." she relented. She still seemed unsure, but it was the best I could do. I set an air disturbance detection spell just over the surface of the artifact that would warn me if activated. While maintaining the previous spell, I cast a force-field surrounding the egg so as to not let anything outside mess with the first incantation, and for a safety measure to keep the artifact in it's current place.
I continued by leaving the cell and closing the door, sliding the diamond lock into place and casting a displacement spell on the door's hinges. That way if the door was opened, I would be alerted. And since I enchanted the hinges, my spell wouldn't be detected by a magical search for enchantments on the door. But since I am keenly aware of possible scenarios that may possibly occur (not paranoid), I dual cast a dispel trap of consuming. If somepony tried to dispel my spell on the hinges, then my trap would begin to consume their magic until they either ran out, or found the spell and extinguished it. And because I dual cast it at the same time as I did the detection spell, it would just show up as the detection spell if anypony tried to check for traps. I released my grip on my magic and let a small breath out. Dual casting was an advanced technique and it required stupendous concentration. I concluded by setting a mute spell over the room. I sighed with relief as I was alleviated from those piercing wails that burrowed into my ears like sonic drills.
Upon arriving in my room at the top of the castle, I saw Spike reading a comic of his in his bed. "Spike, take a letter please." I requested, and paused while he gathered a quill and parchment.
"Uh, why?... What's going on? Oh, hi Fluttershy. What are you doing here?" my non-compliant dragon servant asked.
"We found something in the Everfree Forest and now we don't know what to do with it, so we need Princess Celestia's help. Now can you please take the letter?" I pleaded of my young assistant.
"Okay Twilight, but I just hope that this doesn't turn out like the poison joke did. Although, I did get in a few good laughs at your expense..." the scaly comedian jested.
"Spiiiike!..." I exasperated with mild impatience.
"Okay, okay, I got it. So what do I start with?" my familial messenger relented.
I began the same way that I had in the past "Dear Princess Celestia, while tracing the source of an unknown noise into the Everfree, Fluttershy and I found a puzzling artifact that shouldn't exist by current scientific definition. It was in the shape of an egg, but was the size of a small filly. It produced a sound remarkably similar to that of a crying baby. It seemed to have a metallic outer layer and resisted all attempts to be recognized by any form of magic attempted on it. Magically it doesn't seem to exist, but it can be physically interacted with using matter. It doesn't appear to be dangerous so far. Please let me know what you think this might be and what we should do."
"Wait, you really found something magic-proof? From you?" Spike asked with a smirk.
"Yes. Now send the letter." I said with frustration and increased impatience. The wyrmling offered no further remarks as he held out the rolled up scroll in his claws and sent his small stream of transporting green fire from his maw. It engulfed the letter and soon, was whisked away through the ceiling and to Celestia.
"So where is it?" Spike asked as I walked over to the sandwich I just noticed on my nightstand.
"Locked in the dungeon with protection spells on it." I said before I took a bite from my meal. The soft wheat bread offered little resistance as I bit down, unleashing the gratifying combination of flavors it contained onto my tongue. The daisies were light and airy, but sweet like nectar. The sunflower petals added some substance and their own, earthy flavor that wasn't unpleasant at all. The sauce that was applied to the top-half of the sandwich consisted of a honey-like substance similar in taste and consistency. The flavor was further supplemented by the tint of raspberries and blueberries. I made a mental note to remind Spike that he should consider pursuing the culinary arts as a possible source of revenue in the future, should he need it. Within moments of me finishing my sandwich, the sound of Spike's belch permeated the air. I took the delivered scroll in the grasp of my magic before the little drake could even reach for it.
"What does it say Twilight?" Fluttershy asked from her pillow by Spike.
I opened the royal diarch seal of a sun and moon, one heavenly body completing half of the other, with the alicorn sisters above their respective symbols. I read = the contents of the Celestia-sent letter out loud.
Twilight. Please refrain from going near the artifact again until the mage that I am sending arrives. He is experienced and well versed in many ancient texts and arts. His name is Limelight and he possesses a... unique, personality. He is to assist you in studying and reporting to me your findings of this object. I just want to be absolutely sure that this is not a danger to any of my little ponies. I am confident that between the two of you, we will find the answers to this puzzle. And I hold no doubts that you both can handle any and all complications that may arise. Your friend and mentor, Celestia.
P.S. You may want to stock up on sugar, tea, and cinnamon sticks. 50lbs of sugar, 100 bags of cherry tea, and the largest sack of cinnamon sticks you can locate. Otherwise he tends to get a bit cranky.
"Why would somepony require all of this?" I wondered aloud.
"Because of me, obviously. You should have been able to deduce that mystery adequately, without foreign assistance outside your own cognition. Unless you are not the Twilight Sparkle, of which I have been recently informed. However drawing from my memories of your physical description, and my visual inspection of your cutie mark, I must conclude that you probably are the mare that was described to me." Upon recovering from the unexpected shock of the voice, I examined the speaker. The light grey stallion that addressed me had a subtle accent from the Trottingham area. His medium, uneven, black mane partially hung in front of the blue and white dual-colored eyes that currently looked into my own. "Hello, my name is Limelight. Now take me to this artifact that I understand you have procured. It is that which captures my interest, not you."
Author's Note
Well second chapter. I hope that I am improving, but I need your views and opinions to show me the mistakes and errors that I miss. I need you to tell me how to make this a better story for you. Otherwise, the same unadvised, novice stuff will just keep coming out. If you take the time to click the thumbs down, then you can take the time to tell me why you thought it was unsatisfactory and what I can do to make it better in your opinion. This is all I ask.
Again most of the credit goes to Brodash for the amazing idea and for being my main proofreader. Rock on Brodash!
The music that captured my interest, and my soul while writing this chapter was this band. I normally don't like screamo/heavy music, but that base just struggle snuggled my ears and I loved it!
