True Wisdom

Spike woke up a few minutes later. He rubbed his head, which ached badly. It hadn’t hurt so bad since Twlight had teleported him to the library when they got chased by a mob of ticket-wanting ponies.

“Hey Twilight, could you do that pain remover spell? I could really use………Hey,  is something wrong?”

The young Unicorn was sitting on the floor staring, dumbfounded at a piece of paper.  Spike walked up to her, Twlight gave no response.  Nothing, not Queen Chrysalis, not chocolate milk rain, not even the fact that Pinkie Pie had been reading her private diary for the last three months, had shocked her this much.  Spike waved his claw in front of her face.

“Hellooooooooooooo? Anypony home? Can you hear me or are you ignoring me again?”

Nothing helped. Then a mischievous smile came over his face.  He grabbed a bucket and ran outside. Twlight still sat on the floor thinking. “Oh my goodness!  Somepony’s been watching me?  What on earth is S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S supposed to be? How do they know where I live? I don’t get it!” Nothing annoyed Twlight more then not understanding something.  Then suddenly SPLASH! She was soaking wet. She turned to see Spike laughing near a once full bucket.

“SPIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Spike looked up to see an angry Twlight staring down at him with an icy glare. He cowered.

“Ssssss…orrry Twlight. I just… I just…I..I..I..I.” The Unicorn saw she had scared the poor dragon and pulled him close.

“It’s okay Spike, I just got some mail that rather distresses me.”

Spike thought that sounded like something Lyra had said but said nothing of it.

‘What does it say?” he asked

After reading the letter, he said proudly.

“I think it’s a great thing that someone else sees your talent. I think you should go.”

“I’m not so sure.  I just have a funny feeling about it.”

“Oh come on, Twlight. You have amazing talent; why not let the world know it? Stop being so…..what’s the word?”

“Paranoid?”

“Yeah, that’s it. You need to live a little.”

Twlight thought about it for a minute, Spike was right. What could possibly go wrong?

“Ok. I’ll do it.”

“Yes!” said Spike

She smiled and said “But first I better go dry off.”

That night, Twlight and Spike stood outside Crystal Cave.

“Well……..let’s go.” She said

The cave was cold and dark. Twlight quickly lit her horn. The light shone through the cave and made the crystals around them glimmer. They walked onward, but soon came to a halt. They were at the end of the cave.

“What now?” asked Spike “We can’t go any further.”

“Appearances can be deceiving, Spike.” She replied and began to feel the wall. She didn’t have to look hard for as soon as she placed a hoof on it went straight through.

“The Level 4 unsolid spell. Very clever. Well let’s get going.” Together they stepped through the wall. They found themselves in a different part of the cave. There were drawings all over the wall showing unicorns battling monsters or creating advanced spells. The crystals were carved into shapes such as stars and moons.

“Kinda creepy huh?” Spike said. Twlight said nothing but was fascinated by the art. She could recognize many of the great unicorns from before her time.

“Twlight? Is that you?” said a voice from behind them. They turned and saw……

“Lyra?”

The minty green pony raced over.

Oh, Twlight I’m so glad to see someone I know here too. I was worried I’d be alone. Do you get an invitation too?”

“You got one?”

“Yep. I was a little freeked out when I found it in my TV. It was blocking all the channels and I got so annoyed and punched the screen and out came the letter. That’s why I wanted to be alone when you dropped the book off.”

Twlight had no idea what a TV, a channel, or a screen was.  Nevertheless, she was glad to see she would not be alone.  She was so happy to see Lyra she hardly notice another pony come (or fall is more like it) through the cave wall.

“Ugg! Trixie does not want to be dirtied by this filthy dirt!”

They both turned to see Trixie (the great and powerful) laying on the grown with her cape and hat tangled around her.  Twlight walked over and giggled as she undid the Unicorn.

“Hi Trixie. Haven’t seen you for a while.”

Trixie got up and upon seeing Twlight, gasped.

“What are you doing here?  This place is for talented unicorns such as Trixie, not for lowly, untalented, life-ruining unicorn like you.”

“Still as much as a boast as you were before.” She mumbled.

“Excuse me! Trixie is not a boast. Trixie is simply showing her greatness TO THE WORLD!” She said this last bit with a large flourish.

“Stop speaking in the third person! It's very annoying!” Twlight replied.

Trixie gave a hmph. Then she noticed Lyra.

“Who are you? Are you a friend of hers or The great and powerful Trixie?”

Lyra ignored her as she was telling Spike about an MP3 player.

“So you put these tiny things in your ears, and press a song and you hear it without anypony else hearing it.”

“Cool. Have a spare one I could use?” Spike was fascinated.

“Pardon me, are you Lyra Heartstrings, Spike the dragon, The Great and Powerful Trixie, and Twlight Sparkles?”

They all they all turned.  They had not noticed the pony that had come in.  He was brown and his velvet cloak covered his face.  Twlight replied first.

“Yes, we are. And you are?”

“Meteor burst, Member of the High Council. Follow me.” He walked down a corridor.

“Trixie does not take orders from anyone and……… hey! Wait for me!”

As they followed Meteor burst, Twlight saw more unicorns from pony history. Clover the Cleaver creating the fire of friendship,  Starswirl the Bearded practicing the amniomorphic spell, and many others.  They would have walked in silence if Trixie would have stopped wining.

“Blech! Don’t you ever clean up this place?!  Trixie does not deserve to walk in such filthy conditions. Trixie is also thirsty, Trixie wants a hay smoothie right now or Trixie is going to scream!”

It was annoying everyone.  Eventually Twlight stepped on her hoof just to keep her quiet.  After a while they came to a large cavern.  Inside there were twelve other ponies, all wearing cloaks like Meteor burst.  He motioned them to stay as he took his place with the others.

“Ummm, Spike could you please let go of my leg?” Twlight whispered.

“Oh, sorry. This is just kinda creepy.”

“Well try and contain yourself, it looks like that pony in the middle is about to speak.”

The pony in the middle stood up.

“Greetings, young unicorns.  I am Mooncatcher, founder and leader of S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S.  It’s a delight to meet you all.”

“Um, hi. I’m Twilight.  This is Lyra, Trixie, and my assistant Spike.  Nice to meet you.” She said although she didn’t really mean it. Truth be told she was a bit creeped.

“I know” said Mooncatcher .  “We’ve been keeping an eye on you all and believe you each have skills beyond that of an ordinary unicorn.  S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S stands for Strongly Magical And Rightly Talented in Experienced Spells.  We teach unicorns spells that most have forgotten and how to enhance magic ability in ways you would never think possible.”  There was a short pause after this.

“So……are you in?”

Twlight turned to see her friends (and Trixie).  Lyra looked freaked out, Trixie seemed insulted at the idea that there were spells she didn’t already know, and Spike nodded at her, wanting her give it a shot. Then she herself thought about it.  She still didn’t trust all this but the offer of learning hard spells was tempting.  Celestria would want her to try.

“I’m in.”

“Well…I guess I will.”

“Trixie will accept too.  Trixie can do want ever Twlight can do and Trixie isn’t afraid to show it.”

“All right then.” said Mooncatcher “No going back now.  First I want to see what you can do.”

She lifted her cloak. She was Midnight blue with a sparkling moon-silver mane and dark grey eyes.  She closed her eyes and her horn glowed deep black.  Suddenly in front of them was a manticore, growling loudly.

“Magic is only limited by two things, your Capability and your Confidence.  One at a time, try to defeat this monster.  Lyra, you’re up first.”

Twlight and Trixie were teleported to the side of the rooms and Lyra stayed in front of the large monster.  She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and focused on her horn.  It started to glow.  Her lyre appeared near her. She opened her eyes and grabbed it. She gently strummed a gentle song on it. The manticore appeared to like the song and sat down.  Twlight smiled at her.  Trixie thought she was doing well, almost as good as her and she wouldn’t allow that.

“Silly pony.  You really think a song will stop a monster?  You’re almost as dumb as Twilight here.”

Lyra showed signs of fear at the hurtful words.  Then she struck a sour note.  The mantacore was infuriated at the mess up and prepared to pounce her.   Lyra yelped and ducked down.  Mooncatcher stopped the monster.

“You have lots of ability but not much confidence in yourself.  You must stop caring so much of what others think.”

Lyra sighed and walked over to the others.

“Don’t let it get to you.” Twilight said “It’s not your fault. It was Trixie’s”.  She glared at Trixie.

“What? Trixie would never lie so badly as to say that was good.” She replied.

Mooncatcher motioned for quiet.

“Trixie, you are next.”

Trixie strolled onto the field.  As she took Lyra’s old place, Mooncatcher restarted the monster.  It pounced down as Trixie jumped out of the way.

“Ha, foolish beast.  Prepare to feel the wrath of The Great and Powerful Trixie!”

She looked up at her horn as it began to glow.  A piece of rope flew to her side.  It wrapped itself around the monster until it was laying on the ground all tied up, roaring in anger.  Trixie walked up to it and kicked it.

“I told you that you were no match for Trixie!”

The mantacore broke a paw out and slapped Trixie so hard she flew against the wall.  The two others hurried to help her up.  She had several bruises on her back and one black eye.

“Uuuuuhh.  The sun was in my eye.”  She moaned.

Mooncatcher once again stopped the monster who had completely broken free.

“Trixie, you are very confident but have less power than you think.  You can’t do everything.  Let that run through your head.”

Trixie frowned and mumbled something about not taking orders.

“ Twlight, you’re last up.  Let’s see what you can do.”

Twlight got up from next to Trixie.  Spike started cheering even before she got there.

“Go Twlight! You’re the BEST PONY EVER! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!”

Twlight gulped.  The last time she had met a manticore, Fluttershy had stopped it with her kindness.  She didn’t do anything.  Once again Mooncatcher started the monster.  It turned to where Twlight was. She quickly thought of what she should do.  As it charged toward her, she did the first thing she could think of, she ran.  She ran like the wind until she could think of something she could do.  She ran for three minutes straight, and now she was getting tired.  She looked back and the mantacore was also getting tired.

“Getting Tired!”

She now knew what to do.  She turned straight toward it, hoping she had enough power to do this.  She pushed hard in her horn.  It began to glow purple.  The monster was lifted up into the air, too tired to fight.  She pushed even harder.  It flew out of the cave and out into the open.  Then when Twilght thought it was far enough away, she let go.  It had dropped into the Everfree forest and slinked off into the wood.  Twlight smiled and walked over toward the others.  She was greeted with cheers.

“Nice job Twlight!”

“I knew you could do it!!!”

“Show off.”

Mooncatcher nodded at Twlight with approval.

“You must learn to think faster and not doubt yourself but that was wonderful.”

Twlight smiled.  She was able to do it.

“You had all best be getting home.” Mooncatcher continued, “Meet here tomorrow, through the third corridor.” Then they were all outside.

“Well, that was fun,” said Twlight “I wonder what we’ll do tomorrow.

Back inside the cave the high council was speaking.

“I knew she’d do it.” Said Meteor burst “She is very good.”

Moondancer nodded.

“Yes.  She does need more help but I believe she shall suit me just fine.”

“What about the other two, and the dragon?”

“We’ll let them think they’re fine for now.  I’ll deal with them soon enough.  Now come, we too must rest.”

And that was all for the night.