Curiosity

By Amorous

Flurry Heart stared back at the reflection of herself in the large rut of crystal that now towered over her form, the sunny yellow of her horns glow now bouncing from crystal to crystal and painting the cave in a brighter palette to light her way as she trotted farther into the dull cavern.

She had only heard of this place before, yet another tale of her mother's victory over the conniving changeling ruler, Queen Chrysalis, who, in her attempt to seize power for her kind, trapped Princess Cadence in the Canterlot Caves. Luckily, Twilight had found her and the two escaped in time to thwart the hive mind's plans.

Now, here she stood in those very caves, with the light of her horn gleaming against the caves background, accompanied by only the mysterious horn in her bag. Getting here was simple enough with the right spell, of course. With an efficiently potent teleportation spell, she found herself in the caves in barely any time at all. Having been raised by the most powerful magic wielders in Equestria came with its perks.

From the start of her mid filly years, Flurry Heart had begun practicing powerful spellcasting and learning how to harness the raw energy she possessed. Being the first naturally born alicorn in ages meant that she would often time lose control of her magic, as it coincided with her emotions- and being a young mare under the pressures of being soon-to-be ruler did nothing to help sate her temper.

By now, she was deep into the under-levels of the abandoned grotto, setting her bag down beside her and revealing the horn as she held it up into the air at her side. Parting her forelegs, she bowed her head with her horn touching the hard, icy floor as the crystal beneath her began to jut upwards, loud crackling emitting from the structure as it soon took the shape of a shining, crystalline podium.

She gave a small, prideful smile as she looked upon her creation, ceremoniously placing the horn atop it. Along with her were about a dozen spellbooks and scrolls she had borrowed from Celestia's Library, specifically anything remotely similar to liberating the trapped essence found in artifacts or relics. Though, in her carelessness, she had really just swiped the writings from the shelves after hardly skimming them and hurried off on her adventure.

Levitating the books to surround her, she eyed the pages hastily in search of a spell to try. She raised her brow at one of the scrolls, having neither tried nor heard of the spell before her. Manumission of Spirits? She read the spell's section further;

Manumission of Spirits is performed in the effort of breaking the bonds that restrict the lost soul to its chambering relic. Be warned that once the castor's circle is down and the spell has begun its process, the caster is thereby permitting the soul free reign to the physical realm.

"This is it!" Smiling wide, the light magenta alicorn knew she had found what she was looking for as she skipped ahead and began looking over the instructions, becoming inpatient in her excitement to not only cast a new spell but to potentially bring back whoever this horn belonged to.

However, in her joy, she found a sliver of hesitance, and for a moment she paused and looked over at the horn that now lay motionless on the podium. Should I really go this far? She asked herself, slowly making her way over to the object that had caused her so much curiosity. Resting the tip of her hoof against it, she could once again feel the distant, weak humming from inside.

It tugged at her heartstrings to know that there truly was something that refused to resign within this horn and the possibility that she could bring that something back to walk once more forced a smile to tug at her cheeks.

All these years, yearning for excitement and she had now considered turning this opportunity away? She laughed her caution away, turning her gaze back to the scroll that likely held the solution to this problem and allowing her childlike wonder to return.

Eager to dive right in, Flurry Heart rolled up the scroll, her ears pulling back as a look of determination grew upon her face. Hunching her shoulders and parting her legs, her horn shimmered brightly, illuminating the crystals around her while she cast a circle around the podium. She had begun to harness the magic of the spell, charging it up in her horn as she lowered her head and aimed straight for her target.

Beads of sweat protruded from her forehead and began to trickle down as she forced herself to concentrate, repeating the casting words to herself aloud in her own royal Canterlot voice.

"One who sleeps forever in thine chamber,
I cast this spell within your favor.
Heed my call, through death and pestilence,
And return once more to your excellence!"

Her eyes sparked with a white glow as the magic seeped from her horn and struck straightforward, the blast engulfed the entire podium in a flash of white, black and purple. A sharp, agonizingly long pain bled into Flurry's head like no headache she'd ever had before like a scalding hot blade was being put against the base of her horn in some crude attempt to saw it right off of her head. Her eyes rolled into her skull as she saw stars, the white-hot flashes of agony nearly proving too much for her.

However, she couldn't stop now- not until her spell had been fully cast, she would not give up now. Teeth grinding against one another, she shut her eyes and resisted the urge to scream while the crystals in the ceil and walls began to shake and crack, some falling hard to the ground and some shattering in the presence of her power.

She felt the ground rumble beneath her but found relief as she felt the spell beginning to weaken and soon come to a close. The energy scorching through her horn thinned and she could now move her head freely, and as the spell dissipated, the pain still knocked about in her head.

Soon, all was still again, and there was nothing breaking the newfound silence other than the intense panting and sighing coming from the now exhausted and pained mare. Tears threatened to fall as she sat limply against a nearby wall. Now her reflection was that of a distorted, shattered one, the walls of the cave damaged and cracked.

After what felt like a year's worth of resting, she meekly stood to her shaking hooves, wandering over to the podium which had not received a single scratch amidst the unrelenting force of her spell. She put her hoof to the horn, searching, hoping for some signs of change.

The young mare found herself distraught and bewildered when she felt nothing, save for the same hum as before she had cast the spell. Her heart jumped and her eyes widened, big opal orbs staring on in disbelief that her spell had seemingly no effect at all.

"No, no it... It can't be I..." Her confusion soon turned to despair, from despair to frustration, and from her frustration came pure fury.

"I tried so hard on that spell just for nothing?!" She yelled, turning back and bucking the podium with all her might, which wasn't much as she was still completely drained.

With a melancholy sigh, she rested against the podium, resting until her strength would come back to her and she could cast her teleportation spell and return home. Alone with her thoughts, she attempted to rationalize her failure.

Maybe the spell just takes time to activate? Did I mess up somewhere? Eyes wondering back to her pile of books and scrolls, the princess tried to grab the spells in her magic but was greeted with the same sting in her horn as before. She settled for reaching over and holding the book on her own, going back to the Manumission of Spirits information.

Going back and reading once more, she had identified her error. Another spell? Her mouth went agape, I'm missing... Another spell. Her eye twitched, the anger igniting back in her once more. She calmed the instinct to toss the scroll across the cavern and simply let it slip from her hold, her shoulders sludging down as she looked up at herself in the crystal ceiling. She put a smile on and saw herself smile back.

"It's alright, you can always try again." She told herself. For now, she would rest and regain her stamina. For now, she would rest. Rest.

Rest...

Crack!

"Agh! What?!"

Flurry Heart's eyes snapped open at the sudden force of pain that dropped on her head, standing up as her eyes frantically looked around. Appointing her gaze to the floor, she'd found that the culprit was that of a small chunk of crystal that must've fallen loose of its place in the ceiling above. She smiled, holding it up in her magic and realizing that the pain that once engulfed her skull was no longer present.

Letting out a long yawn, she stretched out her legs and rubbed her eyes in an attempt to compose herself and regain her thought. It was when she turned around and fixed her sight on the horn laying on the stand that her eyes widened and she remembered everything. Her heart leaped out of her chest while her mind raced.

How long was I out for? It must be night already- mom and dad are gonna freak!

Her newfound panic setting in, the young mare charged up her teleportation spell in her horn, focusing her mind on where she wanted to go; back to her room in the Crystal Empire. She imagined her bedroom and concentrated the spell to the thought of her home.

As her eyes glanced over to the podium one last time, she found herself almost craving to stand by the relic- a deep sensation from within calling her name, commanding her attention. She’d wondered why the spell hadn’t worked, maybe she was simply a fool for expecting something as outlandish as this to work so suddenly.

Though she had no intentions of leaving the horn in this cave, she knew she would soon return when her magic had been fully restored and, when it was, she would try over and over again no matter how many times it would take.

Soon, as quick as she had cast her spell, she was gone without a trace.

Do I dare look?

With a long pause of hesitance, she grit her teeth before opening one eye and looking around the new room she was in. Her mouth curved into a smile as she found herself in her bedroom, standing by her window and now looking up into the dark, starry sky above.

She let out a short sigh of relief, though her head now ached anew with the use of that long distance teleportation spell. Still, she’d much rather suffer the headache for the new few days than be scolded by her parents about breaking curfew.

She turned to see her lavish, hot pink bed covered in frilly, milky white pillows and stuffed bears. Granted, she had grown out of playing with stuffed animals but that didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy cuddling up against them at night.

Of course, nopony knew that.

She carelessly tossed herself onto the bed, a relaxed sigh escaping her lips before she closed her eyes and began wrapping herself in the sheets. She reached up for one of her teddy bears and pulled it up against her chest, squeezing it tight and burying her muzzle into its backside.

The thought of bathing hadn’t even crossed her mind as she felt her mind once again submitting to its tiredness. She couldn’t be bothered to shower or greet her parents, for now she simply wanted to sleep again.

Curling into a ball, she tucked her wings in and let go.