Knowledge of the Gem Field
"I just know we can do it girls," I said with awakened anticipation.
"But how? Yer the only unicorn 'n the group, an' ya can't even use magic yet," stated the much less enthusiastic Apple Bloom.
"Well, maybe I'll learn? It can't hurt to try," I paused briefly. "Well it can't hurt as much as Scootaloo's ideas"
"Okay, one my ideas aren't as bad as your idea last week. Falling down a well to have the others save you? No thanks," defended the orange filly. "And two, that won't happen. You can't just learn instantly; you have to have magic smarts."
"We weren't stuck in the well that long, and this might actually work. Just give it a chance."
"Fine," breathed Scootaloo with a sigh, "I'll meet you in the gem field in a couple of hours, Fluttershy said she was going to teach me to fly today."
"Cutie Mark Crusaders gem hunters, YAY!" we exclaimed in unison, although slightly despondent from our previous failures.
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Half the day gone and not a single gem. Maybe we're not doing this right?
"This isn't working. It's too hard to find gems without magic," Scootaloo proclaimed, confirming what I already thought. "Why do I even have to be here? I learned to glide earlier. I'd rather be doing that."
"As I recall,” I retorted, rolling my eyes, “you smashed into the ground fifty-four times."
"Fifty-three and a half!"
"You can't have half a crash!"
"Can too!"
"Cannot!"
"Girls!" exclaimed Apple Bloom, who was looking for diamonds in a pile of dirt. "Ya'll have been fightin' all day. Quit it!"
"Sorry Apple Bloom," I apologized. "Anyway, this is going nowhere fast."
"That's because you don't have any magic smarts," sounded the purple maned filly.
Enough about magic smarts already. Scootaloo's not even a unicorn. There is no way she could know anything about magical ability.
"Scootaloo, there is no way that you could..." I started, trailing off as something caught my eye. "Girls? I think I found something!"
Motionless, not twenty yards before me, was a grand diamond as large around as my hoof and one third the height of Tom.
“Whoa!” was all Scootaloo could say.
All that came from Apple Bloom’s mouth were some incoherent sounds.
I ran toward my find, filled with eager anticipation of both a cutie mark and the light in my Sister’s face beaming brighter than I’ve ever seen before.
“Come back ‘ere Sweetie Belle!” shouted Apple Bloom from behind me.
“Ahh!” I screamed as I fell to the ground, “Ow!”
Just before me was the diamond, and below it lay a small inscribed stone.
“You ok, Sweetie?” Scootaloo asked, concerned. Apparently, falling down was a great way to end an argument.
“I’m fine. Come look at this,” I instructed, pointing to the inscription.
“What is it?”
“I’ll just read it”
“Knowledge is the key to magic, but magic can blind you from knowledge. This gem before you was hidden from all magic during the reign of Discord to prevent him from gaining its knowledge. The finder of this jewel, and the finder alone, shall have their desire shown to them. Jewels, gems, and precious stones, hold power over ponies in the rough, but knowledge is greater still, for even the wealthy shall bow to your will. This is the knowledge of the gem field.”
“So Sweetie Belle gets to see her desire?” Scootaloo inquired.
“That’s what it says” Apple Bloom responded
…
…
My desires are before me? No, a window to see my desires. No, desire, singular, so I get to see one of my desires. I could see my cutie mark, or Apple Bloom’s or Scootaloo’s. Or…
“So what if the stone said, ‘this is the knowledge of the gem field’, she still doesn't have magic smarts,” Scootaloo said from what sounded like a great distance away.
“But she don’t need it. She…” Apple Bloom’s voice echoed before it was drowned out by my own thoughts.
“I do have magic smarts…” I whispered from where I stood.
Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at me, and in an exchange of glances, both came to the realization of what I was about to do. They ran towards me, trying to stop me, but I leapt into the air and…
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“Huh, well that was quite the entrance…” my sister said, occupying the space Scootaloo and Applebloom had previously filled.
No this is not my sister, something is off, there is something warped about this whole thing.
“Oh Sweetie, we are in your mind,” she said, then continued after I gave only a puzzled look. “Leaping into a diamond is not the smartest thing to do, while it is letting you see your desire, well… you hit your head on it. They’re much harder than ordinary stone; you might want to make sure you don’t have a concussion when you go back.”
“Huh?” was the only thing I could manage to say.
“Usually, I don’t visit anyone this soon. You haven’t even learned the first thing about magic, have you?”
“I-”
“Of course you haven’t. Otherwise, you would have seen me already,” interrupted Rarity, or whoever this was. “But you did use a spell to call me, even if it wasn’t your own. The knowledge of the gem field, I suppose, it is a magical stone, when you touched it it’s spell flowed from it and granted your wish, but its lost its power now, because you found it and used it, so unless the gem is lost again, it will remain as nothing more than a big diamond. I don’t suppose there is anything wrong with that, but it also means its magic cannot be used to further discovery.”
“Excuse me, but who are you?” I asked, slightly annoyed, “And why do you look like my sister?”
“Oh, where are my manners? I guess I’m just not used to being called this early. I’m here to show you your desire. And as a bonus, which I would have done anyway, I will help you realize it. I take on the form of the one you look up to most. I’m Instinct, your mentor.”
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Author’s Note
Knowledge is the key foundation of power. By obtaining knowledge, you can see your desires set before you, along with the path to get there. Whether that be filled with obstacles, or straight as the crow flies, keep your eyes set upon it. Well, it’s been a while. School and my website Discords Domain have taken a great deal of my time. I am rearranging my schedule to try and have more time for writing fics, and reading them. This fic was written, stop … … … … start, stop … … start, unlike all my other ones, which were written in a small time frame: one or two days, so I didn’t really know where I was going with it until I gave power to the rock, diamond, whatever. Be on the lookout for the next story: Pupil of Instinct. And a special thanks to my pre-reader Cormac McCloppy, who was still willing to help out even after a long pause in my writing.
