Fundamentals

by TwilightFox

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 4776

When Twilight Sparkle's magical studies get out of hoof, can she handle the consequences?

Twilight Sparkle has always enjoyed studying, and magic is her special talent. It's only natural that when she combines the two her enthusiasm is rivaled by none. But when she lets her her enthusiasm get the best of her and her magical studies go a little too far, things get out of hoof. Will Twilight be able to handle the consequences?

Published 2012-11-25 23:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-07-07 02:35:06 UTC

Prologue

Fundamentals
by TwilightFox

Prologue

“Spike!” the frantic unicorn called up the stairs no sooner than she had closed the door to the library that also served as her home and private study. There was no immediate response so she echoed her call, much louder and more drawn out this time, “SPIIIKE!”

After a moment a small purple and green dragon came toddling down the stairs, still rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Geez, Twilight, can’t a guy get some sleep around here?” He cast a glance to the clock on the shelf over the stairs. “It’s four in the morning!”

Twilight Sparkle ignored her assistant’s complaint as she was too focused on pacing back and forth across the library floor. “Oh, Spike, I’ve really done it this time…” she mumbled as her pacing intensified. “But it’s not like I haven’t messed up before, right? I mean, everypony makes mistakes, right?” She looked to Spike for assurance, but was met with a confused, sleepy-eyed stare.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” her familiar asked. “How did you mess up?”

Twilight still paid him no mind. “I mean, I’m Celestia’s personal apprentice, right? … She’s gotta go easy on me, right?” She ran a hoof through her stress-frazzled mane as she looked at the bewildered dragon child as if she actually expected him to respond. Receiving no such reply, she continued her fit. “Ohh... Who am I kidding?... She’ll probably be harder on me because I am her apprentice!”

Spike finally managed to find an opportunity to slip a word in edgewise during one of the rare moments the unicorn mage was forced to pause long enough to take a breath. “Twilight!” he half-shouted to gain her attention. “What. Happened?” His expression was one of genuine concern for his mistress.

Spike’s outburst caused Twilight to stop her pacing long enough to screw her eyes shut in an expression that showed that it pained her to say the words she was about to speak. “I- I-” she hesitated. Finally, throwing all caution to the wind, she stomped a hoof in frustration as she blurted out the rest. “I- burned down part of the Canterlot Palace!”

Spike just stood there, mouth agape in awe. Words forsook the little dragon for several moments which didn’t help his mistress’s nerves any. Finally Twilight broke the awkward silence that loomed.

“Well technically, I didn’t burn it down…” Twilight’s face bore an awkward, sheepish grin. “But I’m not sure the guards saw it that way.” Her voice wavered a little, further betraying her lingering nerves.

“Wha-? How did... You burned down the Palace!?” Spike finally found his voice, though words were still a bit of an issue.

“Not all of it...” Twilight winced again. “Just part of it...”

The frustrated mare sighed loudly as she gave up her pacing once and for all and sat down on her haunches right where she was. Her ears fell flat as her head drooped toward the floor in a cruel mix of exhaustion and shame, the tell-tale glistening of moisture forming at the corners of her eyes.

Spike rushed to her side, carefully placing a small clawed hand on her shoulder. “Y- You wanna talk about it?” His offer was genuine. He had known Twilight literally all his life; it hurt him to see her like this.

Twilight just turned her head away from him, the tears that had started to form in her eyes falling to the floor with the sudden motion. “I don’t want to trouble you, Spike. It’s…" She hesitated again. "It’s kind of a long story…”

The young dragon was unfazed by the unicorn’s attempt to change the subject. “So? You’ve got me good and awake now. There’s no way I’m going back to sleep after hearing something like that anyway.” He started toward the door that led to the kitchen. “Just let me go put on a pot of tea. It’ll help me wake up. And maybe help you calm down…” he muttered just loudly enough for her to hear as he slipped through the door.

While he was gone, Twilight forced herself to take a seat at the nearby table. “He’s right…” she told herself, “I just need to calm down.” She took a much needed deep breath and let it out slowly. Once she had relaxed enough to stop panicking, she noticed something was out of place.

There were several stacks of books lined up along the sides of the library, sitting in the floor rather than their usual place on their shelves. Twilight couldn’t help but wonder at the reason so many books were out of place. “Spike?” she called to the kitchen, “Did you take all these books off the shelf?”

“Huh?” her assistant called from the next room, “No… I thought you did.”

Placing a hoof to her chin in thought, Twilight tried to puzzle out how that many books could be miss-shelved without either of them knowing. Spike offered an answer.

“Now that I think of it, Rainbow Dash did come by earlier looking for the new Daring Do book, and Sweetie Belle and her friends came looking for new ideas for their ‘crusades’,” spike offered as he emerged from the kitchen carrying a wooden tray and all the things they would need to enjoy their tea.

Accepting the answer for the time being, the unicorn turned her attention back to the dragon and the tray he carried. She grabbed a teacup and saucer with her telekinesis and placed them in front of her as Spike grabbed the teapot and filled his own cup. Once he had repeated the task for Twilight, he put it back down. “So…” he began as he added three cubes of sugar to his cup. “You were about to tell me how you ended up burning down the castle.”

He winced under the glare that Twilight gave him.

“I mean, part of the castle…”

The unicorn sighed loudly as she levitated three sugar cubes in front of her, dropping two in her teacup and popping one directly into her mouth. As the last of the sweet, sugary snack dissolved, she began her tale.

“Well, Spike, it all started when I visited the Royal Library in Canterlot…”

A/N: This is my first fan fiction, so constructive criticism is welcome.

Thanks to Twippledash for proofreading and offering advice to a first-time fanfic author.

Discovery

”Discovery”

The Royal Library always saw its fair share of patrons. All sorts of ponies from all walks of life frequented the library, from school colts and fillies looking for storybooks to professors from the University conducting serious research on the “next big breakthrough” in science or magic. Even the princesses themselves had been known to visit from time to time.

It was nearly the end of the day, and most of the public had already come and gone, save a few stragglers. One such straggler was a regular. She had been for years. The librarians and staff at the library had come to know Twilight Sparkle very well. They had watched her grow from an eager and inquisitive young filly to an equally eager and inquisitive young mare throughout the years. Often she would spend the entire day searching the library’s shelves or exploring one of the collections for some piece of literature or lore known only to her. Tonight was no different.

The elderly librarian on duty that night quietly made her way to the table that Twilight had claimed as her own earlier that morning. The light tan bodied and gray-maned pegasus looked down at the chaotic workspace with a knowing grin. Over a dozen books were scattered across the table, some stacked two or three high, others open to one page or another in cross-reference. She had no idea what the young student of Celestia was researching, but she knew that Twilight had been there for hours and would remain there unless somepony reminded her of the time.

“Miss Sparkle?” the older mare began, “Are you aware of the time?”

Twilight looked up from the book she had been engrossed in. “Huh?” A quick glance at the clock revealed the time. It read eight forty-five. “Oh my gosh! I completely lost track of time! I am so sorry, Mrs. Archive!” she offered an apology as she began gathering the books she was already finished with.

“There’s no need to apologize, dear.” The librarian smiled. “And I’ve told you before, please just call me Golden.” Golden Archive looked down the end of her glasses teasingly.

“Right. Sorry, Golden.”

“That’s quite alright.” She turned to go back to her desk at the library’s entrance. “Normally I’d shelve these books myself, but you’re a fellow librarian. Besides, you know your way around here as well as I do,” Golden said with a chuckle and a genuine smile. “I’ll just be logging the last of the books from the drop off if you need me. “

Once the older mare had left, Twilight began gathering up the rest of the books she had used throughout the day. She had spent the entire day pouring through the magical archives of the library, searching for spells of interest to her. When Spike suggested she take a day off to visit Canterlot, she was pretty sure this wasn’t what he had in mind. Sure, she could have visited the Princess, had lunch with her brother, or gone shopping at some of the capital’s finer shops, but how could she pass up a chance to look at the spells in the Canterlot Magic Archives?

The very spells that helped shape the magic curriculum she had studied her whole life were contained within these walls, many of which were crafted and developed at the hooves of her two life-long mentors and role models: Princess Celestia and Starswirl the Bearded. No, she wasn’t ashamed to have spent the entire day following in the hoofsteps of her idols. Not in the least.

Once she had finished gathering the books she placed them on a nearby library cart, since there were too many to carry by herself. Then she gathered up her inkwell, quills, and parchment, packing the unused portions in one saddlebag before carefully stacking her notes together and placing them in the other.

She had found quite a few interesting spells to look further into. There were several spells that promised to make ponies temporarily stronger, tougher, smarter, or more agile. She could see those spells coming in handy around Ponyville from time to time, helping out on Applejack’s farm or in Rarity’s boutique. There was another spell that would alert the caster if anypony entered the area, kind of like a magical security system. She figured if nothing else, she could use that one to keep Spike from raiding the ice cream in the freezer late at night. Her favorite one however, was a spell that would emblazon almost any object with an imprint of the caster’s cutie mark. The mark would remain invisible until the caster, or another mage who knew to look for it, chose to reveal it. She could hardly wait to practice that one, so she could mark all the books in her private collection.

One by one, Twilight returned each of the books to its home on the proper shelf. Use of the Dewey Decimal System was a skill she had learned early on in her studies, so it didn’t take her long to place each book back where it belonged.

As she returned the final book to its place, the title of the book next to it caught her eye. “Intermediate Conjuration: The Advanced Guide to Conjuring, Teleportation, and Summoning, by Starswirl the Bearded…” she read aloud. “How did I not see this before?” She took the book from the shelf and opened to the table of contents. Finding the chapter on teleportation, she turned there to skim a little.

The feat of traveling short distances in the blink of an eye is to be considered quite the accomplishment by anypony, but a particularly skilled practitioner of magic should be able to expand her range to well beyond her field of view, and a master across continents if she chooses.

Twilight took note of the phrase “across continents.” She continued skimming to discover that the guide offered suggestions on ways to improve the reliability of such spells, and even ways to minimize the risks associated with teleporting to places you cannot see. Out of curiosity, she continued flipping through pages until she came to the chapter on “summoning.”

While conjuring objects from thin air or creating water from nothing may make an amusing party trick, and instantly traveling from one place to another is of unquestionable convenience, the true value of Conjuration lies in the art of summoning. The ability to call forth a creature or being from the far reaches of reality means that in any situation, help is never out of reach.

The studious unicorn’s eyes grew wide when she read, “... call forth a creature or being from the far reaches of reality…” Could unicorn magic really do that? It could do a lot of other seemingly impossible things, so was it really that hard to believe? The idea of exploring a new type of magic excited her, almost as much as her studies on Friendship had.

She had made up her mind. She closed the book, and made her way toward the librarian’s desk, carrying it with her. When Golden Archive looked up, Twilight placed the tome in front of her. “May I check this out?” she asked.

The elderly pegasus pushed her glasses up higher on her nose as she leaned across the desk to take a closer look. “Hmm…” she mused, “This came from the Magical Archives, didn’t it?” Twilight nodded. “We normally don’t allow materials from that wing to leave the library…” She immediately noticed Twilight’s ears droop and the frown she fought to hide. “But… I might be able to allow the Ponyville Library to take it out on inter-library loan.” Golden smirked, knowing very well how the young student would react.

“Could you?!” Twilight’s reaction did not disappoint. “I would be so grateful!”

Golden Archive nodded. “Of course, dear. And since the Ponyville librarian is here tonight, she can simply take it with her. Saves on shipping that way.” She winked. “I’ll just need to fill out an inter-library loan form and have you sign it. It’ll only take a minute.”

“Oh, thank you, Mrs. Archiv- I mean, Golden.”

Within minutes the paperwork had been completed and Twilight left the library, her newly discovered spellbook floating in front of her as she leisurely walked the halls of the palace She was once again skimming the summoning chapter, still enthralled by the ideas it presented. She wanted nothing more than to sit down somewhere and pour through the chapter in greater detail right then. But she still had to make it back to Ponyville.

Twilight glanced at a clock in the hall. Her train didn’t leave for another hour, and even if she missed it she could just catch the next one or make use of her old quarters for one more night. She grinned as she remembered the place she used to read her books on a clear beautiful night such as tonight.

The Palace Gardens had a gazebo in the center that housed many of Twilight’s late night study sessions over the years when she didn’t feel like staying in her room. Its large tables and ample lighting made it a suitable alternative, as long as the wind wasn’t blowing. It had been years since she had spent the night in the garden reading, and she knew it would be nice to spend one night the way she used to.

“Alright then!’ She had made up her mind. “One more night in the gardens for old time’s sake!” Twilight said to herself as she trotted off towards the courtyard that housed the Royal Gardens, her steps bouncing with her eagerness to learn.

Study

Study

Twilight made her way through the courtyard toward the gazebo at its center. The large, open-air area felt a lot like a park with its lush plants, ample lighting, and generously spaced benches. Guests were always welcome to visit the gardens, and the palace staff came here frequently to unwind during breaks. Considering how late it was though, Twilight was fairly confident that everypony had already gone home for the evening . The gardener had finished his chores, all the guests were either attending some sort of social function or had retired to their quarters for the night, and most of the palace staff who frequented the yard during their breaks were busy elsewhere. In fact, the only signs of life in the garden came from the assembly of small animals that scurried and hid as Twilight moved forward. They poked their heads out from behind the trees and bushes only to see what she was up to.

The curious stares of the palace’s menagerie went largely unnoticed however, as Twilight was still engrossed in the pages of the tome she carried in front of her. A pair of birds fled from their place on the gazebo’s railing as the oblivious mare trotted up the steps and approached the table. She sat down absently at one of the pavilion’s two picnic tables, placing the book in front of her and leaning in to study more intently.

“Theory and Application,” Twilight read aloud, a habit she had acquired somewhere during her lengthy academic career. “To begin to understand the mechanics behind even the most basic of summoning spells, one must first understand the basics of runic channeling. - Runic channeling?” She repeated the phrase, genuinely surprised to have come across an entire subject related to magic she had never heard of before. With a quick shake of her head, she continued reading.

“Runic channeling is an advanced form of inscription. While not a form of magic in itself, runic channeling provides a way for a unicorn to focus and channel his or her magic to greater effect than one could hope to be reached alone. Once the appropriate runes have been carefully inscribed, one simply needs to cast the trigger spell to set the runes in motion. - Oh, I get it! It’s kind of like when I scribed that scroll of Cloudwalking for Rarity so she could visit Rainbow Dash without having to learn the spell first.” The practice wasn’t common, but it was a faster alternative to learning a spell when time would not permit.

“There are five parts to any runic seal. First, the seal must begin with a set of basic runes designed to react to the trigger spell and set the magic in motion. The second set of runes denote which of the seven schools of magic the desired effect emanates from: Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Evocation, Transmutation, Illusion, and Enchantment. The third and fourth sets of runes identify the spell being cast and set any variable effects, respectively. The fifth and final part consists of a single rune: the Keystone. The Keystone binds and syncs all others together so that they work toward their common goal in harmony. All five parts of the seal are critical, and a single mistake can result in complete failure or unexpected and potentially dangerous results.”

The next dozen or so pages went over each of the basic runes, and a few of the more complex ones, as examples. Twilight spent time carefully studying each one, even using her quill to practice tracing them on a sheet of scratch parchment. She paid extra attention to the Trigger and Keystone runes. Once she felt proficient enough to draw them effectively from the diagrams provided, she moved on.

“Simply copying the runes in the proper order is not sufficient. In order to scribe a seal, a unicorn’s very essence must become one with the words on the page. An infusion of unicorn magic into iron gall ink provides the magical energy needed to channel the trigger spell through the runes to complete the spell when it is cast. A simple transmutation spell is provided on the following pages to infuse a single vial of ink with enough magical energy to scribe most seals.” Twilight flipped the page and studied the directions there carefully. The spell was simple enough. It was no more difficult than turning an apple into an orange and she had pulled that off without any difficulty. Once she got her aim right, anyway.

She reached in her saddle bag and pulled out an unopened vial of ink. With little effort, she surrounded the vial with her magic, and brought the transmutation spell to life. The blackish-brown color of the ink was soon replaced by a dark violet color which shimmered with a faint luminescence. The unicorn took it in hoof and held it up, admiring her work before turning back to the book once more.

Finally, she came back to the subject of summoning. “Oooh!” she cooed as she read the title of the next section, “History and Development!” Not only did she get to study the whats and how-tos of summoning magic, she also got to study the whos, whens, and whys as well. “The roots of runic summoning can be traced farther back than the founding of Equestria. The Mages of the Unicorn Kingdom used runic seals to summon great aerial creatures to fight the warriors of the Pegasi Tribe during the great war that led up to the deep winter before the first Hearth’s Warming. Throughout the ages, numerous unicorns have devoted themselves to the discovery of the secrets of runic magic...” Twilight’s eyes glazed over as she recognized some of the names from her studies of early unicorn history: Spellshield the Vigilant, Shatterspell the Zealot, and Clover the Clever to name a few. “I’ll have to come back to this later. It’s not all the time you find prime research materials about Clover the Clever, straight from her mentor!”

As much as she looked forward to learning more about the history and theory of summoning magic, Twilight was even more eager to try it. She flipped to the first pages that gave specific examples of what particular runes could be combined to summon various creatures from the edges of reality. There were stories of the ancient mages summoning dragons and wyverns, chimeras and hydras to battle the Pegasus and Earth tribes, but such knowledge wasn’t likely to be the subject of a simple book. Such powerful magicks would undoubtedly be closely guarded in the Starswirl the Bearded Wing, not a part of the general archive. What the book contained were smaller, more common creatures. The spells varied in their complexity and thus the skill one needed to cast them.

The simplest of spells only used the minimum number of runes to cast: a single, novice-level trigger spell, one school, the simplest of spell runes, no variables, and of course the Keystone. They even included notes that particularly skilled mages could train themselves to summon such creatures without the use of a runic seal, with enough practice. A frown quickly formed at the corners of Twilight’s muzzle as she flipped through the pages. “Rabbits? … Doves? … A cockatiel?!” She threw up her hooves in frustration. “It sounds more like a bad magic act from Las Pegasus than an ‘Advanced Guide to Conjuration, Teleportation, and Summoning.’ Especially not one written by Starswirl the Bearded.” She flipped a few pages before thrusting an accusatory hoof at the illustration on the page. “The most challenging creature in the beginner’s section is a parasprite, for crying out loud!”

She skipped over a couple of sections to look over the more advanced spells the book had to offer, and was immediately overwhelmed. There she found decidedly more complex spells: advanced trigger spells, specialized sub-school runes, several runes to denote the spells, and a dozen or more variables to select ranging from size and strength to gender and physical appearance. “These are too dangerous! Timberwolves? Manticores? … A cockatrice?!” Twilight felt a little nauseous at the thought of what any one of those creatures would be capable of if they were loose on the streets of Canterlot.

Admittedly intimidated by the more advanced examples, she turned back to look at the spells of “moderate difficulty.” The spell triggers were of apprentice level. Most required only the basic Conjuration rune. The spells were simple, and all had a limited number of variables to choose from. The creatures available to summon were all fairly harmless too. Pixies, Sprites, Fairies, and other harmless, if perhaps a little mischievous, fey lined the middle pages she had overlooked at first.

Twilight skimmed through each of the entries, considering which of the many options she should try. “Pixies. Hmm...” Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof as she considered the worst that could happen. “Best I recall, Pixies can be a real hoof full. And they like to break things.” She paled at the thought of one going on a rampage through the halls of the palace. “Most of those artifacts are worth more than I make in a year!” She shook the thought from her head, quickly dismissing the idea and turning the page to move on to the next one.

“What about a fairy?” Again she considered the thought. “Wait, no... fairies are powerful magical creatures. I have no idea how my magic will react with hers; there could be a violent reaction for all I know!” Twilight shuddered at the thought of some of the more serious potential side-effects, which ranged from the unlikely to the absurd, up to and including the creation of a bizarre pony-fairy fusion. “Even if our magics didn’t react, every fairy I’ve ever read about was very strong-willed. I know I wouldn’t be too happy if somepony just plucked me out of my place in the universe for no apparent reason, and I’m not so sure I could convince her to see my side of things...”

She began turning pages quicker and quicker. “No... Too strong. Too crazy. Too scandalous... No... No... No, No, No!” Twilight clenched her eyes shut and shuddered before letting out a frustrated cry. “GAHHH!...” Her face hit the page in front of her with an audible *THUD*

“Ohh,” she mumbled as she reluctantly lifted her head, “maybe I’ve been at it too long... Maybe it’s time to go home.” She started to gather her supplies in her magic, as something on the page she had just faceplanted onto caught her eye. “Huh?” She leaned closer to read what she had almost overlooked.

“As embodiments of the elements of nature, an elemental sprite’s behaviour is closely related to the nature of the element they represent. Some sprites are brash, and quick-tempered, while others are slow to anger and long enduring. Some are capable of swift destruction, while others spread the life and vigor of the natural world...” All thoughts of leaving were gone now as Twilight skipped a couple paragraphs ahead to look at one of the elements in greater detail.

“Nature-magic!” she beamed. “Of course!” She looked around the garden at the various plants. Trees, bushes, and shrubs as well as flowers and greenery were everywhere. The royal gardener was good at what he did, but all the skill in the world couldn’t compete with nature itself. “If I can figure out this summoning spell and convince the sprite to give the garden a little boost...” She was practically as giddy as a foal at the mere thought. “Oh, won’t Princess Celestia be surprised?”

“It’s decided then!” she announced to the animals of the garden as she magically grabbed a blank piece of parchment, her quill, and the vial of soulbound ink in her magic. She sat them all before her in a precise and practiced order before she moved the book closer, placed a hoof on the first line of the spell she had decided to cast, then dipped the end of her quill into the shimmering purple essence and held the nib over the page, preparing to scribe the first of the trigger runes.

“I’m going to summon a Water Sprite!”

Author's Note

A/N: I owe a big thank you to my original editor, Zeta040, as well as my newest editor, Dawnsinger. Thanks guys for sticking with me in spite of my unannounced hiatus.

A special thank you goes to TheWordsmith for being a sounding board and a source of inspiration for this chapter.