Episode 9
水晶
Focus on the book
I looked around me. There were several chariots, some for luggage, some for us. I stood there, not sure what to do.
"Don't worry. We'll soon be back in Ponyville." Spike said as he put a claw on my front right leg.
"I am not worried. I just don't know what to do right now."
"You don't have to do anything except hop in with me. That's also good for you, Spike." Twilight said.
I walked to the chariot in which Twilight was waiting, Spike following me closely. Once we were in, the chariot began moving.
"It's not so bad." Spike told me, which had no effect on my nausea.
After a few hours of travel, we finally landed in front of Twilight's castle. I promptly left the chariot and fell to my knees, fighting to keep myself from vomiting. After several minutes, I finally got back up.
"Now follow me, Lightning. We will start your training immediately."
I nodded and I followed Twilight. She led me through a huge amount of corridors and hallways until we finally reached the castle's library. Twilight levitated a huge pile of books to me and let it fall to the ground.
"Now try to levitated at least one book. To do so, focus on what you want to levitate and imagine it floating."
I did as I was instructed, but it didn't work.
"Keep working." Twilight said as she sat down.
I took a deep breath and I tried again.
After too many attempts to remember, I finally managed to levitated the pile of books. Unfortunately, doing so not only left me exhausted, but it took me the entire day to do it.
"Take a break. We start tomorrow at sunrise."
Twilight then left me in the library. I let out a sigh. Leaving the pile of books were it was, I walked around looking for a book about The Origin. Not long after I began my search, I found one. I took it and I went to a nearby table, putting the book down. I opened it on a random page and I began to read out loud.
"'The Origin is composed of nine primary elements. These are fire, water, air, earth, electricity, life, void, light and darkness. Each and every being has an affinity to one or more of these elements. One way to determine one's affinity is with one's personality. Another way is with one's reaction to certain actions.' Wish I had a notebook nearby..." I said with a sigh. I then resumed reading out loud.
"'There are several artifacts associated with The Origin, the most powerful one being the Focusing Pendant. However, for the Focusing Pendant to work, one must possess all nine Focusing Crystals, one for each element. The only known way to find them, besides luck, is to use the Focusing Pendant with The Book of The Origin. Its last known resting place is within the ruins of the library of the old castle in the Everfree Forest.'"
I was astonished. If what was written in that book was true, then I had to go and find that Book of The Origin. I closed the book I was reading and I got ready to go when somepony cleared her throat.
"Going somewhere?"
I turned around to see a cyan Pegasus hovering near me. I smiled sheepishly.
"Not really?"
"Stop lying. And no more reading. Now follow me."
I let out a sigh and followed Rainbow Dash to my room.
I gasped for air as I felt myself fall on the ground. I was slightly confused. I then remembered that I felt my body being levitated for a few seconds before I fell. I groaned as I realised what had happened.
"Already sunrise?"
"Yes. Now come with me." Twilight said.
I got back on my hooves and I followed Twilight. She led me outside of the castle. I took a deep breath of fresh air as I stepped outside.
"While you practised levitation yesterday, I casted some analyzing spells on you. You have a good magical reserve, and you could cast several different spells if you take the time to learn. Levitate that rock."
Twilight was pointing with a hoof at a moderately sized stone. I focused on the stone, feeling the magic accumulate in my horn. After several seconds, my horn was wrapped in a white aura, and the stone was surrounded by a matching one. I then imagined the stone rising from the ground, and it slowly began to rise in the air.
Incredibly, I wasn't exhausted at all. In fact, it felt natural. I lowered the stone back to the ground, and the aura vanished.
"Good. You seem a natural at this. Now I will teach you teleportation. First a demonstration."
Twilight's horn glowed, then there was a burst of magic around her and she was gone. A few seconds later, another burst of magic happened, this time beside me, and Twilight appeared there.
"The key to succeeding this spell is focus. The easiest way to perform this spell is with a line of sight, where you can see where you want to teleport. If you remember a place with enough detail, it can also work. The hardest way to perform it is over a long distance, where you can't see where you want to teleport. Start with a line of sight teleportation. To do so, imagine yourself where you want to teleport."
I nodded and focused on the area beside the stone I levitated earlier. My horn began to glow, and a burst of magic later, I was standing by the stone.
"Good. Keep practicing." Twilight said before teleporting somewhere.
I smirked and I began to walk away. I had a fairly good idea of where the Everfree Forest was, and so I went that way, only to bump in Rainbow Dash.
"I knew you would try something like that."
I focused on the spot just behind her. My horn glowed, there was a burst of magic and I was standing on the other side of Rainbow Dash.
"Fine. But I'm coming. Just to make sure you do nothing bad."
We then went towards the Everfree Forest.
We were in a clearing where a hut was. A zebra had greeted us and she was now talking to Rainbow Dash about the reason we were in the Everfree Forest. The zebra then came to me.
"Rainbow Dash told me you were going to the old castle."
"Yes. Could you guide us there?"
"I can, even though I disapprove your plan."
After a few precautions, we left for the old castle, hopefully to find the book I was looking for.
I looked around the library, looking for a book that might seem different. I also took that opportunity to practice levitating several objects. I then heard something fall to the ground. I turned around to face Rainbow Dash.
"Oops... Sorry..." She said sheepishly.
I let out a sigh. I resumed looking around, but it was the third time I looked around the library. I put every book back were they were suppose to be, then I sat down.
"I looked everywhere, and I can't find that cursed book!"
"Lightning, I might have found something interesting..."
I immediately ran to where I heard Rainbow Dash's voice only to come face to face with Twilight. I gulped. I then heard something falling, and I saw Pinkie Pie's head coming out of a shelf. I repressed the urge to face hoof.
"There you are. Thanks, Rainbow."
"No problem, Twi."
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for a book!"
"What book?"
"The Book of The Origin."
Twilight let out an exasperated sigh.
"There are no such book! Now come with me, we have more training to do."
Just then, Pinkie Pie rose in front of me, a book with some sort of crystal embedded in the cover between her hooves.
"There you go!"
"Pinkie, where did you find that book?" Twilight asked.
"Under the letter 'T'! I thought you were good with ordering, Twi." Pinkie Pie replied to an annoyed Twilight.
At that moment, Pinkie Pie reminded me of Tony.
"I hope you will bring him with you next time you come here, Lightning! That way, I will have MORE friends to throw parties for!"
My brain then shut down at Pinkie Pie's statement. Did she just break the fourth wall?
"Yes, silly! It's what I do best! Hi everypony reading this!" Pinkie Pie said as she waved a hoof right in my face as if people could see it.
I levitated the book to me and immediately went to a table to examine the book. The cover of the book was plain brown leather. The crystal was neatly cut in a hexagon with seven faces. I passed a hoof around the crystal, and it came off. The two sides were exactly alike, with seven faces each. It was the same brown freshly tilled earth was.
Putting the crystal down beside the book, I opened the book. On the first page was a drawing of some sort of pendant. There were nine coloured crystals around a white sphere. I flipped the page, and I began to read.
"'The Book of The Origin. Nine crystals, nine elements, united together to cleanse evil. On the pages of this book you shall find information about the nine Focusing Crystals and the Focusing Pendant. Nine avatars of the elements to power up The Origin through relationship and energy. And only The Origin can find the Focusing Pendant, the tool of location.'"
I then flipped the page back to the drawing. I put a hoof on it, and I felt something. I began to rub my hoof against the page until the Focusing Pendant lifted from the page. I heard Twilight groan in exasperation. I put the Focusing Pendant around my neck, then I flipped through the pages until Twilight closed the book with a hoof.
"The castle. Now." She said to me.
I immediately imagined myself in my room of the castle with the book and the brown crystal. A burst of magic later, I was sitting on the floor of my room, the book and the brown crystal on the floor with me. I smiled as I realised I managed to teleport stuff with me.
I got back to my hooves and walked to the book, the Focusing Pendant over the book. Then, the book opened itself and the pages flipped until a map showed on the pages. The book the floated until the map faced me. Then, the Focusing Pendant floated in front of the book. A ray of white light then came out of the central sphere, hitting the map. However, then map had changed and instead of showing some place I knew nothing of, it showed the place where we went to each summer. Precisely, the cave in which we held the courage test.
I then looked at the Focusing Pendant. Coming out of the sphere were information about the Focusing Crystal that was supposed to be there. I understood nothing of what was written, except the symbol used in Japanese for the word 'light'. Suddenly, everything faded away and the book and the Focusing Pendant fell to the ground with a loud noise.
Something then moved. I turned around to face whatever was hiding in the shadows. A figure then jumped towards me, the cloak hiding the pony falling to the ground. The pony impacted me and we both fell to the ground. The pony's coat was dark blue and his mane and tail, because it was a stallion, were white and spiky.
I pushed the stallion off of me and I got back to my hooves.
"Who are you?"
The unicorn, because the stallion was a unicorn, looked at me intently. I got a bad feeling and I jumped aside mere seconds before there was a loud clack where I was standing seconds ago. I focused on the stallion, and a lightning bolt shot towards him and hit him. Being stunned, he fell to the ground, not without swearing a lot. I levitated him so I could look him in the eyes.
"What's your name?"
"None a you' business."
I smashed him against the wall, making him groan in pain.
"Your. Name."
"David Miles."
Just then, Twilight and the other elements teleported in my room, causing me to lose my magical grip on 'David'. He fell to the ground, and Twilight levitated him up again.
"Why are you here?" Twilight asked.
"I was forced to follow him and get him to follow me so I could take him to The River's Earth HQ in Tokyo."
"I think he can be on our side. When he told us what he was doing here, he showed signs of hatred and anger towards The River."
"I work alone!"
I winced at his statement. He was clearly full of sorrow, but it could wait tomorrow. I yawned at that moment, and I turned towards Twilight.
"I think I should go to bed. And tomorrow, I would love to hear your story, David." I said.
Twilight nodded, and the Elements of Harmony left my room with David. I quickly hid the book, the Focusing Crystal and the Focusing Pendant in a conveniently placed bag. I then went to bed to assimilate today's actions.
Next episode: "I can't believe it. A human actually followed me to Equestria. And he was working for The River. He better have some pretty good reasons for it... Next episode:
Episode 10
味方
An unexpected ally
Don't miss it!"
(c) 2014 The master of the game
