Chapitre 41

Chapter 42

The visit to the accountant had been a headache and a half, but we pretty much had it squared away now.

Instead of returning back home, though, I took a detour back to the castle. While Luna would be deep asleep by now in her sound bubble and I didn't really want to abuse this medallion thing, I really couldn't resist the allure of the royal archives.

More specifically, the Royal Guard Training Manual (Unicorn edition). It contained spells normally not available to the general population due to being dangerous or difficult.

I really wanted to be able to defend myself better if I needed to. This might be a lot more peaceful than my old world, but there had already been two major attacks and I hated being stuck in that corner as Discord's magic went wild.

If I had better shields, I would at least been able to TRY to help.

Swift would likely have let me look through his copy if I asked, but I suspected that he might have gotten in trouble if it was discovered and I didn't want that.

Flipping the page, I made my way along the marble corridor as I eyed through a section about double-layering shields. It was quite fascinating really, if nothing I would be able to pull off anytime soon.

I might actually have the precision needed by now to start trying it if I was reading those equations and spell diagrams right, but the power needed... from what I'd seen, I was about average for a unicorn. Which is way less impressive than it sounds if you look at the average unicorn's power.

Most never learned more than a couple of simple spells like telekinesis, light, warmth. Maybe how to light fires at most... unless their special talent had something to do with magic, they really didn't do much with it.

There was a reason to why ponies like Twilight Sparkle were special. Element of Magic indeed. Like comparing my firecracker with a tactical nuke.

Okay, that's a bit unfair. I was at least a hand grenade... not that you could tell in comparison. Add in that her special talent was actually magic...

Yeah, I'd be glad if I got up to the level where I could match the things she could do when she was ten.

The power for a double-layered shield was at least five times that of a normal shield spell. I might be able to do it if I used everything I had and even then just for a couple of moments.

A glance out of the window as I walked past revealed the frozen and snow covered castle grounds.

Ugh, I really didn't want to go out there again. I wondered if it would be possible to try to convince Celestia that we didn't need winters. Equestria could be a tropical country!

...No, didn't think so either.

Putting off heading out for now, I walked over and jumped up to lay down on a padded bench in the alcove by the next window.

Maybe if I waited and read for a couple of hours, I might get the motivation to go outside. I actually felt a bit bad for the guards that had to stand outside or patrol all day. Even a warming spell only did so much...

But what do I know, maybe their armor is enchanted. At least for unicorns and earth ponies, I know pegasi are cold resistant.

I tilted my head in thought with a small frown, starting to flip through the book, looking for a survival section. Maybe they had more advanced warming spells in here somewhere...

There you are.

Smiling to myself, I started to read through the spell equation. Oh... this really was quite a bit more comple-

"Blank Page! Hey!"

I looked up in surprise and then grinned. "Twilight Sparkle. Hello there."

The purple unicorn smiled and headed over. "How have you been?"

Shrugging, I put my book down with my magic. "Pretty good, pretty good. You?"

"Brilliant." she said with a grin before she gave me a glare. "I can't believe you did that to me!" she exclaimed and poked my chest with her hoof.

I blinked at her in surprise. "...What did I do!?"

"Make Sky Walker and Princess Leia siblings!"

Oh that. Oh yeah, Twilight shipped them for the first book. That was pretty funny.

"It made sense in story." I simply answered with a shrug.

That still earned me a unhappy look before she sighed. "Fine. I still liked the book. The twist with Darth Vader was really good, I didn't see it coming. But to have Sky lose a wing..."

I just grinned. "Glad you liked it. So, I heard you are going to be in the Hearth's Warming Eve play this evening."

Twilight nodded. "Yeah. I'm a bit nervous, but it will be fun. We have practiced it for a while now."

"I'm sure it will go fine. I know I'm going to watch it at least... but you could not pay me enough to get me on any kind of stage." I admitted. "I'm not good with public speaking."

She grinned. "Neither am I, to be honest. You get used to it, though."

"I suppose. It's not something I really want to practice enough to get comfortable with."

Twilight nodded and picked my book up in her magic. "So what are you reading?" before she frowned and continued; "I thought these were for Royal Guards only. At least, that's what my brother said."

"It's also in the royal archives. I'm trying to figure out the warming spell... I hate winters."

The purple unicorn smiled. "They do get a bit cold at times. Mind if I look through this?"

I shrugged. "Not at all. But don't you have full access to the archives yourself?"

She nodded, her nose already buried in the book as she flipped through it. "Yes, but I mostly focused on the magic sections."

Figure, I guess.

Twilight then looked up and reached out to poke my moon medallion. "I have not seen one of these for a long time... and never the moon version. I know Princess Celestia have some with a sun on them. I didn't know they were used anymore."

I shrugged and looked down at it. "You know of them?"

She nodded, her tone shifting slightly to something more lecturing. "In the past, the Princesses have handed those out to certain ambassadors and heralds. Ponies they trust to speak for them if necessary."

"What."

Twilight nodded again. "Back in those days, I would likely wear one with a sun on it to show my alignment with Princess Celestia and that she trusts me to speak for her if necessary. Even ponies that didn't know me would know the symbol." she explained before frowning as she looked at my expression. "Princess Luna didn't explain all this?"

"...No. No she didn't. She just said it would let me come and go in the castle as I wished."

Twilight shrugged before looking thoughtful. "Well, it does that as well, the pony wearing one might be able to get to talk to them at a moments notice without all the guard checks and such... And honestly, nowadays that's the biggest use. I'm not actually sure if the old laws about them are still in effect. I only know they even existed because Princess Celestia told me about them. You have to ask Princess Luna."

"So what's stopping somepony from stealing this from around my neck and starting trouble?" I couldn't help but ask.

Twilight grinned. "I asked Princess Celestia the same when she explained them to me. Look here." she said and used her magic to lift it off my neck and put it around hers instead. The silver of the medallion turned from silver to glowing red. "If the wrong pony wears it, it glows red, see?" She said before she put it back around my neck and the glow disappeared.

I looked down at the silver moon as I lifted it with my hoof. Luna was putting a lot of trust in me.

"Oh, I need to run. I wanted to visit Princess Celestia before I needed to get down to the stage. I'll see you later, Page."

"Yeah. See you later, Twilight."

I had feeling I had to go yell at Luna about not telling me everything.

Again.

For now, though... I dropped the medallion back around my neck and picked the book back up. Let's see if I can't figure out that warming spell.