Chapter 3: A Little Game
Twilight had gotten up at a reasonable hour, despite having stayed up late trying to find an answer to this pegasus, and getting ready for this guest Princess Celestial had talked about.
"Geez, who could Princess Celestia get to come here so quickly, and whoever they are they must not do much to be so open..." Twilight mumbled, waiting for whoever it was they were taking in.
"It's almost ten, so I would think that they will be here soon..." Spike mentioned, "I'm going to get something to eat while we wait, it's not like they're about to get here." he added, and headed for the kitchen to get something to eat. Just after he left, there was a nock at the door.
"COMING!" Twilight called, then ran over to the door to open it. Standing outside, there was a unicorn, who she did not recognize. She had a very pale blue coat, a blonde mane, magenta eyes, and she had a cutie mark that appeared to be a scroll with a quill.
"Hello Miss Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia sent me. This is a note from her, please read it inside, and I understand if you do not let me in quite yet." said the unicorn, and then levitated a note to Twilight, who took it with her own magic, and brought in front of herself.
"Umm, well... hello, what's your name?" asked Twilight. She wanted to try to figure out who this was, and began simply with a friendly greeting.
"Twilight Sparkle m-" the unicorn began, and stopped for a second. It seemed that she was searching for the right words to use to explain herself. "Please Twilight, just read the note first, and everything will be explained shortly." she replied, and the purple unicorn nodded.
"Alright, I'll be right back shortly." she replied, then went inside to read the note.
To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle;
As you might already be able to tell, this is the guest that I mentioned. Please let her in, and all will be explained as soon as possible.
Princess Celestia
Twilight examined the note throughly, trying to find anything wrong with it. Her knowledge of her mentor's font was the basis for how she determined if it was her letter, but the more she examined it, the more she became sure that the note was most definitely Celestia's. She placed it upon the table, and returned to the door to let the guest inside.
"Sorry for not letting you in immediately, I just wanted to be sure it was the Princess' letter." Twilight explained, then stepped to the side, letting the unicorn in.
"Thank you very much Twilight, if you would not mind, would you close the library. This is very important, and we should not be interrupted. Not only that, but we should also only let the most trustworthy of ponies know of this." explained the unicorn.
"Okay, one moment." replied Twilight, before closing the door, flipping the sign outside from 'open' to 'closed', and closing the windows. "Well there we go Princess, we should be fine now, we could go downstairs if you want though, just to be sure." Twilight said, the unicorn smiled.
"My, was it really that obvious to you Twilight?" chuckled Princess Celestia.
"Well I did only socialize mostly with you for a few years." Twilight answered, smiling at knowing her mentor so well.
"Don't be too happy about that Twilight, there is a reason why I let you stay here in Ponyville after all."
"Heh, yaaaaah..." Twilight answered, and remembered how she didn't have any friends at all before she had been sent to Ponyville, and was allowed to stay there by Princess Celestia. "Anyways, can you explain what you have to explain, since I don't know anything about what's going on here." Twilight asked, and Princess Celestia's smile faded to a serious expression.
"Part of the reason I'm here, in person, is to see the adventurer. The name 'Vason' is known in many lands, even in places beyond Equestria. However, he is not so well known here, as most of his work is suppressing evils; a task that is rarely needed here. Now I took this form to be less conspicuous, as whoever may be after this adventurer, may also enjoy causing chaos when possible, and should something happen to me, that would cause a lot of problems here in Equestria."
"Yah it would, wouldn't it. Wait, then why don't you have any guards with you, I'm sure somepony could stay with you, and it wouldn't be that much more apparent." Twilight asked, feeling concerned now for her mentors well-being.
"It would, however, I do know how to protect myself, and I plan on staying with you as often as I can. I won't be here long Twilight. I only plan on seeing that adventurer in order to find out if he truly is 'Vason'. I also want to look at where you met this pegasus, but besides those things, I have nothing to do. I hope I am not intruding on any plans Twilight, am I?"
"Oh not at all Princess, actually my friends and I were going to go see that pony later after lunch, I'm sure you can join us then to see him." Twilight explained, and Celestia chuckled.
"Sounds like a great opportunity. But what sh-" Celestial started to say, before Spike came into the room with some food for himself.
"Hey Twilight, who is this. I missed the whole getting some food." he asked.
"It's me Spike, Princess Celestia. This is a disguise, so that I may be around common ponies, without drawing attention to myself. I almost never use it, nor even have a name in this form, however, I would prefer that this remains between us, and only reveal to others on a need-to-know basis. Maybe to Twilight's friends, but we should keep it for a quiet place, and not mention it unless necessary." Celestia explained, while Spike looked at her with some disbelief, and crossed his arms.
"I'm not convinced on this, why should I believe your the princess?"
"SPIKE! How can you not trust her to be the princess?" Twilight asked, while Spike shook his head and raised an arm.
"But really Twilight; do you have any REAL proof that this is Princess Celestia?" Spike inquired, and Celestia smiled at Spikes skepticism.
"It's good to know you're being very smart about this. If you don't believe me then send a letter. If it is me then it'll come right here. Otherwise, it'll go to wherever Celestia is."
"Alright, I'll try that." Spike replied, and went to go get a scroll.
"Spike, really can't you show some formality to her?" asked Twilight.
"Actually it's fine. I will admit that I debated not even telling you anything besides the absolute mandatory, just to see how you would have been around another pony, rather than me. However, I decided against it to avoid any conflicts." Celestia explained, and just then, a flame flew in front of Celestia, then materialized into a scroll. The disguised alicorn opened it, and found nothing but a circle in the top right corner. "Let me guess, the circle in the top right is just to be sure it IS your note that I just got Spike?"
Spike rubbed the back of his head, and smiled back. "Yah, sorry about not believing your Princess."
"It's quite alright. Now then Twilight, when would it be possible to go see this adventurer?" Celestia asked.
"We should leave after lunch, I already had plans to see him with my friends. Oh also, since you said you didn't want to be noticed as yourself then we need to get a name for you..." Twilight thought about it for a second, "Hey did you ever decide on what that cutie mark is for, since I know for a fact it's not your real one."
"Writer, that's what I went with for it, but I can't think of anything that could be used for a name from that." Celestia explained, then for a moment, tried to think of what she could use.
"How about this?" Spike asked as he placed a quill and ink in front of Celestia.
"A quill... Quill... I actually like that name, thank you Spike." Celestia said with a smile.
"Actually, I meant to write names down, and pick the best one." mentioned Spike.
"I don't think that really matters, but I think it would sound better as a nickname Celestia, though. I can't see somepony with your personality having a nickname, but why would somepony be called Quill?" Twilight added.
"Because of this." Celestia said. She then levitated the quill up over her right ear, and tied a few hairs around it to secure it in place. "I also have a spell that will help with personality, while not necessary, it will greatly help me remain hidden. It allows somepony to change habits, accent, and their general personality to an extent for a day. While it's not enough to fool somepony who knows the pony, while they are trying to see it in them, it will fool anyone who isn't really thinking about it, or doesn't know them." explained Celestia.
"Wow, that sounds really helpful Princess!" Twilight called out. "So, what do we need to do to help?"
"We just need to make a 'Quill', somepony like me but very different." Celestia stated, "What we have to do is basically create a number of personality points of somepony, and that's easier than one would think." Celestia smiled, "Now let's get stated, shall we?"
The three worked for a while on creating a 'Quill'. They had decided that, firstly, there had to be a backstory to why Twilight knew Quill. They decided on going with Quill and Twilight having been friends, however Twilight, due to never having any close friends, never saw her as one. That was, up until she came to Ponyville, then one day needed to contact her once more. Even though the letter had originally been relevant to their studies, they got back in contact about life in general. It was also decided that Quill should have come over for a surprise visit, to see Twilight, and meet these six friends she had heard so much about, but never met.
At that point, the backstory was well enough finished, and 'Quill' needed a personality. After some debate between Celestia's overly informal ideas, and Twilight's somewhat unconvincing ones, Spike suggested an idea. It was liked by Celestia because it was very convincing in her opinion. However, Twilight did not like it as much, but did admit it did make 'Quill' and Princess Celestia, seem like two very different people, but she wasn't sure if she would completely enjoy this personality. After finished 'creating' Quill, the the two talked about what had been happening to them recently, just catching up, and later eating lunch.
"My Twilight, that must have been a VERY interesting event. I'm surprised you didn't mention that in the reports." Celestia, now Quill, said in surprise.
"Oh yah, I guess I didn't write about it... It kinda got put aside by what happened the next day, I just couldn't get the wording right on the report. I'm sure I have a few versions of it laying around somewhere..." Twilight replied, and scratched her head while looking around, trying to remember where it was.
"Hey Twi, didn't you say you were going to go check in on the adventurer after lunch?" Spike asked when he come into the kitchen, having finished his chores.
"Oh I did say I was going to! Umm, well would you mind coming with me, and my friends Prin- err Quill?" Twilight asked.
"I sure would Twi, after all, Quill has yet to meet your friends." she chuckled, ready to meet her friends once more and see how they are when not interacting with royalty.
"Alright, let's get to it then. We should be right on time if we head out right now." Twilight said, as she got up to grab her bags.
---
The two made it to the clinic, at about the same time as everypony else, though Pinkie was a bit late.
"Who is this Twilight? I don't recognize her." asked Rarity, who was the first to notice Quill, and drew everypony's attention over to Twilight and Quill.
"Everypony, this is Quill. We both went to the same school. She is the only pony I could have ever really called a friend from back then, but I guess I just kind of didn't." Twilight explained, "I had to send her a letter one daw about something, and while I was writing it, I realized that we kind of were friends, so we just kept on writing letters to each other."
"I'm here to visit. I decided to just surprise her, and try and meet her friends, whom I assume are all of you. I've heard good things about all of you." Quill smiled.
"Well Quill, on the far left is Applejack." The two shook hooves, Applejack doing so vigorously.
"Nice ta meet y'all Quill!" Applejack said, after shaking hooves.
"Well that is... Quite the hoofshake you have there Applejack, going to feel that for a while..." Quill responded, her front leg still shaking from being shook so much until Twilight stopped her leg from shaking.
"Heh, sorry 'bout that..."
"Anyways, next to Applejack is Rainbow Dash." Twilight introduced, acnd Rainbow Dash flew forward to shake Quills hoof as well.
"Yep, THE one and only, Rainbow Dash!" the cyan pegasus declaired, while Twilight shook her head at the introduction she had heard before.
"Actually I am quite impressed at your ability. I saw your Sonic Rainboom, and I must say; you certainly deserve the title of 'Best Young Flyer'" Quill mentioned, and once finished, Rarity stepped forward.
"Rainbow here is certainly just as every bit boastful as she is skillful I guess, maybe more boastful," Rarity commented.
"HEY!" Rainbow Dash called out.
"It is kinda TRUE Rainbow Dash, you have to admit that much at least. Anyways Quill, that is Rarity who just spoke up."
"It is a pleasure darling, it's nice to know that Twilight did have friends, though not so much that she didn't see you as one." Rarity commented.
"That never really bothered me much. It's nice to met you Rarity, and it's nice to know Twilight isn't just a bookworm anymore as well." Quill replied, smiled, and looked over to Twilight, who rolled her eyes.
"Lastly this is Fluttershy, she's normally very shy. I didn't even catch her name until she saw Spike, then asked him his life story."
"Well it's nice to meet you Fluttershy." Quill said, taking a step towards Fluttershy.
"{Ummm, {hi Quill.}}" Fluttershy peeped, backing up a tiny bit.
"Um, what was that that you just said Fluttershy?" Quill asked.
"It's alright Fluttershy, she is a friend of mine after all." Twilight said, "{She was like this when I first met her, only kinda worse.}" she whispered to Quill, while Fluttershy kept her position.
"Thanks for introducing me to your friends Twilight. Anyways, I actually came along to meet this adventurer that you picked up. Well, the VISIT isn't for that, but for me coming to the clinic that IS half the reason." explained Quill.
"Well then Ah say let's all see if h-" Applejack suggested, but then was cut off.
"HEY TWILIGHT, who's the new pony!?" yelled Pinkie Pie, standing atop Twilight's head, looking her in the eyes.
"EEEK!" yelled Twilight, not expecting her energetic pink friend to appear above her. She ran backwards, and Pinkie fell off Twilight's head. "PINKIE PIE! Don't do that!" Twilight called out, somewhat shocked, and somewhat frightened.
"Oh calm down Twilight, I didn't run off to start a party for her did I?" Pinkie added as she quickly stood up, and looked towards Twilight.
"I can see what you meant about Pinkie Pie being... Pinkie Pie." Quill mentioned, staring at Pinkie Pie wondering how that was possible.
"Hmmmm, you seem... Familiar." Pinkie commented, walking over to Quill. She began staring her in the eye, while Quill backed up nervously. Pinkie kept inching her head forward, and Quill mover her head back. There was a pause for a moment, and all went quiet.
"Oh well! I must just be mistaken. Nice to meet you Quill, I'm Pinkie Pie!" She called out, a big smile on her face, and her hooves in the air.
"Ummm, it's nice to meet you too Pinkie Pie." Quill said half-heartedly, trying to be as enthusiastic as she could. Quill was definitely not expecting Pinkie Pie to be this much 'Pinkie Pie'. She realized that Twilight wasn't ever really exaggerating about her, until somepony spoke.
"S-shouldn't we go check on that adventurer now?" asked Fluttershy.
"Yah, we all should go an' see if he's up." Applejack added, "Come'on, let's see is he's up!"
---
The seven didn't see anyone when they first came in, though they figured Nurse Redheart was with the stallion at the moment.
"Nurse Redheart?" called Rarity, to see if she was in the clinic.
"In here, come on in." Nurse Redheart called back. The group could hear the stallion talking to Nurse Redheart, and he had an accent, but a very subtle one. They came in to see that the stallion had removed his bag, and was now on his back rather than his side, though he still wore his armor and cape. "He's awake, but he's keeping his eyes closed to rest a bit more, or so he says." She explained.
"You have guests sir."
The stallion moaned. "Come one you three, we can get at least a little more rest. Plus I'm the one who carries all the stuff!" he mumbled, and was waving a hoof in the air in Nurse Redheart's general direction. She stepped back, and pushed the others back out of the room.
"I can't tell if he's a bit delusional, sleepy, or both, so talking to him may be... Interesting." Nurse Redheart explained, "Sorry to be rude to you all, but I have to get something finished quickly since he's up, and I don't have much time to chat." she explained as she left to finish what it was she had been doing.
"Well time to meet the sleepy head! He didn't sound very delusional if you ask me though." Pinkie Pie commented.
The seven entered the room to find the stallion in the same position as when he was sleeping, only he was facing away from them.
"Hello, are you awake?" asked Twilight.
"Huh, new voice... *YAWN* good morning." He turned over to see the group. "What in the world... am I being visited by talking ponies?" said the stallion with a confused look.
"Yep. Delusional." Dash said, rather sure of that because of the stallions comment.
"Dash really? Do y'all have ta by jump ta conclusions so fast? Maybe he jes don't wake up very quick." Applejack pointer out as the stallion rubbed his face and started taking.
"If this was a dream this would make perfect sense..." he paused and looked at his hooves and blinked, "Oh yah... I apologize for taking strange things, but I'm indeed slow to wake up, and make sense of what's gong on. Could I just get a class of water?" he asked.
"You mean a glass of water?" asked Twilight.
"Hmm? Oh yah, I guess." Twilight then levitated a cup to the water dispenser, filled it and sent it to the stallion. "Thank you." he replied, as he downed the whole thing, "Ah yes, that was good. If you don't mind I could use two more." he asked. Twilight got him two more, he thanked her, and drank the second glass.
"Okay, I should explain any questions you all have, I'm sure I added a few from my sleep-brain." he said, the splashed himself in the face with the third cup, "Just waking myself up. Helps me get my head straight when I wake up." he explained, and Rainbow Dash was the first to ask something.
"Could you explain why in the hay you just went crazy?" He rubbed his forehead then paused when his hoof bumped his horn.
"What th- oh yah. I'm just a heavy sleeper, and I have just walked for three days straight with battles in between, and no sleep. I did get some on the first day but I was woken up by a manticore, and I have been traveling for longer, but that's how long I've gone without sleeping. I would guess some of you might be just as sleepy and delusional if you pulled the same thing, especially you- ummm, well Rainbow Head?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "It's Rainbow DASH, you got the last part wrong." she said.
"Heh... At least I got the guess half-right. Anyways, nice to meet you Rainbow Dash. Now let's all introduce ourselves, and all ask a question just to keep this more organized huh?" the stallion said. As he got up and took a valiant pose that he assumed naturally, making everypony all the more sure he was an adventurer.
"OOH, OOH A GAME! I LOVE GAMES! I'm Pinkie Pie, and my question is; Do you like PARTIES?" she asked with enthusiasm, in one breath, and an ear-to-ear grin.
"Heh, not exactly what I meant for that, but well... actually I haven't been to a party in a very long time. I can't really say, nor one from around here, but I'm not much of a 'modern party goer' myself." he explained, Pinkie Pie gasped.
"I REALLY need to throw you a party then!" She smiled at this, the stallion shook his hoof at her.
"Not at the moment, there are much bigger problems at hand. It would be best to save the party for later. I'm sorry to do so, you seem to love parties very much, but I have to find out a number of things first. Once I do, I will gladly come, so long as I can." Pinkie smiled at him being able to come.
"Okie Dokie Lokie, just be sure to come!" Had the stallion thought about it more he would have explained again, he however did not.
"Now then, what is my next question?" he asked, Twilight steppes forward.
"I'll go. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I would like to ask you..." She paused, unsure of asking about the pegasus, or if he was an adventurer.
"Ask... what?" he inquired.
"Well, ummm... I'll go later I can't pick." she said.
"Take your time, just ask later." he said, "Now then who is up next?"
"Ah'm Applejack and Ah wanna ask ya what y'all got all that stuff fer?" The stallion looked at his bag, and looked back.
"Supplies, materials, equipment, some weapons, pretty much anything. Name it, and I likely have it. Going from place to place isn't always easy, sometimes you have to carry a lot of stuff, especially if towns are scarce, like here." he explained, "My staff is for combat, at least with whatever I can use it against realistically."
Fluttershy gave him a worried look. "C-c-combat? L-like f-fighting?" she asked.
"Yes, it's a dangerous world out there miss, especially coming from where I come from to here. Now that you asked your question can I get your name?" he replied, Fluttershy just backed up with a worried look. "Don't worry, I'm not going to bite you just for saying your name." the stallion explained, but before anyone else could say anything Rarity spoke up.
"Her name is Fluttershy, don't worry she's simply shy, that's all. I am Rarity, and my question for you, is if you are some kind of adventurer?"
The stallion nodded. "Yes, at least most say so. Many say that I'm famous, and I guess they are right. Here, however, I'd think my name isn't known, mostly because it's my first time anywhere near here." he explained.
"Two more, who's asking first?"
"I will, my name is Quill, and I believe I might have heard of you. Are you Mr. Silversword?" she asked, his eyes open wide with surprise.
"It-I didn't think that my name would get out HERE, actually I'm amazed that anything I would deal with is out here, I would like to speak to you alone later Miss Quill, if you do not mind." He bowed to her and stood back up. "But first; Twilight, did you decide on a question?" he asked.
"Yes, Rarity got one of them. Can you explain a pegasus with magic?" she asked.
"Hahaha! Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle." Silversword said, and he shook his head. "Everything has magic, every being, every object, and every entity. It is in the ground we walk upon, in the plants we grow, and the animals we see. The only thing that is needed for the casing of spells is a catalyst, and for a unicorn that catalyst is their horn, and a pinch of focus." He paused to take a breath. "Does that answer your question?" Twilight stared blankly, with a look of disapproval on her face.
"No, it didn't. I don't know about wherever your from, but you have to have a horn to use magic. This pegasus had none, and I'm very sure that setting your wings on fire like a PHOENIX is magic." she closed her eyes and sighed, "Now can you explain?" she opened her eyes to see his wide open and a blank expression on his face.
"Giant white to f-flaming wings, wearing a c-cloak, and a bag like mine?" he asked, clearly worried.
"Yah, why?" Twilight asked, Mr. Silversword ran over to his bag, and swung it over himself, being very quick about getting it on.
"I'm sorry, but I must go NOW. I am known as Vason Silversword, and I have nothing to ask all of you. I must go this is important!" he as clearly hurried, he cast a spell on himself right after getting everything on. "Fairwell, may the good winds of life bring you to happiness, and the bitter ones to wisdom." he said with an amazingly fast tongue. "I hope to see you all in good times and thank you for whatever you have done for me." And with that, he sprinted at the group, leap over them as they ducked down. The just was aimed perfectly, and he was out the door before they knew what had happened.
"Well that was odd..." Pinkie Pie commented.
"I can't believe him. He could have hit any one of us with that jump, and his outfit choice is..." Rarity proclaimed, and by how she spoke, she was clearly not a fan of his armor.
"That was really odd..." Twilight murmured. "But why do you know about him Quill?" Twilight knew there was more to the whole thing that Quill said nothing about, and she wanted to know more.
"Yah, why DO you know about him Quill?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I will explain soon, to all of you, why I am here and what I know. However, this is not the place, we need to go, and we know he is fine for now. Let's find someplace quiet to start the explanation." Quill informed them, and left the room.
"We really should, I'm sure Quill knows a lot about this, zen can clear up so much." Twilight said, following her.
"No point in not joining her, an' if we do, we'll get some answers." Applejack added as she followed the two, and the whole group headed out to where the others were headed.