During the next few days, Soul Mage, Gold Heart, and Gale tried to make the most of their week off by exploring the town, meeting new friends, and lending a helping hoof wherever possible. Ash kept up with them for a day or so, but soon stuck to hanging out at the library trying to continue his research. Twilight and Spike put up with him as best they could, but his habit of replacing books in the wrong spot on the shelves started to wear on them by the third day. On day four, he arrived to find the library locked and Gale waiting for him by the door. "What's up?" he asked her.
"Twilight told me to tell you two things," Gale replied, "One: you're not allowed into the library until you promise not to try and put books back- just stack them up for Spike to sort. Two: she thinks she's got an idea about whatever it is you've been wasting time on this week – those are my words by the way – and she wants to talk to you about it."
"Ok," Ash said slowly, "so, is she home?"
"Nope, Rarity's putting her through another attempt to cover that blue hair with dye," Gale said, "I'm starting to get worried that she hasn't found a solution for that yet, and it's claimed her entire tail now."
"She'll sort it out," Ash said, "So, I guess I'll go find something to do until she gets back." He started to walk away, but Gale stopped him with a hoof on his flank.
"Nah, I think you should get this over with now," she said, and then pointed dramatically, "To the Boutique!"
"No, no, I'm fine with waiting," Ash insisted, trying to walk away again. Gale snorted and moved to block the unicorn's path.
"You're just avoiding Rarity," she said, "I don't get why. She likes you, and while she may be a bit too fancy at times, she's a good person, er, pony. There's no reason you can't be around her and be nice."
"But…" Ash said.
"No arguments," Gale said, giving Ash a push in the direction of the Carousel Boutique, "Just walk." Ash glowered at her as he allowed himself to be herded toward Rarity's shop. Along the way they encountered Heart and Soul, who were just finishing extracting Ditzy Doo from a tree and picking up her scattered mail. Once the wall-eyed pegasus was straightened out and back on her route, the golden-yellow ponies joined their friends on their walk.
"Why is she a mail-pony?" Ash asked.
"She's normally good at it," Heart said, "that was only her third upset this month."
"Month's only half over," Ash muttered.
"Well you hardly ever use the mail service anyway," Gale said, "so don't complain."
"I'll complain about whatever I want to," Ash snapped, "And on that note, I don't want to go see Rarity!"
"Well, you're not," Gale replied, "you're going to see Twilight Sparkle, who happens to be with Rarity right now." Ash's eye started twitching, but he simply grumbled to himself the rest of the way to the boutique. When they entered the store, they were greeted by a low but audible moan of aggravation from the back room and a bored-looking Sweetie Bell lying on a cushion by the stairs.
"Hi Sweetie," Soul said, "No crusades today?"
"Nope," the filly replied, "I have to watch for customers while Rarity's working with Miss Twilight. You're not customers, are you?"
"Nope," Heart said, "we're here for Twilight."
"Oh well," Sweetie sighed, "I guess you can head on back then." Ash grumbled a bit more as the four ponies headed into the back. Rarity was in the process of removing strips of foil from Twilight's stubbornly sky-blue mane, and there were empty bottles of purple, pink, and slate blue hair dye scattered everywhere.
"Going for the 'no kill like overkill' approach I see," Ash said in a deadpan.
"I give uh-uh-uup!" Rarity sobbed, throwing herself onto Ash's tense shoulder, "I've tried every method, every formula, every brand of dye I know and none of it will stiiick!"
"There, there," Ash said, very uncomfortable but not crass enough to remove the distraught unicorn, "It'll be ok… eventually." Rarity just kept sobbing. "So, Twilight," Ash said, trying to ignore the tears soaking his shoulder, "You wanted to talk to me about something."
"Yeah," Twilight said, removing the rest of the foil from her mane, "but it can probably wait until Rarity's calmed down." Ash shot a meaningful glance at Gale, who returned the look with extra narrowed eyes.
"Here," Heart said, "Let me…" She nudged Rarity a few times and, not receiving a response, lifted her off Ash and led her over to a cushion. The white unicorn lay down facing the wall, her sobs fading to sniffles.
"Thanks," Ash said, brushing lightly at his wet shoulder. "So," he added, looking at Twilight.
"Right," Twilight said as her horn lit up. A scroll levitated out of a bag in the corner of the room and flew over to Ash, opening up when it reached him. "I was reading over some of my old notes last night when I came across some tests I'd done on the Elements of Harmony. I'd discovered that the necklaces and my tiara are able to focus and enhance magical power and natural talents. Of course, each Element only works for the pony it belongs to."
"Uh huh," Ash said, reading the notes, "What's your point?"
Another sheet of paper flew over, showing a sketch of a necklace made of gemstones. "I recalled what you said about that machine of yours being a substitute for your magic Gems and I thought, 'would it be possible to make an artificial Element of Harmony?' What I came up with was this: a series of gems strung together with gold and copper which may, if built right, focus and strengthen any magic used by the pony who wears it."
"Wow," Ash said, blinking in surprise as he took the paper into his own magic grip and looked it over, "For someone with none of my research to work with, this is incredible. I'll have to go over your calculations and fill in the gaps, but this might just work! Twilight Sparkle, you're amazing!" Twilight blushed and smiled. Ash found a pencil and began pacing slowly as he looked over the sketch, occasionally stopping to write something down or scratch something else out. Gale noticed that Rarity had stopped crying, although her eyes were still red, and she was watching Ash at work.
"Say, Ash," the earth pony said.
"Hm?"
"You're going to need gems and other materials to put that together, aren't you?" Gale asked with a sly smile.
"Obviously," Ash said, not looking up from the paper, "When we go back to Canterlot I'll requisition everything we'll need."
"Why wait?" Gale asked, "I think I know one way we can get it all right here in Ponyville."
"What are you…" Ash asked, finally looking up and trailing off as he met Gale's gaze. His eyes slid over to Rarity and then snapped back to the earth pony, who subtly tilted her head toward the white unicorn. Ash blew out a sigh, forced a smile, and turned back to Rarity. "Rarity," he said, "You wouldn't happen to have some gemstones I could use?"
"Why yes, I do!" Rarity said, jumping to her feet, "And I'm sure I can scrounge up some old gold wire and whatever else you might need."
"Wonderful," Ash said, partially sincere, "now, I don't have much, but I should be able to compensate you for-"
"Oh, no," Rarity said, "I couldn't take your money. Just think of it as a gift, a donation for the cause of science." She started dancing in place as ideas for the necklace began running through her head. "Come on, let's get started!"
"Yeah!" Gale shouted, just as eager.
"Now hold on a minute," Ash said, backing away from the two mares, "I-I'm not even-" the two ponies grabbed him and carried him out into the front room and up to Rarity's workroom as he continued his protest, "I still need to correct these blueprints girls! Put me down!"
Heart and Soul watched the scene with amusement clear on their faces. "I honestly never thought I'd see the day," Soul said, "that Rarity the fashionista and Gale the mechanic would get so excited over the exact same thing."
"I actually feel a little bad for Ash," Heart said despite her smile. She kicked a dye bottle that was on the floor next to her and said, "Well, they're going to be awhile. What do you say we clean this place up for Rarity?" Soul nodded and began gathering trash together.
"I'll go get some bags and a mop," Twilight said, heading into boutique's kitchen.
As the three ponies worked to clean up the remains of the failed mane-dye job, the sounds of discussion and the occasional disagreement between Gale and Rarity filtered down from the second floor. In what seemed to be a surprisingly short time, an argument ended with the sound of hooves clattering down the stairs. Heart, Soul, and Twilight stuck their heads out into the main room to see Ash, now wearing a crude necklace of small gems, bolting down the stairs with an upset Rarity waving a pincushion hot on his heels. "That thing is an affront to style!" Rarity was shouting, "I demand you bring it back and let me fix it!"
"It's fine you crazy filly," Ash retorted, heading for the back room. Twilight and company moved back to let him inside. Ash ran through the door and took shelter behind Soul Mage. "Look, Rarity," he said as the white unicorn stood glaring at him from the doorway, "We can pretty it up later. Right now it's just a prototype; I have to make sure it's going to work before we make any adjustments."
Rarity stood in silence for several seconds, sides heaving as she caught her breath, clearly trying to find a balance between Ash's words and her own drive to fix what she saw as imperfection. "You… are not… a… judge… of proper… fashion," she finally panted out. The fashion designer was obviously winning.
"This isn't a Gala dress, Rarity," Twilight said, "I know this is hard for you to accept, but function has to take precedence over form this time."
"Yes, listen to the sensible Mage," Ash pleaded, "Just let me try a couple of spells and then we can go back upstairs and try to make it look good. Please."
Rarity's eye twitched several times and her mane started to frizz, but finally she sighed and said, "Very well, if you must."
"Thank you," Ash said to nopony in particular. He trotted out into the main room and looked around. He looked back toward the back room and lit up his horn. A full bag of trash levitated and flew slowly across the room, out the front door and to the left, and landed gently a good ways out of sight. "Telekinesis, slightly but noticeably easier," Ash muttered, and then concentrated harder. With a flash, he teleported to the top of the stairs, then to the front door, and finally back to his starting position. He was breathing a little harder as his horn ceased glowing, but a smile crossed his face. "Three teleports in rapid succession,' he said, "That's a new record." He turned toward the group and announced, "The concept's sound. Artificial Element of Magic is a go."
"Great," Rarity said, "now, let's go make one that's actually worthy to see the light of day!" She grabbed Ash by a hoof and started marching him back upstairs. They were about halfway up when the front door swung open and Spike came jogging into the boutique.
"There you are Twilight," he said, "Some peagsi just showed up with a big package for you; I think it's that adding machine you were talking about. I hope you don't mind, but I already signed for it."
"Thank you Spike," Twilight said, and then looked at Rarity, "You're done with me for today, right? I'd really like to try the adding machine out."
"Go on, play with your new toy" Rarity said, "there's nothing I can do for your mane anyway it seems."
"I'll come with you," Ash said, trying to come back down, but Rarity restrained him.
"I need you," she said, "I simply won't be able to get that… thing to look right on you if I have to work from memory." Ash shot a pleading look down to his friends.
"Sorry pal," Soul said, "you did promise she could 'pretty it up' now that you've tested it." Ash grumbled and climbed the stairs. Spike climbed onto Twilight's back and the lavender pony headed out of the boutique and toward the library at a speed close to a full-on gallop, eager to get back home and try out her new adding machine. Soul and Heart followed her, chuckling at Twilight's excitement.
Just as the group reached Mane Street there was a flash of light and Ash was suddenly running along beside them, looking quite smug. "Teleport range vastly improved," he said, ignoring the looks being aimed at him.
"Ashen Blaze," Heart said with a mild rebuke in her voice.
"Ah, Gale knows what she's doing," Ash said dismissively, "I made sure to lay out the calculations in a way that she can follow, so they don't really need me at the moment." Soul and Heart both rolled their eyes but didn't press the issue. The four ponies reached the library a few minutes later, and Twilight flung the door open in her excitement. They looked around, briefly confused by the lack of a box or other shipping container, but then Soul pointed to a desk that was now taken up with a large contraption similar in appearance to a cash register, but made of wood and with several small gemstones in place of the normal buttons and no visible display.
"That's it," the golden-yellow unicorn said.
"That's odd," Spike said, jumping off Twilight before she dashed over to the adding machine, "I could of sworn it was still packed up when I left, and the delivery ponies flew off before that."
"How does this work?" Twilight asked, with her front hooves up on the desk in front of the machine.
"The ruby in the top-left corner turns it on and off," Ash said, "The rest of the gems are etched with the number or symbol they're used to input. The numbers will show up as a hologram above the machine. From the looks of it, Gale gave you the most advanced model- it can do trigonometric functions, allow you to program in formulas you use frequently, and I think it comes with some basic geometric formulas pre-programmed. Just keep it charged or you'll lose whatever you've stored in it."
"All right," Twilight said, "let's try it out." She reached out a hoof and tapped the on-off ruby. There was a faint hum as the gems began to glow softly and a big zero made of light materialized above the top-right corner of the machine. Twilight giggled slightly as she tapped in a simple arithmetic problem: 3 + 4. When she tapped the '=' gem, the holographic equation suddenly warped into a tangle of light and something black shot into Twilight's chest, knocking her backward several feet where she collapsed on the floor.
"Twilight!" Spike shouted, running over, only to be knocked back by a black shadow that sprang out of the unicorn's side and retracted just as rapidly. He hit a bookstand and landed on his tail, still conscious but completely shocked.
"What the skeb is going on here?" Ash asked, moving cautiously toward Twilight.
"Careful Ash," Heart warned. Another shadow emerged to take a swipe at Ash, but he stopped just outside its range, staring at it intently. The shadow pulled back and Twilight suddenly twitched, and then levitated off the ground, hanging limply in front of the increasingly worried ponies. A strange sound came from Twilight's mouth, almost laughter but more like the buzz of electricity mixed with guttural growling.
"Identify yourself," Ash demanded, taking a firm stance and beginning to focus his magic. The possessed Twilight gave another not-laugh and opened her eyes. Everyone gasped, but no one louder than Ash. Twilight's irises and pupils were gone, replaced by a strange symbol vaguely shaped like a capital Y made of tiny concentric circles and curved lines. "No," Ash whispered in horror, backing away a few steps as his horn faded, "I-it can't be. How? How can you be here? How could you possibly be in her? Impossibility… Skvetchte impossible creature. Begone!" His expression hardened again as he channeled his magic through his necklace and fired a bolt of light at the possessed unicorn. She responded with a smirk and swatted the bolt aside with a hoof before charging bodily at Ash. "Restrain her!" Ash shouted as he rolled to the side, "Do not let her leave this tree!"
"What's going on?" Heart asked as Soul extended a link toward her.
"Explanations later," Ash said, prepping another spell. A pair of magical ropes appeared and tried to ensnare Twilight, who snapped one out of existence with her own magic and floated around just out of reach of the other, heading for the stairs. Ash snarled in frustration as he conjured more restraints and Heart and Soul threw out bolts of their ethereal blue magic, all of which were dodged. As the possessed Twilight continued to float up the stairs, she beat back all attempts to attack and restrain her and retaliated with bolts of darkness and flashes of lightning. Ash took one bolt to the neck and tumbled backwards, stunned, taking Soul down with him as he fell down the stairs. Heart continued to pursue, stretching her link with Soul to its limit as the stallions recovered and ran to catch up. Spike also recovered, but he simply cowered under a desk, completely bewildered by what was happening to his closest friend, mentor, and surrogate mother.
The fight, if it could be called that, continued as the possessed Twilight made her way around the library, laughing as she continued to frustrate all attempts to contain her. Eventually they wound up in Twilight's room, and in the act of dodging another stun bolt from Ash, the possessed unicorn collided with the bookshelf by the bed, knocking several books and other objects off it, including a tiara with a large, starburst-shaped gem set in it. Twilight laid her odd eyes on it and paused, seemingly attracted to it. Ash tried to take advantage of the lull by charging in for tackle, but was brushed off by a shadow tentacle. Twilight descended toward the floor, reached out with her front hooves, and grabbed the tiara, the Element of Magic.
"Oh, crap," Soul said, "Heart! Stop her! Now! Any way possible!"
"R-right," the yellow-gold pegasus said, reluctantly charging her ultimate attack. She was too slow; Twilight had already placed the Element on her head. She cackled as she turned toward the ponies, and her horn began to glow with unnatural dark light. Suddenly, the false light faded as she gave an unearthly shriek that no living creature could possibly have made and collapsed to the floor. A shadowy something rushed out of her and zoomed down the stairs. Soul Mage took off after it and watched as it retreated back into the adding machine from which it had originally come. He stopped at the foot of the stairs, keeping both eyes on the machine as he tried to hear what was happening upstairs.
Ash simply sat where he'd landed, staring into space as he muttered to himself in a strange tongue. Heart approached Twilight with caution and, when she wasn't attacked, gently touched her with a hoof and then leaned in close to listen for breathing and a heartbeat. Both were present, to Heart's relief, and Twilight came too within a few minutes, her eyes normal-looking again. "Ow…" she moaned, putting both front hooves against her forehead "What in Celestia's name… why am I wearing my Element? What happened?"
"You were possessed," Ash said simply, standing up and heading for the stairs, "It didn't seem to like what the Element was doing to it, so it fled. I just wish I knew where…" Heart and Twilight followed him, confused but not willing to ask any questions yet. "Did you see where it went?" Ash asked Soul when he reached the bottom floor. Soul just pointed to the machine. "Good," the fire-maned unicorn said, "Let's keep it there." He scratched a quick pattern into the floor and an orange barrier sprang up around the adding machine, only to be sucked into it a second later, accompanied by a discordant chuckle. "Ah skvetch, I just fed it, didn't I?" Ash asked nopony in particular, "Although by all rights, I shouldn't have…"
"Ok," Soul said with an emphatic stomp, "that's enough enigmatic musings out of you Ashen Blaze. Tell us, what is that thing?"
Ash didn't seem to hear him. "Inhabiting a magical contraption…" he mused, "possessing a living being, a very magical one at that, at such a low stage… Absorbs regular magic but balks at the Element…"
"ASHEN BLAZE!" Soul shouted, tensing up as if to give the ash-grey unicorn a solid kick.
Ash whirled on Soul, and then gazed about at Twilight and Heart. "Gather the Elements of Harmony Twilight Sparkle," he said, "And somepony find us a way to get to Canterlot ASAP. We've got a serious emergency on our ha- er, hooves, and I'm sorry to say I had a hand in causing it."
"Wha-" Twilight began.
"I'll explain when everypony has gathered," Ash said, his cold, green eyes brooking no argument, "just go!" The ponies, and Spike, scattered to fulfill Ash's request. "Wait," he called before they left, "Twilight, put that adding machine inside a magic bubble, will you? It shouldn't be able to get out if the barrier's made by the Element of Magic. I hope."