Lessons in quirks

by Mike84

Chapter XLV

It was Mr. Rich who finally broke the silence: "I too am confused and concerned about some things. Perhaps some of these confusions and concerns can be ended right here and right now however. Princess Twilight, you will remember that during your investigations in this matter you had a pony reveal... the cutie mark parts this pony would have rather kept concealed. You furthermore held the suspicion that your suspect might be using an illusion charm or even transformation to conceal his appearance. In the face of all the evidence presented here, is there any reason to demand less of the suspect here?"
Frank looked confused at Mr. Rich and Twilight in turn. He was as unaware as everypony but Mr. Rich, Diamond Tiara and Twilight and her friends about her investigation about Swallowtail.
Twilight didn't respond immediately since she didn't know what she could say.
"Your honor, given all the evidence we have, I insist that Mr. Blanket reveals his cutie mark and submits to disillusion spells to ensure his identity."

"With all due respect, Mr. Rich, this is nothing that you can insist on", Lady Justice said. "This remains just a hearing, not a trial and same as the searching of his bags was possible only through Mr. Blanket's consent and cooperation. We cannot insist upon either of your demands against the will of Mr. Blanket!"

"And yet if Mr. Blanket does not consent or cooperate, everypony here will think of it as a sign of guilt, wont they?" Frank's voice was sounding feeble.
"With ponies wondering whether I'm a thief, crazy, a crazy thief and attacking ponies and destroying memories, I guess this doesn't make much of a difference anymore anyway."
Frank shuffled to the edge of the stage. "I am a student...", he said, "...studying what is unknown. Filling in blank spaces and having focused on the study of cutie marks and especially on behalf of those who don't have a cutie mark or who have one they are not happy with. In this context and no other is my cutie mark to be seen!"

And Frank lifted the wraparound that had so far never left his flank uncovered since he had entered Ponyville. There was silence in the hall and though Frank had told her about his cutie mark, Twilight couldn't keep herself from taking a look too. Sure enough, his flank did sport another flank that didn't sport any cutie mark whatsoever. Twilight cast a look at the faces in the audience. Many looked surprised, some shocked, a few wrinkled their noses and some seemed to suppress laughter.
"Is that all the trinket you got?" Diamond Tiara shouted suddenly. Her call was like a signal for those who had suppressed their laughter to laugh out loud and the laughing proved contagious to most in the audience. Twilight didn't miss that Mr. Rich was not laughing but seemed to be giving a stern talk to his daughter. Rarity looked a little shocked, Applejack and Rainbow Dash at a loss and Pinkie Pie, most confused of all, seemed to be fighting her instinct to cherish laughter realizing that this was not the kind of laughter that made everypony cheerful. The Cutie Mark Crusaders recovered quickly from their surprise and seemed bend on silencing the laughter, but in vain.

Frank let the wraparound drop over his flank again. For a moment there was a twitching on his face and Twilight thought that he was trying to join the laughter, but if that was the attempt, it failed miserably. He shuffled back to the center of the stage.
Lady Justice was beating the pedestal fiercely with her gavel until the laughter ebbed away at last.
"Princess Twilight...", Frank said despondently. "...let's get this over with. Cast your spells. Be careful though. If this turns out like my bags I might turn out to be some clawed, fanged, horned monster!"
Twilight stood in front of Frank. "I'm very sorry, Frank", she said.
"I am too." He braced himself and closed his eyes. "I am ready"
Twilight put her horn against his chest and concentrated.

She felt her spell met more resistance than had been the case with the blank flanked Swallowtail. She had expected this since the sensitive resistance to this spell depended on the magic of the one on whom it was cast. At one point during her education, Princess Celestia had offered Twilight to practice the spell on her. It had felt like the spell had hit a solid wall and Celestia had never even stopped smiling when the spell usually felt unpleasant for a pony it was used upon. What Twilight had not expected however was the reaction of Frank when he was engulfed by the reddish light of the spell. He uttered a scream and grabbed his head with both of his forehooves, causing him to fall and land hard on the stage in front of Twilight's hooves. Several ponies in the audience cried in surprise or shock.

Unpleasant as this spell felt, it was not supposed to cause any actual pain and for a dreadful moment Twilight braced for the possibility that the quirky colt, student and hobo might indeed start to grow claws, fangs and horns as he had sardonically suggested he might. There was no such change however and some moments after the reddish light of the spell had faded away, Frank was looking up. He was paler than he had ever looked before, he sweated and he quickly wiped his glistening eyes with one of his forelegs.

"Sweet Celestia!" he gasped. "I had no idea it hurt like that!"
"It shouldn't!" Twilight said. "It shouldn't hurt!"
She extended a hoof, but Frank didn't take it and got up by himself. Murmuring was filling the hall again. Twilight's mind was racing and she was shocked at the effect of the spell. Frank was clearly the unclawed, unfanged, unhorned colt he had always appeared to be, but his reaction had been disturbing. She was wondering if there was a connection to what Princess Luna had told her in her dream.

Lady Justice struck the pedestal with the gavel again, causing the murmuring to end.
She waited for some moments as if expecting for someone else to speak up, but when nobody did she asked: "Is there anything the prosecution wants to add?"
Featherscribe eyed Frank but shook his head slowly.
"We got part of the stolen money found hidden in the defendant's tent. We got the defendant's claim not to know about the location of Mr. Rich's house while it turns out to be marked on his map in his own hoofwriting. We got a magical item that would enable the defendant to use the magic necessary to commit the theft and we know that said item recently disappeared from a place where the defendant has been. We have a town official being attacked by the defendant who claims not to know anything about any of these points and we got even those speaking up on his behalf expressing doubts about him and thinking of him as manipulative. If all of that is not sufficient to warrant closer examination, then I don't know what in Equestria I could add to change this view."

"Is there anything the defense wants to add?" Lady Justice asked.
Twilight was racking her brain but finally said: "I will not pretend I haven't been surprised myself by some of the revelations during this hearing. But I remain convinced that Mr. Blanket can't have committed the theft and wouldn't have if he could have. I think a crucial part of the picture is still missing. Nothing we said here has answered the question about the loss of memory of Mr. Rich and Miss Cheerilee. It still looks like deliberate framing to distract from the actual thief and attacker. I cannot yet say who the actual thief and attacker is, but he or she shall not be mistaken. We will continue to look for you and we will find you!"
Lady Justice waited for some moments, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
She then raised her head and proclaimed her decision:

"It seems like there is only one thing that everypony here will agree upon, namely that there is a lot that remains uncertain at the end of this hearing. Further investigations are necessary to clear up everything. I shall write to Canterlot and I expect Mr. Blanket will be picked up tomorrow to stand further inquiries there."
Frank closed his eyes and drooped.
"I want it to be clearly understood that this is not a conviction or a verdict of guilty", Lady Justice continued. "It is resignation to the fact that the questions this hearing was about could not be answered sufficiently. Mr. Blanket is part of the picture of which, as Princess Twilight pointed out, a part is still missing. Which part Mr. Blanket is in this picture and if he is through his own actions or that of others I cannot say for certain. I do hope that the inquiries in Cantlerlot will bring that certainty which we didn't get here."
She struck the pedestal with the gavel.
Immediately the murmuring started again. Suddenly Frank took some quick steps to the edge of the stage. He was still pale and shaking slightly, but his face was one of barely suppressed rage. For a short moment Twilight feared he was about to jump into the crowd and prepared a levitation spell to keep him from it. But Frank didn't jump; he just shouted:
"I didn't do it!"

Silence fell again in the hall. Twilight quickly stepped beside Frank and Rainbow Dash approached from the other side. Twilight wanted to say something, but didn't when she saw Frank's look. There was that fury about him which he had briefly shown before, when he had overheard Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon bullying Scootaloo and when Applejack had shown her skepticism about him the previous evening. Same as then, Frank's fury seemed to fade away quickly to give way to a strange resignation.
"That's all I got to say for myself... It looks like I'll be gone tomorrow. I would have liked to stay longer. But whoever really did this is still on the loose. Take care... and I hope you will be alright." Frank seemed to be at a loss for words and turned away abruptly. Rainbow Dash followed him towards the table on which the contents of his bags were still spread out.

"Your honor, may I retire to my cell now until I am picked up for Canterlot?" Frank asked.
"It is not a cell—", Mayor Mare began.
"Cell, dungeon, gaol, jail... there is an awful lot it's not supposed to be called!" Frank snapped. "Would you have me retire to the storeroom then? Or which other term do you prefer for the place where I am being stored? Forgive me if I'm by now a little less humorous about it!"
Lady Justice frowned, but nodded. Frank reached for his saddle-bags and Twilight prepared a levitation spell to restore Frank's possessions to his bags.
"The amulet and the map will have to be kept as documentary evidence. Your map will be returned to you after the inquiry in Canterlot."
Frank just nodded. He thanked Twilight after she levitated the reloaded saddle-bags onto his back. He then grabbed his hat that was attached to one bag and pushed it onto his head before he trudged off for the stairs.
"Shouldn't somepony follow him?" Mayor Mare asked uncertain. Frank's outburst had apparently rattled her.
Twilight nodded and went after Frank and Rainbow Dash in turn followed her while Lady Justice, Mayor Mare and Featherscribe remained on the stage and the audience began to break up.

As they reached the floor with the offices, Frank was making for the stairs to the storeroom.
"Frank, wait!" Twilight called and he stopped.
As she and Rainbow Dash caught up with him she didn't really know where to begin though.
"The spell shouldn't have hurt you", she said as it was the first thing that came to her mind. "It is not supposed to hurt at all."
Only now, without the tension of the hearing and away from the crowd in the hall, Twilight realized how much the effect of her spell had unsettled her.
Frank just nodded.
"We will keep looking for whoever really did this! I'm sure we will find the real attacker!" Twilight promised.
"Yeah...", Rainbow Dash agreed with a reassuring grin, "...and when we do I wouldn't want to be that attacker!"
Frank just nodded.
Several moments passed in silence.

"Say something!" Twilight finally said. Frank's silence was rather unnerving.
"What's there to say for me?" Frank said and his tone didn't really give away whether this had been a question or a statement. "I hope you will succeed of course, but it looks like I cannot do anything about it either way."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
"When I was first detained it seemed a bit like a joke. When you found that money bag in my tent and when Miss Cheerilee was attacked, I realized this was more serious. But now... with my writing on the map, that amulet in my bag and the claim that I attacked Inkhorn, it has really become something personal for me! Yet here I am, stuck in this attic— maybe that's a term Mayor Mare will approve of? —unable to do anything at all. Now I'll be brought to Canterlot and all I'll be able to tell them there is that I didn't do it and that I don't know how all the discriminating evidence against me can even exist. So what is there for me to say? It doesn't make a difference anymore."
Frank hesitated for a moment before he added with a wry look: "And if I do say anything more I end up being 'manipulative' again."

"That had nothing to do at all with this hearing! Nothing at all!" Twilight insisted. "I had just asked Applejack about what you had said about... you know... showing the hoof that another pony likes best. It was totally torn out of context in the hearing!"
Frank just nodded again and then rubbed his forehead with one hoof.

"It doesn't make any difference anyway. I'll be picked up and be gone. Not sure if we will see each other again. Thank you for everything... all of you I mean. Please tell the others I'm—"
"Whoa, you're not just goodbyeing us and giving up, Frank, are you?" Rainbow Dash protested.
"Not much of a choice now", Frank said and ascended the stairs towards the storeroom.
"Twilight will not close the latch behind you!" Rainbow Dash called. "You can sneak out once we are gone and then—"
"Rainbow!" Twilight protested.
Frank stopped and looked back. "Thank you for the offer, but if you leave the hatch open, I'm not going to leave. They could send me to Canterlot on my own and I would not make a run for it! I am not going to make ponies think that I did all this by trying to escape! And if they believe it anyway..."
Frank didn't finish the sentence but just went on through the hatch, closing it behind him.
Twilight used her magic to close the latch.

"Twilight, that cannot be right!" Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight nodded, but said. "We got to get back down to the others. All is not over yet! I think we still got some work to do!"
As they both headed for the stairs to the large hall, Twilight suddenly stopped.
"Wait a moment, Rainbow! There is one thing I want to check out."
With determined steps Twilight walked towards the office of Inkhorn. The door was not locked and Twilight entered. With a few steps she was at the desk and with a quick spell she levitated the large folder with the list of Ponyville's citizens onto the desk and flipped it open. It took Twilight just a few moments to find what she was looking for. It was a page full of names of ponies starting with s and right among them, in slightly faded but clearly readable letters stood the name Swallowtail.

Up in the storeroom, Frank Blanket put down his saddle-bags. There was no point for him to set up the escritoire. While he might have been able to find something to write about, this was not the time to do so. His head hurt and so did his stomach.
The tiredness, headache and a feeling of hopelessness he had had in the morning were something he hadn't known in this form before. But he was familiar with what was boiling up in him now. It was not mere anger, the kind of which might have been quite normal in his current situation, but a raw fury that he tried never to show and if possible never to feel at all. It had never done him any good since back in the days when he had been called "Cranky blanky flanky Frankie" and other names by his peers or ponies who would consider him below being on their par.

As he grew up, Frank Blanket had developed a somewhat pragmatic attitude towards that kind of fury. It didn't make him feel better, it didn't make him act in a manner beneficial towards himself or others, it didn't help with what he was furious about and the subject of his anger did not manifest in a particular pony or institution or another subject clearly defined enough to make a target to vent at. For all that he had always been focusing on what was good in his life and in the realm of Equestria and he felt that it had made him a better pony. He had developed an appreciation for a number of things which many others saw as trivial or as matters of course. Frank Blanket had found great self-fulfillment in his studies and as he had done so, he had developed the talent to always show the hoof other ponies liked best while remaining true to himself. This had been very helping in actually being given much less cause for fury than had been the case before.

But now much of that fury was coming back. Years of self-discipline and actual overcoming of this fury had taught Frank to keep it out of every other pony's sight and even now he was counting slowly and breathing deeply, thinking of calm and beautiful sceneries, trying to keep in the fury all the while he felt like kicking something or trying to gnaw through the central wooden column of the town hall and bringing down this entire building. In the end, the realization that he was on his own, that nobody was watching and that it didn't matter either way anymore got the better of him. His look fell on the high stack of folders he had piled up earlier today. His intention had been to read through them to distract himself from the ill feeling that had haunted him since he had woken up in the morning. The folders however had turned out to be filled with such an amount and intensity of inscrutable and probably pointless official lingo that they had provided no distraction at all and that he now decided they did just not deserve the immense respect he usually held for any written words. With a fierce growling he kicked against the pile of folders, sending them flying all through the room, scattering some loose papers over the floor. He kicked a second time against the remains of the pile that his first assault had left standing.

One of the folders was flung against his saddle-bag, making it topple over and shedding some of the contents which Twilight had so carefully rearranged back after after the examination. Frank paused and listened for any sounds. He wanted to scream as loud and fierce as he could, but he suppressed that urge and instead listened. Sure enough the commotion had been audible in the office floor below and Featherscribe or somepony else would check what was going on. But there wasn't any sound. Apparently whoever was to stay here during the day had not yet left the great hall and not heard the little fit of pique he had thrown. It was the realization of relief that nopony had heard it that brought him to his senses and allowed him to call himself to order. There was no point in this and if he broke or destroyed anything now, he might regret having done so later and if he was heard screaming like a madpony now, this certainly wouldn't help him with whatever he was going to be in in Canterlot.
Frank walked over to one window and pushed it wide open. Maybe he should just go up to the cupola again and play the harmonica a little to calm down. He took another deep breath and decided to first reshelf the folders and put back the contents of his saddle-bags.

Frank had restored about half of the folders when something caught his attention. His quill had landed on a little book that had apparently slipped out of one of the folders. It looked extremely worn out and bore no semblance to the gray folder it had slipped out of.
The wooden cover had some cracks and was held together only by several broad ribbons that were glued to the cover. The cover bore some scorch marks. The pages were very yellowed and some of them were torn or also bore scorch marks or both of that. But they still bore a distinctly not printed and rather blotted writing. Frank flipped to the title page and began to read:

A treatise on some of the the least known,
yet most dangerous creatures in the realm of Equestria
by the most honorable
Dr. Adus Noceo Quircs

That sounded most definitely not like the office lingo from the folders. Frank racked his brain, but he was quite sure that he had never heard of a book or treatise of such a title, nor did the name Dr. Quircs ring any bell for him. Frank flipped to the first page and read:

The reader is hereby informed that the research and gathering of information for this treatise required for the author to take frequent and potentially lethal risks. Moreover the research required of the author the use of means and methods which were not always sanctioned by the laws, rules, and customs approved of by her highness Princess Celestia the undimmed ap Eohippus, ruler of Equestria, mover of the sun, and acting mover of the moon. By continuing to read beyond this page the reader gives his or her agreement to accept the means by which the information herein contained were acquired and therefore abjures the possibility of using the content of this treatise as a basis for legal pursuit of the author.

Frank looked up, blinked once and looked at the text again as if he expected for it to have changed. This was certainly a most uncommon opening for a scientific treatise and declaring that reading beyond this opening was to be interpreted as the reader's consent to whatever means not in consent with the laws, rules and customs approved of by Princess Celestia the author had taken to acquire the information referred to in the opening was something that Frank doubted would be accepted by any court.

However, by the looks of it the author would not have to worry about legal persecution anymore. The titles bestowed upon Celestia and especially the reference as "acting mover of the moon" were something not in use for generations. In fact Frank was pretty sure that Princess Celestia herself had insisted not to be referred to as the "acting mover of the moon" not long after the banishment of Nightmare Moon. This book was clearly to be seen as a historical source. Nevertheless, Frank hesitated for a moment. He had no idea what means this Dr. Quircs had taken to gain which information on 'some of the least known, yet most dangerous creatures in the realm of Equestria'. This total lack of information what exactly all this was about convinced Frank that he could just continue reading. Knowledge was better than ignorance after all and if nothing else, he was quite sure that this was exactly the kind of distraction he was in dire need of. Frank flipped to the next page.

Author's Note:

In the original document of this fanfiction I used a different font type for all the text from the book mentioned in this chapter (an old and blotted looking handwriting). The same effect cannot be reproduced here, but I hope it works this way too.

Last edited on December 15th 2015.

Comments

[Chronicler06]

I have to say, this story has been taking quite an interesting turn these last few chapters. I'm certainly looking forward to what's coming up next.

For editing advice, the major problem I'm seeing now is that, in some places (like near the beginning of this chapter), I'm having a very hard time figuring out who is speaking. Now, I'm pretty sure that you shouldn't just put "said (character name)" after everything, but entire paragraphs that consist of nothing but the piece of dialogue could be a little problematic. There are a few cases where such frequent labeling would be unnecessary, particularly in a back-and-forth conversation between just two characters, because once you've initially identified who the two speakers are, readers will be able to easily know who is speaking on each side. However, when there's three or more characters present (as is the case for pretty much the entirety of this chapter), you'll need to keep identifying when someone new is speaking. Describing a character's actions just before he or she speaks can avoid the need of "he/she said", though it would be far more helpful if that action and dialogue of one particular character were put in the same paragraph. I can't think of a more simple way of describing this issue than this: one character per paragraph, and one paragraph per character (to a certain length).

I'm honestly having a hard time articulating the issue I'm trying to point out, so hopefully I did good enough at explaining it.