Draconequus

by cheezesauce

Safety in Numbers

Ooo Safety in Numbers ooO

Knock... knock

“What?” Rarity’s eyes fluttered open. Two round cucumber slices tumbled down from them, bouncing off the bed and landing on the floor. She sat upright for a while, confused.

Knock... knock

She blinked a couple of times. The last remnants of sleep faded as her mind kicked into action.

“Oh...wow! How very thoughtful of somepony to visit me,” she said, “...at four in the morning?!” She rolled to the edge of her bed, flipping herself over and landing on the floor in a heap.

“These ruffians just don’t learn how not to interrupt a mare’s beauty sleep, do they?” she grumbled, pushing herself up from the floor.

Rarity stomped towards the feeble knocks on her door. Who would have the gall to commit such an atrocity? she wondered. Who could have failed the see the enormous ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ sign that she placed—oh so deliberately—on the door? There was not much time to spare. She needed to clock up the eight hours before the sun rises. It would be unforgivable if she didn’t get her eight hours of sleep. Absolutely unforgivable.

“It is time to get rid of this nuisance.” She grabbed the door firmly while an evil smile appeared on her face.

WHAM!

She flung the door open with all her might. It was meant to startle the other pony, punishing her for the crime she was committing, but instead, Rarity was the one getting the shock.

“Oh my stars! Twilight! Whatever happened to you?”

The purple unicorn was crouched in the frame of the doorway, making her look smaller than usual. Her coat, usually a bright lavender, was darkened by dried blood and covered with deep scratches. Her mane was no better, messy and filled with bits of mud and grime and leaves. Twilight’s lower lip trembled, as if she was on the verge of tears.

“I...I...”

“Twilight...” Rarity bent down to nuzzle the unicorn. “Twilight darling, what happened?”

The purple unicorn’s constricted pupils darted around in fear, as if expecting something to pounce on her the moment she opened her mouth to speak. She refused to give an answer, shaking her head and kneading the floor in distress. Finally, unable to hold it off any longer, the unicorn began to sob pitifully, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Rarity stared, stunned—first by Twilight’s appearance, and now by her sudden breakdown. Perhaps that wasn’t the best question to start off with, she concluded, giving herself a mental kick. She, being the most sensitive out of all ponies, should have known better. Did she just make Twilight cry? How could she?

She turned her attention back to Twilight.

“I’m so sorry Twilight... here, why don’t you come inside?” she offered, helping Twilight to her hooves.

The purple unicorn used a fore hoof to rub away her tears. Her voice was quivering. “I-Is it safe?”

“Why, of course it is!”

Rarity felt her stomach tightening. It was unnerving to see Twilight like this, the usually confident unicorn now reduced to a fearful little filly. Something terrible had happened to her.

And the sooner I find out what it was, the better.

---

Back in the Carousel Boutique, Rarity rummaged around her drawers for medical supplies.

“Ah, here we go,” she said, lifting up a plain white box with a red cross painted over it. Her horn glowed briefly, pulling out a small bottle of ointment and some bandages. Collecting the items, she returned to Twilight.

The unicorn was sitting quietly on a cushion, lost in her own thoughts. Her tears had since dried up.

Thankfully. Watching her cry had been... heartbreaking.

Twilight’s eyes shifted to the bandages levitating towards her. She managed a smile, her expression softening.

“Thanks...”

“No worries darling. You just sit back and relax.”

Twilight shifted to her side, allowing her impromptu caregiver to check over her injuries.

Rarity winced a little at the sight of blood. It made her feel slightly squeamish, and she had put off any idea of being a nurse for this very reason. It also meant that she wasn’t good at First Aid.

Rarity uncapped the small bottle of antiseptic liquid, looking uncertainly at it, as if it was some sort of strange potion meant exclusively for witchcraft.

“Heavens... okay, I think this might hurt a bit.” She levitated the bottle over Twilight’s flank, carefully squeezing a few drops of the yellow liquid onto her coat. The unicorn flinched a little, but tried her best to keep still, watching the medical oils seep slowly into her coat.

Rarity proceeded to cut off a length of bandage. She noticed the long, blood-crusted gashes along Twilight’s sides and shot a glance at the purple unicorn, who remained as quiet as ever.

“Well Twilight, aren’t you going to tell me what happened?”

Twilight pawed the floor uneasily with a fore hoof. “Well...” she began slowly, “it all started with... with...” Her violet eyes widened as she replayed the events in her head. Then, she let out a gasp and shook her head.

“I don’t feel like talking about it,” Twilight said, keeping her gaze locked on the floor, suddenly interested with the speck of dirt that Rarity had somehow failed to clean up.

Rarity knew better than to squeeze out information and traumatize her friend further. She held her overwhelming curiosity back. Give her time, she’ll open up eventually.

Silence fell over the two ponies as Rarity continued to bandage up Twilight. The soft crackle of burning wood came from the fireplace, broken by the occasional purr from her pet cat Opal, sleeping on a rug next to her.

Not knowing what actually needed to be treated, Rarity simply wrapped up every single scratch she found, including patches of coat that simply had a bit of dirt on it.

The lavender unicorn couldn’t seem to care less, her head starting to droop from exhaustion.

After a few more minutes, Rarity was finally putting on the last lengths of bandage. By this point in time, she had—quite unnecessarily—eaten through three large rolls of the material.

“Okay, I’m done!” she let out a breath of relief, taking a step back and looking at her work.

“Huh?” Twilight snapped her head back up. Layer after layer of bandages covered her entire body from head to hooves. She could have passed off as a mummy pony from the movies, if not for her little purple horn sticking out. Noticing Rarity stifling a laugh, she heaved herself up and hobbled awkwardly to a mirror.

“Heh... I look ridiculous!” Twilight chuckled at her reflection, lifting a hoof to prod at the bandages.

“Well, I’m not exactly a qualified caretaker, you know...” Rarity muttered defensively. She flicked her mane in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. “Anyway, it doesn’t look too bad, you’ll be better in absolutely no time at all!”

Rarity wasn’t quite sure how her two statements were supposed to be linked together, but that didn’t matter.

“Yes... thanks for all your help, Rarity.” Twilight stumbled across the room. “It must have been a really long”—she stifled a yawn—“night for you...”

Twilight caught sight of the couch, groggily making her way towards it.

“I think I’ll just be getting... some sleep now...” Without another word, Twilight collapsed onto the floor, a few hoofsteps away from her intended destination.

Rarity rolled her eyes. She made her way over to Twilight. With a grunt of effort, she lifted the unicorn above the ground. Bit by bit, she dragged her closer to the couch, straining from the weight.

Dear me...

Twilight hardly stirred throughout the process, her head rolling around as her hooves trailed along the ground.

Finally, with one massive effort, she heaved the unicorn onto the cushions. She proceeded to shift Twilight around, attempting to move her into a comfortable position.

She let out a breath. “Twilight, if you had collapsed any further away, I can assure you that you’d be left on the floor, and the pony sleeping on the couch now would certainly be me.”

The unicorn carried on with her slumber, blissfully unaware of her.

Rarity watched the steady rise and fall of Twilight’s chest, beginning to feel drowsy herself. She reached for the blanket, pulling it over Twilight’s body, grabbed a second blanket for herself, and lay down on the floor beside Twilight.

Through the window, the first rays of dawn were beginning to pierce through the sky, turning it a light shade of blue.

So much for that ‘eight hours of sleep’, Rarity thought.

---

Twilight groaned.

Her body was aching all over. And she had a splitting headache. It felt as though she had fallen through the air, at terminal velocity, and landed on the ground with a splat. Well, actually, that’s pretty much what happened to her earlier last night. Perhaps not at terminal velocity though.

She twisted around on the cushions, refusing to open her eyes. The sunlight showed no mercy, relentlessly trying to pierce through the comforting darkness behind her eyelids. And worst of all, she felt a cramp creeping up her left hind leg.

Urgh... great!

She raised the leg high up in the air, waving it around for a few seconds. Her muscles stretched and flexed in response, easily working out the cramp.

Ahh... much better.

She let out a sigh of relief as her leg flopped back down on the cushion. For the moment she just wanted to lay there in the warm sunlight, with nothing on her mind. She licked her lips. Her throat felt dry. Then, a single thought popped up.

Water. I need water.

If only she could make a glass magically pop out at will. That would be the best thing ever.

Finally, giving up on her sleep, she cracked open an eye. The strong rays of sunlight flooded her vision, instantly bringing back her headache. Twilight groaned and shut her eye again.

Not a good start for a day.

Relying on her other senses, she slided off the cushions, steadying herself on her hooves.

Water...

She tripped on a blanket lying on the ground. Pushing it away, she squinted around for the bathroom, butting the door open with her horn and stumbling inside. Her throat felt so, so incredibly dry. She turned on the tap, and was rewarded by the sound of water splashing against the sink.

Ahh... water!

Twilight eagerly lapped up the sweet, refreshing goodness, proceeding to splash some on her face.

Eww... what’s this tissue stuff all over me?

She opened her eyes, staring at the pony in the mirror, whom stared right back at her.

“WHAARRGG!!” her reflection screamed. Its face was covered with an expression of shock, and also with quite a lot of bandages. The material was dripping wet with water.

Twilight began to tear away at the bandages. She had forgotten about Rarity’s not-so-spectacular First Aid attempt.

“Twilight? Twilight darling are you alright?”

After a second or two, the fashion designer pushed open the bathroom door, a look of concern plastered on her face.

“Yes, I’m fine. Just got a bit of shock from... that pony.” Twilight jerked an accusing hoof at the mirror. She paused. “Er, I mean... myself. That’s right,” she corrected quickly.

Must have lost a few brain cells from the fall last night.

Rarity gave her a strange glance. “Well... anyway, I prepared breakfast—or lunch rather. Come get it while it’s hot!” With that, she trotted back out of the room.

Twilight peeled off the remaining pieces of bandage. She felt surprisingly calm despite what happened last night. The feeling of dread was gone. Perhaps she felt safe, especially with Rarity around.

Hmm...
Rarity!
I’ve got to tell her everything...

She hurried out of the room.

---

Rarity sat across the table, listening to Twilight’s story intently.

“So, you were attacked by some creature, and you have absolutely no idea what it was?”

Twilight drained the last few spoonfuls of vegetable soup. The scorching liquid slid down her throat and sat pleasantly in her stomach. She munched on a chewy bit of celery as she thought.

“Well, I thought I saw a pony head.... But its body was really long. Like, unnaturally long. And it had really scary red eyes.”

“Twilight darling, are you sure it wasn’t—well—just a pony? I mean, you yourself admitted that it was too dark to make out anything. And ponies have red eyes. Rainbow Dash, for example.”

“Rainbow Dash has red irises, not red eyes. The eyes looked like...” she tapped a hoof to her chin, searching for a fitting description, “they looked like... like that of a cockatrice!”

Rarity pondered at her answer for a while. “I haven’t seen a cockatrice’s eyes before, Twilight. I believe only Fluttershy and yourself would know what it looks like... when you got turned into stone and such.”

Twilight gave an involuntary shudder as she briefly recounted the experience.

“And how about the book that you mentioned earlier?” Rarity asked.

“It’s sitting in the library. I can’t understand what it means though, it’s all written in a weird language.”

Rarity took a sip from her bowl of soup, making sure not to slurp out of habit. She set the porcelain bowl down on the oak table.

“Well, did you not try a translation spell?”

Twilight tapped her hoof to her chin. “A translation spell... I suppose it might work. I’ve forgotten how to do it though, because I’ve never needed it.”

..because all science reference books are updated yearly and written in plain old Equestrian thank you very much.

Twilight sighed. “I suppose I’ll have to learn it again.”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary, dear.” Rarity smiled and puffed out her chest, trying to mimic a certain cyan blue pegasus. “Your totally awesome friend can help you with that. I’ve used the spell before, on those historical fashion books I borrowed from you the other time, just before Spike got that horrendous growth spurt.”

At the back of her mind, Twilight had the feeling that she would probably end up learning it anyway. But there were much more important things to be dealt with at the moment.

She drummed her hooves on the table, turning this new piece of information over in her mind. It swirled around, weaving out a few ideas. A new course of action began to form.

“Okay, so I’ll drop in the library.” She paused, giving an involuntary shudder. “...I’ll drop in the library, grab the book, come back here, and you’ll help me translate it. Then, I’ll read what it says and find out what this is all about.”

She thought aloud. “If it’s bad, we’ll get help from the rest of our friends, if it’s very bad, we’ll have to inform the police or something. Or maybe go to Princess Celestia for help.”

The ‘if it’s good’ scenario was long gone.

Rarity dabbed at her mane. It was something she did subconsciously while in thought.

“Why not just write a letter to Princess Celestia now?”

“Well... no harm getting the book first,” Twilight said. “Anyway, I’ll be back within an hour.”

Twilight made her way to the door, only to be swiftly blocked by Rarity.

“You can’t go out like that!” she exclaimed, indicating at the bandages hanging off from Twilight, along with her dishevelled mane. “I’ll get it for you. And besides, you’re injured.”

“Actually, I feel fine.”

“I insist.”

“Well, in that case... thanks for helping me again, Rarity. I really owe you a lot.” Twilight admitted.

“It’s my pleasure, dear.”

Twilight felt a tendril of uncertainly worming its way through her. Something told her that allowing Rarity to go off alone wasn’t a good idea.

“But... you’ll be careful, okay?”

“Oh, of course I will, Twilight,” Rarity laughed as she headed out of the door. “It’s just me getting an old book. Surely nothing could possibly go wrong.”

“Yes, nothing would go wrong. Just... be careful.”

---

Rarity pushed on the door. It opened with a dull creak, revealing a large circular space that made up the library’s ground floor. Hundreds and hundreds of books filled the shelves, which lay stacked against the walls, or lined up neatly in rows. They gave the air a pleasant smell of wood and paper. Everything seemed perfectly normal, despite what had apparently happened last night.

See? she thought. Nothing wrong here.

Rarity didn’t know what to make of Twilight’s story. Being attacked by a hideous monster with a pony head in the middle of the night? Impossible! If somepony told her that, she would have immediately dismissed it as absolute nonsense.

Well, unless that pony was Twilight Sparkle. That mare had seemed really frightened last night.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she noticed something glowing on the floor ahead. Curious, she trotted up to have a look.

The small red glow became closer and closer. It was the symbol. The very first one she found three days ago. It was much clearer now. But then, she knew carvings didn’t simply get clearer.

Rarity stretched her neck closer to the floor, until it was inches away from the marking. Upon closer inspection, she realised that the three circles weren’t just glowing; they were burning, and had actually burnt themselves deep into the wood.

Rarity felt a cloud of uncertainty forming in her. She didn’t like how these strange symbols acted, as if they had lives of their own.

Oh, forget about those creepy things, Rarity. Get the book, and get out of here. Then she realised she didn’t know where the book was... or even what it looked like.

Great...
It has to be somewhere obvious. Perhaps on a desk or something. She began to scan around the library.

Twilight’s practicality was there in her furniture. There were lots of neatly arranged rectangular tables, but nothing fanciful. The mare did seem to have a taste for wood though, which explains why she lived in a tree.

Rarity searched through the area, finding cluttered stacks of notes, parchment, and other small things, but no ancient looking book.

Maybe it’s in her room.

She moved quickly up the stairs, eager to get the job done and get back home. She found Twilight’s room and pushed the door open.

The first thing she noticed were the bits of white fluff on the floor. Looking ahead, she saw that the mess was concentrated in the middle of the room. A tattered grayish-brown object lay there, white fluff spilling from its wounds.

Rarity moved towards it, levitating up the object. It looked like a doll, a familiar looking one.

Smartie... Smartypants. Yes, Smartypants.
That was what Twilight called it.

Rarity examined the giant slash wounds on it. The doll was missing an arm, a few shredded bits of cloth and stuff left from it. The remainder of the doll drooped in her magic. It had lost most of its stuffing, as if it had been snatched up and swung violently around.

The fashion designer stared at it, feeling her uncertainty worsening into fear.

The book, get the book.

She tore her eyes off the doll, doing a few quick scans across the room.

There it is!

An exceptionally old looking book, lying open on the study table.

Rarity grabbed it with her magic, sending it flying across the room towards her. With the book floating by her side, she hastily made her way out. Her hooves sent echoes through the air as she descended the stairs, and the library below was unnervingly quiet.

Well, libraries are supposed to be quiet.

The small wooden door that made up the library’s main entrance was in sight. It brought her a tiny bit of relief, especially after finding the doll. She trotted towards it, glad that she would soon be leaving the library and all the terrible things in it.

Halfway across the room, she heard a clear flapping of wings. A light flutter, probably made by a small creature.

Rarity instinctively ducked her head and jumped under a table. The fluttering stopped abruptly, making her even more nervous. She knew there were plenty of small but deadly creatures that existed around, such as a cockatrice. The frightened unicorn’s heart pounded against her ribcage as she considered the possibilities. She wanted nothing more than to leave this dreadful place.

Rarity locked her eyes on the library’s exit. It was still a fair bit of distance away, but that won’t stop her. The black book was lying on the floor, where she had dropped it earlier.

Okay, run on the count of three.

Rarity crouched under the piece of furniture, feeling the solid wood under her hooves.

One...
Two...
THREE!

“YAARRRHHH!” Rarity made a final, desperate dash towards the exit. She ran as fast as she could, her hooves pounding against the floor. The wind blew against her mane, getting the hair in her eyes. She swerved, snatching up the book between her jaws before continuing on. It was close, about ten metres away, and soon it was reduced to five.

Four metres...
Three metres...

Two...

One...

She burst through the door. A huge wave of relief crashed over her as she ran out into the bright sunlight and out onto the street.

Oh Celestia... that was the most frightening experience EVER.

Rarity spat out the book and panted from the mad dash, her limbs and jaws aching. She looked at the library, wondering what that fluttering was about.

Well, thank goodness that’s over.

Flicking a strand of hair out of her eyes, she levitated the book and made her way back to the Carousel Boutique. For once, she wasn’t concerned about the mess her mane was in.

---

There was a flutter of wings again in the library. Something small flew out of the open window on the second floor. It landed in the branches outside with a soft rustle.

A set of large yellow eyes peeked out from the swaying leaves. They fixed themselves on a pearl white unicorn as she hurried down the street, tracking her every move until she moved out of sight.

Comments

[Ducreux'ed]

DAYM discord, you scary!

[Mach and Gracie]

I agree with the above comment: dayum.

[Borg]

Oh no! Owloysius is watching Rarity!

[Feo Takahari]

I don't think I've ever seen a stronger invocation of the old dictum of "nothing is scarier." I have no idea how you're going to maintain this through the rest of the story, but even this late at night, I feel compelled to read on and see how you'll try.

[Still Wearing Black]

This chapter was full of silly. Twilight is confirmed for silliest pony and Rarity...she's just a ham.

“It’s just me getting an old book. Surely nothing could possibly go wrong.”

I kinda feel like you just dropped that line on a table in front of me and sat there grinning, waiting for me to react to it.