The Life Amulet

by The master of the game

Fear of the Unknown

Twilight sat in front of multiple books and scrolls she had salvaged from the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters.

The throne room was silent, save for the scratching of Twilight's quill on blank parchments as she took notes about her findings.

Ever since Trixie had used the Alicorn Amulet in order to, foolishly, try and defeat Twilight, she had been curious about magical items and artefacts of old, whether good or bad. Thus far, Twilight had learned of no less than thirteen such items with power levels similar to that of the Alicorn Amulet, and of no less than twenty with far lower power levels.

However, the more she researched those items, both powerful and not, the more items on her lists she could classify as either 'destroyed' or 'contained'.

Twilight let out a groan of irritation as she let her head meet with the map/table.

"Why is it that Trixie managed to track a powerful, ancient magical artefact without proper research when I can't even find ONE, despite having more than enough research material?" Twilight said out loud.

"Because, dear Twilight," Discord said as he wrapped around Twilight's neck like a scarf, "you dismiss the best sources of information as 'inaccurate'."

Twilight growled, showing she didn't want to put up with Discord's antics. "Rumours cannot be taken seriously, and legends can only take you so far," Twilight retorted.

Discord chuckled as he reclined on Fluttershy's throne. "You sound like you have experience," he stated.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Twilight replied angrily, raising her head to glare at Discord. "And turn Fluttershy's throne back to normal."

With a sigh, Discord complied. "Alright, alright... Party pooper..." he said as he snapped his talon, turning the porcelain throne back into its crystalline self, which Discord found was horribly tacky.

"I wouldn't say 'horribly' tacky," Discord said as he looked at the writer and the readers through time and space.

Ignoring Discord's utter disregard for the fourth wall and the surrounding ponies' sanity, Twilight said, "Now, GET OUT! I have important things to do!"

Discord's spirit fell. After taking it back from the ground, he said, "Oh well... I guess I'll just have to tell poor Fluttershy that her dear friend Twilight is too caught up in whatever she's doing to see her friends." With that, he walked out of the room.

Twilight let out a sigh of relief. As she turned back to her research, a small smile wormed its way onto her face. "I hate to admit it, but he's right," Twilight whispered to herself. "But if I don't do this, my friends will be in danger..."

Slowly, softly, Twilight began to cry as she thought abour her recent dreams, and what happened to her friends in those dreams.

---

Fluttershy sat at the café with all her friends, bar Twilight and Discord. She felt small on her seat, unable to look any of the ponies sitting with her in the eyes, instead letting her mane fall in front of her own.

Suddenly, she Heard Rainbow Dash shout "Finally!"

Looking up, she saw her childhood friend hover in front of a saddened Discord, looking him straight in the eyes.

"So?" Rainbow asked. "What happened?"

Discord cleared his throat dramatically as a shower of light fell on him, the world around Fluttershy and her friends darkening in a way reminiscent of a play.

As Discord opened his mouth, Pinkie spoke up instead, shattereing the carefully crafted illusion with a sound of breaking glass. "Twilight's too busy reasearching ancient arcane artefacts to spend time with us, right?"

To Fluttershy's ears, it sounded like Pinkie's voice had lost most of its usual bounciness, and it saddened her immensely, even if she wasn't all that fond of Pinkie's voice.

Discord deflated. As he slowly reinflated himself by pumping his lion arm with the other, he said, "Yes, Pinkie, she is. And she doesn't seem to want to do anything about it."

Rarity spoke as Pinkie's mane went limp. "She has been cooped up in her castle for a mouth," she said. "Somepony has to get her to come out, even if for only an hour."

"I've already tried everything I could to get her out of the castle," Spike said, disgruntled. "I even placed quesadillas all around the map room, and she just ignored them!"

All present lowered their heads.

Fluttershy felt out of her league. True, she once had been staying cooped up in her cottage for long periods of time, but she always ended up with most of the smallest of her animal friends coaxing her into going outside with them, and she doubted Twilight would like having small animals running around whatever she was doing.

Well, there was one time...

Coming out of her introspection, Fluttershy caught the tail end of something Pinkie was saying.

"...she's going to miss Fluttershy's birthday party!"

Ignoring the comment, she spoke. "I might have an idea on how to get her to leave the castle." All eyes were on her instantly. Steeling herself, she continued. "When I was younger, I used to not get out much. When I would not leave my room for long periods of time, my parents took me somewhere I liked to cheer me up. I thought we could do that... if that's okay..."

Everyone was silent for a time. Eventually, Starlight spoke up. "That's a great idea Fluttershy. We nust need to plan things out so she has no choice but to come!" Starlight's eyes had taken on a manic glint. She then cleared her throat when she saw Fluttershy's nonplussed expression.

"I mean... so she sees we want her to enjoy herself?" Starlight amended, chuckling nervously.

Comments

[Emerald Ray]

You spelled Artifact wrong. Also the description is WAAAY too long.

[The master of the game]

8007313

I used the british spelling (the one I learned).

[Emerald Ray]

8007445 Oh, okay. I learn something new everyday.

[Valhuir]

8007445 Just to be clear, there's a new standard emerging in BOTH the UK and the US...

Artefact means things like errors in a JPG.
Artifact means item from the past.

Also, your short summary said Twilight "discorvers" instead of "discovers".