*Chapter 5: Discovery
Chapter Five: Discovery
“The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust
The next day started as any other. In Canterlot, Celestia raised the sun as Luna lowered the moon. One waking from her sweet dreams and the other beginning her slumber. The elites continued sleeping, never ones to wake early. The working ponies rose, or were already up, preparing for another day at their jobs, many doing what they loved, but envying the rich and famous none the less.
In Ponyville, the Apple family was already up and about its business. The Cakes and their apprentice were preparing for the morning rush by baking bagels, muffins, cinnamon buns and the like. Fluttershy woke to a rooster and began her routine of caring for her animal friends. Rarity slept, her mask and drapes fending off the sun’s light. Rainbow Dash snoozed, head hidden under Wonderbolt sheets, oblivious to the dawn. In the library Twilight fought on the edge of consciousness to return to dream land, but the sunlight would soon bring her into the realm of the waking.
Near a lake in the woods, two dragons stirred. Rather, one dragon stirred and the other moaned, hoping to preserve his dreams moment longer.
“Wake up Spike, today we start training,” Drake said as he sat up and stretched, spying Spike near the remains of the fire.
“Five more minutes Twilight, just five more minutes,’’ Spike yawned, rolling away from Drake.
Drake sighed, picked Spike up, and began walking towards the lake. “You aren’t in Ponyville any more Spike. It’s time to wake up and see the world.” Stopping on the edge of the lake, he drew his arm back and heaved the little dragon into the water. One splash later, a scream of shock rang out into the forest.
“Ah, that’s cold!” Spike flailed about in the water, trying to get his bearings after the rude awakening. “What the hay!”
“If you don’t wake with the sun, you get to wake with a swim. If you can swim to shore on your own you can ask me one question. If not you will go hungry this morning,” Drake said from the shore behind Spike.
“But I don’t know how to swim!” Spike yelled, splashing about in the water trying to keep his head from going under.
“Then learn,” Drake said as he jumped into the water and swam over to Spike. “Today is training day one. I will not be nice. I will not be your friend when I am trying to teach you something. You’re going to learn because if you don’t someone else might pay the price. This may seem cruel, but this way you won’t forget.”
“But what do you know about being a dragon? You’re some kind of alien here ‘cause you messed up!” Spike yelled, remembering Drake’s story from the earlier night.
“True, but I know some about this world, and I always have liked dragons, even if they were just myth. Besides, I didn’t mess up. I made a wish. It was granted, just in an unexpected fashion,” Drake said as he swam around Spike, making sure to exaggerate his motions in hopes Spike would pick up on how he was swimming. “Now pay attention. If you want breakfast you’re going to have to swim to shore.”
“But I already told you, I don’t know how!” Spike fumed as he watched Drake doing laps around him with no visible effort.
“Well, you have already mastered not drowning, since you’re treading water.”
“Huh, what do you mean?” Spike asked, confused until he took a moment to think about what he was doing. He noticed his arms and legs moving in circles, keeping his head above water. “How I am doing this?”
“It could just be natural talent, or it could be Need,” Drake said, pausing to tread water in front of Spike, losing himself in his thoughts.
“Okay,” Spike said after a moment, “you have mentioned this ‘need’ several times now but how does it work?”
“If you can swim to shore you can ask one question, so let use that one. I’ll tell you about Need if you make it. Now, I recommend you pay attention and do as I do,” Drake said, looking Spike straight in the eye to see his response. When Spike nodded, Drake began swimming around Spike, talking him through everything he was doing twice. He then swam to shore while calling back, “You’ve gotten your instruction, now put it into practice.”
Spike watched and listened to everything Drake did. When Drake began swimming to the shore Spike tried to follow. After several unsuccessful attempts to swim, Spike was able to move forward with a slow and steady doggy paddle using his tail to steer himself through the water. Eventually Spike reached the shore and crawled up off the beach, exhausted by the swim.
“That wasn’t so bad now was it?” asked Drake as he stood over Spike’s gasping form. “I suppose you want me to explain how Need works to you then?”
“Yes…. Please…,” Spike said, panting from exhaustion.
“Okay, sit up and pay attention.” Drake grabbed a large flat rock and a bit of charcoal from the remains of the campfire. “As I explained, there are two growth forces in dragons: Greed and Need.” Drake drew to intersecting circles, labeling them as he went. Spike scrunched his face in confusion at the script Drake was using, but said nothing.
“You already know Greed causes you to grow. It is effected by the size of your hoard, and generally improves your physical attributes at the cost of intelligence.” Drake wrote this in the area inside to circle labeled ‘Greed’. “On the other hand, Need causes changes to your body that give you an improved or new abilities to complete tasks such as travelling, swimming, fighting, seeing, hearing, etc.” Drake wrote several of these things inside to circle labeled ‘Need’. ”Now both of these cause your body to change, but the permanency of the change is the greatest difference between the two. Greed is technically temporary. Its effects changing with the size of your hoard or the presence of other Dragons. Need on the other hand is permanent. Though, to be honest, I’m not sure how normal growth factors into all this.”
“So what does throwing me into the lake have to do with any of this?’”
“Simple: both Greed and Need require some form of catalyst to start them working.” Drake wrote several terms in the middle of the two circles. “A mental, physical, and emotional trigger for the change. For Greed, the triggers are usually related to materials such as possessions, while Need is usual triggered by environmental factors. Events or trends that require a change to survive. For example the need to travel a long distances or escape something bigger or stronger.” Drake realized it was a very good thing he had pumped those punks for information the other day.
“This doesn’t explain why you threw me into the lake,” Spike said, intrigued by what he was learning, but still upset about how he was woken up. It didn’t help that he couldn’t read a thing Drake was writing.
“Simple Spike, we are going into a potentially dangerous part of the world. If you want to survive you are going to have to get bigger, stronger, and be able to fly.”
“So throwing me into the lake was…”
“A trigger to get you to start changing. A message to your body that you need to change for the better. Get stronger, get bigger. At least, I hope it will, plus exercise is never a bad thing.”
“Okay, so what else will this training entail?” Now that he understood why things happened, Spike was more receptive to Drake’s offer, but still felt hesitant.
“Well, more swimming, some sparring, tests to get basic necessities that can’t be accomplished without one or more of the things we are trying to change. You are going to also be testing me.”
“Why--what--that wasn’t part of the deal! How I am supposed to test you?”
“Simple: I need you to teach me how to breathe fire, spar with me so that I learn to fight with this body, and ask questions,” Drake said, staring down at Spike. “Do you still want to go with me, or do you wish to return home?”
Spike thought it over for a moment, considering what Drake was offering--a chance to improve himself so he could protect his friends. A chance to be more than a liability, more than a mailbox. “I’ll stay. Make me strong, help me fly, and I’ll do you anything you want.”
“Alrighty then,” Drake said placing the rock down. “I am going to get some fish; go ahead and start another fire. Once we eat, we’ll do some more training until Twilight sends you that map and any other stuff.”
Spike went rigid as an important realization hit him like a ton of bricks falling from a pegasus carriage. Drake noticed and asked what was wrong, concerned about why Spike froze up.
“I just realized that Twilight doesn’t know how to send me stuff with magic like the princess does,” Spike answered, rubbing the back of his head, “and I don’t think that the spell is in any of the books she has either.”
“Well then, I guess you’re going to write a letter from Twilight to Princess Celestia, aren’t you?
“What--how--what am I even suppose say!?” Spike was nearly speechless. Lie to Princess!? And about Twilight!?
“Simple: you have written plenty of letters in the past. You should have an idea of how Twilight thinks. Just start it like any other, then say, as Twilight, you are wondering if she could send the spell she uses to have you, Spike, receive her letters because ‘Spike is starting to grow up and she wants to be able to communicate to the Princess through you even when separated.’ Or something to that effect,” Drake said, waving his hand as he slipped into the lake.
“I guess I can do that.”
“Good, now write that letter, send it, and rebuild the fire so we can have breakfast. I’m gonna get us some food,” Drake said, submerging himself to find the fish.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile in Canterlot, Celestia was looking over proposals, requests, reports, laws and even an occasional love letter for an adoring subject when a scroll materialized in front of her. It floated momentarily then fell among her other papers.
‘Oh, a letter for Twilight. I wonder what she’s learned about friendship this time. Besides, this will be the perfect distraction from all this tedious paperwork,’ Celestia thought giddily as she unrolled the scroll with her telekinesis and began reading.
“Dear Princess Celestia,
I am sorry this is not a friendship report, but I promise one is coming soon; instead, I need to ask if you can send me instruction for a spell. The instructions I need, if it is not too much trouble, are for the spell you use to send messages to Spike. Since moving to Ponyville, Spike and I are spending more and more time separated, and sometimes he isn’t there right when I have something to send you. I have also observed several cases where the ability for Spike and I to send messages between each other would have been useful. A perfect example is the time Rarity was captured by Diamond Dogs, despite Spike’s heroic efforts, and he had to run all the way back to town to find me. I believe this spell would be an invaluable tool for me and Spike. I would be very very very grateful, and I promise my report is coming soon.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
‘That was different from her usual letter, but it is good to see she is still looking to expand her horizons and is learning to think about others. I can see how being in a place where they can make new friends could cause them to be spending some time apart. I hope she doesn’t let their relationship fall by the wayside, but I doubt she could ever do that to Spike,’ Celestia though, pulling a blank sheet of parchment from a nearby stack and dipping her quill in ink.
‘The spell she asked for is so useful. I can understand why Twilight would want to learn it, although it does suffer the drawback of requiring a dragon to act as either the receiver or the sender,’ Celestia thought as she wrote down the spell with every bit of information she could remember offhand. Before sending it, she included a short note asking about how Spike was and if the Great Dragon Migration was affecting him any. Placing her seal on the scroll, Celestia ignited it, sending the spell instructions to Spike. Happy to have helped her student, Princess Celestia returned to her royal duties which seemed a bit less tedious than a moment ago.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“That was delicious, wouldn’t you agree Spike?” Drake said, propped up on his side next to the fire having finished off the last off the freshly cooked fish.
“I’m still not happy about eating meat, but… I’ll admit it wasn’t bad. The lemons and those herbs you found nearby made it better than yesterday’s dinner,” Spike said as he tossed the bones from his fish onto the pile that Drake had started. “So… you mentioned more training?”
“Yes I did. From now on I will not be supplying you with food, and you will either have to catch your own or reach the site where I put mine. Likewise I will not be allowed to cook my food except with a fire I start myself, although just as I will help you learn to hunt, you will be giving me lessons of fire breathing.”
“Okay, and what about the fighting and Greed control?” Spike was most curious about these two because he could already see their advantages if ever something like Discord or an Ursa Minor were to pop up in Ponyville, again.
“Since we are waiting on the map, we are going to spend the rest of today exercising and sparring. Most of the exercises we will make up as we go along. For the sparring, though, we will be fighting one another just like we would in a real fight.”
“But I am way smaller than you! How am I supposed to beat you?” Spike whined. He couldn’t believe that Drake thought he stood a chance in a fight.
“As you are now, you can’t, but this will help fuel your growth, and it will give us a chance to strategize for when we practice Greed,” Drake said holding up a hand when he saw Spike’s eyes light up. “Which we won’t be doing until we leave Equestria, because of the risk of losing control--I don’t want either of us to go rampaging and wind up killing ponies.” Spike cringed at the thought. “Yeah, plus I don’t want to have powerful people mad at me for killing their subjects.”
Suddenly, Spike burped up a letter with the royal Equestrian seal. Both of them stared at it for a moment. “Speaking of powerful people, I guess you should open it so we can double check its contents before sending it to Twilight.”
Spike nodded and picked up the letter, cutting it open with his claw. He read over it before handing it to Drake, who looked over it once, twice, a third time then sighed, “Shit.”
“What’s wrong Drake? The letter seemed fine to me--it had the spell and even included a question asking how I was taking the migration, kinda funny huh? I didn’t think the Princess thought about me that much.” Spike looked up at Drake, who passed the letter back to him.
“Remember how last night we talked about me being from another reality?”
“Yeah,” Spike replied, wondering where this was going.
“Well it seems that while we speak the same language we use a different writing system,” Drake said, shaking his head in disgust and anger.
“So…”
“It means that you get to add reading and writing to the list of things that you will be teaching me.”
“Are you saying you don’t understand basic Equestrian?” Spike said.
“I can’t read or write using the system that you do, so I need you to teach it to me,” Drake said before another thought jumped into his head. “Hey could you understand a single word of what I wrote this morning?”
Spike was silent for a moment as his mind bounced between trying to think of how to teach Drake to read and write and answering the question. “No, not a single bit of the writing, but I understood what you were saying so I just let it drop. As far as teaching you, where would we even begin?”
“Okay, first things first. If you ever don’t understand something when I am trying to teach you, say something. I might make you work to figure out the answer on your own, but I never want to leave you confused when I’m trying to teach you. Understood?”
“Understood,” Spike said, feeling embarrassed. “That still leaves the problem of me teaching you?”
Oh, that’s simple. Each night, you’ll teach me a bit of the language. We’ll start with the alphabet and once I understand how it’s written we’ll move onto simple words. Once we have those down, I will attempt to read anything we get. The books that Twilight will no doubt be sending, for example,” Drake said, grimacing as he talked Spike through the lesson plan; it hurt his pride to ask this of Spike, having already asked him to teach fire breathing.
“I think I can handle that. What do you want me to do with this letter?” Spike held the letter up, uncertain about what to do. Drake looked upset, almost angry.
“Read it to me. If it sounds good, we send it. I want to understand how this spell works if at all possible. I know I probably won’t be able to comprehend the more technical magic stuff but read it anyway.” Drake motioned for Spike to start reading.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Rainbow Dash drifted through the skies above Ponyville. She’d been late for work, but luckily there had not been much to do--just clear the skies for a bright and sunny day. Ten seconds later, she was winging her way to the library to check on Twilight. As she neared the library, she noticed Rarity heading there as well and decided to drop in on her.
“Hey Rarity, are you going to check on Twilight too?”
“Why yes, Rainbow Dash, I’m worried she’ll have stayed up all night and still be putting things together for Spike-Wikey. I take it you are doing the same?” Rarity said unfazed by Rainbows sudden appearance. A having a friend like Pinkie tends to deadens one’s flight reflex, slowly, with a pillow and soft words.
“Yep, since we forgot to set a time to meet up, I figured I would just go on my own. Glad I ran into you though. Do you think she stayed up all night?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised; then again, she might have passed out at some point. Yesterday was very exhausting after all.” Rarity tapped her chin with a hoof thinking, “In fact, I doubt she’s eaten anything since we got back. Rainbow, do you think you could procure something from Sugarcube Corner and be back before I get to the library.”
Rainbow threw up a mock salute, and zipped away. When Rarity reached door to the library, Rainbow returned with a box of donuts and several muffins fresh from Sugarcube Corner.
“I’m back,” Rainbow said, hovering with the basket held on her foreleg. “Should we knock or just go in?”
“It’s a public library, but I think we should knock before we just go barraging in. I’d rather not startle the poor mare. Especially after everything that’s happened,” Rarity said, preparing to knock when they heard a loud crash and yelp of pain from inside. Rarity and Rainbow burst through the door, looking around to find the source of the commotion. They found an exhausted and unkempt Twilight under a pile of scrolls and large books.
“Twilight! Are you okay?!” they cried out in unison while going over to help her. Rarity started lifting books away, stacking them off to the side as Rainbow grabbed Twilight and brought her to a clear spot in the library, no easy task given the messy state it was in.
“Twilight, what’s going on? The library is an absolute mess, and you look dreadful,” Rarity asked as she walked over with the goods from Sugarcube Corner. “Here, have something to eat, and tell us what you’ve been doing since we left last night,” Rarity said, lifting a muffin for Twilight, who took it reluctantly and started slowly nibbling.
“Something absolutely terrible, horrible, and unacceptable has happened!” Twilight said after she ate a bite or two.
“What is it Twilight?” Rainbow said, deeply concerned. After Twilight’s reaction to possible tardiness, she was afraid of a repeat of the cursed Smarty Pants doll.
“i got everything that Spike asked for, plus some other stuff I thought he could use. It’s that pile over there,” Twilight said, motioning to the only organized pile in the library. A hefty stack books, maps, a newspaper, and a bag of gems to top it off. “After I got that together, I passed out. I woke up a few hours ago, and was going to send it to him, when I realized I have no way to send it to him. I can’t mail it because we don’t know where he is, and I can’t magic it to him because he is gone and I don’t know the spell the Princess uses,” Twilight said, on the verge of another breakdown as tears pooled in her eyes.
“But surely it’s in one of your books right?” Rainbow asked, holding up a cookbook. “I mean, you have all kinds of crazy spell books in here.”
“Firstly, How to Serve Ponies is a fictional cook book not a spell book. Secondly, that’s what I thought. I started looking, but I couldn’t find it in any of the usually spell books. So, I started going through everything but… but…I can’t find it,” Twilight said, descending into tears, “And I can’t send a letter to the Princess asking for it, because I don’t have Spike. Plus, if she finds out I lost him, she might make me come back to Canterlot or lock me in the dungeons, or…or…,” Twilight said sobbing, her fears and imagination getting the best of her.
“Twilight, please stop crying. Nothing like that is going to happen,” Rarity said, doing her best to comfort Twilight, but was gently pushed away.
“Yes it is, this is entirely my fault. If I hadn’t let him go, he wouldn’t be gone.”
“Come on Twilight, you had no way of knowing what would happen, and don’t forget it was your thinking that saved us yesterday. Besides you are the smartest, most eggheaded unicorn in all of Equestria, heck the whole world! Surely you can think of something,” Rainbow said, trying her hoof at cheering Twilight up. Surprisingly it worked.
“You’re right, I am smart; I’m the Princess’s prize student. I can figure this out.” With renewed energy Twilight stopped crying and got up to try to find a spell that would let her send Spike his care package.
“Oh no you don’t,” Rarity said forcing Twilight to sit back down. “First you are going to eat some breakfast, you are going to get a shower, and then get organized for the day. While you are doing that, Rainbow and I will clean up the library so that you can actually get some work done on this problem.” When both Twilight and Rainbow made to protest Rarity sealed their mouths with her magic. “No arguments from either of you. Now, eat up and let us help you.” Rarity locked eyes with Twilight, imparting her sincerity. Twilight nodded in acceptance and began to eat while Rarity and Rainbow started cleaning.
Once she finished her breakfast, Twilight climbed into the shower, already feeling better. ‘They’re right. I’ll find some way to send Spike what he asked for. I just needed to rest and eat something. I am already starting to feel recharged; yesterday must have wiped me out more than I thought.’ The water cascaded down her neck and back, falling to the floor before running into to drain. Once she had cleaned herself off from the grit of the previous day, Twilight shut off the water and began drying off with a towel. She was dry when a flash of light surprised her, causing her to fall down and scream out in fright.
“What’s wrong Rainbow?” Rarity asked when Rainbow dropped the books she was organizing.
“Twilight screamed, probably needs our help!” Rainbow said, rushing off to the upper floor.
“Rainbow, wait!” Rarity said following her. When she heard Twilight start screaming, Rarity began running only to discover, as she crossed the threshold into Twilight’s bathroom, it was a scream of elation, not fear. In the room she saw Rainbow cheering behind a joyful Twilight, who was clutching a letter.
“Rarity I got a letter, a letter from the Princess! It has the spell; everything I need to send Spike anything he asks for!” Twilight floated Rarity the letter, letting her read it over. Most of it was beyond her comprehension, but she understood enough to know it was the real deal.
“Twilight this is wonderful, but how did the Princess know to send this?” Twilight stopped her celebration becoming very thoughtful.
“Hey Twilight you don’t think that Spike asked the princess for this do you?” Rainbow asked, cocking to the side.
“You mean to tell me that…”
“Given what his last letter said and what I gathered from the Drake character during our short meeting, it’s possible…”
“Girls, do you mean to tell me that you think Spike sent a letter to the Princess to get me this spell, and that dragon he ran off with allowed him to?” Twilight was stunned by this line of reasoning. It went against everything she thought she knew.
“I guess he did, but why?”
“Let’s suppose that the Drake fellow wants the information. If Spike shared his life story, as he is liable to do, then Drake knows about Spike’s relationship to the Princess as well as his ability to send and receive messages. Then it is likely that by allowing you to send things to Spike, he hopes to get that information and also delay the Princess discovering what has happened.”
“What makes you say that Rarity?” Rainbow asked, “Now that Twilight has this spell, couldn’t she just send a message telling Princess Celestia everything that happened?”
“Well, one: given Twilight’s breakdown a little while ago, no offense darling, I highly doubt that she will be telling the Princess,” Rarity stopped, giving Twilight a chance to respond.
“She’s right Rainbow, I can’t risk telling the Princess.”
“And two: do you really think that Drake won’t read everything Twilight sends beforehand to make sure we aren’t trying to follow him or inform the Princess after letting Spike get this spell?”
“Fair enough,” Rainbow conceded.
“And lastly, do you think this Drake fellow would want the Princess to know and risk having her after him?”
“I guess not,” Rainbow landed, bummed that her argument had been shot down.
“Rarity, how did you know all this?” a surprised Twilight asked, never having expected that Rarity would have such understanding of what was going on.
“Simple darling, this is very much like one of my favorite mystery-adventure-suspense-romance novels.” Rarity said, flicking her mane with a hoof, quiet happy with herself. “Don’t you think you should be sending that map?”
“You’re right! In all the excitement I’d almost forgotten.” Twilight said grabbing the letter, rereading it as she walked to the pile she had prepared. “Let’s see, this says that the power required to send an object is directly related to the mass of the object and the distance being sent divided by the familiarity coefficient of the parties involved which can be calculated based on time spent together, amount of shared memories, knowledge of one another’s habits…”Rainbow and Rarity watched as Twilight prepared to do the spell, excited to see it work.
Two hours later Rainbow had stopped paying any attention as Twilight had continued to drone on about the spell, then rushed off to do the math, then come back to read some more. Instead, she had picked up a copy of the Daring Do she was currently reading, and was slowly turning her way through Daring Do and the Heliotrope Hippopotamus. Nearby, Rarity was doodling on some scrap paper, coming up with fanciful and ridiculous designs just to pass the time. Finally Twilight put the letter down and looked over the stack she was sending to Spike, now broken into two smaller piles.
“Okay girls I think I am ready to try the spell, just watch yourself; usually when a spell doesn’t work the backlash is kinda explodey,” Twilight said with a very sheepish smile on her face.
“Finally,” Rainbow groaned as she put the Daring Do book down, “I thought you would never be ready. By the way how explodey are we talking; shield your eyes explodey or hid behind the book fort explodey?”
“Well given how much power this is going to take- hey what do you mean ‘book fort!?’” Twilight said bearing down on Rainbow, enraged at the thought of harm coming to her books.
“Rainbow insisted on arranging the books into a fortress of ‘entertainment and eggheadery’ as she called it, but she is right, how worried do we need to be?” Rarity asked, hoping to bring Twilight back on target, not to mention if this was going to explode, Rarity didn’t want it scorching her fur for a second day in a row.
“Um,” Twilight rubbed her jaw with a hoof, “get behind the book fort.” Rainbow and Rarity dived into cover then resurfaced with helmets on to watch Twilight’s attempt.
“Okay girls, here goes nothing.” Then, just as Twilight began charging the spell, someone started knocking desperately on the library door. With her concentration broken the spell discharged spectacularly in an uncontrolled release of energy that left her smoky and blackened.
“This is a public library! You can just come in, there is no need to knock!” Twilight yelled once she stopped coughing. The door opened, a pink blur slipped in, and the door closed quicker than the eye could see.
“Twilight, are you okay!? Who’s at the door?”
“Yeah, that was a pretty spectacular backlash,” Rainbow said as she and Rarity remained hunkered behind their fortifications.
“I don’t know, let me check. Since they don’t seem to understand that they can just come in.”
“Don’t do that,” a new voice called out.
“Huh!?”
Suddenly Pinkie Pie popped up in between Rarity and Rainbow, dressed in pink camouflage body armor and a helmet with balloons attached to it. “Don’t open that! I was at the door; I knocked because the sign says closed, might want to change that. Also why are we hiding in a book fort while Twilight makes explosions? Is this a new game?”
“No Pinkie, I am testing a new spell that will allow me to send things to Spike like the Princess does,” Twilight explained as she went about preparing to cast the spell. “Now, please be quiet so that I can get this right.”
“But why do you need to send stuff to Spike? Won’t he be back by nightfall?”
“Well you see…”
“Pinkie I’m gonna destroy you! Git back here right now” a country accented voice yelled angrily
“What now…?” Twilight groaned, wondering how much more would happen before she could test the spell.
“I’m not here, and you haven’t seen me,” Pinkie said as she ducked down behind the book fort.
A moment later a very angry Applejack burst through the door in a bulbous green ball gown, her hair up in a massive bun and a ridiculous amount of eye shadow, lipstick, and pink blush on her face. “Where is she, have ya’ll seen her?”
“Applejack you look absolutely stunning. Why ever are you in that adorable dress, and why didn’t you come to me for help with your hair and make-up?” Rarity asked, pouting slightly as she left the book fort to look Applejack over.
“It was Pinkie Pie, she done this to me, and when I get my hooves on her…”
“But darling you look absolutely stunning! Why so angry?”
“Yeah AJ you look good enough to actually get a date,” Rainbow said, suppressing the urge to burst out laughing.
“An’ just what in the hay is that supposed to mean!?” Applejack challenged as she advanced on Rainbow, a fiery anger in her eyes.
“Nothing,” Rainbow meeped. “Hey you’re looking for Pinkie right? Here she is!” Rainbow grabbed Pinkie before she could flee and held her up to hide from Applejack’s gaze.
“Now I got you, ya varmint,” Applejack smiled evilly.
“Hey Twilight weren’t you going to say something about Spike?” Pinkie asked trying for misdirection. “Don’t let her hurt me,” Pinkie whispered behind her hoof.
“Yes Applejack, why don’t you come over here? Since it is such torment for you, I will restore you to your ‘natural beauty.’ It seems that fashion and make-up makes you homicidal,” Rarity said, waving to a beanbag she had moved next to her along with a make-up kit and hair brushes that had appeared out of nowhere.
“Well okay, since there’s no permanent harm done. But Pinkie…”
“Yeah?” the scared party ponies stammered.
“I’ll get ya back, just you wait.” Applejack walked over to Rarity and sat down saying, “Don’t you dare try to gussy me up any neither; just get this fancy stuffy getup off me, and get my mane outta this ridiculous style.”
As Rarity began to work on Applejack and Rainbow tried to apologize to Pinkie for ratting her out, Twilight asked, “Okay Pinkie, Applejack, and anypony else who wants to join in, are you ready for story time?”
“Well, I would like to get something to drink first, that is if it’s alright with you, if you don’t mind, I’ll get you something too if you want any. If that’s not a problem that is.”
“Fluttershy! When did you get here?”
Fluttershy looked at the ground, tracing circles with her right hoof. “Oh, I was coming by to drop off that veterinary medicine book I borrowed when I heard Applejack yelling. I just slipped in behind her and decided to wait until she had calmed down before bothering you. I hope you don’t mind, I can leave if you want.” Fluttershy dropped the book on the front counter and began to leave.
“Fluttershy wait, you don’t have to leave,” Rainbow said, rushing over to stop her since Rarity was busy and the string of events had left Twilight frozen, gaping like a fish. “Let’s grab some drinks, then Twilight can tell you girls about the adventure we had yesterday.”
“Oh, okay.” Fluttershy said, turning around and following Rainbow into the kitchen.
“What’s this ‘bout ya’ll going on an adventure?” Applejack asked Rarity as she combed her mane.
“It was truly a harrowing ordeal, but I think Twilight can tell it best. Besides, it will do her some good to talk about it. Then we can watch her try the spell the princess sent her this morning. Again.” Rarity said, continuing her combing, not missing a beat.
A short time later, everypony had gathered in the main room of the library, sitting in a semicircle around Twilight sipping their drinks. Applejack was restored to her normal look. Rarity was next, with Rainbow beside her. Fluttershy sat on the other side of Rainbow while Pinkie Pie occupied the last spot along the semicircle, switching between staring daggers at Rainbow and looking towards Twilight, hoping she would begin her story. Twilight was seated in the center of the semicircle, papers with notes to help her tell the story arrayed before her.
“Is everyone’s ready?” A series of nods and affirmations emanated from her friends. “Okay our story starts yesterday…”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
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YESSSS THE DOMINATION SHALL COMENCE!!!!!
-wargod
Do you have a proofreader? im just wonedring. you missed quite a lot of ?'s and replaced them with , and . (im lazy) otherwise pretty awesome.
So. Does need work like, say, you try to breath underwater and then you'll get gills? Or maybe if they try to do unicorn magic really hard they will grow a dragon horn/horns that will let them do it?
Woo Hoo! New chapter
1281355 Based on how I see it trying to breath underwater would send the message that the dragon needed a larger lung capacity rather than gills, They still follow stereotypical dragon physiology for the most part, its just something from the past has really messed up their growth and development. Same goes for the magic, although trying to do different things with magic may lead to different kinds of fires and breath abilities, hadn't consider for it much until your comment.
1278716 I have some one who proofread the other chapters, but they were busy with RL stuff and couldn't proof the most recent one. Gave it a go at trying to catch everything myself.
1305350 Ah i see. I was thinking that if a dragon could grow wings by way of need then they could grow gills in the same reasoning.then again i'm not 100% sure if need is what makes the wings grow. Then again, when it comes to something as amazingly complex as individual evolution you could take it as far as you could ever imagine. Either way I find the story very entertaining so far and I am eager to see how the 'need and greed' system works in greater detail.
Just a fix to the chapter name, and some edits, next chapter is on proofreading stage though, will hopefully be out soon.
Thats good ole equestria physics for you!
1393116 I realize how long ago this chapter was posted, but jeez, there are way to many grammatical errors, and don't get me started on the punctuation...
I hope it gets better.
Can anypony wip up a pic
of Drake plz
media0.giphy.com/media/7rj2ZgttvgomY/giphy.gif
So far it's great.
Why would he say 'etc.' out loud, instead of, say, "and so on."?
edit: There were more spelling errors, btw.
when Rarity says dearie, it reminds me of this guy
i.ytimg.com/vi/HeT0VyiT7O4/maxresdefault.jpg
applejack that means that ppl from the internet wont try to rape you and for some reason you accept it.....
Can't Spike ask as Spike for the spell and tell her the truth? I don't think Celestia will react that badly to his journey.
That was THE part in the letter that made it obvious that Spike wrote it. I mean, heroic? Twilight wouldn't butter up Spike like that! He rather likes to do that himself!
But Celestia is really getting old if she can't recognize such an obvious ruse!
Here I present you mares and gentlecolts, the Element of Loyalty!
*like #700*
drake gives me a Mok Swagger vibe. if you don't know him look it up.
8024867
Are you expecting him to sing My Name Is Drake?
Ya im done with this story. I could get used to the bad writing but not the characters.