Twilight has been noticing some change in Owlowiscious' behavior. Her feathery friend seems to be preoccupied with going out and about at night and stealing a random assortment of things, rather than helping her out at the library. She suspects the owl is reconsidering his place as her number two assistant.
Please note: This not a good owl going bad short story. Just to clarify. (I`m to big of an Owlowiscious fan to ever do that ;) )
It was a bright and sunny day in Ponyville. This wasn't to suprising given that Winter Wrap Up had only happened a few days ago. A ray of sun sliped throught a crack of the barely closed curtains on the second floor of Ponyville's library, which fell right in the direction of a pair of closed eyes belonging to a purple unicorn who was deep in her sleep.
"Spike... I thought I told you to close the curtains and shut the window after you were done looking at the fireflies outside," Twilight said groggily to her number one assistant who was still sound asleep in his basket.
She was still exhausted from helping out with Winter Wrap Up that she could barely lift her arm to shield her eyes from the morning sun. Contrary to last year's Winter Wrap Up, Twilight helped with the organisation and a little bit of everything that a unicorn could do, which resulted in her rushing from one place to another. So for the past few days, she was still trying to recover from all that physical exercise she wasn't used to.
"Huh..? Huu... five more minutes mommy... please...," the dragon insisted as he placed his pillow over his head to try and block out the sound of his supposed "mother's" voice.
"Spike, wake up!" Twilight said in a more awoken voice.
"Huh? What? What is it?
"I was just telling you that you forgot to close the window and the curtains. I was trying to get a little more sleep so that I wouldn't be so tired when I went out with Fluttershy today to help her double check how all the animals are doing."
"Oh, sorry Twi. I guess I was so tired that I must have forgotten. Here, i'll make it up to you. How about some grass pancakes and a sunflower smoothy? Their your faavoriiiite..." he lengthened the word, trying to make his suggestion seem more appealing to Twilight.
Just as she was about to disregard the suggestion, her stomach insisted otherwise. "Alright, you win," she told him with a defeated smile on her face, "just make sure you remember next time!" but he was already halfway down the stairs to the main floor by the time she finished her sentence. Twilight stretched her sore muscles and went to window to behold the beautiful new day that Celetia had given them. She then turned her attention to the lower level of the second floor, expecting to find her feathery companion waiting for her on the writing desk.
"Good morning Owlowiscious." She said before realising that he wasn't in his usual spot. "Huh. I guess he's probably downstairs keeping Spike company."
She made her way down the steps to be greeted by the auroma of Spike's cooking.
"Hey Spike, have you seen Owlowiscious anywhere?"
"Well, he may still be outside. When I was looking outside last night, he wooshed by me. He seemed to be in a rush." Spike responded, still focusing on the task of preparing breakfast.
"That's odd. He's usualy back by now. Well, he's probably out doing something produ-
Twilights sentence was cut short when she noticed the scattered books and pages that covered the floor. Most of the larger books were intact, but for the few journal and notes that she made into a different aray of books had had their leather strap bindings removed.
"Spike! Did you do this!" Twilight said in a paniced voice.
"Do wha- WOW! What happened?" Spike said, astonished by the mess.
"Thats what I was wondering."
"Did someone try to rob the library? Is anything missing?"
"Not from the look of things. The only things that were stolen were the leather straps of my own work, but I don't see why anypony would want to steal those." Twilight said, trying to reassure Spike, but mostly herself. "Plus, all the doors and windows locked. The only way they could have gotten in was through..." She paused, then glared slightly over to Spike who was backing up slowly towards the kichen until he meet her gaze, and gave a simple "Oops."
She stayed that way for a moment, sighed, then gave a slight smile. "How about I make breakfast while YOU piece toghether theis papers. I'll have to buy some more straps to when I'm out with Flut-"
"Hoo Hoo!" a familiar voice called out from the top of the stairs.
"Oh, there you are Owlowiscious. I was starting to worry about were you went off to." Twilight said with a sence of relief in her voice. "You're here just in time, I think breakfast is ready. Alright Spike, you can take a break now." She told him as he was placing the papers in piles; they probably weren't the same pages from the same book, he was just doing anything to make it seem as if he was being productive. They sat down at the kichen table as Twilight levitated her meal ,and a bowl of gems for Spike, towards them. Owlowiscious perched himself on one of the extra chairs. He was a little unbalanced when he did so, almost like he was still tired, even with the fact that he was nocturnal.
Twilight picked up on this as soon as she looked to him and saw that his eyes were half way closed, trying to force himself to keep them open. "Are doing ok Owlowiscious? You seem a bit drowsy." She said with a simpathetic voice.
"Hoo." The owl shook his head protesting that her statement was false, and just as he tried repositioning himself on the chair, Twilight spotted a small, unnatural piece of material that clung to one of the claws on his left talon. "Hey, whats that you have there?" she asked curiosly.The owl's gaze grew paniced a she noticing the thin fabric. And without a second of delay, Owlowiscious was flying at full speed upstairs and out the window.
"Wait!" Twilight yelled out, but her response was to slow. She turned over to Spike with a confused look on her face, "Was it something I said?" hoping that her assistant could answer her question.
"Beats me," Spike said with a mouth of gems, feeling as confused as Twilight about what just happened, "Maybe he's going through a weird "owl phase" or something."
"Ya, your probably right. I shouldn't worry so much." Twilight said possitively.
"When have ever doubted me?" Spike said with a cheesy grin as he finished off the last of his gems.
"Well, like the time I told you to go pick up those papers scattered across the floor and you forgot to get back to it."
"Ah come on. Do I have to?"
"Unless you want to go and try to bring Owlowiscious back here to help you, I don't think you have a choise"
And with that, she grabbed her sattle bag, a few intact books, some bits and headed out the door, leaving Spike in a bit of a disappointed mood.
It had been a few days now since Owlowiscious had flown out of the library in a state of panic and Twilight was seriously starting to become concerned for the owl's safety. She tried aimlessly piecing together what could have cause this strange behaviour. Her first assumption was that it was her own fault for saying something that may have offended or even hurt her assistants feelings. The second assumpsion, which was the one she was trying to deny, was the impending fact that it may have been Owlowiscious who ripped apart her notes.
"But why would he go and do something like that?" She though to herself as she made her way to Sugarcube Corner, when suddently, her trail of thought was cut short when she bumped into Cheerilee.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Twilight said apologeticly, realising her mistake.
"He he, It's alright." Cheerilee said with her usual happy and optimistic voice."Are feeling alright? You seemed a bit spaced out by the looks of things."
"Well, I haven't been able to get much sleep. Owlowiscious has been missing for a few days and realy worried about him. You wouldn't have happened to see him by any chance would you?"
"As a matter a fact, I saw him perched on one of the fence posts surrounding the playground at reces-" But before before she could show the mare where she specifical saw Owlowiscious, Twilight was already galloping at full speed towards the schoolhouse.
Twilight arrived at schoolhouse shortly after, searching rapidly around the playground trying to find any trace of Owlowiscious' previous presence with no luck at all. If the owl was really here before, he was now long gone. Twilight heard the sound of hooves behind her as she turned around to see Cheerilee galloping towards her.
"Were...haaa...you able to...hooo...find him...haaa?" Cheerilee panted as she tried to catch her breath.
"No, he doesn't seem to be here- ,hey. Why did you gallop here anyway?"
"I was trying to tell you...haaa...that he also came into the classroom...hooo...after class while I was correcting some tests. After I finished that, I was feeling tired and decided to go home, but then I noticed that Owlowiscious did want to move from his spot, so I decided to open one of the windows wide enough for him to leave on his own time."
"Uh oh..." Twilight said as she made her way to the schoolhouse. As she arrived in the class room, she let out a slight gasp and then said flatly to Cheerilee who was troting behind her,"Ya, just what I assumed"
"What is it- hey! Where did all the pencils go?"
"Well, I probably should have to told you this first off. I woke up one morning to discover that my notes that I had pieced toghether had their bindings removed," Twilight informed Cheerilee, as she tried to keep her explanation as brief as possible, "so after Owlowiscious came in through the top floor window and sat down with me and Spike, I noticed a little piece of something caught in one of his talons. After he realised that I had noticed it, he flew right back out the window."
"So you think that it may have been him who stole your bindings, and my pencils?"
"I pretty sure. I never really wanted to consider that it was him doing it, but I guess now this gives a little more proof."
"Well, I've been a teacher for a long time now and I don't think I've ever taught my class anything about owls steal from others. Did you maybe consider that it just might be a phase in his life?"
"Ya. Spike already suggested that. I mean, I've read a lot of books about owls, but I've never heard of this specific behavior. I should probably go see Fluttershy, she knows alot about animals, maybe she can tell me why Owlowiscious is acting the way he is." Twilight looked back to Cheerilee who seem to keep the same shocked expression from when she walked into the class room to the time Twilight had finished her sentence. "Anyway, thank you for trying to help me find him." She said before exiting the room.
"You're quite welcome Twilight. Oh, and one more thing."
"Yes?" Twilight asked.
"If you do happen to find him, do you think you can get him to give my pencils back. It's not like they grow on tre- you know what, forget that last part." Cheerilee said jokefully with a giggle, trying to improve Twilights mood as much as she could.
Twilight gave a small giggle and was out the door.
~~~
Twilight's visit to the schoolhouse gave her a little hope, but these hopes could still not replace the owl that she'd come to know and love.
"First my bindings, now Cheerilee's pencils, what's next?"
"Aaaah! Unhand it you brute!" A fair but angered voice called out from Carousel Boutique. Twilight rushed to the decorated building as fast as she could. As she arrived the first thing she noticed was the mess that occupied the usualy clean space, but when she looked across the room, she saw a white coated mare using her magic to regain possesion of a lovely piece of fabric from none other then Owlowiscious himself.
"Owlowiscious, what are doing!?"Twilight said franticaly." Why are you stealing from everypony? If I did something to make you do this I'm sorry!" Twilight said as she started to use her magic to aid Rarity in reobtaining the now mildly ripped piece of fabric. As the two mares dragged Owlowiscious in with certain ease, the owl began to flap his wings furiously, and just as the Rarity was about to regain her now ripped fabric, the flying thief did something that Twilight would have never anticipated. He released one claw off the fabric, drew his claw back, and swipped both mares. The sudden strike made Twlight andRarity fall backwards in fear as they losed hold of one of Rarity's prized fabrics, and Owlowiscious flew out the front door into the late afternoon.
"Good heavens! What was that all about? Twilight, would you care to explain why he wa-, Twilight, are you alright dear?"
Twilight was sitting down, her left hoof covering her cheek that had a bit of blood on it, which had been hit by Owlowiscious moments earlier. Rarity moved closer to Twilight, thinking of words that could maybe reassure her when suddently, a tear fell from her bang covered face.
"Twilight! Are you hurt? Here, let me get a bandage for your cut." Rarity said with more concern in her voice.
"Rarity...I'm fine..."
"But darling. Your hurt. Please I insi-"
"Rarity please. I think... I think I need to be alone right now..."
"If its about the ribbon, I can replace it."
"It's not that... I just... just want to be left alone." Twilight said in a whisper as she headed out the door into the now rainy outside.
~~~
Spike was reorganizing some of the books in the library when he heard the door open.
"Hey Twi, welcome back! Theres some leftover celery soup if you're hun-, Twilight... you ok?"
The purple unicorn was soaked from head to toe. Water seemed to drip endlessly from her mane and her face, but part of the water was not rainwater... it was tears...
Twilight was lying in bed, still contemplating on the event that accured, holding on to the fact that it was all some sort of extreme misunderstanding, but she could barely belive this though was anywhere near true. Large dropplets of water hit the oval window which surved as one of the links in the event of that first morning of Owlowiscious' weird behavior.
"Twilight, what happened? Are you alright?" Spike asked Twilight anxiously. Spike then seemed to have a kind of epiphany as he looked up from her to the window. Twilight nodded slowly and went back to putting her face between her hooves.
"And on that note, I'm guessing that Fluttershy might have an answer to the Owlowiscious probleme?" Twilight nodded again within her hooves.
"Don't worry Twi. You stay her and i'll go ask Fluttershy for you while you stay here." Spike said incouragingly as he went downstairs and out the door. "It just doesn't make sense," Spike thought to himself as he walked in the now dying rain,"Owlowiscious is the nicest, kindest, most helpful owl I've ever meet, even if he is the first owl I realy got to know. Whatever's wrong with him, I'm sure it's not at all his fault. He arrived at Fluttershy's cottage minutes later. The rain had completely stopped now and left the ground covered in a light shine of fallen rainwater in the moonlight. Spike gave three knocks on the wooden door. A few seconds later,theis knocks were followed by the light flapping of wings and then the door opening to reveal a messy haired pegasy with a tried look on her face.
"Spike?" Fluttershy said in her soft but tired voice,"What are you doing here this late at night?"
"I came here to ask you a question on Twilight's part."
"Is she alright?"
"Well, she's doing better now, but when she first got home...not so much. I think something happened that involved Owlowiscious. He's been stealing a bunch of random stuff from everpony and Twilight wanted to ask if you knew why he was behaving weirdly."
Fluttershy's eyes grew wider,"You mean you don't know?"
"Know what?"Spike said curiosly.
"Spike, there are only two reasons owl's behave that way; one is that if their owner is mean to them, which I highly doubt in Twilight's case, and the second one...
~~~
Twilight was sitting up in her bed when she heard the door swing open and heard the sound of Spike's clawed feet and an other set of hooves rushing upstairs.
"Twi! light! Hooo..." Spike spoke up trying to catch his breath.
"Twilight," Fluttershy said in a mix of an anxious yet calm voice,"Spike told me all about your probleme with Owlowiscious!"
"Just forget it Flutt-" She wasn't able to finish her sentence as Fluttershy interrupted her.
"No, listen. It's not your fault that Owlowiscious is acting the way he is. Twilight, it's still spring..."
"Wait... do you mean what I think you mean!" Twilight said, now standing on her forehooves.
"Yes, I mean, what else could it be." Fluttershy said with more confidence.
"Oh thank you ,thank you Fluttershy! If what your saying in true, then I know exactly where to find him!"
"Woa, whats going on? What are you two talking about!?" Spike said with a confused tone.
Twilight wasalready speeding downstairs,"I'll explain later!" and with that Twilight was out the door into the night.
~~~
Twilight was galloping down a long path which led to the Everfree forest. Twilight had new found hope, hope that would give her the courage to venture within these dark woods.
"Please be right, please be right." Twilight tought to herself. "Owlowiscious, I know now why you were acting the way you were and I didn't mean to fight back hard for that ribbon, just please, come out!"
She waited, waited for a sign and then, she the sound of a certain weighing body place itself in a tree branch. Twilight turn around to find a happy and understanding owl who gave a greeting "Hoo Hoo" to her as he was perched on a fairly large branch. Almost simultaneously, they both came to each other, and right when Owlowiscious was came into reach, grabbed him and hugged him as hard as she could.
"I knew you couldn't have gone bad and hated me!" Twilight said to her dear companion as tears of joy flowed onto her cheeks. She pulled Owlowiscious away to be able to see his reaction. The owl's face was happy and yet had a sorrowful expression, almost as if he were saying "I'm so sorry". Fluttershy and Spike arrived soon after to see this joyfull site.
"Ok, NOW can somepony explain to me what happened with Owlowiscious?" Spike said impatiently.
"Well Spike, you know how you have your "dragon code" right?" Fluttershy said, partially retorical but yet somewhat a pure question itself.
"Ya, what about it?" Spike said, a bit confused.
"Well, owl's like Owlowiscious actualy work with a code as well." Fluttershy explained, "When a male owl reachs the age of being an adult, they must find a special somepony, or in this case, a special someowl to be with."
"Ya but isn't that how all animals are?" Spike asked.
"Yes, but theres a catch," She continued, "If an owl doesn't find a mate within the time of spring, he'll have to migrate to an new land and try again. So if Owlowiscious is still here... that must mean..." Fluttershy pondered her own statement, knowing the answer.
"Hey, wait to go buddy!" Spike said to Owlowsicious.
"Hoo Hoo!" the owl responded cheerfully.
"So all that agression and stealing; that was all to be able to somehow find a mate to stay here was because you really love me, don't you?" Twilight spoke to Owlowiscious with more tears of joy coming out of her happy eyes. The owl nodded and snuggled up to his loving owner.
"Huh!" Fluttershy gasped from up in the air. "Twilight... I think Owlowiscious did have a purpose for all those things." Fluttershy said with excitement in her voice.
"What? What is it?" Twilight asked.
"Come up here and you'll see."
Twilight looked at Owlowiscious who was wearing a particularily happy smile. She let Owlowiscious out how her tight squeeze then began to make her horn glow and a split second later she was up where Fluttershy was, and when she shocked. There was a nest, but this nest was very different from any other she had seen. Instead of breakable sticks, there were Cheerilee's pencils strategically placed so that the leads sticking on the outside.Theis were all held together by a bunch of well knotted leather straps, and finaly, there were bright shards of ribbon surrounding the exterior.
"Owlowiscious, what a lovely nest you have here," Twilight said, then looking up to find another owl taking up some of the room in the nest, and Owlowiscious flew up and landed next to this other owl.
"And I I'm guessing this is your special someowl?" Twilight said with a smile.
"Hoo Hoo!" the owl responded. He then gestured to the other female owl to move over to show Twilight somthing within the nest.
"Huh? What do you want to sho-" Twilight stopped mid sentence as her smile grew wider at what she saw. Inside the nest, hudled up all together, were three small baby owls all looking up at Twilight.
"Oh Owlowiscious! I'm so happy for you!"Twilight exclaimed as she looked over to Owlowiscious who was keeping feathers puffed up with pride. "There's still kind of a problem I have to deal with," Twilight chuckled.
"And what would that be?" Fluttershy asked cocking one of her eyebrows.
"I've got some explaining to do with two mares who made need news materials."
