Now that I was Twilight, I was feeling a stark difference in stamina between my old self and now. Back when I had still been a little dragon, I often felt tired after a few hours of work, and I had to take a nap every several hours, or else I would start bumbling and running into things.
But now, I felt I could go on for a whole day. Of course, not without the complimentary cup of morning coffee. Twilight liked to drink copious amount of coffee, as it helped her read books and conduct her study with maximum alertness.
Despite the fact that I had a practical need for legal alerting substances, I hated coffee, at least those cheap pre-ground ones Twilight loved to buy in bulk from the corner shop. They invariably tasted like dishwater with a smudge of brown char.
With reluctance, I had poured myself a cup of coffee. To my surprise, the coffee tasted… still not very good, but more tolerable than when I was Spike the Dragon. Maybe the fact that I was tasting this in her body mattered. Somehow, I felt oddly smug about having retained part of my original taste preferences, even though that meant I would have to continue consuming burnt charcoal water until I saved up enough to buy some proper coffee. But at least my brain was properly booted up for work.
I walked near the basket as I sipped my morning cuppa. The other me had literally cried himself to sleep. He looked oddly sentimental today. Or had I been always like that, but was now simply oddly unsentimental? Who knew? But he managed to fall soundly asleep literally an hour and a half after waking up. It had to be a record.
Well, I may as well begin today’s work. I still had five other necklaces to work on, so that’s a plus.
I should also spend some time checking out the books in the new library, though I doubt it would contain any information about the Elements. As far as I knew, this town was relatively young, definitely established way after the last time the Elements were used against Nightmare Moon.
And of course, I probably need to measure the dimensions of the Crown and acquire a precisely cut ruby to masquerade as the red gem.
Then I could check out my new friends.
My thoughts screeched to an abrupt stop. My new friends? Technically, those five were Twilight’s friends. Yeah, they had been all friendly to me too, but they had all been treating me as a callow kid, or even more unfairly, a baby. What kind of baby talked like me? Or in fact, talked at all?
I couldn’t help but think about how Twilight treated me as well. She loved me, I always knew that. Now I was even surer.
However, I was always a baby in her eyes. In the past, I sometimes resented the lack of freedom this attitude entailed. But now, I understood that in the eyes of a caretaker, it was very difficult to not see the foal out of the stallion, or the baby out of the dragon. The childish and naïve past always inevitably superimposed onto a grown face.
I was being unfair, of course. The me from two days ago, or the dragon sleeping in the basket now, was someone that was honestly childlike and guileless like a babe in the woods. Physically pint-sized besides, I did act baby-like sometimes, like throwing tantrums, licking my paws or demanding sleep all the time.
But this outrageous event has caused me to feel a lot more sober. The influence from the more mature Twilight aside, it was like I had lived two lives. When they added up, I saw a lot of blunder that could have been prevented, had Twilight or I at that time had the insight of one another. The clashes of perspectives made me feel somewhat confused, but also gave me an out-of-the-world sense of mellowness.
The five friends were all interesting ponies, with very colorful personalities. Of course, the one that caught my eyes the most was the spectacularly stunning Rarity.
Although come to think of it, did I really know her that well other than her appearance? Huh. She wielded the Element of Generosity, so she’s generous for sure.
But uh… Yeah. Without the urge from being trapped in a body of a teenage drake, my head was a lot cooler. Not to mention the weirdness of chasing after Rarity as Twilight. Not that I was against it in principle. But… uhmm…
*cough* Yeah, this is super weird. I have to put the matter aside for the moment.
I checked whether the blanket was nicely tugged to the sleeping dragon, then I went downstairs to draft up a plan to investigate the exact properties of the Elements.
************
“Spike, do you think this looks okay?”
“Um… It looks alright-y to me.” He looked at the Crown and then at me uncertainly. “But fooling me doesn’t mean it can fool the princesses.”
“Nah, it’s good.” I shrugged. “According to my tests, each of the Elements only respond to the presence of its respective bearers. Not even I could elicit a response from the other five Elements. And although the princesses were likely Element-bearers, they had very likely lost the connections to them long ago, or else we would not find them as dusty stone orbs in the old castle or be able to use them against Nightmare Moon, who was a corrupted form of Luna. Unless one delve to the forbidden arts of dark magic, which I don’t think they will use unless in dire situations, they will not notice a thing.”
I beamed brightly. “So in conclusion, unless I, the Element-bearer of Magic, bring it out into the open, which I won’t, no one will ever discover that the gem on the Crown was a dud!”
“… Twilight, you seem oddly upbeat about fooling your beloved mentor.” He gulped. “I thought you will be a lot more… um…”
“Hesitant?” I supplied. Well, he might be right. With her reverence towards Princess Celestia, Twilight would definitely tip-toe around this issue in her signature mix of fear and mania until it blew up in her face. Then she would have to be bailed out by her loving mentor, and possibly also her new friends.
Not that I was not concerned with the possibility of making the princesses cross. In fact, I shuddered a bit at the thought of being discovered. But as I said, this other Spike was under my protection. Unless things went south to an extent that I was a hundred percent certain that I could not handle, I was not going to tell this to any other soul.
He awkwardly chuckled. “Uh, yeah. Ha ha.”
“Spike, what are you worrying about aside from the risk of exposure? I assure you, the risk is zero.”
He made a grimace. “Twilight, I am just worried that the Elements are now incomplete. We won’t be able to fight against any powerful villain who show up. If you pull out the dud Element and fail to activate it, then how’s it different from publicly announcing that it’s a dud?”
“You’re absolutely right. But I’m working on it.” I then grinned, “And I’ll need your help.”
He raised a brow. “How?”
“I’ll need to run a series of tests on you. I suspect that you might have taken on some of the characteristics of the Element, or even become the Element itself.”
“What?!” He yelped. “I- Will it be-”
“It doesn’t seem to be a bad thing. Two days have passed and you are looking fine. Moreover, the magic from the Elements can only be benevolent. So even if you do become affected, it is at the very least harmless.”
I smirked. “Unless you suddenly go off the deep end and become a villain, then I can’t guarantee what exactly an embedded Element will do to you.”
His face turned a bit blue. “I- I will never do that!”
“Heh. Anyway, I’ll try different possible ways that I think might cause very specific magic echoes, when I pump a little of my magic into you.”
Seeing his anxious and fearful look, I hurriedly added, “Don’t worry, it would be absolutely harmless. My magical input will be very small compared to the background magic we received daily. I just need to hook you up to a cap that read those echoes, and see if it contains the sign of harmonizing magic.”
I drew in a breath and announced dramatically. “If so, then congratulations! You will officially become a living, breathing Element for the first time in history!”
“H- How is this a good thing?!” He yelped with obvious anxiety. “It’s so unlike you! You usually aren’t that casual and blasé about magic with big consequences like this! Where is your manic caution?”
I was somewhat stunned by his remark and stuttered. “I- I’m not being blasé!”
Stung by his accusation, my cheerful mood evaporated. I just wanted to make him feel relaxed, happy and less worried. Instead, I came off as too cavalier and unlike the usual Twilight.
He was of course right, I was far from qualified to be the Twilight. I was just a pale imitation, dragging along simply trying to stoke a laugh out of my other self and fix this conundrum.
I hung my head low and let out a sad sigh. He seemed to have realized that his words had stung me, and shifted with guilt and discomfort.
“Sorry Twilight. I knew you’re trying your best to comfort me… I appreciate it.”
Hearing his words, I perked up a little. However, an awkward silence still reigned between us, until he broke it with an off-hand comment. “Ha, Twilight… This is the first time I understand your magic babbles, since you’ve put them in terms that aren’t only found in dictionaries.”
I raised my brows with a bit of surprise. I wasn’t deliberately simplifying my explanations, I just used my own body of words. Good thing that it made my explanations more accessible.
“Really? I’m glad! Perhaps I should begin to teach you some basic magical theories, especially if it turns out what I hypothesized is true.”
“Eh…” He showed me a look of great boredom and reluctance.
I snickered. “Heh, I know studying those old pony’s droning could be incredibly boring.”
“Did you just seriously describe magical study as old pony’s droning?” He made an exaggerated shocked expression, and then he reached a claw to my forehead. “Are you sure you’re not having a fever or something?”
I momentarily widened my eyes at the apparent accusation of abnormality. But then I realized that it was a joke, so I chortled. “Cut it out, Spike! I’m savvy enough to know that studying magic or reading book is not everyone’s cup of tea. Some of us prefer reading, but others may be into other pursuits. For instance, you like eating gems, but it’s not like I do too… or can...”
My voice trailed off. I still savored the texture of crunchy ruby and sapphire in my mouth. But perhaps as I was a unicorn now, I craved gems much less than before, not least because my ravenous appetite was to blame for my current headache.
But oh well, it was a less than appropriate example given the recent events. He seemed to agree that it was a sensitive issue to bring up. “Ha, ha ha. Yeah.”
I coughed. “Ahem, I think we better start early. We need to wrap up our studies and return the Elements to the princesses for safe-keeping.”
He gulped. “I see.”
“So, why don’t you follow me to the basement while I set up the equipment?”
Suddenly, there were a few knocks on our door.
I asked loudly through the door. “Who’s there?”
A thick-accented voice came through. “Twilight? Ah’m Applejack.”
I then opened the door and saw a smiling orange mare in her signature cowboy hat.
“Ah’m just askin’ if you an’ Spike have time. Ah would love to talk to mah new friends while Ah buck apples. Yer welcome to have some, of course!”
“Hmm.” I hesitated. The one big thing on my mind was of course the Elements, and I couldn’t quite relax and go out before we sorted it out.
But before I politely declined, Spike whispered to me. “I wanna go out and have a breather. This thing is making my head hurt.”
I arched my brow. Well, if the other Spike said so, the Elements could wait.
“... Alright then.”