//------------------------------//
// Chapter 16 
// Story: Shrinking Lavender 
// by Yinglung 
//------------------------------//

I leaned back on the couch in my very own treehouse, next to where the offending window used to be. It was now gone, replaced by an extra-reinforced earth wall covered with decorative wood planks.

Before I could even realize and protest, Starlight already found and used her bits to pay for a team of repairponies to fix the treehouse up. She even stepped up to help organize things in the library, much to the chagrin of the other Spike who preferred his way. Her reasoning was that she refused to live in a leaky and messy house herself, but this did not make the situation less tense.

As for now, the one and only purple dragon was next to me, happily recounting his own little adventures with the other girls while he was in Ponyville by himself.

"You know what, Twi?"

He leapt up with excitement, clearly could not wait to tell his Twilight everything after so long. "The griffon might be a bit rude, but it can't compare to the next thing I saw!"

"What is it?"

"A really big red dragon settled himself high up the mountain and spewed smoke all over Ponyville!"

I covered my mouth. "Really?"

"Yeah! I was carrying stuffs uphill for the girls who went to investigate, and saw that big red dragon with my own eyes! Boy, was it scary! I immediately hid behind the bushes with everypony!"

He grinned. "But at last, Fluttershy gave him a good talking to, and he flew away without making more trouble!"

"F- Fluttershy? I'd never have guessed it."

"Isn't it right?" He chuckled.

I smiled in relief and asked. "You all have done a great job protecting the town. But Spike, did you manage to interact with the red dragon yourself?"

He took in a sharp breath. "Heck no! He's so much bigger than me! He could swallow me whole in one gulp!"

I was a bit surprised. If it were up to me, I would definitely go and try connecting with my erstwhile fellow dragons. Bigger dragons might be aggressive and scary, and this one sounded somewhat hostile, but he could also probably give 'me' some pointers to dragon life, by words or by action.

Spike saw my bemused frowny face, and pouted. "You aren't thinking that I'm a coward, are you?"

"O- Of course not! Come to think of it, you might be yet too small to face off with a mature dragon. I'm just a bit curious why you don't seem too enthusiastic seeing some fellow dragons. I mean, you've never really talked with one, haven't you?"

Spike blinked, and then turned pensive. After a while, he scratched his head and said. "Now that you mentioned it, maybe I should give more of a try back then. Of course I'm curious, but it's just that I was a wee bit afraid of his size... Dragons are very protective of their own stuffs, you know."

"I know, but Spike, finding one's root and who you are is also very important."

I raised my head and murmured, causing him to throw me a glazed glance. But then I noticed his puzzlement and added. "Of course you're right though. If you just walked in, he would quite likely think that you have your eyes on his gems. I wouldn't want to place you in unnecessary danger as well."

Instead of acknowledging my expressed concern, he gave me a stink eye. "... You're one to talk, lil' Miss danger-seeker. Not even Rainbow Dash acted so reckless in our little adventures while you were gone."

"Come on, Spike, the branch incident is just one single occurrence... a solitary data point! It's far from a statistically significant trend!"

"Oh yeah? Why do I have the distinct feeling that your new friend over there-"

He gestured towards the basement, where Starlight had sealed herself off in her magical pursuit to understand my condition. "- have somehow placed you in 'unnecessary danger' as well?"

"W- Why would you-" I stuttered, confused about why he would make this assumption.

He bared his teeth wryly and said. "Look at what I found when I was unpacking your luggage."

He picked up and waved a piece of document in front of my face, which appeared to be my discharge record from the Saint Platine hospital. A smaller white tag fell out onto the ground, prompting him to complain with even more annoyance. "Twi, are you on a mission to collect patient tags from all over Equestria? By Celestia, I told you not to get yourself into danger again... What have you gotten yourself into this time?"

I shifted uneasily at his soft but determined query, but part of me felt mildly amused that he had learnt to nag at his caretaker. At last, I reservedly told him the details of how Starlight and I met, and some of our subsequent exploits, which only caused him to react first with shock, then with fear and even some anger.

"What? She's clearly crazy! What normal pony would want to mess up everypony's life by stripping their beloved Cutie Marks? What normal pony would casually tie other ponies up and knock somepony out during conversation? And those nasty spells... Everything you said spells 'sociopath' in my book! Keeping her with us here will be a recipe to disaster!"

I winced. "S- Spike, Starlight is not a soc- she is a good pony! I mean, she cares a lot for her friend...s. And she only need a bit of hints and nudges to learn to deal with social relationships with grace. She might look nervy at times, but that's to be expected from an ex-shut-in. She might also be a bit trigger-happy with spells, but come on - if you have so much magic like her, you can't be blamed for being a bit proud of it, and wanting to use it to solve every problem, right?"

"You're a magical unicorn too, and you aren't like that!" 

He paused for a bit. "Uh... Mostly ever since we've moved here anyway."

That snippet did not help my wincing expression to soften. I simply held my hooves together and lowered my head. "Spike... I know that you have a bad impression of Starlight. But I swear she's quite nice to be with if you spend more time with her. I beg you, give her a chance, pretty please?" 

When I looked up, he looked really shocked for some reason. 

He gulped and apparently did not know how to react at first. But he quickly shook his head and said. "I- If... If you say so... I... I will think about it."

Only then I realized: he must not have expected to see his caretaker lower herself simply to plead with him so meekly, and his mind went a bit haywire. Whelp, I seemed to be ruining Twilight's authoritative image in 'my' mind one pitiful beg at a time.

Before I could formulate another response, he sprinted towards the door, only turning back when he was about to leave. "Twi, I need to buy some veggies for today's big dinner, since you're now back, a- and brought a guest with you."

"Spike..." I only managed to move a trot towards him. My hooves then felt as if they were in thick treacle, unable to move forward.

But he stayed, and he squeezed out an uneasy smile. "I'm just so glad that you're back, safe and sound."

"... Me too. I'm just glad to see you again."

"Thanks for listening to me, and telling me everything about what happened to you up north. I appreciate it." 

I silently took in his words, but I still frowned, quite uncomfortable that even I, allegedly his mental split-image, was unable to fathom his exact thought and action. He then merely gave me another studying look, shook his head with a strained smile and left by the door.

I looked forlornly at the entrance, when a voice rang from my back all of a sudden.

"He cares about you a lot, I'll give him that."

I gasped and turned, and Starlight stood right behind me, crossing her hooves with an inexplicable expression. Her tone was still somewhat antagonistic, but she also sounded softer than before.

"Starlight, when-"

"Twilight, didn't you tell me off for being a sneaky rubbernecker in Vanhoofer? Is it really this strange that I'm a sly eavesdropper as well?"

I looked up with a thin smile, secretly relieved that she was warming up to Spike, and did not appear to hear him call her a, um, 'crazy sociopath'. Given Starlight's emotional tendencies, I would expect more smoke and sulphurous stench instead of reluctant acknowledgement if she did.

But despite her jokey tone, she was visibly nervous, perhaps she was reminded of the unpleasant confrontation back then?

"No worries." I lightly cooed to defuse her nerves. I was not a privacy freak, I got worked up in Vanhoofer just because she saw me writing sensitive matters.

She scratched her mane, but was not entirely calmed. "Twilight, that's great. But there is another thing that I found about the readings I took off you earlier that deeply troubles me."

I gulped at her foreboding tone. "Y- Yes?"

She walked near me, until her eyes were directly opposite mine. Persian blue reflected off her irises, reminding me of the exotic Lapis Lazuli, and its equally exotic taste. She leaned in with a face filled with sincerity and determination, and I could easily feel the warmth of her breath.

And then she whispered.

"... Your BMI is getting a bit too high, Twilight." 

"Pffftui?!!"

Starlight did not even flinch at my major spit-take. "You see, I was getting nowhere with the magical part of my research, because I have sampled your magical aura with all your equipment using all kinds of parameters, and the measurement seemed to be perfectly normal. The best-fit models all suggest that you are exactly what I thought you to be - a well-functioning unicorn with incredible power and talent."

"W- Well, I, uh-"

Starlight simply ignored my mumbling. "I would want to cast some more advanced mind spells to examine you in depth, since my most reasoned hypothesis about the unnatural rootedness of your Cutie Mark, is that there are particular issues with your memory of the moment you realized your true talent, despite the fact that you seem to remember it clearly. That might also be related to your memory lapse some time earlier."

Before I could weigh in, she already smiled wryly. "But I know that you are concerned about magical ethics, and invasive techniques are a big no-no to you, so I'll go find some other ways to verify my hypothesis."

"Okay..."

"But-! Apart from the dimension of magic, your physical measurements are in absolute shambles! This is going to have much more immediate ramifications for your health!"

My cheeks furiously reddened. "I- I am not fat!"

She did an unconvincing grin to placate me. "I'm not saying that you are, Twilight, you don't look visibly, um, plumper than when we left Stableford. It's just that I have observed you during the trip, and you seemed to have quite a penchant for snacks. And whenever you got thoughtful, which was an awful lot of times, you simply dunked crispy chips and deep-fried cauliflowers into your mouth without a blink of an eye. If I didn't know you, I would think that you actually came from the Griffish North, where they absolutely love their sweet and oily snacks."

"I didn't over-indulge myself!" I protested, but then I relented somewhat at her doubtful gaze. "... Okay, maybe a little bit, but it's just mostly for stress-relieving rea-"

Starlight swiped her bangs aside and interrupted. "Facts are facts, Twilight, we've got to adopt a scientific and objective attitude, not only for our magical study, but other things as well. I took liberty to your old records, and clearly you have taken on a few pounds. In addition, you show slight but definite signs of certain nutrient deficiencies due to your unbalanced diet. You must start eating healthy."

"E- Eeek-" Starlight again leaned in. Her manic expression caused me to let out a small scared cry.

She recoiled minutely, then softened ever so slightly. "... Fortunately, I have already drafted a foolproof diet plan that can optimize your body conditions, and it would also set you up properly for our next stage of magical examination. First, you must wake at seven to-"

As Starlight went on on her own, cold sweat began to coat my forehead. First, a familiar sense of guilt came back and haunted me, because I was apparently so lacking in restraints that I was worsening Twilight's health. She taught me, since I was very young, to take very good care of borrowed things, and here I was failing her teaching, this time by will and not by accident.

To be honest, being Twilight gave me the level of personal freedom I, as a dragon, never thought I could have. Not that I had suddenly become the Rich, but I could easily scamper around during the trip, buy street snacks and eat to my fill, all without getting yelled at by Twilight afterwards... Well, maybe her yelling was entirely justified after all. 

Second, Starlight was becoming more and more overbearing ever since we came back to Ponyville together. First the wall repair, then this. Not that I felt she was being annoying, but I did not think that obsessing over me and my actions was doing her much good, both now and in the eventual case when we must part. Did she really learn anything about unhealthy over-attachment after the attempted mass Cutie unmarking and reacquainting with Night Tide?

Despite my inner objection, I wimpily nodded at her plan... or demands in fact. She meant well, and it's for my own good after all, so I did not have the heart or the reason to reject her.

After a long lecture on food and nutrition, she smirked with pride and satisfaction. I looked at her long list of designated dishes for each day of the week, and commented. "So... I guess I have to forgo some reading and research. Preparing all these for each meal is going to take so much time out of my schedule."

"No can do, Twilight!" Starlight quickly shook her head. "I didn't make this plan to create more hassles for you."

She suddenly tensed up a bit, but she again shook her head and grinned. "Err... I'll cook for you! After all, it's my idea, and I will see to its implementation."

For some reason, when I looked at Starlight's grin, I had a not-so-good feeling about this grand dietary detour, though I could not put my hooves to it for the moment.


************


Bang! Bang! Bang!

While I was slightly worried about the welfare of my stomach in the coming days, a series of knocks interrupted my thought. Starlight and I looked at each other with surprise, as the sounds continued. 

"Coming back this quick, huh?" She mused. "He's got faster legs than I thought, despite them being so short."

I turned a blind eye at her backhanded compliment... or just a blunt factual statement without intention to offend. She was sometimes so socially inept that I could not tell. "I don't think it's him. He's got the keys."

Starlight had already taken the initiative to answer the door. To my surprise, a pair of unicorn colts stood out there with excited looks.

"Uh, hi, Miss Sparkle, Miss, uh... unicorn." 

I smiled. They were Snips and Snails, two young unicorn colts who were occasional play-mates to the other Spike. I had taken a liking to them, because they were always so oafishly innocent and enthusiastic, so I encouraged him to mingle with them too.

"Hello, Snips, Snails. She's Starlight Glimmer, a good friend of mine."

The duo dutifully nodded and greeted. "Hi, Miss Glimmer."

"Hello, uh, colts." Starlight grinned uneasily with obvious discomfort. Hmm, was she not so good at being around young colts and fillies?

I stepped in to save her from further awkwardness. "So, the library is always open to studious colts who wish to learn more. Come on in!"

"Eh, not this time." Snails shook his head.

"We're just running around time to spread the news!" Snips exclaimed.

"What news?" I asked curiously.

"There's a new unicorn in town!"

"And they say that she's got more magical powers than any other unicorn ever!"

"Everypony is so excited to meet her! Including us!"

I put a hoof to my mouth and looked at Starlight with wry amusement. The light purple unicorn, however, was entirely flummoxed. "H- How- I didn't even leave the library once I got here!"

I showed them a smile and said. "Well, Snips, Snails, Starlight might be able to answer a few questions for you, but only if you ask them nicely."

Starlight immediately shook her head and looked at me nervously. "N- No! I've lost to you in our teleportation race, remember? Clearly you're the more magical unicorn between us. I- I adore you because of that!"

"Starlight, you're easily the most knowledgeable pony I know about magic, and there must be so much more untapped potential for your talent. If you have formal training like me, you will certainly grow even more powerful."

Starlight was poised to make more counter-arguments, when I noticed the completely befuddled faces of the duo. I turned and asked. "What's wrong?"

Snips said with a big grin. "Not to put a damper on you two or anything, but we think the title of the greatest and the most powerful unicorn in Equestria belongs to somepony else."

"Oh? Who might she be?" I smirked with clear interest, while Starlight widened her eyes, and then blushed somewhat at her own presumption.

"She's setting herself up in the town square, and she would show us her talents to prove it. If you wanna see that, you should go quickly, eh." Snails quipped.

Starlight turned to look at me. Her eager face told me that she was quite interested in gauging this incredible claim.

A familiar voice came from behind the two colts. "Twi, and um, Miss Glimmer, I'm back... Whoa, a crowd here as well?"

We all turned, and saw Spike walk briskly towards us with two bags of vegetables. He lowered his jaw when he saw four ponies crowding around the entrance.

I quickly explained. "Welcome back, Spike. Snips and Snails are so kind to let us know that there is a new unicorn in town."

"No wonder! The town center was so crowded that I almost couldn't hand over the bits to buy the veggies!"

I grinned. "... And she seems to have the most magic out of all unicorns in Equestria! Amazing, huh?"

"That's impossible!" Spike and Starlight called out at the same time. They then looked at each other with visible shock.

Starlight coughed and said. "Ahem. Given how Twilight's clearly the most magical unicorn in Equestria, surpassing me even, this new unicorn must be even more magical than her to claim this laurel. I find it very hard to believe, by merits of probability, that three such magical unicorns would be born in Equestria during the same era, and converge in one single town at this particular moment of time. This unicorn would also have to be so powerful that she might casually bend space-time with her sheer power. I just can't believe this, at all."

Spike blinked in half-comprehension, but he too added. "Y- Yeah, what she said! How can there be a unicorn with more magical powers than Twi? You've got to be kidding me!"

"But it's true! You can see for yourselves in the town square!" Snips stood by his words.

Spike turned to me. "Hey Twi, why don't we put off our meal for a moment, and go check this 'magical' unicorn out? Boy, I can't wait to see her face when she sees what real magic looks like!"

Starlight reflexively nodded in agreement, and she licked her lips with a somewhat predatory look. "Hah. I will go test her out... to see if she's even worthy of Twilight's attention."

"Yeah, right! Smack that fraud!" Spike cheered.

"Twilight, let's go, shall we?" Starlight asked intently, followed by a series of nods from the dragon. 

Despite my joy at seeing the two agreeing with each other for a change, I was not entirely at ease with the less-than-peaceful cause that united them.

Starlight's earlier analysis made sense to me. However, if the unicorn was indeed lying about her power, then what should I do anyway? While stopping a possible fraud appealed to my sense of justice, the matter was not that simple. Starlight was good at offensive magic... too good, even. Letting her loose could cause serious havoc, especially if the unicorn was not nearly as powerful as she claimed. 

But if I stopped her, she would definitely goad me to do it instead. And I did not want to be seen as a show-off by tearing up the unicorn's stage, thereby putting mud on Twilight's good name. 

Then again, I had found Starlight by sheer luck, and it's not that unimaginable that there might yet be more extraordinarily magical unicorns out there. It should be quite interesting if she was indeed as magical as she claimed, even more so if we've got to interact with her somewhat. Perhaps something amazing would grow out of it, like my friendship with Starlight.

I finally said. "We can decide what we should do when we actually see that unicorn in action. But yeah, I'm interested in checking her out as well."

Spike and Starlight looked particularly delighted and keen, while Snails and Snips beamed together and pointed towards the town square. 

"Then what are we waiting for?" Snails asked.

Snips exclaimed quickly. "Come on, let's go! Woohoo!"