Chapter 3
The two sisters had finally released him, though it took Luna a minute longer, as she'd whispered in his ear how thankful she was that he'd saved Celestia, again. Tears streamed freely down their faces. Day Planner had been roused, having been rendered unconscious by the blast, and given instructions to calm the masses while the three of them talked. With a weary, but thankful, sigh, he exited the room, preparing excuses in his mind.
Finally, as the two continued staring at him, Celestia voiced the question burning in their minds.
“How?” Secret Seeker grinned a little wider,
“I think you know.” Her own mouth quirked into a smile,
“You hid a tiny piece of your soul in the book, and left an empty golem behind for it to fill if you failed.” The white unicorn nodded. It had proved to be an effective, if simple, fail safe. Luna chimed in,
“What I don't understand, is why the Necroequicon didn't leave any of itself behind in case it failed.” More musing out loud than engaging in conversation. Secret Seeker answered anyways,
“I have a theory for that.” The two sisters locked their gazes on his, “The Necroequicon was a book of knowledge that lacked an overarching focus. I at first thought it was about mastery over life and death, but that turned out not to be true. It was... chaotic. It had no unity. No harmony. It was just a mess of ideas and spells, in no particular order. Without that, I believe the spirit that manifested itself in the tome had no harmony either. No love.”
Both alicorns nodded in understanding.
“Without love, there is no fear,” Luna muttered, remembering her time as Nightmare Moon, “and where there is no fear, there is no need to plan for failure.” The three ponies sat in silence for a time, pondering the revelation, until Luna said, “You know, this calls for a-”
“Luna no!” Celestia cut her off before she could say “party”. Luna stared at her sister, surprised, while a blush crept onto the white alicorn's cheeks. “She's like the boogeycolt. She has a tendency to hear if you use the P word.” Luna continued staring at her sister, until both of them burst into laughter. A moment later, Seeker joined them, caught up in their contagious mirth.
When their hysterics ended at last, he explained what had happened to the moon castle, how he'd moved and rearranged it before coming to the palace, and where they could find him if they ever wanted to visit. Both eagerly agreed to stop by soon and see what he'd done with the place. Luna even promised to bring a barrel of a particular wine she'd set to cure before her banishment. Something about her tone gave him the impression Celestia wouldn't be accompanying her on that visit...
With their time rapidly running out, the gathered ponies were likely growing anxious, Celestia once again loaned her power to the unicorn, giving him the boost he needed to get back to his abode.
“When will you tell the others?” she asked.
“Tomorrow, during their pet play date.” Celestia nodded and tried, successfully, to hide her smile. She'd have to be sure to have some free time with her scrying mirror tomorrow... With a small distortion in the air around him, like water going down a drain, Seeker vanished from the room. Celestia shut the gateway to her power, and rose, with Luna, to her hooves. Together, they walked out onto the balcony, and gave a State of Affairs address of such warmth and love, that most attendees never even realized that neither Princess had said a single thing about the state of the world, the nation, or indeed, even the city.
Those that did, just couldn't seem to be bothered to care.
She couldn't sleep. Nightmares burned in her mind. Her body ached with a need she couldn't fulfill. Pins and needles pricked in her muscles, but stretching them out just made it worse. Nothing was helping. She couldn't do this! She was going insane! She needed to save somepony. Anypony! With a snap of her wings, she burst through the window of her home, streaking down to the slumbering town.
Somepony had to be in danger somewhere. She'd just have to make do with saving them. After a few minutes searching, finding nothing, she stood in the middle of town, shivering despite the warm night air. Her ears flopped as her teeth ground together, unable to stand the thought of being incapable of fulfilling her obligation. Silently, she flew over to Matches and Megaphones, and creeped in through the window. She'd leave the bits on the counter, she just needed these right now. Heart pounding, Rainbow Dash made her way through Ponyville, trying to decide which house to pick...
Twilight Sparkle was sound asleep, having the most wonderful dream where she'd found a hidden door in the basement of the library. Inside she'd found a dimensionally compressed space housing a repository the size of the Canterlot Archives. And it featured some kind of time distortion as well, allowing her to spend days inside, and then emerge to have only had a few hours pass.
Drool leaked freely from the side of her mouth as she imagined reading book after book, with no need to sleep, or eat, for weeks at a time! As she cracked open another tome, she stopped. What is that odor? It smells like...
“FIRE!!” she screamed, as she tumbled out of bed. Glancing in all directions, eyes wide with panic, she saw the telltale lights outside her window of the fire brigade. Dashing through the front door, she ran up to the fireponies who were spraying down Couches and Quills.
“What happened?” she asked one of them, a buff stallion with wild hairs on his chin.
“Fire,” he said, as if that explained everything. Rolling her eyes, Twilight looked for somepony else to pump for information, when her eyes fell on the soot-streaked mane of a certain sky blue pegasus.
“Rainbow!” she called, cantering over to the tired looking mare. Rainbow Dash looked up and around, before finally settling her eyes on Twilight.
“Oh hey Twi. What's up?” Her voice was gruffer than usual.
“What happened? The fireponies wouldn't tell me anything.”
“Oh, I couldn't sleep, so I was out flying to blow some stress, when I saw this place burning.” She jerked a hoof in the direction of the smoldering building. “Fortunately, I was able to get the two ponies inside out to safety before they breathed in too much smoke. Guess they must've left a lamp burning or something.” Twilight looked impressed,
“Wow! Lucky for them you couldn't sleep, huh?” She could've sworn she saw a flicker of anxiety cross her friend's face, but it was gone as soon as it'd come, and she chalked it up to the stress of the rescue.
“Yeah. Yeah lucky...” Dash said, eyes gazing off into the distance. After a minute of silence, Rainbow Dash stood up and stretched.
“Well, I'm feeling kinda beat now, I think I'll head home and see if I can't get some shut-eye. See you around Twi.”
“Later Rainbow!” She waved a hoof enthusiastically as the pegasus flew away. She'd never been able to study a burned down building before, and although the fire brigade had managed to stop the worst of the damage, it was still a great opportunity. After a little bit of pleading, the two fireponies, too tired to argue with the stubborn mare, gave her permission to explore the outside of the structure.
A little disappointed, Twilight began her examination, noting the different burn patterns, and how they shifted depending on which materials were nearby, or how much air was available. Looking up where the thatched straw roof had been, she saw something red on the corner. After looking around to make sure nopony was watching, she grabbed the object in her magic and levitated it down.
A box of matches? she thought, intrigued. Looking closer, she noted there were teeth marks on the box. A clue! Remembering the mystery on the train to the desserts competition, she stealthily stashed the matchbox in her mane, and nonchalantly strolled back to the library. Once inside, she pulled out her trusty microscope and took a closer look.
After making a mold of the indentations, she went down to the precinct, which was really just Brass Badge's house, and knocked on the door. After a few minutes, and a bit of stumbling from within, the door opened to reveal a stocky black pony with bags under his eyes. His cutie mark was a five pointed metal star. When he saw who it was, his face became, if possible, even more tired.
“Twilight,” he deadpanned, “what can I do for you at this ungoddessly hour.”
“Hi Brass Badge! Sorry to disturb you,” she cheerfully spouted, oblivious to the pony's tone, “but I think I'm onto something big here, and I was hoping I could get a peek at the dental records.” The pony considered his options. On one hoof, he could say no and try to go back to bed, but he knew from experience that the resourceful mare would just find some other way to sate her curiosity. On the other hoof, it was one in the bucking morning, and he'd gotten to bed late because he'd been stuck helping old Pony Jenkins find his teeth, which he'd been certain had been stolen this time. (They'd been in the pocket of his recliner.)
With a resigned sigh, he stepped aside and lit the lamp, allowing the purple pony to enter. Stifling a yawn, he made his way to the kitchen to fix himself a midnight snack and some orange juice. Knowing Ms. Sparkle, it was probably going to be a while...
After almost two hours of searching, she hadn't found a single pony who came close to matching the bite marks. On a whim, just to eliminate them from the list of ponies she knew personally, she checked the mold against the records for her friends. Rarity? No. Fluttershy? Of course not. Rainbow? Yeah right, she'd been the one...
Twilight's heart stopped. No... I must've made a mistake. She checked again. Then a third time, but it was still a perfect match. A cold chill had settled in her gut. She wouldn't! Another part of her mind chimed in, The evidence doesn't lie. No no no, there's some other explanation for this.
As badly as she wanted to believe it, she simply couldn't bring herself to do so. Still, she wasn't about to turn her findings over to the police. Using her magic to subtly make a copy, she put Dash's official record away, and continued checking the mold against other ponies, ticking them off the list.
After another twenty minutes had gone by, she decided enough time had passed, and put everything away, giving a mighty yawn, and trying to look very tired. It didn't take much effort. She thanked Brass Badge for indulging her, and promised to be extra lenient on his due dates in the future, even though the stubborn pony never set hoof in the library.
Finally, she got home, hid her things away, and collapsed into bed. Her sleep was fitful, and she woke up once in the night, having dreamed of Rainbow Dash grinning maniacally at her as she tried desperately to open the window of the blazing inferno that had once been a library. Tomorrow was their weekly pet play date. She'd find some excuse to talk to Rainbow alone, and uncover the truth. Surely there was some perfectly logical explanation for all this.
The pit in her stomach disagreed.