//------------------------------// // Fluttertective Part 2 // Story: What Is This Strange Feeling? // by PonySage86 //------------------------------// Twilight slowly closes the book on her lap a content smile on her face, she levitates the book back to its spot on the shelf, as soon as shes satisfied it's in the right spot she turns to the stack of books next to her, she grabs the next book off the stack and flips to the first page, she sighs happily. "Alright book thirty seven let's see whatcha got." Before Twilight has completed the eighteenth page, (most ponies would still be a page one), she hears the doorbell ring. "Spike can you get that?" Twilight shouts without looking away from her book, after a few minutes she's a bit puzzled why she didn't hear the door open, but she hasn't heard the doorbell again so assumes its been dealt with. After a few more minutes she places her book back on the shelf, but before she grabs her thirty eighth book of the day, she feels a tap on her shoulder, she turns her head and is suddenly face to face with a yellow muzzle. Twilight screams out in surprise and falls out of her chair, her visitor also screams in surprise however her scream is much quieter. "F-fluttershy what are you doing?" Twilight asks as she quickly gets to her hooves. Fluttershy bows her head sadly. "I'm sorry Twilight I didn't mean to scare you." Fluttershy looks back up at her friend. "But I need to talk to you and nopony answered the door, I hope it's okay that I let myself in." "Your my friend Fluttershy of course it's okay." Twilight nervously rubs the back of her head. "Sorry you were waiting for so long, I told Spike to get the door but he must not have not heard me." "Oh I saw Spike on my way here." Fluttershy points as if trying to show Twilight where Spike is. "He was on his way to Raritys to help her with some fashion show coming up." "Oh..." Twilight puts a hoof to her chin and tilts her head in thought, thinking back she does remember Spike saying something about fashion about a dozen books ago. Twilight shakes her head and turns her attention back to her yellow friend. "So what's up Fluttershy?" "I was hoping you could help me with something." Fluttershy opens a saddle bag that Twilight just know notices. "What do you need help with?" Twilight asks as she tries to peek in the bag for what Fluttershy is grabbing. "This." Fluttershy says as she pulls a tea pot out of the saddle bag, Twilight just stares at the ceramic object. "And what do you need help with exactly?" Twilight asks with a raised eyebrow, Fluttershy sighs softly. "It's complicated." Soon In Twilights Basement Lab "So what happened exactly?" Twilight asks as she messes with a strange machine on one of the tables, the basement has barely anything in it, several desks outline the room most are empty but there are some machines on three of them, in the center of the room are two couches facing each other, each couch as a small book shelf next to it. "Well you see Discord and-" Fluttershy scowls as she says the next word. "Moonlight... came over for Hearths Warming." "Oh that's nice." Twilight immediately regrets saying that as Fluttershy scowls at her, Twilight chuckles nervously before correcting herself. "I-i mean that sucks." "Well it wasn't all bad." Fluttershy smiles slightly while blushing. "It was fun having Discord there." "Well that's good, I'm glad y-" Twilight stops mid-sentence when notices Fluttershy start scowling again. "And then... then she... she..." Fluttershy starts grinding her teeth. "She-!" A loud clap pulls Fluttershy out of her thoughts, she looks at Twilight a bit confused, Twilight smiles nervously and gives a light chuckle. "I meant what happened with the tea pot?" Fluttershy stares at her friend in confusion, before something clicks in her head. "Oh right, I'm sorry." "It's okay." Twilight says as Fluttershy begins retrieving the tea pot once more, Twilight silently thanks Celestiathat she got out of that situation. "Okay so Moonlight made some tea on Hearths Warming and she used this pot to do it." Fluttershy places the tea pot down on the table next to the strange machine. "And?" Twilight gestures with her hoof for Fluttershy to continue. "And I don't like it." Fluttershy says flatly. "The tea or the fact she used your tea pot?" Twilight asks a bit confused, Fluttershy puts a hoof to her chin. "Both, I guess." Fluttershy concludes. "I thought you liked all tea?" Twilight looks at the tea pot. "How bad could it be?" "It's not the taste Twilight." Fluttershy looks at the tea pot nervously. "Theres just something about it that makes me uncomfortable." "Hmm..." Twilight watches her friend nervously eye the tea pot, without saying a word she levitates the tea pot over to her and opens the lid. She peeks inside a instantly regretted it. A strange feeling of danger forms in her stomach as she gazes at the ordinary looking tea, Twilight suddenly closes the lid and the feeling fades as quickly as it appeared. "Do you see what I mean?" Fluttershy asks curiously, Twilight nods. "It's like something deep inside me is warning me to stay away." Fluttershy nods in agreement. "That's how I feel too." Twilight looks away from the jar and back toward Fluttershy. "So what do you need me to do?" Twilight asks while putting a hoof to her chin in thought. "Well I was hoping you could use your magic to see what's in it." Twilight nods in understanding. "Alright well lucky for us I have just the machine for the job." Twilight turns to the machine she was messing with earlier. "Behold the automatic ingredients and pieces inator." "Oooo" Fluttershy looks at the machine in awe, before bluntly asking. "What does it do?" "I'm glad you asked Fluttershy you see the automatic ingredients and pieces inator or A.I.P.I for short breaks things down to their base ingredients, for example if I put in a cupcake it would break up into flour, sugar, eggs, etc." "That's amazing." Fluttershy says with an accompanying applause, but then something dawns on her. "Why did you build this?" "Oh well you see..." Twilight rubs the back of her neck and chuckles. "Granny Smith always says that her apple pies are so delicious because she bakes them with love, so I uh... wanted to see how she did that." The two friends stand awkwardly in silence for a minute or two, before Fluttershy turns to look at Twilight. "You know when she says that she doesn't mean it literal-" "I know that." Twilight says defensively, before turning away a whispering under her breathe. "Now." Canterlot Castle: Hallway "Luna where are you going?" The Princess of the Night turns back to look at her elder sister. "I am off to Manehattan." Luna says as if its the most obvious thing in the world. Celestia catches up to her sister and stops. "Why on earth are you going there?" Celestia asks with a raised eyebrow. "Because of her stupid son." Luna says with a groan, she notices Celestia puzzled expression, she quickly coughs and waves her hoof as if to be rid of her previous sentence. "I mean Discord needs my help." "Discord said he could handle this on his own." Celestia says with a smile. "So there's no reason to trouble yourself." "Discord can't handle anything when he's the trouble that needs to be handled." Luna turns and continues down the hall, Celestia follows after her. "What do you mean?" Celestia asks as she looks down at her little sister. "It's complicated, but only I can help him." Luna says bluntly. The two sisters pass through some doors and walk out onto one of the castles many balconies. "Luna I insist you stay at the castle, if your worried about taking care of that hurricane, don't worry Rainbow Dash proably ignored my second letter and is already there to help him." Celestia says confidently, Luna looks at her sister with a frown. "Have you not been listening, I need to go." Luna says with a hint of anger. "Luna I insist you stay, I can just get Twi-" "Do not say Twilight and her friends." Luna interrupts with a jab of her hoof. Luna places her hoof back on the ground and spreads her wings. "I have to do this." "Lu-" Before Celestia can speak Luna flaps her wings and takes off into the sky, Celestia watches her fly for a moment before stomping her hoof. "Mr. Sentry?" Celestia calls into the castle, a golden pegasus stallion with blue hair and gold armor emerges from the door way. "Yes your majesty?" Flash Sentry asks with a quick bow. Celestia gestures towards the sky. "I want you to follow Princess Luna." Celestia looks Flash Sentry straight in the eye to emphasize her next point. "And make sure you aren't seen." "You want me to spy on Princess Luna?" Flash asks with wide eyes. "I need to know what Luna and Discord are hiding from me." Celestia looks at the dark blue dot in the distance. "Whether they want to tell me or not." Twilights Super Secret Lab Where Nothing Bad Ever Happens And It's All Legit And Please Don't Worry About The Red Stain In The Corner Twilight and Fluttershy sit quietly on the couches in the middle of the room the only noise is the hum of the A.I.P.I., and the occasional flip of Twilights book, the have foregone the typical pot of tea and decided to just have some apple juice, their glasses rest on the coffee table. Fluttershy shifts awkwardly in her seat as the time ticks away. Suddenly the A.I.P.I. makes a beeping noise, Fluttershy looks at her friend excitedly and opens her mouth to speak but is cut off. "No, it's not done yet." Twilight says flatly without looking away from her book, Fluttershy slowly closes her mouth, but it pops right back open as the A.I.P.I. makes another beep, but again she is cut off. "Still no." "Ugh." Fluttershy falls back into the couch with a sigh. Twilight peeks over her book to look at her friend. "Why so impatient Fluttershy?" Twilight asks as she closes her book and places it on the table. "It's almost like you want something to be wrong." "You felt the weird vibe from the tea too." Fluttershy points out. "Don't you want answers as much as I do?" "Of course I do." Twilight says sincerely. "But I get the feeling it's more then that." Twilight reaches over and places a hoof on Fluttershys. "I'm here if you wanna talk about it." Fluttershy stares at her friend touched by the sincerity in her eyes and voice, with a heavy sigh Fluttershy decides to tell her friend what's going on. Fluttershy tells Twilight about everything she knows Moonlight has done, and everything she thinks Moonlight has done. She told her that she's been having nightmares but not tell her exactly what they were about. She also didn't mention her jealousy or her feelings for Discord. "Wow." Twilight says a bit surprised, her eyes wide. "You really think Moonlight did all that?" "Yeah." Fluttershy answers with a nod, Twilight shakes her head in disbelief. "Hold on this is crazy, controlling the weather, causing nightmares, no pony can do that." Twilight puts a hoof to her chin and thinks for a moment before correcting herself. "Well no pony can do all of the things you mentioned." "I know it's hard to believe but I'm positive that Moonlight is behind it." Fluttershy looks at Twilight, her gaze turning serious. "She always shows up whenever Discord leaves in the middle of our date, and she knows why he left before I tell her, and everything else she says and does around me only makes me more suspicious." "Umm..." Twilight heard everything Fluttershy had said, but one word seemed to actually register. "Did you just say that you and Discord go on dates?" "W-wha-" Fluttershy's face turns beat red as she realizes her mistake. "Well you by that I meant um you see we don't we're not-" "Fluttershy are you and Discord dating?" Twilight asks nervously, Fluttershys face goes even redder. Fluttershy looks down at the ground and shakes her head. Twilight nervously asks another question. "Do you want to?" Fluttershy silently nods her head. Fluttershy jumps as Twilight suddenly slams her hoof down on the table. "Darn it!" Twilight grumbles as she lifts her hoof from the table. "Now I owe Rarity fifty bits." "W-what?" Fluttershy asks with a confused blink, Twilight continues grumbling about her lost bet. After a moment Twilight notices Fluttershys puzzled look and chuckles nervously. "Oh you see me, Rarity and Pinkie made a bet about why you've been acting so weird lately, I said it was because you were jealous of Discords new friend, Rarity said it was because your in love with him and don't want to see Discord around any other mare." As Twilight explains Fluttershy becomes redder and redder, normally she'd hide behind her hair and get all flustered but she was a little to curious. "W-what d-did Pinkie bet?" That question makes Twilights eyes go wide and a blush appear on her face. "Oh um she uh..." Twilight avoids eye contact and rubs the back of her head while laughing nervously. "You know Pinkie with all her uh eccentric ideas, it's really not worth bringing up." Fluttershy looks at her nervously chuckling friend, she raises an eyebrow. "What did she bet?" "Well she uh..." Twilight looks at the ground and whispers the next part so gently that only a professional whisperer would be able to make out what she said. Fortunately Fluttershy is a professional whisperer. "She thought you might be-" *Ding* "Oh the A.I.P.I. is done, let me just go check that right now." Twilight decides she can't run out of this conversation fast enough so she decides to teleport to the A.I.P.I. Fluttershy walks over to the machine, Twilight pushes a few buttons on the machine, soon some images appear on the small screen attached to the machine. "So what's in it?" Fluttershy asks, Twilight pushes a couple more buttons. "Let's see basic stuff, water, mint leaves, lavender, winter berries." Twilight taps a few more buttons. "And now let's see if there are any magical ingredients." Twilight's eyes go wide as two images appear on the screen, a red liquid and a swirling ball of black energy. Twilight begins quickly taping buttons. "No that can't be right." "What? What is it?" Fluttershy asks as she looks over Twilight's shoulder, but she can't understand anything the screen says. "This red liquid is blood." Twilight says in shock, Fluttershy's eyes go wide. "Blood? I thought this was magic?" Fluttershy asks in confusion. "It is, this blood is made of magic." Twilight touches a few more buttons. "The blood is made of magic that has been corrupted by this other ball of magic, I can't tell what kind of magic this swirling ball of energy is but this magic blood is made out of-" Twilight taps another button, and her eyes go even wider. Fluttershy looks from the screen to Twilight and then back again. "What? What's it made out of?" Fluttershy asks getting a bit scared, Twilight points a hoof at the blood on the screen. "T-this blood is made out of chaos magic." "What!?"