//------------------------------// // Equestria Adventures: Friendly Fireworks // Story: The Sparkle in his Eye // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Twilight stared at the hole in her floor for a time, then turned to Discord. "I don't suppose you know anything about this?" she asked coldly. Discord managed to look mortally offended. "Why Twilight, you wound me! Why would you assume I had anything to do with this...horrible event?" "Actually, I just figured because you're the oldest being here, on the same power scale as Celestia and Luna if not higher, and weren't grabbed by the vines that you had encountered them before and at least knew enough to keep them from grabbing you," Twilight corrected. "I was asking for information. Though the fact that you assumed I assumed culpability on your part? That makes you look guilty." Discord stared at her for a while, and then his grin split his face...literally. "Oh, you are such a treat!" he crowed happily. "I'm going to enjoy sparring with you." Pulling a rapier from his skull, he playfully brought it against Twilight's horn as though fencing. "She's taken, and I'm not sharing with other guys!" Nefarious shouted out, wrapping his forelegs possessively around Twilight. "Easily fixed," Discord joked as he snapped his eagle talons and took on...a more feminine appearance. "How's this?" Eris purred disarmingly enough to make one of Nefarious' arms fall off. "...conflicting," Nefarious finally responded as he reattached his arm, only for Twilight to smack him in the back of his head with a wing. "The vines?" Twilight repeated irritably. "Oh, right," Discord replied as he changed himself back. "Sorry Twilight, but you and your beau are very distracting." He cleared his throat, handing the frog thus extricated to Fluttershy. "They're called Plunder Vines. They feed on powerful magic and skew the magical fields around them, sowing chaos. Don't trust your magic to function normally around them. And no, I don't know how to stop them. I planted them thousands of years ago shortly before Celestia and Luna sealed me in stone as a fail safe to ensure my release...but for some reason they only sprouted now. The reason they aren't attacking me is because I planted them, but that doesn't give me any control of them." "That was...surprisingly forthright of you, Discord," Rarity observed in surprise. "I'm so proud of you, Discord!" Fluttershy praised happily. "You've really come far." "Must you make a fuss?" Discord whined. "There's another villain here! I want to look cool!" "Do you have any more of the seeds?" Twilight asked curiously. "I can use them to isolate the energy wavelength of the vines and find out what was holding them back all this time. That should show us how to get rid of them in the now." Smiling, Discord handed a handful of seeds to Twilight. "There you go." "Hold these," Twilight stated as she handed half the handful to Nefarious. Donning her Pilot's Helmet, she surrounded the seeds with her magical field, creating the holoprojection of their molecular and magical structure. "What are you going to do with these?" Nefarious asked, knowing this type of scan would destroy the sample when applied to the biological. "I figure I can find a way to make them grow without thorns," Twilight explained. "That could be fun." Rarity let out a dizzy gasp as she fainted dramatically. "Wow," Rainbow stammered out. "I'm...not sure what to say to that." "You and me both, pardner," Applejack agreed. "Yeah...the less you know about that the better," Pinkie confirmed. "Trust me." "...can I have a few if you manage it?" Fluttershy asked quietly, only to shrink as nearly all eyes turned towards her. "Always the quiet ones," Shining murmured in shock. "I'll take some too, Twilight!" Cadence called out eagerly. "CADY!" "I'll probably need a few too, Twi," Ratchet spoke up. "Vendra's turned the others kinky..." "Maybe later," Twilight responded to everyone. "But won't you need to wait till they get here, Dad?" "Oh I brought them with me," Nefarious spoke up. "They're waiting in Aphelion until things calm down." "Then I'd better get things calmed down for the reunion," Twilight concluded as she dropped the magical field. "Looks like we'll need the Elements of Harmony, girls...and we're heading into the Everfree." As each of the other girls responded with cheers, coos, or other noises to reflect their view of these events, Applejack approached Twilight. "Twi...could ah speak to ya privately?" "By any chance is it about asking me to stay behind while the five of you scout the forest because with Celestia and Luna missing, Equestria can't afford to lose another Princess?" Twilight deduced. Applejack gaped at her, then lowered her hat over her eyes. "Shucks...am ah that transparent?" "Actually, I just assumed someone would raise that objection, and you were the only one asking to talk privately," Twilight explained. "Politically, the idea is sound...but there are three practical reasons why I won't be following it, aside from doing anything purely for political reasons being stupid." "...o...kay?" Applejack asked in confusion, not entirely sure she was following. "First, we need the Elements of Harmony for this," Twilight pointed out. She tapped the Element on her crown. "Who did you intend to get to wield this if I'm 'safe' back here in Ponyville? Sunset Shimmer?" "She probably could, if we had the portal open by now," Nefarious pointed out. "Actually, ah figured we could come back for ya once we had a safe path," Applejack countered with a frown. "Good counter argument, but it leads to my second point," Twilight continued. "Safe path to where? I'm going to be following a magic trace, and only wearing the Element of Magic is going to keep my magic stable long enough to follow it." "...fair point..." Applejack allowed. "And third, I'm the only one who can use Plan B if the Elements fail," Twilight concluded. "What's Plan B?" Pinkie asked curiously. "B stands for 'Blow Everything Up'," Twilight answered with a wide grin. "I like the sound of that!" Rainbow crowed eagerly. "You would," Rarity grumbled irritably.