//------------------------------// // 1 Indigo Nightshade // Story: For science - Book two // by Znegil //------------------------------// "This is really impressive.", Lyra stated as she looked around the now completed lab. "It took longer than I had expected, but I'm very proud of how it turned out.", I replied. "This will be more than sufficient for the first few experiments." She used her magic to bring one of the glass beakers close to her. "It must have been quite expensive to have these custom made." "It wasn't that bad, Twilight knew a shop in Canterlot which does pretty similar stuff for "Celestia's school for gifted unicorns.'" I gave her a bit more time to marvel the fully equipped lab. "What will be the first thing we're trying in here?", she finally asked. "We will separate the elements of water. If everything works as planned we'll get a gas that can burn or explode." Her reaction was quite different to Twilight's when I told her some time ago. "Cool! Exploding water!", she shouted with a huge smile. It was pretty obvious to me that Lyra was the best and worst possible assistant at the same time. I loved her 'let's do it' mentality but I should always keep an eye on her. "Did you bring the books with you?" "Yeah, I got them in the bag.", she pointed towards the saddlebags she was wearing. "I didn't imagine the first thing we would research together would be about humans and Indigo Nightshade." "Good thing you already know the books, it will make it a lot easier for us. Let's go to the library and meet with Twilight, she is very excited to read Nightshade's books." ... As we entered the library, Twily was already expecting us. "Hi Lyra, good to see you." "Wow, on the first try.", Lyra teased her. "Good to see you too." Twilight ignored her tease and was focused on her saddlebags. "Are the books in there?", she asked. I was able to feel her excitement through our connection. "Yeah, I brought them with me." She used her magic to levitate them out of the bags. As soon as they were out, Twilight used her own magic to grab the books out of her aura and trotted giggling towards a table with them. "Typical Twily.", Lyra mumbled smiling. We followed her to the table and stood on both sides of her. I laid the diary in front of me. "I guess we should start from the point when he opened the portal to my world.", I suggested. "We don't start from the beginning?" My marefriend sounded disappointed. "I think we should concentrate on our questions first, but I won't stop you from reading all the rest afterward. Also, there could be more hidden in his book about humans." "That's fine for me.", she answered. "Do you know what page he starts writing about the portal?", I asked Lyra. "I thought you might be interested in this part, so I bookmarked it.", she answered with a grin. "I like having a helpful and smart assistant, very convenient." I used my hand to brush through her mane, which made her hum. "She will never be as helpful as me!", Spike shouted from the back of the library where he was sorting books. "Relax, Spike.", Twilight replied. "You always will be my number one assistant. She helps Stella. We're not going to have the Owlowiscious discussion again." She was referring to that surprisingly intelligent owl, I had met two days ago. It had helped in the library and Spike got very jealous, but it all worked out at the end. With an embarrassed look, Spike turned his attention to the books again. I opened the dairy on the marked page and started to read aloud: "Today my experiment 'advanced teleportation for multiple ponies' went horribly wrong. It opened a fissure in our reality, a portal to another world. I still don't know what went wrong, but I examined the world on the other side, it looks very similar to ours but I noticed several slight differences as well. I will examine this world further within the next days. I performed a force field spell to block the entrance so nothing else can come through it." ... "I found a village full of strange creatures, they are bipedal and wear a lot of clothes. My invisibility spell works perfect and I'm able to walk among them without being noticed, they seem to be very civilized and intelligent. For some reason, they speak our language, I had not expected that. There are pony-like creatures as well, but they don't seem to be much more intelligent than an animal. One of them tried to mount me when I revealed myself to them. I may have to find one of the bipedal creatures to reveal myself to, I need more information about them." ... "I heard they call themselves humans. I think I found the one to reveal myself to, she is a good-natured mare I have observed for a few days now, her calm nature should give me the opportunity to explain myself. Her name is Cadenza." I stopped and looked to Twilight. "Cadenza.", I repeated. "What's about that name?", Lyra asked. "Princess Cadence full name is 'Mi Amore Cadenza'.", I explained. "She told us she had been found in the snow as a baby, nopony knows where she came from or who her parents were. She was named like that because of documents they found nearby. We think she is somehow connected to what Nightshade did, since her name has a meaning in my world, but doesn't here." "Wow, what a mystery.", Lyra replied excitedly. "That's even more interesting than I had expected." "Let's read on.", Twilight urged me. "I want to know what happens next." ... "I revealed myself to Cadenza today, she was shocked but I was able to calm her quickly. She offered me a lot of information about the human race, I will write a book about all the information I can gather about them. She is surprisingly fun to be around, I can't wait to meet her again. Next time she wants to teach me about their way of writing." ... "I know her for about three weeks now and I can't stop thinking about her, we understand each other so well and... she is very pretty... in her own non-pony way." ... "I decided to make her a very special present, I really hope she likes it, I will work hard tonight to finish it." ... I noticed something was wrong when I turned the page. His writing was uneven and smeared. "The village was demolished and burning when I arrived. I immediately ran to Cadenza's house. I found her..." The writing got even worse at this point. "Cadenza had been stabbed. She was nude and I saw bruises all over her beautiful body. I can't imagine what horrors she went through before she died. If I had been there when it happened... I could have protected her... She would still smile this beautiful smile of hers. How can humans do these things to each other." I had to wipe away some tears before I was able to continue. "I went back to my world and closed the portal between our worlds. I hope someday I can feel anything but pain again." The writing stopped there and the rest were just blank pages. "Well... that's not what I had expected.", I told them. "Have you read that before, Lyra?" "Quite some time ago. I had been more focused on the book about humans.", she replied. "I only read parts of his diary, mostly the one about opening a portal to your world. I always wished I could do such a thing someday." "I think I take a walk. I have to reflect on some of those things I read.", I announced to them. "I will stay here and read the diary from the beginning.", said Twilight. "Stella, there is something I want to talk about. Would it be okay if I join you?", Lyra asked. "Sure, let's go. See you later, Honey." I kissed Twilight goodbye and we left the library.