The storm, it seemed, had blown over. There had been a bit of a kerfuffle, or an almost-kerfuffle, and Twilight felt that it was important to note that this actually qualified as an actual kerfuffle by definition: a conflict that takes place due to conflicting or differing views. And the Royal Brood had conflicting views, that much was for certain. Now, after ice cream, everything seemed calm and good.
Nuance seemed to have some fascination with dragons, some affinity, as his interactions with Spike and Boomer were quite different than his exchanges with his siblings or others. The colt had said that the bouncing up and down while walking had made his face hurt, and Twilight had no reason to doubt him. He seemed subdued, almost pleasant while he chatted with Spike and Boomer. Twilight’s only lingering concern was that both Nuance and Boomer were known pyromaniacs, or at least known firestarters. Boomer’s were unintentional, for the most part, as she was a gassy little dragoness at the best of times, and as for Nuance… Twilight shook her head.
After getting what she felt she was owed, Corbie was content and seemed happy. There had been no arguments from her about the ice cream or the toppings, no last minute haggling, she remained a creature of her word, which Twilight was certain was something she got from her parents. There had been some worry that the little filly might make some last minute revisions to their bargain.
As for Radiance, he seemed okay. He didn’t seem angry at all. His anger was like a rain cloud that came along to wet all over a picnic, and then just blew away. More than anything, this worried Twilight, who had some experience with this sort of thing. Holding it all in and not finding a healthy outlet for release was a serious problem, and perhaps one of the worst issues the students in her school had: repression. Sumac also dealt with this problem, but he was getting better. He had healthy outlets for his frustrations, like archery, long distance running, and getting into the worst sort of trouble imaginable with Vinyl Scratch.
Every colt needed a hobby.
The only thing missing from making this serene moment complete was Pinkie Pie. Twilight reflected upon this with Seville in full view, admiring his work ethic while she pondered the current state of domestic bliss. She didn’t wonder how the pieces fit together, no, she wondered why the pieces fit together. There was so much that she just didn’t understand yet, and she was desperate to know, to understand, to have everything figured out. It was with some bitterness that she realised that she knew and understood more about the mysterious workings of the ink than she did about romantic relationships. The ebb and flow of magic, the streams of magic, she was now connected to them, a part of them, one of the very sources of them.
But love?
Love was mysterious and baffling.
It was also beautiful and desireable.
Love, Twilight realised, was rewarding ponies for doing the right thing. The sweet, heady rush, the flutter in one’s heart, the giddy feelings of anticipation, that static crackle, that electric tingle, all of those desirable, pleasurable feelings, all of it was scoops of ice cream after laps around a lake. Ponies were bound to procreate anyway, the species had to continue, but making that physical act of procreation rewarding, making it feel good, making it something ponies want to have happen, and all of the emotion that went along with it, love really was rewarding ponies for doing the right thing.
Sighing, she looked over at Pebble and Sumac. They were in love. Destiny, the ink, it had brought them together, as the ink tended to do when it needed threads of fate to intertwine. The ink, the very medium of life, the universe, and everything, it too relied upon a reward, and graced Sumac and Pebble with happiness for going along with the plan. She sighed again, her heart feeling heavy, and she could feel the ink flowing through her, revealing the reality of all she saw.
The room vanished with but a single eyeblink and everything became something else. Instead of her private quarters in her castle, she was someplace else. Someplace familiar, some beautiful, magical place shrouded in night. After just a blink, she found herself in Lulamoon Hollow, staring at Sumac and Pebble. They were older now, much, much older. They were grown now. Sumac was tall, skinny, and wearing some sort of elaborate coat with long tails. His white shirt was immaculate, and he had a black ribbon tie. Pebble was the opposite, wearing something bright, cheery, and her clothes were a bit rumpled, as they tended to be.
Twilight realised that Sumac was working, or about to be, and with a kiss that lingered, he said his goodbye to Pebble. In the background was Lulamoon tower and the dusk apple orchards. Somepony was going to die soon, and Sumac was departing to spend a little time with them in their final hours. This was the future that the ink was trying to preserve, the happy reward for doing right.
When she blinked again, the idyllic scene vanished…
When she opened up her eyes once more, she saw a different future. It took her several seconds to realise that she was in the Crystal Empire, standing before a foreboding obelisk of a tower. The entire thing thrummed with strange magic, but not bad magic. She knew this place, she had been here, she had been inside, the resident of this strange tower held the most curious title of ‘Vizard’ and more than anything else in the whole wide world, he wanted to be left alone in his tower, in peace, so he could battle the mental illness that threatened to consume him.
A lone caller stood outside of the reinforced steel door, knocking with his hoof. The mists of precognition parted, and Twilight saw him, but she had trouble recognising him. He was familiar, so much so, the blue mane, the blue eyes, and his coat… such a pale shade of blue that it appeared to be white. Gasping, she realised who it was banging on the Vizard’s door, and she felt afraid. Two of the most nastiest, most volatile, most unpleasant ponies that she knew were about to say hello.
“No…”—Twilight breathed out the word in horror—“no, this is a horrible future…”
The door opened, revealing a much older Dim, who wore a dreadful scowl. “You!” He did not sound happy, and his eyes narrowed. “You,” he said again, “why has your shadow darkened my door after I warned you to never return?”
From somewhere unseen, Twilight’s ears perked at the sound of feminine giggling.
“Kommissar Dim, Hero of the Dragon Wars, I have come to call upon Quiet—”
“Nein! Dim shouted, and then he slammed the door in Nuance’s face with a bang.
The colt, soon to be on the verge of adulthood, licked his lips, raised his hoof, and with his ears pinned back in terror, he knocked once more upon the massive steel door. When Twilight blinked, the scene vanished yet again, and she found herself elsewhere.
“Twilight?”
It took several seconds before Twilight could respond. She blinked in rapid fashion, trying to recover, she felt strained and exhausted, as if she had just performed some great feat of magic. Her insides felt hollow, empty, and she knew from these symptoms that she had not just had a flight of fancy, a daydream, she had channeled the ink. She shook her head from side to side with enough force to make her cheeks flap, and then she almost felt okay, but she would need to eat soon.
The advantage of a paper body was, it didn’t need food, making it an ideal conduit for ink.
“Twilight, your eyes turned black with ink,” Sumac said, and the colt had a worried scowl upon his face. “Are you feeling alright?”
“I’m fine,” Twilight responded, “I’m just fine.”
Sumac didn’t seem satisfied with the answer. “You know, I have ink too—”
“Fine, I feel a little out of sorts,” Twilight confessed, “but I’ll be fine.” Now, on top of everything else, she felt annoyed. She stared at the alicorn colt, Eternity’s last act of defiance at a hostile, unforgiving universe, and she felt a strange sense of pride that Sumac had just called her out. He was going to be okay. The little pronker was going to grow up and be okay. He was going to be a good Apple.
“I think you need a hug.” Corbie got up from where she sat, and began to move closer to Twilight. “I’m gonna fix it and make everything better.”
“You fat, gross, stupid, four-eyed freak, hugs don’t always make things better.”
The cold viciousness of Nuance’s words cut Twilight to the bone. She was shocked to be hearing them, how he had said them, and all she could do was sit there, stupefied, stymied, stunned from shock. It wasn’t ink that boiled over within Twilight, but blood. A searing hot flash of anger ignited within her body, and then her ears were far too hot, her throat felt dry, parched, and it felt as though she was roasting over a fire.
Corbie burst into tears, tripped over her own front hooves, took a tumble, and banged her chin against the floor. Radiance snarled, a big scary sound coming from a small colt, and his eyes narrowed with rage. With a flap of his wings, Sumac scooted over to where Corbie had fallen, and was already trying to comfort her even as he picked her up off of the floor.
Somewhere in Discord’s realm, a package of feces appeared in the lost and found…
“You horrid little monster!” Twilight was on Nuance in a second, she towered over him, her wings out, and her eyes blazed with righteous fury. “Why would you do this? WHY? You were happy! You were having a nice day! It was peaceful, serene, calm, and NICE! This is why nopony likes you! This is why nopony wants to have anything to do with you! This is why everypony hates your guts, don’t you understand that?” Her voice rose in pitch and fury with every spoken word, and then, when she boiled over, she asked, “WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?”
Seville’s voice had a surprising softness and calm. “Twilight…”
“TELL ME, NOW,” Twilight barked while Nuance cowered in fear beneath her, “WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?”
“Because Radiance was having a good day and he didn’t deserve it,” Nuance squeaked while trying to look as submissive as possible.
“Twilight, come with me, please. I think you need a timeout.” Seville was beside her now, looking concerned, but still had a soft, almost passive expression.
For a moment, she hated him, resented him for suggesting that she needed a timeout, embarrassing her in front of the foals, undermining her authority. But then, she realised, he was right. Rage and anger became shame, and her ears slumped. She took a step back from Nuance, who was crying now, terrified, shaking with fear so hard that his teeth were clattering.
“Come with me, Twilight,” Seville said, still calm.
Grinding her teeth together, Twilight allowed herself to be led away by Seville.
When the guilt hit, it was intense. She had yelled at Flurry once, having lost her temper, and it was something she still regretted to this day. Almost crying, she felt like throwing up, and her whole body jittered with adrenaline. Knees weak, she leaned against Seville, her heart aching, wondering how and why she had allowed herself to lose her temper like this.
“He has this effect on ponies.” Seville whispered the words, and the sound was soothing. “Even his mother, Celestia, has lost her temper on more than one occasion and yes, she has screamed at him. Nuance was actually proud that he had broken his mother’s serenity, and when Luna heard him boasting about it, taunting Radiance, she tore him a new one too. So this happens.”
Twilight could not respond.
“This is what he does, Twilight.” Seville kept his voice low and he sounded troubled. “This is how he controls things. Sometimes, it’ll just come right out of the blue with no warning, no rhyme nor reason. He always seems to know just what to do to make everypony become unchained. I’m sorry that this happened. Are you going to be okay?”
She felt the sniffles coming on, and tears, hot and salty, stung her eyes. She shook her head from side to side, her throat too hot and parched to say anything. The faint sounds of Corbie crying in the other room bothered her more than words could ever express, and as for Nuance, Twilight wondered if she would ever recover his trust. Or maybe he never trusted her to begin with. The notion bothered her, and the first tear fell, having broke free of its prison.
“I’m a failure as a foalsitter,” Twilight murmured as she pressed up against Seville.
“Don’t say that.”
“But I am.”
“Twilight, Nuance is really good at what he does—”
“And so am I,” Twilight responded, whining. “I’m supposed to be this wonderful, patient mare, and I just blew it.” She was about to say more, but was cut off by a high pitched scream that made her ears shoot straight upwards towards the ceiling. Terrified, she bounded away to find out what was going on in the other room.
Just as Twilight was coming through the door, Pebble poked Radiance with a jewel-encrusted rod that glowed with an eerie green light. Radiance, upon being touched with the rod, let out a grunt, his eyes squeezed shut, and he toppled to the floor in a heap. Pebble stood over him, bipedal, holding the rod in her fetlock. An expression of grim determination could be seen on her face, and she turned her head to meet Twilight’s gaze.
“Pebble!” Twilight hollered. “What did you do?”
“What was necessary,” she replied in a calm deadpan.
Twilight quailed, and for a moment, she was certain that she was going to throw up. Nuance was bawling, Corbie let out another shriek, and Radiance rolled around on the floor, clutching his head while his body convulsed. All of them were victims of the perspective shift stick, which Pebble still held. At this moment, Twilight was certain that she was going to lose her mind, and she began to sputter, unable to make a single word.
“And now, for my sins, I shall partake in this punishment myself.” Closing her eyes, Pebble twirled the rod around, and then conked herself on the noggin with an audible crack. Right away, she responded, and she fell over, crashing to the floor with a heavy thud, now beyond the realm of punishment or scolding. The rod tumbled from her grasp, clattered on the floor, and rolled away.
Twilight gibbered. The center had not held and everything was spiraling into anarchy. Spike stood near Nuance, clutching his cheeks, looking panicked, while Boomer was doing much the same. Sumac looked guilty, but not scared, and he tried to comfort Corbie while giving Twilight a defiant glare.
“He’s not faking.” Radiance moaned the words as he rocked from side to side on the floor. “He’s not faking… he’s not faking… he’s not faking…”
The rolling perspective shift stick came to a stop against the leg of a chair.
“Nuance, I’m sorry!” Radiance’s reedy whine was shrill and filled with pain.
Blubbering, Corbie picked herself up off of the floor, almost stumbled, but recovered, and then she made her way to her brother’s side. She sat down, pulled Nuance up, overpowering him with ease, and pulled him into the sort of embrace that only a sister could offer. Nuance squirmed, wiggled, and turned away, but he did not escape. While he did nothing to return his sister’s affection, he did not shove her away, nor did he insult her to injure her. After a bit more struggle, he went limp, and allowed Corbie to hold him.
Twilight’s mouth fell open, and she couldn’t quite process what had just happened. The ramifications of everything that had just taken place were out of her reach. Each of the triplets had just experienced what it was like to be the other, a peek inside of each other's’ heads, and out of every pony (and dragon) present in the room, Pebble Pie now knew the Royal Brood better than anypony else, perhaps even their parents.
“How did this happen?” Twilight asked while she eyeballed the dreaded magical rod. “That was locked up… Sumac, did you—”
“I did it!” Spike blurted out. “I got the key to unlock the cabinet where you had it locked away.” The little dragon cringed, and for a moment, he looked quite young.
“Spike… why… why would you do this?” Twilight looked her most trusted assistant right in the eye, wondering what could have possibly motivated him to commit to this betrayal of trust.
“Pebble made a very convincing argument,” Spike replied, and his claws flexed with worry. “She made a very convincing argument and she was right!”
“Spike…” Twilight let out an exasperated huff.
“If you are going to punish anypony, punish me.” Sumac strode forward, still defiant. “This was my plan and I set everything into motion.”
“Sumac Apple!” Twilight found herself almost shouting again. “What gives you the right?”
“These.” The colt spread his wings and he raised his head high. “I felt it in my bones, Twilight, this… intuition. It was too strong to ignore and too powerful to resist.” The colt cleared his throat. “You’re still so predictable, Twilight. When Pebble took Corbie back to her room, you followed to check up on them, just like I knew you would. That gave me a chance to get into the cabinet after Spike gave me the key. I took the rod out of the cabinet and stashed it into some place with no wards, so I could conjure it up when the time was right.”
“Nuance, I’m sorry,” Radiance bawled, and he twisted his head around to look at his brother and sister. “Never again… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
Gasping, Pebble rolled over with her eyes squeezed shut. “As bad as Nuance is, Radiance, you are the worst. At least Nuance secretly feels ashamed and guilty… but you… you were heartless. Remorseless. You disgust me.”
“I’m sorry!” Covering his eyes with his forelegs, Radiance began to sob in earnest, terrible body wracking sobs, and his cries filled the room with a pitiful sound.
Everything had fallen apart, and now, Twilight needed a plan to clean everything up.