//------------------------------// // B.I.N.G.O. // Story: Twilight gets a Puppy // by TDR //------------------------------// Twilight Gets a Puppy By TDR B.I.N.G.O. Celestia's Journal Entry, Thursday the twenty third. It's been about three months since I suggested Cadence to Mrs. Sparkle as a foal sitter. And my planning seems to have paid off, in more ways than one. Despite her current training Cadence is what many collected nobles would call ignorant farm folk. She's done quite well to hide that though every so often it shows through. Case in point, after her third session watching the Sparkle spawn...[ I really need a better name for those three], she was held up at knife point. The mugger clearly thought that he was dealing with some prissy noble child who would be afraid to scuff her hoof-acure, not a mare who while she was still just a Pegasus had been part of her towns watch against Timber wolves. There are very few Timberwolves around Hollow Shades now a days. Suffice to say after what one Guard described later as a 'mudhole stomping', she let her natural alicorn magic come into play. I was told that it took the Guards twenty minutes to pry the injured mugger away from his one true love for medical treatment, the nearby brick wall he was trying to hug. He named it Gretta. Add this to what happened in the Sparkle house and it's a wonder that neighborhood hasn't been declared the safest in Canterlot. The best part is how well Twilight and Cadence hit it off. Last I talked to her she was teaching Twilight some dance she learned as a foal. Spike and Rahs also seemed to like her. In truth I expected her to have more issue with Rahs than she has had. When I asked her about it she brought up the magic he ate and she uses it as a treat for him now to make sure he's good. Something he evidently still forgets about at bath time. I thought to use her trick to keep him from chewing on my shoes,or attacking my tail, but Twilight claimed he doesn't like green tea cake. Blasphemy. Though this does bring up several things I wanted to jot down before I forgot. With all the unknowns about Rahs and his connection to Spike and Twilight I've had some of the best magical minds... and a few not so great, investigating the connection. While I have limited their studying of the trio more than they wish simply to prevent the three from being turned into Guinea pigs, several things of note have been discovered, if not wholly agreed upon by all the researchers. This first is that Spike, Twilight, and Rahs share a connection, but it does not connect Spike to Twilight directly. So it's clear that Spike is not Twilight's familiar like Rahs is suspected to be. However Rahs could be considered Spike's familiar as well as Twilight's. I do not disbelieve Twilight's claim that she can easily understand Rahs, but we cannot check to see if Spike understands him until perhaps he is a little older. Of course this study led to the discovery that Shining Armor is also connected to Rahs. During one of the tests the researchers had Twilight cast a spell that formed an aura around herself. Really it was little more than a golden glow that looked like flame, but it had the suspected effect of also causing the same aura to form around Rahs, though diminished in power. It also flickered out much sooner than it did on Twilight simply due to his natural abilities devouring it. The second part of the test was to have her cast the spell on Rahs. As expected with a connection like theirs the the aura formed around Twilight and Spike, at a diminished level on them, with Rahs's fading first. We found out hours later that there had been a issue in Canterlot High when Shining Armor burst into flames in the middle of class. He was nearly suspended for goofing off and if Cadence hadn't mentioned it to me at dinner I never would have realized there was a connection. We brought him in to check and several tests later we found that Rahs had a much weaker connection to Shining Armor, but it was very similar to what connected him to Spike and Twilight. While clearly being freaked out at some of the tests being done to him, particularly any that sounded like they involved needles, he was surprisingly calm about learning of a connection with the pup. Shining claimed he understood Rahs a little, more intent and meaning than with actual words. He wasn't really sure how but he just seemed to know. While this wasn't enough for the researchers to really believe Twilight when she said Rahs talked to her, I asked them to drop it before Twilight got upset. Shining was allowed to go back to school after he was given the once over by the researchers. I also wrote him a slip that would let the Principal know he was not at fault for what happened. Still. I can see why Cadence is interested in him, he's growing into quite a handsome stallion. A couple more years and he will definitely be a catch for someone. No, bad Celestia, no robbing the cradle...... oh who am I kidding, every pony is like a foal to me when it comes to age.... Still no matter how much she denies it whenever the subject is brought up, I expect I might find a use for the 'Rural Princess' pictures I have yet. Moving on. The second thing of note is the magic eating. It's theorized is the reason Twilight claims he doesn't taste anything from her magic is that he's constantly feeding off her through their link. As such that has deadened the taste. Another theory is it's a safety measure to keep him from trying to gorge on her magic. Then yet another theory is that she's fibbing. Either is acceptable though the latter is more worrying. The last is just an old coot who thinks the younger generation are all wastes of resources. The third thing and the only thing all of the researchers can agree on is that they are all adorable. The last thing however worries me. Before I get to that though is should point out a few things. While I expect no one to read these I find it hard not to write these entries like I’m a teacher , trying to educate, so I am simply letting the quill flow at times. Summoners, Familiars, and Warlocks. While popular stories and fiction have labeled a warlock as a broad term for a spell caster, much like mage, witch and wizard, though there is a big difference between a wizard and a average unicorn on the street in terms of magic ability, Warlocks are their own thing. Warlocks are practitioners of summoning magic first and foremost. A spell caster can cast summon magic without being a Warlock, and Warlocks can cast other spells, but Warlock is used as a derogatory term for a certain practice. Warlock's pull creatures from other places and bind them to their will. It's slavery in all sense of the word, often the creature thus bound cannot even fight against the Warlock's commands. This is why summoning is considered dark magic. And the use of it like this tends to taint the soul and power of any one willing to use it. The creatures bound this way are oft called thralls or simply summons, though they are quite different from Familiars. While Familiars too can be summoned from another place, they are asked for their aid rather than forced into it. A dangerous thing if one summons something that doesn't want to be summoned and many mages have lost their lives because of this. It's one reason summoning magic is rarely used even by those who know it. Warlocks may be safer at first, but a bound creature that gets free will almost always target the Warlock first. With familiars it is more like a deal or contract. For example Philomena and I have such a deal. While the power shared between us is more in her favor, there are benefits to me as well, particularly in regards to listening in on those who like to talk and don't think a bird sitting nearby will rat them out. Though as a side note I've been keeping Rahs and Philomena apart. Not because I think they would hurt one another, but because my pet is a prankster and would be more than willing to use Rahs's cuteness to get away with things. Now then onto the last discovery made. Twilight did not make a contract or deal with Rahs. She may have summoned him, but the deal binding them was already made. Twilight's magic saturates the link between them, but that is along the lines of water flowing through a trench. Some one else dug said trench and connected it to Shining, Twilight, and Spike. The issue is not with the power flowing through the trench, but who dug it in the first place. The researchers didn't recognize the magic signature, though a few claimed it was similar to a number of old artifacts and traps in ruins they had seen around Equss. I however did recognize it. And knowing what it was made me cancel everything else for the day and send Twilight home. I also closed down the research group, there's not much more they can tell me at this point any way. It was Her magic. It wasn't old either, it was new, and while there were some oddities with it, the feeling of that type of shadowy magic has haunted me for nearly a thousand years. I would never forget it. Aside from being a Witch Wolf, Rahs had some sort of other connection with Her. Was She able to plan something this far ahead, can She do something now that the end of her imprisonment is coming? Did She know what I had planned and simply tossed a wrench in the works? There were far too many things still that I didn't understand and with only a little over ten years remaining I don't have time to start another plan. I can't risk studying it much more and alerting Her that I found something, she may move on to something far worse than a little pup. I have to hope that Rahs can be taken at face value and isn't the danger he is looking to be.