//------------------------------//
// 29 - Midnight Musing 
// Story: Raison D'être 
// by mechafone 
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That night, under a waxing crescent moon, Spark Storm laid by himself out in the fields just outside of camp. It had been a long, long day. All that walking, then some weird things that Shimmering Oasis said to him and Twilight, then that test. He was exhausted.

And yet, he couldn't fall asleep tonight. He was tired, really ready to fall asleep, but some tiny little...thing kept tap-tap-tapping at the back of his mind, constantly bugging him.

After a while, he made up his mind to try again. However, when he stood, he heard the faintest sound. It was a sound he couldn't place, but it seemed strangely familiar. He followed this sound into the forest.



After a few short moments of following the strange sound, he recognized it. It was crying. Not just crying, either. He heard the voice speaking in panicked tones, then crying again. And worse, it sounded like Twilight Sparkle.

It was at this point that Spark knew he should've just left. He knew this would be an invasion of privacy. But like with Sapphire Snow's journal, Spark just had to take a peek.

Inbetween Twilight's frantic speaking and sobbing, he could hear Lemon Pop trying to console the Unicorn. Finally, he found a break in the trees. Twilight was pacing back and forth in a small clearing, while Lemon Pop sat near her, a look of both weariness and concern on her face.

"I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do! I don't know why I feel like this, I don't want to feel like this! He's nice and I like him, like a friend, maybe, but I get confused around him. I can't be confused around him, Lemon, I just can't! I have studies, I have a different life than he does, he's getting too close, or I'm getting too close, and I can't handle it!"

She was talking a mile a minute, and for a second Spark was reminded of Pinkie Pie. But...she wasn't talking about him, was she? She didn't really talk with Frostbite, so...she was talking about him.

Lemon Pop looked like she didn't know what to say. She really looked like she wanted to get to bed. She seemed to carry an air of insult about her, like she was angry with Twilight.

After listening for just a moment more, Spark decided he'd done more than enough spying. He felt bad enough for making Twilight feel confused. As far as he was concerned, he was waiting for Sapphire Snow to return. His heart belonged to her. He'd have to give Twilight her space.

He had gotten not more than ten meters from the pair when he noticed that it was suddenly quiet. Too quiet. He looked back, only to have Lemon Pop plop right down in front of him. He turned and gasped, backing up a bit before falling onto his butt as she approached him angrily.

"Spark Storm! What has gotten into you, coming out here and...and..." She hopped to emphasis her next word, which made Spark cringe. "...spying!"

Spark wasn't even going to try and figure out how Lemon Pop knew he'd been there. He was really good at being quiet and stealthy, but whenever he was doing something he knew he shouldn't, Lemon Pop just seemed to know. It was better not to question how.

"Easy, Lemon, I didn't come out here to spy!" He shot back. He deflated slightly when she didn't back down, giving him an evil one-eyed glare. "I...didn't mean to, anyway..."

"Spark Storm, if you heard her for even a second, then you know why she's out here! It's bad enough you're giving her misinformation about your intent, but she's really scared and confused! She's just coming into marehood and she doesn't need your straying eyes on her!"

Spark's fur stood on edge with anger at Lemon's accusations. "Now wait just a minute!" He stood tall over her, and it was the smaller Pegasi's turn to back away, ears back with apprehension. "I never gave her any indication that I was interested in her! And...would you listen to yourself? We're kids, Lemon Pop, have you forgotten that? I don't want a girlfriend right now!"

He frowned, a thoughtful look on his face. "Well..." He began, and looked kindly into Lemon's eyes. "That's not totally true. I'm kinda waiting for Sapphire to come home, you know?"

Lemon Pop smiled at this. She'd thought that maybe Spark had forgotten her best friend, but apparently she was wrong. She gave Spark a warm smile before some movement caught her eye.

Oh no. Oh no.

The movement in her eye was of course Twilight Sparkle, watching this scene unfold from just behind a tree not far beyond Spark Storm. She had listened with a look in her eyes that was beyond understanding, even for the young Unicorn herself. She was torn, she was hurt, she was relieved. She didn't know what to think or what to feel, all she knew was that the last few weeks had been unbearable for her.

With a loud sob, Twilight turned and ran.

Spark turned, but Twilight had run off already. He looked back at Lemon Pop, the both of them stricken with panic.

"Oh noooo, I should've been paying attention! Here I am yelling at you, and I totally forget that she's there!" Lemon Pop wailed and bopped her head with her hooves until Spark stopped her.

"Take it easy, Lemon! C'mon, we've gotta go find her..." He turned to go after her, but found his tail snagged on the ground with one of Lemon's hooves.

"Nuh uh." Spark arched a brow at his friend. "Nuh uh?"

"No. Don't you get it, Sparky?" she said sadly. "She's confused about you, and you going to talk to her when she's this upset isn't going to help her. You should go back to camp. I'll find her and take care of her." She sighed and rubbed a hoof through her mane. "This trip just keeps getting weirder."

The light red Pegasus lifted off into the air, and circled Spark once before calling down to him, "Get back to camp, but wait for us, ok? Get Frostbite or the Lieutenant up if you have to sleep, but have someone waiting for us, all right?"

Spark sighed as Lemon went to find Twilight. This trip was indeed getting weirder, and infinitely more complicated. He had made it to the treeline when he heard a scream. He turned around immediately, his fur standing on end. He knew something was wrong about tonight, and not just girl trouble.

He ran right back into the woods, his heart pounding, his ears trained for any other sounds. He made it back to the clearing where he'd first seen Twilight and Lemon, but neither were anywhere to be seen.

He had opened his mouth to call for them, when a sheen of metal caught his eye, heading straight for him. He deflected it with a wing, when three more shot at him from his left. He blocked two of them, but the third grazed his right shoulder as he moved.

A laugh came from the woods, his voice echoing from several different places at once. "Look at the mighty!" he called in broken Equestrian. "What is wrong, Storm-Bringer? Have you lost your sheep?" The laugh rang out once more.

Spark Storm's hackles rose. Two of his close friends had been taken from him, and this jerk dared to taunt him? Spark felt his body tense. He felt his blood boiling. He hadn't felt his temper rise like this since his childhood, not since...

He let out a roar-like shout as his wings flared. The forest lit up in light brighter than a sunny afternoon as thick branches of electricity shot through the trees in every which way, sparking violently as tree branches exploded, splintered and fell to the ground, some on fire and some in ashes.

At the same time, Spark's new ability to track movement spread out all around him, spreading over the ground and curving over objects like a wave washing over a reef.

Spark's vision was impared from the sudden transition from darkness to light, but he could feel just the same as he had in the circle earlier.

There.

He took aim and fired off a branch of energy as thick around as a small tree, which impaled a thick tree not 20 feet in front of him. There was a terrified, girly scream as the pony hiding behind it was sent forward from the blast. The tree itself had a burning, gaping wound in the trunk that threatened to topple it.

Spark Storm moved slowly forward. Now that he could see his query, there would be no escape.

Spark's tormentor thought different, though. Relatively unhurt from the blast, he got up and took to the air.

The blue Pegasus had little time to get away before a thread of lightning shot right past him and into the tree to his right. He shrieked once more, then shot to the left. Again, he was cut off. Horizontal flight wasn't working, so he shot straight up.

He was nearing the canopy when a nearly black blur sped past him, jumping through the trees. He lost sight of it until he came down on top of him. Bright light and incredible pain filled his senses for an instant before he blacked out.



Fierce Rapids woke slowly. He hurt all over. Everything was sore, and there was a burning feeling on his chest that refused to cool. Had he been burned trying to get away from the Storm-Bringer?

...Wait. He did get away, didn't he?

He quickly became aware that his limbs were restrained. He also noticed that he wasn't in the forest, and he most certainly wasn't in his own quarters. He was laid out on the ground, his legs all tied together. His wings were also restrained.

Aside from his burn wound, he seemed unharmed. For now. He looked up as a familiar figure entered his sight. It was a tall, red Pegasus, one whose glare never seemed to leave his face. His cousin, Blazing Dragonfly.

Rapids neatly spat at his cousin's hooves, and growled in his native tongue, "'Release me! Holding me hostage will do you no good. Fire Lotus will hold the outsider's commander's sister hostage until your forces release him to us! They will all die for your peace!'"

Blazing Dragonfly's scowl never changed. "'Cousin, you have chosen the wrong night to be brave. It will only serve to lengthen your suffering.'" he countered in their language, then stepped to the side as a strobing light came into Rapid's vision.

He began to whimper and try to draw in against himself as Spark Storm approached him. His eyes were angry, his teeth were bared, and his body shook with fury. The light intensified as the big Pegasus leaned down and got in the smaller Pegasi's face.

"Where are they?!" He shouted. The energy coursed through Spark Storm's wings angrily, the very sound of his anger palpable in the air.



Twilight Sparkle groaned quietly as she felt consciousness returning to her. The first sensation to come to her was cold. She was cold, and the dirt under her was cold. The second feeling that came to her was a pain in her horn.

With a gasp of fear of what might have happened to her, she tried to move and found her legs restrained. Her panic rising, she tried to summon her magic, and soon realized that that had been restrained as well. One of those magic-cancelling rings must've been fitted on her again.

As helpless desperation began to set in, she tried to move. She tried to see as well, but it was dark, pitch black. She began to hyperventilate.

Suddenly, a heavy weight came down on her side and she let out a terrified scream.

"Easy, Twilight, easy, it's just me!"

"...Oh Celestia, Lemon Pop? Help me, help me!"

Lemon Pop shushed her, and Twilight felt what must have been Lemon's head resting against her neck. "Hush, Twilight. It's ok. We're not hurt, that's the important thing, ok?"

"...O-ok..."

Twilight was still on the verge of tears, but she slowly calmed down as Lemon's presence and physical contact were comforting.

After about fifteen minutes of silence, Twilight whispered, "Lemon...where are we?"

"I don't know, Twilight. I wish I knew..."

Twilight began to recap what she remembered. She had been pouring her heart out to Lemon in the woods, then Spark showed up. Lemon yelled at him, and then he'd said...he said he wasn't interested in her. Honestly she didn't know how to feel about that, but at the time his words had greatly upset her. She truly wasn't interested in him either, but something about her still growing body disagreed.

Was this...first love? Was it just her body growing? Did she feel more for Spark than she would ever admit to herself? If so, then...would she ever get out of this situation alive to tell him? Did she even want to tell him?

Feeling overwhelmed on top of this dark terror she'd found herself in, Twilight Sparkle began to cry. It was all Lemon could do to try and comfort her in this frightening place.









Hey there, readers! I'd like to make a request. If any of you are artists, I'd really really like it if you could make some art from my story. Any story really, any scenes that tickle your fancy. I can't pay you (maybe at some other point...maybe) but I'd really really appreciate it. Thanks.