Outside the door leading into Flurry Heart's nursery, Spike groaned loudly in exasperation after waiting nearly twenty minutes. "Twilight, what's the hold-up? We're gonna miss the train back to Ponyville and I've got stuff to do."
Twilight babbled in babytalk in what he took as a reply, to which he planted his forehead into the wall beside the open door and groaned again.
“Spike, I’m almost done, we’re just finishing up.”
“You said that fourteen minutes ago,” he replied.
“Uh-huh, that’s great. Have fun.”
Another quiet smack echoed down the hall as he replaced his head to the wall.
“Hey, Spike, Twilight’s still-” she was interrupted by girlish laughter and babbling. “That answers that,” Starlight giggled and Spike glared at her. “Oh, c’mon Spike, we’re not leaving on time and you know it. Let’s go do something, I found the library so-”
Spike stood tall, threw his arms up, and groaned. “I’m gonna get some ice cream!”
Starlight followed him for several paces before stopping and smirking as he stormed away like a petulant child. She rolled her eyes and turned back the way she came at a more leisurely pace passing several guards and other ponies, descending two flights of stairs, a small tour group exploring the approved areas of the castle, and a cat with eyes that sparkled and caused her to look into its eyes and realize that even the animals were enchanted to change to crystal.
She picked up her pace to make up for the lost steps as she rounded yet another arched corner. “Heh, only four more miles to go,” she mused. “Why’s the castle even laid out like this? Maybe it made sense a thousand years ago, but… Spike?”
“Oh, hey, Starlight. You on your way to the kitchen, too?”
“Uh, no, Spike. Library, remember?”
“Oh… oh. I’m lost,” he kicked the floor and blushed faintly. “The library’s back there, want me to take you?”
“I could sure use the company,” she offered and walked with him side by side. “So, no ice cream yet?”
He looked at her and made a questioning face. “Uh, no? I just told you.”
“You’re two floors lower than where you started and one above the kitchens, Spike,” she giggled again, “you really are lost. C’mon, you can help me find some ancient documents or scrolls, it’ll be more fun than getting sweets.”
Spike relented without admitting he actually liked being a helper. He led her to the library and without the typical gasp he’d grown used to from Twilight, waited at the threshold for a second, then moved to catch up. “Okay, so, what’re you looking for?”
“Anything old and magical, Spike.”
He raised an eyebrow and motioned around. “You’re in a magic castle, in a magic land, surrounded by magic ponies that turn to crystal.”
She laughed sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. ”Books and scrolls, Spike. Maybe some magically enchanted ones or some items that nopony knows what they do,” she tapped a forehoof to her chin as she smiled and Spike walked off to begin the search, “or perhaps an enchanted book that leads to an enchanted item,” she gasped in excitement, “or a map that leads to an enchanted book that leads to an enchanted item. Or-”
…
With a quiet thud, Spike planted the last of five books on the reading desk she was using. “Here, Starlight, I asked the librarian and she got me three more. Find anything yet?”
“Yes, Spike. There’s a ton of new magic and spells in here,” she grinned as her eyes roved over each line. “Teleportation, gravity manipulation; long-term, the creation of matter from the aether, even one of my specialties; crystal creation, management, and purposes. I’m reading the last one right now,” she blinked and looked over at the dragon.
“So, is it a good read at least, or should I get some more?”
“No, this’ fine, Spike,” she said lighting her horn, "are you recording this?" She asked him and he showed her his empty hands. “Wait here, Twilight’s got paper and quills all over the place."
“Wait, Spike, I’ve got this. It’s a spell I learned a few weeks ago,” she pulled a gem from her mane and set it on the table. With a short spell cast on it, she moved it aside and set it at the center of the table. “It’s a recording crystal, impressed?”
“Not really, what’s it do?”
She rolled her eyes. “Records audio logs. I made it because I don’t have a number one assistant,” she rubbed his head, “and don’t want to focus on writing everything as it happens when I can just record what happens and transcribe it later.”
“Ohhh, wish I had that forever ago.”
She snickered into her right forehoof. “It’s recording and will until I stop it or about eight hours pass. Now, watch this,” she said as she created a small dark gem and let it fall to the tabletop. “Interesting,” she scrutinized it.
“It didn’t make a sound when it fell. Weird.”
“Heh, I like it,” she picked it up with her magic and examined the perfectly polished and edged gem, “these look so sharp they’d cut into a pony’s hoof,” she said and passed it to Spike.
He sniffed it and scrunched his face. “Eyuck, I wouldn’t eat that if it was the last gem on earth.”
“I never thought I’d hear you say that,” Starlight snarked.
“There’s something familiar about it, and I don’t like it. Maybe you shouldn’t be casting spells without Twilight here.”
She rolled her eyes and took the gem from his hands and dropped it silently again. “Oh, Spike, I’m just as good at magic as she is and she knows it. There’s so many applications to a spell like this, too. Imagine if I use it against something like Tirek that’s trying to take over the world? Just seal him in one until he gets to Tartarus?”
“Back there again, you mean. And he can’t escape again, can he?”
“That was an example, Spike. Let’s see what happens when I try it on a book,” she didn’t wait and cast the spell on the stack of books Spike had collected and stumbled back. “What happened?”
“Starlight?! You’re awake, finally. You cast the spell and fell over, I was about to get help. You were just staring at nothing on the floor.”
“What? Really? I don’t feel any different, did the spell work?”
“Yeah, it sure did.”
He helped her up and she gawked at the library and how several books were now encased in dark crystal, hovering out of their shelves. “What happened? I didn’t cast it everywhere, did I?”
“No, just at the books on the desk, and then some others flashed, then you fell over. Are you sure you’re okay? I’m gonna get Twilight.”
“No, Spike, I’ve got this. I’m fine and can fix this, I just have to read the counterspell.”
Spike frowned as she moved back to the book. “You cast a spell without knowing how to stop or undo it? What if it went wrong somehow?”
“It didn’t go wrong, Spike, I just don’t know why it encased certain books that way and not others. I need something else to try it on,” she tapped her hoof on the floor as she looked around. Her gaze landed on Spike but he snorted a small flicker of fire and she passed on him. “Oh, I know,” she turned to a chair at the opposite side of her table and began to focus the spell, “just another experiment. No pony’s going to be hurt because it’s just a chair, Spike.”
“I should get Twilight, this doesn’t feel right. What book is that, anyway?”
She began to release the spell when Twilight appeared in the path of her beam, grinning. “I’m ready to-”
She gasped and inhaled a breath as Spike leaped towards her, smacking into a black crystal holding a silhouette of her shape. “Twilight?!” He turned to Starlight, “get her out of there!”
The mare fell over and her eyes flashed black and green for an instant, then her horn sparked several times and glowed the color of dark magic being cast. A sphere enveloped her and expanded to cover her body as dark electricity crackled, then it stopped and she fell to the floor.
…
“Starlight?”
She grumbled to herself through a mild headache as Spike shook her violently. “Wake up, this’ serious! You’ve gotta unfreeze her, or ungem her… get up already!”
She opened her eyes and everything changed from a green hue to normal, then she rolled to her haunches. “What happened?”
“You cast that spell on Twilight, hurry and undo it before she gets mad.”
“Mad? Twilight’s not gonna get mad, I just cast a spell, it’s no big deal,” she stood and grimaced at the hovering gem containing her mentor. “Ehh, she might be a little upset. Okay, let me see the spellbook,” she looked at the table.
She reached for it with her magic but dropped it when a pang of pain struck her right through her horn, her brain, and along her spine to her tail.
She placed a forehoof against her chest as the book thumped to the floor.
“Starlight?! That's a book from the restricted section! How'd you get it?”
She grimaced at the shout. “Quiet, Spike. I got it by teleporting past those wards for foals. I thought it was just a test to see if-”
”This is Sombra’ s spellbook! It says right on the cover, do you have any idea how bad this is?!”
She placed her hooves on the floor after waving him off. “No big deal, he was-”
“The dark magic using ruler of this empire that brought war and destruction to a timeline you dumped me and Twilight in,” he fumed. It didn't help when she patted his head patronizingly.
“Look, is a spell book, so there's a counterspell. Sombra might have been evil, but he's not stupid. Er, wasn't. Once I free twilight, this book will be secured, I'll get in a little trouble, then it's back to normal.
“Now, step back, Spike, I'm gonna crack that gem.”
“Starlight, aren't you gonna use the book?”
“Book, schmook.”
Her horn glowed brightly, then she blasted a beam of light blue magic into the bottom of the gem. She stopped suddenly when another sharp spike of pain coursed through her head, this one from a different source.
Spike kept his hand held high, ready to strike her horn again, tears welling in his eyes. “Stop hurting Twilight.”
“Spike, I'm not hurting her, I'm,” she looked at the encased alicorn and gulped. She couldn't hear it, but Twilight's shadowy form inside seemed to be writhing in pain.
He shoved the book from his other hand into her chest forcefully. “Fix this, Starlight, please.”
She looked down at him and nodded. Get me some water, please, Spike.”
She watched at the shadow stilled and then as Spike left, looking intently at the dark gem. She opened the book to where she was and barely read the first sentence before the padding and clack of Spikes feet returned.
“Starlight! The other ponies, in the hall, something's wrong!”
“Spike, you just left. What's wrong?”
“Come look, they're… I don't know!”
She got to her hooves again and galloped to the doorway, seeing nothing. He pointed down the hall he'd met her in less than an hour ago and she took the lead, stopping when she saw a crystal guard standing at attention.
“Spike, this isn't the time for jokes,” she began to turn when a quiet moan twitched her ear. She looked back and around, only seeing the guard. “Sir, have you seen anything odd recently?”
He stood still and silent. “You're doing a great job, but I would like an answer.”
She waved her forehoof in front of his muzzle and he made a quiet moan that intrigued her. “Are you pranking me?” She asked hoping for an answer.
When none came she turned back to the library and cantered past Spike, Twilight, to the book and read intently.
…
“Twilight, it's Spike. I'm doing everything I can, but it's not easy watching Flurry Heart when she's petrified. Starlight Glimmer found out how the spell works and is trying to reverse engineer it, but it's going slow.
“It's only been a couple hours… I sure hope time is the same for us. Hey, Starlight?” Spike shouted across the massive library, waiting for an echo to answer his.
“What, Spike? I'm kinda busy here.”
“Time is still normal for Twilight, right?”
“Yes. This spell is supposed to control a tribe of ponies. You can't control them if the original pony dies of old age or dies from metabolic shock. Why?”
“I'm just talking to Twilight.”
There wasn't a response.
“So, yeah. Flurry Heart is like everypony else I've come across, petrified in place, wherever they were. Starlight's working really hard, doing her best. I caught her crying while learning how the spell works, but she teleported away saying she had to use the bathroom.
“Regardless, we're trying our best, Twilight. Just, hang in there, okay?”
…
“Starlight?! Starlight? Starlight, there you are, wake up!”
Spike breathed loudly as he approached the dozing mare. She looked at him, suddenly awake. “What now?”
She looked into his eyes and her heart nearly broke at the pain she saw.
“Flurry Heart, she can't eat or drink. She can't blink or cry. All she's been doing is making that noise for almost an hour and I can't help her. What do I do? What do we do?!”
“Has Princess Celestia answered you yet?”
He shook his head. “No pony has. I've sent a dozen scrolls and haven't even rolled most of them, so anypony can read them… what if this is affecting more than the Empire?”
“It can't be, Spike. We're fine and we haven't checked the whole city. There are plenty of non-crystal ponies that are probably just as confused as we are, only we have the answer,” she yawned loudly.
“It's nine at night,” Spike offered before her yawn was done.
“Crap, this is taking more out of me than it should be,” she rubbed her head and tapped her horn. “At least it didn't hurt right now. Spike? What was that look for?”
“Um, nothing, really. I think you should focus on fixing the spell.”
“That's the thing, Spike,” she groaned, “the spell is working exactly as it should be. Try and get some food and water into Flurry Heart while I get ready to start experimenting.”
“Start experimenting? On what?”
“Well, we’ve got plenty of inanimate objects around, so you worry about feeding and I’ll worry about the spell.”
“Sheesh, you don’t need to get snippy,” Spike said as he looked at her in the way Twilight had looked at him hundreds of times in the past.
“I’m sorry, Spike, this is a lot to have happening in such a short time. It’s not like the other times, this feels different, wrong.”
“Maybe because you used a black magic spell from-”
“See you later, Spike,” she forced a smile and teleported him to the nursery. “Finally. Okay, this isn’t that hard. I can do this, it’s just like when I brainwashed a village or my friends, or that time with my parents, the princesses, the delegates,” she slouched and groaned. “I’m not very good at being a good pony,” she perked up, “but I’m learning and better than I was.”
She began reading the spell she’d modified from a separate sheet of paper and beginning her experiment.
…
“Starlight? Are you in here?!” Spike’s voice echoed through the library as he plodded around, his toe talons clicking rhythmically as he rushed down the center of the large room. “Twilight’s missing, where are you?”
He held hope that she didn’t do something wrong, again, and make matters worse. He finally reached the area she was working at and glanced at dozens of black gems around the area holding unknown and untold items. “Great, the classic note on the desk. Lemme guess, she’s run away and never coming back,” he rolled his shoulders and reached over the table and took the note.
“I was close,” he snorted fire and incinerated the note, “maybe I can learn to drive a train back home,” he turned and marched his way out of the room. “She could’ve at least taken Flurry Heart, now I’ve gotta carry her with me… at least I can get her to eat now, sorta.”