//------------------------------// // Something's Off // Story: My Little Mages: Goddess of Midnight // by Foxhelm //------------------------------// Sci-Twi remained out of the hall and was looked at her hands while they trembled. Some strange thing flew from the chest of another human into her chest and her body absorbed it, not unlike a sponge. She hugged herself as she went to her knees. She didn’t recall anything from before waking from the medical bath. Was she some sort of monster? She had metallic wings from her back while even the handful of humans she saw that could fly had ethereal wings from their ankles. She felt someone tap her on her shoulder. She turned to see Fluttershy with a concerned look on her face. “Sorry, I still don’t remember…” Sci-Twi started. Fluttershy cut her off with a hug. “It’s not you. You see we have a friend back home with the same name and the resemblance is uncanny.” Sci-Twi then leaned back to look Fluttershy. Her eyes were slightly squinted and her head tilted to her left indicating her confusion. “Does your friend have metal wings like mine?” Fluttershy ended the hug and looked away somewhat nervously, “Well, yes.” she answered. However before Sci-Twi could press the matter, “Speaking of friends, do you have any?” Fluttershy asked. Sci-Twi shook her head as she turned away from Fluttershy, “I don’t know. The baroness said I might be suffering from amnesia, and she won’t let me leave the castle.” Sci-Twi sighed and turned to be facing the same direction as Fluttershy, “And for the brief time since I awoke, everyone else in here has kept their distance from me.” She finished her statement, looking at two people in the hallway take a look at her and leave. Fluttershy held her chin with her left hand and muttered to herself, “That’s understandable.” Sci-Twi heard her and turned around to face Fluttershy with a similar squint look she had on her face when she asked about Fluttershy’s friend with the metallic wings. Sci-Twi gave a ‘hah’ of confusion. Fluttershy realized what might have been inferred by Sci-Twi and tried to correct that error, albeit with a slight stutter as she spoke, “It’s just that, well, you’re a little different from most people that’s all.” Sci-Twi turned away from Fluttershy and took a step as she hugged herself, “I noticed.”, a tear was about to form in her eyes. Fluttershy didn’t need to see Sci-Twi’s face to know that she (Sci-Twi) was about to cry. She swiftly flew to be in front of Sci-Twi and put her hands on Sci-Twi’s shoulders, “Oh, don’t feel bad. People just need a little time to get used to people who are different from them.” Fluttershy then gave Sci-Twi a sincere smile. “I’m sure the Shadowbolts will come around once they take the time to get to know you.” Fluttershy took a moment and paused in thought, “If you want,” she started she brought her hands down to her side and closed her eyes. “I can be your friend.” Sci-Twi wiped the tears that formed in the corner of her eyes, “Really?” she asked with a twinge of fear in her voice. She feared that she was being strung along. Fluttershy opened her eyes and continued to smile, “Of course, everyone deserves kindness.” Fluttershy then pulled Sci-Twi into another hug. After a solid minute of hugging. Fluttershy ended the hug. “Do you feel better?” Fluttershy asked. Sci-Twi nodded. The two then saw the time. “Well, this has been quite a day. We should probably get to bed and call it a night.” Sci-Twi nodded and left. As Sci-Twi left, Fluttershy shuddered for a moment. Unbeknownst to her a yellow ball of light left her and flew into Sci-Twi. “Well, good night.” Fluttershy sighed before she joined up with her friends as they all elected to call it a night. Sci-Twi, however, felt the absorption of the yellow light. She leaned against the wall in shock, this was the second time something like that happened. ‘Maybe’ she thought, ‘I should go to bed’. The next day, around noon, Sunset, was in the library and found Sci-Twi reading books. “You’ve been busy today,” Sunset said as she looked at all the books stacked. She then turned to Sc-Twi, "but did you have something to eat?” Sci-Twi turned from her book to Sunset, “Oh, I thought that maybe if I read a few books I might be able to recall what happened before…” She trailed off as she looked at the book, not reading the text. Sunset shook her head as she walked to Sci-Twi and closed the book she was reading. “Filling your brain with facts won’t bring memories back,” Sunset then lowered her tone and spoke under her breath, “If there were memories there.” Sci-Twi seemed to not notice what she said and looked at the closed book. Before she could say anything, Sunset took her hand, “Come on, let’s get something to eat.” Sunset then began to head out pulling Sci-Twi behind her. Unbeknownst to her, Sci-Twi’s cheeks took a couple shades of red, and Sci-Twi couldn’t help but smile not unlike a giddy school-girl. About half an hour later, Sunset and Sci-Twi arrived in the courtyard of the castle and saw a table with a spread of vegetables, fruits, small sandwiches, etc. Also, in the courtyard where everyone that was in the dining hall during Pinkie’s brief party and many more. Near the farthest wall from Sunset and Sci-Twi was a disc jockey booth, and at it was Lemon Zest, taking on the role of a DJ. Sunset looked around at all the people, “Well, Pinkie sure knows how to get a party going.” Sunset then laughed before she handed Sci-Twi a sandwich, “Better eat before joining the actual party.” Sci-Twi nodded as she accepted the sandwich. As she ate, Sunset left to chat with Applejack and Fluttershy, and others at the party. Sci-Twi, however, didn’t follow. She wasn’t sure how to go forward or what to do. Elsewhere in the courtyard, Rarity, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were looking over the scene. Rarity turned to the jester concerned about the whole thing, “Pinkie, I don’t think this is a good idea. We don’t have permission to be throwing this party.” Pinkie then pulled out of one of her pockets a series of paper. “Au contraire, mon amie,” she said as she handed them to Rarity, who shared the paperwork with Rainbow Dash and waved her right index finger with her eyes closed. “As you can see, I have all the necessary permits.” Rainbow looked through the last of the papers and was totally stunned. As she handed them back to Pinkie, “Pinkie, how did you get these?” she asked her friend. Pinkie put all the papers back into her pockets as she closed her eyes and smiled, “Easy,” she said as she waved her right hand, “Lemon Zest got them for me in exchange for making her the master of ceremonies.” Lemon’s voice was then heard, mostly in the background, “Hello, Midnight Castle!” Everyone then cheered in response. “Is everybody ready to rock?!” she asked rhetorically and was answered with more cheers followed by the start of the music. Pinkie then turned back to Rainbow and Rarity with a devious smirk on her face, “Technically, this is Lemon’s party.” Rainbow Dash could only give a deadpan expression, “That’s borderline evil, Pinkie Pie.” she stated with a deadpan tone that matched Applejack’s straight woman take. Rainbow then paused and a devious smirk that matched Pinkie’s grew on her face. “It’s so” she then paused again, most likely for dramatic tension before she shouted, “AWESOME!” Rarity shook her head in annoyance. “I’m surrounded by idiots, ” she said as she partly rolled her eyes and facepalmed before she left the two. Pinkie and Rainbow both shared a laughed as Rarity was so dramatic. As the two laughed, Pinkie spotted that Sci-Twi was still very much alone and not interacting with anyone. “‘Scuse me, Dashie.” She then gave Rainbow a quick peck on her cheek and vanished. Rainbow had a slight blush and noticed that her ethereal wings were rigid, “Oh come on! Seriously!” she groaned as she went to one of the tables with a punch bowl. As Sci-Twi watched everyone interacted with each other, she could not help but feel like she didn’t belong. She turned to walk away only to see Pinkie more or less manifest right in front of her. “Ah!” Sci-Twi screamed in shock. Pinkie tilted her head to her left, “Enjoying the party?” she asked. Sci-Twi looked around a little nervously. But when it was clear to Pinkie that she didn’t have an answer. “You know, something’s missing,” Pinkie said as she looked around and tapped her lips with her index finger. After a moment of thought, before Sci-Twi could give an answer, Pinkie grabbed Sci-Twi’s hand “I know what it is!” and pulled her along, “Come on!” Sci-Twi cried “Aah!” as she was dragged along. Before Sci-Twi could tell what was going on she was standing next to Pinkie on one of the overlooks of the courtyard. Next to the two were half a dozen light blue cartoonish looking cannons with wheels that were mostly purple with pink along the rim and a yellow flower in the center. Sci-Twi’s eyes were wide open in shock. “What in the world are these things?” she asked as she tried to fathom what they were. Pinkie looked at Sci-Twi like she was looking at a child, “Party cannons,” Pinkie answered with a big smile on her face and her eyes closed like she was clarifying something in one of the stories she would read to Pound and Pumpkin. “I never leave home without at least one. Or my welcome wagon.” Pinkie said as she pulled into one of her pockets and pulled out an enclosed wagon that looked like a barrel with the word ‘Welcome’ written along one of the sides. Pinkie put the wagon back into her pocket leave a flabbergasted and shocked Sci-Twi in the wake. Sci-Twi elected to save her sanity and not question the existence of the cannons or the wagon or how Pinkie was able to fit them into her pockets. However, she did look at the cannons nervously before turning to Pinkie. “Um, are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked. Pinkie closed her eyes and smiled as she faced Sci-Twi, “Oh it’s totally a bad idea, but it’s so much,” Pinkie paused as she turned to look in front of her. She slowly opened her eyes narrowly, “Fun.” she whispered as she lit the match in her hand and put it to the fuse of the party cannon closest to her, and the next and the next until all of them were lit. Sci-Twi had no idea what was about to happen and was about to panic when she saw Pinkie somehow was dressed in pink padded clothes and hiding under pink pillows. Before Sci-Twi could do anything, the cannons each went off with a...squeak. Sci-Twi could not help but laugh as she witnessed confetti be shot out of the cannons and to the tune of an overture. Sci-Twi didn’t know the name of the overture, but it was the overture of the 1812th anniversary of the founding of Mystica. Everyone cheered. Pinkie turned to Sci-Twi. “Laughter. Medicine for the soul. And is that a smile?” Pinkie asked as she saw Sci-Twi beam. “It is.” Pinkie cheered and hugged Sci-Twi. Pinkie then broke the hug, “I don’t think we formally introduced ourselves. I know you’re Twilight, but…” Pinkie turned to Lemon, “Hit it, Lemon,” Lemon nodded and changed the tune to sound like a march. Pinkie then held out her hand like she was introducing herself and started to sing, “My name is Pinkie Pie (Hello!)” Twilight accepted the hand. “And I am here to say (How ya doin'?) I'm gonna make you smile and I will brighten up your day”, as Pinkie sang she jumped with Sci-Twi and the two were held up by everyone else. The two were riding the wave. “It doesn't matter now (What's up?) If you are sad or blue (Howdy!) 'Cause cheering up my friends is just what Pinkie's here to do,” As the two rode the wave, ever so often Pinkie would pop up next to Sci-Twi which caused her to have a few laughs. “'Cause I love to make you smile, smile, smile Yes I do It fills my heart with sunshine all the while Yes it does 'Cause all I really need's a smile, smile, smile From these happy friends of mine.” As Pinkie reached this point, she gestured to Lemon to kill the song. Reluctantly Lemon did and the crowd put Sci-Twi and Pinkie. Everyone returned to the party, and while most went back to their own conversations, a couple of people walked up to Sci-Twi and started to talk with her. Pinkie was happy with her work. Unbeknownst to her, a pink light formed in front of her chest from her body and flew into and was absorbed by Sci-Twi. However, she did feel tired for a second, “Woah, I am feeling a little pooped.” she said in her slight moment of fatigue. That, however, didn’t last when she was handed a cupcake. She ate in one bite, “Mmmm,” and she was back to her chipper self. Sci-Twi felt the absorption of what she could only fathom as energy, but with Lemon Zest’s changing of the music to a faster tempo, Sci-Twi thought it might have been her heartbeat increasing with the beat of the music. Sci-Twi was not the only one to notice what happened, Applejack actually witnessed the pink light exit Pinkie and then be absorbed by Sci-Twi. Applejack knew something was off. Magic doesn’t normally behave like that, but it wasn’t like when Tirek drained magic from her and her friends. It was much more… passive, like a sponge with water. And while Applejack still could not sense any evil from Sci-Twi, it still unnerved her. She walked over to the table with the punch bowl and saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy there, however only Rainbow was having another drink. “Yah know that ain’t mah family’s cider. And besides the fire yah got goin’, well, it can’t be clunch, ya have tah smother it.” Applejack joked as she noticed that Rainbow’s wings were still slightly rigid. She chuckled as she patted Rainbow on her shoulder. Fluttershy gave a giggle. Rainbow groaned as she turned to face Applejack, “Seriously, I’m not interested in Pinkie Pie like that. It was one night. One bucking night.” Applejack chuckled a little, as Fluttershy tried to hide another giggle, “Ah think yah both did more than just buck that night.” she joked. Rainbow Dash groaned. Applejack had a couple more laughs but then turned serious, “But since we’re on the topic of Pinkie, yah’re gonna think Ah’m madder than a march hare, but Ah saw a pink light form from Pinkie and fly into Sci-Twi’s chest.” Rainbow turned to face Applejack with an eyebrow raised and her eyes slightly squinted. “Ah don’t expect yah to believe mah. But Pinkie did look a little drained after that light formed.” Rainbow Dash put down her drink and gave a ‘huh’, as she thought back. “Come to think of it, yesterday as we cleaned up after the party Pinkie tried to throw, I flew by Sci-Twi and fell to the ground for some reason.” Fluttershy also thought back to the day before, “Actually something like happened to me too.” she said. Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash turned their attention to their timid druid friend. “I saw her leave the hall. I followed her and offered to become her friend and she accepted it. Before she left for her room, I felt drained.” Applejack started to let those words sink in when Cinch stepped into the courtyard and everyone fell silent, even Lemon killed the music. For a solid second, only crickets chirping could be heard. Cinch in a calm collected tone, “This party is over. Everyone is to go home, and close the gates on your way out.” Cinch ordered in one breath. No one challenged the baroness, and all but the castle staff, Sci-Twi, and the Rainbolts, as the Rainbooms and Shadowbolts have agreed to call be called when the two groups are working with each other, were left. Cinch turned to Shadowbolts and looked at each of them, one by one. “Now, which one of the five of you gave Ms. Pie permission to throw a party?” she asked. The Shadowbolts glanced at each other unsure about how to answer the question, each in a “should we or should we not?” kind of way, before Sunny, Sour, Sugarcoat and Indigo simultaneously answered, “Lemon.” As the four other Shadowbolts said “Lemon,” Lemon said “Me.” Cinch focused solely on Lemon and gave her an ice-cold glare before she turned to everyone else, “I will say what I am about to say only once.” She paused as everyone turned the focus solely on the baroness. “From now on, no one enters or leaves the castle without my permission.” Everyone had a shiver of fear, even though Cinch was visibly as calm as a cucumber. Cinch then turned her focus solely on the Shadowbolts, “The next time I catch anyone of you doing something like this, all five of you will be cleaning the bathrooms in the barracks.” Cinch then turned from the Shadowbolts and left the courtyard. Sci-Twi walked towards the Shadowbolts, but before she could say anything... well, if looks could kill, Sci-Twi’s physical body would have been fully converted into energy. The Shadowbolts then turned to get the supplies to clean the courtyard, the Rainbooms having elected to help them. Alone, Sci-Twi concluded that the reason Cinch called the party short was her. A wave of guilt rushed over her, and she chose to go after Cinch. After a short run, she found Cinch in the hallway signing a piece of parchment and handing it to Juniper. “Baroness, if I may know?” Sci-Twi started to ask. Cinch finished signing and turned her attention to Sci-Twi, “Why won’t you let me meet anyone outside the castle?” Sci-Twi looked away from Cinch, like a frightened child, “I was starting to make friends.” Cinch gave a small smile, and shook her head softly, “My dear Twilight, your new, so-called friends only treated you well because they didn’t know who or what you are.” Cinch paused as she took Sci-Twi’s chin. “Once they find out, there is no guarantee that they won’t hesitate to cast you out or even harm you.” Cinch brought Sci-Twi’s face to look up at her, “Humans tend to fear what they don’t understand and destroy what they fear.” She let loose her hold on Sci-Twi’s chin and looked into Sci-Twi’s eyes, “How do you think you ended up in the medical bath in the first place?” she asked, more so rhetorically. Sci-Twi looked to the floor as a sad frown formed on her lips. Cinch placed a hand on Sci-Twi shoulder and in a soft and reassuring tone, not unlike a caring mother, “I’m only doing all this for your own good. You wouldn’t want to get hurt all over again now, would you?” Sci-Twi sadly turned away from Cinch, “No, ma’am.” she whispered more so to keep the pain of being denied something that seemed to fit her so much from showing. Cinch patted Sci-Twi on her shoulder again with a soft smile still on her face, “There’s a good girl.” she the patted Sci-Twi on the head affectionately, “Now, why don’t you help the others clean up Ms. Pie and Lemon’s mess out in the courtyard?” Sci-Twi looked back at Cinch and reluctantly nodded, “Yes, ma’am.” Sci-Twi then left Cinch and went back to the courtyard. As Sci-Twi left her sights, Cinch scowled. “Blast those Mysticans. They are accelerating everything.” She turned towards her office. As she walked, she thought about everything and a smile formed. “Maybe this can work out after all.” She had a soft chuckle.