//------------------------------// // — Chapter Twenty — // Story: Finding Friendship // by Kamen-Zero //------------------------------// --- Of Revelations and Resolve --- Twilight abruptly awoke to the morning sunshine with a sharp gasp, disoriented and alarmed from what she had just dreamed of. It took her a few moments to get her bearings, eyes darting about the room frantically as she tried to recognize where she was. Needless to say, Twilight was baffled by the fact that she was back in her home. The last thing she remembered was falling into unconsciousness as she plummeted to her inevitable doom from atop the Everfree Forest's resident giant tree. How she had gotten from there to here was a mystery to her, as was the unusual dream that served as a connecting point from then to now. "I... what... where?!" Her brief and hectic questions came out in the form of quick wheezes, the young alicorn unsure if the world around her was real or just another dream. Some of the alarm she was experiencing though was diminished once she took notice of the long dragon sleeping peacefully in her bed with her. How or why he had gotten there—or how she hadn't woke him with her outburst—was irrelevant, seeing him safe was always a sure way to calm Twilight's easily roused nerves. A smile crept over her face as she carefully climbed out of bed, not wanting to disturb him anymore. And it was thanks to his presence that Twilight was finally able to begin rationalizing her thoughts. But as she climbed out of bed, she felt something slide out from behind her ear and fell to the floor. The bit of twig that somehow served as a timberwolf repellent, she soon discovered. It was placed upon the nightstand for the time being—there were more pressing matters at hoof, at the moment. "Okay... I probably cast the teleport spell just before passing out as a reflex," she theorized out loud, beginning a series of deep breaths as she paced about her room. "The reentry probably woke Spike, he got worried, and climbed into bed with me... yeah, that makes sense." She nodded in approval of her own hypothesis, turning her focus instead to the unusual dream—even by recent standards—she had just experienced. There was something about it that didn't quite feel right about it. It was too vivid. Too real. "Dream-walking..." she murmured aloud, recalling the last words spoken to her before her rude awakening, "Dream-walking... I know I've heard that before... but from where?" Glancing about the room once more, she caught a glimpse of her cloak and saddlebags laying off in one corner of the room. Said items began to glow with her magic and followed her out of the bedroom, Twilight deciding that Spike could sleep a little while longer. In the meantime, she began to retrieve a series of old books from her pouch as the cloak was returned to the coat rack where she typically kept it. Seven or so books had been drawn forth from her collection, books that she was now relieved that she didn't sell to Knox way back when. With superb multitasking skills she had honed during her school days, Twilight began to skim through the selection of books she had in her possession. They orbited around her in slow circles, Twilight giving each one only a few seconds of attention before moving onto the next. If she were actually trying to read these books, this method of information intake would be utterly pointless. But for quick sessions of skimming, trying to find something specific? It was fast enough for her needs. "Ah-ha! Dream-walking!" Twilight laughed at her triumph as the now unneeded books were neatly stacked upon the table via her magical appendage, not paying much mind to them as she began to read the passage she had found and began to read aloud. "Let's see... A school of magic developed in year 332 of the Grand Harmonic Calendar, designed to allow the user to traverse the dreams of willing subjects as a form of primitive therapy. "The user is placed in a lucid state of semi-sleep where they can freely interact with the dreamscape of the subject, drawing forth memories and stimuli lost in the subconscious mind or creating deceptively realistic illusions, effectively allowing the user to lucid dream for the subject. A vast majority of spells crafted in this field were deemed class one felonies in the year 411 GHC, due to how easily they could be abused for collecting sensitive and private information or psychologically harming individuals by inducing consistent and vivid nightmares." The passage was short, nothing specific, but it at least gave Twilight a general idea of what had happened. If nothing else, it explained how the Mare in the Moon had been visiting her in her dreams. She was alive and well in the time period where these spells were being taught, and would have no doubt had viable access to the resources in which to learn them. But that didn't explain how Twilight had been dream-walking herself. She didn't know any of that magic, and all information on how to cast it was either lost to time or locked away somewhere far underneath Canterlot. And Twilight wasn't exactly keen on learning illegal magic anyway, no matter how curious she got. "Later on in the field's lifespan, however, alternative uses for the method had been developed. It became possible to project one's consciousness independent of their body into the real world, causing the infamous Ghost Sightings of 402. From there, it became possible to observe other planes of existence through this method, as well as... pull other individuals into one's own dream..." And there it was, as plain as the horn upon her head, the answer to her conundrum staring her right in the face. If she really had been dream-walking last night, the only logical explanation would be that someone else had dragged her into their dream. But there was only one pony—that Twilight knew of—who could do that. And thus, the question of "why?" had reared its ugly head. "A crash course on Old Equestrian History through the eyes of someone who was there... But why?" The remaining book was placed on the table next to its kin, Twilight continuing to ponder as she went to go begin breakfast. No use over-exerting herself on an empty stomach after all. Perhaps having some good brain food would do her some good in figuring out what was going on. Eggs were the first thing that came to mind, so that's what Twilight began to cook. Today felt like a sunny-side-up kind of day, as well as some toast and some fruit. She momentary lamented the fact that they had run out of strawberry jam—which would facilitate a later trip to the market—and she confined herself and Spike to only having toast with butter. Oh well, it wasn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. And as the seductive sizzling scents of the eggs began to fill the air, that one minor inconvenience became less and less relevant. What was relevant, however, was the previous night's bout of dream-walking. The dream she had evidently been drawn into was still at the forefront of her thoughts, lingering like the bad dream it was. Brief yet vivid flashes from the life of one of Equestria's most significant historical figures, shown to Twilight for reasons that were still unclear. She strained herself in an attempt to recall every detail she could, as most of it was now hazy and distant in the waking world. The only detail of any real significance she could drag back up was two simple words. "Salutați corul," she muttered to herself, continuing the preparations for the morning meal to come. "No doubt about it now. Whatever Knox is doing, it can't be good..." The alicorn had already deduced as much, but last night was the final nail in the coffin. Knox's secrets were tied to long since concluded tragedies, and now Twilight was equally connected to the distant past. It wasn't exactly a settling thought, though. Especially seeing as how there was some mysterious interloper who had seen it fitting to lure her into the forest to learn this. And as Twilight began to set the table for her and Spike's breakfast, something caught her eye. The saddlebag she had placed on the table earlier was still open, and within the darkness of the pouch she could just make out the dim glow of her sill-inactive travel amulet. Unpleasant memories of how it had reacted to that thing in the woods last night flashed into her head, the young alicorn wincing as she recalled falling off of that tree. This was when Twilight began to dwell less on what that dream had entailed, and more about what had caused it in the first place. A glowing green shard of... something. That something had resonated with her amulet, causing the chain reaction that had plunged her into that unusual and unnerving dream. She reached into the bag and withdrew the artifact, gazing quizzically at the gem embedded at its core. It had returned to only containing just a brief glint of light, a far cry from the blinding beams emanating from it last night. "It reacted to this," she reminded herself, "Why did it react to this?" She overturned the amulet in her arcane grip, examining it with the utmost intensity she could. It didn't make sense, this thing composed of metal and crystal should not have had the capacity to have done such a thing. It was made with exactly one purpose and didn't have the ability to accomplish anything else. This amulet was made to interact with the magics within the Tree of Harmony, allowing one to travel through its roots to just about anywhere in the world. And, in theory, anywhere beyond. "The Tree of Harmony..." She became fixated on those words, the intensive quizzical look upon her face melting away while a wide-eyed look of sudden realization took its place. "The amulet reacts to the Tree of Harmony... or, a piece of it..." Her breathing became heavier as the implications became clear, the amulet falling to the floor with a loud clack as she backed away from it. That thing in the forest reacted to an artifact with undeniable ties to the Tree of Harmony. By that logic, the thing in the forest must have had some link to the tree as well. How and why was beyond Twilight right now, but there was a connection. And just as her gut told her last night, there must have been some greater purpose to her being here than just a simple accident. She was there for a reason, she was told that there were answers in the Everfree for a reason, and she was shown those visions for a reason. And that was enough to worry her deeply. Especially when she considered who it was who had given her that amulet in the first place, Queen Celestia II herself, the very same pony who was responsible for Twilight's alicorn ascension. Her mind shifted back to the day she and Spike had left Canterlot, nearly three years ago now. Distinctly remembering the last time she saw her family as if it had been only a few moments ago, and receiving that well-made suit of armor that her brother had gotten prepared for her journey. But the armor wasn't the only parting gift she had been given that day, as Equestria's Queen herself had seen it fit to bestow Twilight the very amulet that now laid upon the ground. By her own words, it was a way to keep in touch, to come back home at any time and see those she was leaving behind. But now, looking upon the fallen relic, there was this unshakable feeling that there was more to this gift than just an easy way back home. No, Celestia II was the oldest living pony in the whole of history, and throughout her many years, there was seemingly no end to the wisdom and knowledge she had accrued. Not to mention the fact that she had very likely mastered the art of divination years ago. If she had allowed Twilight to become an alicorn and had given her this priceless magical artifact, then surely there had to be some reason behind the queen's actions, right? Did she set all of this up? Twilight wasn't sure if she wanted an answer to that question, and her knees shook as she picked up the amulet she had dropped. Is this why I'm here? To be her puppet? "Twilight?" Spike's sudden interruption caused Twilight to jump in shock with a small "eep." She turned her panicked gaze towards the drowsy-looking long dragon. He must have been awoken by the lingering aroma of the breakfast Twilight had prepared just moments ago. Lost within the unending labyrinth of her own thoughts, she had entirely forgotten that she had even done that much this morning. She somehow managed to chuckle at herself for forgetting that, in spite of the upsetting thoughts roaming freely in her head. "Oh. Good morning, Spike," the alicorn greeted normally enough, "I'm guessing a rough night is why you wound up in my bed?" "Mmmhmm..." A languid accompanied the rubbing of one eye as Spike climbed up on to the chair, a plate of food being put before him soon after. A loud yawn was heard from him before the dreary look on his face faded away as he fully woke up for the day. "Had a really weird dream... how're you holding up?" "Me?" Twilight froze for a moment as she served her own breakfast. The hesitation was shaken off quickly though and she managed to return a kindly smile in Spike's dirrection. "Nothing's wrong." Spike's eyes narrowed at the responce, gazing upon the alicorn as she began to eat her breakfast. "That... makes me feel like there is something wrong." "What? N-no there isn't." Twilight's apparent anxiety was obscured by the half-chewed bite of toast sitting in her mouth. It was gulped down in a manner that could be seen as rude, the alicorn acting hastily to try and cover-up what was going on. "Everything's fine. I promise." "Are you sure?" Spike held a claw up to the side of his face and pointed to one of his eyes. "Because you're doing that really weird tiny-eye thing that you do when you're really freaking out." A moment of uncertainty followed the dragon's accusation, Twilight unsure what to even make of that claim. She had to think about what he had said for a moment, or rather what he was trying to say. If Twilight's eyes had become "tiny," as Spike had put it, because of fear or anxiety, then there was only one symptom that Spike had to have been pointing out. "You mean my eyes are dilated?" "I guess. But you're still doing it. Which means something's wrong. So what's wrong?" "I... I'm fine. What makes you think there's something wrong?" "I don't know. Just a feeling. Do you want to talk about it?" Well, he was right about that, there was something wrong. From what was supposedly going on with Knox and his mysterious third floor, to the supposed meddling from the Queen of all Equestria. She couldn't recall a time where she felt as anxious and paranoid as she did right now, which was saying something considering where she went to school. But these were all Twilight's problems, Spike didn't need to concern himself with any of it. "Spike, if something was wrong, I'd tell—" "Do you need to talk about it?" Twilight didn't say anything, not at first anyway. She just stared at the long dragon, and he stared right back with this unwavering look of determination. He wasn't going to let this go without a fight. But of course, this was a fight Twilight had every intention of winning. Spike was far too young to be worrying about the conspiracies and problems she was plagued with right now, and the last thing Twilight wanted was to inflict these same emotions onto him. He already had enough to deal with as it was, and she couldn't possibly bring it upon herself to add to that. But before the alicorn could even throw a punch, metaphorically speaking, Spike was already going for the kill. "You made me talk when I was upset. So now it's your turn. Talk." His glare intensified, there was no chance he would let this go. He had a point, she had to give him that. Just yesterday, she had pressured Spike into opening up after he had deflected the topic in just this same manner. That combined with the steely-eyed look he was giving her was enough to make Twilight question her own silence on the issue. Was it hypocritical of her to do the very thing she told Spike not to do? Absolutely, one hundred percent. But it was a necessary evil. Right? The longer she looked at those determined green eyes of his, the more Twilight felt like she had to tell him the truth. Whether she liked it or not, Spike was indirectly involved with all of this going on. If something were to happen to Twilight, then the impact on Spike would be astronomical. The only other living thing who knew he was even here was Fluttershy, and that could be either better or worse than Spike being left alone in this house. Waiting in vain for Twilight to come back until, after a lack of paying rent, the landlord came in to clean the house out. That wasn't a pleasant thought in the slightest, and Twilight was astute in purging it from her mind. Instead, she focused solely on the here and now, Spike in particular. He wanted to help her, just as she had helped him yesterday. Or tried to, at the very least. She didn't just magically make his troubles go away, and he was undoubtedly aware of that fact. But he must have been equally aware that just talking about it had helped him, so he must have assumed that the same would be true for Twilight. The little guy had always had a way of knowing when Twilight was being bothered by something and had shown that he wasn't exactly a fan of those somethings. And maybe, Twilight pondered, he was right. She was aware of the fact that she wasn't the most open of ponies, it was a necessity given the secrets she carried, and that had only worsened within the past few days. It was decided at that moment. She wouldn't tell him everything, but she'd tell him enough to ease his worries and lessen her own burden. After breakfast, that is. After all, their food was getting cold and Twilight was hungry. The meal went by in a painfully slow manner this morning, an undeniable aura of tension building up over the dining room table as Spike and Twilight partook in the day's most important meal. Not once did Spike take his eyes off of his alicorn caretaker, never letting his determined glare falter for even a second. He was resolute on getting her to talk to him, for her sake, and wasn't going to be letting the subject go anytime soon. Twilight, in the meanwhile, took her time with her food, using said time to think up exactly what she was going to tell Spike. Her expedition into the Everfree Forest and last night's dream were simply out of the question, just because she was going to tell him what was going on didn't mean he had to know about those specific incidents. She didn't want to scare him, after all. She was hesitant about even telling him about Knox—seeing how the only thing she knew for sure was that he had somehow blocked all memory of the library's third floor with some still-unknown magic. She'd also decided to tell him about how she learned of this fact—that little get together with Applejack and Rarity. After that, the only thing left was her current suspicions towards Fluttershy. Something she wasn't sure if she wanted to delve into or not, as Fluttershy was the first pony Spike had any meaningful interactions with in the past two years. It might not be best to sour that relationship, but she could at least voice her concerns in regards to the timid pegasus. After all, there was no evidence to support that she was involved, maybe she was just in a situation similar to Applejack's. And once breakfast was finished, Twilight explained all that she was comfortable explaining to the long dragon in a fairly timely manner. In retrospect, there wasn't much at all to explain, but it was enough to get Spike to settle back down. It was obvious that her little story was unsettling to his young mind, but not enough for him to ask for her to stop altogether. "Okay... not what I was expecting..." Spike sat beside Twilight on the hideous green couch, eyes locked squarely on the wooden floor below. He had this dumbfounded look upon his face as he tried to process the short story he had just been told. "I just thought... you were upset about something..." "Well, I'm not exactly happy about any of this," Twilight chuckled in response, "But I know what you mean." The two of them sat there in silence for a bit, neither one quite sure of what exactly to say next. Taking advantage of the lull in the discourse, Twilight descended from the tackey piece of furniture to clean up the mess left behind from breakfast. The task had been ignored in favor of explaining the current happenings to Spike, leaving the dishes dirtied and left out. If her mother had been here she would have lost her mind, Twilight found herself realizing as she began to scrub the remnants of egg and jelly from the plates. That mare ran a tight ship of a household, and sloppiness like this would have gotten the young alicorn a stern talking too. "So, what're we gonna do?" Spike asked out of the blue as he sauntered into the kitchen. His mood had taken a complete turn around, far more optimistic and cheerful then he had been earlier in the morning. "Don't know yet, I want to get more information before I—" Twilight stopped herself once she took notice of what exactly Spike had asked. "Wait. 'we'?" "Yeah, we. What are we going to do?" "... We're not doing anything. I'm the one who's taking care of this," Twilight submerged the plates and silverware in a sinkful of hot soapy water to soak before turning back to Spike, "I only told you this so you'd stop worrying." "How could I not worry after what you just told me?" Despite the good point he had just made, Spike seemed way too excited to get involved in this mess. His tail served as a clear indication of his elation, wildly whipping at the air behind him. "Come on, you gotta let me help! This is just like those old detective books you used to read me!" I read him detective stories? Twilight questioned herself, thinking back to try and recall if she ever had done such a thing. It certainly sounded like something she would have done, as detective stories were ones she had a passion for back in the day, but she couldn't remember any specific instance of this happening. The alicorn had read a lot of books to the long dragon, after all, so it was possible that she had done as he claimed. Regardless, it wasn't important right now. She simply rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the dirty dishes. "This... this isn't some story, Spike. I have no idea how dangerous any of this actually is." "Then why are you messing around with it?" "... I offered, remember? I told Applejack I'd help in exchange for information." That was the closest thing Twilight had to an answer right there. His question was a tough one, one that she wasn't sure she could even answer. "But why did you need to know?" "Because... I don't know, I'm OCD I guess. I don't like not knowing things!" "No, that's not like you." Spike shook his head as his expression turned freezingly stern. "You don't do anything without a reason for doing it. So why are you doing this?" Twilight took those words to heart, asking herself the exact same thing. Again, why was she pursuing all of this? Whatever was going on in this town didn't have anything to do with her. She had come to this same conclusion just last night, but there was no destiny-driven gust of wind to redirect her thoughts this time. Even her academic mind was able to accept that some unknowable force was behind all of this—either the will ancient all-knowing tree, or the manipulation of the Queen who made Twilight what she was now. In this one moment, every logical aspect of her mind screamed at her to get out of this while she could. To not be the puppet of the divine, to just take Spike and walk away from all of this. Just like she did two years ago. And just like she had been doing ever since. Over the past two years of traveling the world, the solution to most of Twilight's problems had just been to walk away when she got the opportunity. Whether it was Spike being discovered by other ponies somewhere outside of Manehatten, or becoming an unintentional witness of someone else's life taking a sour turn, Twilight's answer to everything had just been to move on. Never stopping, never looking back, always moving forward. Which is what she knew she should be doing in this instance, it was the easiest way to get her and Spike out of any potential danger. But there was something else, something that was screaming just as loudly as her logic. This indescribable burning feeling, welling up from somewhere deep inside the young alicorn. She couldn't stop it, she couldn't fight it, and she wasn't sure if she even wanted to fight it. Whatever this feeling was just felt right. And before she was able to formulate an answer for Spike's question, that burning feeling compelled her to speak. "Because... I can't just keep walking away from problems, Spike," she explained to both the long dragon and to herself, "There is something wrong going on here. And I feel like I have to do something about it. That I'm the only one who can do something about it. So I'm going to try and do something about it. And you're going to stay out of it." She turned away and focused her thoughts on cleaning the dirty plates, hoping that the menial task would cleanse her mental palette. It didn't, obviously, as her astute mind was far too worried about what she had just said. That answer had just come out of nowhere, practically involuntary on her behalf, but she didn't feel the need to try and back peddle on it. It still felt right to her, it felt right to not want to walk away from a problem. She knew it was dangerous, she knew that from the moment she witnessed the memory-dampening curse she had seen inflicted upon Rarity, but against all odds that only seemed to motivate her more. This was something big, bigger than even she could fully grasp at the moment. But she was also an alicorn, a nigh-immortal super pony with tremendous magical potential far exceeding that of the average equine. If anyone in the whole world was equipped with the tools to do anything about this, it was her. She still didn't like the possibility of this being put into place by Queen Celestia, but she couldn't just walk away. Especially after she had offered to help. "It's just something I have to do, Spike," Twilight continued, "I'll be fine. You don't have to worry. This will all be over before you know it." "But I want to help!" Spike shouted eagerly as he took an almost predatory stance, ready to pounce on some invisible prey. "Why won't you let me—?!" "Because I'm less breakable than you are." Twilight sharply interrupted, not looking back as the dragon flinched from her sudden shout. The brief flash of anger didn't last long, however, and soon Twilight adopted a more tired-sounding tone. "I... I don't want you to get hurt again. Or worse. You just recovered from that wolf bite. You don't need to be involved in this mess. I only told you because you kept on persisting. And now I want you to stop worrying." "I just... wanted to help..." There was an earnest sense of disappointment coming from Spike as he slowly slinked away back towards the eyesore of a couch. It seems that he was sincerely looking forward to contributing in some way, only to be shot down faster than a griffon stupid enough to try and fly around in Klugetown. And now I feel bad. Twilight watched silently as the long dragon flopped onto the couch with a depressed sigh. Why couldn't he have come with an instruction manual? A stupid question, for sure, but one that Twilight wished she could get an answer too. She also wished she could get an answer as to how to get his spirits back up. A vast majority of the previous day had been spent trying to improve his mood, and she had just ruined that in ten seconds flat. In fact, she might have made the problem worse just now. Letting Spike stew in his own troubles was one thing, but actively denying him a part in her life? That was something else entirely. It was heartbreaking. But what else could she do? She had a responsibility to keep him out of harm's way—a responsibility that she had not-so-great at as of late. At the same time, however, she couldn't just cut him out like this. Not after telling him almost everything she had been up to—and especially not after spending so much time away from him during their stay here in this town. It wasn't fair to him in the slightest. Though there was no way to remedy this, she couldn't risk something happening to him. As she continued to watch the dragon sulk in self-pity and defeat, there was a sudden flicker of inspiration that came to mind in a brief flash. A delightfully devilish idea that would serve to kill two birds with one stone. Maybe she couldn't risk letting Spike help her on this mission of hers, but maybe there was a way to get around that little limitation. A clever smile found its new home on her lips as she walked towards the couch to counsel her draconic companion. "Hey, Spike? On second thought, I think there is a way you can help out. If you still want to, that is." Spike's reaction was immediate and very telling of his answer.