//------------------------------//
// Ch.23 The Call to Action 
// Story: The First Star of Twilight 
// by Arcanum -Phantasy 
//------------------------------//

They say that one's room reflects the soul of the one who lives in it. For someone like Twilight, that meant a neat and organized room where everything had its place. For Lemon, it was a mass of chaos with small pockets of order scattered around. If one were to wander into Sugar's room, they would see a truly odd sight indeed.
Unlike most rooms, Sugar's bedroom as circular as opposed to square with an equally round queen-sized bed at its center.  At the back of the room stood a large round window, emerald curtains with oriental dragons printed across them blocking out the sun. One half of the room was perfectly organized, with computer, desk, dresser, and bookshelves all cleaned to a brilliant white in spite of the their years of use. The other half of the room was a mass of organized chaos with fantasy posters, half-painted figurines, dry erase mats, D&D books, and dozens of notebooks spread out across three fully loaded oaken tables in designated sectors.
On the border between these two extremes, Sugar softly snored, her teddybear onesie she always wore to bed hidden under a thick gray comforter. A look of pure peace graced her face, her silver hair free from their usual three ponytails framing it from the outer rim of her hood.
At the clicking of her internal clock, she slowly started to stir. Mumbling incoherently to herself, she sat up and rubbed her eyes. The simple act made her hood fall away, revealing her silver locks in all of their glory. Still barely coherent, she leaned over to her nightstand and fumbled about for her glasses. Once she had them in place, she staggered to her feet with a long stretch.
"Time to start the day," she sighed, making her way towards her desk.
Taking her phone off of the desk, she scrolled through her messages as she tried to think of what she could do with herself today.
Being an Elite, it went without saying that she was an accomplished academic. Being among the top five made that doubly apparent. As such, it was no real surprise to anyone that knew her that she had already completed all of the assignments her teachers had tasked her with for the week. With the exception of a few figurines, this also meant that the game she was running for her friends was far ahead of schedule. All she needed to do was see when the whole group would be free. 
She was about to send a message to her boyfriend to get his opinion on the matter, when a soft crunching caught her attention.  Peeved, she turned her head towards the source, fully expecting to see a rat or some other unpleasant unwanted guest. What she saw made a look of slack-jawed shock break past her stony mask.
Sitting on her desk, reading a monster manual and munching on a potato chip, was a small dragon. 
The creature was no bigger than a house cat, its scales a continuous mix of blue and purple swirls all across its body. It lightly traced a claw across the page it was reading, its green eyes literally glowing and full of interest. Unlike the bat-like fans Sugar often thought of when she imagined such a creature, the dragon's wings were shaped like ones seen on a butterfly, their colors shifting from red, to purple, to blue, and back as the dim light hit them. Sugar could see the small smile that graced its muzzle as it read as well as the needle-like fangs it sported as it took a bite out of its snack. A tiny glint of light drew her attention to the silver ring that it had on its tail, the sapphire mounted on it seeming to almost glow in the dim light.
She barely noticed when her phone slipped out of hand, something that could not be said for the small creature. Its ear fin twitched at the soft thud the device made, then the dragon aimed a surprised gape at the stunned girl. Sugar took a quick step back, her mind struggling to make any kind of sense of what was happening. 
Shock turned into a smile from the creature and in a high-pitched, yet gentlemanly voice it said, "Good morning, my dear...Sugar Coat, was it?"
She stiffly nodded, taking another step back.
"Ah, excellent," the dragon chuckled, turning to face her fully. "My name is Dagon; it is a pleasure to finally meet-"
Before he could finish, it all became too much for her to handle and she fainted. Dagon blinked at the downed girl, then fluttered down to her side, After checking to make sure she was alright, he gave her a confused frown and crossed his arms with a huff.
"Was it something I said?"


***


Wraiths were not morning people, nor were they evening people. When your whole species could function just fine on three hours of sleep a week, it was hard to say what kind of person you were in that regard. As Petal sat, barely able to keep her eyes open at Lemon's kitchen table, there were two things that became apparent to her; coffee was a gift from both God and Rabia and that her link with Twilight had changed a few things about her physical needs. As such, any point in time before five in the morning was the product of the devil and needed to be dedicated to sleep. Anyone, sans her friends, that said otherwise was going to find the Wraith's foot shoved so far up their ass, they were going to know what her Miasma-crafted boot tasted like. In the state she was in, she considered it a small miracle she was able to assume her human form, let alone summon her usual attire.
"Not a fan of mornings?" Lemon chuckled, refilling Petal's cup.
"It's not morning," Petal growled, taking a sip from the refreshed mug. "It won't be morning for another two fucking hours."
"Whatever you say," she shrugged, taking a sip from her own mug. "Just don't let sis here you say that."
"It's not like you're ready to face the day either," Petal growled, waving a hand at the girl.
Lemon just chuckled at that, not even remotely ashamed tha she was still in her pajamas. Petal glowered at her cheer, taking a sip from her mug. It was as Petal looked away that Lemon noticed Twilight's pendant hanging from the Wraith's neck. When she woke up to see her friend laying next to her this morning, it was a pretty huge shock. That was topped when Petal told her why she was here in the first place. The idea that Twilight wanted to talk to Sour was so alien that Lemon expected to see a UFO touch down in front of her house. The fact that she wanted to do it without even Petal backing her up was almost too much for her to handle so early in the morning.
"Do you think Twilight's okay?" Lemon asked, staring contemplatively into her mug.
Petal opened her mouth to answer, but paused at the last second. Her vision turned distant, lips bent into a small frown. Lemon stared at her in concern, not sure if this was normal or a new quirk for her friend. Petal shook her head, her faculties seemingly coming back to the present with a few unnerved blinks.
"Queen that was weird," she muttered, then gave Lemon a confident smile as she added, "She's a little shaken up, but she's doing okay."
"Really? How do you know?" Lemon pressed. "Is this, like, some kind of long-distance-sense thing?"
"Kind've?" Petal offered. "It's...I don't know how do describe it. It's...It's complicated, alright?"
"It's cool, it's cool," Lemon chuckled. "So long as you two are safe, I'm not in a hurry to know how this new thing works."
"Thanks," Petal sighed. "I think Sparky would want to be here for that kind of talk anyway."
"Probably," she shrugged. "So, what do you want to do today?"
Before Petal could respond, the sound of Lemon's phone could be heard from her room. As the girl went to get it, Petal let her eyes drift towards her mug. She had no idea how to process what was happening to her. On one hand, she was happy that she could still sense Twilight's emotional state, but it didn't come without some kind of toll on her. When she tapped into their new bond, she felt a sharp pressure run through her core. 
While she didn't have any organs in the same sense as a human does, she, and all of her kind, had a jet black crystal core where a heart should be. It was through it that Wraiths channeled and created the Miasma needed to use their powers or simply live. As such, it was never a good idea for any Aether to come into contact with it; just like it would be a very bad idea for Miasma to flood a human's heart.
We can't use this trick too much, she thought with a frown, her grip tightening around her mug. If Twilight's Aether can do that to me, I don't want to know what too much of my Miasma would do to her.
Before her thoughts could get any darker, Lemon returned with her phone. Petal hid her worry behind a tired smile while her friend retook her seat. She raised a brow at the confused look the rocker sported as she slid her phone onto the middle of the table. Looking down at the device, Petal was greeted by a visibly shaken Sugar Coat on one half of the screen and a jogging Indigo Zap on the other.
"Is Twilight there too?" she asked, a faint tremble making it past her monotone.
"She's busy today," Petal frowned. "Why? What's up?"
"I wanted you all to confirm something for me," she gulped. 
"And that is?" Indigo pressed, stopping by a tree and taking a drink of water.
"Do you three see him too?" she asked, taping something on her side of the screen and changing her camera setting.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at the small dragon waving at them on the screen, Indigo hacking as she spat a mouthful of water all over herself. The camera switched back to Sugar, the girl taking a second to see her friends' reactions before letting out a relieved sigh.
"So either I am not crazy or we have all played way too much D&D lately. Since I want to assume the former, could you all come to my house now. The magic faery dragon wants to talk to us about something important."
Petal and Lemon stared at the phone, then at each other, then at their mugs of coffee. As one they nodded in agreement before chugging the remains of their now lukewarm beverages. For the Wraith and the Gifted, this was looking like it was going to be a three-cups kind of day


***


Sunny grumbled bitterly to herself, her eyes locked onto an ornate silver compass as she stomped her way through the streets. Stygian stayed close, doing his best to keep his fuming friend from walking off the sidewalk into traffic or any other obstacles. Sunny barely noticed his efforts, her mind flooded with all kinds of unflattering things she wanted to say to her target when she found him. Whether that was going to be done with or without strangling the unfortunate dragon was dependent on the circumstances she found him in at the time.
"I swear, I am going to use his hide as a belt for this," she growled, rounding a corner at the compass's prompting. 
"I'm sure he had a reason to do this," Stygian offered, guiding her further away from the edge of the sidewalk, "We both know that he never acts without reason."
"He rarely ever acts, period!" she barked, looking up from her compass to glare at her friend. "The least he could do is uphold his duty as house guardian as stated IN HIS CONTRACT!"
"Do you honestly believe he would make a contract if there was no possibility for him to find a loophole?" he calmly asked.
Sunny opened her mouth, but stopped whatever argument she had to that at the last second. Letting out a frustrated growl, she looked back down to her compass and stomped further down the street. Stygian sighed, tailing her and letting his own thoughts drift on the matter.
While Dagon was a bit...eccentric, he rarely did anything for no reason. More often than not, his lack of action was because of how his presence affected certain outcomes.The hows of that made sense only to the odd dragon and those he chose to hold his ring. The fact he took Mithril with him only added to the mystery, given how unwieldy that particular artifact could be even for the most competent Gifted.
"What could that cunning bastard be planning?" he mused.
All further thoughts on the matter were cut short when he looked up and pulled Sunny back by her shirt caller. When she turned her head to snap at him, he glared at her then pointed ahead. While she had taken note of the crosswalk, it was not long enough to see if the crossing light had been on or not. As they waited (one more patiently than the other) for the light to change, Stygian decided to shelve his thoughts on the matter. Knowing the Spirit, the answers would come when the time was right. 
Hopefully, the reason won't enrage Sunny too much more, he mused with a sigh.


***


Sugar stared at Dagon from her bed, the dragon sitting calmly on one of the gaming tables reading through one of her notebooks. After the call for help, Sugar had given the small creature a wide berth, absolutely ready to run for the door the second it tried anything funny. Picking up on the girl's discomfort, Dagon let her keep her distance, entertaining himself with the numerous books and notes left around his perch. He knew that the odds of this kind of reaction was fairly high, he had ran through the numbers dozens of times before he left Cinch Manor, after all. There were other predictions that made this particular reaction the preferable one, not just because it was the one with the lowest precent chance of violence. While casual on the surface, each of his moments were carefully measured by the most intricate calculations. Every second spent reading a page, every lick of his lips, even the number of blinks he made as he read were calculated steps that led to one particular preferred outcome.
Running through hundreds of different calculations in the blink of an eye, he looked up at Sugar with a small grin. The girl gulped, but remained seated. More calculations, then with a mental nod at the results, moved forward with his predictions.
"I am sure you have a lot of questions," he chuckled, fishing another chip out of the bag at his side. 
She nodded, nervously gnawing on her lower lip.
"You may ask me whatever you want," he chuckled. "Just know that there are a few questions I cannot answer at this time."
"O-Of course," she nodded.
Dagon chuckled warmly at that, then patently sat back on his haunches and started nibbling on his snack.
Taking the dragon's appearance into account, she knew that she had to be careful how she spoke. If the Monster Manuals were even remotely accurate, Dagon was a faery dragon. While not the most dangerous of dragons, they were still tricky to deal with and very skilled sorcerers. It also meant that there were a lot of easy ways to insult them, given the reported cultural differences between fae and human societies. Approaching her guest like one would a salesman, she carefully chose her words, then spoke her question.
"Are you a faery dragon?"
Dagon tilted his head at that, the odds of that question barely being one he actually considered calculating in advance. 
Smile taking on an impish hint, he said, "Yes and no. I am very different from the dragons of my homeland, but I do not possess a single drop of fae blood in my veins. At the same time, many dragons see me as something far more ancient than the first dragon."
"Are you a demon then?" she asked.
Dagon laughed fully at that, his tail latching onto the edge of the table to keep himself from falling over.
Regaining enough of his composure to steady himself, he responded, "I have been called that in the past, but only because my knowledge and predictions were misused. Demons are food or foe to me and I am by no means a cannibal."
Sugar nodded, taking mental notes and dropping other theories that conflicted with what she was learning.
Assuming what he is saying is true, than he only resembles a faery dragon and shares a name with a demon lord. There is also, apparently, a place on Terra that has dragons and fae living on it. There are also demons apparently.
"Are you an angel or god then?" she pressed.
"No on the first, but I suppose the latter is a close description of what I am," he shrugged, taking a bite out of his chip.
Growing tired of playing twenty questions and feeling a bit bold, Sugar decided to get straight to the point. 
"Can you tell me what you are?" she asked, leaning a little further in he seat.
"Yes," he nodded.
Silence settled between them for a few seconds, a cheeky smile slowly spreading across the dragon's muzzle.
"Will you?" Sugar frowned, crossing her arms as she caught on to the small joke the dragon threw at her.
"As you wish," he chuckled, straightening his posture and placing a hand on his chest. "I am Dagon Scientia; Spirit of Knowledge and Prophecy."
Sugar blinked dumbly at that, not expecting an actual answer, let alone that kind of reveal from her guest.
"You are a spirit?" she asked.
He nodded, crunching into his snack.
"Are there others?" she pressed.
"Yes, but you do not need to worry about them," he said, waving the next questions he knew was coming. "With the exception of two, maybe three, the rest of my kind live in my homeland and have no real interest in this one."
"You won't tell me anything about them, then?" she pressed.
"Not for a long while," he chuckled. "If things play out as they should, then there will be plenty of chances for introductions later."
"Just knowing there are other spirits out there is enough," Sugar nodded, holding back a shudder. "You said that you were the Spirit of Knowledge and Prophecy; does that mean you can see the future?"
"In a way," he shrugged. "It is more like making an extremely educated guess. Free will does tend to tip scales after all."
"I-I see," she stammered. "So, why are you here?"
"An excellent question," he beamed. "But I fear what I have to say needs to be heard by a slightly larger audience. I have the wizard, but can the bard, rogue, and cleric please join the party?"
As he said that, he made a beckoning gesture with his claw and Sugar's bedroom door flew open. Petal, Lemon, and Indigo let out startled yelps as they fell to the floor in a heap. Sugar watched her friends stagger back to their feet, the rocker of the group chuckling awkwardly, while the other two girls tried to look as unaffected by their entrence as possible. They did jump a bit when Dagon closed the door behind them, a fact that got a small chuckle out of the spirit.
"Thank you for coming today," he smiled merrily, waving a claw through the air.
To everyone's, even Sugar's, open shock, three chairs made of mist formed themselves a few feet in front of the spirit's perch. Cautiously, Lemon approached a chair and after giving it a few weary pokes, tried taking a seat. To her shock and relief, it held her weight just as easily as a normal chair would. Leerily following suit, Indigo took a seat next to her friend, the girl looking unusually timid before the smiling creature. Petal was a lot more hesitant, her face a blank mask as she met Dagon's eyes. She could feel the smug satisfaction behind them, like the small dragon knew more about her than she did herself. That he was analyzing her down to the smallest point and knew everything she was going to do far in advance. Worst of all, she could tell that he knew that she knew all of this, and was not afraid to tell her that she was right.
"No need to worry my dear," he nodded to Petal, gesturing a claw down to the remaining chair. "It will not hurt you. Not anymore, at least."
The cryptic response made Sugar and Indigo raise a brow, but the message was clear to Lemon and Petal. Nodding, but still unreadable, Petal slowly approached the offered chair and claimed it. As promised, she felt no pain from the Aetheric construct, but she did need to force past a brief dizzy spell from it.
Well, that's fucking new, she mused with a groan, blinking the head-rush away.
"So....um....what's going on?" Indigo asked, nervously smiling.
"An excellent question Indigo," Dagon beamed, pointing at her. "But I fear that you will need to be a little more specific. There are quite a few things 'going on' at the moment."
"Okay," Petal snorted, cutting in. "How about, why the fuck is a dragon spirit thing sitting in our friend's bedroom?"
"Ah, now that is more like it," he chuckled. "Thank you Lily. Oh, my apologies; you go by Petal Wasp now."
"The fuck?!" Petal exclaimed, sitting up in her seat.
"To answer your question," Dagon continued, ignoring the outburst. "The time has come for those of you not in the know to become aware of a great secret."
"What secret?" Sugar asked, narrowing her eyes.
"That the world is not as you think it is," he solemnly stated, letting his smile fall.
That put everyone on edge, Lemon and Petal especially.
"I guess that makes sense," Indigo gulped. "I mean, we're talking to a faery dragon, right?"
"Spirit dragon," Dagon corrected. "Though I fear I am a bit of an out-lire in this particular regard."
"Wh-What do you mean?" Lemon asked, chuckling nervously.
"What indeed?" he asked, raising a brow at her.
Lemon sucked in her lips, but otherwise remained unresponsive to the spirit's challenge. Clicking his tongue disapprovingly, he ran through a few mental calculations. Satisfied with the results, he moved forward with his lecture.
"To put it simply, there two secret societies that a few of you are completely unaware of. One is made up of humans called Gifted. These are people who possess special abilities that allow them to preform tasks that many would consider magical in nature. Granted, it is not true magic, but their control of Aether is close enough that the difference is almost nonexistent. The other faction is a group of predatory energy beings called Wraiths. While closely resembling humans, these creatures feed on negative emotions and possess abilities that make them impossible for normal humans to combat. As such, I am sure you can understand how this could lead to conflict between the two factions."
"Wait, are you saying there is some kind of magical shadow war going on?" Indigo asked, incredulous.
He nodded.
"it has been going on for centuries and will continue to progress long into the future."
Indigo fell back in her seat, eyes wide and staring blankly forward as she tried to wrap her head around everything. Meanwhile, Petal and Lemon were trying to think of a way out of this that didn't end in a fight. At the heart of it all, Sugar payed careful attention to what her guest had said. More specifically, how he had said it. Something about his phrasing felt off to her, like he was trying to tell a secret beyond the one he had just told them. Slowly, here eyes widened as a possibility she didn't want to consider forced itself on her. 
She shoved it to the back of her mind.
"Why are you telling us this?" she asked. "None of us are Gifted and you said humans are too weak to fight Wraiths."
"Another excellent question, Sugar Coat," Dagon nodded. I see that my judgment of you was properly founded."
She wanted to question him on that, but something about the look he was giving her stifled that urge.
"From what I have been able to predict, everyone here will be involved in a clash with a Wraith in the near future. In addition, I predict that it will not end favorably for most of you."
A cold silence filled the room, each girl taking the news in different levels of grim. Lemon and Petal took it the worst, both of them trading knowing looks. Had they been paying attention, they would've noticed the probing stares Sugar was giving them, the dread she pushed back earlier starting to nip at the back of her mind.
"That being said, "Dagon continued. "I have taken it upon myself to try and improve your odds."
"Woah, woah, woah, wait!" Indigo cried, waving her hands frantically to get the dragon's attention. "What makes you think we're going to want to have anything to do with this? I mean, why don't you go find a bunch of these, 'Gifted' people and sick them on the Wraith? Why do we have to get involved at all?"
"If it was that simple, then we would not be having this conversation," he sighed. "Thanks to a contract forced on him by Fine Print, other Gifted are unable to attack him directly. In exchange, he is locked into a single location and allowed one human sacrifice to keep him bound for one year. If this is not maintained, he will be free to do as he pleases."
"Sounds like an easy fix," Indigo, shrugged. "Break the contract, then break his neck."
"With hundreds of years worth of stockpiled Miasma, such a plan would only result in just as many innocent lives slaughtered," he sighed. "Believe me, I have run through the numbers more times than any human can count."
"Then why do you want to get us involved?" Sugar pressed.
"Two reasons," he said, giving the girl the start of a smirk. "The first is that regardless of what I do or don't do, you all will get involved of your own free wills. And second, a new factor has come into this equations; one that may just tip the scales enough in our favor to let us come out on top."
"And that is?" Indigo frowned.
Dagon chuckled, then gave a knowing smirk as he said, "That, I'm afraid, is something I have no right to reveal."
Indigo groaned in frustration at that while Lemon and Petal gave mental sighs of relief. Sugar was as unreadable as ever, crossing her arms as she digested what Dagon had said. Almost afraid to do so, she met the dragon's gaze and asked one question.
"You said that we would've gotten involved regardless of what you did. Why would we?"
Dagon stared deep into the girl's eyes, his smile once again turning into a grim frown.
"That, is because of who this year's chosen sacrifice is."
Everyone froze, cold stones settling in their guts. 
Sugar knew. She did not know how she knew, but she did. She wanted to be wrong. She needed to be wrong. At the back of her mind, she knew that she wasn't. At the same time though, she needed to hear it. with a dry gulp, she forced three words past her lips.
"Who is it?"
The two of them continued their stare down for a few more seconds. She wanted to be wrong. she needed to be wrong. Then, with a heavy heart and  the finality of a judge slamming his gavel, he gave his answer.
"Twilight Sparkle."