//------------------------------// // Twilight Van Sparkle's Starry Lake // Story: Possessions of a Third Kind // by Shroomkin //------------------------------// Ouros waited a few days after "the incident" to test out his theory. After all, it would be weird, as the cyan mare suggested, if Twilight, who suddenly became agitated over something they didn't know, becomes somepony entirely different from what they know of. What a preposterous notion! This is Pony World! Still, if he wants to actually do some of the things he calls fun, and not garner any suspicion, he should at least try and act like his host. It is for that reason as to why he even gave his host a few more days before acting upon what he wants. And what he wants to do is to paint. Seeing that no one was in the mindscape, he decided that it was time. Twilight woke up, earlier than Spike and earlier than the sun. She opened the window by her bed and looked around. Nopony was around, probably still sleeping. "No shit," she muttered to herself, careful not to speak out loud. "Of course they are all a sleep! This isn't a battlefield!" She then went downstairs towards the kitchen, hungry for whatever things she can find. Ransacking the fridge for some eggs, tomatoes, and bread, she decided to make herself an egg sandwich. Living for an infinite amount means that one can learn a lot of skills. That doesn't mean that those skills are permanent. Ouros believes that, much like how humans, and other sapient creatures, if they simply learn a skill, and not even use it for a long period of time, then those skills would be worthless by the end. And so, he practices every skill that he has learned every time he gets a chance, which considering his job, isn't really much. Maintaining the timestream (mostly the "Prime" Timeline), reprimanding those foolish and pesky time-travelers, and even meeting with other versions of the Warden of Time to discuss about certain conflicts, was all too much to be honest. With such dexterous skills, Twilight easily made herself "The Perfect Sandwich", not even realizing that Spike was watching her. Spike was baffled at what he could see. Twilight, his Twilight, the bookworm that couldn't even handle a pan and boil an egg even if her life depended on it, was cooking like a Master Chef. It was weird. So weird in fact that he decided to go back to bed. Maybe the stress really got to him. Twilight indulged herself with her breakfast, and without even looking at the clock to tell the time, decided to go outside and scout the perfect place to paint. She remembered a lake where she and her friends had a picnic once, and decided to go there. It was much more serene than the memories. All she needs now were her art supplies. "Creating some items should be easy, right?" She said, laughing nervously. Hell, if Ouros can't even do something this simple, then there is no hope in trying to even pretend to be his host in times like this. And so, mustering all her magic, she focused and thought of a canvas, some oil paints, an easel, some paintbrushes, paint thinner, and a palette. It took some time, but eventually, she did it. "Haha! You can't best me, objects, for my name is Twilight Van Sparkle!" She shouted, particularly to nopony. "Now, let's see here..." Twilight said calmly, as if she didn't even shout a moment ago, picking up the paintbrush and palette with her hooves while squeezing out some oil paints with her magic. "What do I want to paint?" A few hours later, Spike woke up from his pleasant and weird dream. He yawned, stretched, and looked towards Twilight's bed, only to find it empty. "Huh, must have gone to the bathroom," Spike said groggily. Everyday, he wakes up early to prepare not only for the day but to also prepare breakfast for Twilight. When he went down, he called out to Twilight, only to find no answer. "Twilight? Are you sleeping in the bathroom?" He asked innocently. Perhaps Twilight sleepwalked in the middle of the night. There was no response, and so, he decided to open the door, risking being reprimanded in the hopes to know if Twilight was safe. He opened the door, closing his eyes in a hurry, and shouted, "Twilight!" Upon hearing no response, he slowly opened his eyes, seeing that nopony was in the bathroom. "Huh, if Twilight wasn't here, then..." Fear suddenly engulfed the young drake as he quivered in place. The worst has happened. "Twilight is missing!" Spike said, unaware of the situation. As such, he rushed over towards the door and quickly ran towards Sugarcube Corner, seeing that it was the closest house out of everypony in their friend group. As he ran, he encountered a familiar face, one who was pulling a cart filled with apples. "Applejack!" he cried out. Applejack broke her stride, surprised to see Spike being so frantic in the morning. "Oh boy," Applejack muttered to herself, hoping that this matter does not include Twilight being "weird". She faced Spike, hid her worries, and greeted him. "Howdy, Spike. What can I do for you?" Applejack said, perturbed by the way Spike was acting. He was being fidgety, his eyes were darting around in a frantic way. "Twilight is missing!" Spike said, panicking. Applejack was taken aback. Twilight, missing? Perhaps Spike had a nightmare. "Spike, calm down. I'm sure Twilight just had a little walk, is all." Applejack said, hoping it would calm down the tiny dragon. But it didn't. Spike explained the situation. Seeing that Twilight, who normally wakes up at 8 in the morning, was gone before that time must have really riled Spike. And so, being his friend, she decided to offer her own time to look for Twilight. Spike nodded to this and began to run towards the different houses of his friends. Of course, Applejack helped out too, offering to go and get both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. When they reached their friends' houses, they both explained the situation to their friends, and all of them setting out to look for Twilight. It was Rainbow Dash who first spotted Twilight. Being their fastest flier has its own benefits, after all. However, instead of grabbing her friends, she decided to confront Twilight on her own. Twilight was busy adding the final details on her painting, when a familiar pegasus landed behind her. She did not notice though, as she was focused in her masterpiece. Rainbow wanted to say something, unfortunately, she was too enamored at the painting itself. She never really liked paintings, but this painting, it somehow speaks with her. "Woah," was all that Rainbow could speak before Twilight turned towards her, a warm smile plastered on the mare's face. "Fascinating, isn't it?" Twilight said as she placed the palette and the brush down gently. "Y-yeah. I didn't know you could paint, Twi," Rainbow said, stunned at the art piece in front of her. "I don't really paint," Twilight said as she dipped the brushes in the paint thinner. "Do you want it?" Twilight asked, confusing Rainbow even further. "W-what? What do you mean you can't paint?" She then looked at the painting, "And can I really have it?" Twilight laughed a bit, gently hitting Rainbow's shoulder. "Of course you can! It's yours." Twilight said, giving a relaxed sigh. "Let's just say I feel so different." Rainbow Dash doesn't really get it but if she can get this painting framed for her house, then it's all good. Then, Twilight said something that bamboozled her for the rest of the day. "Do you want to prank the others?" The mere mention of pranks and the pony who said it made her brain stop working for a second before becoming excited. She hugged onto Twilight, almost crying from enjoyment. "I never thought I can hear this from you, I never even dreamed that this day would come!" She said, dashing towards the sky while screaming "Yes". "But no mean pranks, okay?" Twilight said, conjuring a frame for her painting and a case for said painting. Rainbow gladly accepted the painting and the rule, and flew high in the clouds towards her house before coming back. She saluted at Twilight, offering her a serious look. "Good, here's the plan," Twilight said, snickering. "I wonder if Rainbow Dash found Twilight yet," Fluttershy said worriedly. It was a few hours ago when Applejack knocked on her front door, saying things like Twilight was missing and that Spike was panicking. She was going towards the library, the place where they all planned to meet after looking for Twilight. To her surprise, her friends were already there, but with no sign of Rainbow and Twilight. This made her assume for the worst, only to stop herself when she saw how Spike was acting. The poor guy, shaken to the core. "No luck either, huh, Fluttershy?" Rarity asked, concerned and stressed about the whole situation. Rarity has told everypony else about her findings, and it appears Fluttershy was the most recent out of their friend group. Strange though, considering Rainbow, upon hearing the situation, was the fastest to even react out of all of them. She didn't ask questions, she didn't even try to make excuses. The moment she heard what Applejack said, she immediately darted out of her house. "I'm sure everything is fine, Spikey-Wikey," Rarity said, trying to calm Spike down. He was on the verge of tears. "I just hope everything is oka-", Spike said as he was interrupted by the sounds of Rainbow screaming, barreling towards them. "GIRLS!" She cried out, almost crashing next to them. "I found Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said, bringing joy to everypony. Unfortunately, that joy would soon turn to concern when they saw how frantic and worried Rainbow was. Something shook her to the core. "Rainbow, darling, what's wrong?" Rarity asked, holding her hoof out to Rainbow. Pinkie hopped towards her friend and gave her a towel, "Yeah, what's wrong Rainbow?" Pinkie repeated. "Twilight... Lake... Painting!" She panted, tired from flying. "Come again, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, confused as to why Rainbow said what she said. Rainbow then darted off, almost as quickly as crashing towards them. "Come on! Follow me!" She said in an almost commanding way. They simply understood this as a means to hurry. Whatever has happened to Twilight and, well, that painting, they had to go and move. When they reached the lake, they saw Rainbow Dash staring at the painting. What they saw baffled them. It was a painting of Twilight, scared to the brim. It then dawned upon Pinkie Pie. "She's trapped in the painting!" "Hang on, Twi! We'll get you out of there!" Applejack said, thinking of a way to get her out. Fluttershy stared unto the painting, worried for her friend. "Oh no," she muttered, "What or who could have done this?" "It doesn't matter who has done this, Fluttershy," Rarity interjected, scanning the area for some clues. "What matters is that we get Twilight out of there." This prompted Pinkie to nod and pull out a case filled with paint thinner. "This will do the trick!" Pinkie said, confident in what she is planning to do. The others didn't question where she got the paint thinner, it was Pinkie after all. And so, she doused the canvas with paint thinner, hoping that the evil paint would release Twilight. Spike gave a hoofbump to Pinkie for the brilliant idea, thinking that it would all be over. However, the painting screamed. Pinkie panicked when she heard the screams of Twilight. "Oh no! Twilight!" Everypony said. "I just don't know what went wrong!" Pinkie exclaimed, pulling on her hair, screaming her lungs out. Spike, in his carelessness, belched out a green flame towards the canvas, burning it in the process. Everypony was shocked, not even realizing that Rainbow wasn't with them anymore. "TWILIGHT!" cried Spike, as he knelt in the ground, hitting his hands towards the floor. "IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!!" Spike said. Everypony couldn't help but tear up. They lost Twilight. "How could this even happen, I-", Applejack said, pausing as she heard Rainbow Dash snicker behind her. "Consarn it, Rainbow Dash, are you seriously laughing at a time like this? We lost Twilight!" She said, furious at the laughing pegasus. Everypony looked at her, confused. Fluttershy, who has had enough, walked towards Rainbow Dash with righteous fury, finally putting her hoof down. "RAINBOW DASH, HOW COULD YOU?" She shouted as loud as she can, which really isn't loud. Rainbow stopped laughing as the butter yellow pegasus came marching towards her. "Laughing at something serious like this, how could-", but before she could even finish her sentence, another snicker can be heard behind some bushes. When they went to investigate, all they saw was a picnic blanket laid under a tree, breakfast items filling the basket. And there she was, Twilight, in the flesh and not in a painting, snickering as she heard the commotion. "We got you all good," chuckled Twilight as Rainbow flew next to her. "Yeah!" Rainbow said as she made a hoofbump with Twilight. "But, but, but-" Rarity stuttered. Pinkie immediately hopped towards them as she giggled, "You really did get us good!" "T-twilight?? Pranking?? Okay, this definitely is the weirdest day of my life." Applejack said. Fluttershy said nothing as she simply sighed, glad that her friend was alright. Spike, on the other hand, simply teared up and hugged Twilight, only to stop as he recalled his "dream". "You can cook?!" Spike said, annoyed that what he thought was a dream turned out to be reality. Twilight simply shrugged, grinning at Spike before giving him the exact same answer she gave to Rainbow Dash. "I don't really cook, but, let's just say I feel so different." They all chuckled at this, glad to see that no one was hurt. Of course, after the breakfast picnic, everypony went on their separate ways, doing whatever they want to do for the day. When night came, and the need for sleep called out to the body, Ouros simply let go of control. He had done painting, and a bit of pranking. Maybe next time he can go for poetry, but then again, he has never felt this good. Being able to prank as the host without repercussions made him feel alive again. "Bowling it is," Ouros said, grinning at the thought. When morning came, however, and Twilight (the actual Twilight) came downstairs, she became very confused. For one, Spike was asking her for her recipe on some poached eggs, to which she doesn't even know what to answer. Rainbow then visited her, thanking her for some painting that she apparently made, and for the prank, to which she has no recollection of. Of course, being the responsible one of the group, she reprimanded Rainbow for pulling off such pranks. It soured Rainbow's mood a bit, but didn't pay it too much thought. "Sweet Celestia, I should really lay off reading at night."