Spike the dragon snored away in his bed. It was nearly noon but he was still dead to the world, he hadn’t gotten as much sleep as he would have liked.
Yesterday, Twilight rushed them both home from Sugercube corner and then locked herself in the bathroom. When asked why she wouldn’t come out, she’d say “I’m thinking about something” or ”I’ll be out soon” but she didn’t come out until midnight. Of course he was worried for her, but after a while, nature’s call demanded his immediate attention. He was pretty sure his banging on the door and begging was the only reason Twilight even came out of the bathroom at all.
After that, Twilight began pacing the library and muttering to herself. He couldn’t make out what she was saying, and she didn’t answer when asked what was wrong. Eventually she tired herself out and collapsed into bed.
He stayed up a while longer to make sure his sister was okay, and that she wasn’t going to wake up in the night to pace any more. Until he figured she’d be fine for the night and went to bed. So there he was, passed out, catching up of some much needed sleep.
That was until a loud crash from downstairs woke him up. launching himself out of bed, he ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Only to find Twilight surrounded by pots and pans, sheepish smile on her face.
“Sorry Spike. Did I wake you?”
“No, no I was just getting up.” Spike yawned, rubbing his bloodshot eyes.
Twilight felt terrible. She could tell he was lying, it was all over his face. She thought that she could make breakfast to apologise for worrying him last night. But she’d been so distracted and in her own head that she accidentally knocked over all their cookware.
“Just go back to sleep, I’ll tidy up here.” She really wanted to talk and apologise, but Spike was clearly too tired.
“No no it’s fine, are you okay?” Spike wanted to go back to sleep, but he had to make sure she wasn’t going to be pacing the floors or locking herself in a room again. What kind of No1 assistant or little brother would he be if he did otherwise?
“Honestly Spike I’m fine, last night I was just having a moment. Thank you for looking out for me but I really am feeling better.” She tried to reassure him, and get him to get back to sleep. She wasn’t exactly lying, she did feel better, all thanks to one powerful approach that she landed on… denial! If she couldn’t stop thinking about it, then she would deny these confusing thoughts and feelings until they went away! So until that happens, she would have to be okay, for the sake of her little brother.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. Just go back to sleep.”
“Okay. But if you need anything-“
“Spike I’m fine, honestly! Now go.” Twilight said playful shooing him away with her hoof. To which Spike then left the room climbing back up the stairs, rubbing his eyes.
Once she heard the bedroom fort close, she found herself left with her thoughts once more. Shaking her head violently, she magically tidied and sorted the cookware back into the cupboards. After that her mind began wandering again, so she dusted and reorganised the bookshelves. Then cleaned the windows. Then moped the floors.
Once there were no more chores to distract herself with, she groaned in frustration as her mind refused to calm down. Until, she remembered something. The gift she had received from Blaze yesterday, the book and research papers from the vault. She rushed to her study and found them placed neatly on her desk.
Her heart skipped a beat as she walked up to the desk and sat down, slowly dragging her hoof along the front of the leather bound tome. A smile found its way on her face as she remembered how touched she was to receive it. Once she opened it and looked and the old writing, her mind calmed, her worries and anxieties disappeared. She used her magic to summon her writing supplies, blank scrolls and a book and translating Old Ponish. This would be the perfect distraction.
Blaze had been up a while, after feeding Coco and finishing his morning coffee he decided to go on a jog. Normally exercise would clear his mind but he couldn’t stop thinking about this last job. It was one of the quicker ones he’d done but it was so exciting and it seemed like there would be more to follow. He didn’t trust his… benefactor for this job. But he couldn’t deny that he’d felt a sense of wonder and excitement he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Coming back to his cart, he pulled out one of his many magical items, a crystal of create water. It came in really handy when he couldn’t park the cart near water, he never had to worry about dying of thirst. Or in this case, going without a shower. Thankfully he could adjust the temperature of the water.
Once he secured a shower curtain around him and the crystal on a hook, he allowed his mind to wander as the water washed away his sweat and fatigue. He thought about whether this new job connects to this one, does it have to do with Mystic the Marvel? He though about the vault itself, it wasn’t the most exciting place he’d been it it definitely was a mystery. He thought about the sentry he fought and how it could be invulnerable to magic, maybe he should have picked up a sample, could he reverse engineer it?
What about the book? Did it have answers he might need? He thought about it and it seemed more and more likely that it would. But then he thought about asking a twilight for it back, and for some reason the image of her disappointed face brought about a tightness in his chest. “Maybe she’d let me borrow it” He thought to himself. “Or maybe we could both work on it together?” He wondered as his still half-asleep mind began to wander.
Feeling a surge of emotions, Blaze suddenly snapped to attention.
“Nope. Nope, nope nope nopenopenope.”
With a flick of his magic he turned the temperature of the water icy cold, purging his mind of all thoughts.
“We’re not doing that Blaze, we’re not even going to entertain the idea.” He lectured himself was he shivered from the icy water.
Having endured enough self-inflicted torture, he switched the crystal off and began casting a self drying spell. Focusing hard as these were easy to mess up. Once he was dry, he dried and folded the curtain and lit it away in the cart along with the crystal.
“Although…” he began. “It’s not like I have much else to do until I have to leave. And I may as well prepare the best I can until then.” He reasoned with himself as packed his saddle back and some bits, thankfully Twilight showed him ‘Quills and Sofas‘ yesterday. Though the combination of stationary and seating boggled his mind, he decided to ignore it for now as he needed the writing supplies. And with that, he set off into town.
This book was amazing! Twilight had been translating it page by page and while it seemed to be mostly in riddles, there was still tones of references to historical events of the time. Some of which gave a new perspective to them, new viewpoints that could change the way ponies viewed these events. She could only imagine what she’d find once she could decode the riddles, what other juicy knowledge the book hid. And the papers, if they truly were research papers, Twilight shivered with excitement at the possibility of what they could be for. Cackling madly, she found herself in a studying frenzy as she wrote in her scrolls.
She was pulled from her thoughts when a knock came from the front door. She wasn’t expecting any visitors today. Checking the time, she saw that it was it was already early afternoon. So she put down her quill and scrolls, she stretched her legs and back before getting up and going to see who was there.
“I wonder who it could be?”
Once she opened the door, she saw standing in front of her a familiar tall, burgundy unicorn holding a paper take-out box. He looked at her with a smile before he began taking.
“Hel-“
SLAM
Twilight held the door shut as she tried to catch the breath that had suddenly left her body. “What’s he doing here?!” She thought to herself, her panic returning. Realising the situation, as shook her head and scolded herself for being so rude before opening the door.
“-lo.”
SLAM
“Nope. I can’t do this.” She thought as she slammed the door again. “What am I doing? What’s wrong with me? He’s been nothing but nice to me.” She said aloud. So took a breath and opened the door again.
“May I speak now?” Blaze asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes of course, sorry, I just wasn’t expecting you.”
“So you slam the door on me? Twice. Come on Twilight I’m not that ugly am I?” He asked with a chuckle, cocking his head to the side.
“No!” Twilight answered a little quicker than she meant to. “W-what I mean is I just wasn’t expecting you, s-so I was a little surprised. Do you want to come in?” She asked quickly, trying to shift the conversation.
“Uhh sure.” He said, stepping into the tree-house. “Here, this is for you by the way.” He passed her the take-out box.
She took the box and peered inside. Inside, was a dozen cupcakes. She felt a smile creep into her face as her turned back towards him. “Thank you. What’s this for?”
Blaze chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Well…I kinda need a favour.” He g said with a sheepish smile.
Twilight smiled warmly at him. “You don’t need to butter me up Blaze. You’ve already helped me out more than I can repay. I’d be happy help you out, what do you need?”
Blaze sighed a little sigh of relief at her eagerness to help. She’d already proven that she’s different to other nobles, something he was grateful for, but he was still happy to see her earnestness. “Well, it’s about that book I got for you. I have this feeling that this next job I’ve got has something to do with the vault, or possibly Mystic the Marvel himself.”
Twilight felt a small sadness rising within her as she had a feeling what he was about to ask. “Do you want it back?”
“No. I want you to keep it. Buuut I wanted to know if I could borrow it? Just so I can get some research done for when I leave.”
Twilight was disappointed but understood, she was about to agree when an idea popped into her head. At first he tried to ignore and forget it, but she just couldn’t. So she took a breath and mustered the courage to ask. “Well if you just want for research…maybe you could help me with mine?
“What do you mean?”
“What I mean is I’ve started researching the book myself. I’ve already got some notes on it, and between the two of us…I’m sure we’d get more work done.” She held her breath as Blaze thought it over, rubbing his chin.
“I mean, I definitely wouldn’t say no to some help but I don’t want to impose.”
“Don’t worry about it. Come on, my study is over here.” Twilight practicality skipped to their destination. She could hardly remember the last time she had a study session with a friend. Now that she thinks about it, Moondancer was the only pony she’d ever studied with other than her brother. She felt excitement over the new experience rise as they entered the office-like room.
“Nice setup” Blaze joked as he looked at the desk.
Twilight couldn’t help but feel a little bit embarrassed at the mess of scrolls and reference guides strewn cross the room.
Walking around the mess, Blazed looked at the notes that Twilight had already written. He was genuinely impressed, to translate Old Ponish he needed a cypher, and he’d never have been able to connect the historical context within the time frame. But here Twilight has done it without magic or help, he looked to her with a small smile.
“This is seriously impressive stuff, what you’ve got here is probably all I would’ve gotten in a week.”
“That’s nothing, I once studied twelve books in one weekend” Twilight boasted, her note taking skills were something she was deeply proud of. Her capacity for studying knew no limits!
“And you did this in like what, a day?”
“This morning actually.”
“Whoa…I mean I figured you were smart, being princess Celestia’s student and all..but this? You really are something else, aren’t you Twilight.”
Twilight smiled, and as she felt herself blush at the compliment, she looked down to hide her face. “T-Thank you.” Then she came to her senses and shook her head as Blaze continued to look at the papers.
“Hmm looks like old Mystic wasn’t a fan of nobility. Guess we’ve got that in common.”
Looking through the book, he saw more coltic runes. Noticing that they hadn’t been translated yet, he pulled a language cypher and his own notes on runes from his bag.
“Do you recognise them?”
“Aye, they’re coltic runes. Haven’t seen these in a while, feels a nostalgic honestly.”
“You read them?”
“Not fluently. It’s a dead language for the most part, though more modern dialects are still spoken in some communities. But the O.G stuff? I don’t see them very often in my work so I don’t have a lot of notes I’m afraid.”
“That’s okay, at least we know where to start.”
“That’s true.” Blaze said with a chuckle as he began making himself comfortable. He was used to researching these old cultures and languages, but never with a friend.
“Heh, a friend.”
If somepony told him a few days ago that he’d consider a noble, let along a princess, a friend then he’d laugh in their face. He looked to a twilight who had brought another chair some books and old languages. “Who knows? Maybe this could be fun.”