//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: The Siren // by McPoodle //------------------------------// A couple of hours later, with Ponyville nearly restored to its pre-monster-rampage state, Twilight was happily occupying her booth at the edge of the marketplace. “Want to join the Pony Preservation Pact? Ask me how!” a banner hanging over the booth read. Twilight was at the back of the booth, organizing her portable library. Once she had that ordered to her satisfaction she set up a large wooden lectern. With a loud double-BAMF of teleportation, she returned with a large and fragile tome held aloft in a faintly green bubble of protection. Gently, she put the book down on the lectern, enveloping the top of the stand. A touch of her glowing horn made the spell semi-permanent, allowing her to relax. “It’s a funny thing,” Twilight told Spike. “Just as I was teleporting out of the library, I caught a purple rhododendron bloom outside the window in the corner of my eye, and that made me think of that time on the beach when my sister spilled her bags and her birthday present spilled out, a present with a fresh rhododendron tucked into the bow.” “Twilight,” Spike said warningly. “That wasn’t your memory.” “Right, I don’t have a sister,” Twilight said with a blank face. She groaned in frustration. “I don’t want to remember those things, not even the good ones! It’s terribly wrong for me to be witness to so many private moments of Princess Luna. But they just keep spilling into my mind when I dream. I wonder if Celestia or Luna have some sort of spell to stop it?” She pulled out a scroll and quickly wrote out a note, which Spike then sent off to the palace. “You did what you had to do,” Spike told her afterwards. “Diving through her memories was the only way to defeat Nightmare Moon.” Twilight knew that far more than “diving” had been done, but she chose to withhold this fact from her assistant. A reply appeared by dragonfire at that moment, and Spike read it aloud to Twilight. In short, there was no way to remove the memories from Twilight’s brain, not even the buried ones she hadn’t unpacked yet, because it stood a good chance of scrambling those memories into Twilight’s own memories. Twilight sighed. “I guess I’m stuck with them,” she said wearily. Spike looked up at the large tome on the lectern, and thought of a way to distract Twilight from her gloomy thoughts. “So what do you want to work on today?” he asked brightly. “The binding artifact, or the very first monster entry?” “The first monster entry, I think,” Twilight said, firmly banishing her dark thoughts as she prepared herself for her work. Delicately using her telekinesis, she opened the tome to a bookmarked page and began to study the calligraphed words, making notes in a floating notepad with a feather quill. “Twilight Sparkle!” cried the accusing voice of Bon-Bon. Twilight scowled for a moment, before replacing that with a bright grin as she turned to face the first visitor to her booth all day. “Bon-Bon! It’s good to see you! Are you here to find out more about Equestria’s premiere monster-hunting organization?” “You mean the one you founded as a filly?” she asked scornfully. Twilight put on a confused expression. “Are you trying to put a negative light on a filly’s dream of saving all the ponies in Equestria from the Monster Menace?” she asked. “Well…no,” Bon-Bon backpedaled. “But ‘premiere’?” Twilight shrugged. “I did my research, and there are no other monster-hunting societies in Equestria today.” “No other publicly known monster hunting societies…” Bon-Bon muttered. “What was that?” “No, you know what?” Bon-Bon said with a fake grin matching Twilight’s from earlier. “You’re right. The Pony Preservation Pact is the premiere monster-hunting society in Equestria. What precisely are the goals of the PPP?” Twilight floated over a pamphlet from a neatly aligned stack. “As you can see here, our mission is the study and control of all kinds of monsters, with the goal of eliminating their threat long-term.” Bon-Bon studied the pamphlet carefully in order to find the passage that Twilight had just quoted, and then produced a near-identical pamphlet from her saddlebags, a copy that made Twilight rather nervous. “It’s a funny thing, because I have your PPP pamphlet from just three months ago, and it says that your goal is to destroy all monsters in Equestria, not control them.” “Yes, well I was wrong,” Twilight said in a small voice. “What was that?” “I said that I was wrong!” Twilight exclaimed. “Applejack was right about how to deal with monsters, and I was wrong. Our time in the Everfree facing Nightmare Moon’s traps, and then curing Princess Luna of her curse, taught me that valuable lesson, as well as the power of friendship. I have admitted those mistakes in public several times, Bon-Bon.” “Alright, I just wanted to be sure,” Bon-Bon said with a victorious smirk. “So, I might be interested in joining your society.” “Really?!” an incredulous Twilight asked, leaning forward in anticipation. “But I want to know that this is a competently run organization. You say you plan to study monsters, to find the best way to ‘control’ them. Where do you have the results of this study documented?” Before she had even finished the question, Twilight had levitated a whole stack of identical paperback books, sliding one of them over to Bon-Bon for her to inspect. Bon-Bon spent a few minutes flipping through the book. “Hmm…” she said. “Yup, yup, that one’s right. And this one, and this one, and this whole set here. Hmm…Wait, that’s how you stop a manticore?” Twilight put on a victorious smirk of her own. “Did I surprise you with that one? You’re not questioning me, are you?” “Well, it looks reasonable, but I wouldn’t know for sure unless I saw it with my own eyes.” Instead of being insulted by the rebuke, Twilight grinned again, this time genuinely. “A fan of the scientific method! You would make a fine member of the PPP!” “I haven’t committed yet!” Bon-Bon snapped. “But you do know an awful lot about monsters,” Twilight said, leaning in once again. “Some would say a suspiciously large amount of information about monsters.” “I live in Ponyville,” Bon-Bon quickly replied. “Knowing how to handle monsters is a necessary survival skill.” “I suppose so,” Twilight said, getting out of Bon-Bon’s muzzle. “Did you gather all of this knowledge yourself?” the earth pony asked. “No! I’d have to live a couple of lifetimes to pull that off,” Twilight said with a laugh. “Most of my knowledge is from the founders of the science of monster hunting: Star Swirl the Bearded and his student Princess Luna.” She gestured towards the open tome in its protective bubble, and the library behind it. “I have here the complete set of Star Swirl’s Monster Encyclopedia, and the Miscellanea.” She patted a hoof on the stack of paperbacks she had presented earlier. “I compiled these myself, containing entries on only the monsters which have been spotted in the Everfree,” she explained, “along with anything else likely to spawn from the known animals and plants of that forest.” “The complete Star Swirl library?” Bon-Bon asked, craning her neck forward to try and take in all of the books. “I haven’t had a chance to read any of those since I moved to Ponyville. Isn’t a complete set expensive?” “Oh, ridiculously expensive. But Princess Celestia allowed me to charge the set to her personal account, after I convinced her that it was a necessary investment in Ponyville’s future.” “Is…is there any chance that I might be able to check out a volume or two?” Bon-Bon asked plaintively. “Well, they’re in the reference section of the Golden Oaks Library,” Twilight explained, eagerly setting her trap, “so you can read them any time you visit and take notes. But I only allow members of the PPP to take them home.” “Members like me!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, suddenly landing beside Bon-Bon. “I joined on the night we hunted down Nightmare Moon!” “The night we reformed Princess Luna,” Twilight gently corrected. “Yeah…that.” “And while I definitely welcome you as a member, Rainbow, I seriously doubt you’ll be taking home any of the volumes of the Monster Encyclopedia any time soon.” “What? Is that what you two were talking about? Boring egghead stuff? Forget that! I joined the PPP so I can learn how to kick some monster butt!” The other two nodded. “It certainly is true that ‘kicking monster butt’ is the best part of the job,” Twilight admitted, before turning to Bon-Bon. “So, are you willing to close the deal and join the Pony Preservation Pact?” Bon-Bon shifted from one hoof to another, trying to find a way out of getting talked into joining Twilight’s little club. “Wait!” she exclaimed. “That manticore trick—that’s not in the Encyclopedia. Where did you get it?” “Oh, it was from one of the later monster hunter’s journals,” Twilight answered. “Which one?” Bon-Bon challenged. “Well, it wasn’t from the Morari Manuscript…I think it was from Volume 7 of Princess Luna’s Collected Monster Observations.” “Can I see the relevant passage? Out of academic curiosity.” “Oh of course,” Twilight said, turning back to her bookcase. “Let’s see…Volume 7…Volume 7. Spike!” “I’m right here,” Spike said. He had indeed been standing right next to Twilight this entire time. “Where’s Volume 7 of the CMO? I see 6 and 8, but not 7.” “Back at the library.” “Why?!” “Because it’s by far the biggest one next to the Miscellanea, and we never needed it before now.” “Well go get it!” Twilight exclaimed. “What, now?!” “Yes, now!” Twilight shouted. “I’ve got a recruit on the line.” “Do you know how big that book is?” Spike replied. “I don’t think I could even pull it on the cart! Why don’t you teleport and get it?” Twilight got in Spike’s face. “Because I’ve got the pony skills, and you don’t! If I leave you here, I’ll come back to an empty booth!” “Do you distrust me that much?” Spike said with a pout. “YES!” Twilight screamed. “Now get going!” She teleported Spike over to the library. Given the patch of scorched ground left behind, the transport was not a pleasant one. “Um…” Rainbow said, alerting Twilight that the entire conversation had been overheard. Twilight looked up in shock, as if her sudden burst of rage had come from some pony other than her. After reviewing her memories for a moment, she said, “Excuse me, I’ve got something much more important to do,” in a tone of complete shame. Then she teleported out with another scorched patch. Bon-Bon turned to Rainbow Dash. “What was that?!” she demanded. “Hey don’t ask me,” Rainbow said. “Spike told me she’s done that a lot in the last couple of years: yell at him and then beg him for forgiveness five seconds later. He says he likes the ‘apology gems’, but the rest of it tires him out. I, uh, didn’t believe him at the time.” “But…that was horrible!” Bon-Bon replied. “He may only be a dragon, but the Princess herself told us that Twilight Sparkle was in charge of raising Spike like he was her own son.” Rainbow Dash nodded sadly. Bon-Bon shook her head. “If this is the way she treats her ‘son’, I shudder to think what serving under her in her club might be like.” “She never treats us like that.” “That’s even worse!” She looked over the new pamphlet, and the book of monster-hunting secrets, before putting them both in her saddlebag. “I’ll look these over in the morning, when my head is clear. I’ll try my best to give her an honest answer about joining or not in a day or two, but I can’t guarantee that this frightful display will not have an effect on my opinion.” Rainbow shrugged as Bon-Bon walked away, then set about shutting down the booth for the night. “I don’t get it either,” Rainbow said to herself. “Ever since Nightmare Moon, she has tried to be the best friend of every pony in Ponyville. It’s like she’s got a Spike-shaped hole in her heart. “At least she knows that there’s something wrong with her. “Maybe it’s a curse. But does she know that?” “I swear, I don’t know what comes over me!” Twilight pleaded to Spike, who was sitting atop a whole pile of “apology gems”. “Doesn’t stop you from doing it again,” Spike said around a mouthful of crystal dust. He wasn’t sad, or angry. It was like he had confided to Rainbow Dash: By this point, he was just tired. “I’ll do something about it, I swear! I’ll ask the other parents in Ponyville for advice.” “Why don’t you start with Applejack? Everypony says that she’s practically the mother to every colt and filly in town.” Twilight nodded eagerly. “And when you see her, tell me what Apple Bloom looks like. I’m curious.” Twilight nodded once again. Spike looked over at the clock. “Now go get that big book before your protection spell expires.” Twilight looked over at the clock in a sudden panic. “The Miscellanea!” she exclaimed and prepared to teleport. “Twilight!” “Yes?” “Take your time.” Spike pointed at the scorch marks on the floor. Twilight let out a breath. “Right.” She came back twenty seconds later instead of the planned two seconds. After setting the large book up in its permanent position in the library, under the permanent protection spell, she turned sheepishly back to Spike. “So…what would you like to do for the rest of the evening?” Spike looked down at his gem pile, sighed, and got up and climbed down it. “I’d like to help you with your research. I am your assistant, right?” Twilight smiled gratefully. “Right. What would I do without you, Spike?” “Make a big fat mess of things,” Spike replied, in the tone of a frequent answer to a frequent question. “So, the very first monster entry?” “Yes, the very first monster entry,” Twilight repeated, walking over to the fat tome and pulling her notebook and quill back out. “I’m convinced that this entry is a genuine Star Swirl journal entry, and not a forgery as everypony else thinks. What elements of style can I use to prove that I am right?” She pointed down at the magically-protected page—the first monster entry. In Twilight’s opinion it was the inspiration for the entire study of monster hunting. The entry was for a long-extinct breed of monster, the Siren. And the woodcut illustration clearly depicted Sonata Dusk.