Rarity made her way through the darkening Ponyville streets calmly, enjoying the crisp evening air. She smiled at the sight of the library. Despite the later hour none of the lights were on. In one of Twilight's trademark fits it seemed she had forgotten even the simple act of flicking a light switch, even though it would undoubtedly aid her, in whatever it was she was doing. As expected of the trademark, Rarity was unsurprised to find even the front door was improperly closed. Rarity stuck her head into the darkness and called for her friend before doing what Twilight did not, and turned on the light.
"The sun! What- oh." Rarity giggled behind her hoof at Twilight's outburst.
"Twilight, darling? Wherever have you gotten to?"
"I'm up here, Rarity!" Rarity followed her friends voice up the stairs, and nearly screamed in horror at the nightmarish sight before her.
Twilight's mane.
"Twilight, sweetheart, have I ever told you how contagious your stress is? Honestly I get nightmares for weeks everytime you nearly give yourself an ulcer. And only a few of them are about your health, dear."
"What? Oh. I still have no idea how it does that." Twilight began to smooth down her mane, but stopped after two strokes. "Wait! I have more important things to worry about than my appearance."
"More important?! Ahem. I mean, yes, of course." Rarity did her best to distract herself, though it was difficult. However she had to agree with Twilight. Emerald was indeed very important. "What are you looking for?" Twilight was scouring Emerald's room. A room Rarity noted, was impeccably clean. She'd have to praise her Spikey-- (Emerald.. y?) later. The name change was hard for her to get used to. And it did not lend itself to nick names as easily.
Rarity watched as Twilight made a mess of the room. Looking under the bed, in between the mattresses, under the covers, and even emptying the contents of the dressers. It was too much for Rarity's cleanliness focused mind to handle. "I'll wait out in the hallway for you to finish, Twilight."
About ten minutes later Rarity made a mental note to see an otolaryngologist as she was sure Twilight's 'Eureka!' caused some damage. Twilight burst from the the room with a small smile on her face and a rag in her magic.
"I take it you found your little mystery object. What is--" comprehension dawned on her face as she gazed at the rag. "Is that.... is that what I think it is, Twilight?" Rarity asked with a look of poorly masked disgust.
Twilight had the decency to look flustered. "He uh.. hehe... he thinks about you a lot."
Rarity's demeanor imperceptibly flickered to flattered, before her disgust came back in full force. "Twilight. For what, possible reason, could you have, for wanting," Rarity pointed her hoof at the rag, "that?"
"I um, needed some of Spike's-"
"Emerald, dear." Rarity interrupted as they head to Twilight's basement.
"His name is SPIKE and I shall call him as such, Rarity. I named him myself. It's a cool name. Like that blonde maned vampony from trottingham."
"The Bucky series only came out last year, I highly doubt you named him after that. But if that's how you feel, I'll not correct you on his name any longer. However, he prefers the name Emerald so if you don't mind, I myself will continue to address him that way. Now, I apologize for interrupting, but just what is it you needed that disgusting bit of cloth for?"
"I needed some of Spike's DNA."
"Couldn't you find a um, more sanitary sample?"
"He doesn't exactly have fur to conveniently shed. And he's too young for puberty. Which, admittedly, makes this that much more uncomfortable." Rarity shivered.
As the reached the bottom of the basement stairs Twilight, no longer frantic, turned on the basement light. Illuminating a host of gleaming machines of unknown purpose. Donning a simple white garment and some rectangular framed black glasses Twilight proceeded to cut the rag and poke it with various tools, obviously trying to get a sample she could work with.
"If you're going to stay here, Rarity, wear a lab coat."
"Why?"
"Because we're doing science. It's protocol."
"I don't-"
"Protocol."
"If you say so, dear." Rarity grabbed a coat and ignored the fact that it made her look a little like a fat adult blank flank. "So, Twilight. What was in that lightbulb?"
"Light- lightbulb? What lightbulb?"
"The one that appeared over your head at Fluttershy's. The reason you ran home?"
"Ah yes. That." Twilight took the small peace of cloth she had cut and placed it a test tube with a strange smelling liguid. "When you said, 'bred' it made me think that maybe, the reason that all those books in Canterlot were so wrong about Spike, wasn't because the authors were ignorant about dragons in general, but because they were only wrong about Spike!"
"I don't get it."
Twilight paused, a guilty look on her face. "I think.. I think an accident with Spike's egg may have interfered with his genetic makeup. A magical accident. I'm.... I'm checking for evidence of magical manipulation. I think... I think it's my fault. The very thing that gave him his name may also be the cause of his current condition." Twilight had begun to tear up, it even looked like she was about to fall into hysterics. Just as Rarity thought to produce a shoulder for Twilight to cry on, a sudden look of determination on Twilight's face dried her tears.
"Well, if it is my fault, then it's up to me to fix it. Starting with finding the problem!" With that she turned around and placed the test tube with the new, still gross, liquid concoction into a machine. A few little green and yellow lights on the machine showing that it was working.
"It will take a few hours for the readouts to finalize. What would you like to do while we wait?"
'Anything where I'm not wearing this dreaded coat' Rarity almost said. "How about some BattleSky?"
-||-||-||-||-
Spell Cast, High Mage of The Kingdom of Equestria, was pondering in her castle quarters about how her work would soon increase her title. Though not in any way that counts. High Mage of the Kingdom of Equestria or High Mage of the Empire of Equestria. Either way, she was still a High Mage. A position many ponies were jealous of. Very few positions were higher. Of course, for Spell Cast, that was the problem with the position. With the high rank came not only high expectations from Celestia herself, but constant contact with the Princess as well. In her twenty years serving the Princess she had learned to fear the Sun Goddess.
Spell Cast rarely ever spoke, for fear of spilling one of the many secrets she was privy to that would end her life. She often entertained the idea of standing on the balcony on which Celestia would occasionally address the citizens of Canterlot. There she would commit suicide by enchanting her voice to Royal Canterlot levels and spilling some state secret that would have Celestia cleaning up for days. She held no illusions of toppling the regime. But a release from this life and a little petty revenge would often entice her. In the end, however, she continued to plow on. Today, it would seem, was one of those days where fantasy was as tempting as those new peanut butter and chocolate candies. Two royal guards in classic solar armor had summoned her to the princess. Two guards. That meant Celestia was angry about something.