//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Friendship is Algebraic! // by Gonenowsorry //------------------------------// Chapter 3: The Ghost of the Library Finn ran as fast as his invisible legs would carry him, but he still couldn't catch up with the ponies. And thanks to being invisible, they couldn't tell how far behind he was. Figures they're so fast, thought Finn. They are horses after all. Maybe I should have asked if I could ride one. Do talking ponies care if you ride them? Lady Rainicorn never really seemed to care, but she's way bigger than Twilight and the others. It was hopeless. He couldn't even see the ponies anymore, and he had no idea where Sweet Apple Acres was. He couldn't even ask any of the other ponies around for directions, being both invisible and some kind of alien to them. Guess I'll head back to Twilight's. Maybe there'll be a map or something I can use. Finn turned around, taking care not to give himself away as he walked the streets of Ponyville. What a crazy place this is, he thought, noticing the neatly kept shops and homes. Only the Candy Kingdom back home is this organized. It really is a whole civilization of ponies... After walking a little further, Finn reached Twilight's library. Just like his home back in Ooo, it was built into a giant tree. He wondered if he would ever see his own tree fort again. Finn entered the library and thought it was quiet. Especially quiet, even for a library. Wasn't the lizard guy still here? “Helloooo,” called Finn. “Anyone home?” There came a loud banging noise from the basement, followed by a panicked voice. “-should still have an hour before they come back, what was that?” There was a sort of clicking, growling noise in reply. “Well, maybe he got loose, go upstairs and check!” Footsteps, very heavy sounding ones, began to climb the stairs. Finn looked around for a place to hide, before remembering he was still invisible. The footsteps grew louder, shaking the entire library. Then Finn saw it. Climbing up the stairs was a creature the size and shape of a bear, with the head of an owl. The owlbear! If it's here- The owlbear opened its beak and let out a screech, but Finn didn't budge. It looked around the room, then lumbered towards a closet. It opened the door, and muffled cries became audible. The owlbear screeched again, and the cries stopped. It closed the door and began lumbering back downstairs. As quietly as he could, Finn walked over to the the stairway. The owlbear gave a clicking growl. “Well, just stay alert then. Your friend only bought so much time, and we can not afford to waste this opportunity to find out what's really powering that pretentious purple pony.” Finn moved from the stairwell to the closet the owlbear had opened. Taking care not to make the door creak, Finn opened it. Inside was a shaking, tied up sack. “Lizard-Guy?” whispered Finn. A muffled yelp came from inside the sack. Finn untied it, revealing Twilight's companion, Spike. “Is that you, Finn?” he asked. “Yeah, man, I'm still invisible from Twilight's spell” said Finn in a hushed voice. “What happened here?” “I dunno,” said Spike. “Right after you guys ran out, somepony and an owlbear barged in here, and tied me up in this sack!” “Who would do something like that?” asked Finn. “Beats me, most everyone loves Twilight!” The sounds of furniture and equipment scraping continued to come from the downstairs. “Look, Lizard-Guy, I've got a plan for getting those guys out of here.” “Yeah?” said Spike … She had to hurry, before it was too late. True, it pained her to associate with such brutes like these owlbears, but the Great and Powerful Trixie needed a diversion to get into Twilight Sparkle's library. It had to be around here somewhere: the spell book, magical artifact, or whatever secret treasure the Princess had given to Twilight Sparkle. It was the only way a common unicorn could have bested the Great and Powerful Trixie in a show of magical prowess. Perhaps all these strange machines were her secret. Sure, the Great and Powerful Trixie was no stranger to supplementing her miraculous feats of magic with some fireworks or smoke, but that was just good showponyship. Maybe she would fire up the machines just to see what they did before Twilight got back. “Oooooooooooooooooh” moaned a voice in the distance. The owlbear let out his strange growl, and pointed towards the stairs. Descending the staircase was a figure wearing a white bed sheet, like some cliché storybook picture of a ghost. “Ooooooooooooooooooh, I am A GHOOOOST! Leave this plaaaaace.” Seriously? What pony would think they could get away with such a stupid disguise? “That is just pathetic!” said the Great and Powerful Trixie indignantly. “Of all the cheap, moronic ploys...” Trixie pointed her horn at the fake phantasm and lifted the bed sheet, revealing... A floating pile of books. “I waaaaaaarned yoooouu! I AM THE GHOST OF THE LIBRARY!” “It's not possible!” yelled the Great and Powerful Trixie. “You must be a spell of Twilight Sparkles!” She turned to the owlbear. “What are you waiting for, get that...thing!” The owlbear looked towards the floating books, and gave a nervous growl. Owlbears were none too bright, and were notoriously superstitious in their primitive little tribes. “I AM NO SPEEEEELL! Prepare to eat THE WRITTEN WORD, FOOLS!” One of the books from the floating pile launched towards the owlbear, smacking it right in the face. It yelped in fright. The Great and Powerful Trixie frantically tried to make sense of the situation. This was ridiculous! Had Twilight Sparkle prepared for such an intrusion in her home? Had she taught her little pet dragon a few tricks for such an emergency? Or... could the library really be haunted? “The Great and Powerful Trixie does not fear any such nonsense,” said the unicorn, trying to sound as calm and dignified as possible. “That's too baaaaaaad,” chided the voice. The books dropped to the ground while a bib rose and tied itself into a knot around the phantasm. “'Cause I'm going to eat you!” That was too much for the owlbear to handle. It threw it's arms into the air, let out a terrified screech, and bolted up the stairs. A moment later, a softer set of footsteps descended the staircase. It was Twilight Sparkle's little pet, the baby dragon. “Well, you've really done it now, Trixie,” said Spike. “Twilight always warned me about the ghost of the library, but I've never actually heard it until now. What exactly did you do to make it so mad?” “The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't answer to the likes of you!” A book flew from the pile towards the unicorn, barely missing her. “I don't think it liked that answer,” said Spike. “Better tell the truth, I hear that's usually the only thing that can calm angry ghosts like this down.” “Fine! I came looking for the source of Twilight Sparkle's apparent strength! I was going to expose that proud pony for what she was, and prove that nopony can really match the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Spike sighed. “Will you ever learn, Trixie? Twilight really is that talented! You obviously have better skill than most with your magic, why can't you just be happy with that?” “You may have caught Equestria's greatest magician this time, dragon, but next time I'll expose what Twilight Sparkle is hiding. And also the truth about this 'ghost' of yours!” Trixie threw down a pouch she kept for stage performances, creating a cloud of blue smoke just long enough to cover her escape. She ran past the baby dragon, up the stairs, and out of the library. It was only a matter of time before Twilight Sparkle and her friends came back, and the baby dragon told them what happened. No matter, The Great and Powerful Trixie would just have to be more careful in her next plan. … Finn was regaining his visibility as he and Spike worked to clean up the library. “Whoa, Finn,” said Spike. “That was actually pretty cool. I mean no offense, but you didn't strike me as brilliant when you first fell into the library and screamed your head off.” “Thanks, man,” said Finn proudly. “I have my moments. Who was that anyway?” “Oh, her? That was Trixie. A sorta nasty piece of work, but pretty far down the scale of jerks Twilight and the others have had to deal with. Though I don't know how she got the owlbears to work with her. Twilight might have a guess or two though.” “Wait, you mean you guys get into fights like this often?” “Well, kind of. I mean, there was the time the girls recovered the Elements of Harmony and stopped Nightmare Moon from creating eternal night.” “Who?” “Nightmare Moon, she's Princess Celestia's sister, and she kind of went off the deep end a thousand years ago and tried to take over the world, so Celestia had to banish her to the moon for a thousand years.” “A thousand years!” exclaimed Finn. “That's flippin' nuts! How long do you guys live? “Well most of us won't be around nearly as long as the Princesses, I'm pretty sure they're immortal. I might have a good shot at it though, being a dragon.” Finn thought for a moment about what dragons looked like back in Ooo. It was nothing like the adorable little purple guy he was talking to. “So you're saying that these princesses are immortal and can do stuff like shoot ponies to the moon? How the heck did Twilight and the others manage to stop one of them?” “They found the Elements of Harmony, they're kind of like magical representations of goodness and order. When they were found by Nightmare Moon, the Elements activated and purified the evil out of her. Now she's back on our side as Princess Luna. She's still kinda creepy at times, but really I think she's just happy to be among her ponies again.” The story reminded Finn a lot of his own friend from back in Ooo. She also seemed really dangerous and creepy, but just wanted some friends. “Hey Finn,” said Spike, trying to clean a scuff mark from the floor. “What about you? You said you were an adventurer right?” “Sure, what do you wanna know?” “Any crazy adventures you can tell me about?” Finn thought for a moment about all his past adventures. “Well, I guess the most nuts thing I've ever done was when Jake and I fought the Lich.” “What's a Lich?” asked Spike. “It's kind of this zombie wizard thing, except ridiculously powerful. Peebles said it wanted to kill everything in the world, and from what I saw, it had a good chance at it. It could do this thing where if you listened to it speak it would take over your mind.” “That's insane!” said Spike. Sure he had seen some dangerous things, but even Discord, the Spirit of Chaos didn't try to kill anything. Finn's world must have been very different than Equestria. “Yeah, luckily I had this sweater!” said Finn, showing Spike his prized Like-Like sweater. “Um, because you were cold?” “Nah man, although that's why the princess gave it to me in the first place. I found another use for it.” “Yeah, what'd you do?” “I shoved this sweater up into it's eye holes and ripped it's head off!” Spike was speechless. “Of course, that wasn't the end of it. Peebles got possessed for a while by the Lich, and we almost killed her, but everything turned out alright eventually.” “Um, Finn?” asked Spike. “You've killed a lot haven't you? I mean, it sounds like you live in a dangerous place and all, but things just aren't like that here in Equestria.” “Yeah,” said Finn, remembering some of his adventures. “It's just a different kind of world I guess. Don't worry, I promise I won't kill anything as long as I'm here in this world.” “Thanks,” said Spike. The door of the library opened. Twilight and the others came in, looking exhausted and ruffled. “Well Girls,” said Twilight. “I don't think we'll have to worry about him coming back for a while. Where did you even get all of that honey and chicken wire, Fluttershy?” “Oh,” said the yellow pegasus, “Um, you know. I like to keep plenty just in case.” “And lookie here,” said Applejack. “Finn was back here all along! That's a load off.” “Yeah, what happened to you!” said Rainbow Dash. “You raised such a storm about wanting to go fight the owlbear and then you snuck off back here?” “I couldn't keep up with you guys!” said Finn. “Y'all run way faster than I do!” “And you girls should be happy he had to come back!” yelled Spike. “Why's that, Spike?” asked Twilight. "Because that owlbear you fought was a diversion!" Spike recounted what had happened between them, Trixie, and the other owlbear. When he got the the part about the ghost of the library, Rainbow Dash couldn't stop laughing. “That was very clever of you, Finn,” said Twilight. “You stopped a full grown owlbear and magically adept unicorn with a simple trick. Of course, it was my invisibility spell that made it possible, but still.” “But Twilight, darling,” said Rarity. “That horrid Trixie got away! Surely we should do something about her!” “Maybe later,” said Twilight. “For now, I think I just want to get some rest. You all must be tired after today.” “Yeah,” said Finn. “I could do with some sleep.” “Don't worry Finn, first thing we'll do tomorrow is get to work on getting you home.” … Bonus “Twilight's Song” (To the Tune of "Billy's Song") Who's the greatest unicorn ever A filly of renown? Who sealed a chaos spirit And cast Nightmare Moon down? TWILIGHT! And that time she hatched a dragon egg So impressed the Princess fair That she became her personal student And earned a cutie mark right there! TWILIGHT! Also SHE FOUGHT A BEEEEEEEAAAARRR! ... What, no Pinkie Pie? Sorry guys, this was running pretty long and I figured it would be better to divvy up the stories into separate chapters. I also wanted to show a little bit about how Adventure Time is a bit darker than MLP at times by talking about the Lich, for those not familiar with the show. Anyway, thanks for continuing to be awesome, see you next time! Art Used: http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/348/3/f/scary_ghost_story__by_adamscage-d4j4myw.png http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/267/d/e/twilight_sparkle_by_elegantmisreader-d4asspt.png