//------------------------------//
// The Fish (revised) 
// Story: Twilight's Secret 
// by Distorted Flare 
//------------------------------//

Twilight strode out of her library home into the bright, sunlit day.  As soon as she was clear of her door frame, her wings unfurled from her sides. Twilight gave a strong down flap and launched herself into the pristine morning air. Twilight's face bore a huge smile as she flew. Still new to the act of flying, it had not yet lost its novelty. Yet, at the same time, the feelings Rainbow Dash described when she flew were growing in Twilight. It was the feeling of absolute freedom, the thrill of every movement in the air. Twilight enjoyed every minute of her flight.

Her joy did not last, for as soon as she touched the ground outside Fluttershy's cottage, the grim nature of her task returned to the front of her mind. Twilight thought, 'I'm about to ask the most innocent pony I know where she gets her meat. I'm about to lie to her when she asks why I need to know. I'm so glad that I'm not AJ. She could never do this. Here goes nothing.'  Twilight's hoof rapped four times against her friend's door.

A moment later, the door cracked open. Down on the ground stood a small white bunny. "Oh, hello, Angel. Is Fluttershy in? I need to ask her something," she explained to the bunny. Angel nodded and opened the door wider to accommodate the alicorn. She accepted his invitation to enter. Angel led Twilight into the kitchen, where Fluttershy sat drinking her morning tea.

The yellow pegasus noticed her friend and softly exclaimed, "Oh, hi, Twilight. I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were coming over. If I had, I would have made you some tea..."

"Oh, no problem, Fluttershy. I came here on an impulse," Twilight said. 

Fluttershy tilted her head. "Impulse?"

Twilight continued, "Yeah, I thought of something I wanted to ask you."

"Yes?" Fluttershy asked after a minute without hearing Twilight's question. "Umm... Twilight, what did you want to ask?"

"I, ummm... wondered where you got the meat you feed your carnivorous animals. Owlowiscious usually hunts for himself, so I've never thought about it before. But where do you get the meat for them?" Twilight asked her friend.

"Oh, umm... There's a merchant who comes to town every three days. He sells fish to ponies with pets. I think Rarity's dad, Magnum, fishes too. Those are the ones I usually get the food for my critters. Does that help?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yes, thank you, Fluttershy. That answered my question. I'll see you later, okay?"

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Twilight acquired salmon without any difficulty. The merchant didn't even ask why she needed it. Twilight thought he gave her an odd look, but it was probably just her paranoia making her see things. However, since no questions were asked, Twilight made it home without incident.

Now her only problem was Spike. She couldn't have him in the library while she was eating. Granted, the little dragon COULD eat meat, but he never had.

'Actually, Spike might very well have tried it behind my back. If he has, I'll be upset that he didn't tell me. But he's a mature kid. I won't be upset with him for eating meat. I would be a hypocrite,' Twilight thought to herself.

Fortunately, Spike himself presented the solution to her problem. "Twi, I finished my chores. Can I go dig for gems with Rarity?" the dragon asked.

"Oh, sure!" Twilight smiled. "Go spend the day with her. Have fun, Casanova!"

Spike blushed at the mention of his long-time crush. Thanking his caretaker, Spike dashed out of the library at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash envious. Twilight chuckled at her assistant's antics.

Now that she had the library to herself, she set to work. First, before she did anything with the food, she grabbed a quill and some paper. On it, she wrote 'Library closed for scientific experiment. Do not disturb. That means you, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.' Twilight tacked the notice to her front door. She then went around her library, closing the windows and drawing the curtains closed.

As one final protection, she enveloped her home in a force field. She tuned the strength of the force field so that it would be a barrier to the average pony, but would break in case of emergency.

Finally satisfied that she wouldn't be interrupted, she reached for the cookbook that she had left on the table that morning. Flipping through the pages, she stopped at a recipe that looked interesting. "Citrus salmon... I have all of these ingredients. Yes, I'll do this one," the alicorn muttered to herself.

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An hour and a half later, the steaming dish sat on her plate. Twilight felt guilty that it smelled good to her. Her stomach rumbled in agreement. She levitated her fork to her plate and scooped up a chunk of the flaky meat. The texture surprised her, although she really had no idea what she was expecting. The fork slowly levitated up to her mouth. She gulped, 'This is it. No turning back now.' The fork entered her mouth and she bit down. A strange flavor filled her mouth. She could identify all of the other ingredients, but the fish itself was something totally new to her. She'd done it. Twilight Sparkle had consumed the flesh of an animal. The worst part of the whole experience was when Twilight realized that she had already taken a second bite.

'Oh, Celestia... This is good. There's no way this should taste this good. I'm eating FISH!' she thought. For some reason, the guilt she expected to come never did. Her fork returned to her plate again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Soon, the entire fish had been consumed. The alicorn happily patted her stomach, very satisfied with her meal.

She made a mental note to document the experience later. For now, she had to clean up the unused fish.

As she cleaned, Twilight contemplated the perverse nature of her experiment. It was just so delightfully devious. It would be her little secret, her one blemish on her otherwise flawless record. And everypony else will be none the wiser. Twilight thought, 'I will have to do that again. Maybe I should try something else next time. Perhaps chicken?'

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Once the library was back in working order and there was no evidence to indicate anything out of the ordinary had happened her, Twilight opened the library back up. Dash was waiting patiently outside. When the pegasus noticed that the building was open, she charged Twilight. "Ugh… What took you so long in there! I’ve been waiting like, for 20 minutes! Come on! Hey, is the new Daring Do book in yet?"

'Oh Dashie... '