//------------------------------// // Chapter 125 - Intrigued // Story: Quest For Harmony // by destinedjagold //------------------------------// “Scootaloo” Stupid emotions being so stupid and making me think of stupid things and making me lose my focus. Darn it... It's not it's Sweetie's fault that I'm feeling like this. Okay, maybe she did, but she didn't mean it! I know that she didn't, but it hurt...it really hurt... Argh! “Scoots?” I...must have slammed my hoof on the ground too strongly... I quickly looked ahead and saw Spike, Apple Bloom and Shining Armor. The three stood before the the opened doors to the library, where inside, I saw Twilight was staring at us in confusion... I sighed. “I'm fine, I'm fine...” But they still kept on staring at me. My eye twitched in irritation. Argh! I stepped forward and kept on trotting through the library, completely ignoring their worried looks at me. I turned and stared mindlessly at the stacks of books on this tall bookshelf standing in front of me. My eyes fell on one title to another, pretending to read them. I heard their hooves stepping on the ground behind me, and beyond me. They trotted slower than I wanted, but at least they were with that purple unicorn now. I needed to be alone, to have my thoughts to myself for a while... “Is she...gonna be okay?” That was Spike's voice. Ugh... “No,” came Apple Bloom's simple reply as I pulled a random book and opened it to a random page. “She seems to be just busy looking for something...” came Twilight's response... “No. She's just tryin' tah look busy so we could'a ignore her,” ...darn it. I sighed as I returned the book. With that done, I looked and glared at them. “Could you just help Jay or whoever already? Sheesh,” I rolled my eyes as I trotted towards the window where Blitz's statue stood beside it. “He needs immediate help, remember? So stop delaying and get on with it!” I lifted my two fore hooves and rested them on the window's frame. I rested my head over my hooves and stared at the gray world outside. The ponies behind me murmured something. It was too low for me to hear, but whatever. I'm a tough pony, and I can deal with these stupid sappy emotions! ...yeah, I can deal with it...like how she deals with them all the time...when she was still here... Argh! Darn it! Darn it darn it darn darn it— “Stop slamming your head!” Apple Bloom cried as I felt a magical aura wrapping around my whole body. I looked down and saw the magenta and bluish-white hues of magic surrounding me. It was a weak kind of magic, so I easily broke it with my mind. I turned and glared at the two unicorns, but I closed my eyes and sighed instead. “Wanna talk about it?” that Armor dude asked. I shook my head. “No. I can deal with this. Just...go and help Jay.” I sat and looked at them with a brave face. “I'll just sit here.” “Um... Okay, if you're sure...” Twilight stared at me with doubt before nodding and turning her attention on the heart that was on top of her table. “So, what am I looking at?” “That's called the Crystal Heart,” Spike answered, “w-well, at least that's what Kronz and Jay called it.” “Kronz?” Twilight blinked. Before Spike could answer though, she spoke again. “Ah! Jay's younger brother. Yeah,” she nodded, “I remember him while I was trying to connect my thoughts and soul to bring him here.” “Uh...” Spike blinked at that. Apple Bloom as well. Sheesh, all of these magic stuff is too complicated. “R-right, anyway,” Spike shook his head slightly, “Jay wanted to ask you if there's a better way for us to send it to him, since he's not sure if using my fire would work.” Twilight brought a hoof to her chin as her horn glowed, levitating the heart in front of her vision, and slowly rotating it as she observed it. Sigh... This is gonna take us a while... “And he also wants to know if you know how to use it against this Sombra dude.” “Sombra?” Armor echoed, catching everypony's attention. “That sounds familiar.” He ignored the looks he was receiving as he trotted towards the bookshelves. “I think I have read about that in one of the books here while waiting for Twiley to return with the potion... Hm... It must be around here somehow...” “Try the Crystal Empire,” Spike announced, “he is, after all, related to that deserted kingdom...” “Not really a deserted kingdom is ya ask me,” Bloom smiled at the dragon, who blushed and laughed nervously. “Oh, yeah, right...” Spike scratched his other arm as he faced Bloom. “I should maybe help and go look for that book.” After receiving a nod from Bloom and Twilight, Spike went to the shelves and started reading at a few pages before closing them, returning them, and pulling another book. While he and Shining were searching though, Twilight levitated the heart again, rotating it as he took a few notes with his quill and papyrus. Wow, she can lift multiple items all at once. “How're ya holdin' up, Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked. I didn't even notice that she already sat beside me. I groaned before I faced her. “I'm fine. Just not really up to being all sappy again, like that one evening in that forest...” “Hm...” Bloom and I turned to Twilight as she eyed the heart. “This is a weird artifact, indeed... I could feel that this is some sort of container, or something similar, that could hold large amounts of mana. Kinda strange that I could feel small amounts of mana that is somehow similar to the mana I used to contact Jay in his home world while I was trapped inside Discord's body...” “Does she always talk to herself?” I asked, a little too loud, but she didn't seem to notice. Heh, she must be so absorbed by that thing. “Yeah,” Spike responded, while flipping a few pages with a book on his claws, “she's always like that if she's figuring out something that really intrigues her.” I looked at Apple Bloom, but she was in deep thought about something. Finally, she spoke up as she gazed at the purple unicorn. “Twalight,” the unicorn regarded her with a side glance, “you just said that you, somehow, sensed a similar magic that you used to contact Jay, rayt?” “Yes?” She smiled at her. “Wow, for an earth pony, you sure are attentive at these kinds of stuff.” Bloom only shrugged. “Ah learned how to listen an' analyze. Anyway,” she then turned to Spike. “Spike,” he looked at her, “you said that yah had a strange dream about you an' Jay, right?” Spike arched an eyebrow, but nodded anyway. “Oh?” Twilight sounded interested as she turned to Spike. “Spike, was that true?” “Yeah? Why?” “What was the dream about again?” Spike stared at her with a deadpan. “Apple Bloom already told you: it was about me meeting with Jay. What's the big deal, anyway?” “This is a big deal, Spike!” she announced as she turned to Bloom. Where is this heading, anyway? “Anything else, um...” “Just call me Apple Bloom, or Bloom, whichever you feel comfortable with,” she shrugged. “Anyway, hm... Well, we had a fight against an alicorn...” “An alicorn?” “Yeah,” I answered. “She said that she was the alicorn of love or something. Nothing lovely about how she kicked our flanks back there though,” I chuckled. I still felt kinda sore from that battle. “She called herself Kadanz or something...” “You mean Cadence, right?” Armor asked. I turned to him and saw that he was reading a book that was held by his magic. “I found the book about Sombra. Apparently, he and Cadence were the rulers of the Crystal Empire many years ago, but a catastrophe happened, making each ponies who lived there to suddenly vanish.” “Wait wait wait...” Twilight spoke. “Too much information running around here. Let me sort things out first...” She looked at us as we all nodded. Oh, Sweetie Belle's here. “Okay, okay...” she said as she wrote furiously on a papyrus. “His Spike,” Sweetie Belle greeted Spike with a smile, which he returned with another, and the two of them trotted towards us. I rolled my eyes while Bloom held a grin. “What? Did I miss anything?” “Oh, yah just got him, actually,” Bloom and I snickered, ignoring Sweetie's blush and glare. “Spike,” Twilight called. “Yeah?” “Where was this artifact during your dream?” Spike only shrugged as he slightly shook his head. “The hay should I know? I was knocked out at that time...” “If we're talking about the heart,” Sweetie Belle spoke, “the girls and I found it lying on the ground, pinning Spike's tail.” “Huh?” Spike turned to Sweetie Belle. “It was?” “Eeyup,” Bloom answered. “I see. Fascinating...” Twilight said as Shining Armor stood near us. “So this heart can connect thoughts to anypony, even through different dimensions.” “Eh, I'm not sure about that, Twilight,” Spike shook his head. “It was just a dream anyway, though...” Twilight smiled when Spike trailed off. “Exactly.” Spike shook his head again. “How does that information help Jay, anyway?” “Um...” the quill hovered still on the air. Twilight turned to us and gave us a sheepish grin. “Whoops?” Spike sighed. “When she get's intrigued by something...”