//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Disturbance // Story: Forgotten Kin // by This Account Is Dead //------------------------------// Chapter 1: Disturbance "Are you done with reading now? You know the library has to be open tomorrow and you have to do your job as librarian. I can't do all of your work alone!" called a more than a bit frustrated Spike down the stairs. "Just one more chapter, then I'll go to sleep," a clearly distracted Twilight called back. "That's what you said the last fourteen times I checked on you..." The little dragon groaned as he smacked his claw to his face. "I really mean it this time! I promise!" came the parenthetic reply. Earlier that day, Twilight got a new book about the newest insights and innovations in all kinds of magic. Needless to say, it was a pretty big one. It probably weighed at least half as much as Twilight herself. She immediately started reading it and probably wouldn't have noticed if Rainbow Dash and Pinkie "borrowed" a big part of the library’s books to hide them somewhere else. Right now she sat, enthralled by the book, in front of the fireplace and was about half finished with it. Spike on the other hand tried to get her to bed since she did this far too often as it could be healthy for her lately. That was mostly the reason Spike was upset. Mostly... He surely was concerned about her health but when she slept in till afternoon, it had the unpleasant side effect that he had to take care of the library alone. Not that he wasn't capable of doing so, he just barely got to do something else and was most of the time too tired afterwards to do anything productive. He stood there and pondered for a while if he should keep trying or just give up. For one part he would have a chance that Twilight would be awake in time to give him a free afternoon to help Rarity or go to Pinkie to work on a new gemcake recipe that they came up with lately. On the other hand he could very likely end up with a lot more frustration and a stressful day of trying not to fall asleep while he stood on a ladder. Eventually he sighed in defeat and turned around to go to sleep, hoping he wouldn't have to drag the unicorn upstairs in the morning because she fell asleep over the book on the floor. It wouldn't be a sight the library’s visitors would appreciate very much. Instead he was greeted by a pair of large, white-glowing eyes, staring at him out of a cloud of impenetrable darkness. At first he didn't even recognized them as such, he just realized that the door to the bedroom wasn't where it was supposed to be. Blame it on the lack of sleep he had recently. Then however, it finally settled in what he was staring at. "WAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Unfortunately for Spike the staircase was still behind him and being scared like that caused him to jump back pretty far. Too far... He fell down the stairs, causing quite a lot of loud crashing noises. He was just trying to stand up shakily as a worried Twilight appeared, obviously startled by Spike’s unquiet descend. "Spike! Are you alright? What happened?" She unleashed a flurry of concerned questions. The little dragon in question however immediately started to panic as soon as he managed to shoo away the stars he was seeing and tried to hide behind Twilight. "There is ghost up there! A big black one!" he stuttered with clicking teeth. The purple unicorn stared at him in disbelief. She had thought he was old enough to stop believing in ghosts and such things. She was obviously wrong. "There are no ghosts, Spike. You know they are just made up to scare foals?" "B... But there was one! I swear!" he stammered in protest. Twilight considered if she could get Spike to sleep anyways. Of course she didn't believe that there was a ghost or anything. Even if they existed, she would have noticed if something big and scary came in. Such things aren't known for being stealthy. "Okay, if it helps you, I'll go up there with you and show you that there is nothing to be afraid of, deal?" she asked, slightly annoyed. "You go first!" Twilight rolled her eyes but didn't comment on it. She had enough experience to know it was pointless to argue with the little dragon when he was unreasonably scared by some imaginary beast. Instead, the librarian just went up the stairs, turned around and waited for her assistant to follow her. Somehow he managed to get a bucket, a broom and a pan lid as improvised battle gear. "Really, Spike? Is that really necessary? I mean come on!" She deadpanned. He didn't reply but at least he hesitantly started to climb up the stairs. Twilight waited patiently until he arrived and pointed her hoof to the bedroom. "See? There is nothing there. You may have a peaceful slumber now, Mister," she said with a hint of venom in her voice. "But there was something there! I swear," the dragon grumbled in protest. Twilight on the other hand didn't bother to continue the ‘discussion’ if you can call it that and moved to the door. Again she waited for the anxious dragon to follow. He came in and looked around as if there was a Timberwolf lurking in some corner, but when he saw nothing he eased up a bit and crawled into his basket, tossing his weapon and armor aside. "Are you really sure that there is nothing here?" "I am. Good night, Spike," Twilight murmured quietly and turned around to get back to her abandoned book. As she moved out and closed the door, a strange feeling sent a cold shiver down her spine. Did someone leave a window open? No... There was no breeze and it was warm enough in the library. Something about this sensation felt oddly familiar to the unicorn but she had no idea why. Eventually she shrugged it off and went back to her tome to finish it, or the chapter at least. Much to her dismay she didn't get very far in the process. "WAAAAAAAAH!!!" The scream came from upstairs. Twilight stood there, frozen for a moment, one eyelid twitching. She was pretty torn. For one, she was responsible for Spike and cared for him, so she should go up there and try to soothe and lull him to sleep. Another part of her wanted to storm up, yell him down and subsequently knock him out so he would let her finish that damned book. However both sides agreed to find the troublemaker first, so she opted to save the decision for later and went up to deal with him. She found him rather quickly though not where she expected him to be… "Seriously! How did you get up there?" Twilight asked flabbergasted, as she spotted Spike hanging three and half meters up on the chandelier. "I d-don't know. I-is it gone?" "What? What is gone?" "The ghost! I saw it again! It's black and smokey and…" he started, shivering enthusiastically. "Okay, okay, okay… You know what? I'll just stay here and if there really is a monster or ghost or anything you just show me and I'll banish it. In return you stop screaming. Okay?" "…okay." They stood silent for a moment. "Could… Could you help me down, please?" Yet again, a hoof met a face with a groan. The living shadow observed the emotional display with growing amusement. It didn't mean to scare the dragon in the first place; it just wanted to get a closer look at him and expected him to freeze like the critters in the forest did when it came close, much to its mystification. Now he understood that they feared it and tried to hide. Dragons obviously had other defense reflexes. But when it felt a strong magical entity coming close, it decided to hide for a change and veiled itself in a phantasmal shroud to stay hidden to the naked eye. Right now the situation was similar but the unicorn wouldn't leave this time, though it was rather entertaining to see the little dragon’s scared reaction again, when the dark creature showed itself again. But it could prove useful to watch the unicorn. The ponies seemed to be only civilized species here, and this one was especially powerful too, and it didn't exactly want to hide from what it sought forever but also didn't want to antagonize them by any inappropriate actions. It would probably the best to find out more about them before it revealed itself to them. Its train of thoughts was shortly interrupted as the unicorn dimmed the lights and went to sleep and soon started snoring softly. The enigmatic being considered this a signal for an opportunity to contemplate about what it saw during the past hours and what to make of it. Also it should think of how it could appear less frightening. Hopefully the next day would bring more information.