//------------------------------// // By Its Cover // Story: On Your (Cutie) Mark... // by Scantrel //------------------------------// "Twilight?" Spike gently poked at the dozing mare with a claw tip, "Twilight, come on, get up." "Whazzat...Spike?" Twilight replied groggily. The purple unicorn had fallen asleep at her desk, surrounded by stacks of books. Even more tomes were strewn about the room where Twilight had discarded the ones she had already finished reviewing. "Here, you need this. You were up half the night." Spike said, placing the steaming mug of coffee on the desk in front of Twilight. "Thank you, Spike. You always know just what I need." Twilight said gratefully, levitating the mug to take a sip. While Spike busied himself to start straightening up the mess Twilight had made during her late-night research, Twilight rubbed a hoof through her mane and reviewed the facts. She hadn't been able to find one reference in any of her books on arcana, history, legend, or myth that bore any resemblance to the dark mist she had seen hovering over Rarity. The fact that it had reacted to her presence at all implied some sort of sentience, which was troubling. Twilight considered her options. If there wasn't anything in her library's collection that could offer any insight, then she would have to expand her study. "Spike!" Twilight called out, causing the little dragon to pause with a stack of books in his arms. "Would you gather my quills, some ink, and blank parchments into a bag for me. We're going to Canterlot, to the library." Spike set down the stack of books and gave Twilight a hopeful look. "Can we stop by the hospital first on the way? I...I was hoping we could check on Rarity." Spike blushed. "Of course, I want to check on her as well as Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Oh, and we're going to make one other stop along the way, so be prepared for a short walk through the Everfree Forest." The visit to the hospital had been brief, but hopeful. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were all stable and resting with no further incident of complications. Satisfied that her friends were in good hooves, Twilight and Spike left the hospital and made their way into the Everfree Forest. The walk to Zecora's hut wasn't too far and the path was now very familiar to Twilight. When they arrived, Twilight walked up to the door and knocked, hoping the Zebra was home. In a few moments, the door swung open and Zecora smiled to see Twilight and Spike standing outside. "Twilight, Spike! Hello, my friends. What brings you to my hut again?" Zecora asked. "Hello, Zecora, we need your help. Something has happened to three of my friends and I think there's dark magic involved. I tried researching what I had seen using my library, but my collection isn't that extensive. I was wondering if you might have some insights to share before I go to Canterlot and try their archives." Twilight replied. Zecora frowned, "Come in, dear Twilight, tell me the tale. Together this problem we will assail." Twilight nodded her thanks and she and Spike went inside. Zecora put on a pot of herbal tea as Twilight related every detail she could remember. She described the sequence of events from Applejack's injury and hospitalization to the unexpected Rainboom. Twilight then told how she had found Rarity and the dark tendrils of mist surrounding her. Twilight's face fell a little as she told Zecora of the aftermath, taking Rarity to the hospital and learning that Rainbow Dash had nearly fallen to her demise, only to be rescued by Scootaloo. The three mares were under close observation and while there didn't appear to be any immediate medical danger, nopony could explain why the three of them had all collapsed. Even more concerning was the mystery of why all three of their cutie marks had faded away. Zecora had closed her eyes during Twilight's narrative, listening closely. She ran through her own vast knowledge of magic and lore in her mind, trying to think of any explanation. Finally, Zecora opened her eyes and looked at Twilight. "The illness and their cutie mark absence," Zecora said thoughtfully, "with this foul mist cannot be coincidence. My instincts are that some dark spell, has summoned forth this thing most fell." Twilight considered that, then said, "What you say makes sense, but there are very few ponies I can imagine beyond the Princesses that would even have access to such a spell, much less with the magical talent to cast it. The only one that might even come close is..." Twilight's voice trailed off and her eyes narrowed. "Discord!" she exclaimed. "It must be him!" "A likely suspect, I must agree." Zecora said. "Perhaps revenge against Harmony?" "I don't know, but I'm going to find out. Thanks Zecora, you've been a great help!" Turning to her companion, Twilight said, "Let's go Spike. We need to get on the next train to Canterlot and confront Discord and find out what his game is." The train pulled into Canterlot Station and Twilight waited impatiently to disembark. It had been only recently that Fluttershy had convinced Discord to use his magic for good (most of the time, anyway) and Twilight had been expecting him to backslide. As soon as she was off of the train, Twilight levitated Spike onto her back and galloped off towards the palace grounds where Princess Celestia said Discord preferred to spend his days. The guardponies recognized Twilight at once as she approached and let her pass without challenge. Eventually, Twilight found the draconequus lounging in one of the palace gardens. Setting Spike down at the entry gate, Twilight said, "Wait here, Spike." Wasting no time on pleasantries, Twilight marched up and demanded, "Alright Discord. I know you have to be behind all of this. What have you done to my friends?" "My my, Twilight Sparkle! To whatever do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Discord asked with a regal air. Discord snapped his fingers and Twilight suddenly found herself seated in an oversized plush formal chair, with Discord now standing beside her dressed in a butler's tuxedo wearing a powdered wig and carrying a serving tray. "Do try some of the cream and trumpets!" Discord urged. A large brass horn poked its bell out of the teapot on the tray, blasting Twilight in the face with a raucous fanfare, causing her to flinch backwards. "Oops, my mistake!" Discord said with mock sincerity. "I meant tea and crumpets." Another snap of his fingers and Discord was sitting in a similar chair, now dressed in noble finery, slurping tea loudly off of half a saucer. Twilight did her best to remain calm. "I didn't come for a tea party, Discord. I want to know what was that mist you created and why it caused my friends to become ill and lose their cutie marks." "What's this about a mist that I missed?" Discord asked, finishing the tea on the saucer before taking a bite from it as if it were a biscuit. "I'm afraid you're barking up the wrong tree." With a flash, Discord disappeared and then reformed next to Twilight looking like a small spruce tree with his normal head. Discord reached out one of his limbs to give Twilight a noogie. "Discord...I'm not in the mood." Twilight grumbled, starting to lose her composure. Discord sighed heavily, then in a flash returned to his normal state and dismissed the tea party setting. "You need to get out more Twilight, you are simply no fun." When he saw Twilight's expression had not changed, Discord said in a disappointed voice, "Very well, we'll do this your way this time. While I must commend whomever is responsible for their style, whatever you've encountered isn't my doing. What little you've told me sounds more sinister than chaotic and that's just not my thing." Discord waved his eagle's claw dismissively. "There's nothing I can help you with, perhaps your precious Princess would be better." Discord huffed. "If you don't mind, I want to be alawn now," Discord quipped and poofed out of sight, until Twilight saw eyes and a mouth looking up from the grass itself. "Farewell, Twilight." Discord's voice said in way of parting as a "Keep off the Grass" sign appeared from nowhere. Twilight started to retort, but then realized the futility. Trudging back to the garden gate, Twilight gathered up Spike and set off towards the Canterlot Royal Library. Twilight and Spike entered the main atrium of the Library and the sights and smells of the books, parchments, and journals were instantly soothing to Twilight. Twilight paused to consider her plan of attack. "Spike," she said at last, "I'd like you to go to the history section and see if you can find any books relating to the pre-Equestrian era, specifically ones focusing on unicorn ritual magic." As her assistant eagerly ran off to see to her request, Twilight turned to head for the Starswirl the Bearded wing. As Twilight passed by the small alcove that housed the genealogy records, an older stallion with a dark brown coat and a cutie mark of a leather-bound book waved to catch her attention. Twilight turned her attention to the stallion, who had approached very quietly, as typical for library staff. "Miss Sparkle! It is an honor to finally get to meet you. My name is Dusty Tome, welcome to the Library." Twilight smiled in greeting, "Good day, Mr. Tome and thank you. If I recall you work in the Antiquities Archives section?" The brown stallion smiled in return. "Yes, yes, that's quite correct. I wish my memory was still as sharp. What brings you to the Library, some new research?" Dusty Tome inquired helpfully. "Yes, but I'm afraid my need isn't purely academic," Twilight answered. "Three of my friends have fallen ill and I'm looking for a spell that might reverse the process." Twilight didn't want to alarm the older scholar with the complete story. "Ahh, I see. I do hope they recover quickly. You'll doubtless find what you're looking for in one of the medical archives. Speaking of which, I do want to thank you again for your work on the tome you recently returned to us. It has proven a most interesting work." Twilight had to think back. "Oh yes, I remember. The Neighcronomicon. I just wish I could have been more helpful, most of it was illegible. I have to confess, it sat locked up at my library for quite some time before I could review it." "Oh, I completely understand. I guessed you were using some tools to try and decipher it, from the little scratches on the cover." Dusty Tome remarked. Twilight frowned. "Scratches? That's very odd, I didn't use any tools, I used my magic to levitate the book and turn the pages." Dusty Tome frowned as well. "I'm quite sure about the condition of the cover, we are very meticulous to document everything about books we loan from the archives. Perhaps something happen in transit. I won't keep you from your research any longer, Miss Sparkle. It was a pleasure speaking with you." With a respectful bow of his head, the archivist turned and walked away back deeper into the library. As Twilight watched him depart, she pondered what could have caused the book that had been locked up in her library to become damaged. She hadn't shown anyone the book and it had been returned to the Canterlot Archives safely. In fact, it practically hadn't left her sight during the entire time it was on loan to her, save for the overnight trip she had made to Canterlot to visit with Princess Celestia. Twilight fretted, trying to recall the sequence of events of the days that followed. She had returned from Canterlot, things had returned to normal for the most part, then there was the celebration for the Crusaders getting their cutie marks... Twilight's train of thought came to a screeching halt. The Crusaders had gotten their cutie marks. More specifically, they had gotten cutie marks the same as those now missing from Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack. All of which happened right after Twilight had returned the book to Canterlot. It couldn't be a conincidence. "Mr. Tome! Just a moment please!" Twilight called out, sprinting off to chase after the archivist. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom were quiet as they walked over to the library. Each of them were hoping that Twilight's summons meant she had figured out what malady was plaguing Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity. The fillies had been given special dispensation to miss classes this week so they could spend time at the hospital during visiting hours. When they reached the large tree that served as the library, Scootaloo knocked on the front door, which promptly was surrounded by a purple aura as it swung open. "Come in, please!" Twilight called out and the three girls went inside. Twilight was sitting in the main room, a large black leather bound book on the floor in front of her. Each of the Crusaders gulped nervously when they saw it, it was the same book they had seen in the locked trunk on the night of their spying escapade. "Have a seat, girls." Twilight instructed. The three fillies complied at once, sitting down in front of Twilight, trying not to look too guilty as they avoided looking at the book. "Girls, I need to know, have any of you seen this book before?" Twilight levitated the book up so the cover was plainly visible. Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle, who looked at Apple Bloom, who in return looked back at Scootaloo. A heavy silence hung over them until Twilight prodded gently. "I'm not going to be angry, I just want the truth. Have you all seen this book before, and if so, where?" Sweetie Belle broke first, nodding as she looked up at Twilight. "We have. We were trying to earn our cutie marks as spies, after reading the Haymes Barn novel you lent us. So we snuck into the library while you were away and we found the locked trunk. We had borrowed one of Pinkie Pie's microfilm cameras and we were going to take pictures of anything that looked like top secret documents. We broke into the trunk and I tried reading the book while Scootaloo prepared the camera. I couldn't really read anything except one poem." Sweetie Belle bowed her head in shame and the other Crusaders followed suit. "We're sorry, Twilight!" they said in unison. Twilight levitated the book back down and turned her gaze to Sweetie Belle. "Do you remember what the 'poem' said? And had you already started using your magic before then?" "No, I didn't use any magic, not that I know of." Sweetie Belle answered. "The poem was something about brothers and sisters and fates I think." Twilight nodded. "Page 23. The spell of preserving the destinies of the dead." "The..the dead?" Apple Bloom said, her voice a little shaky. "Yes, this book is very old. It was originally from Saddle Arabia." Twilight said as if giving a lecture. "Most of the contents are unreadable, but it is a collection of rites and rituals for communicating with the dead. The spell that Sweetie Belle found was one that was intended, as best I can tell, to preserve key talents from ancestors within a family." Twilight looked up at Sweetie Belle, who had started to shiver. "I don't know how you were able to cast the spell, It must have been some fluke of the unpredictability of your unicorn magic starting to manifest. It's common for fillies of your age to start showing some signs of magic and the spurts are sometimes very unexpected." Twilight said. "I can only guess that the spell didn't contact the spirits of your ancestors, Sweetie Belle, but rather attached itself to you, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. It then connected with the pony you are most closely bonded with and drew out their talents and gave them to you." Twilight took a deep breath. "The question now is how to undo this." "Can't you cast some sort of spell?" Scootaloo asked hopefully. Twilight shook her head negatively. "I don't think that I can directly reverse the effects. What I can do, I think, is to use the spell to open that conduit again and hopefully you three can find a way to give back what you inadvertently took from your sisters. Or in your case, from Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo." "If that's what I have ta do ta make Applejack better, then that's what I'll do." Apple Bloom said resolutely. "Me too!" Scootaloo vowed. "Rainbow Dash is my sister as far as I'm concerned. I'll do whatever it takes." Sweetie Belle tried to sound as brave as her two best friends, but her voice trembled regardless. "Anything for Rarity." she said quietly. "Very well girls. I'll start." Twilight said somberly, then started to incant as she read from the Neighcronomicon. Tendrils of black mist started to rise up from the floor, surrounding the Crusaders. Slowly, they writhed around the fillies as if in some sort of macabre dance and then suddenly swirled over them, encasing them in blackness.