The next morning, Twilight slipped out of the cellar with as much stealth as she could muster. She had hoped to get out of the house before Spike and Fluttershy woke, and made her way toward the door with as much care as was possible in the silver gloom of early morning. Unfortunately she hadn’t taken into account the critters sleeping on her floor. Most were easy to avoid, but a few were almost invisible in near darkness.
One misplaced hoof found its way to the tail of a sleeping beaver that had blended perfectly with the wooden floor. Its high-pitched squeal began a chain reaction as those startled awake by the noise made their displeasure known with a variety of growls, tweets and shrieks. Fluttershy and Spike received a rude awakening, and when their red-eyed gazes fell on Twilight they weren’t inclined to roll over and go back to sleep.
Before either one could speak, Twilight bolted. She took refuge in the nearby bathroom and slammed the door behind her. The escape was a poor one. Her chosen sanctuary had no window and no other way out. Groaning with frustration, she looked into the mirror to compose herself. Twilight’s reflection seemed even more out of sorts than she expected as she tried to build the courage to walk out and deal with her friends.
She realized she was quite dirty. Her coat was frizzy and matted, and her mane looking greasy. She thought back on all the stress and physical exertion she’d been through recently, as well as the night sleeping on a couch in her poorly ventilated lab, and remembered that she hadn’t bathed in the last forty-eight hours.
Twilight decided to allow herself time for a hot shower. She climbed into her bathtub, and let the high-pressure nozzle do its work. The hot water flowed over her body and the room quickly filled with steam, and Twilight breathed deeply. Her body temperature rose. The humid air soothed her lungs like a knotted muscle finally being stretched. Relaxation snuck into her body through every pore.
She took her time and tried a variety of soaps and shampoos. Each scent came with a rich lather of bubbles which penetrated her coat to massage her skin. Every rinse seemed to wash away another bad memory. Even the sound of water hitting the porcelain tub and the sight of grime flowing off her body and down the drain were a bit hypnotic. She couldn’t help but let out a sigh of satisfaction when she finally turned off the flow and wrapped herself up with her softest towel.
It was an all too brief moment of recovery, and she was thankful for it. It would make lying to her friends that much easier.
After taking as long as possible to towel herself dry, she emerged behind a mask of confidence… only to discover a rather unfair trap. The table had been set with a magnificent breakfast spread of fruit and eggs. For a moment, the glow of her rejuvenating shower fooled her into thinking it was a wonderful sight, but a bit of thinking corrected that.
Twilight hadn’t eaten since the previous day’s lunch thanks to the incident with Rarity, and Fluttershy knew that. Such a lovely meal was certainly intended to entice her to sit down at the table, where she would be a sitting duck for the inevitable interrogation. Worse, if Twilight tried to skip out on the meal the act would be perfect ammunition to try to force her into a confrontation. A good old-fashioned guilt trip would certainly be a preamble to questioning no matter when she returned.
It was a trick Twilight’s mother had pulled many times when she would sneak out to practice magic or spend hours at the library. Twilight wondered if this sort of manipulative move fell under Fluttershy’s Element of Harmony as a type of “killing with kindness,” or if it was just something any pony with honed maternal instincts knew.
Fluttershy and Spike were already seated, waiting. Conceding her defeat, Twilight sat in the free chair and began eating without a word.
A period of silence followed, and as it stretched on Twilight observed her tablemates. Fluttershy occasionally glanced in Twilight’s direction like she might speak, but only saw fit to sigh and take another bite of the pear she’d been nursing, which was quickly being worn to a pencil-thin core. Despite her efforts to force Twilight to stop dodging, Fluttershy seemed reluctant to be the one to start the conversation. As for Spike, he hadn’t taken a bite of the special scrambled eggs seasoned with emerald dust Fluttershy had made for him. He was more interested in glaring angrily than talking.
These were good things for Twilight. All she had to do was eat and run before the social paralysis ran its course and she wouldn’t have to worry about trying to justify her actions. She didn’t need them to be happy with her as long as they remained safe. Fence mending could wait until the Grail War was over.
But Twilight’s good luck did not continue long, as Spike finally snapped. “So, are we just going to sit here eating or is Twilight going to explain herself? How could you just throw Rarity out of the house for no reason like that? I haven’t seen you be this rude to your friends since before we moved here from Canterlot! She was practically crying!”
Twilight didn’t have a good answer for him, so she sipped her orange juice to buy herself a moment. She knew she should have tried to come up with some kind of story to explain how she’d acted last night. But every time her thoughts turned to Rarity she felt intense anger that deflected her efforts.
If she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t even entirely sure why. She had been exceedingly careful to not give the reaction any thought all night, focusing all her powers of analysis on more pressing things. She’d justified this by determining that it didn’t matter how she felt about Rarity in the face of the reality that they were on opposing sides, and that hadn’t changed. Introspection was an indulgence she couldn’t afford so long as Spike and Fluttershy were unknowingly depending on her to protect them.
With no other options available to her as she finished swallowing, Twilight decided to bluff. “I have a good reason Spike. There’s no way I’d act that way unless I did. You’re just going to have to trust me on this.”
Spike crossed his arms and dug in his metaphorical heels. “It’s not going to be that easy Twilight. Fluttershy told me that you were talking about how worried you were about Rarity right before we walked in the house. As soon as you saw her you went completely bananas! So what could have changed your tune in just a few seconds like that?”
Twilight reflexively glared at Fluttershy, who managed an uncomfortable smile. Still, one could hardly blame her for telling the truth, and Twilight was sure she wanted answers as much as Spike. Fluttershy had been friends with Rarity long before Twilight had come to Ponyville, so if anything she had more reason to be bothered by the way Twilight acted.
There was no way out for her. Even if she wanted to try and paint Rarity as some kind of villain to explain throwing her out, like saying she was a Changeling or something equally desperate, there was no way they would believe it without some kind of proof. She certainly couldn’t tell them the truth either. This only left one option; take the fault on herself.
She sighed in resignation. “The truth is you were right Spike. I threw her out because she got a tattoo on her hoof.”
“What?!” Spike’s apparent outrage over the excuse came as something of a relief to Twilight. She was worried she wouldn’t be able to keep the sarcasm out of her voice when she said it. “I didn’t want to believe it, but I knew that had to be it! I know you can be stuffy sometimes, but this is one of your best friends! How could you be so judgmental?”
“Well, tattoos… carry serious health risks. They can… become infected and uh… they’re a mark of... amorality. So I can’t accept that she got one.” Twilight wasn’t accustomed to lying on her feet, but Spike’s look was seething, so at least he was buying her slightly absurd excuse. Fluttershy was silent, but she wore a noticeable frown.
Spike took a deep breath to calm himself, then closed his eyes and shook his head with disappointment. Adopting a slightly melodramatic tone, he said “For shame, Twilight Sparkle. I thought you’d learned more about friendship than this after all those letters you’d sent the Princess. I can’t even stand to look at you after hearing something so hateful come out of your mouth. I’ll excuse myself.”
Twilight stifled the urge to roll her eyes as the little dragon hopped down from his chair and made his way out of the room, but it was a better response than she’d expected. At least he wasn’t ranting or wearing that wounded look from the night before. She sipped again from her juice to try and calm herself. Then she almost choked when Fluttershy said, “I’m not a little kid Twilight. You’re not going to fool me with a nonsense lie like that. What’s really going on here? Um, you know if it’s not too much trouble to tell me.”
Fluttershy’s rare moment of assertiveness was a testament of Twilight’s continuing misfortune. “W-what do you mean Fluttershy? It’s totally the tattoo. I just can’t stand the thought of somepony… painting graffiti on the temple of their body.”
Fluttershy stared. Her eyebrows narrowed and she stared. Her pupil’s contracted and she stared. And in the space of a blink her stare had become THE Stare.
Twilight felt sweat beading on her neck as the yellow pony’s big blue eyes seemed like they might swallow her whole. Or drill right her skull. Or both. She felt the truth inside her start to boil, the heat of that stare making the words want to bubble out of her mouth.
Before the compulsion to speak overwhelmed her Twilight heard her front door creek open. Spike was about to leave the house.
“Spike! Where are you going?” she called out.
“I’m going to apologize to Rarity for you. She deserves to hear it even if you’re too pig-headed and ignorant to say it.” He tilted his snout high into the air, marking his absolute indignation, and marched over the threshold.
With a magical flash Twilight was away from Fluttershy’s eyes and blocking Spike’s way. She splayed out her legs and filled the doorframe, forcing Spike to backpedal a few steps. He started to ask “What—”
“Spike, I can’t let you see Rarity right now. It’s dangerous.” Twilight spoke without thinking, then immediately regretted it. Saying that meant that Spike’s next words would be…
“Dangerous? What are you talking about Twilight?”
“Um… well, you see… that tattoo she got is…” Her mind was a complete blank. The idea of spinning somepony getting a tattoo into some actual risk to life and limb was too absurd for her to contemplate.
Worse, her own brain was working against her. Even now, her attempts to think about Rarity to come up with some plausible excuse were being thwarted by her own subconscious. It was if a small voice in head was whispering Don’t think about Rarity. If you realize why you’re angry, you won’t forgive her.
She would have given all the bits in Ponyville for Pinkie Pie to pop in and save her with some bout of random madness that somehow made perfect sense, but she wasn’t so fortunate. Instead Spike said, “You can’t be serious. This is getting ridiculous. I’m leaving and you can’t stop me.”
Panic overwhelmed Twilight. Those last words, ‘you can’t stop me,’ echoed over and over in her head. Spike was set on leaving, on wandering about town unprotected from the Servants and their Masters. Enemies that he had no idea existed, would not be on guard against, and could not protect himself from even if he knew. And she couldn’t stop him.
Except she could.
Twilight took a single step back, and telekinetically slammed the door in Spike’s face. Paying no heed to the muffled shouting that followed, she then cast a spell. Her beam of magic struck the door, and moments later a purple film began to sprout from the wood like a mushroom. It stretched to fit the door frame, working its way into the cracks in the wood like vacuum-sealed plastic. Finally, a padlock made of solid light appeared at the center of this coating with a flourish of sparks.
Twilight fired more of the spells in rapid succession, targeting every visible window. She jogged around the library zapping every other window and the back door. It only took a few seconds to complete her circuit. Her home looked like it was covered in polka dots, but there wasn’t any way left in or out.
When she returned to the front door, she saw Spike had opened the door and found the translucent magical field in his way. His tiny scaled fists were pounding away, and he even tried a burst of green dragon fire, but Twilight knew his efforts were in vain.
The Lockdown Spell was very effective, which is why she’d bothered to learn it. After being forced to use a more traditional, and far more taxing, force field to secure her home during a little incident with the local school newspaper, she’d wanted something more efficient in case a similar situation came up again. While it could only be used on doors and windows it was virtually unbreakable.
As her assistant glared at her, Twilight felt more than a twinge of guilt. She wanted to explain herself, to tell him just how necessary it was to protect him from the Grail War. But she knew what the price of that knowledge was. “I’m sorry Spike, but this is the only way I can be sure you and Fluttershy will be safe. You have to stay inside. I’ll try to explain when I get back.”
She reminded herself this was only temporary. A stop-gap to buy her time to think and work on her plan to protect against Servant attacks. Such thoughts made it easier to walk away as Fluttershy joined Spike in staring at her from behind her magical prison.
Twilight’s senses told her Saber was with her as she marched toward the Everfree Forest, and she was thankful for his silence.
***
When she arrived at her destination, Twilight’s nose picked up the smell of cinnamon incense. She took the scent floating out of the windows of the cozy little hollowed-out tree as a good sign, since it most likely meant the one she had come to see was home. She gently rapped her hoof against the door, and a moment later a voice responded.
“I do believe my door was knocked. Enter please, it is not locked.”
Pushing the door aside, Twilight peered through ribbons of smoke and shadows and made out a familiar figure hunched over a cauldron. Zecora the zebra was a mysterious one even after all the time Twilight had known her. It wasn’t at all clear why she lived in the dangerous Everfree Forest, and she didn’t much like to talk about herself or whatever life she’d had before coming to Ponyville. But as the eerie glow of whatever she was working on illuminated the foreign pony’s striped body and made her golden jewelry sparkle, Twilight was reminded that there was one thing she knew for sure about Zecora; she was an absolute artist when it came to potion making.
Zecora offered Twilight a friendly smile as she turned her striking azure eyes away from the mixture. “A welcome sight! Come in Twilight. Would you care for a bite?” She nodded toward the cauldron. “I’ve made it just right.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “That’s your breakfast? Isn’t it a bit…”
“Bright? You need not fear the light. The flavor will delight.”
Twilight briefly wondered if that had been a setup so the zebra could show off how many sentences she could string her rhyming. She shook her head in refusal regardless. “I already ate. I actually came for another reason.”
“For me this visit is a plus. I also have something to discuss.” Zecora turned toward a shelf near her cauldron and bid Twilight to follow.
“Is that so? What did you need Zecora?”
“Two nights ago, the forest was disturbed. Tracing the source has left me perturbed.” The zebra pointed her hoof toward a small glass vial that appeared to be full of ashes. Twilight felt her stomach sink.
“A great explosion woke me from me from my slumber,” Zecora continued. “I searched and found a tree blown into lumber. At first I blamed a falling star. Still, the situation was bizarre. I took a sample from where the tree fell. My tests revealed traces of a spell.”
Twilight’s memory unwillingly turned to the battle in the clearing, where the Servant in the heavy black armor had wielded stones that exploded on contact. No doubt the wreckage Zecora had found came from one of his stray shots. Of course, she couldn’t tell Zecora that.
Twilight attempted to sound flippant. “Well, I’m sure it was nothing to be worried about. The Everfree Forest is filled with magical creatures. Even ones made out of magic like Timber Wolves. It was probably just some critter acting out.”
Zecora seemed to be dissatisfied. “Based on my tests on the debris, the magic was not of Everfree. Its traces were unlike any I’ve seen. And the spell’s raw power was almost obscene.”
A nervous laugh forced its way out of Twilight at that comment. If Zecora thought that little stone’s magic was obscene she should have seen the battle.
It was important that Zecora not look any further into her mystery, so it was time for Twilight to tell another lie. “Well, if you’re really that concerned about it I could send a message to Princess Celestia to see if she knows anything about explosion magic. But I’m sure it’s nothing.” She felt like that one had been a little easier. It wasn’t a feeling she appreciated.
“I am glad to hear you say. So, what brought you out my way?”
After a moment of hesitation, Twilight said “I need you to get something for me. It might be a bit dangerous, but you’re the only one I can trust with this right now, and it’s incredibly important.”
Noting Twilight’s serious tone, Zecora listened intently as Twilight explained what she wanted. Twilight almost wanted to laugh when she saw how wide the zebra’s eyes grew at the request. After all, Zecora was getting the easy part of the job. Twilight was the one who had to use this plan in battle. And there wouldn’t be any second chances if it failed.
***
On her way back out of the Everfree Forest, Twilight was still feeling bad. Though Zecora had agreed to assist her, she had nothing to think on during the trip back to town except Rarity (which she was still very set on not thinking about) and exactly how she was going to get away with locking Fluttershy and Spike in the library.
Even though she hadn’t really been clear-headed when she did it, she was glad she had. It was reassuring to know that both of the loved ones she was trying to keep away from danger where locked away in safety. It was still wrong of course, but desperate times called for desperate measures. If finding out a trusted friend was on opposing sides from you during a war wasn’t desperate than what was?
She kept twisting her thoughts around, desperate to find a way to justify herself as she walked down the dirt road. Preferably a way that would also keep them away from Rarity. Her intense mulling was finally interrupted when Saber’s voice appeared from the air.
“Twilight Sparkle, this isn’t the road that leads back to your home.”
“I know that. We were supposed to go on patrol again today and see if I could sense any Masters. We’ll have to give Rarity’s place a wide berth, but there are still plenty of spots we can check out.”
“Are you not concerned with the friends you locked inside the building?”
“Why should I be? They’re as safe as they can be in there. I doubt the Lockdown Spell will keep out a Servant, but it will certainly keep out any Masters, and the Servants can’t just breach the place by force in broad daylight.”
“Did you consider that a Servant can just pass through the walls and have them trapped like rats in a cage?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Of course I did. But if I let them wander around town they could be shot down in the streets or dragged into an alleyway, so it’s basically the same thing. And at least behind my spell there’s no danger of a Master getting their hooves on them. It’s the best of bad options.”
Saber sighed. “Well, at least you’re not in denial about how safe you’re actually making them. But I think perhaps your concern is misguided.”
“Misguided?!” Twilight couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. “Somepony out there tried to have Archer kill me in cold blood! And one of my best friends is my enemy in a fight to the death! What exactly do you expect me to do?!”
Saber took on his physical form, most likely so the full effect of his incredulous stare and stubbornly crossed arms would be conveyed with his words. “You do not know that Archer’s Master ordered him to attack. And you do not know your friend’s intentions, since you threw her into the night before she could speak to you. I will not say you are wrong to assume the worst, but if you allow yourself to be overwhelmed at every unexpected turn of fate during the Grail War your mind will snap long before the fighting ends.”
Twilight bristled. “Well excuse me Mr. Soldier. I’ve never fought a war before! I’m doing the best I can. I’m trying to learn all these skills you’re trying to teach me, and keep all my lies strait and keep all my friends alive and deal with the fact that someponies probably want me DEAD! I’m sorry that I’m getting a little overwhelmed!”
Saber sighed once again. “That is the problem. You are trying to shoulder the entire weight of the war alone. You can’t. No mortal can.” His jaw set in a strange expression as he added. “Even I… A God can shoulder a war alone, but it is beyond any mortal.”
Twilight felt her anger recede as she looked as Saber’s pensive face. There was still a lot she didn’t know about him and his history. At that moment, sharing might have done them both some good. But that was not to be.
A distant sound like the crack of thunder caught Twilight’s ear. She had enough time to wonder what it was before Saber was struck by a huge black missile. The swordsman and the thing that had struck him flew nearly fifty yards thanks to the force of the impact, the sound of screeching metal marking a struggle between them in mid-flight.
Despite her confusion, Twilight gave chase once the mess of black and blue hit the ground. When she approached, the sight she was greeted by made her gasp. Saber has his sword hand pinned behind his back and a black metal arm wrapped around his neck. Saber’s captor was none other than the Black Knight, the Servant from the battle two nights before that had attacked with exploding rocks.
Saber struggled against the steel grip of his captor, but the Servant seemed to hold him almost without effort. His sword was still in its sheath where he could not hope to reach it, and by the look on his face Twilight could tell the hold was causing him quite a bit of pain. Instinctively, Twilight lit her horn up. “You let him go you big bully, or I’ll…”
“That would be a mistake you can’t afford Twilight Sparkle.” The voice from the nearby copse of trees was amused, arrogant, and unfortunately familiar. “It would be difficult to keep Berserker under control if you were foolish enough to attack him.”
Twilight spun around and shot her most acidic glare at the source of the voice. The mare that trotted out of the trees had a look of joy in her violet eyes. She brushed her long white mane away from her face in a calculated gesture of elegance and superiority, ever the show mare. She adjusted her pointy, star-pattern hat as she reared back onto her hind legs and let the wind flutter through her matching cloak, striking her favorite dramatic pose.
“Of course, nothing is too difficult for the Great and Powerful Trixie! So if you must lash out to make yourself feel better, feel free.”
***
INTERLUDE 7-1
Rarity felt naked out in the open without her Servant. Not that she technically wore clothes most of the time, but regardless it was unsettling to be alone. Still, it was necessary. If what she’s learned a few minutes before ended up being true, leaving Rider behind was a small price to pay for the information. And if it wasn’t true, then coming back to the library unprotected to seek a parley, the plan she’d come up with the previous night, was the best chance she had at getting Twilight to talk. The poor thing was clearly in a bad state, and Rarity was determined to help.
As she pranced up the road, however, it quickly became apparent that talking to Twilight was most likely not in her immediate future. Based on that glowing polka dot pattern, her source was telling the truth.
Rarity rushed to the door and prodded the spell filling the frame with her hoof. It looked almost like a gelatin mold, but it felt like solid concrete to the touch. “Fluttershy? Spikey? Are you two in there? It’s Rarity.”
She didn’t want to believe that Twilight had trapped their friends insider her house with this spell, but that information also turned out to be accurate as Fluttershy flapped over to the proverbial prison bars. “Oh Rarity, thank goodness! If it’s not too much trouble, could you maybe possibly let us out of here? I’m afraid things have gotten a little tense.”
Before Rarity could ask what that meant, Spike came screaming to the barrier, pounding on it with his little claws. “Rarity! You’ve got to get us out of here! The beavers are gathering up all the furniture and threatening to make a lodge out of it! I had to fight Mr. Bear with a spatula to keep him from eating all the food! There’s a 40 minute bathroom line, and less than half of these animals know how a toilet works! It’s like a nightmare!”
The little dragon took off screaming with his hands wrapped around his head before Rarity could say anything, so she turned back to Fluttershy. “I’m sorry darling, but this level of spellcraft is way beyond me. Magical theory wasn’t exactly my best subject back in school, and Twilight writes term papers on the subject for fun.”
“Oh, well that’s ok. I’m sure we’ll be just fine. But I’d really appreciate it if you could go find Twilight and maybe convince her to let us out before things get… more tense.” There was the slightest crack in Fluttershy’s voice, and Rarity knew how hard she had to be trying to stay calm for her animal’s sake. The last thing they needed was their surrogate mother panicking.
“Of course, Fluttershy. You just sit tight. Um… if I may ask, why exactly did Twilight trap you all in here? Did she say anything?”
“Um… well…” Fluttershy hid herself behind her bangs, something she rarely did around her friends and a sign that Rarity had more to be concerned about than she realized.
Rarity cleared her throat, pressing the question. Finally, Fluttershy said, “She said… that she had to keep us away from you. Because you’re… dangerous. What was she talking about Rarity? What’s going on around here?”
Rarity felt her heart sink. She didn’t want to believe that Twilight had said such a horrid thing, but Fluttershy would never lie. She avoided the question and simply said, “Keep calm Fluttershy. I’ll be back as fast as I possibly can.”
She charged away. Her informant had told her that Twilight would be near the Everfree Forest if she wanted to find her. It wasn’t a matter of want anymore. Twilight needed help, and she needed it immediately. And the Element of Generosity wasn’t going to take no for an answer when she offered it.
***