//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Introductions // Story: NanoCrystal // by Battlecrank //------------------------------// After the initial shock had worn off and Spike had revived Twilight, they both had rushed into the library to assess the damage to their home. Much to their dismay, one of the walls was charred almost beyond recognition. The rest of the room suffered no better a fate, as the other bookshelves, while undamaged, had been relieved of their charges. Books were scattered across the floor, most of them with various amounts of damage. Those that had been closest to the blast zone were either torn apart, or charred beyond recognition. The moment Twilight saw the state of the library, she lost it, crying her eyes out at the sight of shredded books and the smell of burnt wood. This had left Spike with the job of trying to figure out why the changeling had set off the explosion, and how he was going to clean it up. Or rather, he would have, if somepony hadn’t quickly run in through the now empty doorway. “Twilight! Twilight!” Pinkie chirped, bouncing around the room. When spotted, Pinkie raced up to Twilight, stopping just in front of her. “Twilight, it's horrible!” “Pinkie, I think that's pretty obvio-” Twilight started to say before Pinkie interrupted her. “But don't worry, Twilight! I'm sure if we both work together, we'll TOTALLY find the new pony that's been getting out of his 'welcome to Ponyville' party!” Twilight could only stare dumbfounded at the crazy pink mare for a few moments, before voicing her confusion at the sudden and unexpected change in topic. “W-what?” “Somewhere around here,” Pinkie explained, heedless of the look Twilight was now giving her, “sompony new to Ponyville has been trying to avoid their 'welcome to Ponyville' party!” “... Pinkie, you do realize that my library is destroyed, right?” “Huh? Oh, it's not that bad, Twilight. If we both work together, I'm sure we can get your library cleaned up before we- THERE HE IS!” Without a moment of hesitation, Pinkie launched herself back out the door(frame) she had arrived from. Mere seconds after that, a cry of confusion and panic came from the mare's target. “GAH! What the-?!” “I caught you!” came Pinkie's voice a moment later. “Oh sweet Celestia, not her! Somepony help me!” “Not even the Princess can save you now!” “NOOOOooooooooo-!” Twilight could only watch on as the pink mare dragged the stallion away by his tail. She sat, staring through the door(frame), before a giggle worked its way past her lips. Even now, with her library in ruins, Pinkie's antics (plus a healthy dose of schadenfreude) always seemed to cheer her up, for some reason. Shaking her head, Twilight stood up just in time for the multicolored blur that was Rainbow Dash to appear in the entryway. “Twilight!” Dash exclaimed, preforming an admirable imitation of Pinkie's actions just minutes before, albeit at faster speeds with more color diversity. “Twilight, I heard an explosion! Are you all right?” “Yes, Rainbow, I'm fine.” “Oh, that's good,” Dash said, visibly showing relief. After a moment of this, an inquisitive expression graced her features. “So what DID you blow up, then?” With a simple hoof point at the wall, Twilight said, “A changeling did it.” Dash favored Twilight with a blank look before sighing. Just as she was about to comment, Rarity entered the library, followed quickly by Applejack. Both froze upon seeing the destruction wrought to the library. “Twilight, dear,” Rarity eventually said, batting a purple lock of her main back into place. “What exactly happened here?” “Twilight blew up her library,” Dash said, cutting off anything Twilight could have said. “She said a changeling did it, but she probably just wants to cover up another one of her spells backfiring.” “I did not blow up my library!” Twilight objected. “Twi,” Applejack said in a calming voice. “Their ain’t no reason to feel embarrassed. After all, you blow up your basement at least once a month! It's only natural that-” “I. DID NOT. BLOW UP MY LIBRARY!” Twilight shouted. “Ok, just calm down, darling,” Rarity said, placing a foreleg over her. “Just relax. Rainbow is just rattling your barn, as it were.” After a few moments of deep breathing, Twilight managed to calm down. With her new calmed state of mind, she realized that she should probably send a letter to Princess Celestia about this. After all, it's not every day a changeling comes to your home (after a major invasion, no less) and blows it up! “Spike,” Twilight said, turning around to look at him. “I need you to take a-... What are you eating?” “Huh?” Spike said as he turned around to face the group with an oddly shaped white pebble halfway to his mouth. “Oh, just some gem shards I found lying around. The explosion probably destroyed one of my emergency snack gems that I had hidden away.” He took the opportunity to throw the pebble in his mouth, and chewed it nosily before swallowing. “It's odd, though. I can't place what type of gem this is.” He picked up another one of the pebbles that could be seen scattered around the blast zone. “It tastes kinda like diamond, but that's not quite it.” Noticing that Rarity was looking at him, Spike decided to try and impress her with his 'rad skills'. He flicked the pebble in the air, and attempted to catch it with his mouth. Of course, 'attempted to catch' would be an accurate description, as about halfway to his mouth, the pebble stopped falling and levitated in mid-air. Seeing that his snacking was interrupted (to say nothing of his grandstanding in front of his beloved Rarity), he directed a frown at his purple unicorn sibling. “Twilight!” Spike pouted. “I know I'm eating off the floor, but I probably would have just set them aside to eat later anyway! Besides, you were so preoccupied researching changelings on the way home that we forgot to eat breakfast!” With a worried look on her face, Twilight said, “Spike, I'm not doing that...” Spike raised one of his eyebrow in confusion as he looked back up at the floating pebble. Taking a better look at it, he noticed it suspended in an odd white aura. Off the top of his head, Spike couldn't think of anypony who used that color, let alone close enough to stop him from eating his snack. As he watched it, the pebble slowly started to float back towards the blast zone. Twilight said something underneath her breath in a questioning tone as the the ponies (and dragon) in the room saw the remainder of the pebbles on the floor begin to gather together into a pile, which the floating pebble soon joined. Once together, they seemed to liquefy, joining into a single mass. The girls (and dragon) found themselves transfixed by the rippling surface of the crystal puddle. Soon, the waves on the puddle grew, until the puddle seemed to shift and change shape. Eventually standing in place of the puddle was what could only be described as a Timberwolf statue made of crystal. The ponies continued to stare at it for a few moments before Rarity spoke up. “Well, you certainly don’t see something like that every-.” Before Rarity could finish her sentence, the Timberwolf shot forward, teeth bared and paws outstretched. The girls as a whole took a quick intake of breath as the wolf attacked Spike, who only had time to raise his arms in his defense. After a few seconds, however, they released it, voicing the first emotion that came to mind. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were quick to try and stifle their laughter. Twilight settled on a relieved sigh, as Rarity found herself beset by a sudden case of the 'Dawws'. The only one that truly objected to the situation was Spike, who was trying to fend off his unexpected attacker while in an almost blind panic. Latched onto Spike's crest, the Timberwolf was attempting to rip Spike's head off. Normally, this would be cause for concern, if the Timberwolf in question was of normal size. However, the wolf that was attacking Spike was almost the size of a foal, and was only managing to gnaw on the very top while clutching desperately to his head. Spike slowly calmed down once he realized he was in no danger. Being so close to the Timberwolf pup, however, gave him an excellent opportunity to study it up close (not that he had much choice in the matter). From his perspective, all he was able to see was a large crystalline body seemingly made up of tiny scales, each emitting that same odd glow from earlier. He stopped his impromptu examination, however, when he heard Dash's snickering, and turned around to try and glare at her (which failed due to the Timberwolf covering his face). “Ha ha,” he managed to say in a sarcastic tone. “Laugh at the dragon with a vicious pony-eating wolf on his head. He's doing just fine.” “He he. Sorry spike.” With careful application of a levitation spell, Twilight removed the crystalline pup from Spike. Once safely extracted, she brought it closer so she could examine it. The wolf mostly ignored her, continuing to try and get at Spike. “What is it?” Rainbow asked after a solid minute of Twilight silently staring at the wolf. “Hmm? Oh, it appears to be a golem made out of shaped crystal. I don't know of any spell that would do that, though, let alone allow it to re-shape itself...” “Well, do ya know why it attacked Spike?” asked Applejack, nodding her hat in the direction of the wolf-pup. “Somethin' like that just ain't natural. Though if it actually is some type of Timberwolf, it might explain a few things.” “Wait,” Dash said, mostly to herself. “Does that make it a Crystalwolf?” “If I had to guess,” Rarity said, ignoring Dash's tangent. “I'd guess it was upset because Spike was eating it. I'd be rather upset too, if somepony was eating me.” “So what should I do?” Spike asked. “Apologize to it?” “It probably wouldn't hurt,” Rarity confirmed. “I'm not Fluttershy, though. She would probably have a better idea. Speaking of which, where is she? I would have thought that she would have come right away if she thought somepony was hurt from the explosion.” “RD, why don't you go check up on her?” Applejack suggested. “On it!” Rainbow said, before flying out the conveniently placed hole that used to be a door. “Come to think of it, Pinkie isn't here either,” Rarity continued. “She said something about a party before dragging some stallion away,” Twilight answered. “Dragging?” Rarity's expression turned sour at the mere thought of being dragged through the dirt. “Oh my, I thought she learned her lesson after that incident with Cranky Doodle.” “You know how she gets when somepony tries ta avoid her,” AJ chipped in. “Ah'm sure he'll be fine.” “I don't know,” Spike said, expressing his doubt. “Dash said when she found Pinkie that one time, she-GAH!” Twilight looked back at Spike to find that the crystal wolf had latched on to his head. She quickly checked where the wolf had been levitating near her to see an array of tiny crystals suspended where the wolf had once been. With a sigh, she quickly extracted the crystal wolf once again, and suspended it in a shield bubble with its fragments. Once contained, the fragments quickly rejoined the body of the wolf, which was pressing up against the edge of the shield to get at Spike. “Twi',” Applejack started, seeing the wolf contained once again. “How did it get out of your levitation?” “Well,” She said, slipping into a tone of voice her friends knew all too well, and had dubbed 'lecture mode'. “It seems to have used bits of itself to overload the spell while I wasn't looking. The number of items it was levitating just multiplied until it couldn't hold any more, and dropped the heaviest. In this case, the Crystalwolf.” Turning back to Spike, Twilight continued. “Of course, if a certain baby dragon had apologized by now, this wouldn't be a problem!” Spike, looking suitably chastised, put his claw behind his head as he started walking towards the shield bubble. The Crystalwolf inside the shied started clawing at the side closest to Spike in a bid to attack the dragon. Spike, obviously stalling, looked at his feet. After a moment of hesitation, he looked up at the shield. As he was about to say something however, Dash returned. “I'm back! Ya miss me?” “Did'ja find out where 'Shy is?” Applejack asked, worried about their missing friend. “Of course! She said the explosion scared some of her animals, so she had to stay and try to calm them down.” “Ah, that explains it.” “Seriously, though, what did I miss?” “Well, Spike here was about ta apologize to the CrystalWolf.” “He hasn’t yet?” Dash said, frowning. “Spike, get to it! You don't want Pinkie pestering you about it for the next week, do you?” Spike glared at the multicolored mare for a few moments, before his face fell once again. He turned back to the shield, and sighed before facing the CrystalWolf inside. “I'm sorry.” The CrystalWolf, in response, stopped trying to get out of the shield bubble. However, it continued to stare at Spike, radiating what most would consider pure hatred. Spike sighed, and tried again. “I'm sorry, ok!” The Wolf continued to stare at him unblinkingly with its dull yellow eyes. “I really am sorry!” Spike pleaded. “Can... can you stop staring at me like that? It's starting to freak me out!” Again, no noticeable response from the Wolf. Spike looked to Twilight for support, who was quick to urge him on. Spike groaned, and turned back to the Wolf. “Look, I'll do anything! Just stop it!” The Wolf seemed to take pause at this, before sitting back on its haunch. Much to the astonishment of (most) involved, it then shifted into a near perfect replica of a white unicorn (albeit much smaller, and with a very shiny sheen) with a green mane and tail. Twilight thought it looked familiar, but was unable to place it, given the stress the current situation was putting her through. The miniature crystal unicorn continued to stare at Spike for a few moments, before a segment of crystal detached from its back and levitated near its head. Soon after, it pointed a forehoof at Spike. “Information,” the crystal behind the unicorn emitted. “Wha?” Twilight cut in. The crystal construct turned it's head in an unnatural manner to face Twilight (who was quite sure the head was suppose to move with the neck, and not pivot on it), before it repeated its request. “Information.” “Information? About what?” Again the crystal unicorn seemed to hesitate, before six additional shards detached from it. By this point, the unicorn was beginning to look like a changeling, with all the holes in it. However, the gathered ponies (and dragon) were more more interested in the six detached shards, which had taken on a familiar appearance. “Hey, aren't those...” Dash began. “The Elements of Harmony!” Twilight finished for her. “Those look like the Elements of Harmony before we found them!” Her face quickly fell. “Why is it looking for the Elements?” “Is it a spy?!” Dash was quick to accuse, putting in her two bits as she glared at the construct (or what was left of it). “Now calm down, surgarcube,” AJ said, trying to pacify the multicolored mare. “Ah'm sure that it has a perfectly good reason ta be looking for them.” With the girls (and dragon) now staring at it with expectant looks, the crystalline wolf seemed to hesitate. -(◊)- Meanwhile... 'Oh sweet Chysalis, Help me!' Double Repeat moved swiftly from table to table, trying to stay out of sight. Of all the missions he had been on, of all the combat experience he had gained, of all the tasks he had been assigned, this had to be THE singular worst 'Mission' he had EVER been assigned. NEVER before had his skills been so tested. NEVER before had his life been in such peril. NOTHING had ever done had even come CLOSE to this level of danger, and if he had known what was in store for him, he would have never returned to see it through, Queen's orders or not! And through it all, there was his torturer. Nay, his nemesis! The beast among beasts! The monster among mares! The Terrible Terror! “Hey! There you are!” The Pink Demon! Just as the Pink Demon spotted him, Double spotted the door. Seeing his opportunity for escape, he ran for all that he was worth. Unfortunately, just as he was about to reach it, something landed on him from behind. He looked behind himself, and his vision was obscured by a wall of pink. It was wearing an insane grin. “You can't leave yet, silly! It's your party, after all!” Double felt himself being dragged away from the door as his jailkeeper laughed maniacally. “NOOOOooooooooo-!” -(◊)- The Swarm continued to sit as it was for a few moments. It had not considered that this might ever be a problem. Communication with the Timberwolves was easy, after all, and that older Creator had eventually answered its question. This time, it was turning out to be strangely hard to convey its desire for knowledge. The Creators (and lizard-thing) continued to stare at it, expectantly awaiting its answer to their question. The Swarm, however, doubted its ability to be able to explain its mission in an amount of time that the Creators (and lizard-thing) would consider acceptable. Maybe if it had more practice before now, it might have been able to convey the relevant details, but as it stood, it would be impossible to do so without plentiful visual aids. Of course, the visual aid for the Crystals of Power, or Elements of Harmony as these Creators called them, seemed to work far better then any vocal element it was able to produce. Perhaps if it just showed them what it could remember, and did its best imitation of what it heard at the time? Of course, some allowances would have to be made, considering the Creators differing perception capabilities. 'This might work! Now, if only the Creators would learn TimberWolf. Such an easy language.' The Swarm carefully divided its crystals, allowing it to form a miniature replication of what it remembered. It then formed the puppets, the furniture, and the background. With that done, it then set about trying to solve the problem of sound. It soon settled on a compromise, however, and just levitated a fraction of its mass at the top of the enclosure, allowing it to vibrate at frequencies it hoped was accurate to its memory. After all of this was done, the Swarm hoped this recreation would be enough to convince the Creators to help it with its objective. 'I wonder if the creators have something they say when doing something like this...?' The Swarm carefully began to replay its memory. This was above and beyond anything it had to do before, and it occasionally had to slow down to get some parts right, but it felt it was going a fairly good re-enactment. The Creators seemed to slowly become more and more receptive as the display went on, so the Swarm continued beyond what was needed. As it showed the end before the long wait, however, they suddenly seemed to become confused, and look at it strangely, one even going so far as to place an ear up against the shield. '...was it something I replayed?' -(◊)- Twilight and her friends watched as the miniature crystal unicorn seemed to just- well, melt, really. One minute it was there, and the next it was a puddle. Not that it was an uninteresting puddle, of course. It was an opaque white with a crystalline sheen, and seemed to dully glow. Soon, a part of it separated, and floated up to the top of the enclosure Twilight had trapped it in, and seemed to just levitate there in the shape of a sphere. Once done, the construct seemed to just sit there, as if waiting. “What's it doing?” Dash asked. “Ah don't know,” Applejack answered. “Shh!” Rarity said. “I think its putting on a show for us.” “What? I thought we wanted answers,” Dash complained. “Not some silly puppet show!” “It seemed reluctant to talk,” Twilight said. “Maybe this is the only way it's able to-” Twilight was interrupted as a strange sound was emitted from the container, drawing her attention back to the shield bubble. The sphere at the top was making some weird noises, occasionally squawking and moaning. Just as she was about to give up hope on this strange construct of telling her what she wanted to know, the puddle at the bottom quickly flashed to a greenish color, before strange shapes began to rise out of it, each taking their own color. Just as quickly, a strange voice, as though from far away, seemed to speak from beyond the grave through the sphere at the top. “...-anocrys-... Modfi-... Attept Tihrty Tw-...” “Wha-,” Dash started to say, only to be quickly hushed by Rarity again. The colors on the shapes soon started to die down, and the shapes started to melt again, before everything once again flashed a green color. This time, however, the result was a crude diorama of sorts, depicting what appeared to be an old style workshop. Various bits and bobs were placed on tables around the room (with the exception of one, which had a sheet over it), and a bed was placed in one corner. Twilight was quick to note that the windows actually had a background of sorts, showing what appeared to be a poor rendition of a cityscape. A unicorn, exactly like the one that the construct had looked like earlier, but with the inclusion of a cloak, was sitting in the center of the miniature room, next to what appeared to be a red cube of roughly similar size. Besides being made of crystal, the unicorn seemed to be acting far more lifelike then before, and sat down on its- no, her- flank. 'She looks tired,' Twilight thought to herself. 'Heh. She kinda reminds me of-' Twilight stopped mid thought. She was stunned. The unicorn looked exactly like some of the depictions of Clover the Clever! That's why the form the construct took earlier was so familiar! But why would-? “Yet a-a-another fai-i-ilure,” the sound sphere sighed with a female tone, occasionally stuttering and cutting out. “Why i-i-is t-this-s-s so hard?!” The small version of Clover looked around her lab, before approaching a table that had a large book on it. The unicorn puppet seemed to scribble down something without leaving any words behind, before approaching the red cube again. “A-a-allright! N-nanoc-crystal mult-ti-Enchan-n-ntment s-sssapience modification Cas-sting aaatempt Thirty Thhhree!” The miniature Clover started to prepare a spell, when the Cube started to melt back into the floor of the 'stage'. Clover stopped and stared at the rapidly forming red puddle, before slowly walking up to it. She was about to poke it with a forehoof, before thinking better of it and grabbing a tool off of one of her nearby workbenches. With the tool in hoof, she then proceeded to poke the red ooze. “D-did it work?” The sphere emitted. “Aw, buck! I-I-I hope I didn't-t brea-a-ak it.” With yet another poke, the ooze began to change, forming a wide cylinder on the ground. Clover quickly moved back, and the sphere depicted her surprise with a yelp. After a few moments, the cylinder started to slowly reshape itself into a crude rendition of Clover, becoming more detailed as time went on. Once the duplicate was complete, the clone was as still as a statue. “Huh,” Clover said through the sphere, sitting there a while. Soon, though, she stood back up, and paced around her clone. “Ok, if you can hear me, change col-l-l-lors.” In response, the duplicate turned red. “Hah! Ok, l-l-lets ssssee.” Quickly rushing over to her book, Clover seemed to read something (even though as Twilight now noted, the book was completely blank). Soon she walked back and looked directly at the clone. “Ok, i-i-if your c-confused, change colors ag-gain.” This was met with yet another change in color. This time to yellow. The miniature clover smiled, and pointed a hoof at a spot on the floor. “Move over there!” The clone turned into ooze, and slowly made its way over to the indicated spot. Once there, it started reforming back into a near duplicate of Clover. “Heh. It worked.” Clover smiled, before bouncing around with joy. “It f-f-finally worked!” The miniature Clover then bounced around for a while, repeatedly yelling 'YES!'. Twilight heard a giggle from behind her, and she turned around to see Rainbow Dash trying to stifle a giggle from watching Clover's antics, while Applejack was looking between the replica and Twilight with a sly smile. Rarity was frowning, staring intently at the miniature clover, or more precisely, her cloak. When Twilight turned back, Clover seemed to have had her exhaustion catch up with her, and she sat back down, staring at the clone. After a few moments of staring tiredly at it, she smiled and slowly walked towards the cot. Once there, she pulled off her cloak and curled up on it. After a moment of tossing and turning, she finally seemed to settle down and fall asleep. Twilight was about to turn away, thinking the act was over, when Clover jumped up, a shocked look on her face, and started screaming. “I just married the ul-l-ltimate weap-pon of dessstruction to the ultimate weap-pon of change, and Smart Coo-ookie is probably go-oing to show up any minut-te now! What wasss I thinking?!” As Clover started running around her lab in a blind panic, Dash started outright laughing. Looking back, Twilight saw Dash on her back, laughing uproariously. AJ was staring at the bubble, now with horror on her face, while Rarity was trying to get Dash to stop laughing. By the time Twilight turned back around, Clover seemed to be urging the newly made construct into a cauldron. As the construct entered, the workshop disappeared, replaced by the construct inside of a small space. There was a clunk from the sphere, and everything went quiet for a while. Just as Dash started to calm down, the yelling started. “Hey! T-that wasn't my-...” The sphere spat out. “But that w-would have worked i-if-... But he didn't blllame me for-... But it was only bubblegum!“ Dash started laughing again. “Wha?! But I-Wha?! ... What makes you think I-... OK! Fine!” After the yelling, the noise calmed down, and everything went quiet. After the last two times, Twilight made sure not to look away. After a moment, she was rewarded when the cauldron opened up, and Clover stuck her head in. “If you get out of here, p-p-protect the Crystals of Power. The same goes for anyone who's using it without malice. I'll cast an illusion spell in here, so you know what they loo-ook like. Just... Don't try and break out on your own, OK?” With that, Clover disappeared, and the cauldron flashed green, leaving an image of the Elements of Harmony before Twilight and her friends found them, dancing around on the lid. Twilight continued watching for a short while, to make sure she didn't miss anything. Eventually she sighed, and turned around to look at her friends. Applejack looking worried, and Dash was gasping for air after her last bout of the giggles, and was struggling to calm herself down. Rarity had also looked back at AJ and Dash, and just sighed as she turned back to the shield bubble. Twilight opened her mouth to ask what they should do with the construct now, when a new voice floated out from the sphere. “You!” The outraged voice sounded faintly from the sphere. “I knew you w-would come back! Come to gloat, have you?! Laughing at your AMAZING PRANK, are you?! Well take these BACK to WHEREVER you found them! I NEVER want to see these... THINGS again!” Twilight had turned back to the play, but the scene had remained unchanged. When things quieted down again, she shushed her friends, and pressed her ear up against the shield, to see if she could hear anything else. She strained her hearing to its absolute, but she didn't hear anything. Just as she was about to give up, she thought she heard it giggle with a familiar voice, but it was probably her imagination. After a few more minutes, the entire 'stage' was disassembled, and the foal-sized copy of Clover was once again sitting in the center of the shield bubble, with a small sphere floating behind its head. Twilight took this as a sign that the recounting was done, and turned back to her friends, hopefully for the final time. “Well, I guess that explains why it's looking for the Elements,” She said. “Umm, Twi',” AJ began. “What are we going to do with it, now that we know it's... you know.” “Well, we should probably start by sending a letter to the Princess. Spike!” “One second,” responded the baby dragon. Soon he had a quill and scroll ready, with an inkwell nearby. “Ready, Twilight.” “Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight began. “I arrived home from the wedding just in time to see a changeling blow up my library.” Dash interrupted her transcription by starting to giggle again. Twilight ignored her and continued. “Both Spike and I are fine, but when we investigated, we found a crystalline construct that appears to be sapient. It showed us a reenactment of sorts, in which it claims its sole purpose is to guard the Elements, and that it was made by Clover the Clever. However, in the reenactment, Clover blatantly calls it the 'ultimate weapon'. It has also broken out of a levitation spell seemingly without magical assistance, can can reshape itself at will, and-” “Hey Twi',” Dash inturrupted. “Why not just call it a he?” “Well, it technically is an it. It lacks the parts for it to-” “Twi, if you say 'it' one more time, I think I might just hit you with a dictionary.” “Wha? Why?” “Your making it sound like one of your egghead reports! Besides, he's too awesome to be an it.” “What? What does that have to do with it?” “He survived an explosion! Anything that awesome can't be an it!” Dash said. “Besides, if he's a he, then he wont have to compete with me for most awesomest mare in Ponyville.” “Uhg, fine!” Twilight groaned, not wanting to argue with Dash over something so trivial. “Spike, where was I?” “Can reshape itself at will, and...” Spike said helpfully. “Oh, right. Can reshape its-HIMself at will, and appears to be able to survive explosions.” Twilight sighed, before continuing. “While he has only shown hostility towards Spike, who was admittedly eating him, the construct seems to be, overall, not hostile. I've contained it in a shield bubble for now, and am unsure what I should do with it-HIM. Please send any advice, as I doubt I'll be able to keep it here forever." “Your loyal student, Twilight Sparkle,” She finished. “... Aaand done!” “Good. Send it, Spike.” With a burst of green flame, Spike sent the letter on its way. “Hey Twi',” Applejack said after a while, to break the silence that fell upon them. “If were going to call it a him, why not see if it has a name first? It might just be a she, after all.” “Oh, of course!” Rarity suddenly said, looking away from where the Swarm had been sitting inside the shield. “We should have thought of that sooner!” Turning to look back at the crystalline swarm, Rarity asked, “Do you have a name, darling?” The Swarm seemed to hesitate for a second, before it replayed a segment of its reenactment. “Nanocrystal multi-enchantment sssapience modification c-c-casting attempt thirty thre-e-e.” “Umm,” Rarity said, looking at the Swarm. “That's a bit of a mouthful. Do you have a shorter name?” “No,” the Swarm said after another moment's hesitation. “Well, umm,” Rarity hesitated herself, looking for a solution. Stealing a glance at Dash for a moment, she smiled, and turned back to the Swarm. “How about Nano? It's short, actually is a part of your, well, description as it were, and sometimes the simplest solutions are best.” “That w-would b-be acceptable.” Rarity nodded to herself, and turned to Spike, pointedly ignoring the questioning glare she was receiving from Dash. “Spike, would you be a dear and make some tea for us while we wait? With as late as it is, I have a feeling that the Princess is going to be a while.” Dash sighed, and her voice was filled with a moan as she voiced her opinion. “This is going to turn into one of THOSE nights, isn't it?” Rarity, Twilight, and Spike just giggled, before settling in for the duration. -(◊)- 'Freedom!' Double Repeat had fought against the odds, and had finally won his freedom. He had outsmarted the string and tack trap, and had climbed Cake Mountain. He had walked through the valley of the cupcakes, had fought the ultimate evil, and he had won. And the best part, he was still alive! As he ran from the place that had been his prison, he heard the Pink Demon call out to him, trying to stop his bid for freedom. “Wait! You forgot your presents!”