Chapter 9: Inner Conflicts
The Everfree Forest was THE place for creepiness. Inside there were untold dangers and more mysteries than anypony could solve in a lifetime. Here ponies of all sizes and shapes simply disappeared, whether it was because of Manticore attack or a cockatrice’s stare. The home of all sorts of dangers that belonged in the dark. Red Pen’s sanctuary.
“Why in the world is he in there?” Twilight heard Line Space mutter to himself, the two of them standing on the edge of it.
“The tracking spell that I cast can find a general location. He seems pretty deep in the forest, probably near the Mirror Pool,” Twilight said with a sense of calm that came from being confident in her abilities. In the library she had been able to find more then enough traces of his presence for the tracking spell. Knowing what she was doing was really helping take her mind off of what happened in the library. “I only wish that the book on the Mirror Pool hadn’t been missing.” Line Space laughed to himself and Twilight felt herself blush.
“Not the question I was asking, Twilight.” Line Space started walking into the forest and Twilight was forced to head in herself. “I meant that it doesn’t make sense that he would leave Ponyville. Why in the world did he choose to hide out in the forest?” Line Space sounded like he was confused about Red Pen’s motives here. He reminded her of the college students back in Canterlot but he seemed more analytical than most of them. Not to mention that he applied it to people in a way she couldn’t fault.
“Well, perhaps he doesn’t know the dangers of the forest and is going here while he waits for you to show yourself?”
“No, he should be trying to find me or ponies who know where I am. Maybe it’s because he knows how dangerous this place is? I mean if he knows I’m working with you…” Line Space left the sentence hanging leaving it up to her to pick it up.
“He would want to go somewhere we wouldn’t go while he thinks of how to take care of me,” Twilight finished uncomfortably. At the same time that she knew the topic was terrible she didn’t get the chance to discuss books or analyze things like she got to with Line very often. “Do you think he figured out what we were up to because Spike had grabbed that specific newspaper article?”
There! He stumbled with his gait for just a split second after she brought up the article Red Pen had stolen. She knew he had reacted back in the library and he kept analyzing Red Pen. She was sure there had to be a reason for him to be able to do that kind of thing and she was determined to find out why. She was already uneasy going off to fight without her friends but she really didn’t know Line Space.
“I… uh, don’t think that it was that. I would put money on him having seen me come out of the forest. He probably followed me to the library and heard us talk about it.” Line Space stopped now and seemed puzzled. It was obvious something was bothering him. “What I don’t get though is why he didn’t follow me out. Knowing him he should’ve come straight after me but instead he attacked Spike.” Twilight took a minute to think about this.
“Fear could have done it. If he heard us talking about killing him, he probably freaked out trying to think of how to deal with it. When he realized he should’ve gone after you he took it out on the library and ran away.”
“I guess it makes sense. He is as crazy as they come and fear doesn’t seem like something he’d be ready to deal with.” Line Space had lost all interest in his voice and sounded both tired and bored. Twilight realized that as angry as she was about Red Pen her pain was probably nothing compared to Line’s.
“Okay then. Hey, we might as well go see Zeckora while were out here she might be able to offer some assistance,” Twilight tried sounding cheerful but it came out forced. After all, they were on a pony hunt when neither one of them were killers. Maybe Zeckora had another answer.
………………………………………
“Hello Twilight, to what do I owe the delight” Zeckora said as the two of them walked into her home. Twilight always enjoyed hearing Zeckora talk in her rhymes although she often wondered how she managed to do it.
“Hi Zeckora, we’re looking for somepony who came into the forest earlier today. He has a black coat and maroon stripes that resemble a Zebra’s,” Twilight said coming over to Zeckora. She looked into the big pot that the zeba was stirring, took a deep breath, and sighed. It smelled delicious and she had forgotten lunch again.
“Happily, but you said we and I see only thee,” Zeckora said looking around. Twilight looked too and realized that Line Space hadn’t come in. He did say he didn’t interact with most ponies though so maybe he was simply being shy like Fluttershy. Twilight went to the doorway and saw him standing outside looking at the decorations. “Come on in Line,” Twilight said, “I promise she doesn’t bite.”
“I never went for that bit of superstition. I merely thought I’d, uhm, take a minute to study these masks. You go ahead and talk to Zeckora.” He was genuinely looking at the masks but Twilight had a feeling he didn’t want to come in for more reasons than just that though. Every time most ponies paused mid sentence like that he was either flustered or lying, or at least thats how it seemed. He seemed calm enough, so she wanted to know why he was lying.
“Oh come on. You can ask her about all of it yourself if you come inside. I think she made something and it smells delicious. We might be able to convince her to let us eat while we talk to her?”
“No really it’s fine. I’ll come in later. It’s not like I know her like you do.”
“Line, come on. You can meet her can’t you.” After saying this Twilight’s horn glowed. She casually pulled her head towards the door to give Line Space a little pull towards the door. She saw a faint outline of purple around Line Space and then.... nothing. He didn’t so much as shake. he lowered his head as though resigning himself to this.
“Fine. I really think it would be better if we let you talk to her.” He climbed in and Zeckora got a surprised look on her face.
“Well,” she started her voice sounding strangely amused, “brother of Jumbled Thought who is it that has you distraught?” Brother! Line Space had a brother. How was it she had never met either one of these ponies?
“Yes well you see-”
“Whose this Jumbled Thought she mentioned, Line?” Twilight asked with a little bit of an accusatory tone. She saw him blush and heard him sigh.
“He’s my brother.”
“Mmmmhmmmm. Why isn’t he helping with this?”
“He wouldn’t be able to.”
“Oh now that isn’t true,” Zeckora cut in. “He wouldn’t help you. If it has caused you to run away then he would cause your plans dismay.”
“How... much has he told you about us?” Line Space seemed almost scared of what Jumbled had said. What had happened between these two.
“Simply that you overthought what others would not. That your relationship is strained and makes you both feel pained.”
“Yeah, thats no joke.” Line Space sounded seriously sad. Apparently him and his brother had more of a strained relationship then one might think. He brought his head up and his eyes looked cold as steel. All friendliness and fun in them were dead. “Now, we would like your help Zeckora. We are hunting Red Pen, a terrible monster made by magic. He used to reside in my head as a curse of sorts but through the Mirror Pool he’s made it out and is now attacking ponies. We were wondering if you might be able to help?”
“Line Space maybe we should eat first and then discuss this? You seem a little upset,” Twilight said realizing she should never have accused him like that. Sometimes it was hard to not treat him like Red Pen because every time she looked at Line Space she couldn’t help remember Fluttershy and Spike. Not to mention it felt wrong to get close to Line Space when she should be focusing on taking out Red Pen.
“Yes, come and eat so that we can properly meat,” Zeckora said beckoning them both over to the cauldron.
.......................
“So that is Red Pen. I will help you uproot him from his den. However I must inquire why the other five aren’t helping with this desire?” Twilight felt a bit of relief inside herself. Even after what Red Pen had done it still didn’t feel right to kill a pony. The Pinkie clones were just fractions of Pinkie herself. This felt different. Line Space had taken the lead in explaining the situation and he did the same now.
“Spike has already been hurt because Red Pen saw Twilight helping me. We want to involve as few ponies as possible so that fewer ponies have the chance of getting on Red Pen’s target list. Since you can protect yourself from the beasts of the Everfree Forest, we figured you might be able to help us track or stop Red Pen.”
“Your faith is not misplaced however your thoughts on my skills are out of place. I am no hunter but more of a caretaker.” Now it was Twilights turn to talk. It was finally time to let Line Space know the real reason she had wanted to get Zeckora’s help. Even more than feeling uncomfortable about destroying Red Pen she had a greater fear.
“Please Zeckora. Our only strategy right now is the same spell we used when Pinkie used the Mirror Pool and that is dangerous. If Line Space is too close to Red Pen when I shoot and I hit either one they would both disappear. You must have something that could help us subdue Red Pen.”
“Twilight, don’t sound so distraught. I won’t get in the way. I pro-”
“And what if he doesn’t give you the chance to get out of range,” Twilight snapped back at him. He looked a little pained but sometimes he was way too idealistic. “We need to try to find another way just in case.” There was a long pause. Line Space looked like he was on the verge of being stubborn regarding him and Red Pen. Finally his face softened before he spoke.
“Yeah. Makes sense. So long as you don’t get anywhere closer to the danger then you absolutely need to.” Zeckora cut in now.
“I have no assistance to offer. Unless you are willing to put non-lethal in your coffer.” Line Space groaned.
“A coffer is like a bank except it’s personal Line Space,” Twilight said chuckling.
“It’s not that. Whenever she rhymes I get confused and find myself looking for the rhymes.” Line Space shook his head and then held it as though he had a headache. “And believe me when I say I don’t do rhymes.”
“Well, I am sorry my rhymes do not amuse but they are certainly not meant to confuse. If Red Pen you hope to stop, anger the answer is not. Anger in him or within.” She paused a moment here to let Twilight and Line look at each other. She knew how much she hated Red Pen for everything he had done. Line Space had gotten to build his hate over years. The two of them would have to let it go but was that really possible. “Hope lies in finding the calm within the anger, in finding that harmony he hungers. You both can stay the night, just don’t be scared when I turn off the light.” Zeckora left them both to their thoughts.
After about five minutes of sitting in silence Line Space stood up. He started walking towards the door but turned back before going out.
“I’m off for a walk. I’ll be careful enough not to get hurt.” Line Space sounded like he was forcing his voice to stay neutral. He headed out and Twilight watched the door. Her thoughts went back to Jumbled Thought and Line Space. She couldn’t help but think about Shining Armor and what it would be like if she couldn’t come to him with her problems. Then she remembered how outraged she was when she found out about the wedding. She would never be able to understand Line Space’s problem with his brother.
About ten minutes after Line Space left Twilight decided to get back up. She tossed her head from side to side and cast the same tracking spell she had to find Red Pen. She felt his presence, much stronger and happier than Red Pen’s had and had just as much difficulty pinpointing him. She headed out following it. Before long she heard a familiar noise that caused her eyes to pop open in surprise.
That noise was a manticore roar. On the other side of the monster was Line Space his mouth wide open in shock, his eyes frozen in terror. Twilight began scrambling back and barely missed having her head removed by its massive claws. Instead she lost a bit of hair.
“What are you doing here!?” Line Space yelled, running back towards her and the manticore. Twilight jumped back again and cast the teleportation spell to get behind the beast. Too bad she couldn’t usually focus enough to get a long ranged jump when she was this terrified.
“Raaaargh!” The manticore roaring at her, freezing her in place. It raised one massive paw… and all of a sudden a large blue object came flying into its face. Line Space jumped off the unbalanced manticore’s face and swung around flailing with his back hooves. It roared again and swiped towards Line Space’s head. Line ducked down low though and bucked with his back legs straight into the manticores chin. After stumbling backwards shaking its head it fell to the ground. As it began to get up it howled in pure rage. Line Space turned back to her and they yelled in unison.
“Ruuuuuun!” The two took off as fast as they could not particularly caring for direction. The two ran until they started to slow which must have made Line think to look behind him.
“Hey… we can stop. It… isn’t following.. us.” Line Space matched her in slowing down, for once letting her take charge of the pace. The two of them stood there panting in exhaustion. Line Space looked up his face covered in worry. “What in Tartarus were you doing Twi? Walking around with your eyes closed.” At that Twilight immediately blushed realizing that that was exactly what she had been doing.
“I,uhm, was worried about you after what happened. I figured you might do something stupid and it seemed kinda strange for you to be walking around the Everfree Forest.”
“Well, I’ll admit the manticore was a bit of a surprise. At least I had the sense to go around it though!” Line Space let out a nervous laugh that developed into a chuckle.
“Hey, hmph, don’t laugh.. at me,” Twilight said back trying to keep herself from laughing. Finally it all just came spilling forth. They laughed, a mixture of relief, humiliation, and joy setting it off. After a few minutes Twilight started regain control but Line Space didn’t seem capable of getting rid of the giggles. Twilight brushed her slightly maimed mane back behind her ear and took a moment to settle her voice.
“Thanks for saving me like that. It must’ve been really frightening.” Twilight’s voice was quieter than she wanted it to be but she never imagined Line Space would save her life this trip. Finally he seemed to get over his giggles and looked into her eyes, exhaustion mixed with happiness inside.
“No problem Twilight. I saw it coming after you and even though I was scared, I got so mad thinking it might hurt my friend that I just charged in.” He smiled at her. “I’m really nothing special. I’m sure any of your friends would have done the same.
“They have. But that time none of us were about to die and we had each other to help us have courage. What you did, I don’t think thank you is enough.”
“Believe me Twilight it is. I simply reacted to another pony in danger. Not to mention you wouldn’t be out here if it weren’t for what you’re already doing for me.”
“Fine if you’re going to insist on being so modest,” Twilight said teasingly, feeling even happier when she was rewarded with him blushing even bigger, “at least tell me how you managed to dodge it’s claws like that.”
“My dad. For a long time I couldn’t walk near him without him grabbing or jabbing me. After a long time my reflexes got a lot faster and I started being able to block and even counter.” Line Space talked about his father with a fondness in his voice that had been lacking when he had talked about his brother before.
“I guess he stopped trying to get you after that then?”
“No he simply started tackling me instead and I was never strong enough to get out from under him.” Line Space laughed, a big grin breaking onto his face. “Although I have to admit I thought the thing would just ignore my kick. I would like to say maybe I don’t know my own strength but that would be such a lie.” He chuckled to himself. “Mannnn that was frightening. Are you sure you’re okay Twi?”
“Yeah.” Twilight blushed hard and looked away. “You got it just in time. Hey we should probably try to figure out where we are.”
“You mean you don’t know where we are? Well that only means we’re lost in the most dangerous places in Equestria. Alright lets goooo,” Line Space began spinning in place. He landed and turned himself a little. “This way.”
“Why that direction Line?”
“It’s the way we came. Try not to walk into a manticore again if its possible. I don’t need that much adrenaline in pumping through me again.” He smiled at her and started walking again. Twilight just couldn’t understand how he could be so calm. Then again, Rainbow Dash had a habit of acting cool and calm when she was flipping out inside and from what Cadence had told her colts liked acting big and strong. After walking in silence for a little while she decided she could probably ask the question she had gone looking for him to ask.
“So. Your brother?” Line Space stumbled for a moment before resuming his pace. He lowered his head and just kept walking. Twilight began to feel really uncomfortable. Finally she had enough of waiting. “Come on Line Space. Do you really want to hide it that much? He’s your brother.”
“Don’t you think that’s a little personal?” The ice in his voice made it feel like she had stepped over every line. She didn’t expect that level of reaction. She lowered her head, not willing to look back at Line.
“I’m sorry. That was harsh. The problem is that me and my brother disagree a lot. When we address each others issues in life we take the rational route about the problem. The thing is is that neither of us can ever use those tactics properly so we just get more upset with each other. After years of trying to fix the problem with Red Pen we just stopped talking about our issues except for rare occasions. It’s not worth treating you like crap though so I’m sorry.” Line Space sounded extremely tired about this topic.
“If the rational solution tended not to work in the past then why do you think it’ll work with Red Pen? I mean that is the whole idea isn’t it? To deal with this rationally.” Line Space actually managed a grin before responding.
“I have you helping me this time. Between your skills and smarts I think it makes a pretty massive difference. Not to mention you’ve dealt with much bigger monsters.” Twilight looked away blushing. Not very many ponies complimented her quite like that.
“I’m really not that amazing.”
“I’m sure the Princess’, Cadence, and Shining Armor would all beg to differ. You’re obviously something special Twilight.” Twilight took a glance at Line Space and saw that he was looking away himself. Maybe she could find something safer to talk about.
“So you like going for walks Line?”
“Yeah, It’s a lot of fun going for walks at night. Not to mention an extremely good time to think.”
“So what were you thinking about this time?” Line Space was quiet for a bit before responding.
“What Zecora said.”
“What about it?”
“She said we needed to stay calm and restrict our anger. I’ve spent years trying to keep it all inside though and now that Red Pen is gone..” He went quiet, looking away after his voice cracked.
“You think you can let your emotions do what they want don’t you? I’m sorry Line but maybe your anger can be a good thing. I mean it did just save my life.” Line Space shook his head.
“My anger hasn’t done anypony any good. I simply went into a rage and attacked. The fact that I was defending you meant little. It was my own anger that kept my brother away! How am I supposed to simply accept it when its done all of that? Yet if I keep it down like I have for so long then who says I won’t be able to stop?” Line Space’s voice was wracked in pain. Twilight had no idea he could be so afraid of something like that. It felt like she was never going to understand Line Space.
“Line….. I have no idea-”
“Enough Twilight. You don’t deserve to shoulder all of my issues. Lets just get back to Zeckora’s hut. I take walks so I can sort out my own things. Tomorrow…tomorrow will be much better.” He walked off. Twilight sat stunned before she decided to just follow after. She couldn’t figure out what to say to Line. Maybe once they get to know each other…. maybe once Red Pen was taken care of. She followed after Line. Hours after they got back she found herself lying in her bunk still trying to figure out what to say and how to help.