//------------------------------// // 26 - Investigation // Story: Gladiator // by Not_A_Hat //------------------------------// In my tiny dining room, ponies were sitting around my table, playing cards, laughing, and arguing. I was suddenly reminded of a classic oil painting. "Ah ain't sayin you do a bad job, Rainbow. But my apples need more rain, and the dang department won't let me schedule any this month!" Applejack slammed her cards down. "Ah fold. Ah can't match that." Rarity leveled a sharp gaze across the table at Rainbow. "Looks like it's just us, dear. How about a little raise?" She hoofed a small pile of chips-apple chips, I think-into the pot. "Listen, Applejack, no-one knows better than me the paper-pushers in the weather department are a bunch of wooden horseshoes." Rainbow casually matched the raise, and motioned Rarity to flip another card. Rarity smirked, and raised again. "Tell you what. I think we have a bit of extra cloudspace in next week's weather. I can set up a microsystem for you, if you really need it." "It would be a weight off mah mind, Rainbow. Oh, Wesley." Applejack nodded to me. "Feelin' better?" "Much, thanks." I yawned once. "Still waking up, a bit. Where's Twilight?" "Out back. Said something about tests, and got Spike to bring a buncha stuff over." I nodded, and stepped out the back door. I immediately tripped and fell flat on my fuzzy purple nose. "Ow. Steps." <"Need a hand?"> Twilight giggled. She was sitting cross-legged on the ground nearby. I took the offered palm, and she helped right me. "Mind if I start the link?" She fingered the horn hopefully. "Go for it. A few extra reflexes wouldn't go amiss here." I felt the connection form. It was almost familiar now. "Sorry. I didn't think how hard this might make things for you. And thanks for not trying a link while I was asleep." "That's Ok. You really did need a nap; I shouldn't have stayed up so late. As for linking while you slept...I considered it," she said ruefully. "But I didn't want to bother you. Though it would be an interesting experiment." "Maybe later. Have you heard back from the Princess?" "Yeah, Spike got a reply soon after you left. She said I'm normally her response to this sort of situation anyways, so as long as we want to be discrete, all she can do is offer advice." I looked around my backyard. It was short grass, and very small. Spike was carefully assembling a structure of sticks and multicolored string. "Is that...a widderspindle?" I asked. "I didn't know you even owned one." "Yup!" She sprang to her feet, and stretched. "Ooo, still sore, but it feels good move around!" She paced into the structure, carefully stepping over strings and examining the placement of various sticks. She adjusted one or two, moving them a few inches or less. "Princess Celestia suggested we examine our engrams for clues." "Oh, that's a good idea." "I know, right? I just hope we can get a strong enough read on the tensors to-" She grimaced as her stomach rumbled loudly. "Ooof. I'm getting pretty hungry." "Have you eaten at all?" I asked, surprised. "Surely Fluttershy would try and feed you, at least?" "Tea, toast, and apples this morning. But she left soon after you took your nap. I could really go for a bite of hay right now." "Um." She glanced down at my pause. "I don't think that would help much." I could guess what my body was craving, and hay wasn't it. "I can't actually digest cellulose. Apples are barely a snack for me; you'd get about as much from a glass of milk." "Oh." A look of realization crept across her face. "That's why the toast tasted different! You're more reliant on refined carbohydrates!" "That, and it had butter on it, right?" She nodded. "Whole wheat and dairy is a complete protein. I eat a lot more of that than a pony. That's probably what my body wants right now, to help repair after a beating. I also find it very satisfying." "I'm...omnivorous." Twilight said cautiously. "I'm omnivorous now. That's one aspect of this body I didn't really consider. What would you suggest for supper?" "Ah...well. I was planning on fish." She made a face at that. "Fluttershy gave me some for Hearths Warming. Somepony named Harry caught it. It'll keep in the freezer, but...if you want, I'll fry it for you." "I think Harry's a bear, but... no, I'm not quite up for that. A few pegasai eat fish, but I've never tried it. I don't like the smell." I didn't comment; she might feel differently if I fried one, but I didn't want to chance it. I wanted to eat them! "Well...hmm. I think I can make something for both ponies and humans. Why don't you stay for supper? I'll invite the others, too. I...should probably apologize to them for making you keep secrets, and tell them the real beginning of the story." "If you think it's worth it. They'll be your friends either way, Wesley." She paused to reposition a peg. "I'll get this set up, and have a look. Um, the link seems to diminish with distance, so let me know if you leave. This morning, I couldn't make contact until you were coming down the road. Needs testing." I nodded at that. I'd wondered why she hadn't used the link earlier. "How do you feel about spaghetti?" I asked. Her stomach rumbled again. I laughed and turned for the door. "Look, cooking is an earth pony talent! Ah'm tellin' you, that's not going to taste good!" Applejack pushed her nose against mine, glaring ferociously. "And I'm telling you, I've made this before! I'm not putting much in! Spaghetti sauce likes a little sugar, and cocoa can flavor savory food!" I glared back, but she was unimpressed. "I'm not even really a unicorn!" I added, trying to sidestep her, but she moved to block me. "Fine, look!" I turned and spilled the cubes of fudge on the table. "I'm just going to put in half-Rainbow!" "Mmmf?" The pegasus widened her eyes, trying to appear innocent. I swept most of the fudge back into the bag, and glared at her. "Man, that's good stuff," she said, swallowing. "I know! Bon-bon gave it to me." I scooped up the last cube, and held it out to Applejack. "Half of this. That's all. This is my kitchen; can't you let me cook, please?"   "Come on, Applejack!" Pinkie added. "Just a little will be good." "You're only saying that because you like anything with sugar!" Applejack grumbled, but stepped away. Pinkie nodded cheerfully. I fumbled with the knife, my exasperation increasing. Twilight wasn't much of a cook, especially with hooves. "What's bothering you?" She must have felt my irritation; I turned a bit of attention inward. She was nearly finished calibrating the widderspindle. All we needed was moon-rise. "Hooves!" I sent back, loading the word with as much derision as I could. "Hmm...I've wanted to try this for a while now." I felt a familiar cold sensation crawl through my brain. Twilight was trying to feed power across our link. I hesitated for a moment; this was one more unconsidered experiment. On the other hand, I had used Twilight's power to close the portal. Twilight felt my hesitation and sent a feeling of query, like a voiceless question mark. I mentally shrugged and grasped the power. "Aha!" My horn lit up with a slight crackle. I drew on Twilight's training a bit more, and wrapped the power around the handle of the knife. The aura was reversed for me, now a deep purple crazed with orange. "Now that is fascinating." I turned to find Rarity staring at my aura with narrowed eyes. I dismissed her curiosity; I'd had enough experimenting today. I turned back to the cutting board. Time for some cooking. In short order, the sauce was finished. I turned my attention to egg noodles for Twilight. I'd serve it over hay for the rest of us. Applejack, working alongside, was trying to scrape an apple pie and a green salad out of the food I'd been given. She was surprisingly fun to work with, always ready with a bit of wisdom or a tip on how to make the most of an ingredient. I'd always enjoyed cooking, mainly since I loved eating, and working with her seemed to bring back a bit of the 'normal' in my life. I needed to feel a bit grounded. Cooking with Applejack was about as grounded as it got.   "So, wait." I hovered my makeshift rolling pin, an empty cider bottle, over to the dough. "These...zap-apples, they have rainbow colors? And even when you make jam, they spread rainbow colors?" "Eyup. They're magic something fierce. And dang, are they delicious! Ah think Apple Bloom is learning how they work from Granny." "Awesome. You know, as much as Equestria makes me slightly crazy, there are things like this that make it worth while. Magic apples? Yes please! I don't suppose you make Hesperidean Cider or something too, do you?" "Cider?" Rainbow flicked an ear at us, and we both laughed. I picked up a pair of knives, floating them carefully over Applejack before deftly slicing the noodles and scooping them up. "Wes?" Rarity asked, her voice slightly odd. "Yeah?" "How many things are you holding up?" "Um..." I counted quickly. Two knives, one bottle, a bowl and spoon, noodles... oodles of noodles. "Dunno. Why?" "You're not straining at all?" "Should I be?" Twilight stepped in the back door, taking a minute to remove her shoes. "He's cheating," she said to Rarity. "He's borrowing more than my magic; I'm lending him some skills, too. Wes, levitating more than a few objects can get difficult because of the concentration it takes. Although I think your patterns of thought might give you an edge there; you're concentration is usually more scattered. I was wondering if that was natural, but the fact I'm not thinking like you in your body suggests it's trained. Oh, I'm done with the widderspindle." She glanced around the room, and grimaced. "Don't you have a decent chair?" "Not yet. My money is budgeted towards getting food in before winter. I'm curious, though; how does that follow, the thinking in different ways? We're in different bodies now. We should see some effects, right?" "Honestly? No idea. I hope we can get a few clues from our engrams. It's been debated for quite a while; whether the soul is formed by the body, or the body is 'controlled' by the soul. Some ponies say that since damage to the brain can affect a ponies mind, the soul has to be secondary. Others refuse this interpretation, claiming the brain merely connects to the soul; damaging the brain breaks part of the connection." "Hmm." I mused for a second. I'd never considered 'soul' from a scientific perspective before. "Enough egghead talk." Applejack nudged me. "Your water's boiling." Jerked back to reality, I carefully submerged the noodles. Telekinesis was useful for not getting burnt. "Any word on Flutter-Oh. Here she is." A very, very soft knock came from the door. Rarity, the nearest, swung it open. "Come in, dear! You're just in time for supper." "O-oh. Um, before that-" "Woo, food!" Rainbow swept the cards off the table. Rarity gasped; she'd been close to winning. I sighed as they started bickering, and floated a stack of paper plates, leftover from the party, to Twilight. Letting the others set the table, I stepped over to Fluttershy, and tipped an ear towards her. "What's up?" I asked quietly. "Well, you see, I thought something was odd about that manticore showing just as he did, so I spent some time asking my animal friends about what's been going on in the forest." I frowned at that; I'd also been suspicious. Twilight and I both fall under strange magic, and then an old opponent shows up? A little cute for coincidence. "Because that manticore was away from his hunting ground. And he came quite a way; I was wondering how he found you." "Any luck?" "Um...not much. Some of my friends said a strange pony may have led him this way, but-" "Really?" "Yes. But most animals don't pay attention like we do, so that's all I was able to find out." "Still, it's something. I was thinking this was more than chance could account for. If somepony really did lead him, we need to find out who, because they're purposefully causing trouble. And find how they knew about our fight." "Oh, any of the Everfree's residents could tell them that." "Wait, really?" "Of course! You're new, and scary, and you go everywhere; they all talk about you. Anypony who knew who to ask could find out about the manticore." "...huh." I guess if squirrels could gossip, that made a fair amount of sense. "Um. I'm scary?" Fluttershy gave a small nod. "Oh. Sorry." "Don't worry about it," she said with a reassuring smile. "Most things are scary to my animal friends. Why, they're even afraid of me sometimes." I kept my peace at that; I'd heard of The Stare. "Uh, supper?" I motioned her towards the table. Places were set, and food was being served. "So, I didn't ruin it?" "Ah guess you didn't, at that. Still, don't think it was necessary." I glanced around the table; cleaned plates were in evidence. Spaghetti sauce over hay or noodles, salad and pie; I'd have loved a beer, but had no idea if I could get it here. Or if ponies could even drink it. I tapped my fork on the edge of my glass a few times, until quiet fell. "Um, thanks for staying for supper. It's been fun, but there's something I need to tell everypony. You see, I've told most of you I'm from another country. That isn't really wrong, but the whole truth is a bit stranger-" The whole explanation took quite a while. Reactions varied; Rainbow seemed slightly disappointed, as if expecting a bigger secret. Applejack nodded firmly, like I'd just confirmed her suspicions. Rarity's eyes sharpened with interest at the idea of a separate world. Fluttershy looked vaguely apprehensive; I wasn't sure if that was a change or not. Pinkie didn't seem perturbed in the least. Expert on weird, I guess. I soon pulled Twilight into the explanation, and we gave a pretty comprehensive breakdown of what the soul-bond was and how it had started. Some of them knew bits and pieces, but I saw some confusion clear as the whole picture was presented. Explaining the whole thing was a weight off my mind. "So, I wanted to apologize for hiding this from you, and for asking Twilight to hide it as well. I'm sorry." I wrapped it up as neatly as I could, and threw myself on their mercy. "O-Oh. It's Ok." "That's fine." "Forget it." "Forgiven, dear." "Okey-Dokey!" I was slightly flabbergasted. "That's all?" "What do you want?" Rainbow asked. "Come on; we knew something was up. Twilight is, like, WORST EVER at secrets. Pinkie even suggested, about sixteen times, that you were from another world. Maybe we need to take her a bit more seriously. I'm glad you told us, but I understand your reasons. It's not a big deal. I'm just annoyed you didn't tell us earlier; this 'link' sounds like it could be a lot of fun." "Um-" "Yeah! Think of the pranks we could play!" Pinkie bounced out of her chair, and grabbed one of Twilight's hands, holding it behind her back. "Wes, how many fingers am I holding up?" "I don't think-" "Let's indulge them a bit, Wes. They're just curious, after all. And maybe they'll test something I didn't think of." "Well...Ok. How many?" "Huh?" "Fingers." "Oh. All of them?" "Four." I said to Pinkie, with a smirk. "And one thumb." "Ooo, tricky!" She smirked back, and Rainbow rolled her eyes. "They're asking what?"  I rolled my eyes, and bit back a cutting remark. "No." I said, glaring at Rainbow Dash. "I am not answering this. You're not testing our link anymore. Now you're just trying worm information out of me!" "Aww, come on! Just this one question! If you don't answer, we won't know you heard it from Twilight!"   "Or, I could just repeat the question. You don't honestly think my favorite foods have anything to do with this link, do you? Anyways, I don't know if Fluttershy told you, but I eat meat. At least, I do when I'm in my own body. Are you sure you want to hear the answer?" She shivered slightly at that, but her eyes grew sharp and curious. "Really?" "Really really. I'm omnivorous, like a bear. Actually, the sauce I made tonight? I normally put meat in it." "Oooo." She shivered again. "That's...kinda creepy." "It's the way I am. Was." I glanced over to where Twilight and Pinkie were sitting, on the other side of the room. "I offered Twilight some fish for supper, but she didn't want any." "Oh, you mean fish? Fish is different." I didn't mean fish; I normally put ground turkey in my spaghetti, or when it was on sale, beef. But I remembered the talking cows we bought milk from, and left it at that. "Fish aren't smart enough to know they're alive. And even other fish eat them! Hey, we should go to one of the pegasus restaurants; there's a really great one that just opened, but none of the others will go with me. Even Fluttershy doesn't like fish much." "Huh. Maybe. After we get this all sorted out." "Any luck on that?" "Well, we're going to cast for engrams later tonight. Oh, and Fluttershy talked to the animals in the forest. She thinks that maybe a pony was behind the manticore showing up, so I think they may be connected. You heard about the manticore?" "Yeah." She gave me a piercing look. "So, what are you going to do?" "No idea." I shrugged. "Aw, come on! Whip up a plan! I've seen you work; you're good!" "In a familiar situation. This?" I shrugged. "I have very little idea how to deal with ponies when they're not trying to kill me. In a pinch, I'm happy to plan tactics. I'll even lead. But strategy? I'd rather to leave that to Captain Shining, or Twilight. And this is something else, even. I have no idea how to deal with social situations. Point me at someone who needs punched, and I'm your guy. Talking? No thanks." "Hmm, I see." She rubbed her jaw for a second. "Whelp, if you need assistance, ask an expert! Raaaaare!" The snowy unicorn turned away from cleanup in the kitchen, and started towards us. I suppressed my misgivings; there was no harm in asking an opinion. And at the very least, any plans were assured of being fabulous. "Move your right foreleg a skinch to the left." I complied. I'd left Rainbow and Rarity discussing our mysterious malefactor; Twilight had reported the moon was rising, and the conditions for engram casting were getting closer. I was currently standing inside the widderspindle. It was dimly visible in the moonlight, forming an eight-pointed star with the last point split open for access to the inside. Multicolored strings ran to and fro between the posts, enameled medallions arranged precisely through the whole setup. Gazing at it, a few memorized facts surfaced. For a second, I saw a deeper, underlying magical structure, taut with arcane energy. I grasped at the arrangement of the medallions, fleetingly recognizing the half-dozen magical disciplines that imbued them with potency to reveal the shadows of the mind. Those thoughts had leaked across my link with Twilight; maybe if I just- "Don't do that!" Twilight snapped, as my attention distracted her. "I'm trying to work here." "Sorry." I answered meekly. "It's just...I could almost see it like you do, and it was really neat." Instead of responding, she continued pacing around the circle, occasionally touching a peg or medallion with the horn in her hand. The whole nest of string was starting to glow faintly, and if I hadn't understood what was going on, I'd have felt somewhat apprehensive. Engrams represent the patterns of energy in the body. The casting would reveal any magic or spells, the shape of the body, and the shape of the mind. If we did this right, it should give us a start on what magic caused our swap. The difficulty of using a widderspindle was actually that it revealed much more than you needed. Sorting through the engrams could be a chore. After four circuits, the preparations were finished. I felt a gentle buzz as the magical potentials balanced. Thaumic energy began flowing in complex and subtle patterns. A sensation like tearing spiderwebs crawled across my skin, and for a second I could feel moonlight flow through me. The widderspindle chimed once, and the reading appeared. I stepped back to look at it; once it was cast, it would persist until reset, or daybreak. The moonlight, captured by the spell and twisted through unimaginable dimensions until it refracted off what defined 'me', glowed up from the grass in multichrome rings, dapples, splots and speckles. It looked like burning Rorschach origami in a kalidescope. I found myself wishing for a camera. Twilight had a notebook out, and was scratching away. I caught fragments of her muttering as she wrote. "Left wing four...oh, fascinating...of course it's the tower...hmm, didn't expect that...but if that's true, then..." I considered trying to skim her thoughts, but dismissed the idea. She'd just snap at me again for being nosy. Eventually, she stepped into the ring herself. I touched my horn to the grounding peg, releasing the spell; the captured imagery faded away, draining into the vast equalizing neutrality of the planet. "Now, here's how you cast for me-" I followed her instructions to the letter. I only had to restart once, but after that she occasionally fed instructions across the link. Finally done, she positioned herself and I tapped the last medallion, charging it precisely. This chime was much less pleasant. It was a disharmonic, almost tortured creak. The spell wobbled as it fell into place, the imbalance nearly wrecking the reading. Twilight took a step back, and gasped at what she saw. My body's engrams were distinctly different and less pleasant than Twilight's. I could guess the deep crackles of shadowy purple denoted the gem. The flickers of crimson looked like bloody hands to me, and the baleful green flecks...well, no use guessing. "Oooh..." Twilight breathed, her pencil working twice as fast. I waited impatiently. As soon as she nodded and stood, I wiped the pattern. She grimaced, but didn't say anything. The group was sitting on the floor this time, circled around a firefly lantern. All eyes turned to us as we entered. We settled down with them. I joined the card game; the were playing Fools. Twilight buried her nose in her notebook. "So, Wes, we were thinking." Rainbow passed a sheaf of cards to Applejeck, and smiled at me. "Rarity figures that we might be able to discover who's bothering you, by checking if they're tailing you." "I...guess. Would they do that? Tail me?" "Maybe." Rarity answered. "Honestly, I can't say for sure. But if they're trying for some specific effect with this attack, they will need to check on you at some point. I'll ask around town, but in the meantime there's not much we can do." I considered it for a minute. It made some sense; if they wanted to find out how I was doing, they might have me watched. Or rather, who they thought was me watched. "So...do you think watching for a tail would be enough?" I asked, speculatively. "Again, maybe." Rarity shrugged, and triumphantly slapped an ace down in front of Rainbow, who groaned. "It's all we can do for now. If they're foolish, or we get lucky, we might learn something." "Hmn. Ok, thanks for the suggestion. I'll ask Twilight what she thinks, and-" "Hey, Twilight!" Rainbow reached over and tapped her on the shoulder. I felt the reaction across the link, first; Twilight had maintained it so the could use her fingers properly. Reflexes I'd painstakingly trained lashed out, and she moved without thinking, twisting violently and throwing a punch directly at Rainbow's unprotected side. I reacted nearly as quickly, trying to keep my friends from hurting each other. I grasped Twilight's power, yanking it across the link and spellcasting in a split second. Rainbow blinked out, reappearing halfway across the room, and Twilight hit only empty air, a shocked look appearing on her face. "Oh, Rainbow, I'm so sorry!" She leaped up and ran to her friend, hugging her fiercely. "It's Ok," came the muffled reply. "I guess that's why Wes twitches when I sneak up on him." "No kidding." I said dryly. "Those reflexes have saved my life. Careful with them, both of you." "I didn't even think," Twilight said. "I just felt you there, and then I was moving." "Hey, it's fine. Hopefully you and Wes'll be back to normal soon anyways, right?" "Maybe! Actually, Wes, I'd like you to check me here. I'm getting some odd readings." "Oh?" I levitated her notes, and scanned them. "What are you seeing?" "Well, it's odd. I'd swear that this signature here-" She released Rainbow, and ran a finger along one line of calculation "-means this whole thing is caused by wild magic. But the only sort of wild magic strong enough would be from the Everfree. And you haven't been in there in days, right?" "Yeah. I haven't gone out past my clearing in weeks. But-" A sudden realization stopped me. Magic, from the Everfree? Strange effects? A sinister somepony? No way. I jumped up, and dashed to yesterdays mail pile. "Wes?" Rainbow asked. "No way. No WAY!" I shouted, scrambling madly for a specific piece of paper. "What's up?" Applejack asked, putting her cards down. "You two out of the game, or what?" I pulled the piece out, and threw it on the floor. It was a simple flower, cut for Hearth's Warming. The one that had no return address, or name of the sender. I'd thought it odd then. "Don't touch that!" I snapped, as Rainbow reached for it. "This is the culprit. Or rather, from the culprit." "Oh!" Twilight scanned it quickly, and a slightly horrified expression appeared on her face. "Oh! Someone mailed you-" "Poison Joak pollen." I finished. "I can't believe I didn't notice earlier! Zecora trained me on it; I should have recognized the smell, even! I didn't put two and two together until you mentioned wild magic. This wackyness has Poison Joak written all over it! I even started coughing and sneezing after getting this. I thought I was getting a cold, but it was allergies. Magical ones." I stared at the paper a second longer, and grit my teeth. "This clinches it. Somepony - or ponies - here in Ponyville have it in for me." I glanced at the circle of staring faces, and the reality of the situation hit me. "Now what?" I asked helplessly.