//------------------------------// // Chapter XII: Djinn // Story: The Fable of the Zealot // by Silentpegasus //------------------------------// Chapter XII Djinn Things were going smoothly for the members of the Fable guild. Pinkie had thrown Azure a welcome party Pinkie Pie style. The water mage had gotten along well with Rouge and Ivy who couldn’t be happier for their friend. Crimson waited outside the guild as he saw two familiar flyers land in front of him. The Wonderbolt Captain and Co-captain had hightailed from a photo shoot in Canterlot. “This had better be good Crimson.” Soarin said in a tired tone. “Calm down. It involves Cobalt.” Crimson said as he opened the door and the two saw the blue haired flyer talking with the woman. Cobalt saw them and waved them over. “Hey Soarin,” He said with a smile. “got someone I wan’t you to meet.” The woman stood up and looked at the man. Something familiar surrounded the girl and he scratched his chin as he thought. “You always were a soar-loser.” The woman said with a chuckle. The man’s eyes shrank and his jaw dropped. There had only been one person who called him that. “Azure?” He yelled. “Took you long enough dunce.” Cobalt said with a chuckle. Soarin hugged the girl and the group started conversing. Sunny then came up to Crimson with a smile on her face. “Um Crimson, there’s a call for you in the conference room.” The Changeling said in her usual timid tone. “Thanks Sunny.” Crimson said as he went upstairs to the meeting room. A few minutes later the people downstairs heard a bloodcurdling scream and raced upstairs. Ivy was leading the pack and kicked open the door to see the man standing in front of a decorated lamp. “What’s going on?” Twilight asked as she walked up next to her boyfriend. “Crow is a cruel son-of-a-bitch.” He said as he glared at the lamp. “It’s a lamp.” Ivy said in a flat tone. “It looks pretty old.” Twilight said as she got closer to it. Crimson grabbed her arm and shook his head. “Don’t touch it. If this thing is what I think it is then I gotta destroy it.” He said as he summoned his father’s hammer. “Destroy it?” Twilight said as she broke free and grabbed the lamp. “Think of how much history this thing holds!” “That isn’t the only thing it can hold.” Twilight rolled her eyes and blew the dust that had accumulated on the lamp and wiped it away. “Oh what’s the worst that could-” The lamp suddenly shot out of her arms and spun in the air and started to contort. Soon a large amount of golden smoke erupted from the top of the lamp and filled the room. “Freedom!” A feminine voice yelled form the smoke. Soon the smoke accumulated and a woman with white and black hair. She was wearing a brown vest and a gray shirt and matching pants. The girl cracked her back and yawned. “Man, being trapped in a lamp for seven years really gives you a crick in the neck.” Twilight and the others looked at the girl in surprise. “Y-you’re a Genie!” Twilight yelled. “Well, I guess we can take brains off the wish list.” The girl said as she hovered over them. “I am the Great and Powerful Eris the Djinn.” She saw the scholar holding the lamp and smirked. “Whoever rubs my lamp is entitled to three wishes.” “Awesome!” Dash yelled. “Twilight wish for-” “NO!” Crimson yelled. The group looked at him in surprise. “No on is wishing for anything.” He turned his attention back to the Djinn. “You get back in there!” He pointed o the lamp. “So nice to see you again too Crimson.” The girl said with an evil smirk. “But I don’t take orders from you. She rubbed the lamp,” The being pointed to Twilight. “so she’s my master.” “Me?” Twilight gulped. “Yup, you’re the only one who can make wishes. Just a few rules; one, no wishing for more wishes.” The girl held up three fingers. “Two, I can’t make anyone fall in love with ya. Too bad for you I guess.” “She’s my girlfriend.” Crimson said with a growl. The bottle dweller looked at the man and back to the scholar. “Tough break kid.” She said to Twilight. “Oh and before I forget, rule number three; I can’t bring anyone back from the dead.” Her form then started to shift to a decomposed corpse. “It’s not a pretty picture and I don’t like doing it!” The girl then shifted back to her normal youthful look. “Other than those three, you’re good.” Twilight looked over to her boyfriend who shook his head and had a worried look on his face. “Um, can I have some time to think about it?” “Fine. If you need me I’ll be in my lamp.” The woman then turned into a cloud of smoke and zoomed back in the lamp Twilight was holding. Crimson face palmed and groaned. “Just great. Now I have to deal with her again.” “You know her?” Cobalt asked. “Unfortunately yes. I was on a mission in Saddle Arabia and I had the misfortune of coming across her lamp and I accidentally released her.” “What happened?” Twilight asked. “Pure chaos. That’s what happened. Genies do have amazing power and are bound to their master’s wishes, but they have a a habit of twisting their master’s wishes to the point where it works against them.” The man sighed and bit his lip. “So until I can get the proper sealing spell, you have to keep an eye on her.” “Me?” Twilight said in surprise. “Eris and her lamp are now bound to you. You are the only one who can make wishes and set her free. If that happens then it will be the end of everything.” Crimson said in a serious tone. “I’ll need some help. There’s a lot of books to look through.” Rouge and the other mages followed the man while Twilight looked at the lamp. “C’mon Twilight. Make a wish!” Dash said. “Didn’t you hear what Crimson just said?” AJ stated. “That thing is dangerous. We should just let Crimson handle it.” “Oh come on! Wishing for anything you want? How bad could that be?” “My decision is final Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said with a frown. “I’m not going to make a wish.” The flyer groaned and walked out of the room with a sigh. Twilight and the others left the guild and went about their business. Twilight walked into her library and sat down at her desk with the lamp on to the left of her. The Djinn then popped out and cracked her back. “Nice place.” She said as she sat herself down. “So now I say that we crack open some drinks, kick back and-” “No.” “Oh come on! Don’t be a square like Crimson.” “Hey! Don’t talk about my boyfriend like that!” Twilight glared. “Sorry sheesh.” The being groaned. “All I want to do is see how much the world has moved forward. I’ve been corked up in that damn lamp for almost a decade and I wanna know what’s changed.” “You make it sound so awful.” Twilight said with a roll of her eyes. “Hey! You try being cooped up in a bottle all the time!” The genie grunted. “What do you mean all the time?” “That’s how genies live.” The girl then grew to the size of a giant and her lower half was encased in smoke. “INFINITE COSMIC POWER!” She said in a tone that rivaled Princess Luna’s royal Canterlot voice. The Genie was then sucked into the bottle and poked her tiny head out. “Itty, biddy living space.” She said in a squeaky tone. “How long have you been in that thing?” Twilight asked. “What day is today?” “Friday.” “Oh then about nine-hundred years.” She groaned. Twilight bit her lip and sighed. “Crimson said you caused some trouble in Saddle Arabia.” “I had cabin fever! You try staying in a small lamp for almost a thousand years.” The woman argued. “I admit that I got a little crazy.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You make one stone sphinx come alive and suddenly you’re the bad guy.” The scholar frowned. “So Crimson stepped in and stopped you?” “Him and that annoying mutt of his too.” She crossed her arms. “Then I get jammed back into the bottle and left on a shelf in the vault.” “The vault?” “It’s some maximum security chamber that the Council has to hold all kinds of dangerous artifacts.” “Like you?” “Bingo. I’ll most likely be back on that shelf, in the cold dark vault and trapped inside the bottle. That’s what I have to look forward to.” Twilight felt for the magical being. She couldn’t wrap her head around being trapped in a small bottle for centuries and being locked away in a vault Celestia knows where. “If you were able to leave that thing what would you do?” The genie shrugged. “See the town, hit up a few clubs. Take a mini vacation before I’m sealed away forever.” She sighed. Twilight closed her book and sighed. “I’ll make you a deal.” Eris raised an eyebrow.”If you promise to behave I’ll let you walk around for a few hours. Deal?” “Deal, but you gotta put it in wish form. It’s the rules.” Twilight stood up and sighed. “Fine. I wish that you, Eris the Djinn are able to walk around as a person until Crimson comes back.” The woman made her hands glow and smirked. “Hold on, I’m not done yet.” The Djinn cut the magic flow. “I also wish that while you are able to leave your lamp, you are unable to use any of your godlike magic.” “Anything else?” “No.” “Then your wish is my command master.” The Genie’s hands glowed and the lower half of her body that was previously a trail of smoke started to shift into brown pant covered legs. The woman stood for a moment and caught her balance.”Sorry, been a while since I’ve had legs.” “And your magic?” The woman snapped her fingers and her body glowed. “Gone. Thank’s Twilight.” She said with a smile. “Do you mind keeping an eye on my lamp? I’ll still need it when I come back.” “Sure. I don’t mind.” “Excellent.” She smirked. The woman snapped her fingers and Twilight felt a suction force coming from the bottle and felt her feet being dragged back. The suction power made Twilight fall on her stomach and she was trying to get a grip on the wooden floor. Her nails were making marks in the wood and tears filled her eyes as she felt herself being pulled back farther towards the bottle. “What’s happening?” Twilight yelled. “You said that you’d keep an eye on it for me.” Eris chuckled. “Oh and thanks for being a complete idiot, book worms like you always believe the sob stories.” Twilight feet her body being pulled off the ground by the gale force sucking her into the bottle. Eris caught Twilight’s wrist. “Now if you need me, I’ll be off causing some trouble.” “B-but you removed your magic!” “Very true, which is why I’ll be taking yours.” Twilight’s eyes shrank at the words. The genie put two fingers on Twilight’s forehead and smirked. Eris ripped her finger’s off the mage’s head and Twilight felt like Eris had ripped her skin clean off her bones. Twilight saw a long strand of purple magic coming out of her and going into Eris’s body. “Wow, you have a lot of magic, for a mortal anyway.” “I wish that-” Eris then put her hand over Twilight’s mouth. “Ah, ah, ah.” The woman said with a smirk. There was fear and tears in Twilight’s eyes. “See you round Twilight.” Eris let go of her hand and the scholar was sucked into the bottle like water going down a sink. Eris chuckled as she walked out of the building and heard the faint sound of crying coming from the bottle. Crimson and the other four mages made their way towards the library. Crimson had an odd object on his back and was carrying a book in his hand. The four met up with the other five girls along the way. “Hey guys. Going to handle Eris?” Dash asked. “Sooner the better.” Crimson said with a sigh. The group soon came upon the tree house. The group walked inside and found a few papers strewn across the room and Spike looking around. “Spike?” “Hey guys. Twilight must have had the window open and papers blew all over the place.” “Where’s Twilight?” Crimson asked. “Don’t know. Just got back here a few minutes ago myself.” He said as he continued to pick up the scattered books. Crimson noticed the lamp on the desk and walked up to it. “Okay Eris, come out and make it easy on yourself.” Crimson said in a flat tone. No response came from the bottle. Crimson sighed and rubbed the lamp. The bottle shook and a large cloud of purple smoke shot out of the bottle. The group’s eyes shrank when they saw the librarian with a smoke trail leading into the bottle instead of legs. “Oh thank goodness Crimson I need your help I-” Crimson pulled out the package on his back and the group saw a different scythe. The blade was sharp but it was significantly larger than the one the group had seen. The main edge was in a square shape and was covered in inscriptions. Crimson pointed the blade at the scholar. “Come on Eris, do you honestly think you can trick me like that?” He said as he raised an eyebrow. Twilight had tears in her eyes as she looked at the man. “Please you have to believe me that I’m Twilight!” The farmer stared at the bottle dweller and her eyes shrank. “She ain’t lying. Ah can smell a lie coming from a mile away and she ain’t lying.” The farmer said. “I don’t buy it.” Rouge said. “I’ve read that Genies can shape shift and use all sorts of weird magic.” “Do I have to recite Starswirl the Bearded’s one-hundred verse exposition in ancient Equestrian dialect?” The five girls looked at one another and then towards Spike. “Okay, now THAT definitely sounds like Twilight.” Spike said in a flat tone. “Eris is about as old as Princess Luna so it’s very likely that she knows it.” Crimson stated. Twilight gulped. Something in Crimson’s gut was telling him that this was indeed his girlfriend, but he’d been tricked by the genie before. The man sighed and walked closer to the scholar. “Okay, tell me something that only the real Twilight would know.” The girl looked at the man and thought for a few moments. The girl leaned forwards so that she was right next to the man’s ear. Twilight whispered a few words to the man. Crimson’s face went a bright red and gulped. “Okay, you are definitely Twilight.” “What did she say?” Pinkie asked. “None of your business.” Crimson said as he tried to hide his blush. “Must be sexual.” Ivy concurred as she and the other two warriors nodded. Twilight and Crimson’s faces went bright red. “Never mind. Right now we have a crisis on our hands. Eris is on the loose and creator knows what she can do now that she’s free.” Crimson said with a sigh. “She doesn’t have her power.” Twilight sighed. The group looked at her. “The second wish I made was that she can’t use her genie powers.” “That makes things easier.” Cobalt said. “But she took mine.” Twilight sniffled. Crimson put an arm around Twilight and comforted her. “So now what?” “Eris won’t go down easy and she’s as sly as a fox.” The red mage stated. “our only hope is to outfox her and hopefully trap her back in that bottle after we get Twilight out.” The group then heard several screams come from outside the library. The group rushed to the windows and doorway and saw several houses flipped upside down and a ball of yarn as big as a house rolling down the street. “Holy crap.” Dash said as her jaw hung low. “This is only a warm up.” Crimson stated. “When she gets used to using Twilight’s magic and finds a way to get her own back then we’ll all be up a creek without a paddle.” “So what do we do?” Ivy asked. “We gotta subdue and outsmart her, which will not be easy.” “Why? I’m sure we can think of something.” Dash said. “Dash, Eris has spent the last couple of years thinking of ways to royally screw everyone over. I mean who do we know that’s as crafty and unorthodox as a nine-hundred year old genie?” The group groaned and looked at one another. “Could the Princesses help?” AJ asked. “No, Princess Celestia and Luna are over in Griffonia with diplomats.” Spike sighed. Fluttershy’s eyes shrank and she bit her lip. “Um....there is someone else.” The group looked at the timid flyer in surprise. “Someone who could help us I mean.” “Who?” Rouge asked. The butter yellow flyer sighed. “Discord.” The room fell silent at the words. “Are you insane Shy?” Dash yelled. “We want to solve the problem here, not make it worse!” “Wait a second,” Cobalt said. “I thought Discord was sealed in stone by Celestia.” “We ‘reformed’ him a few months ago.” Twilight said with a sigh. “Well, you know what they say, fight fire with fire.” Rouge said. “Who better than to handle a chaotic situation than the god of chaos himself?” “How can we trust him?” Rarity stated. “I know that he won’t want to lose my friendship.” Fluttershy said with a smile. “Okay, but how do we get him here?” Rainbow asked. “I mean it’s not like we can just wish him here.” “Actually, we can.” Crimson then turned towards Twilight. “Okay Twi, I rubbed your lamp so I am now you master.” Twilight blushed at the words. “So by the Genie’s Codex you have to give me three wishes.” “The Genie’s what?” AJ asked. “Genies may be all powerful, but they do have rules to abide by.” Crimson looked at Twilight and sighed. “Okay Twi, this is gonna feel strange, so be ready.” Twilight gave a firm nod and took a deep breath. “I wish that Discord, the god of chaos and disharmony was here.” Twilight felt a weird surge rocketing through her body. Her eyes glowed and magic was avid in the air. The room was filled with a bright light and the group shielded their eyes. The group looked to see a man with a set of wings. The left was feathered and bright blue and the right was purple and webbed like a bat’s. Two horns were protruding from his head, the left was blue and swirled while the other was yellow and looked like a deer antler. His hair was black and his bangs were white. A red tail was also coming from his lower back. His left hand was a mustard yellow and skeleton like. The whites of his eyes were yellow while his pupils were red. There was also one other definitive feature to the man. He was soaking wet and naked. “It’a always when you’re taking a bath that the world beats a path to your door.” He sighed. The group was shielding their eyes from the man. Discord took one look at Twilight and barreled over laughing. “Loving the new look Twilight.” He chuckled. “Discord, be nice,” Fluttershy said as she made a crack through her fingers. “and could you please put some clothes on?” she said as her face went red. “Hmm? Oh right. I suppose it is a bit drafty in here.” The man snapped his fingers and a fine tan coat and dark brown pants appeared over his body. The man sat down on the scholar’s desk and grinned. “So what’s going on gang?” He asked with a toothy grin. “We need your help with a genie.” Discord looked over and saw the red haired man. The chaotic god looked at Crimson and smirked. “Well, well, well, this certainly is a treat.” The man stood up and walked over to Crimson. He stood a full foot taller than the man and smirked. “Crimson Storm, it truly is a pleasure to meet you.” “You know me?” Crimson asked. “Oh I have been keeping an eye on you for a while. I’m a big fan of your work.” He chuckled. “I always find conduit’s fascinating.” Crimson frowned. “Oh don’t act so surprised. I may have been encased in stone for a millennia, but I still could see and interact with the world.” “Can we please get down to business?” Rarity sighed. “Fine.” He sighed. “What’s this about a Genie?” “Long story short, one tricked Twilight and stole her magic. She is now on the loose and making everything crazy.” Discord looked out the window and saw the giant yarn ball rolling down the street. “What’s the Genie’s name?” “Eris.” Discord raised his eyebrows and bit his lip. “Can you help us?” Fluttershy asked in her usual sweet tone. “Fine.” He said with a roll of his eyes. “Finding her will be a chore though.” “Don’t worry about that.” Crimson said as he turned to Twilight. “Twilight, my second wish is that I wish Eris was here.” Once again, the scholar’s eyes lit up and magic surged through her form. The room was filled with light and the girl popped in front of the group. “Hey what gives?” Crimson gripped the scythe and slammed the blade into her shoulder and pinned her to the wall. “Gotcha!” The woman struggled and looked at the man in confusion. “Why can’t I phase out of this?” She grunted as the blade went deeper. “This is Djinn hunter magic isn’t it?” “Bingo.” “Great, three things I can’t escape; magic lamps, Djinn hunter magic and the charms of Barbara Eden.” “Can it!” Crimson yelled. “Fix this now or-” The man felt himself being pulled back by an invisible force. Crimson saw Discord walk forward. “Hey what are you-” “I can handle this one.” Discord said as he looked at the woman. “Hello Eris.” “Dad?” “Dad!?” The group yelled in shock. Discord looked at the group and back at the girl. Discord snapped his fingers and the lamp connected to Twilight flew into his hand. Discord the karate chopped the scholar’s smoke trail and Twilight dropped to the ground. The group watched in amazement as her smoke trail turned back into her legs. Discord pointed the bottle at the Genie and it sucked her back inside. “We’ll talk about this later.” He said into the lamp. “Wait, she has my magic.” Twilight said as Crimson helped her up. Discord looked at the lamp and lifted the lid off and reached inside. He pulled his hand out and held a small sphere of purple magic in his hand. He threw it at Twilight and it sunk into her chest on impact. Twilight felt dizzy and passed out into Crimson’s arms. “Well, I think I’ll take my leave.” Discord said. “Wait, what about the damage to Ponyville?” Pinkie asked. Discord snapped his fingers and the houses were put back in their proper places and the giant ball of yarn vanished. Discord sighed and walked over towards Twilight. “She should be fine. Getting your magic taken away and returned is bound to takes a lot out of you.” “Thanks.” Crimson said before Discord said goodbye and vanished in a flash of light along with the lamp. Crimson carried Twilight upstairs and set her down on the bed. The group then inspected the damage to the town and thankfully didn’t find anything destroyed by Eris’s spree. The group then went back to their own devices. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was around seven o’clock when Crimson had contacted Crow and told him what had happened with Eris. “Honestly Crow, sending a Genie here?” Crimson said in a flat tone as he looked at the projection of the raven haired man. “Don’t tell me it was a justified punishment, because innocent people could have been killed today.” “I knew you could handle it if things got out of control.” The man said in a firm tone. “That’s not the point!” Crimson said as he slammed his fist on the table. “Messing with me and other Academy agents is one thing, but dragging Twilight and the others into our messes is going too far.” “I didn’t think that-” “Exactly! You didn’t think.” Crimson sighed and calmed down. “Look, mess and punish me all you like, but leave the others out of it.” “Crimson I-” Crimson cut the feed and the image vanished. Crimson groaned and walked out of the room. The man felt the ground shake and what sounded like an explosion. What now? He thought with a groan. The man ran to the door just in time to see the librarian’s treehouse fall back down to the ground. Crimson ran through the town as fast as his feet could carry him and came to the site. The man opened the door and saw complete pandemonium. Books and papers were scattered around the room in piles. “Twilight? Spike?” The man saw the couch shifting and saw the dragon hybrid coming out from underneath the wreckage. Crimson helped him up and sat him down. “You okay?”
 “Yeah, I’m fine.” He said as he cracked his neck. “What happened here? Looks like a bomb went off.” “Twilight got some letter from Ditzy and then she goes nuts.” The two then heard a groaning sound coming from another pile of books. The two moved the books and found the scholar buried underneath the mound. “Wh-what happened?” Twilight asked as Crimson helped her up. “You got some letter then flipped out.” Twilight shook her head and sat down in a chair as Spike started collecting the books. “Oh no, the letter!” Crimson put his hands on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. “Hey, calm down. What letter? Did someone threaten you?” “No, nothing like that.” She said as she started to pant. “Twilight, take a deep breath and start from the beginning.” The man said as he walked over to the sink and poured her a glass of water. Crimson handed it to her and Twilight summoned a slip of paper. “Okay, two weeks ago I sent my parents a letter about current events.” Twilight handed him the letter and the man started reading. “You know, most people consider the average length of a letter to be a page and a half, not six.” Twilight stuck her tongue out at him. Crimson continued reading the letter detailing Twilight’s new discoveries in history, organization skills and other things of that mundane nature. One little item did catch his eye, it was below her signature ending the letter. “P.S. I have a boyfriend.” He read aloud. The man looked at Twilight with a blank look on his face. “Three pages on organization techniques and I get a footnote.” He said in a hurt tone “Sorry, I just started writing and I went on a tangent.” “Okay and where’s the freak out come in?” twilight reached into her pocket and pulled out the slip of paper. “This just arrived today.” Crimson took it and much to his liking it was short. The contents however made his skin crawl. “Dear Twilight, Your father and I are happy you’ve found someone. We’re going to visit you and your boyfriend next weekend. Love, Mom & Dad.” “So I kinda freaked out.” Twilight gulped. “I mean they’ve never met you. Well, my mom has but only in a friend situation not as my boyfriend and my dad should like you. I mean I hope he will. I-” The woman was cut off as Crimson put a finger on her lips. “Twilight,” He said in a calm tone. “you need to calm down. If anything ,I should be the one sweating bullets and besides we have a week.” Twilight sighed and nodded. “Look how about I help you clean up this mess then I’ll cook us something to eat okay?” Twilight nodded and the three started to clean up the scattered books and items. After they had put away a majority of the clutter Crimson started cooking. He opted for pasta and meatballs. Not his best dish, but he made due. The librarian and assistant were very happy with the result and smiled happily. Soon the group heard a knock at the door and the green haired flyer stepped in. “Hey Ivy. What’s up?” “You forgot didn’t you?” The woman said as she crossed her arms under her chest. Spike and Twilight looked at the man in confusion. “Forgot what?” He asked as he swallowed a meatball. “Remember that,” She looked over at Spike and Twilight. “favor you owe me?” Crimson gulped and almost choked on the meat. “Oh come on Ivy. It’s been a long day.” He complained. Ivy frowned and looked at Twilight. “Hey Twilight, guess what Crimson-” “Okay, okay jeez.” He sighed. “Only one song!” “Fine.” “What’s going on?” Twilight asked. “Crimson owe’s me a favor so I’m making him perform.” She grinned. “Can I come and watch?” “I don’t-” “Sure.” Ivy said as she cut the man off. “Let’s go.” Ivy and Crimson led the other two towards the guild. Crimson was quietly muttering under his breath while Ivy had a large grin on her face. When they got inside Twilight saw the front stage set up and Cobalt along with Rouge were on stage. Rouge shot Crimson a death glare and the two went on stage. “What the hell Crimson?” Rouge said in a dark tone. “You lost a bet to Ivy? The worst gambler this side of Equestria?” “Hey!” The three looked at her with raised eyebrows. Ivy had a reputation of being the worst better in the Academy. “Okay fine, I do suck a little at cards.” “A little?” Cobalt chuckled. “I didn’t loose a bet. I made a deal for Ivy to teach Spike how to handle his dragon magic,” He said with a sigh. “and to keep the info away from Twilight.” Rouge gave a sigh and looked at her friend. “Fine, but you owe me.” “Trust me I take no pleasure in doing this.” The man snapped his fingers and a dark red guitar appeared in his hands. “So what song are we doing?” Ivy pulled out a few song sheets and handed them to her friends. The group memorized the tune and sighed. Cobalt grabbed his navy blue bass and started to tune it. Ivy sat behind her lime green drums and spun the sticks in her hands while Rouge checked the microphones and adjusted them for their song. Soon the lights dimmed and the other members of the guild, some townsfolk that they had befriended along with Twilight and her friends. Crimson double checked the microphones, amps and instruments. “Okay people are you ready?” Ivy said through the mic. The small crowd gave a cheer. Crimson and Rouge both took a swig from a bottle of the Apple family’s hard cider before they took up their instruments. After a few sound checks the four started to play. After the final note sounded the crowd cheered for the three as the curtain dropped. “That was so awesome!” Ivy yelled. “We should do this every-” “No!” Rouge and Crimson yelled. “I held up my end of the bargain Ivy, now hold up yours.” The green flyer folded her arms and blew a piece of her green hair out of her face. “I’m leaving tomorrow for a mission. I’ll be back in three days and I'll start when I get back.” “I’ll tell Spike.” The group was then interrupted by Twilight and the other five girls. “That was so awesome!” Dash said with a smile. “I must agree you all really know your way around music.” “We had to take normal classes too ya know.” Rouge sighed. The four friend went their separate ways and Crimson decided to walk Twilight and a sleeping Spike home. when the three got home Twilight put Spike in his bed and returned to Crimson who was waiting in the main lobby of the tree. “Spike asleep?” He asked. “Yeah, he’s had a long day.” Twilight shifted nervously in place. “It’s kinda a long walk back to the guild. Do you wanna stay the night?” “I’d love to.” He said with a smile. “I’m just gonna use the restroom and I’ll be right up okay?” Twilight nodded and gave him a peck on the cheek. Twilight hurried upstairs and went into her room. Her eyes then fell upon a box with a bow on top and a card beside it. Twilight opened the card and read it to herself. Dear Twilight, Sorry about the whole turning you into a Genie thing and stealing your magic business. I know you’re probably rolling your eyes at this, but dad insisted I do something to make it up to you. So I gave you something from Saddle Arabia. I’m sure you’ll find a good use for it. ~Eris Twilight read the note to herself again before looking at the box. She carefully opened the top to make sure it wasn’t booby trapped with locusts or anything of the creepy crawly nature. As the lid slid off her eyes widened and a coy smile came across her lips. Crimson made his way up the stairs and made sure not to wake the sleeping dragon hybrid. He made his way into Twilight’s room but found it deserted. The man hung his coat on a chair and sat on the bed. He heard shuffling in from the closet and saw light coming from the door crack. “That you Twilight?” He asked. “Just a second master.” Master? He thought in confusion. He heard the door open and his eyes boggled. Twilight was wearing one of those outfits that many of the exotic dancers in Saddle Arabia wore when they were entertaining esteemed guests. The outfit’s lower half was a very see through, flowing dress that ended just at her hips. Her smooth stomach area was exposed and a bra with a few jeweled tassels covered her upper body. Twilight also wore a see through mask that covered her nose and mouth that was made out of the same material of the pants. “Something wrong master?” She asked in a sultry tone. “Not a thing.” He grinned. “Good, because you still have one wish remaining.” The scholar said as she pushed him on the bed and kissed him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next morning, Crimson woke up with the librarian in his arms and smiled. The man managed to pry his girlfriend’s arms off of him and throw on his pants that had been rolled into a ball and spent the night on the floor. He got to his feet and found the letter Twilight had received the day prior from her mother. Crimson’s eyes caught something that he hadn’t seen before. “Hey Twilight.” He whispered. The girl was still sound asleep and the man nudged her shoulder. “Twilight, wake up.” The girl groaned and slowly sat up, making sure to keep herself covered. “What?” She asked in an aggravated tone. “Does you mom always date these letters?” “Yeah, I think so. Why?” She asked with a yawn. “Because if I’m reading this right then she sent this message a week ago.” Twilight’s eyes shrank and she snatched the letter out of her lover’s hand and read the message. There at the bottom left corner was the date marked exactly one week ago. “Wait that means that-” The girl was cut off as she heard a knock on the door. “Um, Twilight,” Spike said as he knocked on the door. “Mom and Dad are here.” Oh buck.