“Careful! Careful!” I said, on the verge of biting my hoof in nervousness.
Rarity just rolled her eyes at me. “You do know we can try this more than once, right?” she asked, waving the thin strip of fabric at me.
I grimaced. “I know, I know. It’s just… you need to get that strip on perfectly.”
Rarity snorted, turning back to the mannequin. “So you keep telling me. At much higher volume levels than are good for my concentration. Seriously, darling, how do you expect me to do this with you yelling at me every time I start?” Her horn lit up, and the strip of fabric began drifting towards the cloth covered mannequin again.
My heart leapt into my throat. “Careful!” I said before I could stop myself.
Rarity nearly dropped the fabric. “Lyra…” she said, and I could hear the frustration in her voice. Then, suddenly, it turned silky sweet. “Why don’t you tell me why this strip is so important?”
Taken back by the sudden change in tone, I spluttered for a second before getting my mind in gear. “Well, that strip is made of the same woven mithril and cloth blend as the rest of the suit is, so it has the same magical properties. And since the mithril cloth blend is too inflexible for stitching, the thread you used has to be covered so any corrosive magics that the suit might be exposed to won’t eat though it. That’s why you’re gluing the strip over the stitching and hey you finished!”
Rarity just stood by our finished product, smirking at me. “It was easy once you stopped yelling at me,” she said. “And I am sorry about tricking you, but you did need to focus on something other than what was happening.”
“Right, sorry,” I said, laughing.
After my laughter had died away, we both took a step back and gazed at our creation. The form of it wasn’t going to win any fashion contests, that’s for sure. It looked more like a full body blanket than any sort of suit, and it was lumpy along the back to make room for the air tank. Rarity had tried her best with the color as well, but the suit’s resistance to most forms of magic included magic color change spells, and woven mithril doesn’t dye well. As a result, it was a dull green.
“Oh well,” I said out loud, “it’s not a beauty contest, so we should be fine. Right, Rarity?”
She shook her hear ruefully. “I truly am sorry, Lyra. I thought I could make something fabulous, but instead it came out looking like that.”
I laughed again. “Trust me when I say that this thing is fabulous enough as it is. Equestria’s first anti-magic contamination suit doesn’t need to care about looks. Why, with this thing I could head straight into Chernobull and back out again and be perfectly fine!”
“That place where the experimental magic reactor broke down over a hundred years ago? The one where it is still a wasteland? I thought that we already has suits that could do that.”
“No, we have vehicles that can do that,” I corrected. “This would actually let them get out of the exploratory carriage.”
“I see,” Rarity said softly. “Forgive me, Lyra, but I thought this contest was about helping society in general, not exploring hazardous areas.”
“No, you’re missing the point,” I said, frustrated. “It wouldn’t just be for exploring. Keep in mind that it is resistant to most types of magic. It could come in handy for getting into areas where ponies are in danger from any sort of magical accident. Think of it like a firepony’s suit, but built to resist magic instead of flames.”
“Oh, now I get it,” Rarity exclaimed. “And with how frequently magical mishaps happen, having a suit or two on hand in every town would cut down on fatalities quite a bit, hopefully. But isn’t this a little… primitive? After all, we did just throw this together over the course of a week.”
“Right now it’s just a proof of concept. Hopefully the judges or one of the sponsors will be impressed with my new blend of cloth. Really, it’s the only thing about this that would be interesting from a scientific standpoint. I mean, it’s not like the construction is particularly impressive.”
I realized what I said about half a second after I said it.
“Not that I’m saying that you didn’t do a good job!” I said hastily. “You just didn’t have enough time to make it actually good! … Oh, I didn’t mean it like—“
“I know what you meant by it, Lyra,” Rarity said, teeth grinding. “Has anypony ever told you that you have an alarming tendency to put your hoof in your mouth?”
I winced, my ears folding back. “Yeah. Bonnie tells me so all the time. I guess I just have a habit of speaking before I think. Sorry.”
“Well, keep that in mind when we present this thing,” Rarity said, pointing to our creation. “It would be quite damaging to our presentation if you insulted one of the judges.”
“I know, I know. Now then, do you think the glue has had time to dry?”
“Well, I used only the best fast drying glue, so it should be finished by now,” Rarity said, peering at the strip. “Ah, yes. It appears to have dried.”
“Great!” I said, clapping my hooves together in excitement. “Help me pack it up. I need to get it to Twilight’s so that we can do one last round of testing.”
“More testing? It seems like you’ve spent every day of the past three weeks in Twilight’s lab, testing the thing. Is it really necessary to do even more testing?”
I laughed. “Well, if there is one thing that my mistake taught me, it’s that you can never be too thorough when testing. I don’t want to find out that I’ve wasted weeks of work… again.”
Rarity nodded. “Very well. I suppose you are the scientist out of the two of us. Just give my regards to Twilight. I do hope she is feeling better.”
“Yeah, she felt pretty crummy for about a week. Last time I talked to her she said she was feeling better, so that’s good. Now, let’s get this packed up so I can take it to the lab. Oh, but I need to stop by Bonnie’s first.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow at me. “Why?” she asked as our horns lit up in unison.
“I just need to pick up my overnight bag, that’s all.”
“You’re spending the night at Twilight’s? Again? How does Bon Bon feel about that?”
I stole a glance at Rarity as we carefully folded the suit into a large duffle bag. “Why do you ask?”
“Well,” Rarity said slowly, “I happen to know that she has been feeling a little neglected lately, with you spending so much time at Twilight’s.”
“Oh, I know,” I said, grinning at her. “That’s why I’ve booked our hotel in Canterlot for an extra week after the final presenting of projects. We can have a week just to sightsee, together.”
“Oh, and when does this contest start?”
“A week and a half.”
“Oh, that soon? I’ll need to book my own hotel room sometime soon then.”
“Better sooner than later,” I said, as we delicately stuffed the last of the suit into the bag. “Well then, I should get going.”
“Right then. Have a good time with all of your testing,” Rarity said, levitating the duffle bag onto my back.
I nodded back, then turned and made my way out of Rarity’s shop.
I was surprised to find the door unlocked. I was sure that I had locked it that morning when I had headed out to Rarity’s. I cautiously entered the house, just in case there was an intruder.
“Hello?” I called cautiously, doing my best to ignore how similar to a horror story this was getting. Just don’t think about some masked maniac hiding in the closet… too late.
“Lyra?” called a soft voice from the kitchen, and I nearly jumped out of my fur in surprise. “Is that you?” the voice asked as I struggled to get my breathing back under control.
“Sure is, Bonnie,” I wheezed as I pulled myself into the kitchen where Bonnie was sitting at the table. “What are you doing home? Shouldn’t you be at the shop? I mean, it isn’t Sunday…”
“I’m on my lunch break. I always come back home to eat, remember? Or has it been so long since you last spent some time with me that you forgot?” she asked, but her smile was good natured, so I figured she was just teasing.
“I do have vague memories of having a marefriend, but it’s been so long… I can hardly remember what she looks like. Do you happen to know, miss?” I said, playing along.
Bonnie snorted. “Get over here and kiss me before you head back out to Twilight’s.”
I obliged happily. After the kiss broke, we spent a peaceful moment just staring into each other’s eyes.
Compared to all the rushing and testing that I had had to do over the past three weeks, a calm moment like that felt like it had been sent by Celestia herself.
Unfortunately, that moment couldn’t last forever. Bonnie broke it by looking at the clock and sighing. “Sorry, Lyra, but I have to get going. I have about ten minutes before the shop has to open again.”
I nodded regretfully. “I know. I have to get going too. I just came by to pick up my overnight bag.”
“Overnight bag, huh…” Bonnie muttered under her breath. “So you won’t be home tonight again?” she asked, and I could see a bit of pain in her eyes.
“Sorry,” I said. “Hey, at least we’ll have that week in Canterlot together, right?”
“I know, and that’s one of the things that’s keeping me from being mad at you.”
“’One’? What are the others?”
Bonnie smiled. “Just seeing how passionate you are about this. I always knew you were smart, but you always seemed to lack some drive. You would always give up after hitting that first little hill on whatever project you started on. But for you to stick it out after having so much of your work turn out to be worthless… it reminds me why I fell in love with you.”
I laughed. “And here I thought that it was my good looks that got you!”
“Please, if I wanted looks without brains I would cuddle up with some Canterlot noble.”
“So, you love me because I’m the complete package then?” I felt my chest begin to swell up with happiness.
Bonnie fixed me with a level glare. “Don’t get too big a head. You have to remember that I’m speaking from a very biased point of view. And isn’t that a bad thing, miss scientist?”
“Don’t care right now!” I said in a sing-song tone.
“Heh,” Bonnie said, before giving a sudden start. “Shoot, I’ve got to get going. I put your overnight bag by the door. You must have walked right by it when you came in,” she said as she dropped her dirty plate into the sink.
“Did you happen to—“ I began, but Bonnie cut me off.
“Yes, I did put your magic suppression pills back in. Wouldn’t want you to forget and get another migraine like last time, would we?”
“You’re the best, Bonnie,” I said, feeling relived. “Love you!” I called after her as she rushed out the door.
“Love you too!” she called back.
I chuckled, and trotted into the entrance hall. Just like Bonnie had said, my overnight bag was right by the door. I snagged it on my way out and, as soon as I had finished making sure the door was locked, set off in the direction of Twilight’s library.
I knocked on the door to Twilight’s library, and was only mildly surprised when it was Rainbow who opened it. The two of us had seen each other a lot while I had been working with Twilight, and once Twilight got sick, Rainbow had been over even more frequently, literally hovering around to see if there was anything she could do to help her marefriend.
It was sweet, if a little misguided. After all, Twilight had gone to Nurse Redheart, and had been told it was just a passing bug. All Twilight needed to do was rest and drink lots of fluids. But Rainbow had insisted on staying and helping to the best of her abilities.
I’m not sure if it was the rest or just being in the presence of her marefriend, but Twilight had felt better almost immediately.
“Hey, Rainbow,” I said stepping inside. “How is… what the hey?” Whatever I had been about to ask was blasted from my mind as a wave of heat hit me. “Why is it so hot in here?”
Rainbow just glanced behind her. I stepped to the side to look around her and felt my jaw drop.
“Rainbow… how long has that fireplace been there?”
“About 15 minutes. Twilight did some sort of spell to make it.”
I whistled. A spell like that would take a ton of juice. There was no way an average unicorn like me could pull it off. Just goes to show how powerful Twilight is, I guess.
But more importantly…
“Why is there a fireplace there? I know it’s getting towards fall, but it’s still nowhere near cold enough for a fire,” I said as I stepped into the library in full, setting the duffle bag and my saddlebags off out of the way. It felt like I was walking into a sauna.
“I like it!” Spike called from by the fire.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why Twilight thought it would be a good time for this,” she said, and I noticed beads of sweat forming on her forehead. “She just made it and then put us on ‘fireplace duty.’ We’re supposed to make sure that it doesn’t get out of control.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but at that instant, Twilight came marching into the room from her lab. She looked better than she had been when she was sick, but she still didn’t look like she was back up to full. Her mane and tail, in particular, looked like she had rolled out of bed without bothering to comb them.
The instant she saw me, she paused for a second, then made her way over to me.
“Hey, Twilight,” I said. “What’s up with the fire? It’s making it sort of unbearable in here.”
“Lyra…” Twilight said, looking very serious. “Could you please tell me what these are?” she asked, holding a stack of papers in her magic.
“Um, sure,” I said, taking them and looking at them. “Wow, Twilight, this is complex stuff. I mean, this is your project for the contest, right? I don’t think that I have a chance if this is the amount of work you put into it.”
“Yes, it is my project for the contest. I put a lot of work into it,” she said without any particular expression. “Do you know what it is above all else, though?”
“No?” I said, unsure of where she was going with this.
“It is, above all else…” she said, taking the papers back. “Completely…”
And then she threw the stack of research that she had spent months on into the fire.
“Worthless,” Twilight finished in a tone of complete satisfaction as Rainbow, Spike and I stood with our mouths agape.
I was the first one to find my voice. “Um, you did have a back-up copy or two, right Twilight?”
“What do you think I used to start the fire?”
I turned to the purple unicorn, who was just standing there calmly, as if she hadn’t of just destroyed months of possibly world shaking research.
“Then, why?” Rainbow asked, her voice shaking.
“Why don’t you ask Lyra?” Twilight said, a hard edge creeping into her voice.
“Huh? Me?” I stuttered. “Twilight, I don’t—“
“Don’t lie!” Twilight yelled. “I know what you did! You and Rarity. You must have talked her into this!”
“Um, what do you mean, Twilight?” Spike asked, shooting me a look.
“They’ve been sneaking into my lab at night and sabotaging my notes!” Twilight shouted, now glaring at me.
Silence fell over the library.
“No!” I protested when I found my voice. “I would never do a thing like that!”
“Stop lying! Please, just stop…” Twilight said, now sounding on the verge of tears. “I know you’ve been doing it. Just admit it.”
“But I haven’t!” I yelled, confused at where she had gotten the idea. “You know me! We’ve been working together for the past three weeks! You know I would never do a thing like that!”
“Yes, and I thought I had finally found a new friend. I guess I was wrong though,” Twilight spat, tears now flowing down her face.
“Look, let’s think about this rationally. How did you find out about this, Twilight? I mean, did you catch her in the act or something?” Spike asked, stepping between the two of us.
“Celestia told me in a dream!” Twilight yelled, gesturing wildly.
“Celestia? Don’t you mean Luna?” Rainbow asked.
“No! Don’t you understand? Luna is in on this whole thing. As a matter of fact, I bet that’s why Rarity went along with it! Luna must have threatened her. It all makes sense!” Twilight said triumphantly.
I sat down hard, dumbfounded. The heat and the accusation were making me dizzy. “No… that doesn’t make sense at all, Twilight. What’s gotten into you? You’re acting crazy.”
I heard Spike and Rainbow suck in breaths at exactly the same time, but I was too focused on Twilight to care. I dimly heard Spike excuse himself and rush up to the stairs to the living quarters.
“Twilight,” Rainbow said in a firm voice. “Please calm down. We can talk this out, okay? Why don’t we call the guard and have them listen to what’s going on? That way they can stop this from escalating.”
“No time, Rainbow,” Twilight said, waving a hoof dismissively in her direction, a smile that was entirely too wide on her face now. “I’ve got to find some mare’s root. That’s the only thing that can help me redo my project in time for the competition.”
Rainbow and I realized what she was saying at almost the same time. “No, wait!” we yelled at exactly the same time.
Twilight didn’t listen, and she vanished with a pop.
Rainbow swore.
There was a scuffling noise, and Spike almost fell into the room, clutching a rainbow colored rock in his hand. “I’ve got it!” he said, panting. “Um… where did she go?”
“She went to get some mare’s root,” I said numbly.
“Um… what’s mare’s root?” Spike asked.
“It’s an old Ponyville legend. Eating it supposedly make you super smart. But it’s just a legend…” I said.
“So then, she’s out looking for a plant that doesn’t exist? I guess it could be worse…” Spike said, almost to himself rather than me.
“According to the legend, the plant only grows deep in the Everfree Forest,” I said, still feeling numb.
Spike went pale.
Rainbow swore again.