//------------------------------// // Chapter 3. // Story: The Vagaries of Fate // by Sparky Brony //------------------------------// "Now, don't give them too much, Enigma. We don't want to overfeed them," Fluttershy says in my ear, as I spread the fish food into the aquarium. I look back at the yellow pegasus. She smiles gently at me while I dump a little more food into the water. The small fish dart up to the surface to eat the tiny flakes of food. I grin, watching their movements, "They are so cute!" She giggles, "Yes, they are." She nuzzles me, which draws a giggle from me as well. "Now, let's get the carnivores fed," she chirps happily. I frown; she stores meat to feed the pets that must eat the flesh of other animals. I'm not really a fan of that. I'm told that my species is omnivorous, but I've rather enjoyed eating what most of the ponies eat. Having to cut up and serve meat to the ferrets, and some of the larger cats that currently reside at her cottage, tends to turn my stomach. Fluttershy pulls out two knives, and we both get to work. I slice the meat into small cubes, and she hums as she works. We finish quickly, and soon are trotting outside. Fluttershy calls out to her animal friends, and in moments a cheetah comes forward, eagerly taking the meat that I offer. A couple of ferrets slink forward to get their own helping of nourishment. More animals come to me, and I hand out food to each of them in turn. I feel a wing settle over my back while I'm working, I look into Fluttershy's eyes, smiling as she does. This is a truly wonderful feeling. *** "Can Enigma come out and play?" I hear a small voice call. I'm lying in my room, the voice is just outside my door. Twilight's voice comes clearly through, "Of course, Apple Bloom." I smile at the sound of her voice, bouncing out of my bed and rushing to the door. I brush past Twilight, "See ya later, bye!" I say in a rush, as we take off. "So, how are you going to try to get your cutie mark today?" She giggles in response as we head into the woods, towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse, "I dunno, Enigma. Sweetie Belle says she's been working on something." Playing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders has been an amazing amount of fun, these last few weeks. *** "Enigma, I need you to hold still!" I'm scolded gently. The white unicorn has her red glasses perched on her muzzle, her horn is alight. Her cat is sitting next to us, holding a pincushion, while pins extract themselves from it, and slide gently into the dress she is working on. I grumble a little bit, standing still for hours at a time is really boring. Add in the fact that Sweetie Belle is sitting across the room, making funny faces at me, it's not easy. "Oh dearie, you have such unusual coloring, and trying to find fabric that compliments your colors," she exaggerates a sigh, "is so arduous. But, I think I can make it work. You are going to look fabulous!" Something tickles the back of my mind, "Rarity, is that your natural accent?" She rears back, "Why, whatever do you mean, sweetie?" I look at her sister, then at her, "Well, I've talked to Sweetie Belle about your parents, and she says they don't have an accent like yours, so I was wanting to know, where did you get your accent from?" The mare with the indigo mane titters a little bit, glaring daggers at her sister, who is inspecting the carpet in front of her as if it is suddenly the most interesting thing in all of Equestria. Rarity turns back to me, "My natural speaking voice has much less accent," she blushes a little, "but I've always liked the Manehattanite accent, so I intentionally adopted it many years ago." She looks significantly at her sister, but smiles back at me, "Sweetie Belle makes fun of my accent from time to time, but I'm so used to it now, I would have to try really hard to speak without it." She giggles, "However, I like the way I talk, Enigma. Do you?" I nod my head seriously, "Oh yes, I think you sound lovely." Once again her face blooms in a blush, "You are too sweet." She calls over her shoulder, "Maybe you should learn from this one, Sweetie Belle." Sweetie Belle sticks out her tongue at both of us, making me laugh, with Rarity quickly joining in. *** The groundskeeper that got sick took several days recovering, but his magic did come back. Twilight got status reports on him daily, though she didn't share them with me. A few weeks have passed, and I've been playing outside quite a bit. I have three new best friends: Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. We are in a big game of hide and seek. I'm it, and I've found my earth pony and the unicorn friends. Scootaloo has been the hardest to find. I keep walking around, looking up. I figure she's a pegasus, they always like to be up high. The trees in the White Tail Woods are the perfect place to look for her. We've been in the woods all day. I keep looking, and after a long time, I finally have to give up. I enlist the other two to help me find her. We spend hours searching. We are calling out, letting her know that she won. There's no response. We walk around for what seems like forever, calling for her. "Scootaloo!" Sweetie Bell screams. "You won, come out, please!" I shout. I'm starting to get really worried. Apple Bloom comes from another part of the woods, "Did you find her?" I ask, getting a shaking of her head. I look at the two crusaders, "I think I should go get Twilight." They both nod at me. "We'll keep looking while you get her," Apple Bloom replies. I rush off to the castle. Twilight isn't in her room, nor is she in the throne room. The staff seems to have disappeared, I haven't seen so much as a guard yet. I stop in the entryway, thinking for a long time, "There has to be a pony somewhere!" I realize they must certainly always have a pony in the infirmary. I gallop over to that part of the castle. I slowly enter the doors, and stop in shock. There are half a dozen ponies here. All seem to be feeling horrible. I look at one of the guards; his armor is lying on the floor. He tosses and turns in his sleep, kicking his covers off. I gasp, his cutie mark! I remember this guard, he's always been nice to me. His cutie mark is supposed to be a shield with two polearms crossed in front of it. Now, it's gone! I slowly move to one of the other ponies sleeping, lifting the blanket, this other pony is missing his cutie mark too! What is going on?! A throat clears behind me, I whirl around. It's Twilight, on her face is a strained look. I rush forward and hug her, sobs wracking my form, "It's Scootaloo!" She jerks, "Is something wrong with her?" "We can't find her! We've been playing hide and seek. She's always been good at it, but we can't find her at all, not even with all of us are searching for her. So I came to get you." Twilight wastes no time. I'm gently grasped in her magic and placed on her back. In moments, she spreads her wings and takes off. I hold tightly as we wing our way to the White Tail Woods. We quickly find Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Upon telling us they were unsuccessful while I was gone, they disperse, and I try to get off of Twilight, "Oh, no Enigma, you stay with me." I frown, but hold on to Twilight as she takes to the air once again. She flies up high, above the trees, and she keeps moving quickly. After a while, I spy a color other than green. I tug on Twilight's mane, and she spots what I saw. Very shortly we are hovering near a tree. I know I looked at it from the ground; Scootaloo certainly hid herself well. Now, though, she seems to be unconscious. Twilight's magenta aura envelops the small pegasus. Lifting her onto Twilight's back with me, I hold onto the foal as Twilight glides to the ground, calling out for the other Crusaders. She sends them home and streaks off to her castle. I'm holding onto Scootaloo and Twilight for dear life as we speed to the castle. We land on a balcony, and in moments find ourselves in the infirmary. Twilight calls out for the doctor as she floats the unconscious foal onto an open bed. He trots up, horn already flaring. After a long time of scanning Scootaloo, he sighs and looks at me, his eyes narrowing. Then he looks at Twilight, "She's the same as the others. Her magic has been drained." Twilight looks at me, the look on her face scares me. She looks back to the doctor, "How?" He shakes his head, "I don't know. I'm no closer to finding out how this is happening than I was with the first pony." Twilight sighs, her magic picking me up and putting me on her back as she walks out of the infirmary. She walks very slowly through the hallways of the castle. "I don't understand, Enigma. The ponies have lost their magic, exactly how Tirek did it. But he's still in Tartarus, I've had Princess Celestia verify that he was there. But they're still losing their magic," She sighs. "Why are you telling me this?" "Because there is only one other cause, that I can see. It's you, Enigma. It can only be you." I'm so shocked that I fall off of her. After a moment, I stand up, looking at Twilight, "But, I don't know how to take a pony's magic!" I wail. She looks ready to cry, "I know you think that. At first, it was just ponies in the castle." A tear slides down her cheek, "But, Scootaloo was out with you, and now she has the same symptoms." "I didn't do this, Twilight, you have to believe me!" She sniffles, "I wish I could, Enigma. But, all of the evidence points to you." I look at Twilight, then back at the door to the infirmary, then back at Twilight, "No! I swear, it wasn't me!" Two guards come forward, at Twilight's gesture. More tears are shining in her eyes, "I'm so sorry Enigma." She turns away from me, "Take her into custody." I back away from the unicorns, "No, Twilight, please! You have to believe me!" The tears begin falling from the Alicorn's face, dropping silently to the ground. I look at the unicorns advancing on me. I feel something inside me snap. I open my mouth to scream, but nothing comes out. Instead, I feel something change, something inside of me. It's like an emptiness has opened up, and it's begging to be filled. The unicorns' lit horns now look to me like exactly what they are: sources of energy! I pull on that energy, and the magical auras of both unicorns slams into me, knocking me over. I place a hand on my head. I find I'm a good foot taller as I stand up. My horns have grown. The magic is now coursing through me. I look at the two disabled unicorns in shock. Twilight turns around and looks at me, her face a mask of fright. "I'm so sorry, Twilight! I didn't mean to!" She looks at the unicorn guards for a long time, then at me. Her tears begin anew, "And now... we have our answer..." I rush forward, now almost as tall as she is. She picks me up in her magic when I try to grab her, to hold onto her, "Twilight, I promise, I didn't do it to those ponies!" I start to sob, "I only did it to these two because they were going to hurt me!" Infinite sadness in her voice, "They weren't going to hurt you, Enigma, they were simply going to escort you to your room, to be held until we can figure out what is to be done with you. It was you that attacked them." I look at them, then at Twilight. Her magic quiets. I stand there, in utter shock. I whirl around and gallop away, screaming, "I'm so sorry Twilight!" I run through Ponyville as fast as I can, passing Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They try to stop me, as they can see my tears, but I just brush past them, my tears continuing to flow down my face. They seem to follow me for a bit, but I'm easily able to outrun them, with my newly longer legs. Soon, I'm on the path to the Everfree Forest. I finally halt, at the edge of the forest. I look at the paths in front of me: one leads to Zecora's hut, and one leads around the edge of the forest over to Fluttershy's cottage. And, finally, there is the path that leads deeper into the forest, where Twilight says the castle of the two sisters is. I take a deep breath. "Twilight hates me..." I collapse to the ground, my legs no longer wanting to support me. My tears continue to fall; what am I going to do? I look around. What should I do? I'm not welcome back at what has quickly become my home. My gaze falls on the castle in the distance. "She thinks I'm a monster," I look down, I feel my hands clenching tightly, "Maybe I should be the monster that they fear."