Chapter 1: Hijinks
An aura of lilac magic enveloped the inert winged form on the desk. The pegasus was gently lifted off several pages covered in scrawling writing; the magic levitated the pegasus a few feet to the side before vanishing and leaving the pegasus to fall and jolt awake.
“Shit! Why are you dropping me on the GROUND! I HATE the ground!” cried the pegasus, light grey wings instantly snapping open and launching him into the air, coming to a hover just below the ceiling, his cutie mark, a pair of nails and a hammer sporting a lightning bolt, clearly visible.
“Oh get over it Lighting, It’s your own fault for sleeping on my work. Why aren’t you still on the fridge? That’s where you were last night,” inquired a pastel green unicorn with a rather curious cutie mark. It consisted of two crossed quills above a strange symbol on a grey shield, behind which two scrolls unfurled and crossed over one another. The unicorn impatiently sat at the desk previously occupied by the grey pegasus now hovering above and behind the unicorn’s head.
“I figured you would come into your study sooner or later, and last time I tried to go into your room I got hit in the face by one of your stupid toys. But this is REALLY important. We’re out of BEER!” cried Lightning with pure desperation, “aaaand I took that thing you told me not to touch out of the freezer to make room for my ice-cream. It turned purple.”
The unicorn turned to look at Lightning.
“One, you don’t even live here, so why are you keeping stuff in my freezer? And two, WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TOUCHING MY STUFF! If it has ‘Steel Script’s’ written on it, don’t touch it. You ruined a project that took me months to get right. This was looking like my first successful attempt! Magical constructs are highly sensitive to disturbance. Now I’ve got to go get more Poison Joke, and you know what happened last time!”
Lightning thought for a second before bursting out into raucous gales of laughter at the thought.
“I wouldn’t mind if that happened again”
Steel Script shook his head and concentrated. A lilac aura manifested itself around his horn as he focused.
Lightning Flicker opened his red eyes just in time to see a large lilac hoof flying towards his face.
BONK!
“Hey! I already have one scar, I don’t need another!”
“Then never bring that time up again!” called Steel as he turned to the stairs that lead to the lounge beneath the study. As he teleported down them, he wished that line-of-sight wasn’t a restriction.
“No promises!” Lightning called back as Steel Script opened the door to leave while levitating a pair of saddlebags onto his back, taking care to avoid his dark blue mane; “and get some more beer while you’re out!”
Steel shook his head as he slammed the door.
* * *
“Why is he still here? Why doesn’t he go back to Las Pegasus?” Steel Script vented to the nearby trees.
“Because you’re my biographer and you need to document my adventures of epic proportions” replied Lightning, following Steel while always remaining several feet from the ground.
“No, Lightning Flicker, I’m choosing to document your ego of epic proportions,” chastised Steel.
“Yeah, my ego is pretty impressive.” Lightning shot back smugly, shaking his black mane.
“By Celestia . . .” muttered Steel as he trotted among the forlorn and twisted limbs of the trees of the Everfree, “You know, you’re lucky I live near a patch of Poison Joke, it means that every time you stuff up one of my experiments I can easily get some more.”
“Can we get some beer while we’re out?” asked Lightning.
“No. I’ll get some more next week, when I normally do. It’s your own fault for drinking it all.”
“You’re mean.”
“Your fault for not going back to Las Pegasus,” said Steel with a sense of finality.
The duo stopped at the edge of a Poison Joke patch.
“Why do you need this stuff anyway?” asked Lightning, floating well above the blue petals of the plant.
“I’m trying to create an artificial Timberwolf heart, however, I can’t keep feeding it my own magic to keep it running, I’d be too exhausted to move,” explained Steel as he lowered his saddle bags and took a step back before starting to levitate individual petals into them.
“An artificial whowhatnow?”
“An artificial Timberwolf heart, basically, if I succeed, a Timberwolf should form around it.
“So why the Poison Joke?” asked Lightning.
“Because Poison Joke contains large amounts of magic in order to play its ‘jokes,’ therefore it is the perfect substitute for constant recharging,” explained Steel as he continued to pick Poison Joke.
“OK, but why are you trying to make an artificial Timberwolf! I mean, those things are everywhere and try to eat me every time I see one!” said lightning as he shot up into the overhanging branches of a nearby tree.
“I’m trying to understand Timberwolves as a species, and I believe that the best way to do so is to create one. Add to that the fact that I found a way to form a primarily magic-based creature such as a Timberwolf around a central point of magic, in effect, a heart. Also, if you don’t like it, you can go back to Las Pegasus,” explained Steel as he finished collecting Poison Joke.
“But why? I mean, they EAT ponies and fall apart when hit with a rock for Celestia’s sake, what is there to understand?” pestered Lightning, lingering over the deceptive petals below him.
“Have you seen their social interactions? Do you know if they reproduce? Where does the energy to sustain their magic come from? These are questions that I want to answer, and to do so I need to study them, therefore I decided to start small and relatively simple. Hence the artificial heart. Also, heads up.”
Lightning looked up in time to see a blue petal land on his nose.
“FUCK YOU!”