Author's Note: This was my first attempt at writing this story. I wrote a Prologue and five chapters before I decided to start over with a different approach. The reasons for ditching this version of the events are 1.) I received criticisms that some of the ponies, particularly Twilight, were acting very out-of-character, and 2.) I discovered a few significant plot holes.
Prologue
There are points in a pony’s life when he or she must make choices. Some choices are easier to make than others, but since nopony can tell the future every choice comes with at least a small amount of risk. Every decision a pony makes has a consequence. The consequence could be something small or something big and that something could be good, or bad.
And sometimes making a decision to join the Equestrian Royal Guard has a consequence of being assigned to the night shift at the Canterlot Archives.
Trove hated the night shift, as his heavy eyelids constantly reminded him. He was tempted to give in and just let them close. There was nothing to see anyway and frankly he had barely slept since last night’s shift. His friends told him he would get used to sleeping during the day, but he had been on this hellish schedule for month now and he still couldn’t adjust.
Still, he knew that keeping his eyes open was his only hope of salvation. Everypony who enlists in Equestria’s Royal Guard gets nightly guard duty as a first assignment and they only got out of it after they “proved their worth”.
“How in the world are you supposed to ‘prove your worth’ when you have a job where nothing happens?”, Trove thought to himself, and not for the first time. He was assigned to the Canterlot Archives, the most uneventful place possible. All there was to do was patrol the empty hallways, look for intruders that were never there and listen to the endless crackling of torches. It was boring, even maddening.
He had never thought to ask his higher-ranking friends what got them relieved from this miserable shift and now that he worked nights and they worked during the day, he was unable to. He assumed nightly guard duty would be easy and he would find his own way to impress his superiors. Never did he imagine how much torture it would be each and every night. And each and every night, he would ponder how to convince the powers that be that he was ready for another assignment.
He thought of perhaps cleaning the place a bit, especially the area he was in. It was the oldest wing on the archives and it had seen better days. However, there was already a cleaning crew, and he feared assisting them would result in his superiors assigning him to the janitorial staff - not exactly a great career move.
Trove concluded that he was only going to get out of this job if he actually caught somepony breaking into the archives, but that didn’t look very likely. While there were actually some very valuable items in the archives that would be worth stealing - rare and top secret scrolls, some expensive marble podiums and pedestals, state-of-the-art science equipment, a few rare art pieces hanging on the walls - no one was going to try to take anything. The heavy penalties for stealing from her majesty along with the intimidating reputation of the Equestrain Royal Guard, exaggerated as it may have been, was enough to keep any thief from setting hoof on the Princess’s property. Why would they risk it when there were other, less-secure places in Equestria that had just as much wealth?
Trove sighed and thought to himself, “Oh well, time to do another patrol”. He made his way slowly down the long, dark hallway, half of him asleep and the other half simply apathetic. After all, nothing was happening, neither in the Archives, nor in his life. If only something would give, anything at this point. He wished for once he would see a moving shadow, smell something out-of-place, or...
...hear something?
Trove stopped in his tracks at one of the doors that lined the hallway. He could hear sounds coming from the other side, sounds of movement.
“An intruder!” Trove thought. “I don’t believe it! I finally got a break!”. He assumed a tall, straight soldier stance and boldy knocked on the door. “Halt! Who goes there?” Trove had been wanting to say that his whole life, and soon he would apprehend this invader, bring him to justice and then he would be in a job where he’d be saying it much, much more.
But the fidgeting sounds from in the room continued as if their source had not heard Trove’s voice at all. Trove knocked even harder. “Sir! I demand that you come out this instant!”. Still no change. “Okay”, he thought, “time to play hardball”. Trove turned around and used his hind legs to kick the door wide open, then flipped back around to face his target - a dark, sinister, lurking...
...raccoon?
Trove’s heart sank. His “intruder” was a tiny, mangy raccoon that had sneaked its way in hoping to find food. It was standing on one of the shelves in the room, staring at Trove like he was an imbecile, which was about what he felt like. He was so eager to catch a thief that he hadn’t considered what form the “thief” would have.
Then something occurred to him: It was better than nothing.
Trove lunged at the raccoon hoping to grab it in one fell swoop, but all he managed to do is hit his head on the shelf. The raccoon had jumped off right before the impact and was now scampering his way out the door and into the hallway.
“Oh no you don’t!”, Trove as he dashed out into the hallway in pursuit of the woodland perpetrator. As fast as he could gallop, however, all he could manage to do was keep the raccoon in his field of vision. He was not gaining any ground.
By the time the raccoon had reached the last turn in the hallway before the front entrance to the wing, Trove had lost hope. He followed the critter around the corner, but then stopped and watched in dismay as it ran out the front door and soon out of his sight.
Now Trove was irritated. That could have been it. He was so close to proving his worth, so close to freedom from this dead-end assignment. He turned around and resumed his patrol of the now empty hallways of the archives, sulking.
His irritation only grew more intense as he continued to dwell on the matter. “It was right there! I could have had it! How much longer is it going to be before another thing like that gets in here, let alone a real thief!” His irritation slowly became rage, and Trove found himself looking for a way to relieve the stress. He stopped in the middle of the hallway, clinched his teeth and, with all his might, slammed his left hoof into the ground.
That did little to ease his frustration, but at the moment he did it something else managed to catch his ear. The impact of his hoof hitting the ground did not sound like it should have. It had a strange echo to it. Was the floor hollow?
He hit the floor hard again with his right hoof. Again, it sounded like the floor was hollow. To make sure he was not simply losing his sanity, he back up a few hooves and knocked on the ground there as well. There the floor sounded solid.
“Is there something under here?” He stomped heavily up and down the surrounding area trying to find out where the hollow sounds started and where they stopped. After some time, he was able to trace the sounds to a large rectangular piece of the floor. If he stepped outside that area, the floor immediately resumed its normal sound.
Trove also noticed something else: one end of the rectangle stopped at a point precisely in-line with a torch on the wall. He looked at the torch. It looked just like any other torch that lined this hallway, save for one small detail that Trove had just then noticed: The bolt that fastened the torch’s mount to the wall was slightly larger and more pronounced than the bolts that fastened the other mounts. It was a small, barely-noticeable difference to be sure, but now that Trove was examining it so closely, it was obvious. He walked up to the torch and touched the bolt. It pressed in. It was a button.
Suddenly, there was a rumbling beneath Trove’s hooves. He turned and looked that space next to him, the same space he discovered was hollow seconds ago. His eyes widened as that part of the stone floor started moving, slowly opening up.
Trove stood there for a moment in surprise at what it revealed: a staircase. No one had told him about any secret passageways in the Archives and Equestrian soldiers asked to guard any Royal property were typically informed of such things, even if they were asked not to discuss them with civilians. Swallowing his shock, Trove decided to grab the torch off the wall, and descend slowly down the stairs.
What he saw at the bottom, he did not quite understand and he certainly did not know how to feel about it. It was wondrous and ominous at the same time and as puzzling as it was amazing. Regardless, it was obviously not designed by Celestia, Luna, or anypony else he could imagine. The more he stared at it, the more he was convinced that nopony could have known about it. It was a true discovery.
And he was the one who discovered it. Reginald Trove Canthide grinned and thought to himself, “Goodbye, night shift!”
Chapter 1
My Dearest Twilight,
I have a special assignment for you. A strange room has been discovered beneath the Antiquine Wing of the Canterlot Archives. But unfortunately, I am currently visiting Las Capellas and I will not return for at least a few more days. I would like you to investigate it as soon as possible and find out what you can about it. I have asked the guards to cooperate in any way they can.
I appreciate your help as always, Twilight. I know I can always count on you.
Regards,
Princess Celestia
This was now the fifth time Twilight had read the letter she had only received that morning. It was just so exciting. The Princess had put her on a mission to investigate a mysterious room hidden in the Archives. It made her feel like she was an archaeologist or a secret agent. Her thoughts went back to one of her favorite fictional characters, Daring Do, discovering exploring some ancient temple, or traversing a hostile jungle. It was an adventure and she just couldn’t wait to get there.
Unfortunately, there was another reason why she had read this letter over and over. She was on the train to Canterlot and there was not much else to do. She had taken this train trip on many occasions, but she had always been with her friends who helped her pass the time. This time she was alone. Well, alone save for Spike, but he was asleep in the seat next to her. The ride between Ponyville and Canterlot was not particularly long, but the quiet, lonely boxcar she was in certainly made it feel like it was taking an eternity.
Twilight was surprised by how fast Spike fell asleep as they had only been seated on the train for a few minutes. Then again, that letter from the Princess came awfully early that morning and since it came by way of Spike’s mouth, it gave him a rather rude awakening. It also seemed like he was really straining himself while loading the luggage onto the train, which confused Twilight. Sure there were three suitcases, but they were only for transporting anything of interest at the site back to her home in Ponyville. They should have been empty at that time and light as a feather.
Nevertheless, this minor curiosity did not diminish Twilight’s enthusiasm for the task ahead. When the train came to a complete stop, she quickly began poking Spike to wake him up. “Spike! Spike! We’re here!” she shouted to him as if he were clear across the room.
“Alright already I’m up!” Spike reluctantly exclaimed after a few pokes. He sat up, yawned, and then hopped onto floor and proceeded towards their luggage. Twilight walked quickly to the exit, eager to get off the train and on with her assignment.
The Canterlot Archives were not very far from the train station so Twilight had planned on just walking the rest of the way. However, seeing the trouble Spike was having with the luggage made her feel guilty about that decision. Spike followed behind her as closely as he could with one travel case in his mouth gripped by his teeth and one additional case in each hand. The case in his left hand seemed to be the main problem as he was dragging it on the ground like a sack of potatoes. “I’m sure there’s nothing in that case. Maybe it’s just the material it’s made of. It was pretty expensive after all.”, Twilight thought.
Finally arriving at the entrance to the Antiquine branch of the Archives, Twilight showed the two guards at the entrance her letter from Princess Celestia and they began to escort her and Spike to the point of interest in the building.
Princess Celestia was usually adamant about keeping buildings like the Archives presentable, but this was the oldest section of the building, and it definitely showed. It was dusty, drab, and void of any decorations, unless one counted the various cracks, dents, and other blemishes that covered the stone walls, floors, and ceiling. Off to each side of the hallway were several wooden doors that were so worn Twilight was getting splinters just looking at them. She didn’t even want to think about the condition of the shelves, books, and scrolls that were likely behind each of those doors. Twilight also couldn’t help but notice how dark it was in this section. Why did the torches still have to be lit while it was broad daylight outside? Why were there no windows? “Perhaps Luna was in charge of this wing.” , Twilight thought to herself.
The guards lead Twilight and Spike around the corner and about halfway down past that to a roped off section of the hallway next to a torch, where they stopped.
Twilight looked at the section of floor blocked by the ropes. She didn’t see anything remarkable. Confused, she turned to the guard on her left. “Um...I’m not sure this qualifies as a secret room” she said to him in a playful tone to soften her sarcasm.
The guard didn’t respond verbally, but raised his left hoof and reached behind the torch on the wall. He pressed what Twilight thought was just a bolt holding the torch’s mount in place. It was soon clear though that it was a button.
A low rumbling sound came from under Twilight’s hooves, like when stone rubbed against stone. She looked down and watched as the piece of the floor inside the ropes slid open from the left side revealing a large opening in the floor. Surprised and startled, she approached the vacant space in the floor and peered down it. It was clearly made intentionally as it was cut in a perfect rectangle that spanned several hooves down the length of the hallway. Its width was a different story, however. It was just wide enough to fit one pony through it at a time.
Then there was what was actually inside the opening. There was a short staircase that descended into a room that could only be described as a complete mess. Books, scrolls papers, and littered the floor along with a myriad of items that looked completely out-of-place. Twilight spotted a spatula, parts of a croquet set, a nail filer, garden shears, some toy dolls, a few empty cologne bottles, a toilet brush, a couple cooking pans and a wiffle bat just to name a few. As Twilight lowered her head she could see that the room was much larger than the staircase that lead to it. There were several rows of shelves separating the room into aisleways like a library as well as more shelves and cabinets along the walls. Going by that alone, it would have looked like it was simply an additional archive room that had been poorly kept, but then there were all those random objects and, even more perplexing, the colors. The floor, the ceiling and everything in between was coated in bright, clashing colors. Part of one of the walls was red, the next part orange, and the part beyond that pink. The stone floor was painted seemingly at random with streaks of blue, magenta, peach, neon green and various other colors for which Twilight did not even know the name. There was no clear pattern for anything. Colors simply started and stopped at whatever point they wished as if the room’s painter did his job blindfolded.
Spike, having fallen behind due to the apparent extra weight he was carrying, had just caught up with Twilight and the guards. He placed the luggage on the ground next to them, then paused to catch his breath. After much heavy gasping, he turned and walked towards Twilight, completely missing the roped off opening in the floor she was staring at.
“So, where’s this secret room?” he asked in a tone that suggested that it had better be worth the trip. Twilight didn’t answer immediately and continued to stare at the discovery before her. Spike turned his head to see what she was so captivated by. His eyes widened, “Holy Cow!”.
“Have any of you gone down there yet?” Twilight asked the guard who had opened the trapdoor.
The guard shook his head. “Our orders were not to go in until you arrived.” He grabbed the torch from the wall while the other guard removed the rope from in front of Twilight. They proceeded down the stairs single file with the torch-wielding guard in front, followed by Twilight, then the second guard. Spike begrudgingly gathered up the suitcases and followed them down.
Chapter 2
At the bottom of the stairs, there was unlit torch on the wall. The first guard used his torch to light it. Once the room illuminated, he noticed other torches further down along the same wall. He proceeded down the hall lighting each one while occasionally stepping on or stumbling over the assorted odds and ends scattered all over the floor.
Twilight, Spike, and the guards could now see more of the room, but it was still just as perplexing.
“Wow. Where do I start?”, Twilight said as the group looked around the room. It was even more of a disaster than how it looked at the top of the stairs and the room’s loud, mismatching colors almost hurt her eyes.
The amount of debris that cluttered the aisleways between and around the shelves was astounding. Now Twilight could see crazy straws, a cowboy hat, a rubix cube, some salt and pepper shakers, and a pair of roller skates in the corner under a table. There were other small tables as well, some upright and some knocked over.
Some of the upright tables had objects on them that gave Twilight her first clue as to the room’s use: beakers, many of them showing signs of heavy use. Was this a lab?
Twilight walked over to the shelf nearest her and examined the spines of the books placed on it. Some were for cooking, some for medicine, some for magic, some for history, and none were in any particular order. There was one category though that had many more books dedicated to it than the others: alchemy.
“Well, it’s a start” she said out loud to herself. “Spike, could you bring the suitcases over here?”
Spike had just finished getting the presumably empty luggage down the stairs and had to take another breath before obeying Twilight’s latest command. He put the cases down at his feet, wiped the sweat from his forehead, picked them up, carried them the remaining distance between him and Twilight and set them down next to her while breathing a sigh of relief.
Twilight levitated one of the books, Abstract Experiments in Alchemy, off the shelf with her horn’s magic and opened it. Flipping through the pages revealed all sorts of bizarre theories and trials in the potion-making arts, but nothing was as shocking as what was scribbled on the back of the front cover, which Twilight read aloud.
“Property of Professor Nolan Voidsdale”.
“Uh...who?” Spike asked.
“He was an alchemy professor Celestia appointed shortly after her and Luna took over Equestria. This must have been a secret lab of his.”
“But if Celestia hired him, why did the lab have to be a secret?”
“Well..” Twilight answered “he was also...a Discordian.”
“Uh..so is that a somepony who plays an accordion at a disco?” Spike asked, half-joking.
“Not quite.” said Twilight, unamused. “Discordians are ponies that were followers of Discord”.
“That guy? Why would anypony want to follow him?”, asked Spike as if the notion were preposterous.
Twilight shrugged “Some ponies believed that chaos was the answer, that life wasn’t meant to be orderly. They thought Discord was the bringer of truth and freedom.”
Spike sneered. “Sounds to me like they got too many hooves to the head.”
“Not at all.” Twilight rebutted, “Some of these ponies were very smart, like the professor here.”
Shifting the subject slightly, Spike asked “So what happened to all them?”
“Well, not surprisingly, many of them had a prompt change of heart when Discord was turned to stone.” Twilight explained. “There were some though, like Voidsdale, who still believed in Discord’s ‘philosophy’ and felt it was their job to continue spreading chaos in his absence.”
“Spreading chaos..well, that explains this room.”. Spike replied while re-scanning his surroundings.
“Exactly! Although, the really weird part about it is that nopony ever discovered it until now. Celestia had the professor arrested when she found out what his true intentions were, but no one ever found out about this room. What was he up to down here?”
Twilight began using the magic in her horn to levitate the books so she could place them in the suitcases that were brought to her. “Could you open that one?” Twilight said to Spike pointing to the “heavy” one that Spike had been dragging this whole trip. This was intentional of course as she wanted to make sure nothing was in it.
Spike unfastened the buckles on the suitcase...
And out popped Pinkie Pie with a big “Surprise!”
Twilight lost control of her levitation and dropped the books as both her and Spike fell to the ground in surprise.
The guard at the door took immediate notice and rushed toward Pinkie as she sat upright in the suitcase. The other guard, who was had just finished lighting all the torches, came charging from the other direction. “No no it’s okay” Twilight told the guards when she saw their reaction. The guards paused, then slowly backed off.
She then turned to their unexpected stowaway. “Pinkie what are you doing here?”
“Well, I went to your house this morning and saw you were leaving but I didn’t know you were leaving today and you didn’t tell anypony you were leaving today and I was like ‘hmmm, why’s she leaving today?’ so I snuck aboard to find why you were leaving today and didn’t tell anypony”.
“Umm...why didn’t you just walk up and ask?” Twilight asked, confused and a bit irritated.
“Yeah..” Spike added with a raised voice. “Instead of making me drag your flank all the way over here!”
Pinkie’s beaming expression remained unchanged. “Well..it’s the weekend and I don’t have to work and I always wanted to know what it felt like to be luggage.”
This was met by an uncomfortable silence from the other two, as well as angry glares.
But Twilight sighed and conceded “Well, I guess you’re here now either way. Sorry for leaving without telling anyone, but the Princess gave me an assignment that I was really excited about and I guess I got carried away”.
“Ooo! A secret mission! What is it?” Pinkie asked excitedly.
Twilight told Pinkie about the letter she got from the Princess and how they were now in a secret room in the Canterlot Archives. She explained about Nolan Voidsdale, which lead her into the explanation of the Discordians.
During the entire speech, Pinkie’s eyes were roaming around the room. Their survey of the area ended on a particular set of objects in the corner.
Twilight continued “...so I’m going to look around here a bit, see what I can find out and maybe bring a few things back with me for further examin - “
“Ooo! Roller skates!” Pinkie exclaimed cutting Twilight off mid-sentence. Pinkie ran over to the roller skates, slipped them on faster than Twilight thought physicall possible, and took off down the aisleway next to the wall.
“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted. “Stop! You’ll break something!” Her and Spike gave chase and pursued Pinkie down the aisleway. To her credit, Pinkie was managing to dodge every object in the room as they went along, and do so with style. She swerved around one table and ducked under the next, did the splits to avoid a pile of thumbtacks in the middle of the floor, then lifted her legs and skated on one hoof while still managing to dodge every shard of the broken pottery that came next. Then, putting all hooves back on the ground, picked up speed weaved around a bowling ball, a toy boat, three wooden spoons, two large boxes of baking soda, and a cattle prod. Finally, she came upon a large globe on a stand in the middle of the aisleway. In a stunning display, she leaped over it and managed to spin three times in the air before hitting the before she hit the ground and sped on undeterred.
While angry and panicked, Twilight and Spike were impressed, especially when they tried to maneuver through the same mess she just did. Every little object pushed them further and further behind her, and Spike got a few thumbtacks in his foot to prove it.
Pinkie’s amazing performance was cut short, however, when she reached the end of the aisleway and made a sharp right to avoid hitting the far wall. As soon as she finished the turn, she was taken by surprise. The two guards who had been following the chase from the next aisleway over, sprung out to cut her off. Pinkie quickly tried to swerve to avoid them and, while successful, began spinning out of control immediately thereafter. She spun all the way to other side of the room, crashing into a small shelf at the end, which fell on her with a loud crash and a huge cloud of dust.
Twilight, Spike, and the guards hurried over to the crash site and Twilight stopped at the edge of the collapsed shelf. “Um...Pinkie?” Twilight called out to the rubble, half-worried, half-frustrated.
Pinkie broke a hole through the back of the fallen shelf and stuck her head out, with the same expression she had when she popped out of the suitcase just moments ago. “Yup?” She responded.
Twilight groaned at Pinkie’s apparent obliviousness to the situation “Okay. You’re my friend, Pinkie, but honestly you’re aggravating me. You just up and decide to hop into one of my bags, have Spike carry you all the way here, and then you just up and decide to put on roller skates and turn this library or whatever it is into your personal skating rink. I’m here to dis..cov...er...”
The dust from the old collapsed shelf had finally cleared, revealing something that made Twilight cease her rant immediately. On the wall where the shelf had been standing...was a door.
Pinkie turned around to see what Twilight was so surprised to see. She immediately sprang the rest of her body out of the fallen shelf and jumped up and down excitedly “Ooo! It’s another secret room! I wonder if there’s another secret room inside it, and another one inside that, and then another one! Oh it’s like a matryoshka room!”
Twilight and the others observed the door in a quieter, but no less fascinated fashion. It looked more like to the door to a dungeon cell than a door to an archive or lab. There was a large steel lock over the handle and a small window at about head level with iron bars on it. From the window, Twilight could see there was a light inside the room, a white glow with a blue hue to it...
Twilight stared at it for a moment while she was thinking, then she made up her mind. Her horn lit up as her magic connected with the large lock on the door and snapped it off. “Hmmm....obviously not built to keep out a unicorn.” She thought. “I’m going in.” She said to the guards behind her. “Be prepared for anything.”
Twilight once again used magic to open the wooden door. Despite how large and ominous-looking it was, it flew open like it was cardboard, hitting the inside wall. Dust again clouded the air upon the impact. Blowing the dust out of the way as she went, Twilight entered the room, followed closely by Spike and a hopping Pinky Pie. The guards followed after Pinkie Pie, but at this point the dust had cleared, and it was obvious that the room was very small and unable to hold any more occupants. The guards stopped and stood at the ready right outside the doorway.
In complete contrast to the main area, this new, smaller room was very plain. The stone on the walls, floors and ceiling were free of the horrific paint job of the main room. There were no shelves nor any debris on the ground either, though there were several small chests here and there. The door had made this look like it was a prison cell, but it felt more like a janitor closet.
But it was a prison cell. That was clear from the moment Twilight cleared the dust from her vision, because now she could plainly see the source of that strange light she saw from the outside. There on the back wall was what could only be described as a large tube. On the floor was a small, cylindrical pedestal with a matching pedestal attached to the ceiling directly above it. Between the two was either a glass chamber or a magic forcefield, emitting a bluish-white glow.
And floating in the middle of the tube was...a pony.
Twilight, Spike and Pinkie let out a collective gasp. It was true they had the guards with them in case they encountered any trouble, but none of them had actually expected to run into any life in this dark hidden recess of the Archives.
“What, or who, is that?” Spike said in an astonished tone.
“I...I don’t know..” Twilight replied, her eyes wide open and staring at their new discovery.
“Do...do you think it can hear us?” asked Pinkie Pie, her giddiness now dissolved by surprise.
Spike put his hands to the sides of his mouth and shouted a long “Hellllooooo!”. They all paused for a few seconds. Nothing happened.
“I guess not.” said Twilight, now starting to catch her breath. Timidly, she crept closer to the cylinder, unsure of what - if anything - was going to happen. Now right along side it, she carefully placed her hoof over the middle of the tube. It was definitely glass, and the glowing light was apparently due to some sort of gas inside the chamber. She could see its mist floating around the pony inside and occasionally little sparks of electricity would circle around the its body.
She looked closely at the pony. It was obviously female. Her body was an aqua-blue, similar to Rainbow Dash, and she looked about the same age. Unlike Rainbow Dash though, she had no cutie mark and her mane was a solid green. The color was not the first thing Twilight noticed about her mane, however. It was the length. Both the hairs on her head and the hairs of her tail were long, much longer than normal. Together they took up two-thirds of the chamber.
Twilight tilted her head up slightly to examine the pony’s face. It was beautiful, but void of any expression and her eyes were closed. She looked like she was asleep, but sleeping peacefully.
Twilight decided to gently tap the glass to see if there was any reaction. There was none.
After several moments of silence, Spike spoke up. “What are we going to do, Twilight?”
Twilight thought for a few seconds more. She was never a risk-taker, quite the opposite in fact. She believed in being prepared, informed, and cautious and she realized there must be a reason why the pony was in there. Still, she just couldn’t leave somepony stuck in a tube inside a dark dungeon like this. She might be able to find some clue in the main room as to why she was here, but then again that could take a long time and she may search every book and object in the room and still come up empty...
“Pinkie...Spike..backup!” Twilight commanded. “Guards...get ready!” she yelled to the two standing outside the doorway. “I’m going to break the glass!”
Chapter 3
Twilight’s horn began to glow as the others followed her command and backed away from her. She levitated one of the small metal chests from the left side of the room and aimed for the space in the glass below the pony’s hooves. Then, as if hurling a floating baseball, threw it at the glass with all her magical might.
With a loud and piercing crash, the box passed straight through the tube, shattering it instantly. Quickly Twilight put up a forcefield to protect herself from the flying shards. Now only upper portion of the tube remained, still suspended by the cylinder on the ceiling, and pony fell out the bottom, hit the pedestal below, then plopped onto the ground.
The pony laid there motionless, surrounded by a sea of hair reached to the shore of shattered glass around it while the myst of the chemical from the tube filled the room before slowly dissipating. Sparks of electricity lit up here and there as the substance faded, and any creature in the room with fur felt the effects of static.
After a few seconds, the smoke cleared and everyone’s eyes focused on the pony on the floor. No one knew what to expect, if anything. The room was now silent and the pony was still not moving. The thought crossed Twilight, and likely the others as well, that perhaps nothing was going to happen and they were all overreacting.
Then suddenly a cough broke the silence, a cough that obviously didn’t come from any of the onlookers. It was followed by another, and then another. Each cough got louder and longer.
...and then, that mess of green pony hair on the floor started to move.
Everyone somehow manage to freeze themselves more than they already had as the the tangled mass on the floor began to rise, sliding its legs inward and getting ready to stand up, its long hair obscuring its face. The coughing continued until the pony was fully upright, at which point there was one final, disgustingly throaty hack of a cough, followed by slow deliberate inhaling of air.
The pony exhaled a slow, satisfying breath and spoke. “Mare alive! That was a long, strange trip!”
The pony’s audience, while still startled, began to feel more curious than frightened. The volume and pitch of the pony’s voice suggested she was young, but its raspiness made her almost sound like Granny Smith.
She shook her head, trying to get the hair out of her face. Once it was cleared, it revealed to the others in the room with her a pair of yellow eyes and a small, smiling mouth. After a few seconds, perhaps after her eyes focused, she jerked her head back slightly at the sight before her. “Woh! Who are you groovy chicks?”
“Hey! I’m not a chick!.” replied Spike, mildly upset at being confused for a girl.
The pony turned to look at Spike. “Oh hey little buddy! Didn’t see you there! Wow you’re like a little dragon or something. Far out!”
Pinkie Pie giggled. “‘Far out?’ ‘Groovy?’ How long have you been in there?”
The pony looked up at Pinkie, her smile now flattened. “Um...from where?”
“We found you in that giant test tube over there.” Twilight interjected.
The pony turned around to look at her old chamber. “Test tube? Why would I be in there? How’d I get in there?” Her voice was gradually showing signs of nervousness, maybe even panic. She quickly whipped back around to face Twilight ‘How long have I been in there? Who put me in there? Did you put me in there?”
“Well,” answered Twilight, starting to become nervous herself “First of all, no I didn’t put you in there. We found you down here. We’re not going to hurt you. Now as far as how long you’ve been down here, I don’t really know. What’s the last thing you remember?”
The pony only grew more panicked. Her eyes started twitching back and forth, then after a few moments of silence, widened in sheer terror. “I don’t know! I don’t remember anything! Who am I? What is this place? Oh I’m freaking out now, mare. This is really weird. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all!” The now horrified, trembling pony rushed toward Twilight and pressed her face against hers. “What happened to me?”
“Hey!” said Spike sternly, as he pushed the pony away from Twilight. “No one gets in Twilight’s face like that!”
“No. It’s okay.” Twilight said, a response intended to settle down both Spike and the new acquaintance. The pony’s eyes were still wide open with fear and staring straight at Twilight. Twilight was staring back at her, but her eyes were instead showing pity and empathy.
“Look,” Twilight began in a serious tone “I don’t know any more than you do right now and I know it must be scary not being able to remember anything, but we’ll figure it out, together.” Twilight placed her hoof on the pony’s shoulder. “We’re all here for you. Now I want you to take a deep breath and calm down.”
Still trembling, the pony obeyed. She closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath not unlike the one she took when she first awoke. Her shaking began to slow. She took a few additional deep breaths, then paused as if in deep thought. Her trembling had now stopped completely and after a few moments, she opened her eyes and met with those of her comforter.
“Wow. Thanks a lot, mare. What did the little guy call you again, Twilight?”
“Yup. I’m Twilight Sparkle. The, uh, little guy is my friend and assistant, Spike. And over there is Pinkie Pie.”
“Hi there!” Pinkie Pie interjected in her usual, bubbly fashion.
“Oh and don’t mind the two scary-looking guys behind us. They’re just looking after us.”
The pony let out a short, soft laugh. “Well, nice to meet you all. Sorry about my little freak-out. Um..I would tell you who I am, but um...well I still don’t remember anything.”
“Hmmm..” Twilight said with a contemplative look “I guess until we figure out what your real name is, we’re going to have to make one up.”
“Bushy Hooves!” Pinkie shouted out, obviously referring to her long, unkempt hair.
“Really?” replied Spike “I was thinking ‘Shaggy’”.
The pony remained silent, with a look on her face that implied a certain level of dislike.
Twilight looked at her and thought for a moment. “I know! Your long, green hair kind of makes you look like willow tree. Why don’t we call you..Willow?”
The pony’s mouth slowly reformed its small smile. “I can dig that. Sure.”
Then without warning she launched herself at Twilight and gave her a big, almost suffocating hug. “My name is Willow, and I love you!”
“Um...thanks.” Twilight said while gently pushing her away so she could resume breathing.
“Oh. Sorry,” Willow apologized while stepping back from Twilight, realizing the stranglehold of her hug. “I got a little carried away there. I don’t remember anything about what happened before this, but I do remember that I’m all about peace, love and freedom. That’s what it’s all about, mare!”
Twilight let out a short laugh “Well, you’d fit right in in Ponyville then. We’re all about friendship and harmony.”
“Hmmm...that does sound pretty groovy. Is it far from here?”
“Not at all! After I’m done investigating this room, I would love for you to come with us if you want.”
“Well..I don’t know where I came from..but Ponyville sounds like a place I wanna go.”
“Great! And who knows, we may find something in this room that gives us a clue about your past.”
“Yeah...maybe” Willow said hopefully. “Well, let’s do it!”
Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike all cheered, Pinkie’s cheer of course being the loudest and punctuated by her jumping up and down.
They proceeded out the door of Willow’s small prison and into the main room, happy to have found a new friend in such an unlikely place. Twilight turned her head to one of the guards at the doorway. “The new one is Willow. She’s with us!”
Just as she said that, though, she heard a scream from behind her. She and the others turned around quickly to see the Willow shaking violently, her head facing down to the ground, her teeth clenched, and her entire mane standing up straight into the air like gigantic porcupine quills while rings of electricity flowed down from them.
Everybody stepped back while not taking her eyes off her. The guards’ eyes were especially focused, studying her for any opening they could use to subdue her.
Bolts of electricity poured down Willow like a waterfall of lightning. She continued to shake, and the look on her face indicated that she was in severe pain...
...then, all of sudden, it stopped.
Willow’s hair loosened fell back to a normal position, though now it was dry, frizzy and even more unkempt than before.
The others surrounded her, silently, with eyes open and jaws dropped. Finally, Willow let out a long gasp and Twilight spoke up.
“Uh...Willow?” Is all she could manage to get out as startled as she was.
“I...I’m cool.” Willow answered while still breathing heavily.
“What was that?” Pinkie Pie shouted.
“...not cool. That’s all I know.” answered Willow. Her tone was surprisingly calm considering what just happened, though there was no mistaking her displeasure.
“Are you going to be okay?” Twilight asked.
Willow took one more deep breath “Yeah. I’ll be alright. The bad vibes are gone.”
Twilight was so proud of herself for taking the risk of freeing Willow despite not knowing why she was in there. Now, however, she was beginning to wonder if she made the right choice. Perhaps there was something dangerous about her. She thought for a moment, and decided to think positively. After all, jumping to conclusions had gotten her in serious trouble in the past.
“...Maybe that was just a side effect of being in that tube with that chemical so long.” she offered as an explanation.
“Yeah...” Willow responded, “maybe...”.
Chapter 4
The moment quickly diluted from terrifying to merely awkward, but the group’s gaze was focused on Willow and it was clear that everypony was still nervous. The guards’ facial expressions signaled to Twilight that they still viewed her newfound friend as a threat. Willow, however, looked more embarrassed than anything else.
In an attempt to get past this unpleasantness, Twilight timidly spoke up “Well, if you really think whatever that was is past now, would you like to help me investigate this room? I could definitely use some assistance.”
Willow slowly looked around the room. “Mare alive. Looks like you got your work cut out for you. This is one crazy room.” She paused, then continued “You know something though, mare? It feels like I’ve been here before.”
“It does? Great!”, Twilight replied hopefully, “Like I said maybe we’ll find more things in this place that will jog your memory.”
“That would be very cool.”, said Willow, obviously excited but still not leaving her mellow demeanor.
Twilight turned to the others. “It’s a big place and I need all the help I can get. I could use all of your help, too.”
This request was first met with silence, but it was quickly broken by a loud “Okey dokey!” from Pinkie Pie, who was now acting as if absolutely nothing unsettling just happened.
“Sure thing, Twilight”, Spike answered, perhaps less enthusiastically than Pinkie Pie but nonetheless genuine. “Uh...what do you want us to do?”
“Hmmm...”, Twilight began, “Why don’t we split up and go down separate isles? Spike and I brought three suitcases so let’s split into three groups and each group take a suitcase. Take any object or book that looks like it could give us a clue about what this room is and what it was used for.”
“Sounds good. So..who’s going with who?” Spike asked.
It didn’t take long for Twilight to form the teams in her mind, “Why don’t you go with Pinkie down the aisle we got here from, Spike. The guards can take the aisle on the opposite wall, and Willow and I will start in the aisles in between.”
“Excuse me, Ms. Sparkle”, one of the guards spoke up, “but I think maybe Willow should stay with us. We’re not sure if she’s going to have another..outburst.”
Just when Twilight thought she had gotten everypony’s mind off that incident, the guard brought it up again. It made her upset, but she realized that the guard had a point. Nopony knew what that “outburst” was about but it certainly seemed like it could be something very dangerous to everypony - or at the very least painful to Willow - if it happened again.
Twilight sighed as she turned her head to face her. “Would you be okay with going with the guards instead, Willow? I just think it may be safer since...well, you know..”
She was expecting resistance or at least disappointment, but Willow’s face slowly formed its tiny smile again “Not a problem, mare. I can handle these two cats.”
“Silly. Those are ponies, not cats!” Pinkie Pie interjected.
Surprised yet relieved by Willow’s attitude, Twilight announced her new arrangement “Great, then Willow will go with the guards. Spike, you’ll come with me.”
“Then what’s Pinkie going to do?” Spike asked.
“Pinkie, could you-”
Twilight stopped herself mid-sentence as she turned her head and realized Pinkie was gone, as was one of the suitcases. Within seconds, she could hear various banging and shuffling noises coming from the aisle her and Spike had chased Pinkie down earlier, followed by the familiar sound of roller skates grinding against a stone floor.
“I...guess she’s fine on her own.” said Twilight with some hesitation.
“Well, I guess we better get truckin’, then.” Willow said as she picked up one of the two remaining suitcases with her teeth.
“Okay. Good luck!” Twilight replied happily as her new long-haired friend and the guards turned and headed for other side of the room.
Spike was already picking up last suitcase as Twilight turned to him. “Ready?”
“Yup.”, Spike confirmed, “Let’s go!”
Each of the groups went their separate ways, and as time went on it became obvious that each group was also using separate methods. Twilight’s method was quite ordinary, at least for her. Between flipping through the books on the shelves and sifting through the random junk on the floor, she felt like she was back at home studying while cleaning at the same time, something she did routinely. Spike apparently was in that routine as well and the two worked together like partners in a well-rehearsed ballet. They knew their roles inside-out and no communication was necessary. Consequently, their search through the mysterious room was orderly and quiet.
The same could not be said of the other two groups. Pinkie Pie was making so much noise that a blind pony would have mistaken the room for a fully operational factory. Between the grinding of her newfound roller skates, the clashing and banging of all the random odds and ends, and the rapid opening and closing of hardback books, Twilight was beginning to wonder whether Pinkie Pie was actually investigating the room or tuning up makeshift instruments for an impromptu musical number. Considering the fact that this was Pinkie Pie, the latter seemed much more likely.
Twilight did not want to dwell for too long on what Pinkie Pie was up to, though. Past experience had taught her that it only makes a pony’s head hurt. What she was beginning to dwell on, though, were the sounds coming from the other side of the room where Willow and guards were. There was a lot of talking among them. Twilight could not make out what they were saying, but it sounded like a relaxed conversation, punctuated by occasional laughter. She was encouraged by this. Willow was being escorted by two hardened, indifferent soldiers who obviously saw her as a potential threat and Twilight had feared this would make for a very uncomfortable and tense situation. She was happy to hear them apparently getting along.
All the same, she hoped that their socializing would not distract them from the task at hand. If their side of the room was anything like the aisle she was in, however, it would not make much of a difference. For a room filled with so many books and so much junk, there was strangely little that was noteworthy. Most of the books were reference journals and how-to guides on various subjects, though much like the shelf she checked when she first entered the room, there was a strong emphasis on alchemy. Still Twilight did put a few books into the suitcase, particularly the ones that had writing in the margins. She figured that any writing the Professor himself made could help uncover what his plans were.
A majority of the junk scattered everywhere appeared to be just that: junk. At this point, Twilight was convinced that most of it had the same purpose - or lack thereof - as the room’s bizarre paint job. Professor Voidsdale was a Discordian. He loved chaos, so he littered the floors with assorted garbage to make the room appear as random as possible. It was a tribute to the philosophy he followed, nothing more. Since he was an alchemist, though, Twilight suspected that the beakers may have had a more practical purpose, and she put a few of them in the suitcase, namely the ones that still had chemical residue on them.
Eventually she and Spike made it to the end of their aisle and turned to walk down the adjacent one when they almost collided with Willow and the guards about to do the same. Twilight had noticed that their voices were growing louder and clearer, but she did not think they were that close to her position. “Oh, uh, hey! How’s the search going, guys?”, Twilight asked.
Willow and the guards had been laughing casually together about something. Willow stopped to address Twilight. “Woo-wee, what a long, strange trip it’s been. Have you seen some of this crazy stuff? I’ve seen everything here from toothpaste to barbwire. Like, was this a flee market or somethin’? We’ve mostly been gatherin’ toys. Sharpeye has a little one, ya’ know?”
“Uh...Sharpeye?” Twilight asked, confused.
“Oh,” Willow answered, “That’s this cat right here”, she explained as she pointed to the guard on her right. Sharpeye smiled and nodded. “Cat Number Two,” Willow continued now pointing at the other guard, “calls himself Javelin.” Javelin too acknowledged with a smile and a nod. Willow laughed, “I had a hard time looking they were cracking me up so good.”
“Oh as if you weren’t cutting up too, little lady.” Javelin said in a playful tone.
“Yeah”, Sharpeye added, “I think I was the only one really working.”
“You’re a terrible liar.” rebutted Javelin.
Twilight had not even asked for the guards’ names let alone converse with she first met them. Seeing Willow warming up to them so quickly made her feel a little guilty, but not enough that she was not happy to see them laughing and smiling together.
She laughed at Javelin’s comment as she asked “Well, other than free toys for Sharpeye’s baby, did you guys find anything?”
“I did”, Willow replied, “Check this out.”
She pulled out of her suitcase what looked to be another large reference book, this one with a blue cover. When Twilight looked more closely at it though, she could see that it was well-worn, much more so than the other books she had collected. It looked like it had been used very heavily. More curious, though, was that the book had no title, neither on the cover nor the binding. Twilight used her horn to float the book over to herself and open it. The pages were all hoof-written, with a lot of scribbling in the margins and crudely-drawn diagrams. Twilight also noticed that every few pages there was a date written in the upper-left corner.
“This-this looks like a journal!”, Twilight exclaimed excitedly, “Wow. That’s exactly what I was looking for! Great job, guys!”
The two guards suddenly assumed their formal, upright positions.
“We are proud to serve.”, said Javelin.
“You honor us with your praise.”, said Sharpeye
“Uh...thanks?” said a confused Willow.
“Well,” a delighted Twilight continued, “I guess we should each take a side of this aisle and get it done faster so can help Pinki-”
“All done!”, shouted Pinkie Pie, who was suddenly right behind Twilight.
Everyone jumped, with Twilight almost being knocked to the ground again. Recovering from that initial shock, she was about to ask Pinkie how she managed to sneak up on them, but decided it may be best not to know. Instead, she inquired, “You..did your entire side already?”
“Oh no. I did my entire side, the next row over and this aisle! We’re all done!”, Pinkie answered excitedly.
Twilight was skeptical, “This room has a total of five aisles. You mean you thoroughly went through three of them while the five of us only did two?”
“Of course! I have roller skates!”. Pinkie Pie stood on one hoof and posed gymnast-style to show off her hoofwear.
While she had a good point, Twilight was unsatisfied with this explanation. “Well then, what did you find?”
As Pinkie Pie started opening the suitcase that was on the floor next to her, Twilight’s imagination went wild thinking about what sort of items Pinkie Pie would take from a room like this. Would there be a rubber chicken, large novelty glasses, bunny ears, or perhaps a sock puppet or two? “Likely all of the above and more”, Twilight thought.
However, when the suitcase was opened it was revealed to contain only two items: a thick, well-worn book and a large bottle filled with a mysterious liquid. Twilight maintained her composure but was secretly astonished at how... un-Pinkie these items were. She levitated the book over to herself for a closer look. She blew some of the dust off so she could better read the title on the cover. When she read it, her heart sank. Pinkie Pie had not disappointed after all.
It read “Cooking with Chaos: Discordian Delicacies”.
Twilight sighed, “Pinkie, this looks like a cookbook.”
“Yup!”, Pinkie Pie exclaimed, “I’m going to show it to Mr. and Mrs. Cake. It’s got tons of dessert recipes, like this one!” She pulled the book out of the air, opened it to the page she wanted to show Twilight and put it back, all so swiftly that Twilight’s horn continued to levitate the book as if it had never moved.
Twilight looked at the recipe on the page. “Discordian Pie?”
“It’s a pie that changes flavor every time you bite into it! So, like, the first bite may taste like cherries but then the second bite could be like pumpkin, and then the third bite like key lime! Oo! and then what if the next one was pecan, and the next one-”
“I see”, Twilight interrupted as politely as she could. She quickly flipped through the rest of the book. She noticed that, much like the books she chose to put in her suitcase, the cookbook Pinkie found showed signs of heavy use and even had notes scribbled here and there on some of the pages. Perhaps this was not as useless of a find as Twilight first thought. Then there was that bottle with the strange substance in it...
“So..what’s in there?”, Twilight asked Pinkie while looking at the object in question.
“Oh! A lot of the recipes said they needed something called turm oil.”, Pinkie explained, “I never heard of it before and I got worried that Mrs. Cake wouldn’t be able to make all these yummy treats if she didn’t have it so I went digging all around the place and finally I found this bottle under a pile of hacky sacks. It was right next to this one weird broomstick that had a stuffed pony head on it. I think it was supposed to be a toy, but it just looks creepy-”
“I see.”, Twilight said, once again halting Pinkie’s excited ramble. “Honestly, though, I’ve never heard of turm oil either and I’m not sure what it does. I don’t think it’s a good idea to be putting in pony food.”
“But these desserts sound so amazing! And besides the Discoducks were using it!”, Pink Pie argued, possibly referring to the Discordians. “What if I taste-tested it first? I can be the guinea pink!”
This suggestion was followed by a short pause where Twilight’s facial expression failed to change. Pinkie, in desperation, got on her knees and assumed a begging position at Twilight’s hooves. She then proceeded to look up at her with puppy-like eyes and cry “Pleeeeaaasssee....?”
Twilight sighed. She already had taken a serious risk earlier by releasing Willow. Did she really want to compound that by allowing Pinkie Pie to use this unknown chemical as a food ingredient? Then again, Willow so far had not been a problem, save for that strange incident she had earlier, and that happened before they had left the room so nopony was hurt.
“Wait.”, Twilight thought, “That’s it!”
She peered down at her groveling friend. “Okay. you can bring it with us on one condition.”
Pinkie quickly sprang up from her lowly position, nearly hitting Twilight in the jaw on her way up. “Hooray!”, She shouted like a philly on its way to an amusement park. Her enthusiasm was short-lived, however, as the second part of Twilight’s sentence settled into her brain. She became more sheepish as she asked “Um...what’s the condition?”
Twilight placed the book down and levitated the bottle of turm oil over to Pinkie. “You have to take a sip of it right now.”
Chapter 5
Spike, Willow, Javelin and Sharpeye, who had been watching this debate between Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle pan out from the sidelines, were now staring at Twilight in stunned silence. Spike looked especially shocked at her request. “Uh...Twilight?”, he asked timidly..
“We’re not sure what this turm oil stuff does”, Twilight explained, partially to Spike but more directly to Pinkie who she continued to fix her eyes on, “so if you’re going to try it out, I’d rather you do it here and now. That way the only ponies that can get hurt are us. “There’s a lot of strange chemicals in Equestria, especially in alchemy labs. You could end up breathing fire or shooting lightning out of your eyes or something.”
Twilight meant what she said and was genuinely concerned about what effects turm oil could have on the pony that used it, or any nearby pony. Her real goal in insisting that Pinkie drink the substance immediately, however, had to do with giving Pinkie second thoughts about using an unknown chemical as a food ingredient. It was clearly an unwise idea but at the same time Twilight did not want to upset Pinkie by just saying “no”. She was hoping that by confronting Pinkie Pie she would simply change her mind.
It appeared to be working, too. Pinkie seemed to be listening to Twilight’s argument intently and after she was done speaking, there was a long pause as if Pinkie was digesting what she had just been told.
But then she broke the silence with a loud “Okay!”, and pulled the bottle out of the suitcase and popped the cork.
Twilight, Spike and the guards gasped, backed away from Pinkie as quickly as possible. Willow attempted to follow suit, but only made it half as far as the others before she tripped over her own hair and fell to the ground. Even she joined the others, though, in staring back at Pinkie in horror as she lifted the bottle to her mouth.
Pinkie opened her mouth and took a big swig of the turm oil like it was a glass of the Apple family’s cider with a loud, thunderous gulp.
And then there was silence, a long anxious pause that neither Twilight nor the others were able to break. They were too scared. Pinkie was silent as well, but her eyes were closed, as if she was meditating on something.
Then suddenly, the silence was broken as Pinkie Pie opened her eyes, licked her lips and declared, “Mmm! Cherry!”. She rushed over to Twilight and shoved the bottle in her face. “You gotta try this! It’s delicious!”
Twilight flinched at this offer. She was relieved that nothing happened to Pinkie Pie - at least not immediately - but she wasn’t convinced turm oil was safe for consumption and she was definitely upset over Pinkie’s reckless behavior. Still, her fear and shock had subsided enough that she had the nerve to push back. Her horn lit up and her magic swiped the bottle from Pinkie. Twilight placed the bottle behind herself as she stood up to look Pinkie Pie in the eyes. “Pinkie, just because something tastes good doesn’t mean it’s good for you.”, she said to her sternly, “You may have just made yourself sick.”
“But.. I feel fine.”, rebutted Pinkie plainly.
“That doesn’t mean it won’t make you feel bad later.”, Twilight argued, “You may not feel the effects for a while. And even if nothing happens to you, that doesn’t mean it won’t do something bad to another pony. We don’t know what’s in that stuff.”
“Yes we do!” Pinkie argued back. She reached for the cookbook, turned to one of the first pages, and held it up to Twilight’s face.
Twilight’s horn picked up the book and repositioned it slightly. The page explained the recipe for making turm oil, including all its ingredients. To Twilight’s surprise, she recognized all of them. There were no foreign chemicals or unknown elements. All of the ingredients were common, over-the-counter products that could be easily bought from any grocery store at the Ponyville marketplace.
“This-this is a completely normal drink!” Twilight said in astonishment. She closed the book and gave it back to Pinkie, though with a suspicious look on her face. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?”
Pinkie paused for a moment, then said, “Hmm...I don’t know!”, and smiled.
Twilight put her hoof to her head in disgust.
“Well, since it’s safe,” Javelin spoke up, “mind if I try some?”
“Sure!”, agreed Pinkie, “Just leave enough that I can show Mrs. Cake!”
Javelin walked over, picked up the bottle and took a short drink. After drinking so, however, he seemed more confused than delighted. “Um...that’s not cherry, that’s orange-flavor.”
“Really?”, asked Pinkie, “Let me try again.”. Javelin handed her the bottle and she took another sip. “Well, it’s looks like I was mistaken. That’s actually grape.”
“Hey wait a minute.”, Spike interjected. “Let me try some.”
Spike took the bottle and drank some. He shrugged, “It tastes like Strawberry to me.”
Without saying speaking, Sharpeye walked over and gestured to Spike to hand him the bottle. Spike obliged and Sharpeye tried the drink for himself. His expression after doing so looked more confused than Javelin’s “...Chocolate?”
Twilight’s curiosity was beginning to get the better of her. She motioned to Sharpeye to give her the bottle next. Doing what moments ago she had no intention of doing, she took a sip of the strange concoction. It was definitely an oil, viscous and thick, but the flavor itself was more reminiscent of a certain normal beverage, “Lemonade.” Twilight said surprised, “Wow. That’s actually pretty amazing! Who knew something with such basic ingredients could actually change flavor like that?”
“Now don’t you think it would make a really fun dessert?” Pinkie asked Twilight.
“Yeah,” Twilight said smiling for the first time in a while, “Yeah I think so!”
“Hey!”, a raspy voice interjected, “What does the new chick have to do to get a swig of the wonder juice?”
“Oh, sorry Willow,”, Twilight apologized, “Here!”
“Just not too much, okay? It’s already getting low.”, Pinkie advised.
“No problem, funny mare.” Willow replied as she took the bottle from Twilight.
Willow lifted the bottle and tried to take a sip, but as soon as the liquid reached her tongue, she spat it out, and violently. She continued to spit and cough as if she had just tried to drink the entire bottle in one gulp. The others backed away from her to avoid the spray. Even after she finished spitting, she still panted heavily and hung her tongue out like a dog.
“Mare, that wath not funny.”, Willow said with a lisp that suggested her tongue was now incapacitated.
“What happened, Willow? Did your flavor taste bad?” asked a concerned Twilight.
“Yeth I did”, Willow replied disgruntled, “Thince when ith it a nithe thing to pway a twick on thomepony you juth met?”
Spike was covering his mouth, obviously trying not to burst out laughing at Willow’s new impediment.
The other were amused as well and even Twilight herself was having trouble keeping a straight face, but she managed to maintain her composure. “No one was trying to trick you, Willow. We seriously all tasted something different.”
“I can confirm there was joke intended, miss Willow”. Javelin said confidently.
“Copy that.” said Sharpeye.
“Maybe you just got a bad flavor.” Pinkie Pie suggested. “Wanna try it again?”
Willows tongue slowly retracted back in mouth and she swallowed. “No way, mare. I’m done with that stuff.”
“Hmmm...maybe you’re allergic or something.”, Twilight proposed.
“Yeah...” Willow responded, “maybe...”.