Kopis didn’t sleep too well that night, and despite being a foal who enjoyed his sleep, he finds himself awake long before he had to be at school. His mom was already off to work and Kris was on her way to school, which left him alone in the house. Alone. With the book about loneliness. He didn’t like that very much.
With that in mind, he really wasn’t interested in staying home all day wondering what to do while he waited for Kris to get home. He had a couple of ideas of things he could do in the meantime, such as go looking for Peat or Sonata and see what they thought about it all, but he had to admit that Kris’s idea seemed a bit more productive. Maybe Twilight Sparkle would know something useful.
He grabs the book, gives it a frustrated snort, and heads off to the library, taking care to shut and lock the door behind him. On his way, adult ponies mill around, going about their business as usual, but none pay him any mind. It’s well-known after all, that not all the foals are in the morning class. On his way to the library, Kopis sees two very familiar little ponies walking in a different direction. Hey, looked like his plans were about to change. He throws a hoof up and calls, “Hey guys, over here!”
They hear him and stop in the road, looking over. Peat plods his way, and Sonata practically bounces, being the one to speak when they get close enough. “Hey, Kopis!”
He tries to put on a brave face and asks, “Where were you two headed off to?”
“We were gonna eat breakfast at Sugarcube Corner,” Sonata answers, while Peat nods in agreement.
Darn, if only his mom hadn’t already made something for him. Even though he had some pressing matters at hoof, that did sound pretty inviting right then. “Oh, okay. Um, say, you two mind if I ask you something? It might sound kind of strange…”
“Strange how?” Peat asks, tilting his head.
Sonata seems to catch onto his tone a little more easily. “Uh, yeah, go ahead.”
He pulls the book out of his bag and flashes it in front of them. “Can you two see this?”
"Uh... I wear glasses, Kopis, but I'm not that blind." Sonata bops him lightly on the muzzle.
Peat is more confused now. "Why wouldn't we?"
Kopis breathes out visibly, ignoring Sonata’s tap. “Okay, good. Um, listen, this book is magical. Cursed or something. Some ponies can’t see it, and if you try to tell them about it they just zone out and ignore you. Mom can’t see it, and when I took it to Ms. Twilight she couldn’t see it either. Kris and you two can see it though…”
“Weird. Where’d you get it?” Peat asks, not seeing the distressing part.
Right after, Sonata speaks up. “It’s magical?” She doesn’t know anything at all about curses, unicorn or not!
He nods emphatically. “Uh huh, Kris said so. And, um, I found it over that way,” he says, point off down the street toward where he found the book. “Not long after I left Sonata’s house. It was just lying in the road.”
“And ponies just can’t see it sometimes? Does it do anything else?” Sonata guesses that’s not really terrible as far as curses go. “Maybe I could take a look at it, with my horn I mean.”
“Sure,” he says, sliding it over to her. “It… doesn’t seem to do anything else. It looks like somepony’s diary, and it’s kind of sad to read. She was really lonely. She also lived over a hundred years ago apparently.”
Surrounding the diary in a haze of aqua magic, Sonata closes her eyes and concentrates, feeling out for magical energy. It doesn't feel like it wants her to see it, but when she presses, the sensation of magical energy hits her immediately, and she gasps and takes a few steps back from the book, looking between it and Kopis.
His eyes widen a bit. “What? Did you feel something?”
Sonata frowns, uncharacteristically worried. She takes a breath and steps forward again one hoof at a time. “D-did she tell you about the connection?”
“Huh? Connection?” This really didn’t sound good…
“It’s a little hard to explain…” To an earth pony, she gracefully leaves out, even if Sonata feels anything but as she scratches a hoof in the dirt. “It’s like… there are threads between you and the book. A few between it and me too, like it's reaching out for ponies. Or like the magic is rubbing off on them."
No, not good at all! “Wh-what? What are you saying? Am I going to become invisible or something?”
"I don't know!" Her voice cracks slightly. "It hasn't fully happened yet, but it's definitely still happening."
"Now just hold on," Peat steps forward. "Can we just get rid of the thing?" Seems like the easiest solution to him.
Sonata shakes her head. "We don't know how far it'll go. What if we leave it somewhere and it still affects him?" She looks at Kopis. "You said Ms. Twilight couldn't help?"
“No!” He frowns. “Well, not directly since she couldn’t see it, but she did say that we should look for whoever it belonged to. That’s after Kris asked her something else… anyway, I don’t know how to do that since she’d definitely be dead by now and I have no idea where she’d be anyway.”
“I don’ think the book just up and wandered into the road by itself,” Peat points out. “Somepony around town must’ve left it.”
“It’ll take too long to ask around,” Sonata argues. “We should go to the library and try to research.”
He nods to Peat. “Yeah, but I can’t imagine who or why. I think the library is our only chance at this point. Crown Jewel, the filly who wrote it, said that she was going to see Princess Celestia at the Solar Celebration thing about a hundred and fifty years ago, or something. I’ve got the page marked. Anyway, I was hoping that even if Ms. Twilight can’t see the book, maybe that’ll tip her off on something to tell us.” He taps his hooves together. “You know, so far it’s only been grownups who can’t see it…”
“Huh, really? Well, that narrows it down. Couldn’t have belonged to one of them if they can’t even see it,” Peat reasons. There can’t be that many ponies their age in Ponyville.
“Unless you want to ask everypony in class and wait for the morning class to get out, we should go to the library first,” Sonata insists.
Peat shrugs. “I just reckon we can get a headstart now, if we’re gonna ask ponies.”
“Maybe we’ll see some to ask on the way to the library?” Kopis suggests. “I’m not sure where else to start really… unless we want to split up. Or if you two still want to go eat first maybe there’ll be someponies there to ask?”
Peat shakes his head. “I couldn’t just go out for breakfast with you in this jam. “ Mmm, pancakes with strawberry jam… No, not the time. “We’ll help until whatever that book is up to is stopped.”
“If we’re going to split up,” Sonata starts. “Where is everypony going?”
Kopis thinks. “Good question… um, I’d prefer the library at least, since I’ve already seen Ms. Twilight about this recently.” He looks over at Peat and asks, “Do you want to try asking around about the book?”
...Okay, he’s not against the idea of going out to eat while he helps Kopis.”Sure. I’ll ask everypony there if they know what this is all about.”
Kopis smiles a little in return. “Thanks, that’ll help I’m sure. Okay then, we all set? Let’s go get this mystery solved.”
The trip to the library is mostly uneventful, until the two only see a few other ponies their own age walking around. Arabesque could see the journal, but the pegasus filly claimed she never had before. A little later, they flag down Sunny Daze and Peachy Pie, who are roller-skating down the street in the opposite direction. They come over, and can also see the book, giving Kopis' theory more weight. When asked, one says she thinks Royal Blue, another of their classmates, might have said something about a weird book the other day, but isn't sure. They skate on their way soon after, wondering why somepony would be going towards the library, before school even starts.
Kopis has to stop and think about that himself a time or two, considering just how crazy all of this was. How often was it that somepony got wrapped up in stuff like this? Why him?
Pushing that aside, he cracks the door to the library and pokes his head in. “Ms. Twilight? Are you here?”
Sonata walks in after him, and both see Twilight clearly in the lobby of the library, putting some books from a cart back onto a self. “Hello,” she greets them cheerily. “Do you need help finding anything?” she asks, looking mostly at the unicorn filly.
He tries to ignore that, figuring it’s just a figment of his imagination. “Um, well, not really looking for a book specifically, but I was hoping maybe you could help us find out about an event that happened a while ago. One of the Solar Celebrations.”
“Oh, hello Kopis. Yes, the Summer Sun Celebrations are fascinating events. But, I don’t think we have any books about specific ones. There might be ones that reference them, or talk about them though.”
Yep, this was getting a bit unnerving. He pulls the book out and checks the date quickly before she loses interest in him entirely. “Okay, um, well the one in particular I was interested in was the 860th one. Happened about 150 years ago I think. Do you know anything about it? Or have any books on it?”
Twilight does give it a moment of legitimate thought, but can't recall anything of note. "I'm sorry, no. If anything special happened then, I'm not aware. Why do you ask?" Is he doing a school report as well? Twilight really needs to ask Cheerilee again about including her in lesson plans more often.
He wonders how specific he can get before the book’s stupid magic got in the way. “I was trying to find out some stuff about somepony, and almost all I know is that she attended the celebration. Just that and her name: Crown Jewel.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t say I’ve heard the name.” It’s even already hard to remember. Clearly nopony she’d ever read about. “Well, if she was somepony important, there might be a biography about her here. Or, we do have a book on the genealogy and lineage of most of Ponyville’s influential families.”
“I’m not sure if she actually lived in Ponyville, but that might help. Can you show us?” he asks.
“Certainly!” Twilight tells the two happily. Few ponies ever want to see that book, and never ones their age! The lavender unicorn leads them over to where a small podium holds a very large tome. It has to be at least fifteen pounds of ink and paper. She lifts it effortlessly in her magic and deposits it on a short, filly-sized reading table by one of the windows. “I’ll be close if you need help finding anything,” she tells the two ponies, before going back to shelving books.
“Okay, thank you!” he says, trying to sound enthusiastic and cheerful. He turns to Sonata and whispers, “This is gonna take forever... if she’s even in here.”
Sonata’s horn lights up, and an aqua haze surrounds the book in front of them, adjusting it with obvious effort. Dang thing is even heavier than it looks! The goldenrod filly sighs, and whispers back. “Yeah, and we don’t have much time before school starts…”
To not waste what little of that is left, the two ponies get to it. Sonata, being a little more academically-minded, the friends wordlessly agree, takes the lead in paging through the book. Kopis watches, scanning pages alongside her to give a second set of eyes on the dreary pages. Like Twilight said, it contains the family history of almost all of the larger families in Ponyville, who’ve been important to its history. It starts off with ‘A’ for Apple. The two see pages and pages of the Apple family’s pedigree, followed by even more pages with small descriptions of what each pony looked like, whether they were an earth pony, pegasus, or unicorn, and a few facts about them if they were noteworthy enough. Somepony has apparently been keeping the book updated, since Kopis and Sonata see Applejack and a filly from the other class, Applebloom, in there. Unfortunately, Crown Jewel wasn’t part of the Apple family.
Most of the rest of the entries are smaller, with families that have made less of a contribution than the Apples. Even then though, the little ponies page through dozens of separate families, finding nothing until the words run together, and they find themselves rubbing at their eyes and looking away just for a break. The dual stress of mind-numbing boredom and simultaneously knowing they’re on a deadline starts to become palpable. ...But then, midway through the book, they catch a lucky break under the section for ‘R’. There, clear as day, is Crown Jewel’s name, in a section almost equally as large and detailed as the one the Apple family has. The two scan down the family tree, and their eyes meet at a single entry at the very bottom. The name there is one every colt and filly in Ponyville has crossed or tried to avoid at some point.
Diamond Tiara, unicorn, F. A silver tiara. Blue eyes, light magenta coat, periwinkle mane with white stripe.
Huh. Well, it sure wasn’t what he was hoping for, but to see somepony that he knew that might be related was enough to give Kopis a little kick to his spirits and energy. “...well, that’s something. What do we do know? Ask her if she knows the name?” Why couldn’t it have been somepony else? Like that Applebloom? She was pretty nice.
“I guess we don’t have much choice…” Sonata for once doesn’t sound excited about the idea. She has to deal with Diamond Tiara more often than she’d like as it is. Any more isn’t something she looks forward to. Looking away, she happens to see a clock on the way, and jumps up to her four feet. “We have to be to school in ten minutes!”
“Oh crap! C’mon, let’s go!” He hops down without bothering to close the book or attempt to return it to wherever it came from. “Thanks Ms. Twilight but we’ve got to go,” he calls to her before waiting for Sonata to join him.
Sonata flips the book closed quickly with her magic and gallops after him, shouting to Twilight, “Bye, sorry but we have to leave!”
The librarian waves goodbye, and gets up to put the book back in its rightful place with a tiny sigh. She can’t be mad after they clearly showed so much interest in Ponyville’s history.
Apparently really motivated to get to school, the two little ponies gallop for all they’re worth! Both pace themselves perfectly, and by the time the two huffing ponies reach the school, they have a minute or two to spare before the bell even rings.
Kopis skids to a stop near his desk and plops his bag down. “Whew, that was close. Nice gallop back there.” He quickly scans to see if Peat has arrived yet.
“You… too…” Sonata huffs, slumping onto her own desk. Peat arrived some time ago, and watches from a few rows away, sitting in a desk he’s almost too big for. He waves sedately at the nearly-late newcomers.
Kopis settles into his desk and tries to clear his mind so he won’t attract too much attention from Ms. Cheerliee during class. He didn’t want to get called out for daydreaming afterall. Too bad they didn’t get here earlier or they could have asked around some before class.
Kopis doesn't end up being called out as class drags on, for daydreaming or for anything else. As Cheerilee lectures on long division and calls ponies up to the board to do example problems, Kopis is not among those called on. Even if he raises his hoof, somepony else ends up getting called on.
Class continues dragging on, despite Kopis, Sonata, and Peats' increasingly urgent appointment. It does eventually tick down to the final few minutes though, and finally the bell rings, signaling that every little pony is free for another day. Outside the door, Kopis' friends approach him, and Sonata speaks. "I told Peat what we found earlier."
Kopis nods grimly and asks him, “I don’t guess you found out anything yourself?”
Peats shakes his head. “Eenope. Looks like we know who we need to ask. Just wish it was anypony else...”
Sonata moves to put both of the colts in her view and lays a hoof on Kopis. “Don’t worry. If she doesn’t wanna help, we’ll find a way to make her!” They can bug her until she gives in, or maybe cast a spell to turn her mane green. No offense, Peat. But no matter what, they aren’t letting their friend vanish!
Kopis sighs and nods. “Right, so how do we want to do this? I don’t guess either of you have any idea where she would be right now? Hopefully not at home.”
"Well..." Sonata begins, having some idea. "She hangs out at Sugarcube Corner a lot. If she's not at home, that would be the best place to look."
“Yeah… okay. I’d rather not go banging at her door at home if we can help it, so let’s go check Sugarcube Corner. You two in?” he asks.
"Yeah, I am!" Sonata exclaims. Her parents won't expect her home yet anyway.
"I might have to put my chores off," Peat holds a thick hoof to his muzzle. "But I can do that. Yeah, I'm in."
Kopis smiles. “Okay, great. We’ll have to be quick or my mom will start missing me.” He really hoped anyway. “Let’s get going. Maybe Diamond Tiara is in a good mood today…” He also really hoped that was true too.
The little pony party makes their way through the now-busier streets to Sugarcube Corner. It only takes a few minutes, as it's located unintentionally, but strategically, closely to the school. A small crowd of ponies their age, most of them familiar are inside for the daily afterschool rush. In the corner, at the table nopony else sits at and many ponies give a wider berth if they can, sit two little earth ponies fillies; silver and magenta. They laugh at a private joke as Kopis and his friends enter, drinking milkshakes and no doubt gossiping about something or other.
Oh boy, here went nothing. “Okay guys, let’s just get this over with.” Kopis takes a deep breath and spearheads the attack on Diamond Tiara, which he accomplishes by approaching their table and stopping across from them. Might as well try to be diplomatic to start with, right? “Hey, Diamond Tiara, do you have a second? I need to ask you something.”
She looks his way, clearly annoyed for a second before taking on an almost-saccharine tone. "We were having a conversation." Silver Spoon nods in agreement. "What is it?"
Which was kind of fair. “Sorry to interrupt, but, uh… I found this book the other day, and I was wondering if maybe you knew anything about it?” He pulls it out of his bag and sets it on the table.
Diamond Tiara leans back, takes a quick look, and alsmot immediately her mouth drops open. "What are you doing with that?! And who are you?" She points a hoof at Sonata. "I know you, just not your blank-flank friends."
"Hey!" Sonata flinches, then hops a bit as she raises her voice. "They're better friends than you have!"
Silver Spoon stops drinking her milkshake to give an indignant glare. "As if..." she mutters, then goes back to her dessert.
Kopis grumbles something and taps a hoof on the table. “Hey, focus, okay? I found this book on the street near her house, and ever since weird stuff has been happening. Half of the grownups can’t see it and they’re acting weird around me. What do you know about it?”
"It's just a dumb old book," the snobby filly says, partly to herself. After a pause, a mischievous grin starts spreading across her face. If this colt has been carrying it around with him, she has him... what is it older ponies say? Oh, yes, "over a barrel". "I know all about it, and of course I'll tell you... if you do me a favor."
He groans inside. Of course she’d be like that, but what choice did he have? “What do you want?”
“Hmm,” the magenta filly makes the sound, taunting him by exageratedly tapping a perfectly-pedicured hoof to her chin. “Well… you could play a hilarious prank on the Cutie-Mark Crusaders. Those three fillies in our class, with their dumb club?”
Silver Spoon stops sipping on the straw and looks kinda worried. “Uh, Di…” Normally she’d be all for some good fun at their expense, but playing around with the magic book…
“Hush, I know what I’m doing,” Diamond interrupts her, than looks back and down on the earth pony colt. “So, do we have a deal?”
Okay, this is not something he signed up for. Maybe if it was innocent enough… “... I don’t know. What did you have in mind?” He gives nervous looks to Sonata and Peat.
They glance back, and between each other, looking about as uncomfortable as he does. "I don't know," Diamond Tiara continues regardless. "But it has to be hilarious." And Kopis has a pretty good idea of what her sense of humor involves; namely fun at somepony else's expense.
Great… Kopis chews on his lip a bit as he thinks. A prank wouldn’t really hurt them, right? And what was he supposed to do otherwise? Actually… maybe they could find some way to get the three fillies in on it and trick Diamond Tiara into thinking they pranked them? Yeah… that was a stretch. “I… I’ll think about it,” he grumbles.
"You better think fast," the filly tells him in a pleased tone, then goes back to her drink. The one across the table from her looks subdued now, only forcing a smile when her friend looks her way.
Kopis frowns and nods before signalling for Peat and Sonata to follow him to a more secluded spot to talk. “I don’t like this. The three of them have never been mean to me and I don’t want to be mean to them.”
Peat shakes his head, but in agreement. “No, it just ain’t right.” They can find another way, if it means being bullies, even out of necessity.
Sonata frowns, clearly conflicted. “...Somepony has to say it. What other choices do we have?”
“I don’t know. Not much… the book obviously means something to Diamond Tiara or she’d just tell us to beat it. I don’t know what to do. Maybe we could go to… no, her parents probably can’t see the stupid thing. Ugh… do you think maybe we could talk to the Crusaders and try to negotiate something with them to satisfy Diamond Tiara?”
“I don’t know them, but I’m sure if they knew how much trouble we were in, they’d help,” Sonata says.
Peat hesitates, but then speaks up, “...Or maybe she’ll let us do something else.”
“Knowing her, I doubt it, but it won’t hurt to ask. So… how about we try that, if she declines we can agree to do something and later figure out what to do. If we don’t pull a prank on them we’re no worse off than if we flat out disagree, right?”
“I guess not…” The unicorn filly admits. “Let’s try that at least.”
“Okay then, let’s get this over with.” He heads back over to Diamond Tiara’s table and asks, “Is there anything else you’d consider in exchange?”
"Anything?" Peat repeats for emphasis.
Sonata puts on her most winning smile. "I'm sure we can find something else just as good." Hopefully that's the truth...
Diamond Tiara is about to speak when Silver Spoon opens her mouth. "Come on, Di. Wouldn't it be totally great if instead of pulling a prank on the Crusaders, they had to do something really embarrassing, in front of everypony."
She thinks about it visibly, then decides she likes the idea and gives the three little ponies a predatory grin. “I do like that idea.”
Ugh… well… he still liked that better than hurting somepony else. He sighs and gives a little frown to his friends. “Okay. What is it?”
“Ehm, hmm…” The magenta filly makes thinking noises, some legitimate and some surely to put the colts and filly on edge. “I’ve got it! You three should put on a musical show for everypony here…”
Sonata looks cautiously optimistic, but knows enough to sense the catch coming a mile away.
“But no music. Only singing, a capella.” Diamond looks pleased as punch with herself, and with Sonata and Peats’ reactions. The former especially looks more worried now than before. Music is her special talent, and it’s going to be used to humiliate her! She’s not a singer, but knows how much practice it takes for ponies to harmonize singing like that. This is going to be rough, to put it lightly… even if she’ll do it for Kopis’ sake.
Wow, that was so much worse than anything he could have predicted. The colt turns a grimace toward his friends. “You guys don’t have to do this…”
“Oh yes, they do~” Diamond Tiara takes a break from her milkshake to butt in with a singsong voice.
Peat shoots her a glare, but looks Kopis in the eyes. “She’s right though. We told you we wouldn’t stop until this was fixed. We can’t let you do this alone.”
Taking some solace in that, Sonata interjects, “Yeah, that’s right!”
Kopis wants to point out to Diamond Tiara that he meant they could figure this out some other way, not that he was trying to change the deal, but… whatever. He assumes a stoic stance and expression. “Okay then, we’ll do it. And in exchange, you’ll tell me everything you know about this book and how to stop it from messing with me?”
"I'm a mare of my word," she responds, lifting her chin up as she does. Daddy is a business pony after all, and if he taught her one thing, it's that that's important. "If this is entertaining, I'll tell you everything I know."
He nods and raises an eyebrow. “And you do actually know something about it, right? Not just making us do this for giggles?”
“I know it belongs to my family, and how to make it stop what it’s doing. That has to be good enough.”
“Yeah, that’s all I care about,” Kopis agrees. He sighs. “When and where do you want us to do this?”
"Well... normally I would say to do it right now, in front of half your class..." Diamond Tiara says in the tone that just lets everypony know the biting part is coming next. "But do you really think more time is going to help? And how much time can you afford to waste?"
He grumbles something and shakes his head. Really, he was getting off easy. She could have arranged for a bigger crowd or something… “No, I guess not. What should we sing?”
The filly shrugs. "I didn't have anything in mind. Just pick something amusing." Really, Diamond Tiara doesn't expect anything to turn out well. If they thought they could do it, they would look less nervous, and she would be having a lot less fun.
Which was definitely Sonata’s department. Kopis turns to her with a questioning look, hoping she’d have something to suggest.
“Uhhh…” Something easy, that the other two might know… “Think it’s too early for a Hearth’s Warming Carol?”
Oh, probably, but the inappropriateness would probably make Diamond Tiara happy, and he actually knew a few of those. “They’ve got the stuff up in the shops already, so I guess not. Which one?”
Does it even matter? “Uh… you both know Let it Snow?” the goldenrod filly asks?
He nods weakly. “Yeah. Peat?”
“Y-yep,” the huge colt croaks.
Well, it’s not going to get any easier. Sighing, Sonata looks back at Diamond Tiara. “We’re ready to start.”
“Excellent,” the filly says, rubbing her forehooves together in anticipation. She grabs a spoon in her mouth and taps it loudly against the glass holding her dessert. The dozen or so ponies spread across the large room look over from their tables, as much because of who’s making the sound as because the noise itself. They quiet down and wait for the announcement. “Everypony, you know these three, don’t you?”
Some nods and quiet agreements sound, from the colts and fillies in the threes’ class. “In the spirit of the holidays,” Diamond Tiara continues, “they’re going to sing for everypony!”
Kopis grins sheepishly at everypony gathered, hoping to downplay it as just something silly, which it kind of was.
The collected ponies stare and whisper to each other, wondering what’s going on. Sonata steps forward and tries to give them a winning smile before starting to sing unsurely, “Oh, the weather outside is frightful…”
Kopis forces himself to join in. “But the fire is so delightful…”
"A-and since we've got no place to go," Peat picks up more nervously than the other two. They don't sound terrible so far, but definitely not good enough for ponies to not wonder what's happening. The other foals just stare wide-eyed at the awkward display. Some whisper to each other loudly. "What are they doing?" "It hasn't even snowed yet?" "Is this a joke or something?"
"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow~" The group sings together, still not sound awful... until the next verse begins. "It doesn't s-show..." Sonata tries to remember the words, but they just won't come to her! She hasn't felt stage fright in a long time, but that's because she knows what she's doing when she has an instrument. This is just cruel, making her embarrass herself in a way so close to her special talent. As the crowd gets even less receptive, she begins to wonder if she even deserves her cutie-mark, and she starts choking up.
Only Kopis is singing now. "And I brought some corn for popping~" He sees Peat get a look on his face that he often does right before he takes action. The farmer colt can't just let his friend, who's always there for everypony else, feel like she's alone in the spotlight now. He walks up, singing louder now, "The lights are turned way down low~" and lays a supportive hoof on her withers. Looking up at the taller colt, Sonata smiles and joins them for the final line. "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow~"
Even the nicer ponies are trying not to look at them, especially with Sonata clearly embarrassed to be doing it. Behind them, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are snickering, and one of the fillies in the audience actually boo’s, though to the credit of Ponyville’s foals, she’s the only one.
Kopis isn’t going to let them get him down, and this would be over in a minute. And once it was over, Diamond Tiara was going to cough up the information or else. He looks between Sonata and Peat and steps forward to put himself foremost against the crowd. “When we finally say goodnight…”
"How I'll hate going out in the storm..." Peat sings the next line, even trying to put a little feeling into it.
Sonata perks up, and smiles at Kopis, continuing, "But if you really hold me tight~" Before the three sing together again for the final line, "All the way home I'll be warm."
Their sense of rhythm is still off, singing without any musical accompaniment. And only Sonata really has the knowledge of pitch to try not to sound flat, even if that doesn’t make her any better at actually doing it with her voice. Still, it’s not as bad now, and just manages to be somewhat less than good. Two colts leaves the store with their food, not wanting to be subjected to this anymore. The rest stay pinned in their seats, pinned in place by the intense uncomfortableness of the scene. Quite a few try hard to look distracted.
“The fire is slowly dying,” Kopis goes on, focusing and looking directly ahead rather than at any of his very critical audience. The song was slowly dying at least… almost done.
"And, my dear, we're still good-bye-ing," Sonata sings next in her clear voice, keeping with the new order. It definitely could have gone worse!
Doing his part, Peat continues, glad it's over. "But as long as you love me so..."
"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" they all sing in perfect harmony. Despite most of that being rough, by the end they sound good enough to go caroling on Hearth's Warming Eve. Diamond Tiara has stop her giggling by this point, a slightly displeased they pulled it together in the end. The audience gives some short applause in recognition of that. That definitely wasn't the worst singing they'd ever heard. Half of them still recall the Cutie-Mark Crusaders singing at last year's talent show...
After collecting himself, Kopis whispers a small “thanks” to his friends before turning back to Diamond Tiara. “Okay… that’s our part of the bargain.”
She gives an affected sigh. "I suppose that is." If Daddy taught her anything, it's that a businesspony has to honor their deals. "Okay... the book belonged to my great-grandmother or something. It's been in our family for generations and is a precious heirloom, blah blah blah... I'm sure you’ve noticed it's not just a normal old diary."
He nods. “Yeah… you could say that. None of the adults can see it and ignore it if I try to tell them about it.”
"Mmhmm," Diamond Tiara makes the sound, almost bored. "You could probably hold it out in front of somepony and they'd walk right into it." Silver Spoon giggles at the mental image.
Suddenly, he’s curious why he never tried poking his mom with the book to see what happened, but he was getting sidetracked now… “Right, so what do we do about it?”
“In the study in my family’s mansion, there’s a way to stop the journal from doing what it does.”
Kopis is sensing a catch here. “Okay, so… can we go there now?”
“If by we you mean you and your friends, then be my guest. I didn’t agree to go anywhere,” she answers and gives a haughty smile.
Pfft, of course. He rolls his eyes. “Will your family let us in? What do we do when we get there?”
“I wouldn’t let ponies in off the streets. But you might be able to get in.” Honestly, that’s his problem.
Seriously? Seriously. He rolls his eyes again. “Okay, if you won’t help, then fine, we’ll figure it out. Thanks anyway,” he grumbles. He turns away and waits for his friends to join him in walking away.
That they do, grumbling as well. “Anytime. Toodle-loo,” Diamond Tiara says and waves .
Kopis heads outside and orients himself in the direction that he thought Diamond Tiara lived. “Thanks for the help back there guys…”
"Any time," Sonata pipes up, with just a little less pep than the others would normally hear.
"Yup..." Peat rumbles. Everypony feels the same drain, after that, even with the relief of it being over.
He takes a deep breath and asks, “So, do either of you know for sure where she lives? Or have any ideas on how we’re going to get in if they won’t just let us in?”
“I know where she lives. It’s not easy to miss. But, if they don’t let us in…” Sonata trails off.
Peat makes a groaning sound. “...What about sneaking in? It ain’t right, but neither is letting you disappear.”
Kopis shakes his head. “I know. Maybe the book’s magic would make me easy enough to miss that I can if I have to though. Guess we’ll figure this one out somehow,” he adds, trudging off.
It doesn't take long to get to where the veritable mansion can be seen, and like Sonata said, it'd be hard to miss. It's easily one of the largest buildings in Ponyville, and speaks to the family's prestigious history as partially responsible for the town even existing. The goes along the hedge wall that separates the estate from the rest of the town, and it towers over the little ponies. A few minutes later, they come to a bronze gate, partially open, and a path that leads up the the mansion itself.
“No gatekeeper?” Kopis asks himself as they get closer. “Um, well, I guess we can head closer then.” He pushes the gate open a bit more and signals for his friends to follow. The three walk up the path cautiously, but see no signs that anypony plans to stop them. Up the steps, on an impressive veranda, are a set of large double doors, each with a door-knocker attached partway up.
Kopis looks at the knockers for a few long moments. “Guess we should try the easy, direct way first.” He cautiously reaches up and gives a solid knock at the door. Kopis has to rear up to reach the knocker that’s clearly meant for bigger visitors to use. By standing up on the tips of his hooves though, he reaches it and the sound is suitably loud to carry inside the house, surely.
A minute or two later, hoofsteps sound and the doors open with golden magic hazes. Inside the vestibule, a prim, grey, unicorn dressed in black-and-white butler’s attire answers and looks directly from Sonata to Peat and back. “Friends of young Miss Tiara?” The butler asks in a precise, upper-class, but very disinterested voice. “I’m afraid she’s out. Good day.”
Here went nothing. Kopis leaves the book in his bag, but tries to see if he was invisible or anything yet. “She told us to bring a book back to the library here for her. Can we come in?”
The unicorn stallion looks between the other two young ponies, confused. His eyes settle on Kopis and he asks, “Have you been here the whole time?”
Hmm… almost. He nods and considers if he could use the book as a shield or something so he could sneak inside. “Yes sir. We found this book that belongs to you,” he says, pulling it and holding it up.
He looks back at Sonata when Kopis puts the book in his field of view. "Did you need something? I believe I mentioned Miss Tiara is not home at the moment," he says insistently. Somepony needs to ensure lunch is made on time, and little ponies wasting that time is not helping.
Bingo. Kopis looks at Peat and Sonata, then shrugs. “I’ll try sneaking in,” he whispers, hopefully unnecessarily. “Just stay near the house in case I need you, okay?” With that, he raises the book up again and tries to slip inside while the butler had his attention on the other two. Growing tired of waiting, the butler stallion tells them, “I’ll need to ask you to leave, as I’m very busy,” as he begins to shut the doors.
Seeing what Kopis is doing, Sonata helps. “Oh, okay. We’ll go look for her somewhere else. Goodbye!” The stallion pays Kopis no mind, and his vision of his friends diappears as the heavy doors shut between them.
Heh, he should have kept his ninja costume on from Nightmare Night. Kopis grins a little as he sneaks inside, but quickly returns to the mission at hoof. Now, where would a library be? Could be anywhere, and his only real option is to just start systematically searching. He waits for the butler to go back to what he was doing before he inches off and heads down the nearest hallway.
Kopis finds himself in a larger room, with hallways going off to the left and right, and a staircase leading upstairs. Statues are around the room, and a few paintings decorate the walls. Large windows let in a very clear amount of light, but as he is now, the colt isn’t sure he needs to worry about being seen.
With no clear way to go, Kopis picks the left since he was left hoofed. Man, who needed a house so big you needed a map for it?
While wondering this, Kopis sees a pegasus maid floating up ahead, dusting the top shelves of a bookshelf. She apparently finishes, and flutters down the hallway in his direction.
Oh, bookshelf! Those had books! Kopis finds a little spot between cabinets to hide and wait for to fly by before he slinks out and goes to investigate what was in the direction she came from.
Unfortunately for Kopis, the bookshelf doesn’t seem to be anything special, and nor does it seem to be missing any books. But, he hears the voice on an older, possibly familiar, stallion from further down the hallway.
Hmm, whether or not this would lead to the library, it might be something he needed to hear. He slips that way, trying to keep quiet so he can overhear whatever is being said.
Whatever was said was too far to hear, and the conversation ends before Kopis can get any closer. However, he does hear hoofsteps on hardwood flooring coming towards him. Soon enough, the image of a smiling Filthy Rich comes into view. Being a local business magnate, and Diamond Tiara's father, somepony would be hard pressed to find a pony in town who didn't recognize him immediately.
Uh oh. Kopis ducks into the nearest hiding spot, still not trusting the book to keep him completely hidden. Filthy Rich probably wouldn’t be happy seeing him in his house uninvited!
Kopis doesn’t need to find out. The stallion walks by without looking between furniture to see the colt hiding in his hallways. Soon enough, he passes by, onto another part of the house.
Whew… this was getting tiring. He waits for the stallion to be well out of sight before he sneaks off to finish exploring in this direction. At the end of the hallway, he comes a heavy wooden door. It’s been left partially-open, and inside, Kopis cans ee the walls are lined with bookshelves. Bingo! The colt scurries inside and begins looking for anything unusual which might point him to the next step on this ridiculous little quest. An empty book stand maybe…
That’s precisely what Kopis sees after a quick scan of the small library. Off to his left, in a prominent alcove between two bookshelves, is a metal bookcase with a closed, glass, cover. The case is taller than he is and he can’t see what’s inside, but nearby there’s a small stool he could grab. Without missing a beat, he hurries over and slides the stool up to the stand so he can prop up and get a look inside. Diamond Tiara said there was something he’d have to do here, but of course she didn’t say what…
The inside of the case is soft, deep purple, fabric. Maybe some sort of felt. It has an empty indentation which Kopis can immediately reason would fit the size of the book perfectly. The outside of the case, around the sides, has a bunch of funny-looking circles, along with other shapes and strange letters, carved into it. Even if he has no idea what it says, it looks kinda magical. Unfortunately, he also sees that just above the crease where the case opens is a small keyhole.
“How’d this stupid book get out in the streets in the first place?” he whispers to himself as he starts scanning the room for any sign of where the key might be hidden. Diamond Tiara probably had it, knowing her sense of humor. He doesn’t see the key hanging anywhere nearby, and nor does the colt spy any place where it might be obviously kept. Great.
He sighs and examines the stand some more. Maybe there was a clue here on what he had to do. Maybe he didn’t have to actually put the book back in the case. It was a long shot, but…
Yeah, nothing. Darn it. What was he supposed to do now? He wasn’t a real ninja who could pick locks. Nor was he a unicorn, so any magic around was lost on him. What to do? Ugh, Filthy Rich probably had the key on himself or something. Well, before he wasted time and risked checking for it there, he takes the book out and gives it a good look over and through for any clues.
Naturally, there were none, so he accepts the unfortunate truth that he was going to have to go skulking through the house some more and possibly on Filthy Rich’s person. He grumbles something quietly and hurries back out of the library in search of his quarry. He may not really be a ninja, but he certainly moves like one. Nopony even gives him so much as a second glance as he moves throughout the house. Eventually, he sees the stallion he’s tracking go into a room, not wearing anything but a small necklace with a key on it.
Okay… one step at a time. Kopis follows at a distance, trying to size up the situation. Maybe he’d leave the key somewhere. And maybe earth ponies will fly.
When he peers inside, he sees that Filthy Rich is being most uncooperative. Dang it. What was he supposed to do now? There was no way he could just swipe the key, was there? Was he supposed to just ask him for it? Well… maybe? What was he going to do? Surely he’d listen!
Summoning all of his courage, Kopis starts to head inside, hesitates and stops, then tries again. On the third attempt, he manages to quell his fears and steps into the room. “Um. Um, Mr. Rich?”
The brown-coated stallion looks up suddenly, thinking he heard something, and freezes when he sees Kopis. "Who let you in here?"
“Um… um, nobody did, sir. I… I can explain though. I need your help.” He neglects to mention the book, since he had a pretty good idea of what that would do.
Filthy Rich stands up from his desk to walk around in front of it. "What's wrong, son?" This colt seems upset, and however he got here can wait. Even if he seems vaguely familiar. "Are you a friend of Diamond's?"
“Um, um… not exactly. You see… I, uh, I found this book… I think it belongs to you…” he begins, hoping this wouldn’t already derail into uselessness.
Instead, Kopis sees a hopeful glimmer of recognition, followed by the stallion making a face like he's trying very hard to remember something. "A book..." It just won't come to him, even if the thought feels like it's on the tip of his tongue. Filthy Rich has an instinct though; a thought that compels him to do something even if he couldn't say why. "...I think... just follow me." He marches out of the room, and back towards the library. Kopis eagerly agrees and follows suit, hoping this would be over soon.
Politely brushing off anypony who asks if he needs anything along the way, he leads Kopis back to the room and opens up the doors. Immediately, he walks to the case and unlocks it, then stands aside, looking at Kopis.
Taking his cue, Kopis pulls the book out and immediately mounts the stool so he can place it back where it belonged. Please let this dispel the magic!
The book fits snugly into the space for it, and as soon as the cover is closed, the stallion blinks and looks down through the glass. He sighs in apparent relief. "It's all coming back now."
Kopis backs away from the stand. “Did… did that stop it?”
Mr. Rich sets a hoof on the case and looks at Kopis directly. "It did. That's why we had this made years ago." He shakes his head and asks, "But how in Equestria did you get your hooves on it?"
“I found it on the streets. I… don’t know how it got there. I picked it up and that’s when everything started getting weird. My mom couldn’t see it and none of the other adults could either. Um, Diamond Tiara told me that if I brought it back here I could stop it.”
His mouth drops open a little. "... on the streets? Oh, when she gets home..." He'd go out and drag her back this instant if he didn't need the time to come up with a suitable punishment for mistreating a treasured heirloom like that
A small part of Kopis feels a tiny bit of sympathy for her, but it immediately vanishes when he remembers what she put him through. Instead, he tries to change the subject a little by saying, “Um… I’m sorry about sneaking in here, but… thank you for helping me.”
That his house was broken into doesn't seem to register right now. "Thank me? No, thank you. If you hadn't picked it up, who knows what would have happened to it?" It probably would have been left sitting out on the road until there was nothing left.
Glad to have things reflected in such a way, Kopis smiles a little. “You’re welcome.” Um, what now? He should probably go. “Um… my friends were waiting on me outside, so I should probably get going…”
"Now wait just a minute," he interrupts. "It just wouldn't be right to let you slink off without some reward." Now what was this colt's name? The stallion knows he's heard it before.
That got his attention. “Huh? Oh, um, thank you, but…” Wow, he had no idea what to even expect. Filthy Rich was… well, filthy rich, so he could have just about anything...
"Khopesh... No. Kopis! That's it? Well, I'm not sure what sort of compensation would be fair. Some bits, at the very least." It's just too hard to quantify the value of a service like that.
Kopis’s face lights up a bit. Oh, bits? He could get a ton of candy or something. But wait… it was just Nightmare Night. He could get something cool though, that was for sure. “Thank you, that’s um, very generous of you,” he says sheepishly. Wow, even when his mom wasn’t around he couldn’t help but hear her tell him to be polite.
Filthy Rich pats Kopis on the withers. "I always believed ponies should get rewarded for doing the right thing. Losing this book would have been devastating."
“Glad I could help then,” Kopis says, smiling more. Hey, maybe it was a good thing that he found it. Anypony else might have destroyed it or something to try to dispel the enchantment. Speaking of which, why didn’t he think of that?
Filthy Rich motions for Kopis to come along as he walks back to that office. "It's been in our family for generations, you know."
Kopis follows and says, “I did look inside some. It was written by somepony named Crown Jewel? She mentioned going to one of the solar celebration things a long time ago.”
"That's right. She was my great-grandmother." And that Summer Sun Celebration was probably one of the few highlights of her childhood, the stallion considers as he walks.
“Oh, okay. I can see how you might not want to lose the book then,” the colt replies.
"Heh, yes, but the reasons aren't just sentimental." He chuckles at the reasoning and explains, "From her son onwards, practically everypony in our family has read the diary when they were a colt or filly. The hope is that they remember the lessons when they grow up." The two come back to the room he was in before.
Kopis nods again and says in a more quiet voice, “Yeah, I… think I understand that too.”
"Don't ever forget, not everypony has a mother like yours,” the stallion tells him softly. Opening a drawer, he takes out a coin purse and sets it on the desk.
Yet again the colt nods. “Yeah, I know.” He tries not to sound prideful on that last bit, but even before today he knew he was pretty lucky there. Recent events really did put it into perspective though. He… really couldn’t wait to get back home now.
If only the stallion's daughter would learn that same lesson so easily...
Filthy Rich upends the bag and splits the bits into a few piles, adding them up. He sweeps one of the piles into a temporary paper bag with a string to carry it by. Earth ponies have to find ways around even simple tasks, but they always manage somehow.
Holding it out by the string, he offers it to Kopis. "There's a little something for your trouble."
Kopis smiles widely and accepts the bag. “Thank you very much.”
"Don't mention it. And don't go spending it all in one place, ” he smiles back and says good-naturedly.
Kopis nods. “I won’t.” Awesome! Wow, Diamond Tiara’s dad was way nicer than she was.
Shortly thereafter, Kopis finds himself back at the front door after being escorted out. Down the path near the gate, he sees his two friends waiting, just as he asked. Grinning ear-to-ear, he gallops down the path toward them. “Guys!”
Sonata has a grin to match his. "Kopis!"
Peat stops his pacing to look up. "What happened?"
“We fixed it! Um, Mr. Rich and I did, I mean. There was a book case we had to put the book back in, but once we did the magic should stop.”
"So everypony can see you now?" Sonata asks to be sure.
“Uh huh.” Kopis realizes he hasn’t actually really tested that yet, but… “Oh, and Mr. Rich was so thankful for me returning the book that he gave me this!” He shows them the bag of bits. “I figured since you two helped we should split it.”
"Cool! Thanks,” Sonata will accept her part if he wanted to share.
"I'm not sure I should," Peat begins. "We couldn't not help... But if you're sure, thank you kindly."
Kopis nods. “Yep. I mean, it’s not like I really did much more than you two and I wasn’t expecting it anyway, so yep.” He puts a hoof to his chin. “I was going to suggest going to get milkshakes with it or something, but after earlier I dunno… you two have any ideas?”
They both have a few, after the three spend a few minutes talking about it. However, it's been a while since school ended, and everypony needs to get home, not the least Kopis. So after plans are quickly made, the relieved ponies part ways.
Kopis feels a little apprehension as he gets close to home. While he was all but certain the magic had been dispelled and everything should be back to normal, he wouldn’t know for sure until he talked with Kris and his mom. He pauses at the door for a moment, preparing himself for the worst should it somehow come to pass.
Opening the door, he pokes his head inside and looks around. No sign of anypony, so he heads in and calls, “Hello? Anypony here?”
Almost immediately he hears hooves clacking on the wood floor, followed by Kris popping from around the corner. “Kopis!” She slips up to him and says, “Where have you been? I was about to go looking for you… the library might be closed by now.”
“Oh, it’s okay, you don’t-”
His mom appears next, dressed as if she was planning to spend an extended period outside. Her scarf trails behind her with her mane and tail as she darts forward. “Kopis! Where hast thou been? It is very strange for thee to be so late getting home from school. I was growing concerned and thy sister and I were about to look for thee.”
Oh boy, how could he explain that he was slinking around in the Richs’ home? Yay that she could see him, of course. Super yay at that. But how could he explain that? “Um, sorry, I hooked up with Sonata and Peat after school and we went by Sugarcube Corner for a little while.” He grins nervously. “Sorry.”
Any irritation or worry Falcata shows vanishes in a moment. She ruffles his mane and smiles. “That is alright, but… try not to worry me so. Let me know if thou art going to be late coming home, or come by here first, okay?”
He nods, not caring that it didn’t make a whole lot of sense that he’d need to tell her he’d be late if he was late and unable to tell her. He hugs her leg. “Okay mom, I will, I promise.” Yeah, not everypony had a mom like he did, did they?
She returns the hug after a second. “Fret not over it.” After a moment, she asks, “Is everything alright?”
More than she could ever know. Maybe literally. “Uh huh, just glad to be home, is all.”
Falcata unravels her scarf and slings it over her back. “Alright then. Come on in and get warmed up. Dinner will be ready after a while. I am afraid that I have not had time to start it yet.”
He smiles and nods. “Don’t worry, I can wait a little while.” Boy, he never really thought about how good it felt to know that he had a mom who cooked for him every day…
As Falcata departs to go tend to dinner, Kris pulls Kopis closer and asks, “...what did you do?”
“Sonata and I went by the library before school and found out who the diary belonged to. Turns out it belonged to Diamond Tiara’s family… it was an old heirloom.” He rolls his eyes. “Anyway, Mr. Filthy Rich helped me to remove the curse by putting it in a special case that nullified the magic.”
Kris raises an eyebrow and looks around toward where their mom disappeared off to. “Huh… really? That’s… well, that’s nice of him. Wow, here I was worried we’d never figure it out and you went and solved it without me.” She smiles and ruffles his mane. “Good job.”
He grins and giggles. “Thanks, but I had a little help.”
“Oh, right.” She waves for him to follow her. “Why don’t you explain it all while we wait for dinner?” She grins mischievously. “Maybe you should, I dunno, even write it in a diary…?”
“No! No, anything but that!” He giggles again and follows his big sister.
He really loved his family...