//------------------------------// // Chapter XXXIX: Festival // Story: Distorted Fate // by Silvak //------------------------------// Okay... maybe this was a bad idea after all, I thought to myself as Twilight attached some wires to my horn. Only a few hours after we confronted Twilight, we were able to meet up again at her library to begin the examination of my horn. "Are you sure this is safe?" I asked as my eyes traced the wires to some sort of machine, which I guessed was supposed to monitor my horn. "Of course it's safe. I wouldn't deliberately put any foals in harm's way," Twilight said as she flipped a switch, causing the machine to begin to take my readings. Meanwhile, the Crusaders just sat there, mesmerized by all the equipment in Twilight's lab. "Smarty Pants incident," I muttered out loud, causing Twilight's ears to fold against the back of her head as she turned her head towards the Crusaders. "You girls told her about it?" Twilight complained, frowning at the trio. "...Sorry Twilight, it just sort of... slipped," Sweetie said as she rubbed a hoof against the back of her head as the other two averted their eyes. "Can we just get on with this already?" I said as I resisted the urge to pull the wires off my horn. "Fine, Aether, but I thought you had more patience in finding your Cutie Mark than your friends," Twilight teased as and the Crusaders and I scowled at her comment. After Twilight looked at the readings for a moment, she said, "Alright, we have a baseline to work with. Now trying using your magic so I can see the kind of readings we get from that." Grunting, I started out with the telekinesis spell, levitating a bunch of books that Twilight provided for the examination. After a while, Twilight had me move onto other spells, from continuous use of the light spell to repeatedly casting the come-to-life spell. Eventually Twilight said, "Hmm... no real changes to your magical readings beyond normal fluctuations due to magic use. Are you certain that there was nothing else going on when you had those sensations?" "No, it was just a usual morning for me. I didn't experience anything out of the ordinary," I answered. "Hmm... maybe you were just expe—don't touch that!" Twilight yelled, as I turned my head to see Sweetie Belle about to touch a Maralus shard that Twilight had absentmindedly left out on a stand. "What? I just wanted to touch the crystal. I’ve never seen something like that before," Sweetie whined as she withdrew her hoof. "Sweetie, that's no normal crystal. It doesn't react like most crystals or gems do to magic, and it can be dangerous depending on what spells are used on it," Twilight explained. The Crusaders let out a unified 'oh' till Scootaloo said, "Wait, is this what came from the explosion over a month ago? Is it some sort of weird alien crystal?" as she became excited at the thought of seeing an alien artifact. "Maybe it turns ponies into mutants, or even aliens!" Apple Bloom said, getting caught up in Scootaloo's excitement. "...Gah! Get it away from me! I don't want to turn into a mutant!" Sweetie said as she began to backpedal from the shard. Twilight dragged her hoof down her face as she said, "First Spike, now you three? The crystal isn't probably alien in origin, and it doesn't turn ponies into mutants." As Twilight's words began to calm the Crusaders down, an evil thought came to my mind. "But Twilight, since you said 'isn't probably alien in origin', doesn't that mean it could still be sent by aliens?" I said with a mischievous grin on my muzzle. This only sent the Crusaders into panic mode as Twilight shot at me an angry look. "Aether, don't make it any worse! Girls, the crystal isn't going to do anything to you three. It only reacts when magic is used on it," Twilight said, as I snickered at the sight. After everyone finally calmed down, they all turned to glare at me. "Sorry. I just couldn't resist," I giggled at them. Rolling her eyes, Twilight muttered to herself, "She's definitely becoming more like Pinkie," before she returned her attention to the readings. "That wasn't very nice," Sweetie complained. "Well, sorry, then. I just needed a laugh since I have all these wires attached to my horn right now. Besides, we're in a laboratory. We shouldn't be touching anything anyway," I replied before Twilight input the readings gathered so far as she turned towards us. "Well, sorry girls, but I found nothing in Aether's readings that would suggest anything unusual for a unicorn filly. For now, I just recommend that she take note of what’s happening around her if she feels the sensations again," Twilight said as she pulled the wires off of me while the Crusaders became saddened with the news. "I thought we were so close to gettin' you a Cutie Mark, Aether," Apple Bloom said, to which I replied with a pat on her shoulder. "It's alright. We can always just go back to crusading again," I said in an attempt to soothe their gloom. "But I wanted to try to try to get my Cutie Mark at being an escapist," Sweetie whined. "Escapist?" Twilight asked, causing my ears to perk up in shock that Sweetie let that slip. As Sweetie opened her mouth to answer, I stuck my hoof into it as I said, "It's nothing, just a suspicion on what could be triggering my horn. Just a random suspicion, nothing more." Raising an eyebrow, Twilight gave us a hard look before shrugging. "Alright, girls. Good luck in your crusading," she said as she head up the stairs with us flowing in tow. As we left the library, Twilight said, "Aether, I need to tell you one last thing." Turning around, I asked, "What is it?" "I'm not a mad scientist, so you don't have to get the Crusaders to come with you to help you escape," Twilight said with a grin as she closed the door. I only stared in shock for a moment before returning to my senses as I said, "Sweetie, next time don't let other ponies know what we're planning about if it's something like being an escapist again." After the trip to Twilight's, we went back to the old method of crusading for the rest of the afternoon before turning in for the day. When I woke up the next morning, I noted that my horn wasn't feeling strange like it did yesterday, which led me to believe that it was just only a fluke. The day proceeded like a normal school day, with boring classes in the morning and being bullied during recess, until after class I caught wind that the Crusaders were taking part in some fashion show hosted for the festival. They were surprised that I wasn't included, but I explained to them that I wasn't remotely interested in wearing a dress, at least for now. Also, since Rarity didn't ask me earlier to participate, I guess that meant she hadn't finished the dress she was planning to make for me. I did spot Rarity later that day, where I was treated to the most ridiculous sight I had ever seen. She was wearing some kind of overalls with a straw hat, and her mane and tail were a mess. It was so ridiculous that I ended up on my back, laughing at the top of my lungs at the sight.  This prompted Rarity to come over to me as she asked, "What's the matter, Aether?" This only sent me into a new round of laughs, as her voice was trying to imitate the accent Applejack has, though she was horrible at it. "What... why... are you... looking... like that?" I asked after coming down from my wave of laughs that left me short of breath. "I'm just dressed for the festival's theme, which I had chosen to be more of a homely country event," Rarity answered. I looked at her with a straight face for a moment before bursting out into laughter once more, causing her to give me a huff of frustration before moving on to go to whatever silly scheme she might have going on. After I finally recovered from my laughing spree, I returned home to continue practicing magic since everypony appeared to be busy for the preparations for the festival. On the day when the Ponyville Days Festival was held, I simply took a back seat to most of the festivities. I watched the fancy cider tasting event, and I stayed far away from the gala event for I didn't really want to any foal coming up to me to ask for a dance. Yet for the fashion show, even though I had no love for fashion, I attended it for the sake of my friends. As I watched the Crusaders in their dresses along with Rarity in something she would naturally wear, I noticed Apple Bloom's brother Big Macintosh was standing next to me. Despite how often I hung out with the Crusaders, I never really had an opportunity to talk to him privately. "...So, do you like the fashion show?" I asked, as I decided to break the ice. "Eeyup," he replied. "...Apple Bloom does look nice in that dress of hers." "Eeyup." "...You're one of those stallions of few words, aren't you?" "Eeyup." "...You're not paying attention to a single thing I'm saying." "Nnnope." Raising an eyebrow, I turned my attention to him to see him giving me a small smirk. Rolling my eyes, I returned my attention to show. "Well, is there anything you want to talk about since we're both here?" "I heard that you've been keepin' Apple Bloom away from trouble." "Well, I try... but it is sort of my fault in the first place. I may have inspired them to try some more... 'extreme' ideas for their crusading. So it's my responsibility to keep them from getting hurt," I admitted. "Mighty responsible of you to admit that." "Eeyup," I replied, causing him to look at me as I smirked back at him. We both continued watching the fashion show, though for an instant, I felt that weird pressure on my horn again. Tapping it, I looked around, trying to find something out of the ordinary. Sadly, the feeling left as quickly as it had come, only leaving me confused as to what was causing that sensation. I even checked my flank, only to see it as blank as ever. Guess it may not be a fluke after all... Since it was late, I decided to simply wait until tomorrow morning to tell Twilight about this. After the fashion show ended I went straight home, where I had dinner, went straight to my room, and turned in for the night. However, before I went to bed, I took a quick look at the Maralus shards hidden in my toy chest, only to find them to be exactly like they were when I first stored them. Shrugging, I slipped into my covers, deciding that it may be better to have a good night's rest before I return to figuring this matter out.