Lessons in quirks

by Mike84


Chapter LXVII

"So what happened then?" Rainbow Dash asked when the silence except for the pattering of the rain outside began to get uneasy.
Frank shrugged. "There is not much more left to tell that you don't know already. She turned up at Golden Oak Library. Of course this was not really to ask for my whereabouts, but to make sure that you, Twilight, and perhaps some other ponies would see her in her royal guard appearance before she would get rid off me. She then tried to do just that... you know, she should have succeeded."
"What? Why, Frankie? She should not have—" Pinkie Pie began, but Frank shook his head.
"Of course I don't wish it had turned out any different, but before you arrived, Twilight, she could have hit me with her spells several times, but still missed. It was so... unlikely."
"Are you complaining about too much luck?" Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No", Frank said very matter of factly. "I'm glad I have been so lucky tonight."
There was no sign on his face nor any intonation of his voice that would have marked Frank's words as sarcasm, but once again Twilight felt a sting at the thought of a broken and burned saddle-bag.
"After you arrived, she just tried to make a getaway", Frank continued. "She probably thought the game was up until she understood that you were unaware of what she was and after you crashed in the forest. Again, her decision to stop in the forest and go after you rather than continuing her flight may have been partly because she was getting somewhat inconstant from all the mind switches of the last hours, but maybe she also saw a good chance to take you by surprise, Twilight."
Frank was silent for some moments before he said: "I think that is everything. You all know what happened in the forest."
"Actually Ah don't", Applejack said. "For example, why didn't that thing manage to take you over there in the forest? And what exactly happened to it? Is it, or she, still about? Who is she anyway? And what was all she was doing about?"
Frank hesitated for a moment and his eyes wandered to briefly meet the expectant looks of everyone present. "I don't know all of this for certain. Back in the forest... I knew what the attacker was and was expecting what she was trying to do. That probably helped making it more difficult for her. Also, she was very drained of magical powers by the time and the burden of frequent switching in the recent past was working against her."
Frank stopped as if thinking about what to say next.
"They feed on positive emotion", Frank finally said. "I don't think I was feeling very positive at the time. This may have had some effect too."
Princess Luna eyed Frank with a very unexpressive look.
"And finally your shield-spell, Twilight. It hit while she was not in a solid form. I think— and I'm only guessing here, there is nothing about this in Dr. Quircs' book— that a switchling while switched to the body of somepony else remains unaffected by the shield spell. It seems like the only way Queen Chrysalis could ever enter or remain in Canterlot while the great shield was in place there. She must have been switched to Princess Cadence or perhaps somepony else at the time the shield was first cast. From what I heard, the shield spell just expelled all these changelings from Canterlot, but my guess is that perhaps the shield-spell had an even stronger effect on her in this kind of vapor form than it would have while she had a solid body."
"Is she... dead?" Fluttershy whispered quietly.
"I don't know", Frank said after a moment. "I don't know what happened to her after the shield-spell hit. All I do know is that she was very, very drained at the time."
There was a bright flash of lightning outside, followed by a rolling thunder that rattled the windows of the town hall. Twilight swallowed and felt reminded of the dissipating of King Sombra back in the Crystal Empire. He had been a threat to everypony and they had done what had to be done, but nevertheless it had always been more of a comfort rather than a source of insecurity for Twilight that there hadn't been any body of a king demised. No matter what, she abhorred the thought of having been responsible for the death of anyone or anything. Perhaps the insecurity about the fate of this attacker was a bit of a blessing in disguise.
"Who is she?" Princess Celestia asked after a moment, picking up one of the basic questions Applejack had put up before.
Frank closed his eyes once again and gritted his teeth, frantically trying to remember, but he ultimately sighed and shook his head before he opened his eyes again.
"I am very sorry, Your Highnesses. I'm sorry everyone. I don't know. I don't remember. I don't even have any idea whether or not I did know at the moment right after she was gone. Gone. It's all gone!"
He seemed very frustrated, moved one hoof to his mouth and for a moment it seemed like he was going to bite it before instead he rubbed his forehead again.
Twilight cast a look at the sheets of paper lying in front of Frank, the one he had scribbled in the forest and the other one on which he had put the different marks and symbols in order, here in the town hall. Suddenly her eyes narrowed and then widened.
"Frank, what is this? What does that mean?" she tapped one symbol on the sheet from the forest. Not only had she noticed it was the only sign that Frank had not copied to the other sheet of paper, but something else about it had caught her attention. The symbol was a large spiral.
Again Frank shook his head.
"Something. It must have meant something, but I just don't know anymore. I have no idea where to put this one."
Princess Celestia knew her former student well enough not to have missed her reaction to the unaccounted symbol.
"Twilight, does this sign tell you anything?"
"I don't know what it means, but I think it is important. Back there there in the forest when I was talking to the attacker I did ask her who she was. She responded with some riddle talk..."
Twilight was racking her mind and wished for Frank's ability to remember exactly what others had said.
"She called herself an enemy of an enemy of mine. And she called herself a precursor and a teacher to a hostile friend."
"Well, that makes everything perfectly clear", Spike said, rolling his eyes and earning himself an angry look from Twilight, but the little dragon was tired and exhausted and those were conditions that didn't bring out his more helpful site. Twilight decided to ignore the remark and continued.
"When I then asked for her name, she said: 'my name sucks for vortex it is'."
Rainbow Dash snorted slightly, but kept herself from giving any unhelpful comments about this.
"Vortex", Twilight said, tapping the spiral symbol again. "Maybe that's what this is. Maybe this symbol is about the identity of this attacker."
She turned to Princess Celestia: "Do you know of any fiend of Equestria whose name has anything to do with a vortex?"
The high princess slowly shook her head after a few moments. "I can't say I do."
"Frank...", Twilight turned to the colt, "...do you remember anything about this if you think of it as a vortex or something like that?" She was tapping the spiral symbol again.
Frank shook his head again. "I'm sorry", he muttered.
Twilight sighed. It was frustrating to feel that she was on the right track but lacking a decisive piece.
"So what is it about the intentions of this elusive attacker?" Princess Luna asked after a while. "Mr. Blanket, you made it sound like much of her actions were committed unplanned or spontaneous. Are you saying that she is, or was, just some kind of desultory madcap?"
"No", Frank said immediately. "Her actions here in Ponyville were rather spontaneous, but there was something she hoped to achieve. While not all of her actions were planned in advance, they were meant to promote a higher goal. Some big scheme. She thought of it as 'the purpose' or 'the endeavor'."
"Well then what was it?" Rainbow Dash asked impatiently.
Once again Frank closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, pressing both forehooves against his forehead as if he could thereby squeeze some memory back to his mind.
"Now don't you say you forgot that one too!" Rainbow Dash said dismayed. "That's the most important—"
"I DIDN'T FORGET!" Frank shouted, banging both of his hooves onto the table fiercely enough to rattle the cups. Everyone was looking at him taken aback and Rainbow Dash even flinched as Frank gave her a furious stare. For a brief moment Twilight was reminded of the few previous occasions when Frank had lost his poise and... not shown the hoof that looked best to others. The colt continued angrily, talking himself into a rage:
"My memory is quite good, Rainbow Dash! But those weren't my memories to begin with! I got a glimpse at the mind of her like nopony should and it is for good reason that ponies taken over by a switchling don't remember or that the switchling cannot take the victim's memories along. Minds aren't meant to be mixed like that! And if now I don't have a clue what her big plan was, it is because I don't think she was thinking about its details all the time; same as anypony wouldn't keep thinking about the expected ends all the time when they are long clear!"
The harshness of his tone gradually ebbed away and suddenly he was looking rather mortified as it only now seemed to dawn on him that he had thumped the table and thrown a rather uncourtly fit in the presence of no less than three princesses, a mayor and the wielders of the Elements of Harmony.
"I'm sorry", he mumbled. "I did not mean to loose countenance."
Rainbow Dash just nodded, making a mental note to ask Twilight what exactly 'countenance' meant later on. Frank Blanket however didn't quite manage to regain it, as much as he was trying to put on a dignified face again. He was trembling slightly and finally covered his face with his hooves.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I cannot be of any more help. I believe I have said everything that I can say...
I am not feeling very well anymore. I know no more. Not anymore. I'm just so... wiped out."
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both gave Frank Blanket scrutinizing looks for some moments before at last Celestia nodded.
"It's alright", she said. "It has been a long day for everypony here. And every dragon", she added with a nod at Spike who appeared to be in an intense struggle with his eyelids. "It may be best if those of us retire whose time it is to do so."
"Uhm... Your Highnesses, I beg your pardon", Mayor Mare piped up, looking rather uncomfortable. "I heard and understood enough to address the citizens of Ponyville tomorrow. Because of what I heard, I am thoroughly convinced of the innocence of Mr. Blanket in the crimes he stood accused of. I'm bound to my obligations to the law and to the fact that our judge, unaware of course of what happened since and what we heard here, ruled that he was to be sent to Canterlot for further inquiries. I beg you to give further instructions on the status of Mr. Blanket."
There were some baffled looks from some of the ponies present and it was quite obvious that Mayor Mare felt awkward about her office necessitating her to clarify the status of the colt who, though the mayor had carefully avoided alluding to this fact, was technically an escapee.
However awkward, it appeared that Princess Luna appreciated the mayor's old school conscientiousness and with an official tone she declared: "By my royal authority I instruct thee to release Mr. Blanket from custody and consign any further possible investigations to me. I further declare my royal pardon for any trespasses he may have committed in this, my night, in the efforts to persecute the attacker guilty of the crimes he himself was accused of."
"Please...", Frank protested weakly. "...I don't mean to be cleared by a pardon, but by everypony understanding that I didn't do anything to require a pardon."
"This is my royal order!" Princess Luna stated in a firm no-nonsense tone. "And you will accept it!"
Frank nodded with nothing else he could do.
"I will make sure ponies will understand that you weren't the culprit", Mayor Mare reassured Frank quietly.
The colt nodded and reached for his neck with one hoof, groping there for something before he looked down and groaned.
"The ring is gone", he mumbled.
"I beg your pardon?" Mayor Mare asked confused.
"The magic suppressor ring I had to wear around my neck. I must have lost it at some point tonight."
"We can make do without it, I guess... in case it doesn't turn up again", Mayor Mare sighed.
Frank nodded curtly and muttered a quiet "Thank you."
He then took a little bow towards Twilight and said: "I should get my tent from the library then."
"Your tent?" Rarity echoed disbelievingly.
"Are you out of your mind?" Applejack said. "You cannot seriously mean to set up a tent in this weather!"
As if to underline her words, there was a flash of lightning outside and a few moments later a loud rolling thunder drowned out the persistent pattering of the rain. Frank cut a rather stoic face.
"Mr. Blanket...", Mayor Mare said hastily. "If you want to, you are welcome to spend the night up in the storeroom. No reason anymore to think of it as a jail or whatever else."
Franks face softened a little. "Yes, thank you. I appreciate that a lot."
He gave a little nod in every direction and looked at Princess Luna and Princess Celestia as if to make sure that they had no objections against him taking his leave, but when Princess Celestia herself got up, so did he, shuffled to the stairs and began to stagger up.

"Captain Crescent", Princess Luna said after a few moments.
"Your Highness?" the captain of the guard sprang to attention.
"I want you to fly to the castle in the forest. Take along whom you want and seize the stolen money from the castle library so it can be returned to the rightful owner. Afterwards I want you to help the other guards in rounding up what precarious creatures are roaming the surroundings of the forest. I shall be joining them soon."
The captain of the guard took a snappy salute and with a swirl of dark cloth and metal he made for the door and took off as soon as he left the town hall.
Mayor Mare too took her leave now and Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy also bid farewell. Fluttershy invited Zecora to spend the night at her cottage, an offer which the zebra gladly accepted as it spared her a dangerous night walk through pouring rain and a forest even more restless after the fire than it would have been in a regular night. When at last only the three princesses were still there, Celestia nodded at the book and the scribbled pieces of paper still lying on the table.
"My dear Twilight, I believe these should be brought to the Royal Library in Canterlot and I am going to study them closely for any further information they may hold. But I believe that you should study them first. Please send them to me as you see fit."
From somewhere, Celestia produced a weatherproof looking pouch into which she levitated the book and the sheets of paper. As she accepted the pouch, Twilight was wondering if Celestia's might went so far as to produce items such as this pouch from thin air by means of her magic or if she had just summoned an already existing pouch. She felt too tired to ask about it now and she envied Spike a little who had fallen asleep by now and was snoring audibly on her back.