//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Spyra // by angelofrombelow //------------------------------// Ponyville's library was a mess – books were strewn across the floor, left to lie where Twilight had dropped them as she searched for the one she was after. She had woken up early that morning, shaken out of sleep by another nightmare. It was the second one she had experienced since Discord's defeat and had been more frightening and vivid than the first. In her dream, Celestia had been gravely disappointed with her. Twilight could not remember what transgression she had committed to earn the princess's wrath, but the punishment she received was still clear in her mind. Celestia said something about making an example of her and then it started: Twilight felt the slow prickling of her skin as it began to solidify into stone, the effects of the spell creeping up her legs towards her head. She had screamed for the princess to stop but was shown no mercy. The young unicorn became just another statue in Celestia's garden, a warning to others not to fail her. Twilight knew what was causing these nightmares. Discord's words when they first met had deeply unsettled her – his admonishment to Celestia: "At least I don't turn ponies into stone!" She had been having infrequent nightmares since her unfortunate encounter with a cockatrice in the Everfree Forest. Being turned into stone was a terrifying and painful experience. The thought that her compassionate mentor was willing to put another living being through that had caused her dreams to take a change for the worse. But she knew her fears were groundless, a simple after effect of her battle with god of chaos, and she was determined to overcome them. After waking at four in the morning and failing to get back to sleep, she had thrown herself into studying to find a solution to her problem. This had proven tougher than she hoped: she found spells designed to send ponies to sleep but nothing to prevent nightmares; there were potions that could help to soothe her nerves but they wouldn't work on her subconscious mind; and there were even spells that could erase memories, but they were too dangerous to self-administer. In the end she discovered a book that gave the cure for petrification, and this was the one she reading when her dragon assistant Spike finally woke up and came downstairs. "Whoa," he said, taken aback by the mess, "Twilight, how long have you been up?" "Oh, just an hour or so," she said dismissively, before realising the light of the morning had overtaken the artificial light in her room. "Wait, what's the time?" "It's ten o'clock. I'm surprised you didn't wake me up. Didn't you say you had stuff to do today?" Twilight gasped and jumped to her feet, panic overtaking her tiredness. "My checklist!" she cried, dashing over to her desk. Spike wound up the window blinds as she rummaged through her drawers, then he took a peek at the book she had left open on the floor. "The Fantastic Guide to Curing Ailments and Status Effects," he read the cover title aloud, then looked at the page she had been studying, "A soft potion? What's that?" "It's a preventative measure. It protects you from being turned into stone for a full 24 hours," she replied, frantically pulling out scrolls in an attempt to find her timetable for the day. "The first thing I found was a spell that'll change anypony that's been turned into stone back into a pony again, but then I realised that wouldn't do me any good because if I was turned into stone then I wouldn't be able to cast any spells, would I?" Spike looked at his friend, slightly concerned. "Why are you looking that up? You're not planning on going anywhere dangerous, are you?" Twilight let out a grunt of frustration and brought her hoof down on her desk. "I can't find today's schedule! What's the point of having all these checklists if I can't find the one I'm looking for? I need a better way of organising things. I need..." she stopped as an idea hit her, then gasped with delight. "I need a checklist of checklists!" Spike's eyes widened – he recognised that tone of voice. Whenever Twilight got that excited, it usually meant he had a busy day ahead of him. "Now wait a minute," he said hastily, "I'm sure you don't need to go to all that effort. Your filing system's fine the way it is – if you just calm down for a second I'm sure you'll remember where you put that scroll." The purple unicorn didn't hear him. She was already pulling out a fresh piece of parchment and a quill, happily humming to herself as she started jotting down ideas for her new master checklist. Her dragon assistant sighed and walked over to her, then picked up an unopened scroll that had been left lying on her desktop. "This is today's schedule. You must have left it out ready last night." "Oh, that's great! Well done Spike!" she said, still writing away, "Can you read it out to me?" "Do I have to? There's a lot on here." His reluctance earned him a glare from Twilight, so he relented. "Okay, let's see. First port of call is to order more scrolls, then you're supposed to be ordering some cupcakes from Sugar Cube Corner for the picnic on Tuesday, ah… then you're meeting up with Fluttershy and Rarity at the spa and there's something here about seeing a doctor…" Twilight stopped writing suddenly, her face flushing at the thought of Dr Whooves. She quickly took the scroll from Spike's hands and rolled it up. "Right," she said, grinning awkwardly, "I've clearly got too much to do today to start planning out my new master list. Come on, let's get going." "Are you sure you want to head out straight away?" asked Spike, "You're looking a bit tired." Twilight frowned at him, but then took a look at her reflection in the window. He was right – her mane was dishevelled and bags were starting to form under her eyes. She was in sore need of an uninterrupted night's sleep. Before she could respond, there was a knock at her front door. It opened wide as Carrot Top let herself in. The yellow-coated pony had a pair of saddlebags on her back and the pocket on one side appeared to have something heavy inside it. "Oh, Golden Harvest. Good morning." Twilight said, quickly brushing a hoof through her mane. "Good morning," she replied, looking uncertainly at the mess of books scattered across the floor and the bleary-eyed expression on the unicorn's face, "Been pulling an all-nighter, have we?" "Sorry. I mean… yes. Spike, would you…" "I'm on it," he said resignedly, already walking away to clear up the result of last night's studying. "I'm so glad I caught you," said Carrot Top, watching the young dragon move out of range before turning her attention back to Twilight, "I have something that I needed to take care of." She turned her head away, opened up the saddlebag on her back with her mouth and pulled out the contents. Twilight gasped with recognition as she realised what it was. "Ah ha! The History of Gardening, Volume 1!" she cried, using her magic to take the book out of Carrot Top's mouth, "I hope you found it useful." "More interesting than useful, I'd say, but a good read nonetheless. I was wondering if you had the next volume, actually." "I'm sure it's here somewhere," she said, then smiled apologetically as she looked back at the half-bare shelves that Spike was refilling, "You may have to do some digging, though." "That's okay, I've got plenty of time. Would you…" The library door suddenly swung open as a pony pushed her way inside. It was Lyra - she was panting a little and had obviously just been running. She twitched her head this way and that as she quickly took in the scene, and allowed herself a small sigh of relief when she realised all was well. Carrot Top gave her a suspicious look that perhaps went on a moment too long, then walked over to find her book. Twilight trotted up to her friend. "Are you okay? You look a bit flustered," she said. Lyra waved her hoof dismissively, then took a moment to catch her breath. "I'm fine. Morning jog." "Well, okay then. Ooh, hey!" She suddenly perked up as a thought struck her. "I wanted to talk to you. I haven't heard from Dr Whooves since I spoke to him at the party the other night. Has he said anything about me? Did he like me?" She smiled eagerly and leaned forward, forcing Lyra to take a step back. The mint-green coated unicorn grimaced slightly, unsure of how to break the bad news. "Yeah, he… he did talk about you," she said. "YES!" Twilight cried, punching the air with her hoof and earning a surprised glance from Spike and Carrot Top. "What did he say? Does he want to see me again?" she asked, so full of nervous excitement that she was bouncing slightly. "I… I don't know what to say, really," she said, not looking her friend in the eye, "He said you were good company but he…" "But? Oh no. No no. Buts are never good," said Twilight, the grin dropping off her face. "He wasn't really convinced that… I mean, he's not looking for a relationship right now. He liked you – he did say you were attractive, but I don't know. You should probably speak to him." "Hmph." Twilight kicked at the floor, staring down at her hooves. "Well, that's… that's not what I was hoping for. But it wasn't a definite no, was it? Maybe there's still a chance." Lyra thought for a moment, then nodded. "Sure. It's still worth a shot. I'm convinced you'd make a good match if you could get him to give you a chance. You'll just have to seduce him." The young student blushed and turned her face away. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Spike had stopped stacking shelves so he could eavesdrop in a rather unsubtle manner. Upon realising he had been spotted, he quickly got back to work. The awkward silence was broken as the library door opened again, this time letting in Berry Punch. The purple earth pony made eye contact with Lyra and gave a small, thin-lipped smirk. "Wow, another visitor. I don't think I've ever seen this place so busy," said Twilight, forgetting her embarrassment, "How can I help you?" "Oh, I just came here to browse," said Berry, "I'm looking for a good, trashy novel. Nothing too chick-lit – I want something with a bit of action, a little danger." "You're welcome to have a look round. You'll have to forgive the mess," she said. "No problem," Berry said, then strolled over to the fiction section and started flicking through the books on offer. Twilight turned back to Lyra, who had a faintly concerned look on her face. "How about you, Heartstrings? Anything here take your fancy?" "I think I'll have a browse through your selection," she said slowly, "After all, I've got nothing else to do today." "That's great. You'll have to excuse me, though – Spike and I will be heading out in a few minutes. Tell you what, I'll rustle up some milk and cookies for you guys and then I'll leave you here to keep watch on the library for an hour or two. Sound okay?" Lyra nodded and Twilight trotted off merrily towards the kitchen. The three remaining ponies looked at each other momentarily, the silence hanging heavy in the room, before they busied themselves finding something to read. **** Carrot Top flicked through the pages of The History of Gardening, Volume 2 leisurely, being sure to always keep an eye on the window. She was sitting at Twilight's desk and had a perfect view of Noteworthy's house. She had knocked on his front door before coming to the library but there had been no reply. She called out for him, but no response. There had been no sign of life. It was possible that he was just a heavy sleeper, but that didn't answer the question of why he had blown off their date last night. Perhaps he had simply decided he wasn't interested, though Carrot Top was unconvinced. Surely nopony in their right mind would turn down the chance to get with her, unless they had undergone a sudden epiphany regarding their sexuality. That idea gave her pause for thought, but she quickly dismissed it. No, he seemed pretty keen at the party. Something was up. She had to face the possibility that he had discovered her true intentions. He could have fled town, although she had asked around and nopony she knew had seen him since yesterday morning. As a precaution, she had warned her contacts in Canterlot to keep an eye out for him. If he had left Ponyville, this was undoubtedly the place he would go to. For today, she would play things cool but if the night came and there was still no sight of him then she was considering taking things a step further. A spot of breaking and entering could be on the cards – and if he was still holed up inside, he would face her own particular brand of interrogation. Of course, there was always the chance that one of her colleagues had stepped in and taken care of him already. She turned slightly to look at the other two ponies in here with her, keeping an eye on Noteworthy's house as she did so. For the past half hour, Berry Punch had been making her way through the library's fiction section. She would check the plot description on the backs of books and sometimes read a page or two before discarding them, occasionally placing one into what appeared to be a "maybe" pile. The purple pony had already devoured most of the cookies that Twilight had provided, though her glass of milk had been left untouched. Lyra had her face buried in a book about myths and legends and was sitting in a kind of squatting position, her back resting against a bookshelf. Carrot Top thought it looked very uncomfortable. The unicorn kept shooting annoyed glances at Berry, who was now humming to herself happily. The earth pony caught her looking and gave a toothy smile. "Good book?" she asked, an almost taunting quality in her voice. "Yes," came the terse response, "Having fun rearranging Twilight's bookshelves?" "Aw, come on. I'm a very discerning reader. I'm not going to choose anything that isn't worth my time." Lyra tutted and went back to her book, but not before noticing that Carrot Top was watching her. The yellow-coated pony quickly turned her attention back to her own reading material. There had been no activity at Noteworthy's house yet, so her stakeout continued. Slightly bored, she flicked through the chapters until she found something that interested her. She read on, keeping the book raised so she could watch out for her target. She had just come across a segment about the pony who had cooked up a permanent cure for the effects of Poison Joke, a stallion with an hourglass for a cutiemark who went by the name of Baker, when Berry Punch spoke again. "You guys are so quiet. I know this is a library but geez, it's so antisocial. Come on, let's get to know each other better." She nudged Lyra with her hoof. "Why don't you go first? Tell us all about yourself." Carrot Top turned to look at the mint-green unicorn, who had an irritated frown on her face. "I'm trying to read," Lyra said defensively. "So boring," said Berry, "You can talk and read at the same time. We're mares, not stallions – we can multi-task. Let's chat. Tell me your secrets." The harassed unicorn tried her best to ignore her tormentor. Berry Punch refused to let up, however, and started tapping her hoof against Lyra's side, chanting: "Poke. Poke. Poke," as she did so. "I'll go first," said Carrot Top, not wanting the situation to come to blows, "I'm Golden Harvest – you'll know me from the vegetable stall I run. Now, I know you, Heartstrings, because you're a customer of mine. I don't think I've ever seen you at the market though, Miss Punch." Berry grinned. "I prefer fruit myself. Grapes, in particular – especially in liquid form." "Drunkard," growled Lyra, now well and truly fed up with the purple pony. "Please, let's not call each other names," said Carrot Top, "Heartstrings dear, tell us about yourself. I don't think you ever told me what it is you do for a living." The unicorn sighed and put her book down. "I just do odd jobs around the town. If anypony needs a helping hoof and has the bits to spare, I'm willing." "Doesn't sound like you've got a steady income there," said Berry. "I get by. It's not like I lead a particularly extravagant lifestyle." "But still, it must be pretty tough being self-employed. You must have another source of income. Why don't you just come out and tell us what it is?" she said, "Why don't you tell us who you're working for? 'Fess up." Lyra stayed very still, staring straight ahead as she struggled to keep her composure. Carrot Top felt a flutter of nervousness, worried that Berry Punch was about to push her just that little bit too far. Her fears were realised when Berry walked right up to Lyra with a dangerous look in her eyes. "There's no point in keeping quiet, honey," she whispered, "Because if you don't speak up, I will. I'm going to make sure everypony in Ponyville knows everything about you." Lyra leapt to her hooves, keeping her legs wide and her body low, and slowly advanced on Berry Punch, who was backing away at the same pace but had a defiant smile on her face. "You truly think you're better than me, don't you?" she snarled, "You think you're better than me, when all you are is a drink-addled, self-serving waste of time whose only contribution to this town is getting everypony wasted on cheap alcohol!" Carrot Top hopped off her chair, her surveillance mission forgotten for the moment. A fight was the last thing she wanted – she didn't know what Berry was playing at. "So, Miss Punch," she said, unsure of whether she should position herself between the two ponies, "You sell alcohol, don't you? That's, that's very interesting. Why don't you tell us about that?" "Oh, I do more than sell wine," she replied, holding Lyra's gaze, "I own the brewery." "You own a brewery?" Carrot Top gasped in surprise. Lyra was not the least bit perturbed by this information. "Of course she does. Didn't you know?" she asked, "Because I know more about you than you realise, Punch. I've done my research." The purple earth pony's smile faltered as Lyra continued her tirade. "Berry Punch. Originally from Canterlot, with a rich family, made some bad life choices and ended up in Ponyville. Now spends her time living it up, most of it in a drink-induced haze, acting as an off-site manager for the brewery her father helped pay for. No other qualifications to speak of – she's nothing more than a professional alcoholic and an unfit mother…" "YOU! YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" shouted Berry, suddenly enraged. The pair of them squared up against each other, their heads so close that their muzzles were touching. "Got your attention now, haven't I?" said Lyra, "If you really thought I was going to take a threat from the likes of you without doing something about it, you had another think coming." Carrot Top grimaced and backed away from the pair of them. It seemed there was no avoiding it now, a fight was imminent. But in the heat of the moment, nopony had noticed a fourth pony entering the room a couple of minutes ago. "What's going on here? Why are you two fighting?" the pony cried. Twilight Sparkle had returned from her chores and was standing in the entrance to her library. Her surprise at the scene that greeted her had rendered her speechless for a short while. Lyra was the first to simmer down. She backed away from Berry, her anger fading into slight embarrassment. "Fighting? No, we were just… ah." The words faltered on her lips as Twilight frowned in disappointment. Spike entered the library, a fully ticked-off checklist in his hand. "Did we just interrupt something?" he asked, sensing the atmosphere. "Heartstrings and Berry Punch were just leaving," Twilight said firmly. The two ponies looked at each other, a frisson of anger passing between them, before they quietly walked out of the library and went their separate ways. The remaining trio watched them leave. "Sheesh, what was that all about? They looked steamed," said Spike. "I have no idea, I can assure you," Carrot Top said truthfully, shaking her head. She genuinely didn't know the true reason why the two ponies had been tormenting each other. But as soon as she had taken care of Noteworthy, she intended to find out.