//------------------------------// // Chapter Eight - …Except When One Is Yours. // Story: Twilight's First Foals -- Episode II - The Foal of The Origin // by One Universe One story //------------------------------// Yawn “-Where- aah!” Is all Contact could say before realizing he was resting beside Pinkie. “Um, Miss Pinkie?” he asked as he tapped Pinkie on the left shoulder. “What is it, cutie?” Pinkie said as she rolled over with hearts in her eyes. “Miss Pinkie, what's going on!” he asked as he began trying to get away from Pinkie who was reaching for him. “Solair stop this daymare!” Contact said as he put himself in a corner. ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ “Contact… Contact! Contact, snap out of it!” Twilight said snapping Contact of of his daymare. Contact then realized that he was sitting at the breakfast table with a breakfast cake hanging out of his mouth. “Sorry, Twilight,” he said hanging his head in shame after taking a bite, swallowing, and setting the rest back on his plate. “Solair again?” she asked before she resumed eating. “Yes, he gets more… inappropriate… each time.” “Who this time and where?” “Pinkie, my room,” he replied still hanging his head in shame. “At least it didn't really happen and you're not physically old enough for something like that to happen.” “May I be dismissed?” “That depends on where you want to go,” Twilight replied as she raised a brow. “Back to bed, I'm under house arrest, remember?” “House arrest, in this case, means you have to stay in my castle. You can be almost anywhere in the castle, just not outside it’s walls.” “Then may I go to the library?” “Yes, just don't read-” “The books meant for stallions and mares, I know,” Contact said before getting up, leaving the table, pausing at the door, twitching his head to the left twice, and resuming his path to the library. “Two twitches, better follow him,” Twilight thought to herself before getting up and tailing her technical child. “I wonder if Fluttershy could help him like she helped Discord,” she thought as she neared the library. “Twilight, don't enter the library,” a male's voice echoed in her head. “Okay, what is he doing this time?” Twilight thought as a reply. “He’s confronting his darker half,” a femme's voice echoed in her head. “So… it's a war zone and he’s throwing things everywhere?” she thought. “Essentially,” another male's voice echoed. “I have to stop him, there are some books in there that are the only ones ever made!” Twilight thought before the door to the library blew off it's hinges. “Best not to, but the books in your library will remain perfectly intact and in the same condition you had them in before he entered the library. So says Chia of the Second Era,” another femme's voice resounded. “Thanks, I really appreciate that. Not even lying,” Twilight thought in a sarcastic manner. “Twilight, I know you're there,” Contact called from the library. Twilight walked to the library doorway to see Contact lying on the floor, half conscious. “Contact, what did you do!?!” Twilight exclaimed as she rushed to Contact's side. “Twilight, somepony cares for Solair,” Contact said before completely passing out. “Of course somepony cares for him… I do,” Twilight said as she ran a hoof through Contact's mane. ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ Yawn “-What hap- Sweetie Belle!” Contact said as he began to get out of the bed he was in and back away from it. “What is it, Solair?” Sweetie Belle asked as she got up and slowly walked toward Contact. “Solair, no, not one of her age! She may daydream about you but that gives you no right to make her daydream into our daymare,” Contact said as he backed into the same corner as the prior daydream. “This is a daydream?” Sweetie Belle asked as she got even closer to him. “Um, yes? No? Maybe? I don't know anymore!” Contact said before he curled up in a ball on the floor. “You look so cute when you're like that,” Sweetie Belle said as she got right next to him. “Hey, you wanna play a game that I saw in one of Rarity’s magazines?” “Solair, I surrender, just make it stop! Make it stop!” ~~~~~~~~~ “Contact… Contact! Contact, what is with you?” Rainbow Dash asked, snapping Contact back to reality. “Sorry, Miss Dash, I… I…” Contact stammered as he teared up. “I'm just so sorry,” he finished before leaving the breakfast table crying. “Well great, another one of my awesome stories about death defying stunts gone to complete waste,” Rainbow Dash complained before she took a bite of oatmeal. “Well, darling, you can't expect everypony to sit down and listen to all your stories patiently,” Rarity said before taking a sip of her breakfast tea. “My word! Um, Twilight, you did use the recipe for tea that I gave you, right?” “Yes, Rarity, five eighths tea, three eighths lemon, and absolutely no sugar,” Twilight replied while brushing her mane. “Um, Twilight dear, the recipe I gave you called for three eighths sugar and no lemon,” Rarity said as she set her cup back on it's saucer. “So that's why my tea tastes so sweet,” Fluttershy commented as she did the same. “Look, I've had a tough time keeping Contact from literally killing himself over a pony that likes his darker side,” Twilight said as she continued to brush her mane. “The only pony I could ever see liking his dark side would be that show-off Trixie,” Rarity said after she took a bite of her breakfast cake and swallowed it. “Fluttershy, would you pass the syrup, please?” “Why, certainly,” Fluttershy replied as she did as asked. “You know, Twilight, it seems like if we let the one that likes him come visit, he might stop trying to hurt himself,” she said as a very logical answer. “No visitors, by order of Princess Celestia, remember?” Twilight said in a very smart tone. “But what if you hold one of them open court things?” Applejack asked as she raised a brow. “I'd have to ask Celestia first,” Twilight replied. “But if he would tell me who likes him, I might be able to teleport them directly to the castle with M.I.L.I.S.” “That seems like a reeeeeeaaaaly good idea Twilight, but how are you going to get him to tell you who likes him when all he knows is that somepony likes him?” Pinkie asked after finishing her thirteenth breakfast cake. “Meta, you explain, I'll do,” Twilight said after setting her M.I. crystal on the table and leaving. “Girls, it's like this:…” Meta started after her hologram appeared above the crystal. ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ Knock, knock, knock. “Yes?” Contact replied to the sound of the door. “It's me, Twilight, open up the door,” Twilight's voice said through the door. “Okay give me a minute,” Contact said before he wiped his eyes, composed himself as much as he could, got off his bed, unlocked the door, and cracked it open. “Yes, Twilight?” “Can I come in?” Twilight asked even though it was, after all, her castle. “Um, yeah,” Contact said before opening the door completely and walking back to his bed as Twilight entered. “I see you've been reading as much as you can,” Twilight said as she looked at a mahogany desk with many books piled upon it. “Yes, though, not much is unknown to me,” he replied as he climbed back onto his bed. “I've been reading mostly fiction,” he finished as he closed his eyes. “I wanted to talk to you, Contact,… about what happened in the dining room this morning,” Twilight said trying to get a foundation laid for her following interrogation. “What about it?” Contact replied rather defensively. “I just wanted to know a few things, that's all,” Twilight responded. “I don't feel like talking about it,” he said as he rolled over to face away from Twilight. “Contact, I know it had the one that likes Solair in it, right?” Twilight asked. “Why do you care?” he asked, angered, as he rolled over to look Twilight in the eyes. “Because I hate to see you like this, and I wouldn't be doing my job as your technical mother if I didn't.” “Really? Well, newsflash, you're not my only technical mother in this era,” Contact started as he rose his hind legs and sprung off his bed. “In fact I have at least four mothers that were born in this era of time. You, Cadance, Starlight Glimmer, and Sunset Shimmer. So please don't get started with that whole 'I wouldn't be doing my job as your mother if I didn't…’ charade, okay! Celestia and Luna don't care enough to come visit me even, and now I find out somepony actually likes my darkside for what it is! So please, don't go there with me!” Contact ranted as he paced back and forth at the foot of his bed. “Look all I really want to know is who likes you,” Twilight said trying to get to the point. Contact froze in place and began to tear up. “She… actually… cares…” was all Contact could say before bursting into tears again. “Contact… who was it that was in your daymare this morning?” Twilight asked in a stern tone. “S-Sweetie Belle,” he stammered as rage began to fill him. “Contact, calm down,” Twilight said after she noticed he was huffing in anger instead of pouting in sadness. “Why? Why must he torture his other half?” he asked before he stomped the floor with enough force to crack it. “Contact, come with me,” Twilight said as she pointed to the door. “Yes, Twilight,” he replied in an almost monotone manner. ~~~~~~~~~ “This is how we’re going to do this,” Twilight started as she locked Contact in a cage near the teleporter in her lab. “I'm going to teleport Sweetie Belle here from her house and she's going to confess she likes you and you're going to admit you like her too, got that?” “I… can't,” Contact said before he started kicking at the cage door. “And why not?” Twilight asked as she used her magic to hold Contact still. “Because loving somepony only interferes with my mission!” He said before bursting through Twilight's magic grip and kicking at the cage door again. “That mission is meaningless,” Twilight said as she used her magic to grab Contact again. “Twilight, I have a few directives from before I became good and a few from after. And loving somepony interferes with both the good and bad,” Contact said before he burst out of Twilight's grip again, not struggling to get out of the cage after he did. “Why?” Twilight asked as she came closer to Contact's position in the cage. “I cannot let my emotions interfere with any of my directives as doing so will impair my judgement,” Contact said before he laid down on the floor. “Okay, but I'm still going through with this,” Twilight said before flicking a lever and engaging her teleporter. “Twilight, look out the window!” Contact exclaimed drawing Twilight's attention to the window near the roof of the room. “It almost an eclipse!?!” Twilight exclaimed. “There isn't one scheduled for today!” “Twilight. Come in, Twilight,” Princess Celestia's voice said through Twilight's Cross-Com. “Twilight here, what is it, Princess Celestia?” “Twilight, you're about to have two kids on your hands.” “Celestia, what are you saying?” “I'm saying we're not moving the Sun and Moon. And that an eclipse has the power to separate Solair and Lunair.” “What!” Twilight said before a light enveloped Contact. The light then rose slightly, split into two, and dimmed out, revealing the two halves of Contact as separated and standing. “Twilight, we may be separated bodily, but we are not completely separated from each other mentally,” Lunair said before she looked at Solair and squinted. “Somepony actually cares…” is all Solair said before falling to the ground in tears. “What is with him?” Twilight asked as she looked at Solair. “I’m keeping his portion of our mind focused on Sweetie Belle,” Lunair replied as she turned her attention back to Twilight. Suddenly, Twilight's teleporter began to teleport somepony to her castle. “Solair!” Sweetie Belle said before jumping off the teleportation platform onto the solid crystal floor. “I was worried about you!” she finished as she came near to Solair in his cage. “S-Sweetie Belle?” Solair said as he looked up to see the white unicorn filly standing on the outside of the cage in front of him. “Is it true? Do you really like me for who I am?” he asked as he stood and wiped the tears from his eyes. “Yep, and I wanted to let you know that you're better than what you've done,” Sweetie Belle started. “In fact, I think you have a chance at being one of the kindest ponies ever!” she finished as she put her right forehoof through the cage bars. Contact then put his left forehoof against her right and sighed. “If only I could be sure that I could,” he replied as he hung his head. “I’m sure you can,” Sweetie Belle said before she pulled her hoof back out of the cage. “Look, maybe… maybe one day,… when we’re both a little older and wiser,… we could get together and start a family?” she said in a sort of stammer of embarrassment as she blushed. “But, Sweetie Belle, I'm eons older than you,” Solair said as he rose his head and looked her in her eyes. “I don't care! I like you for who you are,” Sweetie Belle started. “Not for how old you are, what you know, or because you're cute. Just because of who you are, no more no less,” she finished as tears formed in her eyes. Solair then reached through the cage bars and wiped Sweetie Belle's eyes. “Please, don't cry… it's unbecoming of a princess to cry,” Solair said as he looked her in her eyes before she blushed. He then lifted Sweetie Belle's left forehoof and kissed it as a sign of his love for her. “Until I see thee again, I will count the days, young maiden of friendship,” he said as he set her hoof back down and bowed. At about this time the eclipse ended and Solair and Lunair remained apart. This surprised Twilight, as she thought that what Solair was saying was an indication they were going to merge when the eclipse ended. “Okay, Sweetie Belle, visiting hours are now over, seeing as how you're late for your Cutie Mark Crusaders meeting at Sweet Apple Acres,” Twilight said as she powered up her teleporter. “Oh, that reminds me!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed before turning to her left. “Notice anything different about me?” she asked as she pointed to her Cutie Mark. “That's… beautiful, Sweetie Belle!” Solair said as he looked in disbelief. “I got it for realizing that my true talent is helping other ponies discover their true talent!” Sweetie Belle said before walking over to the teleportation platform. “I hope to see you soon!” she said before being teleported away. “Same,” Solair said before tears gathered in his eyes. “Why do I have to be the dark half!” he cried as he held his he head and right forehoof hoof to the roof. “Sol, it is not because you are, it is because you choose to be,” Lunair said as she came closer to Solair and nuzzled her left cheek against his right. “But Lune, I don't know anything other than how to cause others harm,” Solair said before laying down on the floor. “In time you'll learn, but right now, we must serve our time for what we've done,” Lunair said as she laid down beside him. “If you two want, you can go to your room,” Twilight said as she lifted the cage off the two foals. “We will,” Solair and Lunair said synchronously before getting up and leaving.