Lord Blade

by Jex

Chapter the Third: Home

The moon had just begun to rise as we walked the mostly deserted streets. Some lights flickered in the window and the air had a crisp, clean smell to it. We had made a quick stop at Fluttershy’s cabin and tucked the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who she apparently was babysitting for a few days, into bed before setting off to find me a place to stay. I stood still for a minute, watching the moon as it made its way into the Equestrian night sky. It shimmered a soft silver. I smiled. It was peaceful now.

“It’s beautiful,” I said simply. Fluttershy walked up next to me looked up as well.

“Princess Luna really outdid herself tonight. Look at all those stars. Maybe she’s welcoming you to Ponyville in her own way?” She smiled back at me. “Now come on, Twilight might not be awake much longer. But then again, she’s probably studying. Oh, I hope she lets you stay with her. She usually likes company, as long as she’s not interrupted too much.”

“So, where exactly does this Twilight live?”

“Oh, she lives in the local library.” Fluttershy managed to sound cheerful even at her normal speaking volume. “Princess Celestia let her stay there when she first came to Ponyville. I’m surprised she ever leaves it, really.”

“Wait, did you just say library?” I said in a hoarse (horse?) whisper.

“Umm... yes?” she replied

That exploding sound? Why yes, that was my brain. She lived in a library! How cool was that? All of my jealousy, boom, there it was! I followed Fluttershy through the quiet street and around a corner. A giant tree stood in front of me. Was the library in a tree? Because if so, this whole thing had just reached the level of unfairly awesome.

Though it was dark out, I could still make out most of the details. It appeared to be a multi-story structure, with windows jutting out from the trunk and branches at all angles. A small balcony hung over the branches about two thirds of the way up, presumably with a door to a bedroom. There was even a loft at the very top, upon which stood a large scientific looking object.

“Here we are. I think she’s still awake,” Fluttershy said, bringing my attention back to the ground. It certainly looked like it. The lights were on, at least. Fluttershy approached the little red door with a candle painted on it and knocked timidly. No one answered.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy squeaked and knocked again, a little louder. No answer.

“Spike, can you run and get my copy of Constellations Throughout History; A Guide To Our Stars? Should be in with the other astrophysics books,” a voice said from above. Fluttershy and I looked up at the same time.

A pony had appeared on the top observation tower and was staring into the strange scientific device as a smaller figure disappeared inside the tree. She then turned away to something. A strange pink light shone from somewhere and I could hear some quiet muttering and the scratching of a pen on parchment.

“Twilight? Um, can you come down for a minute?” Fluttershy actually spoke up a little. Whoever this Twilight was did seem to be rather absorbed in her studies. However, she trotted over to the balcony and looked at us.

“Fluttershy? I wasn’t expecting you at this time of night,” she exclaimed. “It’s awfully late for you to be out. What do you need?”

“Oh... um, well, you see, uh, I don’t actually, uh...need anything right now, I just, uh... there’s somepony new here and... um, I... uh... I thought... um... I thought he should stay with you? You see, uh... I don’t have any room and... uh... I don’t think anypony else does either...” she began.

The strange pink light appeared around the other pony again. It appeared to be on top of her head. Suddenly, the mare disappeared in a ball of white light and materialized again right in front of Fluttershy and I. Fluttershy squeaked and buried her muzzle in her hooves, trembling.

“Oh, sorry,” Twilight said, helping up her friend. Now that she was up close, I could see that a horn poked through her mane, which was indigo with a pink streak. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Lacuna.” I extended a hoof to her, which she politely shook. “Fluttershy here told me you might let me stay here. I’m new to Ponyville,” I explained. She furrowed her brow, seeming to question my sudden appearance here.

“I thought Fluttershy said something about that. Hopefully you won’t run into Pinkie Pie too early. The welcome party she threw for me was a little over-the-top for my taste, especially when I was just settling in. Have you met her yet?”

“No, and from your description of her, I guess I’m kind of glad I haven’t.”

“Well, you’d better come inside. She tends to pop up out of nowhere.” Fluttershy nodded in agreement. Twilight pushed the little red door in and trotted inside. Fluttershy followed. I sighed and walked in.

Though this library was considerably smaller than my father’s, it appeared to be quite comprehensive and well-organized, chock-full with books. These all had labeled columns of shelves carved into the wood itself that stretched to the ceiling. Each section had a label, alphabetized from Anatomy to Zoology, with all sorts of sciences, arts, literature, magic and histories in between. I had a feeling I would do more than my fair share of studying here, if Twilight let me stay.

I stood in the doorway for a few seconds, taking in the volumes and volumes I would soon hopefully have at my disposal. In sheer excitement, I slowly unfolded my wings and flapped them, ignoring the somewhat subsided pain in my ribs. Although the rest of my powers didn’t really carry over into the living world, I guess I’d managed to retain some of my healing power that all demons have.
I thought I’d never get to see a library again, and here I was. I clumsily lifted myself off the ground in an attempt to explore all the tomes in the place... until I crashed into the ceiling and fell flat on my face. Twilight and Fluttershy both rushed over to help me, but by then it was too late.

“You have four wings,” Twilight stated simply, her jaw hanging open a little. Fluttershy looked horrified and backed up a few paces. She then proceeded to hide behind her mane and whimper in fright. Truth be told, it was adorable.

“Yeah, I suppose I do,” I said, and quickly folded the ruffled feathers into place as best I could. I stood up awkwardly. Twilight watched me in awe.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she murmured. “Where are you from? I’ve never heard of four-winged pegasi before. Nopony has! Not even Princess Celestia! She’s an alicorn, by the way. You know, a near-immortal pony with incredible powers that possesses both pegasus wings and a unicorn horn!

“Yeah, I-” I tried to interject, but she just kept rambling.

“Are you from another world we Equestrians haven’t discovered where all ponies have four wings? But pegasi have explored the territories surrounding Equestria for eons... Did some spell go awry and cause you to grow an extra pair? But what spell would do that? Maybe a really powerful growth spell... but very few unicorns can do those...

“Were you just born with them? That’s got to be a really rare mutation! It’s a wonder both of your parents carried it! Especially because I’ve never seen it before! Could it have been passed down from generation to generation to generation and never made itself apparent? That’s really unlikely, but possible... Why do you have four wings?”

She was exasperated at her apparent inability to identify the reason for my condition. In reality, wings just happen at random in Hell, but I wasn’t about to tell her where I really was from. Twilight then tried simply poking and prodding them, as if that would give her the answer. I slapped her hoof away with a flick of feathers.

I guess I was just born with them, though I had no idea about this “mutation” thingy or whatever it was. “No touchy, and yeah, I was born with them. I don’t know why or how. I just was.” Honestly, that was the best answer I could provide without revealing my origin.

“Um, well, uh, if you don’t mind, um, well, I, uh, I guess I’d better get going. I have a lot of animals to tend to before I go to bed. I’ll see you later, I guess.” Fluttershy re-entered the conversation, slowly backing out of the library door. “Oh, I really hope the little fillies didn’t mess anything up...” she said as she disappeared into the darkness.

“Bye! See you soon! We still on for that pony pet play date? Cause if not then I have to completely rewrite my schedule, again.” Twilight called after her. I heard a quiet reply from beyond the door before Twilight nodded and shut it softly. She then turned to me, eyeing me kind of creepily.

“Can I help you?” I asked slowly.

“Can I study you? Your wings are fascinating” she stated simply.

“Umm... no?” Came my equally simple reply.

“Please? Just a little bit of DNA testing?” She pleaded.

“How about no.”

“Some physical exercises to see how the muscles interact?”

“No, Twilight. I came here to sleep, not to be a guinea pig.” I said, hoping I’d used that term correctly. I’m pretty sure I understood the concept of a guinea pig as a test subject, even though I’d never actually seen one, or been tested on for that matter. Right then, I was just tired. And I really wanted to get my hands, hooves, on some of those books. I had constantly found my eyes drifting toward them through this whole conversation.

“Hey,” I tore my gaze from those wonderful hardback novels to look at Twilight, “you wouldn’t mind if I grabbed a few of these books to read in bed, would you? I mean, this is a public library, right?”

“Technically, yes, but really I’m the only one who uses it. I occasionally lend books to my friends, but that’s about it. And absolutely you can! As long as I’m not using it, that is. Do you like reading?” There was a spark of happiness in her eyes.

“Hell yes I do!” (the irony, it’s back) “Reading is one of my favorite, and only, pastimes!” I said, watching Twilight’s pupils expand in amazement. I’m pretty sure Twilight would have just kept staring at me in wonder for all of eternity had not a small purple and green figure wandered down the stairs at that moment, carrying a large volume which I presumed to be the book she had requested earlier.

“Hey Twilight, I finally found that book you were looking for! Man, this thing is heavy. WOAH!” he shouted as he caught sight of me. I winced as he lost his balance and tumbled down the steps, the mighty tome landing on top of him. Apparently the very sight of me made... whatever he was... fall. And I thought Fluttershy’s reaction was over the top.

“Spike!” Twilight cried, rushing over to him. “You have to be more careful. You could have damaged the book!” Wow, harsh.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what exactly is he?” I inquired, gesturing toward the creature, whose name was apparently Spike.

“I’m a dragon!” he replied.

I raised an eyebrow, if ponies even have those. “I thought dragons were supposed to be a little bit... bigger.”

“He’s only a baby, only a few years younger than I am,” explained Twilight. “ I hatched him using magic when I was just a filly. I also managed to destroy part of the school and transform both my parents and the judges testing me into various inanimate objects, all in front of Princess Celestia. It wasn’t one of my greater moments.” She chuckled sheepishly.

My already raised eyebrow got higher, I was greatly impressed, and a little frightened, just don’t tell anyone. “Anything else I should know you’re capable of before I stay in the same building with you?” I asked.

“Yeah, there is,” Spike cut in before Twilight could say anything. “Sometimes, when she gets super stressed, she goes completely insane. This one time, she couldn’t think of anything to write to the princess so she took her old doll and... mmpphh!” Spike’s mouth had been clamped shut by sparkling pink magic. I glanced at Twilight. She was looking at Spike with a glare that could have made a gorgon think twice of looking her in the eyes.

“So...” I said awkwardly as the silence began to drag out. “My room is...?

“Up the stairs to the left.” Twilight cut me off, still holding her death stare at Spike, daring him to try and speak again.

“Right, great. I’m just going to, you know, go now...” I slowly slid my way sideways toward the stairs. I grabbed a random book from one of the shelves and beat a hasty retreat from the main room before the awkward overwhelmed.

I made my way up the stairs and into the guest bedroom. I hopped up on the bed, tossing the scythe turned sword into a corner and muttering to myself. “Everybody... everypony, in this town is crazy.” I looked around the room. Even here, there were bookshelves. They appeared to be filled with those half-assed romance novels. The kind that you read before bed because they didn’t require much brain power. A small, round window was set in the wall, providing a nice view of the stars.

Something stung in my side and I whipped my head around to examine it. The cuts and bruises I had obtained earlier apparently hadn’t healed, even though my ribs had. I figured I would retain some of my healing ability for internal wounds, but I guess superficial cuts healed at a slower pace to conceal my origins in Hell.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the light of the moon coming right in through the window. I stood there and watched the glowing silver disk for a few minutes before lighting up the candle on the bedside table next to me and lifting my book. Life and Legends of Starswirl the Bearded read the cover.

I lay back, letting my head hit the soft pillow. After all the abuse I had suffered in the last day, I felt like I was on a cloud. I closed my eyes and just rested for a second, letting it all sink in. I was alive, I was safe and I was in the place of my dreams. Life is good, I thought. With that in mind, I cracked open the book and started on page one. I was deep into Starswirl’s adventure to the Midnight Armory around page 300 when I nodded off to sleep.

*****

I don’t know how long I slept, but it couldn’t have been more than a few hours when a rustling sound dragged me back into consciousness. The moon had moved out of my view through the window. Groggily, I rolled over only to face Twilight standing by my bed, holding a measuring tape between her hooves. The length to which said measuring tape was extended approximated the length of one of my smaller pairs of wings.

“Mmph... Twilight, I said no experiments...” I grumbled.

“Oh! Uh, this isn’t an experiment! I’m just making... uh... scientific observations!” she stammered, flashing an awkward smile in my direction.

Alright, I admit I had been doing quite a lot of sighing over the past day or so, but this one felt significantly more justified than the rest. “Riiiiiiiight,” I groaned, rolling back over.

“Okay, fine, I won’t take any more measurements. It’s four in the morning anyway. I should probably get some sleep... heh heh...” She backed toward the staircase, and once she reached it, she immediately bolted up to what I assumed was her own bedroom. I waited for at least half an hour until no sound came from upstairs before nervously falling asleep again.

*****

I woke up once again when the sun streamed in through the window, just where the moon had last night. I rolled out of bed, hoping Twilight wasn’t up yet. However, as I descended down the stairs, I stopped in my tracks as my optimism was instantly shattered.

Twilight sat at a stool with heavy bags under her eyes, staring at a sheet of paper. Her horn had that strange pink glow around it and it appeared to be levitating a quill, which was putting the finishing touches on a drawing that looked suspiciously like my left set of wings. This included a color-coded diagram of the bone and muscle structure, indicating just how everything was connected, as well detailed notes on wing ratios and functionality. All I could do at this point was shake my head. She must have faked going to bed and stayed up all night working on this. Then again, I wasn’t exactly surprised.

I figured there was really nothing I could do to stop her. She would get her data, be done with her experiments, and eventually move on to something else. She must have been studying the stars for a reason until I interrupted her. Now, all I had to do was remember to never, under any circumstances, blink in her presence, despite her own apparent ability to teleport. I had a feeling she would give up her entire life just to study me. Then again, studying seemed to be the summation of her life anyway.

After contemplating this for a few minutes, I continued on my way down the stairs. “Good morning,” is all I could think to say. Twilight obviously was too wrapped up in her work to notice me on my way downstairs. She jumped about four feet in the air and frantically tried to hide her drawings, her hooves flying all over the place. All she managed to do was knock over a bottle of deep black ink, which then shattered on the floor.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I... uh... didn’t know you were awake!” she spluttered as the ink spread out over the floor. She sprung off her stool in search of a rag to mop up as much of the soon-to-be black stain on the oak boards.

“I noticed,” I replied dully. Twilight managed to find a rag and was soaking up as much of the ink as she could. Unfortunately, the ink had already settled in and left a large black blob shape in the floor, stained to the point of no return.

“Maybe if I pace over it enough it’ll wear out...” she wondered aloud. It did appear that a lot of the floor was worn through, presumably from her pacing. Around the center table there was even a circular ditch that had been eroded away. I wouldn’t put it past her to be able to obliterate this stain within a few days.

“Anyway, would you like some breakfast?” she asked awkwardly. It was only then I realized I hadn’t eaten in about three days. My stomach rumbled, probably loud enough for Twilight to hear.

“What do you have?” I replied.

“We have... oat pancakes, oat waffles, oat toast, oatmeal, oat bran, oat bacon, hay pancakes, hay waffles, hay toast, haymeal, hay bran, hay bacon, hay browns aaaaand water. Do any of those sound good?

I grimaced a little. “... Not particularly, no.” Of course, I only knew what water, oats and hay were. None of those seemed particularly bad, but waffles just seemed like a gross word in general. So naturally, I added, “but I’ll have some of those oat waffles.”

“Oh, okay. Oat waffles coming right up!” she announced as she dashed off into a side room, which I assumed was the kitchen. Even the kitchen is full of books! I thought as I turned my head in the direction Twilight had gone. She appeared to be reading from one of the thicker volumes, muttering to herself, “two eggs, two cups of oat flour, some salt, milk, baking powder, sugar, vanilla... and butter!” She summoned all of these ingredients with her horn with a pop and dumped them into a large bowl, proceeding to mix them all with a whisk held by a levitation spell.

I wasn’t sure which I was more enthralled by; Twilight’s ability to mix all of these ingredients together in a seemingly harmonious manner, or the sheer amount books she actually owned. It just wasn't fair! Either way, as she poured the mix onto a device that I supposed would cook them, I caught myself thinking, I could get used to this. I continued to glance at titles on shelves, reading everything from A Pony’s Guide to Carrot Cuisine to Pies, Fries, and Greasy Surprise to I Can’t Believe it’s not Meat! (for all of your carnivorous curiosities). Well, at least that last one was an option, though I did wonder why in Equestria Twilight would have a copy of such a strange publication. Then again, it was a public library.

As I read title after title a strange scent wafted past my nostrils. It was weird and new to me, but somehow, I liked it. I looked back to Twilight, who was plopping some bizarre bread-like things onto a plate. I presumed these were the oat waffles. I walked over to the counter as she poured a thick, golden brown liquid on top of them.

“Maple syrup,” she simply stated, noticing my raised eyebrow. “I think you’ll like it.” I examined the plate, then looked down at my hooves.

“Uh, how am I supposed to carry it?” I asked, raising my eyebrow further, which hurt, so I stopped. What can I say? I’m good at causing myself pain.

“With your teeth, duh!” she said as if it was second nature to her. With that, I stooped over, opened my mouth and clamped the plate in my teeth. I took extra precaution to keep it level as I stood back up and followed Twilight over to the table. She had apparently used a levitation spell to carry her plate. Lucky darn unicorns.

“Thank you,” I tried to say, but the plate got in the way of my tongue and all that really came out was “Hurnk ur.” Twilight chuckled as she set her plate on the table and sat down. I placed my own plate across from her and nibbled the... waffle.

Needless to say, it was delicious. I hadn’t tasted anything like it before. It was an all new kind of flavor. I just couldn’t put my finger... uh, hoof on it.

“Sweet, huh?” Twilight almost seemed to read my mind. She had been doing that a lot, it was weird. Then again, I wouldn’t exactly put it past her. So that’s what it was called. I guess sweet things don’t really have much of a place in Hell. And the cooks were terrible, they just kept burning everything. Get it? Because it was Hell. Funny right? Well, sh-shut up, I thought it was good.

I was just about to take another bite when a knock came from the front door. “I’ll get it,” said Twilight, trotting toward the entrance. I heard the lock click and the door swing open only to weird springy sound effects. It seemed like somepony was bouncing around outside the door.

“Hi Twilight! I smelled your waffles from, like, a mile away and they just smelled so good I just had to stop by for some! I just came from Sugarcube Corner and was eating some of my favorite cupcakes but then the smell of waffles caught my nose and I followed it all through Ponyville and at first I thought it was from Sweet Apple Acres because Applejack loves to make waffles but it wasn’t there so I thought maybe it was at the Carousel Boutique but Sweetie Belle isn’t that good of a cook yet so then I thought maybe it’s from Fluttershy’s cottage and she’s making a special breakfast for her animals but her windows were dark and I know Rainbow Dash thinks she’s too cool for waffles, but I mean, really, who’s too cool for waffles? So anyway I knew it just had to be you!” squeaked a voice that was way too excited for this hour. Or any hour, really. It was a loud, quite frankly obnoxious voice.

“Oh, hey Pinkie Pie, it’s great to see you! Even if your little tirade there wasn’t necessary.” Hmm, Pinkie Pie. Didn’t Fluttershy say something about avoiding her for the time being? “Here, come inside and join us for breakfast. Spike’s not up yet, but there’s someone you need to meet.” Gee, thanks a lot Twilight.

Twilight came around the corner, followed by a solid pink pony with the curliest hair I’d ever seen, which was an even brighter pink than the rest. I guess they called her “Pinkie Pie” for a reason. She didn’t even so much walk as bounce, and her hair bounced with her. Upon seeing me, she jumped about four feet in the air and hovered there for a few seconds as she appeared to be having a seizure. Before I knew it, however, a massive pink streak came careening toward me and knocked me right over the chair and onto the ground.

“Oof!” I grunted and stared up into the pony’s shocking blue eyes of madness.

“THERE’S A NEW PONY IN TOWN!” she squealed. “THERE’S GONNA BE A PARTAAAAYYYY!!!!!!” She then proceeded to bounce up and down around the room singing an irresistibly catchy tune.

“Okay, okay, time for introductions,” Twilight sighed. “Pinkie, this is Lacuna.”

“Lacuna? That’s a weird name! Where are you from! I’ve never seen you before! You must be new. And because you’re new, you must not know anypony. And if you don’t know anypony, that means you don’t have any friends! And that’s why I’m gonna throw you a super-duper-uper-awesome welcome party so you’ll have lots and lots of friends!” With that, she dashed into the central library, pulled a large blue cylinder out of nowhere, and I mean out of freaking thin air, stood behind it, and with a resounding clap of thunder and weird squeaking noises, fired dozens of... things into the air, which all settled perfectly into place as decorations for a large event. Streamers, balloons, napkins, a full bowl of fruit punch. Wait, what was that last one? Doesn’t even matter. “And that’s why I brought my party cannon!” she squealed, resuming her bouncing.

“That’s g-great,” I managed to stutter. Fluttershy was right about this pony being a little bit of handful sometimes. Sometimes? What was I talking about, all the damn time! She was like a force of nature, if nature had drank six cups of coffee and was on a sugar high.

“Well, Lacuna, I guess you’ve met Pinkie Pie. Better go meet everypony in your very own ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party,” Twilight muttered in my ear.

“Alright, alright,” I hissed back. “Might as well get this over with.” I stood up, stretched out my now-aching back, and stepped into the room beyond as Pinkie ran out the front door and screamed at the top of her lungs, “PINKIE PARTY!”

Author's Note:

Oh Pinkie Pie, y u so random?

Now I want waffles... darn.

Am I staying true to the show's characters? I think I am, I hope I am. Feel free to leave comments on how to keep them from being OOC.

And as always, to be continued.

Comments

[Lunarmon]

Looking forward to the next.

[BakedPenguin]

Please tell me this story isn't dead :(

[Jex]

4908421 Don't worry, it's only mostly dead!

I'm just kidding, I've actually decided to rewrite a lot of it. The story just wasn't quite jamming right with me. I want Lacuna to be the kind of character you'll really enjoy reading about, not just one of those overpowered perfect characters. Therefore, some the earlier chapters are being revised and I'm getting some new help with editing and writing.

It's coming someday, I haven't given up!

[Retro_]

no update since 20th Jul 2013, RIP yet another HIE story