Chapter 4: Peculiar Support
Chapter 4: Peculiar Support
Earlier this day, in the Golden Oaks Library, Spike was woken up by some unrelenting sun rays, shining directly on his face and right through his closed eyelids. His first reaction consisted of merely turning around and plainly ignoring them. Then, however, he remembered the events of last night and fell victim to his bad conscience. The little dragon was still convinced he saw some kind of ghost but he also knew how frustrated Twilight had been and chose to try and make it up to her. With a sigh he crawled out of his basket and started getting ready for the day. Since the unicorn went to sleep earlier this time, she might even be awake in time to take over the library work in the afternoon.
Letting out an intense yawn, he made his way down the stairs to make breakfast. Maybe it would propitiate Twilight if she had freshly baked pancakes this morning. Deciding to take the risk he bound an apron around his waist and invaded the kitchen to complete the self-imposed mission. The library didn't open this early anyway so he didn't disregard any other duties in the process. Thus, the little dragon could focus solely on the creation of his culinary bribery.
Upstairs, Twilight was still sound asleep until the heavenly smell of fresh pancakes reached her nose. Then, however, her slumber was rather roughly interrupted by a loud growl from her stomach, reminding her that her last meal was far too long ago. Rolling out of the bed with a tired moan she checked her calendar. What is on my schedule today? Is there any reason I should get up at all?
Oh, right! Reading day with Rainbow. Much to the unicorn’s delight, the athletic pegasus had begun to take on more challenging literature then just Daring Do lately. Other books and series in the genre as well, obviously, but the scholar loved it when she could share knowledge with others. Today, Rainbow had even trusted her with the choice what they would read next and Twilight had promptly decided to deliver her friend one of her own all-time favorites. The Fillyship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Trotkien.
Letting her mind wander a bit, she realized yet again how fond of their time together the unicorn had become. It always gave her such a cozy feeling, snuggling up to Rainbow, when they were reading in front of the fireplace. At first the brash pegasus had given her weird looks when Twilight did that, but she got used to it after a while and seemed to find comfort in it as well, even if she still never took the initiative. Maybe today... the unicorn thought idly.
She knew she had a bit of a crush on the athlete for quite a while now, but had made her decision to wait if was serious or just a temporary state. If the latter was the case it would cause unnecessary troubles to confess to Rainbow, though with every day it became much less likely that it really was a simple crush. If not... Well, then I should better find a promising way to win her over...
Taking a deep breath to clear her mind, the librarian pulled one her checklists out of her drawer and quickly ran over it just like every other Friday too. The Book? Check! Pillows? Check!....
Checking off several things on the list and gathering everything on it, she put the sheet of paper back and set her mind on preparing everything for the evening. The lavender unicorn was just about to squee in anticipation of the evening when her stomach growled in protest for the neglection again and demanded to be looked after.
That convinced her to delay her preparations and go downstairs to find the source of the divine smell that caused her abdominal revolt. Entering the kitchen she saw Spike arranging the freshly baked pancakes on the breakfast table.
"Good morning, Spike."
"Morning, Twilight!" came the cautious reply.
"You know, I could get used to this kind of breakfast," the unicorn said with a sly smile as she sat down and loaded her plate with pancakes.
"I hoped you'd like it. I mean, you seemed so angry yesterday…" Spike muttered and took a sudden interest in the floor.
"So that's what this is about?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow. "Don't worry, Spike, you were right about me needing to go to sleep anyway…" she admitted slightly sheepish.
"Phew… Okay then. Are you going to help me with the chores today? Most of it is in the living room. It's your reading day with Rainbow anyway, I think. Usually you prepare something for that, so maybe you could both things at once?" suggested Spike.
"Great idea! I take it that you will take on counter service then?"
"I guess. It's not like I did much else the whole week… One more day won't kill me. But you will do that next week, okay?" the little dragon asked with a pleading look on his eyes.
"Okay, Spike I promise." Twilight replied with a soft smile and gave him a short hug.
The two of them quickly finished their meal and got ready to start the day. There weren't many visitors today so Spike could relax most of the time, while Twilight had the cleaning and reshelving of the books done rather quickly and began to set up the room for the evening. Carrying the book she had chosen for the evening she was just about to leave the main room. This very moment though the peaceful silence was suddenly interrupted, when the library door slammed open with a window-shaking bang and let a pretty hysterical Rarity burst inside.
"TWILIGHT!" she screamed with her high-pitched panic-voice.
After a quick glance around the room, she spotted the startled unicorn. Without slowing down a single bit the designer decided it was now the time to unleash the drama queen for bit and rushed over to Twilight and clung around her neck.
"Twilight!" she began, not as loud, but still as high-pitched as before, "I am ruined. RUINED I say. All my creations, all of my ideas… Gone! GONE I say. I will never be able to replace everything. WHATEVER SHALL I DO? I will lose my shop, my reputation and my customers will have to go to exile an mpflfrgl--"
She was rather rudely interrupted as Twilight, now recovered from her initial shock, crammed her hoof in Rarity's mouth.
"Calm down. What happened? Will you stop it and talk normally to me when I take my hoof off?" the mildly irritated librarian asked with a slightly exasperated expression.
She knew Rarity's antics pretty well, just like the rest of her friends did, and the designer had become rather infamous for tending to exaggerate her misfortunes. Yet this time, it seemed like something more serious than a misplaced needle. To get to know what it really was though, she had to stop her from being overly dramatic first. Carefully she removed her hoof from the mouth of the other unicorn, who was giving her a pleading look, and instantly shoved it right back in there again, when Rarity let out first signs she would start acting it out again.
"No. Drama. First you explain to me what happened and then you can freak out again, okay?" Twilight spoke with a more than serious glare.
Accepting her fate, the alabaster unicorn gave her suppressor a nod and was released again.
"Something happened at my boutique! I can't explain it, Twilight. You have to come with me, it was something magical. I have never seen something like this!" she quickly told the lavender mare and began dragging her outside.
"Spike! Can you please take care of the library as long as I'm gone?" the librarian barely managed to get out before she was pulled out of her home completely.
Her assistant had watched whole thing silently until now and was just about to follow them but was rather disappointed when Twilight told him to stay. He had a pretty big crush on Rarity after all and would have loved nothing more than to stand by her side in a time of need. But the dragon also understood that the library couldn't be just abandoned either, so he let out a sigh and made his way back behind the counter.
"Can you…explain what…happened there…a bit more…precisely?" Twilight panted between her breaths, as she was running alongside Rarity to get to Carousel Boutique.
"Not really…I just…don't know…what happened…but…something…froze up…my inspi…ration room!" came the response from the equally panting designer.
"What? ...Frozen up? ...How?"
"I already…said…I don't…know! You will…see it…when we…are there."
After the short and choppy discussion, they continued chasing down the street when suddenly a raspy voice joined them.
"Whatcha doing? I saw you two running as if a Hydra chased you and was wondering what could possibly drive you couch potatoes to finally work out," Rainbow Dash commented on the running unicorns with a snippy grin.
"Not. Funny…Rainbow…" both panted in unison.
"You sure? I’d still say it is," the pegasus responded with a short laugh.
The unicorns would have probably responded but they had just reached Rarity's shop and entered the building immediately, followed by Rainbow Dash.
"So what's up? Why are you two so serious?" the prismatic mare asked more earnest than before and with a hint of concern in her voice.
"You will see. You two wait here for a moment," the alabaster unicorn responded after they caught their breath.
With that she vanished in her storage room to come back with three winter coats and distributed them among them.
"What? Are you serious? It's super-hot! Why would we want to wear those?" Rainbow Dash protested incredulously.
“I’m usually one for preparations too but is that really necessary?” Twilight agreed with a worried look.
"Yes, I am. Trust me you want to. Now put them on and come with me," the designer commanded them and started trotting towards the stairs.
“Is this a new trick to make me model for you?” the athlete accused Rarity with a suspicious glance.
After keeping her quizzical stare on the designer for another ten seconds, she eventually followed the order, but not without excessive grumbling. As they went up the stairs, the air became noticeably colder and colder, until they could see their breath as white mist coming from their mouths.
"What the hay… What’s going on Rarity? What is up there?" Rainbow asked again, unease written all over her face.
Without giving an answer, Rarity pushed the door to her former inspiration room. The escaping gust of ice-cold air took their breath collectively. Okay. NOW she could be the drama queen again. With a soft sigh, she proceeded to faint, just to be caught in the warm embrace of two cyan forelegs.
"Careful, Rares, you forgot your fainting couch."
Well… maybe I forgot it on purpose… she thought as she relaxed in the athletes' strong but gentle grasp. Maybe I wanted you to catch me…
"Um... Rares?"
Meanwhile, Twilight had overcome her astonishment and took a careful step inside. It was freezing there but not so much more than it had been just outside the door. Most of the cold had probably spread through the entire building. What happened here had probably been some sort of snap freeze. But what in Equestria could have caused it?
"Rarity? When did you first notice the coldness and--" Twilight stopped mid-sentence when her eyes fell on the addressed unicorn, who snuggled herself in the arms of a helplessly looking Rainbow Dash, with a content smile.
The pegasus was at a loss what to do. She couldn't just drop Rarity and she somehow even liked how the designer huddled against her. On the other hoof, it was kind of embarrassing to be unable to do something here without losing face in one way or the other. Thankfully, Twilight quickly regained her composure and continued her sentence and caught Rarity's attention again.
"--did you see or hear anything entering this room?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Rarity, suddenly becoming aware of the embarrassment her current position gave her friends, hastily wiggled herself free from the pleasant embrace. With slight blush the unicorn brushed herself off before giving an answer.
"Well... No. I went up to get some materials and everything was fine but when came back 15 minutes later it was all frozen up like this. I didn't hear anything either... but now that you ask; there was a cold breeze when I entered the room the first time. Though it didn't come from inside."
"So you say something could have slipped inside when you entered the room the first time? Did you see anything coming out when you opened the door the second time?"
"No. But I didn't really look out for that. I mean, there is a room in my house that turned into an ice cube!"
"Right, sorry. Anyway, I think this was a sudden temperature drop that resublimated the humid air and formed those icicles. They should vaporize directly from their solid state when they warm up so I think they won't soak the fabrics. They are just fragile as long as they are frozen though, so try not to touch anything," explained Twilight.
"Gesundheit. So what was that about those icicles?" Rainbow asked with a blank expression causing the lavender unicorn to groan.
"Wait for everything to warm up and it will be fine. If you don't, the stuff in there will break like glass," came the simplified explanation.
Giving the situation a second thought, Rarity approached Twilight with a worried look.
"Is there any way to heat the room, darling? I'd hate to for wait, Celestia knows how long until my materials warm up and I have some unfinished projects running. That's why I came up here first place after all..." the designer gave her request.
"Maybe... I could at least try give you the most urgent things. I know a heat spell they use in the crysta--"
A bright flash interrupted the librarian.
"Hello, my little ponies! Having a wonderfully chaotic day I see?" a voice, they knew better than they would like to, sounded through the room.
Discord stood upside down on the ceiling, with a top hat, a walking stick and a glass of wine, defying gravity in order to be on eye level with the three friends.
"Discord!!!" they screamed all at once and Rainbow took a defensive position in front of the others.
“So you are responsible for this? Haven’t you promised to stop doing things like that, traitor?” the prismatic mare growled.
“My, my… There is no need for such rude words! I admit that this interesting occurrence does fancy my tastes but sadly, I didn’t cause it,” the draconequus said, pointing his cane to the nearest icicle and taking a sip of his glass. ”Aaah… This is a good vintage. Would you like to have some too?”
“Wait a minute… Did you get these from my stock?” Rarity asked with a perplexed expression.
“Perhaps I did.”
“How dare you, you impertinent brute! Put them back at once or I--“ Rarity scolded and took a step in his direction with a dangerous glint in her eyes, just to be held back by a magenta aura of a magical grip.
“Calm down, Rarity. And you Discord, put the wine and everything else back and explain us why you are here. Now!” Twilight interrupted before the white unicorn could really get going again.
“Fine. If you insist on being so focused on business I’ll make it short,” the spirit of chaos spoke, rolling his red and yellow eyes and letting his accessories disappear with a snip. “The princesses and I sensed some unknown powerful magical event and Celestia asked me to go on field research while they ransack through their dusty old library. I may add that I recently saw a pack of Timberwolves in the Everfree, which got the same treatment as this unfortunate establishment.”
“Wait. You say whatever this was came from the Everfree?” Rainbow asked with a worried look.
“I don’t know. I still have no clue what it is at all. I think it is something quite similar to me and the royal sisters. However, I suppose said princesses wished me to tell you to stay calm and just live on as long as there is no real harm done. Now I am here to protect you, after all…” sneered the draconequus.
After this he turned around and bathed the frozen room in a soft white light. When it vanished the three mares could see he had removed the ice and returned the furnishing and materials to their previous unfrozen state.
“Take this as an offer for peace. I don’t want to start this of on the wrong foot. I might enjoy a good chaos but, believe me or not, I’d rather have the Elements of Harmony as my allies here,” he said with a rare moment of seriousness before falling back into his typical mocking tone. “Now have a good day my fellow citizens, I must protect this town,” the draconequus spoke, wrapping himself into a roll of fabric, disappearing in the process and leaving the the three mares speechless.
“I don’t really trust him...” Rainbow finally broke the silence.
“He fixed my room. I doubt he would do that so willingly if it was his work,” Rarity interjected.
“He might not be responsible for for the mess here but we gotta do something about it. We can’t let, Celestia knows whatever it is, run around and freeze things up. Next time it could be a pony!” the pegasus argued enthusiastically. “Twilight! Is there some book in your library that could help us here?”
“Maybe...” came the hesitant reply.
“Good. Let’s go. I’m no scholar but I’ll try to help you. I don’t want to have some unknown magical monster running around in Ponyville!” the athlete said decisively.
With determination in her eyes she turned to Twilight and saw the look of utter disappointment on the librarian’s face.
“But... But what about our reading session? I already prepared everything and even picked a special book for tonight...” Twilight said with a voice that matched her expression.
A pang of guilt struck Rainbow Dash.
“I know how much they mean to you. I’ll make it up to you. I promise. Besides, I’ll spend the evening with you anyway. We’ll just read something else today,” she tried to bargain with her friend.
“Okay... You are right anyways...” replied the unicorn, still having a slightly disappointed ring to her voice.
“Great. Thanks! I think Rarity can continue her work her anyway since Discord melted the ice. Right, Rares?”
“I suppose...” the designer answered with a dreamy glance on Rainbow.
With a bit of confusion in her eyes, the athlete stared back a second, before she went on.
”Okay then. See you later, Twi. I still have to feed Tank but I’ll be at the library soon. Bye, Rares!”
With that, the athletic mare dashed out of the boutique and left the two unicorns alone. The lavender mare turned to Rarity, who blankly stared out of the window, Rainbow used as way out with a questioning look and asked, ”Are you going to be okay? I could try to find a spell that warns you if something comes into the house again, if you want. I’ll go and send a letter to Princess Celestia.”
The alabaster unicorn shot her an irritated glance, being torn from her thoughts but answered quickly.
“Thank you, darling, I hope it won’t be necessary but it would surely help me to feel safer. But it seems you already have plans for today, so go on home. I can manage alone from here on.” She assured her as she escorted the scholar out.
“Okay then. I’ll go and send a letter to Princess Celestia. I hope she can tell me more. I’ll let you know as soon as I learn more. Bye!” Twilight announced before she finally left.
As soon she was alone however, the designer let mind wander to the rainbow-maned mare that made her feel like a love-sick filly. After swooning about her for another couple minutes, she remembered the dress she had designed for the pegasus, and rushed back to work. She had planned to have it ready by tomorrow, so she had to rev up a bit if she wanted to stay on schedule.
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I have not started reading but that pic reminds me of the guy upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/The_Guy_(Disturbed).png
3079922
Well... I completely missed that...
Actually I like the band but this has nothing to with the guy on the picture. Except the face, of course.
3082282 well ok. But anyways got to reading it and I must say you have a well paced beginning and good writing, I will wait to see where this goes.
3084052
It's always nice to get positive feedback.
I have never written something like that before, let alone in english so I really hope I'll improve my writing style over the time. And since it is supposed to be a pretty long story I also think that I'll be able to do so.
3084179 well I will be here reading you story so I will try to give insight on how you are doing.
Swag-tastic chapter, go on!
3132590
I hate you...