The Box

by lunabrony

Ponies And Packages: Twilight

When Twilight Sparkles number one assistant answered the door, he usually expected good things to be on the other side. Cheerful, pleasant things. Ponies who he hadn't seen in a long time who still remembered his name, a present with his name on it, Twilight Sparkle returned from a shopping trip, or, if he was exceptionally lucky, the fair Lady Rarity herself. Spike sighed at the thought, before quickly composing himself and returning to his duty, which in this case involved opening up the front door. The sight which met his eyes caused his heart to sink, for it was none of the things mentioned earlier.

"Delivery for Miss Sparkle," deadpanned the no-nonsense gryphon who up until now had been the caretaker of the box on the front porch.

"Gilda." Spike said, equally uninterested in seeing her of all creatures. Twilight had warned him about her on various occasions. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like I'm doing here? I'm delivering mail. It's what gryphons do."

Spike looked down at the package, which bore no name, no return address, no label of any kind. The only thing written on it at all was GOLDEN OAKS LIBRARY, PONYVILLE in bright red crayon. He scratched his head. "Huh. Twilight didn't tell me to be on the lookout for any packages. She's usually really good at that." He picked up the package with such force, expecting that it would be heavy, and went tumbling backwards into the library. "It hardly weighs anything!"

"Yeah, made it easy to carry, though." Gilda shrugged. "Can I come in? I just flew in from the Gryphon Kingdom, and boy are my wings tired."

Spike blinked. "That's the worst joke I've ever heard."

"It's not a joke, you little punk. Do you KNOW how far away the Gryphon Kingdom is? It's at least thirty... no... a hundred... no... it's really freaking far!" Gilda snapped, and pushed past Spike into the library.

"Gilda! Do not abuse my assistant!" Came an annoyed voice from the second floor balcony, and Gilda craned her head up to see who berated her, although she already had an idea.

Twilight Sparkle had been disrupted from her reading, which was strike one. She had seen Spike get pushed around, which was strike two. And she really didn't care for Gilda, although that wasn't a logical reason for another strike. She forced a smile onto her face, and began to descend the stairs.

"What can I help you with?"

Gilda snorted. "I just need you to sign this, and I can give you your package."

Twilight looked alarmed. "I didn't order anything. Or did I? Spike, did I order anything? Did we forget somepony's birthday?!"

"I doubt it. Pinkie would have told us," he pointed out.

"Then I must have forgotten something... quickly, check my calendar!"

Spike ran off to do just that, and Twilight picked up her quill to sign for the parcel.

"Thanks." Gilda stretched her wings. "I gotta back, I'm on this rotten thing called a schedule, and they expect me to be done on time..." She groaned. "Of course, I could always just not do it and say I did."

Twilight looked horrified. "Don't you dare! Neglecting a schedule is one of the worst things a pony could do! It's right up there with not having a color coded to-do list!"

Rolling her eyes, Gilda huffed. "I'll manage," she said, and took off out the door. Twilight closed it, and Spike came down with an armful of parchments. "We didn't forget anything. We're not just on schedule, we're ahead of it. Since Rarity cancelled yesterday, we used the extra time to get more things done."

Twilight frowned. "Well, then let's just see what's in this box, shall we?" Her horn glowed as she prepared to open the box, then just as quickly, sputtered and went out.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Spike asked.

"...No. It's not."

Twilight tried again, and again her horn went out. "It's some sort of... anti-magic charm."

"What's that mean?"

"It means magic can't be used to open the box. It's used all the time for especially fragile or magically sensitive packages, for safety reasons." Twilight grasped the box in her front legs and shook it carefully. There was absolutely no sound from within, no weight of any kind within the box. But that didn't mean it was empty, there were many instances where an item would be magically tethered to the center of the box, and by the outside it would appear to be completely empty until opened. She paused momentarily. "Give me one of your scales, Spike."

"What? Why?"

"Because I need something sharp. You're a baby dragon, you're growing new ones all the time anyway," she said gently. Spike agreed, and handed over a scale that had been loose for quite some time. Twilight carefully struck the edge of the purple scale down the side of the box... and the scale broke in half.

"I thought you said dragon scales were supposed to be one of the strongest materials in Equestria," Spike said.

"They are. Well, adult dragons anyway. But still... there's something bad about this box, Spike. I'm going to ask Applejack for help. Maybe she can tell us what's going on with it. Can you guard the library?"

Spike saluted. Twilight smiled.

"I knew I could count on you, Spike." Balancing the box on her back, Spike tied it in place with a couple of straps. And Twilight raced off for Sweet Apple Acres, her mysterious box in tow. Spike waved as she left. "Don't worry, Twilight! Everything is going to be just fine!"

Comments

[VampDash]

WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!

[Tatsurou]

Well, this looks rather interesting.

[Jlargent]

I would've used the Question Block from Mario.

[Tunalock]

WARNING: Spoilers.

[SuperGiantRobot]

...kay.

[Jake the Dog]

Dundundun