A Sparkling Gem

by Havok SCOUT

Chapter 2: A Scheme Revealed

You open your eyes through a haze of bleariness and head pain. You try to reach a hoof up to rub your head and find that something is restraining you. You look down in puzzlement to see that you are bound to a chair with rope. You try to use your magic to cut the rope when a blazing pain rips through your head. You don't dare try again: you assume there's a horn blocker on your horn, and you learned enough about them to know that another attempt might be your last. You resign yourself to looking around where you are. You are in a stone room about as large as your kitchen. It's damp and cold, and you can already feel yourself getting sick. From somewhere, you can hear the steady drip of water. In front of you sits a rough wooden table with a single lit lantern resting on it, providing the illumination for the room. You don't see a door anywhere in front of you, but that's not what makes your jaw drop. Next to you, in a chair similar to yours and definitely wearing a horn blocker, is Twilight.

She doesn't look too bad off for somepony who's unconscious. She's not bleeding, but you have a hunch that those ropes aren't comfortable. Her mane is messier than when you saw her... yesterday? There aren't any windows, so you are unable to tell the passage of time, but you're willing to bet that it hasn't been more than a couple of hours since you were abducted.

"Twilight. Hey, Twilight!" you whisper over, trying to rouse her. She starts to stir, first shaking her head then opening her eyes. A look of terror slowly dawns on her face as she looks around for the sound of the noise. She sees you, and the terror is immediately replaced with shock and curiosity.

"Precious Stone, what are you doing here? Where is here, anyway? The last thing I remember, Rainbow Dash was talking to me about a clue she had found looking for Scootaloo. We had just flown over to the Crusader's Clubhouse when, nothing. And why do you have wings?" Twilight says in a rush of words.

Your mind is still trying to grasp what she meant by "why do you have wings" when you look down and don't see the vest that you usually wear. You open your mouth to explain when you hear a voice behind you say "Yes, I'd like to know why he has wings as well."

Into your view steps an exceptionally tall unicorn. She stands a good height above yourself, enough to make you think she might be taller than the princesses. Her horn comes to a wicked point, and the fluting on it is a deep chasm instead of the gentle ridge present in regular horns. Her coat is a brown like aged paper, and her wavy mane is dark as ink. As her flank passes you, you see her cutie mark is a quill whose tip is resting inside of a sponge. She turns around, and in her brown eyes is a dark, malicious fire. You have no idea what's going on, but you're sure she is to blame for it.

Before you can speak, Twilight shouts, "Who are you!? Are you the one who's ponynapped those ponies?"

The pony in front of laughs a cold laugh and says, "Why yes, I am the one going around taking ponies from their homes. I assure you, though, that tonight was the last night for such clandestine actions. Soon, I'll be powerful enough to make my grand appearance."

She smirks and gives a small bow. "I am Quick Study, and it is a pleasure to meet you, your highness. I hope you aren't too uncomfortable with your throne," she says with a laugh.

Twilight shakes her chair, trying to get out. "Where are the others? What have you done to them?" she yells.

"Nothing too serious. I only drained them of their essence and left them wallowing in the dungeons where they belong," she haughtily replies.

Twilight's mouth opens in shock and she stops rocking. "But... but how? That art was locked away centuries ago, and for good reason."

"May I call attention to my cutie mark. It symbolizes my talent of being able to replicate and understand most magic that I see. For example," she says when a green fire envelopes her form. As it clears, standing in front of you is a pegasus mare with a blue coat and a rainbow mane.

"You see, I was in Canterlot for my studies when the changelings attacked. I was at a café when they first started to shed their disguises, and I was so fascinated by their magic that I didn't put up a fight when they started to marshal us towards the castle. It's quite interesting, actually. When they transform, they change mass in addition to changing form." With that, the fire once again curls around her, and now standing there is Ditzy, the mailmare.

Recognition lights up your face. "Hey," you yell indignantly. "You were the one who delivered that package. But why me?"

"You were a lucky find, my dear. There I was, buzzing around town, when I see an open window. My curiosity engaged, I decided to pay a visit. Who should I find but an alicorn? I decided that I had to have you for my own. Also, consider this payback for swatting at me. That wasn't a very nice thing to do."

"That doesn't explain how you've been siphoning power from ponies," Twilight says, more curious and shocked than ever.

"It'll become clear, my dear, pretty pony princess, with one word: Tirek," Quick Study says with a saccharine smile. "By that time, I had already mastered the transformations, and it was no grand feat to change into a bird and watch Tirek ravage the country side. I learned a thing or two from him. One being his little trick of sucking away a pony's essence, the other being to reveal myself after getting the powers of an alicorn, not before. The first time I stole somepony's power, it was incredibly painful for the both of us. While I can replicate magic quite easily, I don't always know what'll happen when I do. The first time, the pegasus foal didn't stop screaming for a good hour, and I didn't stop for a few hours past that.

"Imagine all of your bone growing at once, but your skin isn't quite catching up to it. The feeling of having your tendons and ligaments stretch past any reasonable amount while your soul is filled with such power as you couldn't imagine! It's simply divine," she says as a look of rapture crosses her face.

"You're sick!" Twilight yells. "How could you do that to ponies? Don't you have a conscience?"

"Yeah!" you agree. "Is this all what it's for? The power?"

For the first time since appearing, she displays an emotion other than smug superiority. Unfortunately, she is now fuming mad. She crosses the small space between you and her and sticks her face down into yours.

"Of course, it's worth it! It has all been worth it!" she yells.

She gives a small snort and composes herself once again. She looks coolly down at you.

"Tell me something. Have you ever felt truly powerless? Have you ever been in a situation where you know something terrible is going to happen, and there's nothing you can do to stop it? Have you ever seen the light leave a pony's eyes as your hooves are stained with blood and your face stained with tears?"

When you don't answer, she stamps her front hooves on the ground and yells "HAVE YOU!?"

You begin to tremble, and you shake your head.

She laughs. "I thought not. I have, and I will never feel that way again, no matter who I have to step on. Speaking of which," she says, "it's time time for refreshments."

She opens her mouth impossibly wide and locks eyes with you. You try to turn away, but you find yourself entranced by the fire in her eyes. You imagine it consuming you while you float away in the smoke and wind. Then the pain starts. A few years ago, you had to get a tooth pulled. After sitting in the waiting room for what felt like hours, the assistant called you back. The dentist gave you a shot in your gums that made your face feel numb, and he started pulling. Having your essence sucked out feels similar to that, but only if you hadn't been given the shot and the doctor had used a pipe wrench instead of a pair of pliers.

Distantly, you hear the sounds of screaming. You realize that what you hear is you, and you scream louder knowing that. You see through a glaze of pain that while you are in agony, Quick Study seems to be enjoying it. She has on a look of ecstasy, and it might be your imagination, but she seems to be growing taller. The pain stops, but it leaves you feeling empty and weak. Quick Study is just getting started. You can see the muscles and tendons shift as her legs and barrel lengthen, her horn grows sharper and longer by the second, and her eyes are glowing a fierce and blinding white. Now she is much taller than the princesses, about as taller as the princesses are to normal ponies Arcane energy is shooting out of her skin like lightning, and one errant bolt hits you in the shoulder. A fresh wave of pain comes over you; this time it is sudden and intense. After it passes, you notice that it struck the rope as well, which is now laying loosely around you.

You sluggishly shrug off the last few coils, reach up to take off your horn blocker, and go over to Twilight. Her face is locked in a rictus of shock and disgust. You shake her out of it. She comes to, and you say, "She looks distracted. We should get out of here while we can."

She nods, and you try to take off her horn blocker with your magic. When you try, all that happens is a spark flashing at the tip and yet another stab of pain shoots through your head. You clench your teeth for a moment, and take off Twilight's blocker with your hoof. It's not as fast as if you had used your magic, but it works.

With her magic now free, her horn glows dimly as she slices through her rope with her magic. "Grab my hoof, I'm gonna teleport us out of here," she says.

Doing as she tells you, you take her hoof. Her horn lights up, and nothing happens. Twilight has a perplexed look on her face, and she closes her eyes to try again. Her horn glows slightly brighter, but still nothing happens. "Something must be blocking my spell. I can't teleport us out of here."

You look around in desperation, and see a large wooden door behind you. Still grabbing Twilight's hoof, you rush for the door. It's unlocked, and you leave Quick Study to her devices.

You shut the door behind you and find yourself in a torch lit hallway. You hear Twilight gasp.

"This is the Castle of the Two Sisters!" she says.

"The ruin in the Everfree Forest?" you ask.

"Yes, I know how to get back to town from here. If we can make it, I can alert the town and we can stop Quick Study," Twilight replies.

You both start running down the hall way when you hear an explosion behind you. You look behind you and see Quick Study emerge from the room. If she was tall before, she was a giant now, with a horn that hurts your eyes just looking at it. She sees you and gives a bellow of rage as she charges down the hall.

"RUN!" you yell. Your run turns into a gallop. You hear arcane bolts whiz past your head, and you see them turn the stones they hit into powder.

You rush down the hallways, turning corners and climbing stairs while the sounds of hooves thunder louder in your ears. Finally, you come to what could have been the foyer once upon a time, and you can see verdant foliage through the main doorway. You make a mad dash for it, only to hear a roar coming from in front of you.

Into the doorway steps a manticore, no doubt investigating the noise that's been going on. Neither you nor Twilight stop, but both of you keep running past the manticore. Confused, the manticore turns around just in time for Quick Study to hit it full force. They both go tumbling down the front steps. You hear them wrestling behind you as you cross the ravine that's in front of the castle.

As you enter the forest, you turn to see what's going on. Quick Study and the manticore are both on their feet and are staring each other down. They circle each other; the manticore snarls, its tail dripping venom and its right wing sporting a gaping hole, and Quick Study growls back, her sides covered in bite marks dripping blood. They clash again in a flurry of hoof strikes, bites, and stings. You can hear Twilight slowing down behind you, but most of your attention is held by the fight in front of you. You know deep down that if Quick Study doesn't have help, she won't survive. While she might be incredibly powerful right now, it's clear that she had never been in a fight before, while the manticore had fought every day of its life.

You hear Twilight come to your side and shake you. "Why did you stop? We have to get away!" she says.

"No, we have to help her."

"Help her!? She nearly killed you, she would have done the same to me, and you want to help her? Besides, you're in no shape to help anyone right now," she yells.

You take your eyes away from the action and turn towards Twilight. "I know what she did, but that doesn't change the fact that she's still a pony, and no one deserves to be mauled by a manticore. Besides, if she dies, no pony gets their essences back," you say.

The thought hits Twilight like a hammer, and she reluctantly says, "Alright, I'll help. I sure hope you have a plan, because the last time I fought a manticore, I didn't win."

You think for a few seconds, and you remember the hole in the manticore's wing. "I've got it!" you yell. You lean in close to Twilight and tell her your plan.

By the time you finish, the fight has finished. The manticore is battered ad bruised, but it looks chipper compared to Quick Study. She is laying on her side, and her barrel, neck, and legs all show marks from the battle. She tries to get to her hooves, but she stops and wobbles for a second and collapses back down to the ground. The manticore growls as it advances slowly towards Quick Study. As it towers over her, you throw a rock from near the edge of the chasm and hit the manticore on the shoulder. "Hey, ugly!" you yell.

It turns to face you, surprised that something is still bothering it. "Yeah, you! Did your mother drop you as a cub, or was your dad a cockatrice?"

The manticore snarls at you and begins to charge. You hold your ground as it gets closer. It uses its wings to propel it forward, and it's a few feet from you when you yell, "NOW!"

From her place in the forest, Twilight lights her horn and levitates a small log that was sitting in front of you. The manticore doesn't notice it in time and trips over it. You dive out of the way, but the manticore isn't so lucky. It tumbles over the cliff, its wings useless after being gored by Quick Study's spear-like horn. It roars as it falls through the air. After a few seconds you hear a large splash from the chasm.

Twilight comes over to tend to Quick Study, and you join her there. Quick Study is still conscious, but barely. Her breathing is labored, she is bleeding out from four spots on her body, and her front legs are both bent in disgusting angles.

"Her front legs are both broken, her horn was snapped off about half a foot from the base, and her left eye is badly damaged," Twilight says. "I don't know if she'll ever recover, but she will never be able to use her magic more than to levitate objects from now on. She'll need plenty of bed rest and a good doctor. It's nothing less than she—"

Twilight stops as she notices a glow radiating from Quick Study's barrel. Before your eyes, her wounds star to heal: her legs straighten out, the bite marks start to stitch themselves closed, even the tip of her horn levitates from where it was sitting in the grass and starts to reattach itself to the stub still on Quick Study's head. Her eyes close with the effort.

Your absorption in the process is broken when you see Twilight cast a spell. You briefly see a rune on Quick Study's head before it fades away.

"What did you cast on her," you ask.

"It's a spell that will block her magic and bind her body. That way she won't be able to escape," Twilight says as she looks down at the body at her feet.

Satisfied, you watch as the process starts to slow down, then finally stop. Quick Study looks like she did before the manticore, and her previously closed eyes begin to flicker open.

"Wha... What happened? That manticore was stalking towards me, then you... you saved me? Why? Why would you save the pony who took your essence from you, who stole what made you you?" she asks.

"Because what you took was my magic, not my conscience. I'd never turn away from somepony in need. Also, you still have my essence," you say.

Quick Study smiles sheepishly. It's a vaguely creepy look due to her mouth being large enough to swallow you whole. "Sorry about that. If it makes you feel better, I'm willing to give you your power back," she says.

With a cough and a stern glance from Twilight, Quick Study reluctantly adds, "Okay, the other three I've taken will get there essences back. Now let's get out of here."

She tries to stand, only to find that her limbs aren't responding to her commands. She looks at Twilight. "What did you do to me?"

"Oh, just a little spell to make sure you didn't double cross us after we saved your neck," Twilight replies.

"Fair enough," Quick Study says. "Now, who's going to carry me all the way to Ponyville?"

"First, you're going to tell me where the others are," Twilight demands.

Quick Study sighs. "They're in the Organ room. I put them under an extended sleep spell, but they should be waking up now."

"I'd better go get them before they get lost," Twilight says. "Precious Stone, stay here and watch her. Knock her out with a rock if she does anything funny."

With that, Twilight walks up the steps to the castle and goes in.

"Soooo, what happened back there?" you say to Quick Study.

She perks her ears up. "What do you mean 'back there'?"

"When you asked me about being weak. Who did you see die? If you don't mind me asking, that is," you say.

She gives you a dirty look and says, "I do mind, as a matter of fact."

"Okay."

A few awkward minutes pass, with the only sounds being the river below and the sounds of wildlife in the forest. Twilight comes out, leading three groggy strangers, one purple earth pony, one green unicorn, and one orange pegasus filly. You recognize the purple one as the face on the milk carton. As the group exits the palace, they spot Quick Study lying on the ground. Their reactions couldn't have been different. The orange one jumps behind Twilight, and is visibly shaking. The purple one faints on the spot, crumpling into a heap at the foot of the stairs. The green one yells and charges towards Quick Study, her horn down in a combative stance. You step between Quick Study and her, and she slides to a halt a few inches from you.

"Get out of my way! This bitch deserves a beating for what she did," she yells as she tries to shove you aside. You're ready for the blow, and despite your weakened state, you're able to stand your ground.

"She already had one trying to save our lives from a manticore," you say.

Quick Study's eyes look up at you, recognizing your lie but doing nothing to refute it. The unicorn tilts her head, a puzzled frown appearing on her face. "She saved you?"

"Yes, and she almost died because of it," you reply.

"Hmph, serves her right," the unicorn says, but her contemplative face is at odds with her righteous tone.

You turn your gaze to look at Twilight. She is simultaneously trying to comfort the filly and wake the purple mare out of her stupor, and she's doing a pretty good job at it. In a minute the mare is back on her hooves and the filly is making slow steps toward where you, Quick Study, and the unicorn are standing.

Soon, everyone is standing around Quick Study, and Twilight clears her throat to get everypony's attention. "Now that we're all together, we'll be heading back to Ponyville. The Everfree can be a dangerous place, but only if you don't stick to the path. Stay close to me, and we'll all be fine."

Twilight turns to Quick Study, her horn glowing. It flashes for a second, and you notice Quick Study is now floating an inch above the ground. "I've put a cushion of air below you so that we can drag you to Ponyville. There is no way we'd be able to carry you otherwise.

"Alright, everyone ready? Let's go."

Twilight is at the front of the group, with Quick Study behind her, you behind quick study, the filly behind you, the earth pony behind her, and the unicorn in the back.

About a mile into the forest, the filly speaks up. "Aren't you, like, the cashier at the quill shop?" she asks.

Realizing that she's talking to you, you say, "Why yes, I am."

"Since when did you become a princess?"

Everyone freezes, and the purple mare tries to stifle a laugh.

"Uh, if you're talking about my wings and horn, I was born this way."

"Wow, that musta been cool, growing up like that," the filly says.

"Actually, it wasn't. I was teased all the time. I never belonged with the pegasi, the unicorns, or the earth ponies. Even my parents were ashamed of me, even though they never said anything. One day, I decided to put on a vest I had gotten for one of my birthdays. I walked around Canterlot, and no pony noticed my wings. I even ran into some of my class mates playing in the park. They invited me to play tag with them. I was so happy, and it was because I hid a part of me away from the world. From that day on, I never went outside without my wings covered, and eventually everyone just forgot about them. Even me. Now I know that hiding who I am might make everypony else happy, but it won't make me happy."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. I know how you feel though. I can't fly, and I'm one of the last to get my cutie mark in my class. I get bullied all the time, but I feel better knowing that my friends are there beside me."

Everypony has a warm smile on their faces, hearing such bright words from a filly. Everypony, that is, except Quick Study. She looks resigned to her fate.

"It was my fiancé," she says.

"Who now?" Twilight asks.

"My fiancé was the pony I saw die. We were walking back home from a ballet. He actually liked ballet," she says with a watery chuckle. "It was late, and we decided to cut through the park to get home sooner. That was when they came from the bushes. It was two earth ponies, and they were wearing ski masks. One went for me immediately, and Proper Prose, my fiancé, tried to stop him. The other stallion hit him in the stomach and he went down. The first had me restrained by that point, and had slipped a horn blocker onto me. There was nothing I could do. I watched Proper get the life beat out of him for what was in our wallets. The stallions fled after his buddy snapped him out of his attack. I tore the horn blocker off and rushed to Proper's side. When I got there, he was already gone. I vowed never to be that weak ever again, and look where that got me. I know it doesn't make anything better, but for what it's worth, I'm so sorry. Trying to become stronger, I just made others feel like I did. Can you forgive me?"

No pony spoke for a few seconds, when the filly spoke up. "I forgive you."

Quick Study cranes her neck back to look at her. "Thank you," she says. "I'm sorry you were the first one I took. You must miss your friends by now."

"I do. We haven't been apart for more than a few days before."

"I forgive you, too," the purple mare says.

"Me, too," you say.

The back of the line remains silent until a dull thunk is heard, with an accompanying "Ow."

"I forgive you, too," the unicorn says from the back.

"Thank you," Quick Study whispers.

The rest of the journey passes in silence, save for a few quiet sobs from Quick Study.

Comments

[PresentPerfect]

Is it my imagination, or did "my" name change between the first two chapters?