7. Night watch
Owlowiscious had been sleeping throughout the day, which was a perfectly normal activity for any nocturnal creature. However, in Owlowiscious's case, he had been especially tired after a busy evening of helping Twilight.
According to her explanation, they had to work several extra hours into the night in order to make an unscheduled opening in her schedule. This was all according to her secret schedule, the one that the reptile did not know about, which detailed her plan for working in secret on the reptile's birthday gift.
So it was no wonder that Owlowiscious had slept through all the fuss over Twilight's disappearance earlier that afternoon. To be sure, the commotion during the afternoon had briefly roused him from his slumber, but he was used to the noisy goings-on of ponies and had merely closed his eyes to go back to sleep again.
Having rested sufficiently through the day, Owlowiscious woke up at his accustomed time shortly after sundown. He was just contemplating taking a short excursion to find himself a tasty breakfast vole when his thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of several ponies into the library. Owlowiscious recognized the ponies as Twilight's friends of course.
These ponies were regular visitors, so Owlowiscious made nothing of their arrival. The short reptile too was also a standard feature of the library and engendered no further interest from him. The two ruling Diarchs which followed the ponies in were, however, something out of the ordinary.
“Hoo!” he hooted softly under his breath.
Owlowiscious, being the intelligent bird that he was, made note of the fact that Twilight was not among them. Curious, he delayed his breakfast, hoping to discern what was transpiring. Perched quietly in a corner as he was, none of the ponies paid him the slightest attention.
He listened as the ponies discussed splitting up to search the library. Though for what he did not know. If they had asked him, he might have been able to help them in their search. As it was, all he could do was listen and observe carefully.
A chance comment from the large white pony, Princess Celestia, immediately caught his attention. Something had happened to Twilight!? To his pony? Owlowiscious was disturbed upon hearing this, though there was not the slightest change to his demeanor. Remaining quiet upon his perch, he essayed to overhear further details. Owlowiscious knew that whatever one pony discovered would soon be communicated to the others.
Soon his hunter's patience was rewarded as the large white pony, Princess Celestia, re-entered the room to announce something of interest had been found in Twilight's study.
Once all the others had left the library proper and ascended to the study, Owlowiscious unfurled his silent wings and flew even higher up through the central space of the tree, up to Twilight's bedroom. A set of stairs led down from her bedroom into the study. Silently alighting upon the topmost step of that stairway, he was able to observe most of what was taking place below him in the study.
From his vantage point, Owlowiscious noted the pink one was carefully scrutinizing everything in the room. He settled down to await developments. Perched there upon the step, listening to the ponies argue inconsequential details, he recalled how he had started his association with Twilight.
----------------
Owlowiscious was a clever bird with a keen eye for the tiniest detail. Not so unusual for owls in general, but Owlowiscious had gone a step further than most owls. Perhaps it was because he noticed that the mice were more plentiful near the pony habitations, or perhaps also he had cultivated a genuine curiosity about ponies. Either way, he had become proficient in understanding their speech, and he had even taken an interest in reading over the shoulders of young foals as they learned their letters.
One newly arrived pony, in particular, had captivated his interest, as he often noticed it staying awake long into the night and he wondered if it was a new breed of nocturnal pony. Obviously, the color of its coat was one more suitable for the night.
It had been late one blustery and moonless night that, while checking out his nocturnal pony, he heard a muffled cry of disappointment come from inside the big tree where it lived, even as a piece of wind driven parchment flew past him. It may have been instinct which prompted him to pursue that fluttering sheet of parchment, but it wasn't instinct which inspired him to return it to the pony that had lost it. He was, in fact, hoping to interact with his nocturnal pony. Returning the scroll of parchment was something that was easy to do.
Returning with the scroll, he found an opening into the pony's tree and set himself down as close as possible to the open window; just in case. Unfortunately, the nocturnal pony was so agitated it did not even notice his presence.
Eager to be noticed, Owlowiscious called out with a sharp “Hoo!” and laid down the scroll.
The pony stood there, frozen, staring at him. Feeling slightly disappointed with the results of his attempt at interacting with the pony, he turned around and started beating his wings.
“Wait!” The pony called out. Immediately he settled back down again. Could it be that the pony wanted to interact with him after all?
“Don't go. Don't be afraid.” the pony added. At those words, Owlowiscious turned around and observed the nocturnal pony approaching him.
“Thank you for returning my scroll.” she offered.
The simple acknowledgment thrilled him. “Hoo, Hoo” he responded politely, acknowledging his pleasure at meeting the mare. His thanks, however, were interrupted by a sudden blast of cold air coming in through the window.
“Hoo-Hoo” he exclaimed, shivering. It was time to go hunt up some food, to keep himself warm through the cold night.
However, the nocturnal pony was not done with him yet, for she said: “Gosh it’s cold tonight.” He could only agree with that. “Say! Would you like to relax in here and keep me company while I work?”
“Hoo, Hoo” he replied, greatly surprised by her offer. Bounding across the desk, he found a comfortable roost on a nearby drying rack, even as she closed the window behind him.
Over the course of that night, he listened avidly to her comments on everything, which included her work, her friends and even herself. It was thrilling to know that she now considered him to be her friend. It was also during that night, he remembered fondly, that she, Twilight, had given him the name Owlowiscious. He loved it.
----------------
During his reminiscence, Owlowiscious had continued to listening to events in the room. His hunter's instincts would never fail to alert him if something significant was being spoken. It alerted him now even as the large white pony, Princess Celestia, spoke her conclusion.
“Twilight was pulled into that book.” said the large white mare.
“What?” All the ponies exclaimed simultaneously.
“Hoo-Hoo?” exclaimed Owlowiscious as well, though no one heard him.
They all turned to look in horror at the burned and charred remains of the literary blank. Owlowiscious as well, though his feathered features were unable to display any of the emotion he was feeling.
Turning back to observe the ponies, he noted that the talking reptile had fainted.
----------------
Owlowiscious listened to the ensuing discussion, hoping to hear news that Twilight would soon be returned.
“So, ya know how to get her outta there? Right?” the orange pony asked the large white mare.
The large white mare closed her eyes for a moment as if carefully considering what she would say. “I am unable to give you an answer to that, Applejack.”
The ponies all gasped.
“The damage to the book, as you can see, is quite extensive. We will first need to consult with the spell's author to gain a proper understanding of what happened here.
“It is quite possible that Twilight remains safe and sound within that literary creation, but with the book destroyed, it will be like a closed bubble, making it quite a difficult task to reach her.
“We must also consider the possibility, however unpleasant it may be that Twilight did not survive the destruction of the book.”
“What?”, “No way!”, “Oh please no!”, “Now just hold on there!” rang out a chorus of replies.
“I refuse to hear it.” was the smaller white mare's scornful reply. “Twilight is the most resourceful and determined pony that I know. She would never allow herself to become immolated by some paltry book.”
“Of course, my dear Rarity. Neither do I believe that such a fate befell Twilight. I merely mention it as a remote possibility that needs to be investigated as well. Rest assured, though, that both Luna and I shall not give up until we have found our fourth Princess.”
“Well, what do we do now?” asked the pink mare, her mane now hanging limply. Owlowiscious thought that was a very good question.
“For now, there is nothing you can do. Luna has already departed on a mission to find the creator of the literary blank. It is vital that we obtain that pony's cooperation.”
“Maybe we could help you find that pony?” offered the rainbow maned pony, repeatedly smacking one hoof into another. Why the blue mare did this, Owlowiscious was not sure, but he suspected it portended violence of some sort.
“No, your help will not be required Rainbow Dash. Luna's search will be quite− thorough.” replied the large white mare.
“Ungh.” groaned the talking reptile, who was finally waking up from his faint. “Twilight!” he called out anxiously as he sat up abruptly. A golden light surrounded him as the large white pony levitated him over to her side.
“Until further notice, no one is to disturb this room. It shall remain untouched until we can bring appropriate resources to bear. To that end, this library remains closed until our investigations are complete.
“Spike, since Twilight is currently unable to look after you, you will be returning with me to Canterlot.”
“What? No! I want to stay and help look for Twilight.” protested the─ Spike. Owlowiscious finally consented to think of him by his proper name, out of consideration of the deep attachment to Twilight they both had.
“Ya can't stay here Spike. The library is closed.” explained the orange mare.
“I could stay with one of you guys.” a desperate Spike countered.
“Oh, Spike.” Began the little white mare. “Under any other circumstances, we would be happy to look after you for a few days. But at this time there is nothing any of us can do for Twilight. It's in Princess Celestia's hooves now.
“We all have our work to try and keep our minds busy while we're waiting. But what would you do with yourself if you stayed here in Ponyville? When you have nothing to do, and you aren't even allowed to enter this library?”
“Indeed Spike. You will be able to help by assisting in my research on this spell back in Canterlot. Twilight has stated that you have become quite the able assistant.” the large white pony, Princess Celestia, confided to him.
Owlowiscious had heard enough. He now knew what his task would be. The room where Twilight had disappeared needed to be guarded, and he was the perfect owl for the task.
He would keep a watch on the room during the long hours of the night, making sure that nothing untoward happened, not even a mouse would disturb even the slightest scrap of paper.
Taking to the air on nearly silent wing beats, Owlowiscious powered his way upwards, toward the observatory platform. There, Twilight had set up an owl door for him, so that he could enter and leave the library tree whenever he felt the need.
He still needed to find himself some breakfast. Perhaps he would get two voles. His breakfast had been delayed, and it would be a long watch.
----------------
All the ponies had apparently left the library, leaving it dark when Owlowiscious returned. The lack of illumination did not present any serious problem to an owl who could fly with ease through dense forests on dark overcast nights.
With nary a beat of his wings, Owlowiscious swept down all the way from the observatory, through the bedroom, and down the stairway into the study. His long silent glide taking him over to his regular perch. After a quick ruffle of his feathers, he settled down for his long watch.
The watch was boring, but owls were born to handle boredom. They had the ability to sit motionless for hours on end, senses straining to catch the tiniest movement and hear the slightest sound. These were part and parcel of an owl's natural hunting skills and required little or no conscious input.
As the hours passed, Owlowiscious sat and reminisced on the times he had spent assisting Twilight into the long hours of the night. Though there were times she could run his feathers ragged, requesting that he fetch her book after book, those times were relatively rare.
Usually, he was allowed to just sit peacefully on his perch, absorbing knowledge and listening as his friend spoke her thoughts aloud while writing her notes and observations. At times she would even pause and ask him for his opinion on some matter or other.
His fondest memory was of one evening she had turned her study to the subject of owls. She had found some pretentious book, purporting to be an authoritative treatise on owls and owl behavior. Soon after she had begun reading it to him, he had fallen off his perch and began to convulse. Not knowing what had happened Twilight rushed to his side.
Her expression of worry, however, had soon changed to a frown when it became apparent from his hoots, and from the way he was holding his belly with his wings, that Owlowiscious was merely convulsing with laughter. Though annoyed with the interruption, Twilight waited patiently until he had recovered his composure and his perch. Once assured that Owlowiscious had quite recovered, though still mystified as to what has set him off, she had resumed reading that ridiculous book.
It was not until Owlowiscious fell off his perch for the third time that she finally realized that her so called expert book was the source of his amusement. Twilight's expression when she realized that her 'authoritative' book was in fact 'wrong' had been one of stunned sadness. So sad in fact that his laughter quickly came to an end.
The following hours of that night, however, were among some of his fondest recollections as Twilight and he had collaborated on writing a document to correct the errors set out in that book. “After all,” Twilight had said to him, “the best authority on owls, would have to be an owl.”
----------------
Many hours passed and nothing disturbed either the room or the night. Owlowiscious was feeling smug about his skills at guarding the room when a faint flicker caught his eye. Noiselessly his head tilted down to look directly at the spot where he had noticed the flicker.
Owlowiscious listened for all he was worth, but couldn't even hear so much as an ant. He stared fiercely but saw nothing other than the faintly glowing shred of paper.
Glowing? Owlowiscious gave a start, spreading his wings halfway and uttered a brief remark, “Hoo?”
How had he not noticed before that the tiny piece of paper was glowing? Owlowiscious settled down and looked carefully about the darkened room. The first thing he noticed was that there were several other glowing pieces of paper, though the others were not nearly as bright as the first one he had noticed.
Not to say that the first piece of paper was glowing brightly. It was rather dim, like a cloudy sky seen during the fading twilight after the sun had set.
Owlowiscious counted six pieces of paper that had at least some glow to them. He stared at them all carefully. After a while, he noticed something peculiar. The first piece of paper, the one that had been brightest, was no longer the brightest; in fact, it had slowly begun to dim. And two new pieces of paper had started to glow dimly, even as one of the original dim pieces faded ever so slowly to black.
With all the patience of a hunter waiting for a vole to move out into the open, Owlowiscious kept watch over the exploded fragments of paper. As the hours drifted by, he saw that there were scores of them. Over the course of an hour, they would slowly brighten and then dim. At any one time, only a small number would be glowing, and most of those were usually quite dim.
Twice more, he saw the glowing scraps flicker, like when a flying pony obscured the face of the moon momentarily.
Several more hours passed as Owlowiscious watched the glowing debris. He noted that their glow was getting dimmer and dimmer. Eventually, several hours before sunrise, all of the papers that had been growing dimmer and dimmer, became totally dark.
Owlowiscious was an intelligent bird. He knew that the glow was something important, though what it meant was beyond him. Sitting there in the dark, keeping watch over Twilight's study, he pondered how he might be able to communicate his discovery to the other ponies.
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I contain this hallowed knowledge which hath been granted by the sacred spreadsheets
Well, that’s totally not ominous.
I haven't ever read anything that gives a backstory for Owlicious, but this is great! You say it comes from someone else? I'll have to have a look.
Equestria is in Japan, then?
That would explain so much.
Right after the predator chapter we get Owliscious taking about killing animals...
Twilight is freaked by Mike's meat, but Owlicious's voles are OK?
6417681
Yeah, a number of readers have taken me to task about Twilight's extreme reaction.
I plan to rewrite that - and other things - after I finish the story.
In defence of Owlowicious however, he usually eats out. And despite Spike's botched attempt at a frame-up, he mostly swallows his food whole.
Time for another round of Spot The Typo!
The perspective of the owl was a nice change. I adore owls anyway.
6418281 I presume Twilight would be rather upset by the fact, that what he ate was once a pig, rather than that it IS meat. A pig's intelligence in equestria... isn't as high though, as that of the sheep for example, they are mostly kept as 'pets'.
Still, she may not even know what bacon is, therefore there should be more curiosity in her reaction when she learns the word, then flipping the table in an instant. Only when he tells her that the bacon is pig meat, she should be SLIGHTLY disgusted and uncomfortable with it, but not have an extreme reaction like you depicted her with, throwing around accusations like that. It's just very irrational in that situation, considering what he already did for her, even though she was the most rational when greeting someone new, who is treated badly by the community, like Zecora.
After all, she was Celestia's student, so she may also have dined with Dignitaries of carnivorous species in back in Canterlot, and Celestia probably talked with her about the importance of meat for intelligent carnivores. Of all of her friends, who lived practically in the boonies, she was the most informed about other species.
She knew what Zecora was,
She knew what a Griffon was,
She knew Cerberus and where the hell she needed to take him.
There is also the possibility that pigs may be imported by griffons from Equestria. Therefore bacon is nothing unusual either for her, and that griffons eat it.
She does not seem to have anything against carnivorous Griffons.
In the end as long as he isn't talking about Cow or Pony meat, she should be reasonable understanding, if slightly turned of by it. And even she learns about cow meat, the only question she might rather take next should be "Do you eat pony meat, too?", even if it's a bit irrational considering what was done for her by him so far. The rejection of such meat then should calm her nerves in relief.
After all, better the cow then the pony.
But once he explains that the animals on earth are nothing like her, or pigs in equestria, she should be fine.
If you don't tell someone what fried bacon is, they may not even recognize it as meat. Considering how 'spiced' bacon is, and that it's fried, she may not even be capable to categorize it as meat even by smelling it.
If she takes a bite, and still doesn't know what it is, might even find it tasty, she won't have to spit, hurl or have any digestive problems, since as prior comments stated that horses are capable to eat and digest meat.
Regarding him putting all his meat in the trash to make Twilight "comfortable"....
Ahem... this is HIS home, Twilight is a GUEST in his own domicile, in a different world which substitutes as a different country. She has to get accustomed to what HE eats/favors in his home, not the other way around, for etiquette, manners, and politeness sake.
It’s funny how Owlowiscious was forgotten by both the show and most of the fandom. He was such a big thing, but then he just became a background character until he disappeared entirely. It’s a little sad, but also funny.
It’s good to see him in stories, though I know as a rule animals and pets can be hard to do good things with, given they’re not really expressive or able to do much, outside of being anthropomorphised, having human-like tendencies and behavioural traits as well as intelligence.