White Room, Black Magic
I sat in a chair of my own making, arms crossed and glaring out the window across the room. I hated waiting, especially when it was for something this important. I was in a hospital room with two beds and a curtain that separated the two. Well, normally it would. There was only one occupant, so it was pulled all the way back to the wall. The door to the room was closed and barring the outside world from entering. It wouldn't do it's job very well, but we'll get to that.
I looked back to the only other person in the room, still unconscious. The doctor said "sleeping", but whatever. The important part was that he was breathing, which was why I came here in the first place: I wanted to keep it that way. The little dragon looked pretty snug on his own mattress. Maybe we should see about getting him an actual bed at the house. He never said anything about it...
Also, I wanted to know how they kept hospital gowns made for dragons in stock. They insisted on making him wear one, even if he was only staying until he could wake up.
I had a lot of things on my mind. That ninja was probably still in the library, wasn't she? I wondered what she would find in there. I couldn't recall if I left anything in there I shouldn't have. Then it struck me that there was an unsupervised ninja raiding my house. She'd find my booze for sure! Son of a bitch!
Further thoughts about her possibly even opening the bottles could wait for later. The aforementioned door failed to do its job properly, because Pinkie Pie kicked it open. She didn't open it forcefully, she kicked it. She ran in and slid to a stop at the foot of the bed. "OH MY GOSH WHAT HAPPENED IS EVERYONE ALRIGHT OH HAY OH NO NOPONY"S SMILING SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE BUT WHAT I'M NOT A DOCTOR ONLY IN SOCIOLOGY-"
I lost track of her rambling after that. I shot Spike a quick look to confirm that he was still out cold, and turned back to Pinkie. Her rambling led her to rubbing cupcakes together like a defibrillator (if I paid attention, she would have said something about cupcakes reviving fun). She threw the cupcakes at Spike, so I caught them in my magic before they could make a mess.
I set the cakes down on the floor just in time for the other girls to come in. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash entered in a far more reserved fashion of worry. I waved gently in their direction and they responded in kind.
"Twilight, dear, how are you two?" Rarity asked, looking between me and Spike.
"We're doing fine." I said with a calm smile.
"Well what happened? We just heard yer library was burnin' and then you came out carryin' Spike on yer back." Applejack asked.
"And you're bleeding." Fluttershy noted, staring intently at my bandages.
I lifted up my injured arm to inspect the bandages. No blood came through. "How'd you know I'm still bleeding?"
Fluttershy looked away quickly. "I mean you're wearing bandages." She briefly looked over to see everypony staring at her. "I'm not creepy."
"Right," Rainbow quickly changed the topic. "So what happened in there? You're just suddenly injured in a big library fire and Spike is out cold! I don't think libraries are supposed to be that dangerous!"
"Well, for starters, my injuries weren't from the fire. I actually got these yesterday in an unrelated timberwolf attack." I explained.
"Wait, when did you fight timberwolves?" Rainbow asked incredulously. "I think we'd all know something about timberwolves coming into town."
"Right, which is why I found them in the Everfree Forest."
"When was that?" Pinkie asked curiously. "The only time you left the library was to run some errands."
"I actually went into the forest when I said that."
"So ya lied." Applejack deadpanned.
"You caught me." I conceded with a shrug. "But in my defense, if I told anypony, they would've insisted on following me."
"That's probably because the Everfree Forest is a dangerous place to roam alone." Rarity explained the obvious.
"Right, thus the lies."
"So ya lie so ya can go to dangerous places alone?" Applejack asked irritably.
I bobbed my head in thought about that. I figured my real reasoning should be secret. "Yeah,"
"That's very irresponsible." Rariry chided.
"Yeah, whatever." I dismissed with a wave.
"So that cloak you were wearing was to hide your cuts?" Pinkie asked, shocked. She gaped with her hooves to her head. "Oh my gosh, you were hurt this whole time, and I left you all alone!"
"That's not true!" I refuted with a gesture to the bed. "I was with Spike."
"So he knows how to treat lacerations?" Rarity asked.
"No." I tapped my chin. "Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if I did it right."
"So why didn't you just go to the hospital?" AJ asked.
"'Cause I'm hardcore." I stated resolutely.
"I really wish you wouldn't do that." Pinkie lamented.
"I prefer to think of it as me keeping my blood pressure low." I said with a shrug.
"That's not how that works." Rarity facehoofed.
"Well I still got medical treatment. Did I do it right, Fluttershy?" I looked at Fluttershy, only to realize that she was staring at my bandages with a gormless stare. I rolled my eyes. "Hey, can somepony snap Fluttershy out of her trance? She's drooling at my injuries."
Rainbow clapped her hooves next to Fluttershy, who snapped out of her stupor. "Huh, what?" Fluttershy looked around at us, feeling embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry; I zoned out." Her tail swished and her ear twitched. "Um, I'm getting pretty t-thirsty. I'll go get some water." She turned to the door and brushed her tail against Rainbow Dash on her way out.
Rainbow jumped at the contact and got flushed. "Uh, you know, I'm pretty thirsty, too. I think I'll go with Fluttershy." She hastened out of the room.
The rest of us stared after them. "You know, I think there's something going on between them." Rarity noted.
"You think?" I droned obviously.
"Hey, I think that, too!" Pinkie proudly admitted.
I smirked at the pink mare. "Then we're agreed."
"So if yer injuries were from the other day, what happened today?" Applejack asked, steering the conversation back on track.
"Well, we were working on some magic stuff when Spike started breathing fire out of control. It didn't take too long to figure out that he was having a magic surge, so I put a stop to that as soon as I could. Still burned up a bunch of the library, though."
"Um, did you just say he had a magic surge?" Rarity asked.
I scratched my head. "Yeah, we were trying to figure out dragon magic."
"So it worked?"
"I guess so. I mean, he could almost cast Lock."
"But ah thought only unicorns had magic." Applejack said.
"Every living creature has magic." I explained. "It's just that every creature has different ways of using it. Unicorns use their horns, humans use their hands, and dragons use their breath."
"Really?" Rarity looked upon a sleeping Spike with interest. "That's very interesting."
"So Earth Ponies can use magic too, right?" Applejack asked to clarify.
"I don't see why not." I answered.
Applejack tapped a hoof to her chin. "Hmm, if that's the case, then wouldn't that explain Pinkie Pie?"
We all turned to the pink mare in question. She frowned inquisitively. "What?"
"Huh." I nodded in affirmation. "That does explain everything about you. It's all just magic."
Pinkie's expression morphed into surprise as her tail shook. Without warning, a potted plant crashed onto my head. I held a hand to my throbbing head with a scowl. "AAAGH! What the hell was that?"
"A potted plant." Pinkie looked to the ceiling with scrutiny. "Hmm, I don't even know where that came from."
I rubbed my head wound and checked the others. They both shrugged. "So, uh, that Pinkie Sense. Is that magic?"
"I dunno." Pinkie replied easily.
I rolled my eyes. I guess magic didn't explain everything about her after all.
"I think we're getting off track. What happened this morning?" Rarity asked, thankfully getting back on topic.
I shook a little more dirt out of my hair. "Right, so we figured out that dragons can use magic for more than just burning things. I got Spike to try out an easy abjuration, but he's still a kid, so the spell ultimately failed." I gave that some thought. "... Or did it? I dunno, I didn't think to check since he started surging and burning everything."
I'd like to make a quick request: fuck my life. Seriously, I couldn't get a moment's rest. Just when Rarity was about to ask something, light flashed in the room. The ever tall and commanding presence of Princess Celestia found me once more for God knows what. I knew she was keeping tabs on me, but this shit was getting ridiculous.
Everypony else was quick to bow once they figured out what was happening. Me? I was nonchalantly returning Celestia's hard gaze. She wasn't happy with me, what else was new? "Twilight, what did you do?"
"I'm sure you're going to grill me about it." I replied expectantly.
Rarity and Applejack gaped at me like I just joked about her weight. Pinkie just looked between us with apprehension. Celestia's glare hardened. "Twilight, you know what we talked about."
"Yes,"
"That wasn't a question."
"I know."
She narrowed her eyes.
I sighed. "Look, what do you want from me? We had an accident in the library not an hour ago, so we rushed to the hospital. That's it!"
"Don't lie to me, Twilight. I sensed your use of dark magic; there's more to your story than that."
She "sensed" dark magic? Either she was monitoring me more closely than I thought, or she was more in tune with the world than I thought. In either case, I'd need to make some counter-measures at a later date. That left me to take care of present concerns. "Of course; we were practicing magic together. He had a surge, I reacted, and now we're here."
"What possessed you to hurt Spike like this?" She pressed.
My casual demeanor took a backseat at that question. My question was as hard as a brick. "Are you saying that I hurt Spike?"
"You used dark magic and Spike is now unconscious in the hospital. Tell me what I'm supposed to think."
"Maybe that I saved his life for the second time this week!" I suggested angrily.
"You expect me to believe that you surged with dark power and acted heroically? I believe it happened yesterday, but having that happen a second time so soon is astronomically unlikely. Dark magic is not a tool for heroics."
"Yet I seem to be using it an awful lot when people near me are in danger." I shot back.
"What other possible danger could threaten Spike in your house?" Celestia clearly implicating me.
The door to the room swung open, slamming against the wall. We turned our gazes to the one brazenly strutting in with her eyes shut. It was Rainbow Dash. "I hope I didn't miss much. The, uh, water fountain-" She bumped into Celestia's flank. She finally opened her eyes to see her big, white obstacle. Her eyes widened fearfully, realizing she just bumped into the princess's backside. She practically face-planted into a bow. "I'm so sorry!"
Our eyes flicked over to Fluttershy making a quick bow as well. Celestia's gaze softened at the two. "Good morning Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy." She turned back to me. "Now then, you were saying something?"
"Spike had a magic surge." I explained. "Seeing as how dragon magic is fueled by their breath, the danger should be obvious. As long as that surge continued, he couldn't control his breathing. I was panicking and trying my hardest to shut down his magic, so I slipped into using dark magic to get the edge I needed to save his life." I crossed my arms with finality. "That's the story. Are you happy with my answer?"
Celestia's expression remained unmoved, but cracks showed in her demeanor. "You realize I need some kind of proof for this? I only have your word for it, and Spike is still unconscious."
"If you don't like waiting, we can always go talk to that spy of yours." I suggested.
Celestia was silent for a moment, but her face betrayed nothing. "I'm sorry, did you say 'spy'?"
"Yeah, you sent a spy to make sure I was being a good little filly. We can just get her side of events, since I'm sure she'll corroborate my side of events."
"Twilight," Celestia began, taking on a dismissive tone I didn't believe for a second. "Equestria doesn't have a spy network. Just because you've done things I don't like doesn't mean we have a secret task force watching you."
"And yet there's a ninja in my house who's currently poring over my every personal document and probably sampling my stashes. Even if she's not an Equestrian agent, she's still somepony who likely witnessed events firsthand."
Celestia nodded. "Very well, we shall go to the library to confront this agent."
"We're doing no such thing." I said. "I'm staying here until Spike wakes up. If you want to track down a stealth assassin, you're free to do so; I'm not leaving Spike's side."
"And I need to keep an eye on you, so we are at an impasse." Celestia looked around the room. "Would any pony like to volunteer?"
"Dibs!" Pinkie yelled with a hop. "I'm good at finding ponies, especially when I know where they are!"
"Then I ask that you bring this pony here so we may hear what she has to say."
"You got it, Princess!" Pinkie shot a quick salute and climbed out the window.
Celestia stared after her. "Does your friend always leave through the window?"
"If it wasn't that, she'd probably vanish behind the curtain." I crossed my arms patiently. "Now we wait for her."
Celestia nodded, and the room fell into a tense silence. Nopony else was willing to voice their concerns. Maybe it had something to do with me arguing with the princess. Whatever, I did it before, and they're big girls; they can take it. At least with Pinkie on the case, we didn't have to wait long.
Bon Bon shook her head with incredulity. What pony needs this much alcohol? Was this a library or a sports bar?
After checking behind every book in the library, finding no less than ten stashes of booze, assorted gems, gold coins and catalogue cards, Agent Sweetie Drops concluded that Twilight Sparkle was insane regardless of dark magic. Eccentric hoarding habits aside, the upper floors of the library were fruitless. Not a thing up there was incriminating in the slightest.
Though it was nice to see that Twilight was into comic books. Power Ponies fangirls were rarely troublemakers.
The top floor was conspicuously empty aside from those personal items. The only room left to hide anything was the basement. She opened the door to see the darkened staircase leading into an abyss. A quick scan of the adjacent walls confirmed her worst fears: there was no light switch. That meant whatever sadist of an architect that built this place wanted ponies to stumble in the dark.
What a time for her to be out of night-vision truffles. If she had the time to finish her batch that morning, then she wouldn't need to bring out her candles. Sadly, she had no choice but to light it up. The candle dimly illuminated her path, which would have to do. She'd prefer walking in complete darkness, but using a barely functional beacon was her only option here.
She descended the stairs. The first oddity she found was an uneven wall of cardboard boxes. She examined each box with curiosity. If she had to guess, these boxes were probably used for their initial move into the library. Why didn't they open them? They still had their packing tape! Bon Bon didn't even want to touch them with the amount of dust gathered; Twilight would notice even the most minuscule tap with the layers of dust that would fly off.
Not to mention the cloying fog it would create.
So Twilight was a hoarder who couldn't even be bothered to open her inventory. There was nothing wrong with that, per se, so it was hardly what she was looking for. Twilight could go for some counseling on the subject, what with the mountain of boxes and all, but she pushed that thought to the side. She walked around the pile of boxes and found something more her speed: a desk.
The desk was mostly bare, with only a quill and an inkwell sitting out. Three drawer lined the sides, hiding who knows what. Considering the lack of a study in the library and this being the only desk in the house, this must be where Twilight did her work. If there was any place where incriminating documents would be found, it would be this conspicuously mundane piece of furniture.
Only one drawer had a lock, so Sweetie Drops figured it made the best place to begin. After a quick test to see it was actually locked, she drew a lockpick from her waist and clicked it open with ease. For the princess's personal student (or possibly somepony smart enough to impersonate her), this was a simple lock. If there was anything important to find at all, she hoped that she'd find more than some lousy tax records. She didn't feel too confident with that lock, though...
There were many papers within the drawer. She picked them all out one by one and scanned them under candle light. Most of it didn't even catch her interest. There was a list of spells that spanned twenty pages, a blueprint for a suit of space armor (fit for a human, strangely), a list of page numbers for what she guessed to be magic books, and so on.
She held up the last paper, expecting to find another dorky list or reference piece, but found herself gaping under her mask. This wasn't a "random encounter table" or a guide to painting figurines; it was a plan of action. This list itemized multiple ideas for its singular objective. Things like "devise long-range divination attuned to spiritual energy" and "learn advanced transmutation in regards to transformation" were crossed out. Each step and spell was written for the purpose of finding, and certainly replacing, a particular pony.
Underlined at the very top of the page, in big bold letters, read "Finding Twilight Sparkle".
This was it: Proof positive that the pony in Ponyville was not the real Twilight. This impostor really did do something to the real Twilight. Sweetie Drops could only guess what. More to the point, this impostor was somepony very close to the princesses! The power and influence within this pony's reach was both astonishing and frightening. She needed to warn Princess Celestia right away! She needed to see this document and do something about-
"Hey, Bon Bon!"
Bon Bon jumped at the sudden and ecstatic greeting from behind her. The paper flew out of her hooves as she spun to face the pony that snuck up on her. She should've paid more attention to the paper's flight path, though.
She recognized the pink mare. Who wouldn't remember her? "Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here?" She shook her head. "No, how did you recognize me!?" She demanded.
"Because you look just like her!" Pinkie explained readily. "It must be the tail. Those things are so unique."
Bon Bon's eye twitched. It figures that Pinkie Pie, of all ponies, would draw any conclusions. Now that the mare knew, the agent needed to keep her identity a secret. "Okay, you caught me. I'm a secret agent."
"Yay! I love learning secrets!" Pinkie beamed.
Bon Bon rushed forward and held Pinkie's mouth shut with a hoof. "Look, I don't want anypony to know about my job, okay? This isn't just a matter of my livelihood; it's national security. Please promise me that you won't tell anypony, okay?"
Pinkie, still silenced with a hoof to her mouth, nodded. "Crth muh hert, hp to fy, stk a cpcake in muh eye."
Bon Bon sighed with relief, and took a step back. "Thanks, I appreciate it."
"Oh, I get it. We all have our secrets. I know I can't have everypony know about my secret obsession with balloon animals." Pinkie admitted solemnly.
Bon Bon wasn't sure if she wanted to touch that or not, so she just let it be. "Okay, well, I'm glad we can understand each other."
"Mhm! So what's it like being a ninja?"
"I'm not a ninja, I'm an agent. We have some similar skill-sets, but the tasks are entirely different." Bon Bon explained.
"Have you ever taken down evil crime lords or corrupt merchants with your katana?"
"Uh, no. As I said, I'm not a ninja."
"Oh, so you follow the Bushido Code."
Bon Bon frowned. "That's samurai. Also, I'm pretty sure it's just 'Bushido'."
"Oh. Then when do you get to the part where you throw fireballs and energy blasts?"
Bon Bon fought back the strong urge to sigh. "That's either a wizard or a monk, I'm not sure which."
"Are you sure you can't channel energy, though? Because you look like you're glowing."
Bon Bon looked down at herself to realize that she was, in fact, not glowing. There was a strong source of light from behind her, though. "I don't think it's me."
"Oh, then that fiery aura of yours must be actual fire."
Bon Bon took a moment to let that sink in, until it dawned on her to look back to the desk. It wasn't a desk anymore; it was a tower of crackling flame! Maybe it was a bad idea to have a piece of paper flying around a lit candle.
She gaped at the conflagration. "How? How did this fire get so big in such a short amount of time?"
Pinkie idly tapped her chin. "I think Twilight kept a few bottles of absinthe and fruit juice in there."
"Oh, alcohol, of course." Bon Bon deadpanned.
With the fire as big as it was, the whole basement was well lit. Bon Bon scanned the room. She would be damned if Celestia found out that she burned down a public library, so she needed to find a fire extinguisher. There was none in her immediate field of view. She growled at the inconvenience of it all. There had to be a fire extinguisher around her somewhere! Perhaps it was in one of these boxes?
Bon Bon raced over to a random box and tore off the tape when the tell-tale sound of a fire extinguisher howled. She looked back to see Pinkie Pie had beat her to it.
"Oh, good work, Pinkie! Where did you find the fire extinguisher?"
"I brought one with me." Pinkie said, happily spraying the fire with white fog.
"No you didn't." Bon Bon accused.
"You're probably right." Pinkie conceded casually. "When ponies say I did something impossible, they're usually right."
"Huh, so you do it on purpose." Bon Bon noted.
Pinkie didn't answer, but she finished dousing the flame quickly. "Welp, now that we're done here, we need to go to the hospital."
"Why? Neither of us are hurt."
Pinkie shoved the fire extinguisher into her hair. "Yeah, we're okay, but I'm pretty sure Princess Celestia wants to talk to you."
Bon Bon felt a little panic at that. "Why does the Princess want me, now?"
"It's because you know too much." Pinkie trotted merrily to the stairs.
Bon Bon knew that was wrong, but she couldn't help but feel a little worried. No pony is specifically requested by the princess unless it's for something important.
She looked over the burnt desk with a sigh. The evidence she found was burned to a crisp in that fire. What could she really do about it at this point? Without that paper, she had nothing to substantiate her claims. She could just imagine trying to tell Princess Celestia about her student being an impostor but having nothing backing her up. Come to think of it, Bon Bon couldn't think of a time where an operation of hers went this poorly. Did she really want to tell her about this?
Your majesty, you were right about your student! She's a monster in disguise! Evidence? Er, about that, I kind of sort of accidentally set it on fire shortly after my cover was compromised. Yes, I understand why you're letting me go.
Ugh. If for no other reason than her job security, she'd keep it to herself. This "Twilight" would slip up again, and she'd be sure to catch her then.
I wondered how long the tense silence would last. I would've bet until Pinkie came back.
Everypony sat in their chairs with varying levels of anxiety. Celestia and I were patiently waiting for Pinkie and the ninja, but the others shifted uneasily on occasion. I swear, if something didn't happen soon, the silence would just make everypony too antsy to get all the facts.
I looked over to Spike, who still snored slightly. I couldn't tell how receptive he was without doing something to him, but I didn't think Celestia would appreciate that.
That left conversation, which would at least pass the time. "So, Fluttershy, how's Elizabeak doing? Choking on some food, I hope?"
To my credit, my comment brought Fluttershy out of anxiety. "That's very mean of you. I know you don't like Elizabeak after the cockatrice, but you shouldn't wish harm on her like that."
I shrugged unapologetically. "Hey, I was turned to stone; me being cold should be a given."
"What is this about a cockatrice?" Celestia asked, interest piqued.
"I hung out with Fluttershy when the Cutie Mark Crusaders were having a slumber-party, they followed a dumb-ass chicken into the Everfree, I followed them, and I got a first-hoof taste of petrification. Believe me, it's worse than you think."
"Really? How did you escape your stony prison?"
"Fluttershy busted me out." I explained without thinking. I only then remembered that it was because of Fluttershy's secret "gifts", so I quickly rolled out a quick (alternate) explanation. "That is, she interrupted the stone-ing process by telling it how shamefully it was behaving. Turns out it was so ashamed of itself that it turned me back." I leaned back happily. "Man, good times."
Celestia stared quizzically. "... Good for you?"
"For Fluttershy." I corrected, turning to the pegasus. "You don't give yourself enough credit."
Fluttershy pawed bashfully at her mane. "Oh, I just did what anypony else would have done."
I held out a hand to her as I looked at the princess. "See? She's too good."
Celestia smiled at that. "It's good to see how highly you consider your friends."
"Why wouldn't I?" I asked casually. "They're a great bunch."
"So what about you?"
I sagged into my chair. "Why do ponies always ask me that?"
"It's a good question." Celestia pointed out.
I shrugged in concession. "Well, I imagine I'm just that guy."
"Mare." Rarity corrected.
I flipped her the bird without looking in her direction. I was glad she didn't know what it meant. "Yeah, what she said."
"And just who is "that mare?" Celestia ignored that little aside.
"I dunno, the mare who's just kind of there? The one that's not really important?" I shrugged. "Why are we talking about this?"
"Twilight, you know we care for you."
I smirked. "God knows why."
Celestia frowned slightly. "Twilight, it hurts to see you put yourself down like this."
I rolled my eyes. "Who's putting who down? I like being unimportant; it means less work."
The princess sighed. "I never took you for a lazy pony."
"It's a recent development." I said. "That, and I have a few personal projects I'd rather focus on."
"Such as...?"
Well, aside from the obvious, "Working out, practicing magic, re-reading the Drakes and Daggers rulebooks, catching up on the weekly comics, hanging out; you know, normal stuff."
"I see," She said with a smile. "So you've moved on from your professional life to your personal life. That's admirable."
"Well, being a librarian is great for the free time it offers." I admitted.
"You sound satisfied with your place in life. Tell me, are you into Battleaxe?"
"The tabletop war game? I've heard of it. Why?"
"Many of the guards in the castle hold tournaments in the barracks. Is it any good?"
I might have nerded out for a bit. While I launched into a discussion on the gameplay and the game's mechanics, I looked over to my friends every once or twice to see their bemused expressions. They just couldn't believe that Celestia was sitting there listening to me prattle on about assault phases and stuff. Or maybe they were more surprised at Celestia's rapt attention.
"... In short, it's a complex resource-oriented strategy game. In fact, I think you'd do quite well. A thousand years of doing it for real would probably make you an instant expert."
Celestia responded with a soft chuckle. "I'll think about it. I still have the real thing, after all."
I didn't have much time to shrug at the conclusion to our nice distracting conversation when the door opened. Pinkie Pie entered with a beaming smile. "I found her!"
I smirked at the pink pony. "Good timing."
The ninja entered herself, and she was definitely nervous about something. She shot me a suspicious glance I couldn't decipher before bowing to Celestia. "Princess, it is an honor to stand before you."
"Please rise, my little pony." Celestia bade serenely. "I do not wish to take up too much of your time. You were at the library earlier, correct?"
The ninja rose and nodded. "Yes, your highness."
"Then I presume you saw what happened between my student, Twilight, and the dragon, Spike. If you could, I would like to hear what you witnessed."
The ninja nodded again. "Yes, I saw what happened. I was in the kitchen when I heard the dragon breathing fire. I cracked the door open to get a better look, and the dragon let loose a large blast towards your student! That dragon tried to roast Twilight alive!"
I shot forward with a hateful glare. "What?"
Her eyes shot to me briefly, but she carried on with her account. "Twilight was defending herself against the dragon's rage. She used dark magic, definitely, but only in self-defense. The dragon opened hostilities."
I shot up from my chair, my legs kicking it back and poofing back into the ether. "You useless bitch!"
Everypony reeled back in shock at my outburst. "Twilight, what's wrong?" Celestia asked.
"This paint-huffing subnormal is full of shit! That's not what happened at all!" I yelled.
"Oh really?" The ninja remarked dryly. "Then what really happened?"
"He lost control of his powers! He couldn't help that he was breathing fire like that!"
"Then why was his face contorted in anger?"
"That wasn't anger; that was pain, you clueless dolt!"
"He was thrashing!"
"In pain! Jesus, how many times do we have to go over this?"
"Enough for you to figure that the little dragon hates you!"
"Spike's too kind to hurt anyone, but I'm not!" I rose a fist to her level. "Wanna see for yourself?"
Just about everypony converged around me to pull me away from the ninja. We scowled at each other from opposite sides of the room, just with me being cornered by a bunch a ponies who knew I wasn't just talking.
"Twilight," Celestia intoned forcefully. "You will not be violent. Are we clear?"
"She accused Spike of attempted murder!" I pointed accusingly at the ninja.
"Are we clear?" Celestia repeated.
I pressed my lips together, unwilling to accept, but having little choice. "Fine. But can I at least punch her once?"
"Absolutely not."
"She spoke ill of my younger sibling. Don't you know what that's like?"
Celestia's expression turned contemplative at that. She tilted her head in though on the matter, as if she was thinking hard of a time when somepony said something nasty about Luna. "Well..."
"Uh, princess?" The ninja prodded curiously.
Celestia snapped back to reality. "Oh, um..." She looked over to the ninja, then to me, and shook her head. "No. No, you may not. Sorry."
I sighed with frustration. "Argh, alright, I'm sorry I threatened you."
"What about the insults?" The ninja asked.
"You had those coming." I said with narrowed eyes.
Rarity stepped between us. "Let's not start that again, please. Twilight," She faced me. "Focus on what's important: this mare's side of the story proves that you didn't do anything wrong."
I nodded sorely. "Alright, that much is true, even if she thinks Spike is evil, the dumb-"
"Stop." She commanded. "No more swearing. You're only upsetting everypony more."
I raised my hands defensively. "Alright alright, I'll stop. You're right that her story supports mine."
Everypony relaxed a bit. Now that the situation was defused, it wasn't nearly as tense. The girls separated from me since I wasn't ready to fight right now.
After Rarity setting me straight, the others were more willing to join the conversation. Rainbow was the first and most natural addition. "So, are we cool?"
"Yeah, of course." I said, conjuring another chair for myself and taking the seat. Coincidentally, only the ninja lacked a seat.
"So what was all this about dark magic?" Applejack asked. "Should we be worried about that?"
I answered quickly before Celestia could speak. "I wouldn't worry about that too much. As long as I can avoid certain stresses, it won't really come up. It took no less than Spike in mortal danger to force it out."
Celestia didn't argue against me, but she did have a request. "Be that as it may, I still believe Twilight requires supervision. Will you watch out for her?"
All my friends voiced some sort of agreement to the request, and I just sighed. Great, now my friends were going to treat me all special. Just what I've always wanted.
Fortunately, Spike stirred from his sleep. It was a nice distraction from everypony discussing how awful I was, so I scooted over to his side and eagerly waited.
With a groan, Spike grabbed his chest. He kept one eye clenched shut, but his other edged open to scan the ceiling.
"Hey Spike, how are you feeling?" I asked hopefully.
He turned his head to face me. His voice was low and hoarse. "D-Dusk?"
"Twilight." I corrected softly. "I'm here, buddy."
"My chest hurts."
I gently rubbed his shoulder. "Hey, you'll be alright. You know what they say: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
His eye bore into mine appraisingly. "I've never heard that."
"It's an old saying." I said calmly. "Besides, it's quite true in this case. You had a magic surge."
"Like you did?"
I nodded. "That's right. You're kinda lucky, actually; your true power has awakened. I wouldn't be surprised to see you more powerful than most elder mages in Equestria."
He smiled uneasily. "That's, er, great. Hey, I hope you don't mind, but I don't think I wanna do this magic thing for a while."
I smiled understandingly with my eyes shifted away. "Yeah, I get that."
Impatiently, Pinkie kind of emerged into the space right next to me. She practically shoved her face into Spike's with clear worry on her face. "Oh Spike, we were so worried! I for one am glad that you're the best dragon ever now, but I wish it didn't mean you had to burn the library for the first of two times today."
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at Pinkie. "First of two...?"
My question was ignored in favor of everypony getting a turn in comforting Spike. Rarity leaned on the bed next to him and smiled sweetly. "Yes, it's great to see you awake, Spikey. I was very scared for you."
Spike smiled over to her a little dreamily. "I- uh, wow, thank you, Rarity."
"Yeah, leave it to a dragon to set something on fire on their way out." Rainbow hovered nearby. "Good to see you doing okay, man."
"Git well soon." Applejack wished simply.
Fluttershy just smiled kindly at her place by the bed.
Spike sat up and looked everypony over. His eyes locked on Celestia easily towering over everypony. "Whoa, even Princess Celestia?"
Celestia nodded and smiled diplomatically. "I came as soon as I heard something happened to you. You're like family to me, so I'm very glad that you are well."
While I smiled at Celestia being kind enough to pretend that was the reason she was here, Spike smiled thankfully at everypony present. "Wow, I can't believe you all came like you did. Thanks."
I looked around the room at everypony myself. The ninja ghosted out of the room at some point, but who cares about her? Seeing all these caring ponies warmed my heart for sure.
Everypony shared some kind-hearted words for the drake. The doctor came by shortly to check on Spike. He couldn't find anything wrong with him, citing my spellwork earlier as a major reason for the quick recovery. It didn't take much longer after that for Spike to be given the all-clear to go home.
We all left the hospital, with Spike sitting on my shoulders, everypony feeling better about the day's events now that they were over. Celestia still had work to do, so she left us on our own. The rest of us went to the library to relax after the day's scare. Rarity freaked out a little over the wrecked state many of the books and walls were in, we all shared a mirthful eye-roll, and relaxed with some punch.
Though I noticed the discarded padlock we used earlier in the day. It was the same one that used to be attached to a little wooden box. I picked it up and looked it over, satisfied with what I saw.
It was locked.
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Ahhh yes, 'Battleaxe'. Where it's possible to watch a unit of Jean-Changlings tear open a Earth Raider, survive the ensuing assault phase, and then shred an entire unit of Terminotaurs, killing more than twice their units cost in just two turns. Remember colts and fillies, if your unit killed more than its points value, it did its job.
WoW, that conversation was EPIC, its sad that the chapters are this small, or wait, its 7000 words, but why it feels very short? because the is veeery goood, yeah, thanks for the update :)
7498620 You'd feel better if the chapters were coming once a day at 7k, but I don't think that will be happening.
7498616 its the rending hooves, they do all the work.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
So Rainbow Dash is Fluttershy's Renfield to her vampony.
Coolio.
Yes finally new chapter!
*finishes reading*
Noooooooooooooooooo
7498744 So...she eats spiders and junk?
...ew...
(spiders are evil, just sayin')
Your story is... FEATURED!!!!!! Congrats!
I should really continue my spinoff of this, but I have a hard time keeping up with my stories already. :/
Anyways, loved the latest chapter!
I love the chapter, though I am slightly bothered by the lack of pony Twiclone. Just a personal preference though.
It would be interesting if Twiclone turns out to be the real Twilight after all, her mind simply replaced
Celestia is starting to annoy me.
7499075 She's a politician/paladin antagonist; that's what they do.
7499075
I'm sure she knows Twilight has been replaced. Why else would she ask her about a game the royal guard (like Shining Armor) have been playing on the sly. Surely, after a thousand years GMing a nation (country) Celestia can tell when an NPC character like Twilight has been replaced with an outlier. Celestia just didn't say anything because she was excited someone managed to crack her A.I. system while Luna was getting updated on the rules.
7499220 it's the whole Dark Magic angle. She jumps to conclusions.
So, what will happen to Bon-Bon when fake-Twi notives his burnt table? What will be built on the ruins of the candy shop?
And like magic, it's back again. Just don't check; you might jynx it.
Damnit why is this story so gooood!? x3
Because it's amazing is why.
7499237
I'm calling it: Light magic has terrible side effects, too, if you don't use it correctly - and, given the prevalence of "light is good", the probability of somepony using it carelessly or making a mistake is obscenely high.
Even for Celly herself.
Yay! Yer the best!
Awesome chapter! And Spike can use magic now! (kinda)
the DnD was the real test, obviously the real twilight would have known every single rule off the top of her purple head because her bbbff would have shown her it at some point
dpeaking of which, its been so long i cant remember if we are on a crash course to the gala or the wedding but may god help chrissy against dusk
7499716 Except one problem... Dusk doesn't know the "Ladybugs Awake"... Poor Dusk, you're going to completely miss the queues from "Cadence"... And possibly set off the real Cadence... Come to think of it, would Chryssi be able to tell the predatory human emotions from the ponies...?
For a story called "My Twilight Facade", the main character really isn't doing a very good job or putting any effort of maintaining their facade as Twilight anymore.
7499321 What? What does Bon Bon have to do with Dusk's table being burnt? It was the ninja's fault!
7500110 Well, the tail matches, Pinkie can attest it was Bon-Bon in the costume (she can't say if it was her down there though), and I'm pretty sure fake-Twi would burn her house down (with lemons no less) before actually confirming...
7499237
I figure dark magic feeds off of mortido (the death/destruction urge in service of self preservation, or the passionate preservation of life) and light magic feeds off of libido (in service of creating, restoring, or renewing life) energy, that's about it. I don't think one is better than any other, then again for the moment I cannot use real magic beyond theoretical constructs unless we use attribution theory and the Stiener definition of black magic includes emotional blackmail, hypnosis, and the idea that projection of unjust truths and unkind words have power whereas light magic would be synergy, flow or connection... wherein people are empowered by their relationships through a feeling of being seen, heard, respected, loved, and belonging... you don't need friendship for it either.
Granted, it's not nearly as stupid (maybe silly would sound less harsh) as the magical theory behind 'The tale of Despearux' where banning the cooking of soup and killing of rats prevents ghosts and rainstorms while tanking the economy of an entire nation. I suppose we could argue Roscuro was using dark magic while Despearux was an agent of light and both were outcast in spite of their talent.
Wrong answer Dusk. It's always That Guy regardless of gender or species. You may be a female pony now, but you are still That Guy, not "that mare".
You know, I do always kind of wonder what is up with all the "Fluttershy is a secret vampire" stories. I mean, why her specifically, of all characters. Is it just for the comedic irony or something? Bugs me a little.
Fun fact: statistically, pedophiles are about five times more likely to be Star Trek fans than the average person. Nobody really has any idea why, but the fact itself has been so conclusively proven in research that you'll keep see people mention it every so often, simply because no one can figure out for the life of them just what on Earth the connection could even possibly be.
Well, that's one box that no one is ever going to break into, that's for sure.
Celestia lied to everyone about the spy network and noone calls her out on it when penkie brings a spy?
7500422
Well, technically, they're monster hunters, and Celestia does love herself some technical truths. Really, though, they're spies. There's no point to it if they aren't secret. Who would actually expect her to tell them about the secret spy network just because they asked nicely?
nnnooooooooooooooo ahhh I don't care anymore.
Not sure if that seems strange because
1. I wanted her to be with Twilight (not sure if this was in this story)
2. It was kind of sudden (I just don't remember anything going in that direction right now)
3. ....I thought there was a third reason, I guess I forgot.
7500422 your right, I think I remember her being really the spy of Celestia.
7500415
I have that kind of reaction to different things, but I agree with you here, or I feel the same about it.
7499075 I'm still trying to figure out if she has the right to controll his/her life that much at the moment, as long as she can't really prove something. I mean yes dark magic is seen as something bad for many of the ponys, but I just don't know....
I thought Bon Bon wanted to tell Celestia about Twilight not being the real Twilight, did she really forgot something like that? I think in a movie I had seen something like that, but I was still suprised. I think I would just like to have a part of the story where they need to accept the real him too, not just revealing it in the end, but that is just a sudden thought i have right now.
Nice chapter, I may have things I would prefer to turn out a certain way, but that is usually just a proof for me, that I kind of like everything else really much. (which means for me that a story is good).
Thanks for MOAR!))
Hrm. I was kinda hoping Dusk would do that.
Amazing story glad to be reading it!
its
7500415 flutterbat
7500415 If you write Fluttershy's abilities and traits down and compare them to that of a vampire, there are waaaaaaaaay to many similarities.
7500415
I suspect that connection between pedophilia and Star Trek has to do with "Voyager." I'm going to go out on a limb and argue it's __possible__ one of the writers was a very young adult if not a teenager at the time, not unlike the author of 'Two Kinds,' and they didn't think things through fourth dimensionally... becasue I could totally see a sixteen to eighteen year old writing about eight year old and a twelve year old having a romantic (in the platonic and playful BFF sense of the word) relationship. It would be stupid from the perspective of a twelve year old and horrify someone of drinking age, but to the 16 year old who just lost both parents in a tragic accident of some sort and recently had to shift for themselves, they would think it the most brilliant writing ever.
Tess is two years old; Seven of nine has the emotional intelligence of a twelve year old. Tom Paris pretty much stopped growing at Seventeen. Be'lana has
daddyanger issues.And everyone knows how that Guy who wrote seduction of the innocent in the 50's linked batman to pedophilia and homosexuality. Psychologically it had something to do with Batman being stuck with the mind of a twelve year old boy and so it made sense that his best friend would be twelve years old?
Surprised to see an update, but happy that I did. Cannot wait to see the story progress.
7499892 He doesn't need to know it. He just need to throttle Chrissy when he sees her casting a spell on Shining. Or find her undisguised before realising who is who, then drag her off to get drunk. Cus she looks like a horse variant of a xenomorph, which, I assume is something fake-Twi would find awesome.
Out of all the stories I'm following, this is the only one that updates.
7500479
67.media.tumblr.com/27f343a7dac32feb55a31afe25f7918d/tumblr_nx5iyveeFV1u3zy75o1_500.png
Glead to see Dusk forced to expend time with her friends.
7499568
Take healing magic, for example. You could purposely cause something to heal incorrectly, thus crippling the patient for life, or you coudl cause something to mutate, or, with your knowledge of the body you're healing, cause their cells to stop dividing. They'd rot while still alive. That's one area 'white' magic could be misused in.
Flutterhy is a vampire confirmed.
And now she's smelt human blood...
Eh.
Well i like it. So... keep going or face our wrath.
7500118 No way, sweet Bon Bon would never be involved in such a shady business like that!
What? No! I can't have read everything there is so far already?!
7499237 I've always hated the idea of 'Light is Good' and 'Dark is Bad'. not to mention the people who wave that banner like idiots. Celestia's a frontrunner of that group.
7524805 yup it;a WHAt you use it for.