Continuity Disrupted

by Doug Graves

98 Audacity, Part Two

Twilight awakens after far too little sleep that wasn’t nearly restful enough. She starts to get up, yet her eagerness fades as she looks outside. Still not dawn yet. Her head thumps against the pillow as she slumps back into bed. Ugh, not again! She closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath, slowly letting it whistle out through her nostrils. This isn’t working.

Twilight slowly extracts herself from her bed, careful not to disturb Spike as he lightly snores. She creeps out of her bedroom, only the dim light of her horn guiding her hooves. She grimaces as she looks around the kitchen, too on edge to need any coffee, yet her body is craving the caffeine nonetheless. And if she can’t curtail those desires for such a base substance, how will she be able to stop herself when something more tantalizing is in front of her?

The sound of claws scraping against wood gets Twilight to look over at her bedroom. Spike yawns as he rubs his eyes, walking down the stairs. “So,” he says, taking a look at Twilight just standing next to the coffee maker. “Don’t tell me you’re too tired to remember how that works.”

“No, Spike. Just worried.” Twilight turns, a forlorn sigh at denying herself her favorite morning treat. Well, second favorite, since she joined the herd.

“Worried?” Spike asks, his head barely cocking to the side as he inspects Twilight. “You don’t seem all that worried to me. What are you worried about?”

Twilight sighs, staring at the floor. “I don’t know if I can tell you, Spike.”

“Oh. Something super important? Princess stuff?” Spike frowns as Twilight shakes her head. “Something dangerous?” He smiles as Twilight barely nods. “Well, no need to fear! Your brave and glorious Spike is here!” He puffs up his chest, flexing a bicep. He mumbles to himself as he glances at a reflection of himself, “Oh, Spike, you’re so great! And powerful! And strong! Do you work out? Nah, babe, it’s all natural. Why? Want to give it a try?”

Twilight grins, a hoof coming to her muzzle and suppressing her giggles as Spike squeezes his claws together, kissing his own bicep. “That’s okay, Spike.”

Spike stops admiring himself, a slightly sheepish look that quickly turns dour. “Why’s that, Twilight? I thought we made a great team! I thought you told me everything? You can trust me to keep your secrets!” His eyes widen as a thought strikes him, “It isn’t something that’s dangerous because you know it, right? Or something you can’t say because saying it gets their attention, like the Bloody Mare?” Spike’s teeth chatter, quickly shaving his claws down as he rapidly chews them.

Twilight chuckles as she grabs breakfast from the fridge, “No, Spike, it isn’t some sort of infohazard, or commhazard. I’m really just worried about what everypony else will think about what I’ve done.”

“Oh.” Spike gets up, dragging a stool over so he can sit next to Twilight. “Then, what is it? I mean, I can’t really tell you how bad it is if I don’t know what it is, right?”

“Well…” Twilight starts, glancing around the room. At Spike’s stern gaze she continues, “You see, I’m afraid that I’ve been siphoning magic from the other Elements of Harmony.” Twilight takes a deep breath, a small smile breaking through her downcast expression. At Spike’s silence she continues, “Hey, that felt good to get off my back.”

“Yeah,” Spike says, drawing the word out. “When you say… siphoning their magic… what does that mean? It’s not, like, permanent or anything? Because I haven’t really noticed any too different about you, or about any of them.” Spike glances to Twilight’s flank, his eyes widening. “Wait, four stars are glowing? When did that happen!?”

“Yesterday.” Spike taps his foot against the chair, crossing his claws against his body as he stares at Twilight. “At the party. When Pinkie Pie realized that we were still her friends, and she didn’t need to leave everypony behind because we didn’t like her. There was an outburst of Laughter magic, and it triggered that star glowing. I don’t know why, or how, or what this all means.”

“Huh.” Spike taps a claw against his chin. “So, did anything else happen?”

Twilight sighs, the tension leaving her body as she explains. “Well, I got this… rush. Like, all that I cared about was getting more and more. Fortunately, since this is the fourth time it has happened, I had a bit more control over myself, and I was able to keep from getting overwhelmed by the sensation.”

“What happened the first time?” Spike asks as Twilight pauses. “What happens when you get… overwhelmed?”

Twilight shudders. “I…” She drops down, covering her face with her hooves. Spike reaches over to lightly lay a claw on her. “I just kept drinking her in.”

“Who is ‘her’?” Spike asks, slowly stroking.

Twilight barely ekes out, “Rarity.”

“Oh.” Spike’s motion stops for a second. “Is that why your horn glows…”

“Blue?” Twilight nods.

Spike grits his teeth. “I didn’t want to, you know, say anything, and then when you didn’t say anything about it, I didn’t know if it had to do with joining with Doug, or the herd, or something else, and-” Spike stops, awkwardly rubbing his head with a sheepish grin. “I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

Twilight smiles, a thin, barely pursing of her lips. “It’s okay, Spike, I don’t have a monopoly on that.” She sighs, relaxing again. “Thanks, Spike.”

“For what? Being here? Of course!” Spike grins, his chest puffing out again. “I’m not your number one assistant for nothing!”

“Hoo?” Owlowiscious hoots from across the room, the owl covering his head with a wing and trying to sleep.

“Me! Spike!” Spike groans, rolling his eyes. “Anyway. So, are you worried about it happening again that you don’t trust yourself around them at all?”

“Well, no, not exactly.” Twilight sighs. “I wanted to see if I could figure out what happens with Pinkie Pie.”

“Oh, you mean her Pinkie Sense?” Spike shudders. “Now there’s a can of worms I don’t care for opening at all.”

“Can of worms?” Twilight asks, her eyebrow raising. “Why would you want a can of worms?”

Spike shrugs. “Applejack sells em. I think for starting a garden. They're all gross and squirmy. Anyway. What are you going to do about it?”

Twilight levitates a piece over, beginning to take notes. “Well, I wanted to isolate the mare, see if I could figure out how she is able to radiate Laughter so easily. I believe her Pinkie Sense to be an extension of that, and hopefully we can solve that conundrum concurrently with calculating her conjuring quotient.

Spike looks over at the paper. “So, how are we going to do that?”

Twilight merely nods, smiling as a quill begins jotting down a plan.

- Later, outside Sugarcube Corner -

Twilight peeks out from one of the boxes near the front door of the bakery, a pair of binoculars dangling around her neck. Her colorful mane is covered in a pink and blue hat. She raises a camouflaged hoof, which in this case means painted in the most garish of pinks and yellows, to her eyes to scan the still dark town. She whispers, harsh and fast, “See anything?”

Spike pops up out of the flowerbed next to her, frowning as he grumbles. “No. Just like it’s been for thirty minutes now. You know she sleeps in when she’s at Applejack’s.” He takes a bite of a purple cupcake, his frown disappearing.

“Yes, but not this late! She should be here by now!” Twilight says, glancing down at the cupcake.

“And here I thought you memorized Doug’s schedule,” Spike retorts. “Pretty sure it’s their turn this morning, and then he goes for a run at dawn. She wouldn’t leave before then.” He grins as he takes another bite of the cupcake, the remainder quickly disappearing.

“Where did you get that?” Twilight asks suspiciously. “I didn’t think Sugarcube was open this early.”

“They aren’t,” Spike says, punctuating his statement with a shake of the head. He points to the other side of the front door.

A box rests on a short end table. Inside are five cupcakes, frosted blue, pink, orange, yellow, and white. A small sign is attached labeled ‘Free Cupcakes!’ with a smiley face face and balloons scribbled around.

“Spike!” Twilight admonishes, slamming a hoof to her foreleg before she points at the box. “That’s a trap! Obviously!”

“Wait, you didn’t put them there?” Spike asks.

“No, of course not! I would be way more original in my attempts to lure Pinkie Pie into a trap.” Twilight gasps as she turns, her binoculars raising as she scans on the other side of Sugarcube Corner. In the middle of her view sits Pinkie Pie, a joyful grin on her muzzle as she pleasantly waves at the two.

“Morning, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie shouts, despite being four body lengths away and sitting on the other side of the front door of Sugarcube Corner. “Spike ate your cupcake, but I can find you another!” She reaches back, pulling a purple cupcake out of her mouth. She inches towards the box, her hoof starting to jiggle back and forth. “Careful…” she mutters to herself, delicately dropping the cupcake inside the open spot. “Whew!” she exclaims, wiping a bit of the sweat that was beading on her brow as she returns to her original spot.

Twilight stares at the cupcake. “Yeah, no way I’m touching that.”

“Why not?” Pinkie Pie asks with a slight frown. “It’s delicious!”

Twilight rolls her eyes, “Because if I do I’ll probably fall through a trap door into your fungeon.”

Pinkie Pie snickers, “Okay, that sounds amazing, because it is, but I don’t have a fungeon. Only a party planning cave! And the entrance to that is inside, not outside! Please. I’d probably have all sorts of random ponies showing up if the entrance was outside instead of in the middle of the first floor of Sugarcube Corner.”

“Wait, you have a party planning cave?” Twilight asks.

Pinkie Pie nods furiously. “Sure! I mean, you’re the one with a fungeon. Or would you call it a laughoratory? You know, a laboratory crossed with laughter?”

“Wait, I have a laughoratory?” Twilight looks dumbfounded. “Where?”

“Back at the library, of course! What, did Fluttershy never give you the tour?”

Twilight stares at Pinkie Pie. She states in a flat voice, “No. She did not.”

“Oh, well, we have to go check it out! Come on!” Pinkie Pie pronks towards the Golden Oaks Library, Twilight slowly following behind. They quickly reach their destination, Pinkie Pie digging through her mane until she finds a key. She sticks it inside the door to the basement but doesn’t turn it, instead just opening the door.

Twilight stares down the poorly lit wooden steps that lead to a cavernous room. Roots dangle from the ceiling, shelves line the dirt walls, and various spots seem to be carved to serve as benches, tables, or work stations. She slowly makes her way down the stairs, her horn casting shadows everywhere. In the back corner sit a few sparkling clean cages fully stocked with food, water, and straw.

Twilight grimaces at a few dark spots staining the ground, hoping they aren’t blood. The rest of the room is sparsely furnished, though one of the shelves holds a wide array of surgical tools, including a few that Twilight is fairly certain don’t belong in a hospital and instead a griffon’s kitchen.

“So, you like it?” Pinkie Pie asks as she pronks directly behind Twilight, grinning uproariously. “Fluttershy and I occasionally come down here. But we try to keep it clean, in case somepony else needs to use it.” She shrugs. “We store most of our stuff over there.” Pinkie Pie points a hoof at the wall containing the surgical tools.

“But, that’s a wall.” Twilight Sparkle deadpans.

“Yes. Yes it is.” Pinkie Pie taps her hoof against the stairway, five quick knocks in a rhythmic pattern. She walks across the room, tapping twice against the wall.

The wall slides open, revealing two blinking machines, a chair with hoofstraps, and bolted rings whose only purpose could be tying down an unwilling victim.

“So,” Pinkie Pie says, motioning Twilight forward. “What did you want to know?”

Comments

[AnormalUnicornPony]

That isn't ominous at all.

[Jack-Pony]

9673441
When you mean to experiment on your friend, but your friend brings you down into her laboratory - in your house - first.