The Disappearance of Sacred Records

by Lillup

9: Nagging Notion

It had been five days since Discord's arrest and much of Canterlot and its neighbouring borders had finally felt at ease. In the Canterlot Castle accommodation, Spike and Twilight had woken rather late.

"Whew, finally just one more day then we can move back in,“ Spike smiled. "All's well that's ends well I guess.“

"I don't know Spike, I just have this nagging feeling.“

"Come on Twilight, you've had that 'nagging feeling‘ more than I've ate these past few days. Don't worry, Discord confessed and all is well.“

"Did Discord even admit what he did?“

"He wrote the note, remember? It doesn't matter what he's said since, everything is fine.“

"Well, I suppose I should put this to bed. Anyway, for now, I've got something to do soon. Sunset Shimmer has requested to meet with me back at that Cafe.“

"But Celestia has the Crystal Mirror.“

"Relax, I asked for permission yesterday and had it granted.“

"I'll come with you Twilight, it might be dangerous.“

"I'll be fine, Spike.“

"Well I have a nagging feeling as well Twilight, about you going in there without me.“

"I don't know why you're so insistent Spike, please just be a good dragon and wait here, or go out for a trip, we're pretty much free now. Tomorrow we'll have our home back and then you can do whatever you want.“

"Twilight, if you could wait until tomorrow, you could go in and out of the Crystal Mirror at any point, I could come with you as a bonus then.“

"Sunset insisted it be today if possible Spike. I'll see you soon, Celestia's expecting me!“

Before Spike could continue, Twilight had left. He wondered what he should do now.

--------- ------------

"Thanks for coming on such short notice, Twilight.“

"Oh of course Sunset, thank you for inviting me. I assumed from your letter the world was in peril, but things must not be so bad.“

"This isn't world-ending Twilight, but I need to talk to you personally; something's been nagging me Twilight, and I need to get something off my chest.“

"Of course Sunset, you know you can tell me anything.“

"I know, but this is about Spike.“

"Oh no, what's wrong? Was it the barking?“

"Twilight, please hear me out. I- I think Spike's been lying to you.“

"What? Spike? He wouldn't do that, yet he has been acting... odd lately.“

"Twilight, please forgive me, but Spike begged me to lie to you.“

"What?! How did that-“

"At the gymnasium, Spike snuck in.. He said in a hurry before I saw you 'Sunset I'm so sorry to ask anything of you, but I really need you to tell Twilight you came to visit me yesterday, it's super important.‘“

"Spike said that?“ Twilight spoke flustered. "Why would he say that?“

"He told me how to respond to your questions, that I was there but left home immediately. He told me to mention I went to Equestria to visit if you asked, even stuffing him into my bag on his bark was scripted by him.“

"Spike, what did you do?“

"I at first intended to keep my promise to Spike, I didn't think he'd ask me to fib to you without a big reason, but then you told me about the books being stolen from the library and I knew this was way too serious to hide. I debated with myself, but I knew I had to tell you.“

"I can't believe this, that nagging feeling all week-“

"Twilight, last thing, when I got leg pain when I said where I was at 5PM, Spike kicked me through the bag, trying to get me to change my story to what he wanted. What has.., what's gotten into him?“

Sunset began to cry, she didn't feel like she knew Spike anymore. Twilight embraced her with the onlookers trying not to be nosy for too long and make it more awkward.

"I had bad feelings since we caught the culprit five days ago, Sunset. Spike is hiding too much to ignore, I need to get the truth out of him. He's really chang-“

Twilight froze for a moment.

"That's it, that nagging notion, Changeling.“

"Changeling? Those shape-shifting creatures from long ago?“

"Yeah, they returned with Queen Chrysalis and we thought they were gone for good, but Celestia and Luna were sure that a Changeling was involved, because someone impersonating Princess Celestia went into the restricted section at the time. We felt sure there was one involved, but we never caught them.“

"So that changeling is still out there, they could even still be in disguise right now.“

"I need to get back Sunset, thank you so much, you're a great friend and thank you for telling me this.“

"Let me know if you find anything more.“

-------------- -------------

"Spike! Spike, are you still here?“ she called out in the empty Canterlot hallway. Sure enough, Spike had headed out once again. "I need to break my promise to Spike, Celestia has to know.“

Twilight went around the castle searching for Celestia. She was not in her quarters and the guards she spoke to did not know of her location, until finally a guard blocking the dungeons admitted to her.

"Her Highnesses are speaking with Discord at the moment, I must ask you to return later.“

Twilight seemed intent to wait at first, but that nagging transmorphed slowly into shaking anxiety. She imagined the dungeon in her mind and when out of the guard's eyesight, teleported herself next to the cells, frightening everyone inside. Discord with their handcuffs undone, Fluttershy, Celestia, Luna and a number of Royal Guards were there.

"Whew it's just you Twilight, but you shouldn't be here right now“ Celestia scolded.

"I know, but hear me out, I have info about the book stealing incidence. I don't believe it is Discord, at least not alone.“

"I'm afraid we know that“ Luna commented with a worried expression.

"What do you mean?“

"He just confessed himself. After days of not saying anything, we allowed him to have a visitor, Fluttershy. After 20 minutes of their scheduled half an hour chat, Discord said he would admit everything. He said-“

"No no, allow me,“ Discord interrupted. "I said oh I'm so sorry, I really was the one to commit a crime on that fateful day and I need to repent. I told her it was I, almighty Discord, who had my library book overdue. The looks on their face was priceless, guess Celestia wanted that missing Animal Welfare book too.“

"Discord, Fluttershy said "Please, no jokes. Tell them the truth.“

"Well though the library book thing is true, which by the way is now at least six days overdue, it isn't why I left an ominous note here. I was asked to do so, practically begged.“

"Who?“ Luna asked. "please give details.“

"You wouldn't believe me.“

"It's Spike, isn't it?“ Twilight chimed in.

"Spike!“ Luna exclaimed with surprise. "I thought you was so sure Spike couldn't have done it.“

"I was wrong, Spike is definitely involved. I don't know how he's involved or why, but this has to stop. I came here to give info on Spike.“

"Well, this is quite a pickle,“ Discord sighed. "Never thought I'd see the day dear Twilight turn on her friends.“

"Tell us what you know Discord.“

"Not a lot unfortunately. Spike came to me last night and told me he desperately needed a favour from me and swore he would pay me back in return. I told them there was nothing I could ever want, but he said 'what if you could get an audience to tease Celestia‘ and I admit the prospect sounded amusing for a little bit. I had the punchline planned and he told me the real culprit would get found out, then I could leave. I didn't realise how out-of-hand this would get.“

"Well the cuplrit hasn't found still.“

"They said the person they were protecting were a good person and couldn't get back.“

"Back? Back where?“

"They told me they're not of Equestria and they would never be seen again, just wanted to go home.“

"Not of Equestria? But the only place not of Equestria is through the-“

It finally clicked and that made Twilight even more concerned.

"They're from the human world.“

"That can't be,“ retorted Luna. "The mirror was under your protection and no-one saw them appear.“

"I didn't but maybe Spike did; Spike's protecting them.“

Twilight did not want to believe, but the whispers of doubt grew to screams. It seemed likely from what they found that there was, at the very least, a human, a changeling and Spike directly involved.

"At first,“ Discord added "I was going to stick with the plan as Spike said and wait to be set free, finally admitting it wasn't me and I didn't know where the books were, but Fluttershy came to visit and I realised I had let her down. I didn't consider her feelings and if there was one pony I refused to hide anything from, it was Fluttershy.“

"Thank you so much Discord and Fluttershy, tomorrow was supposed to be the day the Crystal Mirror would be returned home. If that had happened, they may have gotten away and the books could have been lost forever.“

"Discord,“ Celestia said. "I am disappointed you would go this far; I don't think you understood how serious this is to me.“

"I heard the books weren't valuable, so I figured it couldn't be so bad.“

"They are *very* valuable to me. One book in particular, of a very old friend no longer with us. She was a great friend to me and records of those times were taken alongside the books. I could not bare to lose those as I wanted those memories forever in print, I miss her often,“ Celestia said through held-back tears. "I understand you couldn't have known that Discord, but please consider how things small to you may affect others far more than you could know.“

"You're right, I'm so sorry everypony. If you choose to keep me here for a while, I would understand.“

"I will not Discord, I forgive, but I truly hope you learn an important lesson from this.“

"I will. Before I go, any leads to go on and can I help?“

"None. We are going to have to search blindly for two individuals, I fear this will run on much longer now.“

"Now, I have been truthful with everything I just said, but the next is a theory because something was bothering me about Spike. Have you heard anything about a pony called Love Joyful?“

"Yes, we had her talk to us before.“

"There's something odd about that pony, I was at the Summer Sun as Luna well knows, but later in the party I saw Spike lurking and I must admit, I was pretty curious.“

"Spike said he wasn't able to go because of his back,“ Twilight commented, "so that was-“

"Another lie, yes. Well, he didn't attend per se, but he was waiting nearby for her.“

Twilight felt further frustration at what Spike hid from her, but she had to try and remain calm for now and listen.

"Feeling curious what those two were up to, I hid myself as various objects, being the God of Chaos has its benefits and all. Then I saw him talking to somepony I didn't know very well, I had very rarely seen her ever, in all of known Equestria. This Love Joyful and Spike were on very good terms though, they spoke like they had known each other forever. Spike whispered to her towards the end and I couldn't quite hear properly, but soon Spike walked to the party and she went the other way. I wanted to follow but Spike spotted me soon, hiding in a balloon. He asked what I was doing and I pretended I was spying on Celestia. I know she returned to the party about twenty minutes later.“

"And why didn't you tell us any of this back then exactly?“ Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No solid proof honestly, I thought they were a secret crush or something. How was I to know that it was related?“

Celestia frowned, but let it go.

"You may leave Discord. I think we have something to go on now.“

"Care for some tea at my place?“ Fluttershy asked Discord.

"Yes please, I could do with a friend right now.“

After the two left, Luna turned to Twilight.

"So what did you have to tell us about Spike?“

"Sunset admitted to me that she was begged by Spike to lie. She never visited me that night and he pressured her into lying, even kic- I'm sorry, he's not been like himself, especially when we went there to the other world. He was so aggressive and rude.“

"So he's been selling some kind of elaborate cover-up?“

"I'm afraid so. I don't know if he's covering for Love Joyful or somepony else, but they aren't good news. I will never forgive them for manipulating Spike like this, we would never do this.“

"Twilight,“ Celestia spoke. "I understand you are reasonably upset, but please do not say such harsh words. We can forgive as there is nopony beyond forgiveness, I don't want you to say such things with finality as never.“

"I know that Celestia; I'm really sorry, I'm just... really upset and confused right now. You're right, I need to calm down, we need to hear out what's going on.“

"Is there anything else you know about what Spike is doing?“

"One thing, he begged me too, yesterday. He said he would tell me what he knew, but under the promise I would not tell you. I kept to that, hoping to show him I trusted him and receive that trust back, but I now know he barely told me anything. He told me he knew the true culprit and asked for him to let him sneak out to find them and make them confess or he would tell Celestia who it is himself.“

"So he snuck out to find them, but likely he went to Discord instead, to make that deal.“

"Yeah. The only way forward now is to find Spike, he may be with the ponies responsible or on his own. If we get everypony involved, we can find them, before they get away. I will tell him the Crystal Mirror will stay sealed until he confesses; if this bookthief really is from the other world, they'll have nowhere to run.“

"I agree Twilight, please help us find Spike and save him from this mess he's found himself in.“

Rainbow Dash (Her evidence was planted?)
Gray Tank Little to offer, never made it past Reception, backed up by Amethyst
Amethyst Maresbury Seems emotionally incapable and tricked herself
Love Joyful alibi no longer holds up and is pointed as likely being either the human or changeling.
Discord Confessed to not being involved and gave important information
Starlight Glimmer Far from bulletproof, but seemed busy and had nothing to add.
Twilight Sparkle
Library staff No suspicious or helpful people
Sunset Shimmer, Unlikely, has not been relevant to the search since and is neither a pony nor changeling.
Spike certainly involved, the evidence has been overwhelming
Changeling (A changeling almost certainly involved) What is the motive?

Author's Note:

Bottom text

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

This is my first non-trollfic,

But this is the only story you've written so far...

[Starlight Nova]

11405708
I think he was being sarcastic.

[Lillup]

11405708
Hey, it was just for fun and a bit of sarcasm. :)

[Lillup]

11411535
My previous works were done in collaboration with a friend on another account. I made this one just to try a different kind of story. Thank you for reading. :)