Branded by Friendship

by redstone

Chapter 3 : Landing

“Dear Princess Celestia.

I am happy to report that the dragon has departed our fair country, and that it was my good friend Fluttershy who convinced him to go. This adventure has taught me to never lose faith in your friends : they can be an amazing source of strength, and can help you overcome even your greatest fears.

Always your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.”

Spike finished re-reading his note out loud. Looking up from the parchment, he eyed his unicorn housemate sarcastically. Living inside a tree library in a quiet country town was not as peaceful as one would expect.

“There, happy?” The tiny purple dragon had known the mare all his life, sharing housing and meals for years like they were hatched from the same clutch. They even shared the strongest link a younger brother and older sister commonly exhibited: Twilight often drove her assistant crazy.

“Oh, c’mon Spike.” The had a soft blush just visible under her light lavender coat. “I was interrupted when I finished dictating, so I forgot to double check my words for any mistakes.” Spike brought a claw to his face “I can’t send a letter to my mentor if it is riddled with grammatical errors! You know I double-check everything I tell you to write as I finish, then triple-check before I agree for you to send it!” She was starting to get agitated, speaking faster with every word and eyes going wild. “But the girls distracted me; I was not a hundred percent sure of what I told you, so I was not able to check my memory like i usually do. You understand that I had to act before you sent the letter ... Right?” Her hopeful look was lost against the glare she received.

“You could have told me, but instead you tackled me into a shelf.” Spike pointed to one of the walls of the library.

“You were about to send it!”

“Now there are books everywhere.” He pointed to the wooden floor, littered with heavy tomes and loose pages.

“... I had no choice…”

“And now I have a bump on my head.” The infant reptile brought a claw through the soft green scales adorning his cranium, indicating where he had collided with the wall before being buried under an avalanche of books.

“ … Sorry.” Twilight stared at the ground, letting her striped mane cover the shame on her face.

“Humph, about time.” Enjoying one of his rare victories in sibling rivalry, Spike brought the letter to his face and ignited it with a breath of fire. Instead of turning the paper to ashes, the jade colored flames transformed it into a cloud of glittering smoke that sped away through an open window.

As he prepared to tease the dejected unicorn some more, a high pitched voice made it’s way inside.

“Twitchy twitch! TWITCHY TWITCH, my tail is twitchy twitching!”

“Oh horse-apples!” The new voice had a very pronounced accent and a panicked tone that the pair inside the library couldn’t explain. "Find cover y’all!"

“What is Applejack panicking about?” Twilight stared out the high window. “And what in the wide wide world of Equestria is a twitchy twi …”

Something sailed right past the opening, falling to the ground, interrupting the unicorn’s thoughts. Almost immediately the loud thud of an impacting object was heard, as well as a pathetic yelp of terror and a different voice calling “DRAGON!” Quickly forgetting about her unanswered questions, Twilight dashed for the door while Spike kept listening to what was happening outside, the cry of two fainting goats making him scratch his head.

The scene outside was chaotic.

A pink pony with cotton candy hair was hiding under a tiny cocktail umbrella she was holding with trembling hooves, eyes tightly shut.

An orange pony adorned with a beautiful cowpony hat was sprawled under a nearby bench, both hooves on her head.

Two pegasi were lying on their backs, legs rigid and eyes widened with fear.

An unicorn sporting a snow-white coat and stylized violet mane was gaping, jaw dropped, at the unknown fallen object.

And finally, the object in question.

Twilight approached it cautiously, avoiding the petrified ponies, her scientific curiosity pushing her towards the smoking wreck. She flinched when she realized that the sizzling UFO was actually a living being, members spread by the fall in an almost comical manner.

As Twilight tried to figure how a wingless creature had fallen from the sky to land face-first in the midst of her friends, her eyes analyzed it’s body, noting the slight singeing over most of it’s bare skin, giving her an idea about the way it had found itself above her home : teleportation.

But who would use such magic on the poor thing without protective gear? Was he a test subject? Maybe it had lost all of it’s fur in the process. If he belonged to the family of mammals like the scholar in Twilight though he should at least have some fur or hair...

“Fluttershy!” Answers would have to wait; they had to take care of the injured animal first. “Snap out of it, it’s alive and it may be hurt.”

“Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh …” Instantly alert, the caring yellow pegasus rushed to Twilight’s side, and without hesitation began to prod the creature, looking for obvious lesions and hidden internal injuries.

“What the heck is that thing?” Having evacuated her improvised bunker, Applejack stared from a distance while trying to rouse the still paralyzed rainbow-maned pegasus.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen one of his kind, not even in the Everfree forest.” Fluttershy answered with a worried tone, almost whispering.

“Never read about something similar either.”

“He looks funny!” Bubbly as ever, the pink pony had discarded her tiny shield and was now standing next to a thoughtful Twilight. “It must feel weird to walk around without any fur, do you think he gets cold when it’s windy? Ooooh maybe he digs around like a mole, or like an earth worm! Do you think he eats dirt too? What about cupcakes? Did I tell you about the time I ate earth worm cupcakes?”

“Yes Pinkie darling, about a hundred times.” Completing the square of friends surrounding the crash zone, the white unicorn had a look of mild repulsion on her face. “Were dragon’s not enough for today? Now we have this ugly furless creature falling on us.” She eyed critically the bald skin before turning her head away and adding. “Disgusting!” Applejack rolled her eyes at the diva attitude while she helped the rehabilitated Rainbow Dash up.

“Ugly or not we have to help him.” the canary pegasus was now fussing over the creature’s right arm, which had sustained the most severe burns. “Twilight, do you know any spells to heal him? I’m afraid that these burns here” She pointed to it’s right hand. “Might leave a nasty scar if we don’t treat them soon, and I don’t have anything with me.” Fluttershy, being a pegasus, had not brought any saddlebags with her on the dragon expedition. All of her medical equipment had remained home.

“Alright, stand back.” the white unicorn, pink earth pony and yellow pegasus took a single cautious step back, watching as Twilight’s horn was surrounded with a deep red magical aura. “I’m not very good at healing spells.” The girls took several hurried steps further. “But regenerating skin tissues should not be very hard.”

Confident in her own spell casting knowledge, Twilight closed her eyes and unleashed the magical power stored in her horn, weaving it through the charred skin, cleansing the wound and gently pushing the skin cells to renew themselves faster than was natural. Regeneration was the most basic form of healing, so the lavender unicorn went through the process without worries.

That is until something unexpected happened with the magic flow: instead of remaining subdued, like a gentle stream of power, it suddenly turned into a raging torrent of raw energy, seeming to blend with the creature’s flesh. For a brief but intense moment, Twilight felt that she was somehow connected to the wounded beast, yet she didn’t recognise the nature of the spell that produced such a link, it felt almost… foreign to her, non unicorn at least. She tried to stop it, revoke the spell or at least control it, but her efforts were vain. She was locked in place by unicorn magic and a power she didn’t understand.

As quickly as it had begun, the magical surge was completely halted, like a book closing itself shut. Panting from the emotional rush, Twilight opened her eyelids to find that almost all of her friends had evacuated the near vicinities: both pegasi were poking their heads out of the leaves covering the tree-library while Applejack and Rarity had retreated inside the house. Only Pinkie Pie had apparently decided to stay a few steps away, her derpy expression and lolling tongue making it clear that the show of magical force was not only internal.

“What was that! Were you trying to blow us up or what!” Rainbow Dash exploded out of the leaf covers, landing in front of her exhausted friend, an aggravated expression on her blue coated face. “Was that a simple spell to heal him or one to send him to the moon? You didn’t even use this much power when the Ursa Minor showed up last week!” The pegasus took a look at the freshly healed creature, calming down a little. “Well at least it worked, but did you have to sign your work?”

“What? I didn’t sign anything!” Perplexed, Twilight examined the former wound, before crying out in surprise at the symbol that had appeared on the hand she had healed: a violet starburst, her cutie mark, was now embedded on its palm.

“Well then, what is your cutie mark doing on it’s claw? Or paw… whatever it is?” Rainbow Dash looked quizzically at the frozen unicorn. “Helloooo? Anybody home?” She waved her hooves in front of Twilight’s muzzle, trying to get a reaction. Rarity and Applejack made their way out of the Tree-library.

With a sigh, the cowpony headed towards Pinkie Pie, whose mouth had started foaming a lot while Rarity approached the unconscious beast. When the elegant unicorn saw the cutie mark etched on the mysterious being’s palm she gasped, a look of confusion appearing as she turned to her lavender friend.

“Oh my stars, Twilight, what have you done! How could you use a Familiar Binding spell? On an unknown creature no less!” The mention of the forbidden spell broke the accused unicorn out of her state of shock.

“I didn’t … I didn’t want to!” Twilight was beginning to shake, her eyes starting to shine with a hint of madness. “The spell somehow triggered itself! There was something magical in this thing that made me do it! I would never break Celestia’s laws…” When thinking about her mentor’s reaction, the crazed unicorn’s mane started to stick out in random directions. “I’m a good student, a good pony... I’M INNOCENT!”

“It’s okay Twilight.” Finally having exited her hiding spot, Fluttershy was hovering above her friend, trying to get her to calm down with a soothing voice. “We believe you.”

“But what if Celestia doesn’t believe me? What if she thinks that i wanted a familiar to slack off on my studies?”

“Darling, the princess would never believe that. I really think you should tell her about that weird magic you found inside of him.” Rarity gestured to the creature.

“What if she makes me take a test?”

“A test? Why the hay would she do that?” Rainbow Dash was looking at Twilight with an exasperated expression.

“What if i fail!”

“Heloooo! RainbowDash to Twilight, do you copy?”

“She will send me back to….”

“Okay, we’ve lost her.” Leaving Twilight to rant on her own, Rainbow Dash huddled with the others around Pinkie Pie, who was now passed out on the floor, a silly grin stretched across her muzzle. “So what’s so important about that familiarity spell?” She asked, mainly to the only other unicorn in the group.

“It is a very ancient spell used by the unicorns before the three tribes were united.” Seeing the confused look on Rainbow’s face she added in a frustrated tone. “You should really study up on equestrian history my dear. Anyway, before Equestria was founded, the unicorn tribe had created a spell that could be used on any animal, making him into what was called a familiar.”

“I’ve heard of that spell …” The ever timid yellow pegasus quickly hid behind her pink mane when her friends turned to her in surprise. She pressed on, barely above a whisper. “When learning how to care for woodland creatures I ran across it. The book said that it was a spell that took away any free will, effectively turning the familiar into a…” She gulped hard. “ Slave.”

The heavy silence that followed was only disturbed by the frantic lavender unicorn unrelenting monologue. When Spike exited the library and slowly approached the unicorn having a breakdown, the girls huddled closely together, almost in a conspiratorial fashion.

“A familiar was not a slave!” Rarity seemed hurt by the accusation against unicorns standards. “It is nothing like the way griffins treat defeated enemies. A familiar would be treated more like a pet, only it would receive some magical abilities from the spell, and enough brains to understand basic commands. They were a magician’s assistant, like Spike is to Twilight.” She finished by waving her hoof in a dismissing fashion.

“But Spike has the choice to disobey direct orders.” Fluttershy was, for once, looking somewhat assertive; she was a little angry to say the least.

“Yes, that’s true…”

“He doesn’t need Twilight’s permission to leave the house.”

“Well of course but…”

“And he can be away from her without being stricken by lightning.” Finding that Rarity was mute she went on, eyes narrowing. “And finally Spike can sleep anywhere he wants, he is not obliged by some curse to sleep near Twilight’s bed like a guard dog.” This was the second time today that the shy pegasus felt anger.

“Were you talking about me?” Spike popped his head inside the enclosed group, making all the mares, especially Fluttershy, jump in surprise. “I don’t want to interrupt your little secret session but, can you tell me why Twilight...” He pointed one talon towards the purple mare, currently rolling around wailing about a naughty stool. “... is going crazy over there? I’ve seen her stressed before, but never like this!”

“I’m not CRAZY!” Somehow Twilight had overheard the muted conversation over her manic rant, snapping herself out of her waking nightmare. “I just have to hide this thing until I figure out how to undo this spell…” She grabbed the creature’s legs with her front hooves and started to drag it towards her home, still muttering to herself. “Books, must have books on the matter, books never fail me, books will help, always!”

“Don’t ya think we should tell princess Celestia about this?” Applejack called without much confidence.

“NO! This is NOT a friendship problem, no need for a letter! Don’t tell her!” Getting back to her dragging, Twilight resumed her muttering. “No need for a letter… What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her… I’m a good pony… Books are my friends too...” After she and her prey had disappeared into the natural building, the door was brutally closed with magic, as were most of the shutters and curtains.

The elements of harmony watched with apprehension as the library turned into a wooden prison, most of them thinking about the poor defenceless animal stuck inside with what they could only call a deranged pony. Well, one was dreaming about a freshly baked cherry cupcake but that’s besides the point. None of them could imagine that Twilight was the one trapping herself with a potentially dangerous creature. At the same time the last shutter was shut, a long distance away in Canterlot, a second creature appeared in the sky, a female this time. Aurora had appeared only moments after her husband, but miles away from him.

---ΩΩΩ---

Mès had been going in and out of consciousness for some time now, never able to open his eyes. He was awful when dealing with his own thoughts, so they easily overpowered him, sending him back into a deep sleep. Memories of his youth, his childhood, his teenage... The rest of his life was obscured. Trying to uncover the hidden information would always bring him back to sleep, so he attempted to focus, with mild success, on what he was hearing: female voices, there was a lot of them, about four he estimated. Then he could hear only one of them. Was she talking to him? He listened closely and made out the phrase: “magic kinder-garden in a dungeon on the moon.”

Thoroughly confused the man slipped into darkness once more. When he resurfaced he felt that he was being dragged by his legs, the voice still muttering insane nonsense. Maybe the breeders had had enough of his rebellious attitude, so they had sent him into an insane asylum? His abnormal connection to mystical powers made him a freak of nature, but surely not one that had its place into the house of the lost minds? He was about to slip away once more when the racket of wood doors suddenly closing gave him a jolt. He could feel the ground beneath him, the wood planks against his face... No, against his whole body. He tentatively wiggled his fingers and toes, breathed in the musty air and focused his hearing.

After resting for some time, he felt ready for whatever fate had brought upon him; gently he opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the gloom, he tensed his members to be ready to react to anything. He expected to find himself in a prison cell or at least a dark corridor leading to one, however he was once again confused when his vision was filled with nothing but books: books on the floor, books on the wall... He couldn’t see it but he was sure that the ceiling was full of the wretched things. He sat up and began to wonder where he had been sent.

His fried brain could come up with only one explanation: he must have been dragged into the great library of Alexandria, home to the Order of the Damned. His presence could only mean that he was about to be branded into the Order; They were the sorcerers trained to perform the spells necessary for the Branding, they were the ones who took a citizen’s signature and branded it on a slave’s flesh. The brand would carry a spell that made any request by the owner into an inescapable order. Enchanters would cast spells on all children mystics to prepare them for the future branding, that way there was no way to escape the procedure. Mès was no exception. But he would rather die than become an Enchanter, brand or no brand.

Mès took a quick look at his hand, mostly by reflex, before clenching it and scrutinizing the walls for an exit. Just as he was about stand, his body froze, an awful chill creeping up his spine. Slowly, oh so slowly, he brought his fist before his eyes, then strained to open his fingers, the digits being frozen by dread.

---ΩΩΩ---

After closing all possible entries to her library-bunker, Twilight had surrounded herself with a fortress of books, its walls supporting titles ranging from the subject of undoing enchantments to the removal of unwanted tattoos, anything susceptible of helping her deal with her familiar problem. More than anything, she could not bear the thought of disappointing Celestia, the fear of being arrested for an illegal act was only secondary. Her mind, usually so organized, could not accept what she had done. The brutal reality had made her retreat into a state of denial and craziness.

She was now levitating a couple of tomes in front of her, flipping magically through them in a frenzy. When a blood chilling howl filled the library, her nerves, already on an air trigger, snapped. The scream was filled with anguish and sorrow, but the crazed unicorn registered only one thing: someone had found a way inside her forbidden perimeter. Using her horned head she rammed a hole in her book fort, intent on turning the trespasser into a potted plant. But she was not ready for what she found: her newly appointed familiar, standing on two legs, yelling at the top of his lungs, his eyes locked on his right hand. Twilight couldn’t hold a yelp of surprise when she heard words inside the screaming; this thing was intelligent. The bipedal creature tore his green gaze away from the brand -his nightmares come true- his eyes locating the origin of the noise.

After a heart-beat of silence it bellowed even harder, eyelids impossibly stretched by a mixture of surprise, fear and sorrow, making Twilight’s previous yelp turn into a ear piercing shriek, to which it responded with a baritone clamor.

The pair of pony and human continued their screaming duet, their responses gradually reaching the highest octaves for one and the lowest for the second.

Outside of the former library -first turned into a bunker and now into an opera house- the group of mares had long since disbanded, everyone getting to the conclusion that Twilight needed her space.

Fluttershy was guiding her critters back to her home, staying with Spike as a babysitter had really annoyed Angel the bunny rabbit.

Applejack was helping a still dazzled Pinkie Pie to Sugarcube Corner, the strong farm mare had no problem carrying the pink pony.

Rarity was bringing Spike to her Carrousel boutique, pretending that she needed help in some chores, hiding that she was just worried about Spike being left alone.

As for Rainbow Dash, she joined with the other weather pegasi, dissipating the last draconian clouds of smoke filling the sky. The weather would be off for a few days, the scheduled rain would have to wait for another two days, with meant that a good downpour would be in order.

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I would like to thank Zobeid for proofreading and giving needed lessons about my grammatical errors and foreigner punctuation nonsense. I encourage you to read his story, “The Last Parade”, it will blow your socks off.