• Published 23rd Jan 2013
  • 1,638 Views, 42 Comments

The Invisible Mare - Thunderhalk89



Twilight accidentally turns herself invisible and, as a result, slowly begins to lose her mind.

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4: Letter

It took some time, but Twilight eventually came to grips with her current predicament. She did not know how long she would remain in her current state, but it would probably last long enough that her disappearance would be noticed by at least Spike. If she could not figure out an answer then she would probably have to ask the Princess for help.

I can't do that, she countered her own thoughts, She'll probably be upset that I couldn't find a solution on my own.

While she made it her resolve to not tell anyone, not even the pony who was almost like a second mother, she still had the problem of her friends noticing her disappearance. Against her better judgment, she got to work on a note for Spike and placed it on the central table next to the Alicorn statuette. She also made sure to gather her bedroll and sleeping bag, along with some food, before returning to the basement, making sure to add a soundproofing spell to the door in addition to the locking enchantments.

She knew that Spike would share the letter with her friends: she just hoped they did not think her excuse was to out of character.

~~~

Spike,

I will be away in Canterlot visiting the Royal Archives and Library: our library is lacking some information that I need for my current research. I am sorry that I had to leave in such a rush and could not tell you this myself, but I did not want to miss the train. Take care of the library for me.

Twilight Sparkle

p.s. Do NOT let Pinkie throw any parties while I am gone. I expect the library to still be standing when I get back.

~~~

As soon as Spike found Twilight's letter, he ran to the train station in hopes of seeing her before she left. By the time he got there though, the train was already leaving the station. All he could do was stand on the platform, gasping for breath. He gained a second wind when he saw a purple unicorn waving from one of the windows, and waved back enthusiastically.

After seeing who he believed to be Twilight off, he knew that he should probably make sure that her friends saw the letter as well. He reasoned that if she had been in such a rush that she did not even have time to say goodbye to him, then she probably also had missed saying farewell to them as well. He would hate for her to come back home only to find that her friends had been worried sick thinking she had disappeared. As he walked the streets of Ponyville, he could not help but think that the pony he had waved to was a lighter shade of purple, and that her mane was not styled like Twilight's either.

He shook the thought loose, I was out of breath, I could just be remembering Twilight and some other pony from the train at the same time, he reasoned. As he continued to attempt to convince himself, a familiar growling rudely interrupted him, "Well, that could also explain it," he said aloud, looking around.

He found himself near the center of town, looking at several vendor stalls. As his stomach gave another low rumble, he moved purposefully toward an apple stall.

"Well, hey there Spike," Applejack called as she pocketed the bits from her latest customers, "what can I do ya for?"

Spike nearly forgot about telling Applejack about Twilight as he drooled over the offerings in the applecart, "They all look so good."

"The granny smith and golden delicious were just picked this morning," Applejack offered, "bucked 'em myself."

"I liked the granny smith: it's sweeter than usual, and not all that sour."

Spike, grasping one of the green apples, let it catch the sun's rays, giving off a golden hue. He took a large bite, nearly forgetting to chew. The angelic voice of the food angel was right: it was sweet, but still had that unmistakable tartness.

"Food angel?" Fluttershy blinked in confusion.

"Oh, hey Fluttershy," Spike chuckled to himself trying to hide his embarrassment, "When did you get here?"

"I've been here the whole time."

Spike quickly tried to recover, apologizing profusely, "I'm so sorry Fluttershy. I got this letter from Twilight, and then ran to the station but then came here because I knew you guys would want to read the letter too. But then I got hungry, and you know how I can lose track of things when I don’t eat, or even sleep for that matter," Spike rambled.

Fluttershy gave a soft smile, letting him know that it was all right.

"So, what's this about a letter now?" Applejack cut-in.

Spike handed her the letter and some bits as he took a second apple. He tried to judge the pegasus and earth pony's reactions as he looked on while devouring the second apple.

Fluttershy looked downtrodden, "I guess she was more concerned with her studies than we thought."

"Well better her running off for the Canterlot library than the Everfree Forrest," Applejack added. Something seemed off about the letter, but decided not to say anything unless she had any evidence, No use worrying Fluttershy, or anypony else for that matter, about nothing. Now what was it Pinkie was goin' on about yesterday? Something about wanting to know if I thought Twi was hiding somethin? She pushed the thoughts back, knowing that Twilight would not hide anything from them without a reason, Maybe she was just concerned 'bout Twi running off into the Everfree after those Celestial beasts.

Applejack and Fluttershy decided to split-up to make sure that their other friends knew about Twilight's departure as well. Fluttershy volunteered to tell Rarity: they had been friends since she moved to Ponyville from Cloudsdale. Besides, she feared that the unicorn might take offense and think that Twilight's leaving was their fault for forcing her to go to the spa. Applejack had needed to calm the jittery pegasus, claiming that Rarity would not think it was her fault, and that she shouldn't either.

~~~

Unknown to anyone but her, Twilight had been following Spike all day. She had hoped to see how he, and her friends reacted to the letter. She had been worried when she saw that Fluttershy was among the first to find out: a pony had to be delicate around her. Twilight had hoped that Spike would have shown the letter to one of her other friends, and then let them be the one to explain it to Fluttershy. Spike meant well, but could be a little blunt at times. Luckily, the shy pegasus seemed to handle it better than she had expected.

After her friends had gone their separate ways, she teleported back to her lab to begin the arduous task of researching how to reverse the spell. Upon her arrival, she noticed that she had a halve-eaten apple in her magical grip, and juice running down her lips. Her eyes went wide with the realization that she had just stolen an apple from her friend.

But I'm not a thieve, she panicked, and I stole this from my own friend. If lying is the fastest way to lose a friend, then what does stealing from one do?

She was nearly hyperventilating now, as her thoughts started to become audible, "What do I do?"

"Keep it together Twilight," she told her refection in her lab equipment, "Applejack often gives you a couple apples for free."

"But I did not have permission: that is theft. Ponies who steal get locked away!"

"You won't get locked away; you are Celestia's prized student and have saved Equestria numerous times."

"You're right I won't get locked away in jail," she seemed to calm down for a second, before becoming even more terrified and agitated, "I'll be sent to the Royal Dungeons and tried for Treason!"

"Wait," Twilight blinked a few times, returning to reality, "I could just pay her back when I get back to normal." She smiled as a new plan formed in her mind, "Yes, I'll pay her a few bits extra the next time I see her."

As she thought about it though, she began to realize something she had never thought of before: while she had intended for the spell to be used for "good", she now feared that it could be used for "evil". The creator of the "Chameleon-spell" had, probably, nothing but the best intentions for his spell too. It was mostly used by the Royal Guard and police forces around Equestria, and sometimes for fashion. Nevertheless, occasionally, it was the tool of pranksters, vandals, and thieves.

She shuddered at the thought of her spell being used for crime; but then, that is what she had just done. The only reason academies still taught the "Chameleon-spell" was because there were ways of detecting it, and tracing the castor.

"Perhaps, I should hold off on finding a solution," she smirked to herself, "Yes! I'll just keep this up and find flaws and exploits. That way nopony can use it for nefarious deeds and if they do, they'll be caught." The list of exploits and paying anypony she stole from back seemed like a fair trade-off for any crimes she committed in the name of helping prevent future crimes committed by real criminals.

She cast her invisibility spell on her saddlebags as her thoughts changed, "I still need to talk to somepony about that name," she mumbled to herself, her mind having gone back to thoughts about the "Chameleon-spells" moniker. "I supposed 'Cephalopod-spell' would fit better; although, my spell is a superior version, so maybe I could call it that." The name of her spell, and the "Chameleon-spell" would wait until after she found any exploitable flaws that would assist the law. Without another thought, she teleported out of her lab and outside amongst the unsuspecting populace of Ponyville.

~~~

Pinkie was watching over Sugarcube Corner, alone. The Cake's had decided, after seeing how well she could watch over the twins, to give her more responsibilities around the shop. Pinkie was more than over joyed when they told her, and not because she would be getting a raise: which meant she could afford more candy from Bon Bon's candy shop.

Today is just a normal day, she thought to herself from behind the counter, the sun is shining, ponies are walking around enjoying themselves, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are running around barricading the entrances. Yeps! Perfectly normal… although, I should probably figure out why they don't want anypony to come-in.

"So why don't you want anypony to come-in?" she asked as she bounced over to them and their growing wall of tables and chairs, topped with a potted plant. "Don’t you think it would be more funerific if more ponies could join us," she gasped loudly as she was struck with enlightenment, "You girls are planning a surprise party and don’t want the suprisee to find out until you're ready! Ooo! Can I help Can I help Can I Can I!" she smiled even wider having figured out what they were doing.

The three terrified fillies glanced at one another. As they were too busy silently trying to figure out who would be the one to explain everything, they failed to notice that Pinkie had stopped bouncing and was looking at her twitching tail.

"Ahh!" Apple Bloom screamed as the precariously placed flowerpot fell onto her head with a crash, "It's the ghost! Everypony for herself!"

The Crusaders then began the time-honored tradition of running around in circles screaming; because as everypony knows, nothing can harm you if you just keep running in circles screaming… especially like a little girl if you are a manly-man macho stallion.

They stopped only when Sugarcube Corner erupted into an endless explosion of color. They turned to see Pinkie in a combat ready position, holding something in her hooves. It appeared to be a tube with a hose connecting it to a box shaped canister on her back. Apple Bloom was about to ask about it, when Sweetie Belle brought up something that only the sister of Rarity would notice before Pinkie's odd contraption.

"Why are we covered in silly-string?"

Pinkie smirked while, at the same time, looking slightly depressed, "Nope, no ghosts here."

The Crusaders gave each other quizzical glances out of the corners of their eyes, before turning their attention back toward the pink earth pony with what they now believed to be some kind of mini silly-string cannon. Sweetie was going to ask about everything being covered in silly-string again, but was quickly silenced by Pinkie pulling three smaller, filly-sized versions of her own contraption out of seemingly nowhere.

So they are being chased by ghost it seems, "Are you three sure there is a ghost in Ponyville?" she asked, contemplating the three contraptions sitting at her hooves.

"Yea! It hit my scooter, then said something about its shins," Scootaloo replied, trying to act as if it were an everyday occurrence for her.

"How'd you know there was a ghost in Ponyville?" Sweetie tried to ask, before Apple Bloom silenced her.

"Shush, I think she might be able to help us."

Sweetie Belle was going to protest, but quickly stopped herself. She should really listen to her sister more about not questioning Pinkie Pie unless you absolutely had to; although, she was curious as to how she was now wearing one of the three smaller versions of Pinkie's contraption.

"In that case," Pinkie's tone became serious, "suit-up," as she said this she put on a pair of all black sunglasses and added, "And don’t cross the streams."

A high-pitched extended "yeah" seemed to come from the universe itself.