The Quill
Snap
Twilight Sparkle’s ears pricked up, as her head eyes quickly looked at the desk. She saw half her quill on the desk, the other half with a jagged end still in the grasp of her magic.
Loudly exhaling, Twilight looked down at the old, worn desk. When she found the drawer labeled ‘quills’ she concentrated her magic on the brass handle and pulled. Her eyes grew impossibly wide as her pupils shrunk to the size of tiny pebbles. The letter to princess Celestia was already late... And she was completely out of quills!
Don’t panic she thought to herself, as the familiar twinge of fear attacked her. the Princess has already told you that she isn’t going to be mad at you if your letter is a little late.Twilight tried to find comfort in that thought, but she had always been afraid of being late.
Clamping down on the fear that threatened to overwhelm her, Twilight walked down the stairs and slowly panned around the familiar room, searching for the flash of purple and green that would tell her where her pint-sized assistant had gone. But as she looked, it slowly dawned on her that there was no sound, other than her own hooves clopping down the stairs.
When Twilight stepped off the last worn plank she stood perfectly still. “Spike,” she called into the silence. When the purple unicorn was just about to give up on getting a reply. The silence was broken by a loud banging on the library door. “Probably somepony trying to borrow a book” Twilight whispered to herself in annoyance as she trotted over to the door.
She stopped in front of the door, then quickly pulled it open. The door swung back, to reveal the last thing Twilight had expected to find.
“Well, that was weird,” the unicorn said to herself as she walked outside, shutting the door behind her. Twilight began to feel worried as she thought back to all the other days that had started as strangely as this one. They usually wound up full of trouble.
“I have a job to do, and i’m not going to let some crazy paranoia stop me from doing it” she thought as she started down the road to get some more quills. “I wonder where Spike could have gotten off to, he almost never leaves without letting me know ahead of time,” Twilight thought as she made her way through town.
“Hi Twilight,” A colt Twilight didn’t know said, as he blocked in her path.
“Hello,” she said uncertainly, eyeing the small purple colt. “ Is there something I can help you with?” Twilight asked.
The colt snickered as he replied, looking around suspiciously, “no, nope... absolutely nothing”
“Okay... Well, if that’s all then,” Twilight said, in a confused voice as she moved to continue her trip to the store.
“Wait!” The young colt practically yelled, before covering his mouth with a hoof. “I mean, umm... Yes, yes actually. There is something you can help me with,”
The unicorn came to a stop as she looked at the colt, one eyebrow raised in both suspicion and curiosity.The colt said nothing, but instead continued to stare at Twilight. “And you need my help with...,” she asked, making an impatient circle in the air.
“Huh? Oh... Oh! Right, I need your help,” the young colt repeated.
“Yes, I think we established that already. But what do you need my help with?” Twilight asked, unable to keep the frustration from seeping into her voice.
The colt blinked in surprise. “Oh... I, uh... Didn’t think you would actua... I mean, I need your help with...,” the colt trailed off, his eyes quickly darting back and forth.
“Ok,” Twilight said, her tone becoming more impatient. “Whatever joke you’re trying to play, I don’t have time for it right now. I have to get a new quill and mail this letter as soon as possible,” she moved around the colt, ignoring his protests.
The colt’s eyes looked around in desperation, before finally hardening into a fierce determination. “Wait!” The colt threw himself in her path yet again.“Look, I know it seems like I’m just trying to mess with you. But it’s only because I didn’t think you would believe me if I actually told you what was going on.”
“Look,” said Twilight. “I’ll give you one last chance to explain yourself, before I decide to take you to your parents and let them know you’ve been causing trouble,” she said, poking the colt in the chest for emphasis.
“Ok, but, um... Not here. It’s too crowded,” the little colt replied, looking down and kicking the dirt.
“Fine, but this had better be good,” she said, curiosity overriding both caution and, to a lesser degree, annoyance.
The colt turned and quickly headed for a secluded alley, the purple unicorn following with a deep frown.
Once they reached the alley, Twilight expected the colt to stop and talk to her. But instead they kept going ever deeper into the twisting back alleys of Ponyville. She couldn’t help but notice the decrepit walls in the alley which sharply contrasted with the rest of the town, almost as if to show a darker side to her new home.
Finally after walking several minutes she stopped, refusing to move. “Well... I think this place is empty enough,” Twilight said, looking around the empty maze she had been led to.
“Yes... Yes it is,” the colt responded as he slowly turned towards the unsuspecting unicorn.
Twilight watched him waiting for him to say something more. But instead he simply faced her and sat down, as if waiting for something. “So, what exactly do you nee..-” a bright light struck Twilight in the face, cutting her off mid sentence.
Plop
Plop
Plop
Twilight slowly awakened to the sound of water dripping on a hard surface, and quickly wished she hadn’t. The only other time she could remember her head hurting as bad as it did was when she had convinced the guards to let her into the wine cellar unattended.
The mare slowly cracked open her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was in a plain spartan room with only the bed and a desk. “What is that abominable noise,” she said, wincing at the pain it caused.
“That would be the rain,” a familiar voice informed her.
“you,” Twilight spat, instantly regretting the decision as another lance of pain shot through her head.
“Listen, Twilight I’m sorry about all this. But I couldn’t run the risk of anyone seeing us leave.”
“First, make my head stop hurting. Then I’ll tell you exactly why I’m not going to help you.”
“I’ll go get Princess Celestia,” The colt said giving her a wry look.
At that Twilight bolted up, only to fall back into bed groaning and holding her head. The colt took this as an opportunity to leave her to contemplate the many horrible adventures her curiosity had led her to.
Finally after a long wait she heard the clopping of hoofsteps approaching. The colt entered the room followed by a tall, regal, and most importantly, familiar, white alicorn.
“Princess!” Twilight exclaimed. As the alicorn slowly walked over to stand next to her bed.
Celestia touched Twilight’s head with her horn, enveloping both in a gentle blue glow, and slowly the headache left.
“better?” Celestia asked
“Much.”
“Good, I am sorry I had to bring you here in such a manner, however I assure you it was necessary.”
“Has something happened?” twilight asked, alarmed by Celestia’s grave tone.
“An important document was stolen from my room while I was at last nights meeting with the griffon ambassador.
“But who would do such a thing?” Twilight gasped
“All evidence points to the Zebrican ambassador.”
Twilight’s eyes slowly widened as what Celestia had told her sunk in. “But Princess, what is so important about this document that the Zebrican ambassador would risk war with Equestria to get them?”
“It’s my diary,” Celestia replied, her tone completely flat.
“That’s why it’s extremely important we get it back,” the colt exclaimed, startling Twilight out of her shock.
“Yes, we do,” celestia agreed. “But I don’t have enough evidence to prove it was him, and arresting a foreign diplomat would definitely bring war. Which brings us back to the reason I needed to bring you here in such a manner Twilight.”
“I assume you need me to sneak into his room and steal it back?” Twilight asked, her eyes locked onto Celestia’s.
Celestia’s expression brightened as she said “well done Twilight, once again you prove that I was right to make you my student.”
Twilight blushed at the praise. But her good feelings lasted only as long as it took for her to remember what her teacher had just asked her to do. “But Princess,” she said. “Last time I tried sneaking into the castle, not only did everypony already know I was there, but they all recognized me despite my disguise.”
“Yes, I had thought of that,” Celestia chuckled. “That is why I am going to disguise you, and shift the guards patrol. To give you and Spike time to get in.”
“Spike is here? Why haven’t I seen him?” Twilight asked, looking around for the little dragon.
Ahem
She looked over to the colt. “Yes?” She asked, hoping nothing bad was about to happen.
“Twilight, Twilight, Twilight.” The colt chided. “I can’t believe you still don’t recognize your number one assistant!”
“Look, I don’t know who you are, but now isn’t the time to play ga...” The purple unicorn trailed off as she really looked at the colt, for the first time.
Purple coat? Check
Green mane and eyes? Check
Snarky attitude? Double check
“Spike?!” She gasped. “But... Wha... How? You’re voice doesn’t sound anything like it normally does,” Twilight sputtered, trying to comprehend what her mind was saying.
“This would be that disguise the Princess was talking about,” Spike replied with a smug grin.
Twilight turned to look at Celestia and ask how a spell that could completely transform a creature had escaped her, but when she saw Celestia all questions left her mind. “Princess?” she managed to get out, just before a bright green flash blinded her.
She shook her head to clear out the spots, then looked questioningly at the grinning alicorn. “wha..-” Twilight started to asked before catching sight of herself in the mirror Celestia had somehow managed to get, and was now holding before her.
Twilight raised her hoof, and watched as her reflection did the same. Then she waved it, to be sure what she was seeing was real. In the mirror where she should have been, copying every move she made was a green stallion roughly her size, with a pair of theatre masks for a cutie mark.
“Now not even your brother would recognize you,” Celestia said, laughing at her students confusion.
“But Princess, I...” The former purple unicorn trailed off as she realized her voice had changed as well.
Celestia took the opportunity to get things back on track. “I know it’s strange Twilight, but you must not be recognized.”
Twilight sighed, then nodded. “Now I know how Fluttershy felt,” she muttered darkly.
“Alright Spike, Twilight. I have faith that you can sneak past the guards on duty. Also, once Ambassador Juwambai finds the diary missing he will claim it was his diary that was stolen so he can try and pin the blame on me for not protecting his property. So don’t be caught off guard if you hear such claims.” Celestia said, looking between the two to see if they understood.
“yes Princess,” they both said in unison.
“Umm... Princess?” Twilight asked
“Yes?”
“How will we get the book back to you? And how will we know that he isn’t inside?”
“I have invited him to a meeting in one hour. That should give you time to get in place. And I will return here right after the meeting, so after you get my diary bring it here and we will meet up.
Twilight nodded. “You can count on me Princess,” she said, doing her best to sound confident. She knew every room in the castle, so she was confident she could pull it off. But she had never done anything this bad before.
It’s not wrong. You're just taking the princess’ diary back from the pony that stole it. She thought in an attempt to come to grips with what she was about to do. She stood up and made her way to the door.
“Come on Spike, let’s get that diary,” she said as he followed her out of the door without comment.
Celestia watched them both go before leaving for the meeting.
Derpy stood waiting next to her new guard friend in the armor the princess had given her, and watched the silly green stallion jump around like he was the hero of some sort of story, followed closely by the purple colt. The Princess is so nice to send such funny ponies to entertain me on my birthday. She thought, as they disappeared inside the door she was “guarding”.
After a long time the two came back out in much the same manner they had entered the room, bouncing and tumbling their way down the hall and around the corner. “Aww, they didn’t even do any magic tricks, the Princess promised they would,” She said giving the guardspony next to her a face filling with tears that threatened to spill out at any moment.
“Ack... If you don’t cry I’ll show you a trick I learned at the academy!” Her new friend said.
Immediately her face brightened as she forgot the entertainers, and began clapping her hooves.
Back in the room Celestia took the diary from Twilight, and turned both her and Spike back to normal.
“Thank you both very much, you have done Equestria, and myself a great service.” She said looking with pride at the two. “To thank you I am going to throw a private party here in Canterlot, just for you and anyone you wish to invite.
“Th.. thank you!” Twilight stammered, as Spike cheered.
“I shall send you back to Ponyville now so you can prepare. I will send a carriage for you and your friends in one week.”
“I’m ready Princess,” Twilight said.
Celestia gathered her magic, and cast a spell that sent them back to Ponyville.
As soon as they were gone Luna turned off the invisibility spell she had been using to hide. “Wow Tia, I can’t believe you stole all her quills and made up that ridiculous story just so you could read somepony’s diary,” she said, laughing.
“You’re just jealous that you didn’t think of it,” Celestia responded
“Be quiet and open it already. I wanna read it,” Luna said blowing a rasberry.
