Chapter 3: Ink Stink

Lucid penned a quick note to Cerulean Dream, his wife, before leaving Rarity's house and gave her the address of the school, as that was very likely where the pegasus would find her. It was a matter of a half an hour to negotiate with the local postmaster for next day delivery of his note. He even got to chat with the Pegasus whom would be delivering the note.

He noted with a touch of appreciation that it wasn't the ditzy gray mare who'd dropped the flyers all over town but rather a yellow coated, blue maned pegasus who introduced himself as Cloudrunner. He’d apparently been to Hollow Shades before, though Lucid did not recall ever seeing the pegasus there before.

He promised a swift delivery and flew off after receiving a small bag of bits from Rarity for payment, true to her word. Lucid watched the pegasus take off and start his journey while worries about his wife’s reaction circled aimlessly through his mind. He doubted in his heart that she would be truly miffed at the letter, he’d been away on longer trips before, but his mind kept insisting that he was forgetting something. He loved her very much, after all, and didn’t want to cause her any worry.

"Don’t you worry,” Rarity said gently, “I’m sure the letter will get there just fine. Now, since you are staying longer than you had planned, let’s find a place for you to stay.” She started looking around, hoof to chin. “Do you have any preferences?”

"Well, no. Not really. I mean, I was thinking the boarding stable near the train station. It was quite comfortable the last time I stayed there." He nodded to himself, "I'll just-"

"That simply won't do,” she said with a sniff and a stamp of her hoof. “You're here on my request, therefore I shall arrange for accommodations befitting one of my guests."

"That's very generous," he said, "but really not necessary."

"Oh tosh. Of course it is. I won't have a guest of mine staying in those... Rooms." She cantered off into town. "Now, let me see… Twilight might have a room. Big drafty library for just her and Spike. Surely she has someplace for somepony to stay a night – or four.”

He froze, startled, for a moment at the mention of Twilight. A moment later he followed along behind her, galloping briefly to catch up to her. "Twilight as in Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's Apprentice Twilight? Sister to the Prince of the Crystal Empire Twilight?"

"Why, yes. Whom else would I be referring to?"

He sighed again and hung his head low. His wife was going to be more upset than he thought. Especially, she wanted her class to meet the young, talented filly so they could gain an appreciation of what hard work, dedication and talent could accomplish. She had wanted to meet Twilight Sparkle since her brother had become a prince and her name had become more widely known throughout Equestria and had gained something of celebrity status in Hollow Shades.

Twilight’s name was usually attached to bits of gossip on trains from Canterlot or Ponyville; not all of it was flattering. Mental breakdowns, uncharacteristic behavior, scandals at the Grand Galloping Gala… All of the things that he’d come to dislike about celebrity.

He cleared those thoughts out of his mind with a vigorous shake of his head. Gossip is gossip, Lucid, he thought to himself, you know better than to pay attention to that tripe.

There were more flattering bits of information about her in the gossip also. He had heard she a great lover of books, for example, and that was enough to help him dismiss his misgivings for now. He smiled and lifted his head, perhaps he could finally have a long conversation with a fellow book-lover who wasn't also bored to tears by his love of older, historic books and the art of restoring them.

Upon arrival at the giant library tree, it became apparent that not all was calm and quiet in the library. A purple dragon with a green crest was setting a blanket out to dry with an exasperated expression set across his face and from within could be heard two fillies talking excitedly, though their words were muffled. The young dragon waved happily when he spotted Rarity and smiled radiantly.

"Rarity!" He called down to her.

"Why, hello Spike!" Rarity called back up, waving a hoof.

Moments later, the door opened to the same dragon.

Lucid blinked and looked between the dragon standing in the doorway and the now empty second story balcony. The blanket was fluttering in the breeze, only one pin holding it up. A few other pins were stuck to his crest. Spike must have fairly bounded to the door. The dragon stood there for a moment, staring rather unabashedly at Rarity until Lucid cleared his throat gently. He just then seemed to notice Lucid Thought standing there.

"Who's this?" Spike asked with what Lucid could have sworn was a hint of suspicious ire.

"Spike, this is Lucid Thought from Hollow Shades. Mr. Thought, this is Spike, a good friend and Twilight's number one assistant and my great friend,” Rarity said and lifted a hoof to stroke the dragon’s crest, knocking free the clothespins.

He soaked up her attentions with a sigh and what appeared to be a blush on his cheeks. Lucid hadn’t known dragons able to blush. He shrugged it off.

“A pleasure to meet you, Spike,” He said, offering a hoof in greeting.

Serious again, Spike ignored the hoof and instead looked him up and down in a rather direct, almost rude appraisal, stopping at his horn, where his wedding band lay, somewhat hidden by his forelock. He seemed to relax a little.  "Hollow Shades, huh? That spooky place?", he finally touched the proffered hoof with a fist, "What kind of spooky business do you have here?"

"Well," he began, tamping down a rising feeling of annoyance, "I was hoping that I might find accommodation for a little while. I'm going to be in town longer than I thought and Rarity here suggested that-" He paused and looked at Rarity.

"Suggested that Twilight might have a spare room available," Rarity finished, nodding. "He's doing some work for me that requires access to some, well, unusual tools and I thought that if anyone were to have unusual implements of magic that it would be Twilight."

From inside came a filly's voice, "Spike, who's at the door?"

Rarity nudged the young dragon inside with a gentle hoof. She nodded her head inside while looking at Lucid, a clear indication, then followed the young dragon into the cavernous interior of the library.

"It's Rarity," he said brightly, leading the pair of ponies into the main chamber of the tree-library.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash sat at a table that appeared hewn out of the living core of the tree. A horse’s head statue sat perched atop it and beneath its muzzle he caught a glimpse of what looked like a familiar flyer. He didn’t have a chance to look at it too closely, though.

"Well, I can see Rarity, silly. Who’s the gentlecolt?"

Lucid thought dipped himself forward in a slight bow, lowering his head. "My name is Lucid Thought, Lady Twilight Sparkle."

"Just Twilight is fine," she muttered brusquely. Then, more brightly, "What brings the two of you to the library?"

Lucid looked to Rarity briefly and gestured with a hoof.

"Well, Twilight, it’s quite simple you see. Mr. Thought," she nodded her head to the stallion, "is going to be staying in town longer than he'd planned in order to do some work for me and I was hoping to find a room for him here. He is a book lover, too, and I thought you might find something in common to talk about. At the very least, it would be more pleasant than having him stay at the train station stable-house."

"He's from Hollow Shades," Spike added in a low tone to Twilight, shaking his claw in a negative motion.

Lucid rolled his eyes and shook his head.

It wasn't anything he was unaccustomed to, but it did get old, and the dragon had hardly been congenial thus far. The reputation of his hometown was, at once, something that its residents both prized and despised.

It made them something of celebrity figures almost, but scary ones. There was something about living in the middle of a forest that got less light than the Everfree Forest did that seemed to make people think its residents odd at best and dangerous at worst. Spike’s opinion seemed to Lucid to be somewhere in between both extremes.

"Now Spike, Hollow Shades is a perfectly nice town, I'm sure. I mean, I've never been but they’re ponies just the same as live here." Twilight admonished in the same low tone, casting an apologetic smile askance at Lucid.

Rainbow Dash heard this last and jumped up to hover above the horse-head statue in the center of the room, "I bet you know a lot of scary stories! Ooh! Tell me a scary story!"

"Umm..." He stepped back a bit from the sudden outburst. The station's stable-house was sounding more enjoyable if this was indicative of the kind of attention he would get. He might not even have enough time to do the work Rarity asked; much less meet with his other client. He almost wished that Rarity hadn't mentioned where he came from. “Maybe later,” he told Rainbow.

“I just hope it’s not that old Headless Horse tale, that’s so not scary anymore,” Rainbow said, sounding a little mollified.

"Well," Twilight said in a thoughtful tone, "I suppose I could have Spike fix up a spot in the basement if you think he’s trustworthy, Rarity." She glanced at Lucid, "What kind of work are you doing for Rarity?"

"I restored a book on fashion for her," he said shortly, collecting himself mentally and readjusting his saddle-bags.

"Yes! And he did a wonderful job cleaning that..." Rarity paused and nodded to Twilight, "That thing that happened last month."

“And you couldn’t send it via the post?” Spike muttered loud enough to get a tail-smack from Twilight. Lucid ignored the comment and tried not to let his annoyance show.

"Oh! You mean when Sweetie Belle and her friends tried to get their cutie marks in Splatball? I wonder who told them it was played with fruit?" She chuckled, "I mean, I thought it was a lost cause, the way all that juice was-" she cut herself off, seeing the memory of it was upsetting Rarity. "Oh... Right." She laughed a little.

Rarity shuddered. "Yes," she glanced back out the door and into the distance, "I wonder who." Being close to her, Lucid also heard a part of her follow-up, "If I ever..."

Lucid Thought felt a little lost, he hadn't a clue what Splatball was. Maybe something similar to the pinecone fights he and his friends had in the forest, he thought, but at least the stains made a little more sense if the game was as messy as its name suggested.

Still, it was interesting to see that Twilight acted like just another pony. He’d been expecting a bit of celebrity pomp and arrogance from the way the rumors had touted her at the Gala… and that article that had leaked into town from some gossip named Gabby Gums. In defiance of his expectations, however, she seemed to be a surprisingly, refreshingly down to earth pony.

“Rarity has asked me to make some special inks for her,” he continued after a moment spent readjusting his expectations. “They’re not your ordinary run of the mill inks and I need access to some special equipment to make them. Any chemistry or alchemical lab should have most of what I need,” he said, then pointed a hoof at Twilight. “Do you know where I might get access to a chemistry lab? Oh, and a hammer suitable to crack gems.”

"A gem-cutter's hammer?" Spike asked. "What kind of ink needs gems?"

"Well," Lucid started to say, “I’ve been getting a few inquiries from the Crystal Empire lately to restore some books from personal collections, and some of the illustrations use-“ he got cut off suddenly by Twilight’s gasp.

"The Crystal Empire! You know how to make Crystal Empire shimmer-ink?" He was somewhat surprised that she apparently did not, but reminded himself that she'd had likely had other matters at hand the last time he'd heard of her visit there.

"Well," He started again, but was, again, cut off. By Rainbow Dash, this time.

"Boring..." She huffed and settled back down to the ground with a sulky expression.

Ignoring the pegasus, he took a breath and gathered his thoughts.

"Yes, I do," he said, then sighed, tempered himself and continued, "Though not exactly. The right mix of gem powder to ink, and even the type of ink right down to the plants, minerals, and oils it's derived from appears to have been partly lost to the ages and King Sombra's tyrannical reign." He allowed himself a smile born of pride and lifted his head, "I was fortunate enough to attain a partial recipe and, through careful experimentation, I have come up with a very close substitute that nearly exactly matches the tones, richness, and shimmer of the original."

A snort from behind the statue indicated Rainbow Dash's opinion of the explanation and topic.

"I'm okay with you staying here," Twilight said after a moment's thought, "But only if you'll show me your notes on the process. I've been trying to find a recipe for shimmer-ink myself, but all the books I've found seem to assume that I already know the base to work from and only indicate what types of gems are used for which color and how fine the powder should be." She raised an eyebrow at him, "Where did you find your information? What book was it in?"

"I didn't find it in a book,” he said shortly, “I was talking to one of the crystal pony scribes about ink and the topic came up. She was happy to share what she knew in exchange for a few bottles of Appleshade Premium Cider. It was pretty much dumb luck that we met too. She'd taken the wrong train and ended up in Hollow Shades for a few days." He chuckled, then cocked his head slightly as a thought occurred to him, "now that you mention it, though, I wouldn’t mind looking at your books either. I’ve never really felt that the grain size of my attempts has been quite right."

Twilight smiled and nodded quickly, “I would be happy to share what I know." She bowed her head slightly, "and I would like to thank you in advance, Mr. Thought."

He found himself surprised at the returned gesture of respect and returned it in kind, "You are quite welcome Lady, er, Twilight."