The house
“There, all finished,” Twilight announced to the empty air as she shelved the final book in her library. She looked around the room, double checking everything, making sure that the room was in order. Satisfied, she looked out of a window, staring at the house in the distance. By now, Twilight has lived in Ponyville for over a year, and she has met just about everypony that she’s come across, yet she has no clue who lives in one house that is apart from the rest of Ponyville. Come to think of it, she hasn’t seen anypony come out of that house. Maybe she just keeps to herself. Twilight though to herself. Well, since I completed my to-do list early, I might as well go say ‘hello’. With this thought in her mind she told Spike that she was going out and walked out the door.
Twilight didn’t realize quite how alone this house was. From the Library it at least seemed to be in Ponyville. But now that she’s here, it’s doubtful that it’s even within the boundaries of Ponyville. The house was on top of a small hill and it didn’t seem very inviting. Twilight almost lost her nerve as she stared at the house, but her resolve kept her going. She approached the door, and next to the door was a ring attached to a chain. On the wall was a note that said, “During daytime, pull if you wish to talk to me.” Twilight gripped on the ring with her teeth and pulled. Three seconds later she heard a male voice. “Hello? How may I help you?” The voice seemed to be right above her head. Twilight looked up and saw a brass pipe.
“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and I-“ but before she could finish speaking, the voice interrupted her.
“You mean Princess Celestia’s protégé Twilight Sparkle?” He asked with excitement in his voice.
“Yes, but-“
“I’ll be there in thirty-seven seconds,” the voice hurriedly interrupted her. Sure enough, in thirty-seven seconds the door and a white unicorn wearing a lab coat and black-and-blue goggles greeted her. His red and blue mane looked like it was in an explosion and his red tail looked as if he was electrocuted. His lab coat was stained with blood. However, his smile made it seem as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Umm. . . why is there blood on your lab coat?” Twilight asked with some reservation in her voice. The stallion seemed confused at first, but when he looked down he realized what he was wearing.
“Oh, don’t worry, this is my blood. It was only a minor accident. In fact, this is my lab coat from yesterday. I must have fallen asleep with it on. It would also explain why everything has a blue tint to it. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Sparky Wyre, and, as I’m sure you are aware, I am the head inventor for Celestia. And I, uh, work alone,” The stallion looked away for a bit, almost as if he were deep in thought. But soon he perked back up. “Anyways, I’ll take it you’re here for the new invention?” Twilight had no clue what this pony was talking about.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not here for that.” Sparky Wyre’s ears flopped down.
“Oh, so you’ve found a new inventor.”
“No! That’s not it either! I just didn’t know who lived here and I wanted to say ‘hi’!” Twilight almost shouted.
Sparky Wyre’s ears perked back up again. “Oh thank goodness! But, um, do you want to see my new invention anyways?” He asked hopefully. Twilight didn’t want to upset the pony, so she nodded. Sparky Wyre smiled and led Twilight inside his house. To Twilight, it was a lot cleaner than she expected. As if he were reading her mind, Sparky Wyre told her, “I don’t spend that much time up here.”
Confused, Twilight asked, “What do you mean, up here?”
“Oh, this is the upper floor of my house. I have a rather large basement where I do most of my work. I only come upstairs for food. Even then, I sometimes forget to eat for days.” Sparky Wyre laughed as did Twilight, albeit nervously. Twilight followed Sparky to some stairs that spiraled down into the unknown.
“How do you get materials down into your basement?” she wondered aloud.
“Oh, I have an elevator; I just don’t like to use it.” Twilight heard of elevators before, but she saw one, much less heard of a pony having one for personal use.
Twilight followed Sparky down the spiral staircase which was only lit by his horn. Once they reached the bottom, she found it to be pitch black except for the dim glow of his horn. She then saw Sparky Wyre thrust his horn into the wall. She was about to question what it was that he was doing, but then several spheres lit up in the ceiling, illuminating the room. “H-how did you do that?” Twilight stammered as Sparky pulled his horn out of the hole.
Sparky smiled and replied, “It’s one of my inventions. All you have to do is pump a little magic and it can light a single bulb for twenty-four hours. I modified it from there; this prototype can light up the eight bulbs at a time. I haven’t perfected it yet; I need to find a way for the magic to stay once you turn it off. I need a holding system of some sort…” Sparky drifted off, concentrating on something. It took a cough from Twilight in order to bring him back. “Anyways, it’s over here.” Sparky led Twilight through the room but something caught her interest.
“Are you a fan of music Mr. Wyre? I notice that you have a signed record from Vinyl Scratch herself.”
Looking at the record, Sparky Wyre’s eyes softened. “Please, call me Sparky. And, no, I’m not a fan of music as much as I’m a fan of Vinyl herself. In fact, I went as far as creating a new turntable for Vinyl using the princess’ funding for other projects.” Sparky sighed, “If only she wasn’t in love with Octavia, then I might have a chance with her. Oh well, at least she gave me these great goggles and that vinyl record. Sometimes I go to her performances just to see her.”
“That’s a little creepy Sparky.”
“Is it? I never got around to figuring out what’s acceptable, I just do what I want or need to do. Anyways, it’s over on that table.” Sparky led Twilight to a table that had what Twilight assumed to be the invention on it. She couldn’t decipher what it was. On one end it had some sort of wood that narrowed and stopped and was attached to some sort of cylindrical metal. There was a semicircle that was big enough for a pony to put their hoof through without touching a piece of metal that was curved and was inside the semicircle. Slightly after the semicircle there was a metal box that appeared to be able to detach from the rest of this . . . thing. There were several other buttons and levers that Twilight couldn’t figure out what purpose they served.
“What is this?” She asked hesitantly.
“This? You’re really the protégé of the Princess and you haven’t seen my drawings of these? This, this is a gun. It can fire a single projectile at supersonic speeds over long distances. Sadly, the projectile doesn’t leave a rainbow. I’ve been working on a new model for months.” Sparky said proudly.
“What’s it for?” Twilight asked.
“Preventative measures mostly, but-“
“No, I mean what does it do?”
Sparky stared at her, “It kills.”
Twilight ran. She ran until she thought she would die if she took one more step, but she did, and then another step after that. I wish I had wings like Rainbow Dash, or at least her stamina. Twilight thought to herself, but there wasn’t any time to talk to Rainbow Dash, she had to tell Princess Celestia about this horrible Stallion who was creating weapons of mass destruction in her name. Once she was in range for a teleportation spell, Twilight teleported herself to the palace gates.
The guards were surprised when they saw a flash of light and immediately readied themselves to attack whoever it was who dared to teleport to the gates of the palace. When they saw the violet pony, they relaxed, for every guard knew the little protégé of the princess. However, instead of greeting them like she normally does, she ran past the guards and into the palace. The two guards looked at each other and shrugged, they had more important matters to attend to.
Twilight burst into the throne room, catching the princess completely off guard. Panting, Twilight tried to explain to the princess exactly what she had just seen. “Inventor, gun, basement, why?” The princess gave a confused look at Twilight.
“Please, my faithful student, take a seat and rest. Catch your breath, no matter what it is, it can wait a few seconds so I can understand what you’re trying to say.”
Twilight shook her head and inhaled deeply, “Princess Celestia, you have some . . . madpony creating . . . something, a gun I think he called it. It’s meant to KILL PONIES.” Twilight shouted the last part and stared at the princess, who returned her gaze with an icy cold glare.
“Have you told anypony about this?” The princess finally asked.
“No, I haven’t. I came here as soon as I could.” Twilight answered. Why is she acting so calm about this? Twilight wondered.
“Good, now, I’m sorry Twilight. Guards! Apprehend this pony!” Celestia barked. Immediately, two guards grabbed Twilight and held her still despite her struggling. “Your assumption is wrong Twilight, it isn’t meant to kill ponies. No, I want Equestria to remain whole, for now. You see, I was hoping to wait until later to tell you, but it seems you took my assignment to heart. You made friends, but it seems you found the one person in Ponyville whom I didn’t want you to meet. However, seeing as you are my student, I won’t kill you. You’re lucky that I’ve grown attached to you. Oh my faithful student, you’ll learn your next lesson in friendship soon enough.” Celestia turned to the guards, “I want you to put her in the guest room, and I want at least one of you watching her at all times. Even when she’s going to the bathroom, understood?”
“Yes Princess Celestia!” The two guards responded in unison.
“I’m sorry it has come to this Twilight, but, you’ll be fine . . . for now.” Celestia smiled weakly and Twilight was dragged away.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Twilight banged her head against a wall with each word, just like she had been for the better part of half an hour. “What was I thinking? When that pony said that he was working for Celestia, I should have known that something was up. Why didn’t I tell any of my friends, why not at least Spike? Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Twilight stopped banging her head against the wall long enough to look at the guards. They stood, stoic as always. What does Celestia have in mind for me? Will she keep me in this room for the rest of my life? The room itself wasn’t all that bad, the bed was large and comfortable and there were plenty of books to entertain Twilight. It would be a lot better if the guards weren’t watching her the whole time. “Why are you keeping me here? What do you want from me?” Twilight shouted at the guards. They were as silent as always, always watching her, it drove Twilight crazy. She wanted to hit those guards, she wanted some reaction from them, but she knew what the consequences were whenever a pony hit a royal guard, even if by accident. Twilight let out a yell out of sheer frustration and sat on the bed, not knowing what to make of her situation. She didn’t know what to do, normally she trusted the princess with her life, but this wasn’t like her. The Celestia that Twilight knew would never try to break the peace that Equestria had known since… forever.
Twilight had studied other lands and how they had wars with each other, but for some reason they had always left Equestria alone, never disrupting its peace. When Twilight had asked the princess about it long ago, Celestia just gave Twilight a motherly smile and replied with, “I am a very good negotiator,” and left it at that. Twilight trusted the princess back then, now… she wasn’t so sure. How long had she been here? She was antsy, and bored. At the very least she wanted to talk to somepony. Alas, no one was around.
After what seemed like hours, Twilight heard the door open. She removed the pillow that she had on her face and looked at who it was that was visiting her. When she saw a red and blue mane she was filled with fury. However, the unicorn didn’t seem to notice. “Hello there Twilight, lovely room you have here,” he said.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” Twilight almost growled.
“Oh, I left right after you ran out of my house. I needed to come to Canterlot anyways; the princess needs her gun and all.”
“Why would you create something to kill?”Twilight asked the unicorn with barely restrained anger.
“Well, how else are we going to take on dragons?”
“Dragons.”
“Yes.”
“We, PONIES, are going to take on dragons?”
“I believe I just said that.”
“Why would we do that? They aren’t hurting anypony!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Ah, that is where you are wrong my dear Twilight. For the past few weeks dragons have been attacking ponies, killing them on sight.”
“Why wasn’t I informed of this?” Twilight demanded.
Sparky shrugged, “Hell if I know. All I know is that dragons are attacking and I had to create a weapon to fight back.”
“Dragons couldn’t have been attacking! Ponies would have found out!”
“How can stories spread if there are no survivors?”
“But the princess-“
“Wants this to be kept quiet until we could fight back. Which we can.”
“So why were you working alone?”
“Because I normally hate working in groups. But I’m willing to have a partner so I can get you out of this mess.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because if I don’t, you’re going to die. Well, there’s the slight chance that you’ll survive, but it’s highly unlikely.”
“What are my options?”
“You could come with me and assist me.”
“What will I be making?”
“Whatever Celestia tells us to make.”
“Does that mean we’re going to make more weapons?”
“Yes, if she asks.”
“Then I would rather die,” Twilight said this with an air of finality. Sparky simply looked at her and left. Before he exited the door he spoke without turning his head.
“Have fun on the front lines,” and with that, he was gone.
That single sentence shook Twilight’s very core. Oh no, the front lines? That’s where I’m headed? I am dead, either that, or I have to kill. How can I kill dragons? They could be Spike’s relatives! I couldn’t do that… I can’t do that. Twilight was freaking out, if she hadn’t heard the door open she would have been like that for hours, luckily, the serene grace of the one entering calmed her down. “Hello my faithful student. I take it that you’ve talked to Sparky by now.”
“Yes princess, I have talked to Sparky, and I declined his offer.”
If this caught the princess off guard then she didn’t let it show. “Then I suppose you’ll be joining my army. You’ll receive your orders tomorrow as well as your uniform. Goodbye, my student.” The princess left the room, leaving a stunned Twilight behind her.
