A Shocking Revelation
Note: Here’s a short slice of life story to tide you over until that Cutie Mark Crusader one I promised ages ago is ever finished.
Ponyville was under the mercy of a 92 degree heatwave. Most ponies were outside, but those who weren’t were leaving their windows wide open to bring in whatever breeze would blow past their window. The library was no exception, the mass amount of windows it had were wide open, Twilight sitting at her desk writing out who had lent out books that week, and what needed to be returned.
Spike sat upstairs, reading superhero fiction. The dragon was engrossed by ponies with super abilities, such as Super Strength, Speed, Laser Vision and so on. He had always longed for superpowers, or just to look the part, mostly to show off. He put the book down and grabbed some soda he had left by his side. He took a sip and continued to read, putting down the soda and picking the book back up.
He continued to read on, the exciting action scenes being held back by walls of not much happening. Sure, superpony life was no walk in the park, but he had seen better paced books than what he was reading. Placing a hand on the green rug, he sighed and grabbed the soda can again, suddenly feeling a sting and almost spilling the can.
He put the book down, confused by what had happened. He rubbed his hand on the rug again, placing a finger to the can and seeing a visible spark, quickly pulling his hand away. “What in Equestria just happened?”
He did it again, a string of static electricity blinking as he tapped the rim of the can. He thought for a moment and tried a different approach. He walked to a small wardrobe up the stairs to his bed, opening it and pulling out a pair of bunny slippers.
He put them on, walked down the steps and began shuffling his feet on the carpet. He did this for a few moments and stopped to touch the can. There was a moderately sized spark and an audible zap.
Looking at his hands, he marvelled at what power he had. “Static electricity...”
He heard Twilight humming to herself downstairs. With a mischievous grin, he crept downstairs and peered at her by the doorway. He gently snuck up to her, trying not to get her attention as he lifted a claw, stifling a chuckle.
He gently tapped her back as the stored static zapped, making her flinch and loudly yelped in pain. Her quill scribbled on the scroll, making a jagged ink line across it. She turned to the dragon, who had burst into laughter, lying on the floor. “Oh, that was so funny!”
She looked at him in annoyance and said, “What did you just do to me?”
“It was a static shock, Twi. I just rubbed my feet on the carpet upstairs and tapped you on the back. You certainly squeaked loud enough for it to shock you.”
“That’s because I didn’t expect it. Even if I did, it would still hurt.”
"Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.”
Twilight nodded and looked up the stairs, asking, “So, the rug upstairs can give off static electricity?”
“Yeah, it’s all this heat that’s making it easier to create as usual.”
“I know, but do you know what else makes static electricity?”
Spike couldn’t answer back, unaware of what she meant. She levitated a pack of balloons from the cupboard under the stairs and brought it to her. Pulling one out, she blew it up large and tied the end. She then rubbed it on her mane multiple times and put the balloon down, strands of her mane sticking up.
She lifted a hoof and tapped his shoulder, zapping him back. He flinched back and winced in pain. She giggled to herself and said, “You walked right into that one, Spike.”
“I didn’t know you could make static from balloons.”
“You can make static from a lot of things, not just balloons. The main fabrics that can make static easily are nylon and rubber, but you can also get it from jewellery, metal such as steel, wool and even clothing.”
“So, you can get static from wool jumpers?”
“Exactly. That’s kind of why I hate wearing them.”
“Even though your grandma knits them for us every Christmas.”
“Yeah. I haven’t spoken to her in a while; I must send her a letter some point.”
Twilight turned back to her work as Spike got an idea, tapping her and causing an accidental shock. She yelped and sharply turned to him.
He sheepishly blushed and asked, “Twi, do you think you could use your magic to help create a large static shock?”
She thought for a moment, looking at the dragon. “It does seem a bit dangerous, but with your thick scales, I don’t think it would do any damage. I also know just the spell to harness concentrated energy. Plus, it seems like something I can wipe off my bucket list.”
The dragon lost himself in thought and asked, “But how would we harness so much static electricity, given that we only have a rug?”
Twilight replied, “You know, that’s all we’ll need. Go roll it up and meet me out back.”
Spike ran upstairs, leaving her to grab her notepad, some ink and a few quills. She walked outside, leaving the door open for Spike and walked around the tree to her garden. He waited and looked around; admiring the sunshine, looking at what few clouds lingered in the sky.
Twilight returned moments later with a book, a notepad and a set of quills and ink, carried by a small cloud of magic. She set them down beside her and looked to Spike, who had the rolled up carpet beside him and the slippers in his hand. He nodded and began to unroll it onto the grass.
The unicorn picked up the book and skimmed through it, finding the correct page. She read aloud, “Okay, for this experiment to work, I need you to stand on the centre of the rug.” She pointed to the round circle on the rug, Spike putting the slippers on and walking onto the rug, standing in place.
She continued, “Next, I need to charge the mat with a bit of electricity magic.”
Spike asked, “Can you do that?”
“Of course, I use it whenever there’s a power shortage.”
He nodded and watched as Twilight’s horn sparked a light cyan colour, zapping the mat as a shockwave of energy shot through, making Spike’s legs wobble. He regained his balance and asked, “Okay, now what happens?”
“Next, you just need to start rubbing your feet like you normally would, until I say you can stop.”
He looked down at his feet and began shuffling in place, rubbing his slippers quickly against the fabric. He saw a few sparks emit from the rug, his slippers doing the same. He looked up as Twilight replied, “Just keep going. I’ll ask you when that’s enough.”
He kept shuffling in place, Twilight taking notes as he did. Watching, she saw and heard audible snaps of electricity and said, “Okay, that’s enough!”
The dragon slowed to a halt, standing in place again. “Now what do I do?”
She took the balloon she blew up earlier and levitated it, “Touch the balloon, Spike.”
Spike watched the balloon approach him, and prodded the balloon, as it exploded with a bang as sparks flew. The two watched the old pieces of balloon float to the ground with awe, Twilight rapidly taking down notes. The dragon laughed and said, “That was awesome! Can we do something like that again?”
“I think we have enough static in you to do a few more things. Wait there, and I’ll fetch something from the basement.” Twilight said, walking off.
The dragon nodded and began shuffling in circles around the map, building up some more static, watching his feet shuffle as he quickened his pace. Soon, the unicorn returned, using her magic to hold a large, metal bed spring.
She asked him, “Touch this old bed spring here, would you?”
He walked up and replied, “Kindly.”
He touched the spring, watching a ring of electricity shoot up the bottom of the coil to the top. Both were amazed by what they saw, Twilight taking down more notes. “This is so cool! I’m going to be engrossed in this all night.”
Spike then got an idea, asking, “Hey, I’ve got an idea. Do you think we can both shuffle our feet on the rug, while you charge your electricity magic? I touch your horn, and see what happens, sound good?”
She thought for a moment, thinking of the precautions. “There’s a lot of precautions we need to take... Let’s try it!”
She joined him on the rug, charging her magic as they nodded to each other, both shuffling on the rug. They picked up an incredible rate, strands of Twilight’s mane and tail hovering as sparks and cracks of electricity could be heard. They kept at this pace for a while, Twilight’s magic stored to its fullest capacity. They slowed and eventually stopped to face each other, Twilight’s horn glowing a bright cyan, sparks flying from the tip.
Spike chuckled nervously and said, “Ready?”
She smiled and replied, “As ready as I’ll ever be, Spike.”
He stood on his toes and held up a claw, hesitating to touch the horn. He swallowed his pride, and gave it a tap.
Meanwhile, in the town square, Rarity and Rainbow Dash were sitting on a bench facing the library. Rainbow took a deep drink from her coffee cup and said, “Told you the weather team could do well without my help.”
Rarity looked up and replied, “Well, you certainly didn’t lie, Rainbow. It’s such a gorgeous day out.”
The Pegasus nodded in reply and leant back, asking, “I wonder what Twilight’s up to? I haven’t seen her all day.”
“No, neither have I. I haven’t seen Spike either. Maybe they’re out of town.”
“Or they’re performing another crazy experiment again.”
“They’re not crazy experiments, Rainbow. They're called 'research'.”
“They very well are crazy, Rarity! Remember that spell she performed on one of Fluttershy’s sparrows?”
“Now, Rainbow, that was an honest mistake on her part...”
“She incinerated the poor guy. Fluttershy was traumatized for weeks.”
“Now, I’m sure what she’s doing now is quite safe and plenty of precautions have been made.”
A bright flash emitted from the library, an electrical shockwave speeding past the town, knocking out all the electrics and frizzing up manes. Ponies everywhere panicked at what happened, soon abuzz with talk of the shockwave.
The Pegasus and unicorn looked at the library, a smoke trail emitting from behind it. Rainbow then turned to the unicorn and quipped, “Call that a precaution?”
Rarity shook her head, before heading to the library to investigate.
A large cloud of smoke cleared from the garden, Twilight and Spike frozen in place, their bodies blackened and charred. They unfroze from their place and shook heads to refocus on what had happened. The dragon wiped the dust from his eyes, clearing off any charred residue from his body.
Spike shook his head and asked, "You okay, Twilight?"
Twilight coughed some ash from her mouth and said hoarsely, “Okay, let us make a pact to never do this again.”
He nodded, “Agreed.”
They shook hooves, Rarity and Rainbow arriving on scene. The Pegasus asked, “What in Pete’s name just happened here?! There was a loud explosion of electricity that sparked through the town, sending out all the electrics.”
Twilight looked at Spike, and then back to her, smiling sheepishly. The dragon raised his hand and said, “It was my idea.”
“What idea caused you to do such a thing?”
“Well, we were messing about with static electricity and I had this crazy idea that I should rub my feet on this carpet and create enough static electricity, along with Twilight’s electricity charged horn and see what would happen if we touched.”
Twilight then added, “And we vowed never to do this again.”
Rarity looked at the destruction and said, “I quite agree with your decision.”
“Should I go and pay a fine for busting the electricity now or later?”
Spike then interrupted, “Hang on; it was my idea to do this, why are you paying for my mistakes?”
“Because I want to help, Spike.”
He felt heart warmed by what she said and replied, “Thanks.”
He then patted her on the hip, sending a shock up her as she yelped in pain. She turned to the dragon with a stern look as he tried not to laugh.
Rainbow looked over the destruction and remarked, "Well, I have to say that was quite 'shocking' wasn't it?"
Her friends all groaned in unison, Spike replying, "Rainbow, that was painful. Never make another pun like that again."
Rarity then asked, “So, shall we take a trip to the spa and wash you two off the charred fur?”
Twilight and Spike nodded and replied, “Please.”
Rainbow then said, “Okay, count me out. I’ll see if I can help anyone in Ponyville.”
Twilight stopped her and replied, “Before you go, could you talk to Mayor Mare? Tell her we caused this and we’re willing to pay for any charges.”
She nodded in reply and said, “Sure thing.” She sped off towards the town, leaving the unicorns and Spike on their own.
Rarity turned to them and said, “So, shall we go to the spa?”
Twilight and Spike nodded and walked to her, saying, “Thanks, Rarity.”
They patted her on the back of the neck, sending static shocks up her as she shrieked in pain, her styled mane frizzled up as she stood there, twitching from the static and the thought that her mane was ruined.
Twilight and Spike then burst into laughter and continued walking, Rarity looking somewhat displeased. The dragon then asked, “Learn anything today, Twilight?”
She looked at him and replied, “Since I probably lost my notes in the explosion and a good rug, I can say that I learnt nothing today, other than electricity hurts.”
“You said a mouthful.” They group hugged whilst walking, sending shocks through their bodies. They let out simultaneous yelps of pain and stood in place, bursting into laughter again as they walked to the spa, leaving the experiments behind them.
The End
