Chapters Line Space facing the Mirrored Foe
Chapter 0: Prologue
GrannySmith was looking out over Sweet Apple Acres when a cry was given out from the town. Before long she had arrived to see what the commotion was about. A large black coated colt with a cloak on had come into their little settlement with a massive covered wagon. Flipping his hood off all the ponies gasped seeing one eye forced shut by a scar and many more marking the rest of his body. He looked around until his eyes rested on GrannySmith’s father. He came forward and as he spoke all of the ponies who had chosen to settle here since her family had arrived leaned closer to try to hear what it was he said in a quiet, raspy voice.
“I see that this little portion by the Everfree has changed quite significantly since when last I…. came through. To think Celestia would let ponies settle here. Hehehe. You should consider yourselves fortunate to have such a wonderous home and, if you will believe me, one so well suited for supporting ponies through hardship. I bring a gift for those curious enough to look under the tarp I brought it in,” at the end gesturing to his large wagon his eyes casting a challenge to all who stood around.
“Now just you wait mister. Who said you could come here and start talking like this land is cursed or… honey, wait!” her father shouted as she couldn’t keep herself from running forward and beginning to tug on the tarp. Always a curious girl she had the same instinct that this was important and magical, similar to the zap apples she had been studying. She paused for but a moment, considering her fathers caution. Then she pulled the tarp off and revealed a site that settlers like these may have only seen on a visit to Canterlot.
Books! and hundreds of them. It seemed strange, when she looked back on it that the colt could pull so many books but right now all that went through most of the settlers minds were wonder at this amazing gift, if a gift it was. That last one was however what Grannies father had been thinking.
“And just why are you giving these to us. You don’t look the type to be terribly charitable,”he said in a harsh voice. Like most they were still worried about living so close to the Everfree and the timberwolves returned to town from time to time. Especially when someone wasn’t paying attention.
“I commend you for your distrust,” the strange Colt said,”but it might comfort you to know that all of these books are practically worthless. You see I have found…. errors in their information based off of what I have learned in my travels. I rewrote the books so they were correct…. and now I want to donate them to those who live where I was… born.”After he stopped talking the energy seemed to leave him and all of a sudden he seemed small and harmless. Grannies father, a kind man at heart, came forward and put a hoof on his shoulder. The stranger looked up at this scowling.
“We gladly accept your gift but unfortunately we have no way to protect these books. We have no librarieeeeee,” Grannie’s fathers voice rising in pitch as he finished. The reason for his shock was because the pony had pulled out a bag with “Library Fund” written on the side. The bag was near to overflowing with bits and gems, a small fortune the kind of which none of the settlers had ever seen before.
“I do hope this would cover the funds for the Library,” he said and then stopped with a thoughtful expression on his face. “Or maybe a Town Hall. You would still probably have room for at least this many books in such a building,” he finished as he placed the coins in Grannie’s fathers hoof and then returned to his cart and the young filly who was excitedly investigating the books and had found one that he gently took from her. “Now for you, young one. I have a favor to ask.”
GrannySmith had to take a moment before responding. She could understand her fathers hesitancy about this strange black colt. It certainly looked like he might be dangerous between the scars and his long dark blue mane. This was a strange gift for the town but….. what would life be if you couldn’t trust another pony. Especially one who seemed so tired.
“What can I do for you mister? Maybe you’d like to try my latest batch of zap apple jam,” the excited young filly responded flashing a massive smile. The older Colt took a step back, not being used to such a friendly response. Perhaps she would be able to help others with his problem. They would need someone friendly and readily helpful.
“I’m sure it is quite nice but I don’t…. eat much these days,” he said trying awkwardly to smile back. “This book is very important and I need it taken care of. It contains the only possible cure for a terrible condition that I once suffered from. The only other way to be free of it is absolutely terrible. So I ask you to please hide this book away in the-”
“But why would you hide this kind of thing,” she interrupted excitedly. She could hardly sit still with how cool all this mystery was. Not to mention she wanted that book back since it was so important.
“This is because it has a tale of something that could put a lot of people in danger. Hide it in the library or the town hall should they build that instead. Hide it away so that you could still find it but others are not likely too. The title should be enough to let you know when you will need it,” the man said, his tone getting more dark and ominous as he continued. GrannySmith nodded, scared that the mysterious colt was going to react to his own dark memories. He then turned away and began to trot away.
“Why are you leaving. Don’t you want someplace to live,” she cried out to him. He turned his dark and surprisingly lonely eyes on her before he responded.
“No, I wouldn’t do well here. I don’t do well with others. Especially not when I get angry and that happens a lot. Do as I said and no one else will have to suffer like I did,” he said as he turned away to go.GrannySmith watched as he left. She looked at the book in her hand and wondered why it was so important and why he would leave it to her. She looked forward to putting this book somewhere safe, as soon as she had read it. She perked her head up realizing that her father
“The Mirror Pool and the Mirrored Mind by Red Liner. What could that mean? Heheheh, I wonder if he’ll come back and talk to me more if I read it without his permission,” she said to herself as she trotted happily away. He would not return for that reason though. Or ever again.
Line Space facing the Mirrored Foe
Chapter 1: A Live Stream and a Question
“Well, that sucked about as much as it normally does, and why do I need math to begin with,” groaned a 17 year old colt staring at his computer screen wondering when he could stop the classes. He desperately wished to be like the other ponies his age who got to work and have fun performing his special talent. His stupid talent meant he needed study and practice in Celestia’s online school for 4th wall dummies. Yawning he walked over to his personal fridge and pulled out a water bottle, taking a long drink before looking back across his room to perform one of his daily exercises.
From one corner of the room to the other he saw his bed, his computer chair and desk, his computer which was an amazing gift from a mysterious downer, and his mini-fridge which he was standing next to. Now to analyze it. The bed is small and coated in toys and snacks from multiple days of neglect, probably because someone was jumping from one thing to the next. The mini-fridge which was stocked with various snacks and water bottles showed a more solitary attitude aimed at staying away from others or at maximum convenience for someone who spent lots of time in his room. The computer chair,desk, and computer were all set up facing the wall meaning that the mind inside…. was noponies business. He frowned at the scowl he had made and started working his way back to the computer.
“So why do we even do those stupid exercises. We should start making analyses on the things in this world and the pathetic people in it,” said a voice at the back of his mind. An angry voice that matched the angry red and black face in the reflection of the screen.
“Go away. I have a new episode to watch,” the young colt told the face in the screen.
The one thing they could agree on was a show they had gotten into because of his brother,Jumbled Thought. The show was amazing and it followed the events of a couple famous ponies he’d actually managed to meet once or twice. He refused to believe that the world he lived in was the same that Twilight Sparkle and her friends did though. Even if it was it was still separate from this dark monitor illuminated world he now lived in now. Even RainbowDash or Fluttershy could probably never understand his world, but then again, no one did.
“I understand all too well the world you live in and how you could make their world like yours.” The young colt glared at the face, refusing to acknowledge that he could make them suffer. He would always be better than that and if this voice couldn’t understand that then it knew nothing about him. Either that or he just refused to consider what he should do. Entertainment media was always easier to understand. He could dive in happily and never be bothered by the real world, simply enjoying the worlds and concepts of others. At least they had pretty morals and could make sense at the end of the chapter and/or episode.
The computer took its time to boot up and as he waited he decided to stop and see his brother. Part of his daily exercises was to get some human contact and at least Jumbled couldprovide some entertainment. He walked down the hall rubbing his eyes at how much brighter the rest of the house was. They lived on the edge of Ponyville and his mom helped Mrs. Cheerilee watch the students on trips and during recess. His father worked nights and the young colt very rarely saw him. He did know that he was ashamed of his son’s intellectual talent that forced him to stay at home and learn rather than being a useful part of society. He pulled his brothers door open as these phantom thoughts slipped away and he prepared for his brother.
“Line Space! I was wondering if you would leave your room at all today seeing as a new episodes out,” his brother, Jumbled Thought said as he jumped out of his gaming chair. His twin, Jumbled had a red coat and styled his blue and orange mane in the same way that Line Space did. Line Space had a feeling it was his way of trying to get closer to his distant brother. “Oh hey, did you know that me and a bunch of other people are going to see Zeckora tomorrow. You should come and then we’ll have a great time and you can help me explain Sly Cooper to one of our friends.”As he finished this he gave Line Space a massive grin and waited eagerly for a reply.
“...Thank you but I don’t think it would be such a good idea. And NO its not because of him, don’t worry. I’m just afraid that I might trample your speaking. I would only be helping you stay on track because you certainly know the games better than I,” he said turning a side look at his very reactive brother. Jumbled purred a weird noise back to him and moved over to his games again. Line Space rolled his eyes at his brothers inability to act like a normal pony.Then again he couldn’t either and his brother was certainly better at dealing with him than the other way around. “What do you think you’re doing anyway. The new episode starts in 15 minutes and if you don’t get off soon we won’t be able to watch it together.” As he finished saying this his brother gasped and turned off the game and ran downstairs to grab snacks. Line Space went to his room and started cleaning to make room.
It was then that he made a terrible mistake by removing the clothes covering the wall mirror. That black and red face appeared grinning. “Why do we bother dealing with that nutty brother of yours seeing as he drives you crazy. He’s only going to pause the episode and bother us with all those random thoughts,” he said angrily. The young colt glared at the mirror and responded with “I enjoy those discussions and you stay quiet. I don’t need you threatening him.”
“Be careful. Keep getting worked up like this and my threats won’t be so idle,” the face replied chuckling. The colt’s eyes went wide and he ran to his computer having not realized how mad he was at the face and his class and everypony else. “Yes,Yes, let me out just let your anger out!” the face yelled at him passionately. Then winter wrap up started playing and the colt let the music soothed his nerves nerves and made the face shut up, grumbling angrily.
Jumbled came trotting in and started singing the song loudly, making Line Space grate his teeth at his brother’s tone deafness. While his brother got an area clear for a chair where he could sit he got the new episode ready and loading. The two of them chatted excitedly over the title and started discussing what it could mean. Then they heard sound from the computer and they both leaned forward to start watching “Too Many Pinky Pies”.
……
The end credits were rolling and jumbled thought was still laughing at Pinky’s antics during the episode. The face in the mirror and Line Space sat stunned. The episode was amazing and definitely some of the hows best comedic writing. The face was babbling something about story or character but Line Space had stopped paying attention to that a long time ago. He looked at the face and it scowled back. There isn’t enough room for two in his head but if there were more of him….
“ Jumbled, when did you say you were going to see Zeckora.”
Line Space facing the Mirrored Foe
Chapter 2: A Long Walk Away
Chapter 2: A Long Walk Away
Jumbled was a dead pony. Long walks through town were fine when there wasn’t anypony else around. Maybe when he had an errand to run it was bearable. but getting apples for his brothers party and having to walk around town in the middle of the day was unbearable. He just wanted to get to the forest and find Zeckora’s hut as soon as possible. He did not need the stress of so many other ponies walking about.
In all honesty the scene wasn’t nearly as bad as he thought. It was simply the time of day when most ponies came to buy their groceries and chat with the various vendors. The main market was busy but there was more than enough room for Line Space to move about freely. Years hiding in his room and a natural aversion to crowds had him nearly paralyzed with fear and furious with his brother. His mood was so bad that he got his wish of no pony bothering him because of the frightening face he made as he trotted down main street. Until of course, a certain gray maned pony came up to him.
“Line Space correct. How good it is to finally meet you after that amazing essay you sent in,”Mayor Mare said excitedly. She had put together a writing contest with the content focusing on magical theory. Twilight had been banned from the contest as it was too obvious she would have won. Later after all the entries had been sent in the mayor was rather surprised to find out an earth pony by the name of Line Space had won. When it came time for the announcement though his twin brother Jumbled Thought came and apologized for his brothers anti-socialness and had given the mayor a detailed description of his brother. Now the surprised pony was staring at her with a shocked expression.
Recovering from his shock Line Space replied with “Thank you Mayor but magical study is just a side passion of mine. I always thought that one of the other unicorns who know what it’s actually like to use magic deserved to win more.” As he said this he was trying to get around her to get to the apple cart not far away. To his utter dismay, Mayor Mare decided to follow, falling in step right beside him.
“Oh no. The other contest entries who were unicorns all wanted to take a close look at your paper and although there are points of contention they think you did a great job of understanding magic in the world and the different aspects of it.” Mayor Mare was looking at Line Space with an excitement that deeply troubled Line Space. When other ponies payed him too much attention he was always afraid they might remember the events from a few years ago, when He got out and ….. he was at the apple cart.
“I’m sorry Mayor but I have an appointment to keep with my brother and I’m sure you have your own business to handle today,” Line Space tried saying as nicely as he could. The mayor looked disappointed but nodded her agreement and waved a hoof at him as she headed off towards town hall. Line Space turned then to face the adorable set of eyes hanging over the apples. He couldn’t think of how to respond to them but fortunately the little filly did not have the patience for this.
“Hiya mister. Maybe you’d like to buy an apple. I’m trying to get a cutie mark on rambling so I’m running the stall while she’s off doing-,” Applebloom said excitedly, stopped by Line Space putting a hoof to her mouth. He would never have the patience for the cutie mark crusaders no matter how adorable they were.
“I don’t think rambling would be anyponies cutie mark and even if it was, do you want to annoy everypony you meet? Now, I would like a dozen golden delicious apples please,” Line Space said in an even voice. Applebloom started putting the apples in a bag with an extremely sad face on. Groaning inwardly he decided he needed to pick up her spirits. “Hey, your name’s Applebloom right? I’ve heard you have friends who also don’t have their cutie marks and that one’s a pegasus and the others a unicorn. How about you try analyzing each others races and writing a paper about them. I’m sure at the very least Miss Cheerilee would be happy to give you extra credit for it.”
As he said this Applebloom started getting a big smile on her face and eventually started bouncing around. She gave him his apples and he heard her saying something like “thank you” or “I need to tell the others” but he had stopped caring as soon as he got his apples. Then Applebloom hopped in front of him and hugged his leg. He blushed and pushed her off.
“Didn’t your sister ever teach you not to hug random ponies.”
“But mister,” Applebloom began excitedly, “we’re not strangers we’re freinds.”
“Thanks kid,” Line Space said as he ruffled her hair. She ran off and in the window across the street the face smiled at him before saying “Isn’t that nice. You made a friend after all this time. You must trust yourself a lot more than I thought.” The face chuckled after Line Space as he started trotting especially quickly to get away from all the annoying ponies he put in danger by just being around. He wondered where the water on his face came from as he finally broke away from the buildings and spotted his brother and his brother’s friends.
“Hey buddy, thanks for letting me grab the apples,” Line Space told Jumbled, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Jumbled simply smiled back at him not realizing what it was his brother meant. The other ponies all shifted awkwardly worried about this mysterious and reclusive pony they had only ever heard of before now. Zeckora chose just that moment to walk out of the woods. As she opened her mouth to speak Jumbled jumped ahead.
“Alright everypony our guides finally here. Now lets head into the Everfree forest where all those dangerous creatures mysterious plants live. Where ponies go in and never come out and whose depths are more dangerous than a princess’ wrath.” Everypony else stared at Jumbled, their eyes fixed in fear and some even shaking. The tension now in the air was palpable. Line Space, whose fears of this place were greater than most,stepped forward, his conviction allowing him to steady his voice and his shaking body.
“Come on everypony. My brothers just being and idiot. We have Zeckora here and she travels in and out of this place all the time without any worries. If we follow her everything will be just fine,” Line Space said with conviction that he lacked. Zeckora appraised the colt and decided to shrug away her suspicions. It was better to let these ponies make their own choices and let them learn from it the same way. She turned away and everypony followed her in. She was hardly surprised though when he slipped away to the back and, rather than sticking around, slipped off into the woods an entirely different direction.
. . . . . .
Cursing to himself, Line Space finally broke free of the tangled thorns and arrived in front of large boulder half sticking out of the ground. He readied himself as he lowered himself to the ground. He then lashed out his rear hooves with every muscle in his body behind it. The boulder didn’t go flying like he imagined but it moved enough to give his arms room to get in between the ground and boulder. He reached underneath and pulled, moving the boulder inch by inch away from the hole. The boulder out of the way, Line Space slid down with only a little more grace than Pinkie Pie did in the episode.
Groaning to himself, he picked himself up off the floor and started looking around the cave. It was a pretty little place with various strange plants and fungi growing. The undisturbed pool in the middle seemed to be the main source of light though. The water itself was beautiful and yet something inside him kept him away. He shook his head, once more convincing himself that this was right. That damned face would be gone and the two could finally live separate lives. A tear slid down his face as he realized what this hesitation would keep from him. Friends, like the mayor and little Applebloom. He wanted that so why couldn’t he just take a few steps forward and say a simple little rhyme.
Finally he stepped forward and looked down into the eyes of that face. For once it was quiet and it’s eyes held something Line Space had never seen in it before now. Uncertainty. The face, no that wouldn’t do anymore, Red Pen was just as hesitant as he was. Neither of them realized that it was instinct keeping them away from the waters touch, instead thinkng it was the uncertainty of a life without the other. Line Space opened his mouth, reaching down to the water as the words spilled off his tongue.
“And into his own reflection he starred, yearning for one whose reflection he shared, and solemly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly mared.” His hoof stuck fat to the water and seemed almost to drag him down. Fear gripped him and he pulled one more time on his aching muscles pulling out of the water a black coated earth pony with striping like Zecora’s and a dark version of his own cutie mark. He had no more than a second to take this in for next he saw as a grin broke across Red Pen’s face and then the entire world went black.
Line Space facing the Mirrored Foe
Chapter 3: One Angry Walk Back
Chapter 3: One Angry Walk Back
The black and red colt looked down at the unconscious colt at his hooves. He didn’t really know why he had hit him, nor why the vicious blow brought him such pleasure. Laughing, he reared up on his hind legs and, coming down, lowered himself to the colt’s face. Licking his lips in anticipation he smacked the same spot that was already bruising again. He felt another thrill of pleasure shoot through his body. Then he felt something that made him retreat from the unconscious body as though he himself had been struck. He felt something dark and nasty, something like…. regret. His eyes went wide and he roared with rage, loathing this new emotion and making his way over to the blue colt.
Giving into his rage seemed to help the memoryless colt though. He knew the name of his would be victim.
“Line Space,” he said in a quiet yet deep voice. His rage flared back up inside of him, realizing that now this strange colt who was at his mercy had a name and he didn’t. The grin came back onto his face as he moved forward to rectify the problem, or at least half of it. His mind was working now though and he remembered something else as well. He paused before whispering “Red Pen,” to himself, even softer than before. He realized another thing at this moment though, something that sickened him.
What he realized was that he needed this pony. His seemingly natural fury surfaced again as he let out a howl of anger at the thought. He hated more than anything the thought of needing someone else for anything. But, he knew he was angry and past that there was only his name and this other ponies. He looked around the grotto and hardly realized the beauty the place had. It was simply too…. peaceful. Shaking his head at the colt he left on the ground he began the long walk back up to the forest, it’s noises filtering down the tunnel.
…………………………………………………………………………………
Red Pen cursed to himself as his eyes took in the late at the end of the tunnel. As he waited for his eyes to clear from the sunspots, he took a moment to take in all that the Everfree had to offer in terms of noises and smells. Red Pen smiled to himself at the gloom and the shadow, finally free from the pain the change in light had caused. He could tell he would like it here. He started trotting through, a grin on his face, unconsciously making notes about different landmarks. This deep in the forest, the light filtered through unevenly leaving large portions in the dark. Trying to concentrate on seeing he didn’t hear the slithering noise from behind. A quick “bakaw” came from behind and as he turned to face it, an eyebrow came creeping up his face.
Holding itself up by its tail to be at least eye level with Red Pen, a creature with the upper body of a chicken and the lower body of a serpent or dragon glared its beady red eyes at the colt. Red Pen looked away, shocking the bird into squawking again. He glanced down at his rear hooves seeing them encased in stone. He brought his head back up, his glare quickly quieting the monster.
“That isn’t at all amusing. Also a small problem with your tactics,” Red Pen stated with a cold tone with eyes that showed complete lack of kindness. As the cockatrice’s mouth opened Red Pen quickly quieted the infernal squawking with a mildly stoned hoof. With a quick twist of the hoof that was then followed by the rest of the leg being shoved down the beasts throat. Pushing it until it flew into a tree a short distance away. “Our eyes need to maintain contact and it takes too long,” Red Pen continued a wicked grin spreading across his face. “Of course I was hoping for something to hurt anyways, so I guess a thank you is in order.”
The cockatrice had never known fear before except for when that pink haired pony had talked down to it. Dazed now and feeling the pain of a bruised beak it started rising up. The red and black pony was turning away. It uttered half a squawk raising itself higher and preparing to slide back into the shadows. What it hadn’t seen though was why Red Pen had turned away.
It hadn’t seen as he looked over his shoulder. It hadn’t seen as he lowered himself and braced his legs against the ground. It hadn’t seen as his grin grew wider and wider as he prepared for the pleasure this blow would give him. And it only barely saw as his back hooves lashed out against it’s side, pinning it between the tree and his hooves. Losing his balance Red Pen fell to the ground chuckling and the cockatrice fell just a little faster. Red Pen came closer and grinned at the pool of blood forming around the little creature. His eyebrows went up and he brought a hoof up to check it. Satisfied the stone was gone from the hoof he moved away humming a dark little tune that he couldn’t remember.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
Red Pen sat at the edge of the forest for a while, staring at the green expanse between the bushes he had slunk into and the cottage not far away. He grimaced wondering what to do about the brightness of the sun. He had retreated back at the surprise of the changing levels of light and the pain it had brought his eyes. Red Pen lacked a rather important thing for a situation thing like this, he lacked common sense. He was working on a form of branch catapult when a yellow pony with pink hair came walking out of the cottage. His jaw dropped at the sight of her and the branches quickly punished him for his lack of attention. Gettin up while cursing the pain his nose was now in he saw the mare cover her eyes as she stepped into the sun. Doubtfully he raised his hoof and stepped into the light.
Unconsciously his eyes had closed in anticipation and when he didn’t feel the anticipated pain his eyes quickly flew open. Seeing again he quickly started moving towards the mare. As he got close he smelled the pie that she had just finished baking. His eyes were quick to find the source, his stomach only now realizing how hungry he had become. He galloped close and climbed up to the window. His eyes shining with hunger and greed he grabbed a hold of the pie and marveled at the creation.
Angel chose that moment to throw a spoon from the salad that had also been near the window directly at the thief’s head. The dark eyes came up and locked with the small eyes in his fuzzy white head. The voice that came out had a deep and menacing tone in it, Red Pen making no attempt to hide his malice
“ Hello little bunny. I wonder if you realize that it would be just as easy to reach you as it was this delicious smelling item. I do think I could use something to drink after all,” Red Pen’s eyes flashing as he finished his threat. Angel reacted the best way he could. He ran to warn Fluttershy a moment too late.
“Ummmm, good afternoon, sir,” Fluttershy’s quiet little voice gaining an exasperated look from Red Pen. He looked over and again he was brought to distraction at the way the pony looked. The strange colt’s stare only served to make Fluttershy even more uncomfortably and she pressed on with why she had spoken up in the first place. “I’m sorry but that pie is for me and my bunny Angel. I was leaving it out to cool. Could you please give it back?”
Red Pen grinned and said “Sorry but I am rather hungry. My name is Red Pen and I recently…. moved to this little town.”
“Oh then maybe you would like to share with me and Angel. Everyone could use a friend and it’s a lot better than stealing,” Fluttershy said smiling shyly at him. She was trying to be a little friendlier like Twilight and Pinkie kept telling her to be. Unfortunately this was the wrong pony to be friendly to.
“I’m sorry miss but you are mistaken.”
“Oh don’t call me miss. My name is Fluttershy.”
“Well Fluttershy,” Red Pen said, chuckling a little at her friendly attitude, “ I believe I said you were mistaken. By your puzzled face you obviously don’t understand why.” As he said this he put down the pie and began to take steps towards Fluttershy.
“Why(,)” Fluttershy squeaked out, her mind and body paralyzed by the malice and madness radiating from the strange pony.
“Simple. It is always better to take and have it all to yourself then it is to share,” Red Pen whispered in her ear, the last word dripping with contempt. He then grabbed the poor mare by her mane and tossed her down the small hill her home sat on. She started getting up but before she could Red Pen used the momentum from running down the hill to slam his forward hooves into her side. A horrid crack sounded from her wing and tears began to stream down her face. He laughed at her and slammed his hoof into her ribs for additional pain. His laughter was all she heard as her world, as had Line Space’s, went black. It only took longer this time.
Line Space facing the Mirrored Foe
Chapter 4: Worry
The young unicorn was panicking. Her friend had been so badly hurt and then when she found her, the attacker was nowhere to be found. Even Angel, Fluttershy’s faithful if not also sadistic bunny, had disappeared. To make matters worse she couldn’t figure out what to do to help her so she had run to the library hoping to find an answer there.
“Oh, what a day for this to happen. Her dress fitting was today,” Rarity cried out to Twilight as she ran around the library and acted as distressed as possible. This was beginning to annoy Twilight but she accepted it patiently. Rarity was scared for Fluttershy and as the one who had found her felt responsible for her safety. Of course, all the noise was making it hard to care for Fluttershy’s wounds.
Almost as though in reaction to her thoughts, Fluttershy whimpered in pain just beside Twilight’s hooves. Twilight immediately turned her eyes back to her friend and Rarity, noticing the sudden movement came running over. Twilight lowered her head and sighed. She was beginning to feel exhausted by Fluttershy whimpering in her sleep. It just sounded too much like when she was awake. She bit her lip as she looked at all the bandages she had put onto Fluttershy. It was unbelievable to think that somepony could be so cruel as to hurt Fluttershy so much.
“When I find who did, oooohh, they are going to pay,” Rarity said as she paced back away, not being able to bear the sight of her shy friend. Twilight looked to her and decided that she had done what she could and it was time to get to finding this criminal.
“So Rarity, did she say anything to you before you got here? Anything she might have said could help us find her attacker,” Twilight said an edge of anger creeping into her voice. Rarity took a step back at how serious and dark Twilight’s expression had become. Rarity had never thought about it before but this was probably the first time one of Twilight’s friends had been seriously hurt.
“Welllll, she did say something but it doesn’t make much sense,” Rarity said putting a hoof to her chin in thought. Twilight leaned forward expectantly and Rarity smiled at the new expression of impatience on Twilight’s face. Right before Twilight demanded her to continue Rarity said,”something about a red pen.”
Twilights jaw dropped and she started trying to figure out what in the world a red pen could have to do with what happened to Fluttershy. She felt like she should know something about this. She used pens all the time, especially red pens for correcting things. Yet she just couldn’t figure out how one could use it to hurt somepony like Fluttershy had been. She was so deep in her thoughts that she barely heard Spike as he began to talk.
“What if it’s a name,” Spike questioned a look on his face. It was obvious he was trying to remember something.
“Now Spikey Wikey what kind of name is Red Pen,” Rarity asked walking closer to Spike.
“Twilight had me sorting through old newspapers that had been stored in the library and there was one from a few years before we came that had Red Pen in capital letters.”
“What was the article about Spike? What kind of things did it say,” Twilight rushed out running from Fluttershy’s side and grabbing ahold of Spike. He lifted her hooves of his shoulders and she let herself be put on the ground. The intensity with which she had asked made him very uncomfortable with the answer he had for her.
“Well, ummm, I can’t quite remember. I can probably go find the article though and that should be able to help us.”
Rarity intervened before Twilight’s panic led her to make a mistake saying,”How about you let him go find the article and I’ll go get some nurses and doctors from the hospital. And, Twilight.” Twilight looked up at the unfinished sentence and saw the worry in Rarities eyes. “Try to calm down. This Red Pen fellow won’t get away with whatever he’s done to our friend.” Rarity nuzzled her friends muzzle and then ran off through the door. Twilight went back over to Fluttershy and went back to keeping her eye on Fluttershy.
“Ah hem.”
Twilight jumped out of her seat and spun around her horn lit up with magic her eyes glaring. Upon seeing a blue colt with a large bruise over one eye, she quickly began to blush and stammer out an apology.
“Uhmm, I’m so sorr.., I thought you were, I mean, I was about, oh my goodness,” Twilight stammered out. The colt, who was of about average build and had read and orange in his mane, smiled at her and chuckled a little bit.
“That was quite the reaction Twilight Sparkle,” he said, his voice showing his amusement but also had an edge of pain and weariness in it. “ I doubt we’ve met before, my name is Line Space and I figured you might be able to help me with something.” He turned his head left and right as he spoke and then he began to trot around the libraries main hall. It seemed like he was looking for something.
“I’m sorry but I’m kind of busy right now. If you need a book please come back another time. I need to take care of my friend,” Twilight said. She felt a need to get him out. Whether that was because of embarrassment, her protectiveness of Fluttershy, or her current mistrust of strangers was not something she could piece together. Then she realized something else. “How do you know my name? We’ve never met before.”
“Your kind of famous Twilight,” Line Space responded a forced laugh coming out this time. He looked around one last time before muttering so low that Twilight barely heard it,” There don’t seem to be any camera’s here.”
Before she could respond, Twilight heard Fluttershy whimper again. Just before she turned her head she saw in her peripherals that his head had snapped up at the noise. Twilight walked over to Fluttershy and brushed some of her hair out of her face. She heard Line Space come over slowly and as he drew near to her she gasped. His eyes were filled with an unbelievable amount of pain in those eyes.
“I came hoping you could help me stop this from happening. I’m sorry I got here too late. I am so sorry.” His voice broke as he finished this he raised his hoof to his head and grunted in pain as he touched the still fresh bruise that lay there. Twilight found that her curiosity and sympathy beat out any mistrust she had felt earlier. She put a hoof gently on his side.
“Do you know who did this?” He nodded. “Was it this Red Pen guy?” Another nod. Twilight finally asked a question she was afraid would cause him a lot of pain. “Who is he?”
Line Space raised his head and breathed a ragged breath. This was obviously not easy for him. “Twilight. There is no such thing as curse. But what about a spell that never breaks. A spell that gives someone an ailment that nothing can cure. A spell that no proper magic could break. One that tormented a poor soul for the rest of his life. What would you call such a thing?”
“Well. I don’t know. I just don’t know what to say about that. I’ve never heard of a magic like that,” Twilight said wondering just what it is he could be saying and what it could mean.
Line Space looked at her and the look of sadness, guilt, and fear made her step back. His look had the same effect that Twilight’s intensity had on her friends earlier. This time though there was nothing Twilight could say that felt right. She was frozen kept in anticipation of why those eyes were so dark and sad.
“Red Pen is my curse and I am the one who set him free. I am the reason Fluttershy got hurt.”
Line Space facing the Mirrored Foe
Chapter 5: Tension
Line Space hated this pain, and it was one he was all too familiar with. The doctor had given it to him when this first came up, the psychiatrist gave it to him when he tried so hard to explain it, and Twilight gave him it now. It was pain from a look of disbelief, disbelief that somepony like him could hurt somepony else the way Line Space had. He had to face it now though and he gave Twilight all the time she needed to handle the fact that he was linked to a monster.
Unfortunately, he also wasn’t patient. He began to fidget, rubbing his aching eye and wincing at the pain. Twilight seemed to take notice of his uncomfortableness and started prancing in place.
“Oh, ummm, would you like some ice or something for your, uh, eye?” Twilight said, stumbling over her voice. Line Space looked up at her and nodded, grateful for an ice breaker. She ran off into the kitchen and Line Space walked over to Fluttershy sleeping by the window. His mom had pain problems rather often and he now adjusted Fluttershy’s pillows to a more comfortable position. He finally braced himself and looked at her.
Fortunately, Red Pen had spared making any marks that would last to be seen by others. Line Space had talked to her in the past, just one or two chance conversations in the market. She was kind and a patient listener, the kind of person he enjoyed talking to but hated talking to at the same time. He chuckled slightly remembering a conversation once where he talked for ten minutes about a class project he was working on that had stressed him out. He had gotten to vent his frustrations and in the end she had said thats nice and he had no way to continue. He loved venting but it was even better to get a response. Of course, the next conversation he had focused on getting an actual response out of her and scared her into running away.
He then began to grind his teeth. Red Pen had some decency to him before, he only went after those that made him mad. But what could Fluttershy have done to deserve this?!
“This is my fault,” he said bitterly tears welling up in his eyes as he looked down at Fluttershy and knew it was what he believed. He had been selfish and once everything was right and Red Pen was gone he would make it up to her he swore. Once Red Pen was gone everything would be better and Twilight had the key to solving this. Not to mention, the two of them were so smart there wasn’t anyway Red Pen would be able to escape them, not with his fury blinding him.
“Thats nice to see. I was scared for moment there.”
Line Space whipped around because rather than fear or shock the voice held kindness and sympathy. His surprise turned into confusion when he saw that he was correct, that the voice was Twilight’s and her face had softened for the first time since his arrival. His mouth dropped open, unable to respond.
“You really do feel guilty for this, don’t you,” Twilight said as she came over to stand by Fluttershy as well. “Heres the ice. So, what can you tell me about him?” An edge had creeped into her voice and Line Space realized that she had not lost her anger, just her distrust of him. He found that it made him really happy but he refused to smile. It wouldn’t be right to enjoy this particular moment.
“Not much unfortunately. I have spent years trying to understand what it was that was afflicting me but no matter how much research I did I couldn’t find anything. Red Pen does everything he can to hurt those he’s angry at, and he’s always angry,” Line Space said his voice cracking as he struggled through the words. He turned his head away remembering everything Red Pen had said to him, everything he had tormented him about. “And he enjoys other ponies pain. A lot”
He turned away from Twilight and Fluttershy feeling tears well up. He tried desperately to fight against the despair and rage that filled him. He turned back at the sound of hoofsteps behind him and Twilight was there with a concerned look on her face. He let himself relax then and enjoy having another pony care.
“I can’t even begin imagining having a monster like that inside of me,” Twilight said with genuine care in her voice.
“Hah. I wish he had simply been inside. I haven’t seen my reflection in years since I got this horrible curse,” Line Space said bitterly the laugh dying and sounding sad. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had the kind of peace I feel now. A peace gained by not having an evil voice whispering in your ear.” As he finished this his voice turned wistful and his thoughts drifted to what he might do now. Who he could get close to.
Then he remembered Fluttershy. Red Pen had to be handled first and then he could bask in the possibilities of friendship. First, Twilight and him would need to deal with this evil though.
“So, um, why haven’t we met before Mister Space?” Twilight asked trying to not sound suspicious or awkward. Line Space flinched at the use of mister but also knew that people had a hard time picking how to refer to him.
“Please, Line or Space will do just fine Twilight. If I can call you that,” Line Space asked and after a nod from Twilight he continued. ”I tend to keep myself away from other ponies because I didn’t get along very well with others. That wasn’t even Red Pen’s fault all the time. I spend a lot of my time doing a….. mail based school to refine my writing skills.” At that Twilight scrunched up her face. This sounded familiar but she couldn’t place why.
“A mail based school system. That sounds kind of like the one I have with the Princess. What do you study besides writing?” Before responding Line Space sighed as though remembering something exhausting.
“I learn all sorts of things but most of it is aimed at giving me a chance for free study. I do get some outdoor activities from time to time though and those don’t tend to end well. Princess Celestia runs the school program though so I guess you could say she’s kind of like my principal,” saying this Line Space scrunched up his own face wondering why Twilight wouldn’t know about the program as Celestia’s personal student. Then again Twilight certainly didn’t seem to know about her life being recorded so maybe it shouldn’t be all that surprising she wouldn’t tell Twilight things that didn’t concern her.
“Maybe I can get Celestia to let me in on this school. I haven’t gotten a formal assignment in quite some time and it’s always fun getting new writing prompts.” Twilight and Line Space both seemed to be warming to the topic of schoolwork and most of the tension that had filled the room was beginning to leave as the two grew comfortable. Line Space decided to check on Fluttershy again now to give him a pause to the conversation. If he got anymore excited he would start stumbling over his words and that would only give her something to laugh at.
The two of them took a few steps away from Fluttershy, content she was still okay. “Well Celestia has certainly provided me with a lot of magical papers and such to review.” Line Space said. “ I’m hoping that I can get a job as a magical analyst once I grad-”
“Wait! I do know who you are! Your paper on magical theory that you sent in to Mayor Mare’s contest was fascinating. When she told me you were an earth pony I couldn’t believe the insight you showed into how magic worked!” Twilight started jumping around as she got really excited. Line Space took a few steps back. He wasn’t really sure how to handle praise, let alone someone getting this excited about his paper.
Blushing Line Space said “Well I just reworded some of Star Swirl the Bearded’s papers on magic in the world, built on that, and updated it to match up more with current magical theory.”
Twilight turned on him, her mouth gaping open. “You know who Star Swirl the Bearded is and you BUILT on some of his papers.”
“Yeah. The man was inspired but most magical theory has been built on top of his basic theories. I simply explored his theory further and did what someone else should have a long time ago. I updated his work,” Line Space said in a modest tone hoping that Twilight would calm down a bit. It didn’t work.
“You understood his work. I have spent time with some of the most renowned scholars in Equestria and they didn’t know who he was or understood it after they read it. You and I-” Twilight stopped mid-sentence. As she had said this she had been walking closer and closer to Line Space and only now did he realize there was maybe a foot between them. The pause grew longer and longer as Line struggled to come up with something to say. Never before had he been so happy to hear another pony whimper in pain.
Still wincing at that last thought he turned to Fluttershy and began fluffing her pillows gently. “I, uh, need to get a few things ready before we head off to take care of Red Pen and you should probably find someway to track him if you can,” Line Space said trying to sound serious but finding his voice cracking for some awful reason. “ There is something you need to know before we go after him though. I got him out of my head and separated from myself by using the mirror pool. I don’t know if that changes anything.”
Twilight shook her head before saying “ No problem. In fact that might make things easier but how did you know about the mirror pool?” After she said that Line Space took a second to put together his response. If Celestia hadn’t told Twilight that she was being filmed then it probably wasn’t his place to say anything.
“An obscure book on earth pony folklore. I borrowed it from the Canterlot library last time I was there,” Line Space quickly lied. Having put off telling her about the show he continued to say, “It might also be helpful if you found a way to track him. But Twilight, you know you don’t have to work with me right? This is my problem and no one else needs to get hurt because of it.” At that last bit he turned again to look at Fluttershy and bit his lip out of guilt.
Twilight took a deep breath and said with no lack of courageous bravado, “You can count on me. Really Line, you have nothing to worry about, we’ll take care of this.” Line Space looked up and smiled. “I’ll just get my friends and we-”
“NO!” Line Space almost jumped as he yelled this. “Did you not just here me? We need to bring as few people into this as we can so that others don’t get hurt.” He looked at Fluttershy as he paused, the pain coming back onto his face. “I wouldn’t be asking you if I didn’t think I needed it.” Twilight was silent for a moment before finally nodding.
“Alright then,” she began walking over to Fluttershy and opening the window to let more fresh air in, “you go get what you need and I’ll get ready myself. Lets meet back here in about 2 hours so we can get back at Red Pen for this.”
“Sounds like a plan. Until later Twilight.” Line Space turned away and headed out the door. As he exited he saw Rarity galloping towards the library and lowered his head, turning in the opposite direction. He frowned at himself and lifted his head. With his head raised high he went trotting through town proud and confident.
Line Space facing the Mirrored Foe
Chapter 6: Hatred Denied
“Well, I guess I should make sure I can still do that banishment spell for the mirror pool,” Twilight said to herself as she walked away from Fluttershy and the open window. “It will be the easiest way to deal with him after all. To think, a mind created out of magic to only have anger. I wonder if the Princess has ever heard of such a thing?”
As Twilight mused to herself a black and maroon head tilted closer to the window straining to hear if she said anything else. Red Pen had been waiting here because it would allow him to jump on Line Space as he left the library. Now though, having heard what he had through the open window just above Fluttershy, he had to stay. And think.
Think what though!? Just thinking about Line Space made him furious and now that foolish little colt thought he could be rid of him? That this silly little Twilight could give him a key to victory? Red Pen shook his head angrily. There was more to this, something about this spell that chilled him to his core. He needed to learn something but that meant putting off his anger, an anger that so far had given him pleasure. Red Pen almost yelled as he began stomping out of the shadows of the library.
As he trotted away he bumped into an orange-haired pony with carrots for her cutie mark. She cried out as she fell and Red Pen began to smile. As she opened her mouth to speak he turned a vicious glare on her, quickly silencing whatever complaint she had. She got up and began galloping away. Red Pen was tempted to go after her, a way to vent his frustrations. That would have to wait though and his mood worsened as he went through town. Finally, once he had regained some control of his anger a little, he grabbed a hold of someone and asked him the best question he had come up with so far.
“Where is a school?”
………………………..
Red Pen stared with his mouth gaping as he looked down at the school. He saw little fillies and tiny colts running around, laughing and playing. He was revolted at the friendliness he was watching. He took a few deep breaths and trotted down looking for a pink mare with three smiling flowers as her cutie mark.
As he reached the school yard only a few of the young fillies and colts took notice of him. However he noticed that they were pointing and whispering as he walked into the yard. He restrained himself from casting his glare on any of them since the children he had scared away before had made a ruckus and he needed something here.
“Hey, why do you look so mad?” Red Pen turned and found a young pegasus with spiky purple hair and an orange coat. He took a deep breath and did his best to put on a neutral expression. Bored if possible.
“Well little filly, I am looking-” Red Pen began before her laughter cut him off mid way through his sentence. He found himself getting angrier by the moment and he hated having to control himself. “And what are you laughing at, little filly,” he said as politely as he could.
“Your face. You look like you just smelled something terrible. Hehehehehe. By the way my names not little filly, it’s Scootaloo,” Scootaloo said rolling on the ground trying to contain her laughter. Red Pen sighed and his face took up an annoyed expression that was far more natural.
“Could you please tell me where your teacher is? A miss-”
“Hey you look kinda like Zeckora. Or at least your stripes.” A voice from behind interrupted him. He turned to find himself face to face with a white filly whose horn was far smaller than the older unicorns in town had been. Wrestling with his rage he opened his mouth to speak at the same time Scootaloo started.
“You know you’re right. Maybe he’s related to Zeckora and he’s a zebra too? How cool would that be.”
“How could he be related to Zeckora? He has the same kind of stripes she does but his color scheme’s completely different.”
“Yeah but so is Twilight and Shining Armor’s and their still related. He could totally be related to Zeckora.”
“Enough of your babbling,” Red Pen growled at them. “ I have never met a Zeckora and I don’t know what a zebra is. Now where is your teacher?” Red Pen stood in front of the three fillies his chest heaving with rage. The two looked back at him with confused and mildly shocked expressions on their faces. Them a voice behind him spoke up.
“Hey, its a zebra!” He turned his head to look at the newest arrival and opened his mouth knowing what was coming. He wasn’t sure how he knew, he just knew he had to say something before-
“He’s not a zebra. He just said he doesn’t know what one is Applebloom,” Scootaloo replied.
“But that doesn’t make any sense. His stripes look just like Zeckora’s. Sweetiebelle, you have an eye for these things you agree right,” the newcomer whose name was apparently Applebloom asked the white one.
“That’s what I said. Now that I think about it though, his pattern looks a lot cooler then Zeckora’s,”Sweetiebelle responded with.
“No way. Rainbow Dash looks cool, he looks, what’s the word. Like he’s trying to frighten us. Intimidating, maybe evil….,” Scootaloo started using all sorts of words trying to find the right word to describe Red Pen. He was currently trying to keep himself from hurting them. Controlling himself was difficult but he needed this Cheerilee to help him or he could be in trouble when Line Space and Twilight came after him.
“I think the word you girls are looking for is sinister,” a pleasant voice said from around the school building. The owner of the voice, a pink mare with a white and pink mane came around the corner of the school. She must have heard them talking from the front of the schoolhouse. “But why in the world would you be going through all of those… nasty adjectives.”Cheerilee’s voice died to a whisper as she spotted Red Pen. Fear filled her eyes and she started to tremble. Her eyes went straight to the three fillies at his feet and her eyes went even wider in fear.
Red Pen found himself smiling. The fear in her eyes told him three things. One, that she probably knew more about him then he himself knew. Two, that he wasn’t going to have to worry about suppressing his cruelty since he already saw fear. Lastly, he already had some leverage.
“Hello there Miss Cheerilee. I thought an old friend could come talk to you. I was hoping to keep my visit a surprise from,” he paused now glancing at some stallions looking down on the playground, “my other old friends.”
“I’m sorry but right now I need to be watching the kids so I can’t really talk.” Miss Cheerilee said, forcing a smile on her face.
“Oh, I can help you with that. Speaking of which-,” Red Pen said as he reached behind to where Scootaloo and friends were playing and pulled her over. Her eyes turned up at him as he began to grin and pull her in front of him. “-I can help with that. You know Scootaloo you need to be careful when you run around like that.” Red Pen tugged at one of her wings until it was stretched out and she squeaked in pain.
“Don’t do that.”
“If you’re not careful though you could break these fragile little wings.” He pulled out one of her feathers letting go of the extended wing. She clamped her wings to her sides and her eyes went wide at the thought. Her mind was elsewhere so Red Pen brought the feather’s quill dangerously close to her eye. “Or you might get a little too rough with your friends and lose an eyeball.
“Enough!” Cheerilee said keeping her voice low but fear making it shrill. “Scootaloo, please run off now. Me and my.. friend need to have a short talk.”
“Oh, well I don’t see why Scootaloo can’t stay for our conversation. Unless she’s too small for our grown up conversation.”
“No way. I can stick around. I promise. Oh man I wonder if you talk about the same kind of awesome things RainbowDash does?” Scootaloo was certainly excited. He had said it on impulse. Then again, his instincts seemed to be doing him well so far. He was excited and just generally gleeful about all this. Blackmail and possible maiming. Not to mention there was the look on Cheerilee’s face that was pure gold.
“Yes, I wonder what we’ll be talking about too Scootaloo,” Cheerilee said as she seemed to slump. Red Pen’s grin grew even wider seeing her defeated.
“First, I must ask if you remember that momentous first day we met? I want to do a book on my own life and want multiple people’s perspective on big events I had with them.” Red Pen asked not liking the scrunched up look her face took after he finished. He wanted to see her in dismay.
“So you actually want to talk. You only ever…. worked with whoever you… needed and then left.”
“Sounds perfect. That doesn’t tell me what happened when we first met though. Does it Scootaloo?” Red Pen said as he rolled the feather in his hoof as he looked back down at the little filly as her face too scrunched up in thought.
“What did you use to work on and why did you leave afterwards? Sounds like you didn’t see people terribly often.” Scootaloo asked this looking up at Red Pen and he quickly looked away from the innocent little eyes. Why did that concept seem to bother him. That bad feeling from attacking Line Space was back and he knew he would get someone for it.
“He didn’t,” Cheerilee said recognizing the look in Red Pen’s eyes. “He usually stayed where he was but other ponies would do something and he would do a…. project. By the end of the project he would be satisfied that what needed to happen had happened and he would slip away again.”
“Didn’t anyone ever try to be his friend cause that sounds really lonely,” the little filly between his front hooves said. Red Pen didn’t dare look down for the sake of not seeing those eyes again.
“Not important. I do however have a bit of real business in town. Who exactly is this Twilight Sparkle?”
Cheerilee answered suspiciously, “Twilight Sparkle is the Princess’ personal student and the probably the strongest unicorn in Equestria.”
“Yeah and she does all these awesome things with her friends like RainbowDash and AppleJack.”
“Is this AppleJack your friend Applebloom’s sister by chance?” Red Pen grinning. Cheerilee quickly stepped in.
“Yes and she is one of the strongest mares in town and her brother IS the strongest stallion in town. Rainbowdash is-”
“Awesome. She can fly so fast as to cause a sonic rainboom,” Scootaloo interjected.
Red Pen’s face contorted. “She can what?”
“She causes this ring of rainbow colors and then has one trail her. To do it she has to fly faster than any other pegasus has ever done before though.”
Red Pen’s jaw dropped and Cheerilee got a smug look on her face that caused it to shoot back up. “Alright then. Last question. So what exactly is the mirror pool?” Cheerilee’s eyes went wide as she realized what had happened and knew she could not let him know what Twilight was going to do. For the first time since the conversation started though, Scootaloo said something that Red Pen wanted to hear.
“Uuuuugh. Pinkie Pie didn’t use it again did she.”
“Scootaloo stop talking,” Cheerilee said quickly her eyes wide with panic. Red Pen moved the quill closer to Scootaloo’s eye again as his grin finally returned.
“No. Please Scootaloo, continue.” The young filly looked at the two older ponies and for some reason she felt like all she wanted to do was run from the looks the two were giving each other. Her teacher looked both scared and angry while this new guy looked happy but a strange kind of happy that she hadn’t seen before. Maybe the story would make this feeling go away.
“Well, its not as awesome as a RainbowDash story but you see, Pinkie used this nursery rhyme about a pond to clone herself. She did it once and then again and again until there was this massive army of Pinkie clones. They came into town and wrecked everything. Rainbow tried to stop them but it was just too much for a pony even as awesome as her to stop. Twilight gathered them all into the town hall to watch paint dry. It was a trap though and as each Pinkie looked away she blasted them with a spell she found in a book about the mirror pool that sent them back to the mirror pool. When it was all done only the real Pinkie was left standing.” Scootaloo said the story with varying levels of energy and jumped up a little as she finished it.
Red Pen looked up at Cheerilee grinning triumphantly and was delighted at the look of dismay that was on her face. Regardless of the rest of the conversation, most of which was useless chatter, that was the piece of info that could tip things his way. He now knew what their plan was and had a few hours at least to find a way to counter that blasted spell. He wondered if he should do something to the little filly but on second thought, she had been rather helpful and he was certainly happy enough.
“Run along now Scootaloo but remember, be careful. After all, little pegasi are such fragile things.”
“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m way too awesome to get hurt.” The two watched as she ran off to play with the other two. Slowly, Cheerilee turned her head back to Red Pen and his triumphant smile. He walked up close to her and pressed his mouth to her ear.
Whispering with his voice dripping with malice, he said “Keep a close eye on her. If I even think you told somepony that I’m out and about or what you told me I will be back to do a project with that little filly. Or maybe one of her friends.”
Cheerilee whispered back her voice as steady as she could make it. “You don’t have to do this Red Pen. You aren’t trapped and bound to Line Space’s anger anymore, you can have your own life.”
“It is way too much fun watching good little mares like you squirm in front of me, powerless and afraid, to ever stop living like this. Satisfying hate and rage is so much nicer than trying to please others,” Red Pen said stepping away to look at her eye. They were filled with anger but also something else. It was that same look Scootaloo had given him when she had talked about friends. Now Red Pen realized what it was. She pitied him! He turned away and began trotting away seething at the very idea. Much later he wondered why he hadn’t hurt her for pitying him and vowed to get her for it later.
Line Space facing the Mirrored Foe
Chapter 7: Wrecked Home
“So, that’s a relief, isn’t it?”
“I’ll say. I mean, with how bad that varmit hurt her I’m glad that she’ll only be in there for about a month.”
“When she does get out though we need to throw her a massive party to celebrate.”
“I’ll be going to clean her house that way its nice and sparkling when she gets home. Certainly can’t have her living in filth so soon after recovery.”
“Hey, did you hear them? I get to be in charge of her physical therapy while her wings recover. I’ll get her in top flying shape in no time.”
Twilight was happy to have her friends around her. Nopony was happy about the situation with Fluttershy but the doctors had insisted that they all leave and give her a chance to rest. She was still trying to think of how to tell her friends about Line Space and Red Pen. Regardless of what he may have said she knew her friends would be happy to help them and that their help would be very appreciated. Not to mention that since she didn’t know Line very well it couldn’t hurt to also introduce him to everypony else.
“Hey Twilight, we’re at your house,” Pinkie said bouncing in front of her. Twilight looked to her left and realized she’d been so deep in thought that she had walked past the library.
“Thanks Pinkie. I was trying to think of a way to help Fluttershy and get back at her attacker,” Twilight said back to Pinkie.
Rarity said “Darling, you need to stop worrying about who did this.”
“No way,” RainbowDash said. “Just wait till I get my hooves on them. We need to make whoever did this pay as soon as possible.”
“Rainbow,” Rarity said indignantly. “I was not saying they wouldn’t pay. Simply that we needed to let the police handle it and that Twilight needed to stay calm. Something you could do too.” Twilight smiled at them but stopped as she saw through the open window she was standing next to. Inside the library there were books everywhere. Not in the way she left them in a mess either.
“Thank you girls but me and Spike have some work to take care of. See all of you tomorrow to visit Fluttershy?” Twilight said this trying to keep her voice as even as possible.
“See ya Twi’. Stay safe, we don’t need another friend getting hurt,” AppleJack said as they all turned away. Twilight waved goodbye and as soon as they were out of sight she threw the door open to see what had happened. It wasn’t pretty.
It looked like a hurricane had gone through the library or her when she couldn’t find a book. Almost half the books were pulled off the shelves, the ones on tables had all been pushed onto the floor. Her papers from her personal desk had all been pulled out and her quills trampled. She quickly picked some ink wells up off the floor, frowning even deeper at the books covered in ink. She saw the door to the catalogues of newspapers from past years in Ponyville was wide open with a mess of papers in the entrance. She would have to clean those up but the only ponies who went in there were school kids from Miss Cheerilee’s class. Then her eyes went wide in horror as she realized that there had been one little dragon who had been looking through there since shortly after Fluttershy was brought here by Rarity.
“Spike! Spike where are you?!” Twilight almost screamed as she ran into the newspaper catalogue room and started running in between the boxes and boxes of newspapers. She reached the back and began sprinting back to the front of the room and into the library. She swept her eyes from one side to the other before hearing a muffled cry from a chest covered by knocked over books. She flung the books into the air before ripping the top of the chest off with her magic. Inside, Spike sat up, his bruised face peering over the top.
“Spike what in the world happened to you?” Twilight said in horror although she could take a pretty good guess. Spike looked up at her with one eye half swollen shut. She saw tears filling in his eyes.
“Twilight. I’m not even sure what happened. I heard somepony ripping books off of shelves and I thought it was you, looking for something,” Spike said, his voice trembling as he fought to keep himself from crying again. “I had just found that article I’d been looking for, something about a colt named Red Pen and a school, and I figured we’d read it together. When I got out here though whoever it was tackled me from behind and when I woke up I was in there. I was so scared Twilight!” Spike finally broke down and buried himself into her chest and she wrapped him in her front legs. She found herself crying at the fact that anypony could do this to Spike.
It was not a matter of anypony though. It was a matter of one pony. Red Pen is the only pony who would have done this and she knew Line Space was right. She had been involved and Spike had been hurt because of it. Not to mention the library had practically been destroyed in the process. If she told her friends then their families might be in danger. Applebloom, Scootaloo, SweetieBell, Fluttershy’s animals, and the cakes could all be in danger if she involved any of her friends. No, she would handle this since she had already paid the price for it. No one else was going to get hurt when her and Line Space could handle this.
“Don’t worry Spike,” Twilight said, her voice strained with emotion. “I’m going to figure out who did this to you and make everything better. Now lets take you to the hospital.”
“No,” Spike said. “I want to stay here with you. First Fluttershy, now me. You need someone here to help you get through all this.” Twilight stood stunned and then she smiled. Spike always tried to take care of her and she sometimes wondered who was really older.
“Alright, fine. But you need to go to bed because you have got some pretty terrible bruises. I’ll treat you later when my magic will be a little steadier.” Saying this she lifted Spike into the air. He was already wincing and yawning, the pain and excitement having taken their toll. She took him upstairs and laid him gently in his bed. She then went downstairs and stood in the middle of the library.
Twilight took a deep breath, looked around the wrecked library, and focused. Everything whirled around her in a miniature hurricane of rage and pain. She was furious and she didn’t have time before Line Space came to put the room back together. She cursed under her breath, cursing Red Pen for what he’s done. Finally everything stopped spinning and she started floating back into place. It was finally too much though. She let everything go and sobbed.
Line Space facing the Mirrored Foe
Chapter 8: Secrets
“What did I miss?” Line Space asked as he trotted into the library. It still looked like a hurricane had come through after Twilight had been cleaning for thirty minutes. Twilight lifted her head and Line Space rushed over seeing how puffy her eyes still were. “Twilight! What in the world happened to you?!”
“Red Pen came and attacked Spike,” Twilight began, her voice shaking. “He came here and started ripping things up and when Spike came out with a newspaper article I was looking for, Red Pen attacked him. He was locked in a chest while I was gone. He’s upstairs resting now.” Her voice had pain wracked throughout it. Line Space was speechless. He never imagined Red Pen would even go this far. He should have though, and now Spike was hurt because the two of them had left him alone.
“Twilight if you don’t want-”
“No. I will still help you,” Twilight said as her voice gained an angry edge. “You might not be able to stop him and I have plenty of reason to go after him too.” She looked up into Line Space’s eyes and he was shocked at seeing her more determined now than ever before in the show. “Besides, Spike got hurt because I decided to help you. I’m not about to stop now when I’ve already payed the price.” Line Space walked closer and kept looking into her eyes.
“I understand. Don’t worry, Red Pen will pay and we will make sure he gets what he deserves. Don’t let yourself become hateful Twi.” He took one of her hooves and both of their eyes softened for minute. “It won’t help us and it has never helped Red Pen in the past. We can make it through this and then we can forget about this stupid curse.” Twilight took back her hoof and nodded. She turned away and started shelving more books while looking away from him.
“So, ummmm, do you mind if I finish cleaning up the library first? I don’t want to leave it in a mess because when Spike wakes up he would probably clean and he doesn’t need to go straining himself.”
“Of course.” Line Space started shelving books as well and found the task to be about as boring as paint dry. He tried taking interest in book titles but there were very few that interested him. To take his mind off of it he started thinking through their conversation from earlier and realized something. “Hey, what article was Spike looking for?”
Twilight looked over before saying, “We reorganized the stored newspapers a few months ago. He remembered seeing an article about Red Pen but I guess we don’t need it now. Too bad I didn’t get a chance to tell Spike before the girls came to get Fluttershy. Line, are you okay?”
No, he wasn’t. His entire body had locked up and never before was he happier to be facing away from Twilight. That bucking article could go to Tartarus for all he cared and he really wished it would. If she had read that article what would she think? There are things he never wanted to admit to anypony and most had forgotten about him and what had happened all those years ago. He never dared go near Rarity afterwards but that was it. He was supposed to be safe but now he wasn’t! Now he had to say something, anything to change the topic!
“Fine,” Line Space said, his voice strained from the effort of desperately trying to think of something. “You, uuhhhh, know what? I think I’ll, uuuhhh, go see Spike and check his injuries. You know, that whole, helping other ponies thing. Even dragons count right.” Mentally, Line was smacking himself and cursing himself for not being able to lie to save his flank.
“Uhm, okay. If he’s sleeping please don’t wake him.” Twilight’s tone told him she was suspicious and he knew that if he said anything else he would probably slip up badly. He slowly walked up the stairs and just as he reached the top, he looked back at Twilight. Her eyes were filled with suspicion and worry. He looked away and had to keep himself from galloping up the stairs. It didn’t feel right to lie to Twilight but the truth of what happened was not something she needed to know. Reaching the top he gathered himself before he reached for the handle and then stopped.
How should he act with Spike? The little dragon was friendly enough in the show but Line Space was feeling worse and worse each time he relied on it to help him talk to these ponies. Not to mention the secrets the baby dragon has that he knows about. Line Space lowered his head realizing he was keeping secrets when he had taken away so many of theirs. He would just have to put them to good use and besides, Celestia had given him the link in an e-mail. There must’ve been some point beyond simple entertainment since no one else in town knew. He shook his head and decided to leave that moral question for another day. He then pushed the door open and walked inside.
Inside Spike was looking at himself in the mirror, checking his various bruises and his half swollen eye. Line Space walked over hoping that Spike would be a little easier to talk to then Twilight would be at the moment.
“Hi there,” Line Space said. Spike jumped and spun to look at him having not heard the well-oiled door open. “Calm down. My name is Line Space and I’m helping Twilight track down the monster who did this.” He smiled mentally at how similarly Spike had reacted to his sudden appearance as Twilight had earlier today. Spike wasn’t so quick to drop his guard or get embarrassed though.
“Uh huh. And what makes you so qualified?” Spike said trying to sound like he was in charge while wincing in pain. Line Space reached up and pointed at his own black eye before answering.
“He gave me the same souvenir you got and I’ve been after him for years. Trust me, I’m one of the good guys.” He put on his best smile which must have looked really strange with the black eye. Spike seemed to relax a little though and then slumped again as he glanced at the mirror again. “What’s wrong little buddy? Won’t all your stallion friends think the new look is cool?” Line Space felt guilty since he still considered himself responsible for Red Pen’s victims and he was using the show to help bait Spike. He was helping the baby dragon though so it all balanced out.
“I don’t have any Stallion friends. Well except Shining Armor and he lives in the Crystal Empire. All my filly friends certainly won’t like this.” Spike sounded rather defeated and there was obviously more to it then worrying about Twilight or AppleJack seeing him like this.
“Yeah well, you might be surprised how much they want to take care of you. Mares and fillies can be very anxious and when a friend gets hurt they tend to want to help. Maybe Twilight or one of your other friends could nurse you while you enjoy the attention?” Line Space had an innocent smile on himself. He secretly rooted for the baby dragon and hoped he would take the bait.
“Nurse me?” Spike said with a touch of awe in his voice. Line Space shouted inside because the dragon had taken the bait, hook, line, and sinker. “Well uhmmm, yeah that doesn’t sound too bad. Hey, how do you know this?” Line Space grinned at the baby dragon and then made it a little smaller considering how his face must look.
“It happens in stories all the time. Female characters are always being written as very maternal even if they hide it normally. It goes double for friends they’re close to but can’t help any other way.” Spike was looking a little suspicious and Line Space barely controlled himself from sighing. It got old having nopony trust you, which, until recently, had included himself. It was refreshing to be able to trust himself and Twilight had done so. Why couldn’t Spike? “I got hurt once and a filly I only talked to occasionally was all over me. I’m sure your friends would appreciate you coming to them to get help.”
That did it for Spike. The allure of a certain somepony taking care of him must have been too much for Spike to resist, no matter how much his common sense made him wary of Line Space. He started checking his spines in the mirror now and Line Space failed in stifling a chuckle. Spike glared at him and then walked over to the door. He was kind of sluggish, a sign of the damage Red Pen had inflicted.
“Are you sure this works?” Spike asked his voice uncertain.
“One hundred percent,” Line Space said back. That was a lie though, nothing was ever one hundred percent and analysis simply helped you find the right path. Spike ran down stairs and Line Space followed. Talking to Spike had calmed him down really well. He could probably talk to Twilight again. He probably couldn’t meet her eyes though.
“Hey, uummm, Twilight. I’m heading over to Rarity’s to see if she…. needs anything,” Line Space heard Spike ask. He kept himself to the landing at the top of the stairs, failing once more to control his giggles.
“Really Spike? Are you sure you’re okay?” Twilight’s voice was filled with concern. Line Space prayed she wouldn’t be too protective as it would ruin Spike’s chance.
“Yeah. I feel fine and some activity will help take my mind off of.. what happened.” Spike’s voice faltered halfway through the sentence. Line Space felt another stab of guilt as he realized Spike would be pushing himself because of his prompting. He scolded himself again because he could usually think about the consequences and other scenarios.
“Oh well. I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Line Space mumbled to himself. Meanwhile, Twilight had reached a decision.
“Fine you can go. But be careful and remember to behave like a gentlecolt around Rarity,” Twilight said, the second half having traces of amusement mixed in with the worried tone. The door closed shortly after and Line Space started walking back down.
“Did you have something to do with that?” Twilight had her eyebrows raised at Line Space and he couldn’t help grinning. Spike going after his crush had obviously lifted her spirits.
“I just gave him a little bait and he chose to do the rest himself. He was the one who told me he had a bunch of filly friends.”
“Yeah well, he has this massive crush on Rarity. Do you know her?” Line Space tried his best to look curious.
“I’ve certainly heard of her but I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting her myself. Sounds like Spikes aiming pretty high though.”
“I don’t have it in me to tell him he’s aiming too high. Speaking of which,” Twilight’s voice gaining a harder edge now, “you’re sure we shouldn’t make some kind of plan? You’re sure we’re not in over our heads?”
“No we’re not.” Line Space got extremely serious now. This was what he had been thinking about for the past two hours. Red Pen only had his rage though. He had proven time and again that he was resourceful in how he satisfied his rage but in the end he was always consumed by his need to get his target. “He has a massive advantage in the fact that he’s merciless and fearless. That is coupled with arrogance, hatred, and a one-track mind. He wants me and he will hurt those who get close to me. If we go after him he’ll come after me.”
“How can you be so sure?” This wasn’t her questioning his reasoning. After all, Line Space had been Red Pen’s prison for years and he had attacked Spike without any connection to him except for Spike’s association with Twilight. Fluttershy was different, marked by his destruction of the library. She had been random, Spike had been a surprise.
“I’m his target. If we go after him he won’t be able to help himself but to come after me and that is when he will find out how much trouble he’s in. Just a moment too late.”
Line Space facing the Mirrored Foe
Chapter 9: Inner Conflicts
Chapter 9: Inner Conflicts
The Everfree Forest was THE place for creepiness. Inside there were untold dangers and more mysteries than anypony could solve in a lifetime. Here ponies of all sizes and shapes simply disappeared, whether it was because of Manticore attack or a cockatrice’s stare. The home of all sorts of dangers that belonged in the dark. Red Pen’s sanctuary.
“Why in the world is he in there?” Twilight heard Line Space mutter to himself, the two of them standing on the edge of it.
“The tracking spell that I cast can find a general location. He seems pretty deep in the forest, probably near the Mirror Pool,” Twilight said with a sense of calm that came from being confident in her abilities. In the library she had been able to find more then enough traces of his presence for the tracking spell. Knowing what she was doing was really helping take her mind off of what happened in the library. “I only wish that the book on the Mirror Pool hadn’t been missing.” Line Space laughed to himself and Twilight felt herself blush.
“Not the question I was asking, Twilight.” Line Space started walking into the forest and Twilight was forced to head in herself. “I meant that it doesn’t make sense that he would leave Ponyville. Why in the world did he choose to hide out in the forest?” Line Space sounded like he was confused about Red Pen’s motives here. He reminded her of the college students back in Canterlot but he seemed more analytical than most of them. Not to mention that he applied it to people in a way she couldn’t fault.
“Well, perhaps he doesn’t know the dangers of the forest and is going here while he waits for you to show yourself?”
“No, he should be trying to find me or ponies who know where I am. Maybe it’s because he knows how dangerous this place is? I mean if he knows I’m working with you…” Line Space left the sentence hanging leaving it up to her to pick it up.
“He would want to go somewhere we wouldn’t go while he thinks of how to take care of me,” Twilight finished uncomfortably. At the same time that she knew the topic was terrible she didn’t get the chance to discuss books or analyze things like she got to with Line very often. “Do you think he figured out what we were up to because Spike had grabbed that specific newspaper article?”
There! He stumbled with his gait for just a split second after she brought up the article Red Pen had stolen. She knew he had reacted back in the library and he kept analyzing Red Pen. She was sure there had to be a reason for him to be able to do that kind of thing and she was determined to find out why. She was already uneasy going off to fight without her friends but she really didn’t know Line Space.
“I… uh, don’t think that it was that. I would put money on him having seen me come out of the forest. He probably followed me to the library and heard us talk about it.” Line Space stopped now and seemed puzzled. It was obvious something was bothering him. “What I don’t get though is why he didn’t follow me out. Knowing him he should’ve come straight after me but instead he attacked Spike.” Twilight took a minute to think about this.
“Fear could have done it. If he heard us talking about killing him, he probably freaked out trying to think of how to deal with it. When he realized he should’ve gone after you he took it out on the library and ran away.”
“I guess it makes sense. He is as crazy as they come and fear doesn’t seem like something he’d be ready to deal with.” Line Space had lost all interest in his voice and sounded both tired and bored. Twilight realized that as angry as she was about Red Pen her pain was probably nothing compared to Line’s.
“Okay then. Hey, we might as well go see Zeckora while were out here she might be able to offer some assistance,” Twilight tried sounding cheerful but it came out forced. After all, they were on a pony hunt when neither one of them were killers. Maybe Zeckora had another answer.
………………………………………
“Hello Twilight, to what do I owe the delight” Zeckora said as the two of them walked into her home. Twilight always enjoyed hearing Zeckora talk in her rhymes although she often wondered how she managed to do it.
“Hi Zeckora, we’re looking for somepony who came into the forest earlier today. He has a black coat and maroon stripes that resemble a Zebra’s,” Twilight said coming over to Zeckora. She looked into the big pot that the zeba was stirring, took a deep breath, and sighed. It smelled delicious and she had forgotten lunch again.
“Happily, but you said we and I see only thee,” Zeckora said looking around. Twilight looked too and realized that Line Space hadn’t come in. He did say he didn’t interact with most ponies though so maybe he was simply being shy like Fluttershy. Twilight went to the doorway and saw him standing outside looking at the decorations. “Come on in Line,” Twilight said, “I promise she doesn’t bite.”
“I never went for that bit of superstition. I merely thought I’d, uhm, take a minute to study these masks. You go ahead and talk to Zeckora.” He was genuinely looking at the masks but Twilight had a feeling he didn’t want to come in for more reasons than just that though. Every time most ponies paused mid sentence like that he was either flustered or lying, or at least thats how it seemed. He seemed calm enough, so she wanted to know why he was lying.
“Oh come on. You can ask her about all of it yourself if you come inside. I think she made something and it smells delicious. We might be able to convince her to let us eat while we talk to her?”
“No really it’s fine. I’ll come in later. It’s not like I know her like you do.”
“Line, come on. You can meet her can’t you.” After saying this Twilight’s horn glowed. She casually pulled her head towards the door to give Line Space a little pull towards the door. She saw a faint outline of purple around Line Space and then.... nothing. He didn’t so much as shake. he lowered his head as though resigning himself to this.
“Fine. I really think it would be better if we let you talk to her.” He climbed in and Zeckora got a surprised look on her face.
“Well,” she started her voice sounding strangely amused, “brother of Jumbled Thought who is it that has you distraught?” Brother! Line Space had a brother. How was it she had never met either one of these ponies?
“Yes well you see-”
“Whose this Jumbled Thought she mentioned, Line?” Twilight asked with a little bit of an accusatory tone. She saw him blush and heard him sigh.
“He’s my brother.”
“Mmmmhmmmm. Why isn’t he helping with this?”
“He wouldn’t be able to.”
“Oh now that isn’t true,” Zeckora cut in. “He wouldn’t help you. If it has caused you to run away then he would cause your plans dismay.”
“How... much has he told you about us?” Line Space seemed almost scared of what Jumbled had said. What had happened between these two.
“Simply that you overthought what others would not. That your relationship is strained and makes you both feel pained.”
“Yeah, thats no joke.” Line Space sounded seriously sad. Apparently him and his brother had more of a strained relationship then one might think. He brought his head up and his eyes looked cold as steel. All friendliness and fun in them were dead. “Now, we would like your help Zeckora. We are hunting Red Pen, a terrible monster made by magic. He used to reside in my head as a curse of sorts but through the Mirror Pool he’s made it out and is now attacking ponies. We were wondering if you might be able to help?”
“Line Space maybe we should eat first and then discuss this? You seem a little upset,” Twilight said realizing she should never have accused him like that. Sometimes it was hard to not treat him like Red Pen because every time she looked at Line Space she couldn’t help remember Fluttershy and Spike. Not to mention it felt wrong to get close to Line Space when she should be focusing on taking out Red Pen.
“Yes, come and eat so that we can properly meat,” Zeckora said beckoning them both over to the cauldron.
“So that is Red Pen. I will help you uproot him from his den. However I must inquire why the other five aren’t helping with this desire?” Twilight felt a bit of relief inside herself. Even after what Red Pen had done it still didn’t feel right to kill a pony. The Pinkie clones were just fractions of Pinkie herself. This felt different. Line Space had taken the lead in explaining the situation and he did the same now.
“Spike has already been hurt because Red Pen saw Twilight helping me. We want to involve as few ponies as possible so that fewer ponies have the chance of getting on Red Pen’s target list. Since you can protect yourself from the beasts of the Everfree Forest, we figured you might be able to help us track or stop Red Pen.”
“Your faith is not misplaced however your thoughts on my skills are out of place. I am no hunter but more of a caretaker.” Now it was Twilights turn to talk. It was finally time to let Line Space know the real reason she had wanted to get Zeckora’s help. Even more than feeling uncomfortable about destroying Red Pen she had a greater fear.
“Please Zeckora. Our only strategy right now is the same spell we used when Pinkie used the Mirror Pool and that is dangerous. If Line Space is too close to Red Pen when I shoot and I hit either one they would both disappear. You must have something that could help us subdue Red Pen.”
“Twilight, don’t sound so distraught. I won’t get in the way. I pro-”
“And what if he doesn’t give you the chance to get out of range,” Twilight snapped back at him. He looked a little pained but sometimes he was way too idealistic. “We need to try to find another way just in case.” There was a long pause. Line Space looked like he was on the verge of being stubborn regarding him and Red Pen. Finally his face softened before he spoke.
“Yeah. Makes sense. So long as you don’t get anywhere closer to the danger then you absolutely need to.” Zeckora cut in now.
“I have no assistance to offer. Unless you are willing to put non-lethal in your coffer.” Line Space groaned.
“A coffer is like a bank except it’s personal Line Space,” Twilight said chuckling.
“It’s not that. Whenever she rhymes I get confused and find myself looking for the rhymes.” Line Space shook his head and then held it as though he had a headache. “And believe me when I say I don’t do rhymes.”
“Well, I am sorry my rhymes do not amuse but they are certainly not meant to confuse. If Red Pen you hope to stop, anger the answer is not. Anger in him or within.” She paused a moment here to let Twilight and Line look at each other. She knew how much she hated Red Pen for everything he had done. Line Space had gotten to build his hate over years. The two of them would have to let it go but was that really possible. “Hope lies in finding the calm within the anger, in finding that harmony he hungers. You both can stay the night, just don’t be scared when I turn off the light.” Zeckora left them both to their thoughts.
After about five minutes of sitting in silence Line Space stood up. He started walking towards the door but turned back before going out.
“I’m off for a walk. I’ll be careful enough not to get hurt.” Line Space sounded like he was forcing his voice to stay neutral. He headed out and Twilight watched the door. Her thoughts went back to Jumbled Thought and Line Space. She couldn’t help but think about Shining Armor and what it would be like if she couldn’t come to him with her problems. Then she remembered how outraged she was when she found out about the wedding. She would never be able to understand Line Space’s problem with his brother.
About ten minutes after Line Space left Twilight decided to get back up. She tossed her head from side to side and cast the same tracking spell she had to find Red Pen. She felt his presence, much stronger and happier than Red Pen’s had and had just as much difficulty pinpointing him. She headed out following it. Before long she heard a familiar noise that caused her eyes to pop open in surprise.
That noise was a manticore roar. On the other side of the monster was Line Space his mouth wide open in shock, his eyes frozen in terror. Twilight began scrambling back and barely missed having her head removed by its massive claws. Instead she lost a bit of hair.
“What are you doing here!?” Line Space yelled, running back towards her and the manticore. Twilight jumped back again and cast the teleportation spell to get behind the beast. Too bad she couldn’t usually focus enough to get a long ranged jump when she was this terrified.
“Raaaargh!” The manticore roaring at her, freezing her in place. It raised one massive paw… and all of a sudden a large blue object came flying into its face. Line Space jumped off the unbalanced manticore’s face and swung around flailing with his back hooves. It roared again and swiped towards Line Space’s head. Line ducked down low though and bucked with his back legs straight into the manticores chin. After stumbling backwards shaking its head it fell to the ground. As it began to get up it howled in pure rage. Line Space turned back to her and they yelled in unison.
“Ruuuuuun!” The two took off as fast as they could not particularly caring for direction. The two ran until they started to slow which must have made Line think to look behind him.
“Hey… we can stop. It… isn’t following.. us.” Line Space matched her in slowing down, for once letting her take charge of the pace. The two of them stood there panting in exhaustion. Line Space looked up his face covered in worry. “What in Tartarus were you doing Twi? Walking around with your eyes closed.” At that Twilight immediately blushed realizing that that was exactly what she had been doing.
“I,uhm, was worried about you after what happened. I figured you might do something stupid and it seemed kinda strange for you to be walking around the Everfree Forest.”
“Well, I’ll admit the manticore was a bit of a surprise. At least I had the sense to go around it though!” Line Space let out a nervous laugh that developed into a chuckle.
“Hey, hmph, don’t laugh.. at me,” Twilight said back trying to keep herself from laughing. Finally it all just came spilling forth. They laughed, a mixture of relief, humiliation, and joy setting it off. After a few minutes Twilight started regain control but Line Space didn’t seem capable of getting rid of the giggles. Twilight brushed her slightly maimed mane back behind her ear and took a moment to settle her voice.
“Thanks for saving me like that. It must’ve been really frightening.” Twilight’s voice was quieter than she wanted it to be but she never imagined Line Space would save her life this trip. Finally he seemed to get over his giggles and looked into her eyes, exhaustion mixed with happiness inside.
“No problem Twilight. I saw it coming after you and even though I was scared, I got so mad thinking it might hurt my friend that I just charged in.” He smiled at her. “I’m really nothing special. I’m sure any of your friends would have done the same.
“They have. But that time none of us were about to die and we had each other to help us have courage. What you did, I don’t think thank you is enough.”
“Believe me Twilight it is. I simply reacted to another pony in danger. Not to mention you wouldn’t be out here if it weren’t for what you’re already doing for me.”
“Fine if you’re going to insist on being so modest,” Twilight said teasingly, feeling even happier when she was rewarded with him blushing even bigger, “at least tell me how you managed to dodge it’s claws like that.”
“My dad. For a long time I couldn’t walk near him without him grabbing or jabbing me. After a long time my reflexes got a lot faster and I started being able to block and even counter.” Line Space talked about his father with a fondness in his voice that had been lacking when he had talked about his brother before.
“I guess he stopped trying to get you after that then?”
“No he simply started tackling me instead and I was never strong enough to get out from under him.” Line Space laughed, a big grin breaking onto his face. “Although I have to admit I thought the thing would just ignore my kick. I would like to say maybe I don’t know my own strength but that would be such a lie.” He chuckled to himself. “Mannnn that was frightening. Are you sure you’re okay Twi?”
“Yeah.” Twilight blushed hard and looked away. “You got it just in time. Hey we should probably try to figure out where we are.”
“You mean you don’t know where we are? Well that only means we’re lost in the most dangerous places in Equestria. Alright lets goooo,” Line Space began spinning in place. He landed and turned himself a little. “This way.”
“Why that direction Line?”
“It’s the way we came. Try not to walk into a manticore again if its possible. I don’t need that much adrenaline in pumping through me again.” He smiled at her and started walking again. Twilight just couldn’t understand how he could be so calm. Then again, Rainbow Dash had a habit of acting cool and calm when she was flipping out inside and from what Cadence had told her colts liked acting big and strong. After walking in silence for a little while she decided she could probably ask the question she had gone looking for him to ask.
“So. Your brother?” Line Space stumbled for a moment before resuming his pace. He lowered his head and just kept walking. Twilight began to feel really uncomfortable. Finally she had enough of waiting. “Come on Line Space. Do you really want to hide it that much? He’s your brother.”
“Don’t you think that’s a little personal?” The ice in his voice made it feel like she had stepped over every line. She didn’t expect that level of reaction. She lowered her head, not willing to look back at Line.
“I’m sorry. That was harsh. The problem is that me and my brother disagree a lot. When we address each others issues in life we take the rational route about the problem. The thing is is that neither of us can ever use those tactics properly so we just get more upset with each other. After years of trying to fix the problem with Red Pen we just stopped talking about our issues except for rare occasions. It’s not worth treating you like crap though so I’m sorry.” Line Space sounded extremely tired about this topic.
“If the rational solution tended not to work in the past then why do you think it’ll work with Red Pen? I mean that is the whole idea isn’t it? To deal with this rationally.” Line Space actually managed a grin before responding.
“I have you helping me this time. Between your skills and smarts I think it makes a pretty massive difference. Not to mention you’ve dealt with much bigger monsters.” Twilight looked away blushing. Not very many ponies complimented her quite like that.
“I’m really not that amazing.”
“I’m sure the Princess’, Cadence, and Shining Armor would all beg to differ. You’re obviously something special Twilight.” Twilight took a glance at Line Space and saw that he was looking away himself. Maybe she could find something safer to talk about.
“So you like going for walks Line?”
“Yeah, It’s a lot of fun going for walks at night. Not to mention an extremely good time to think.”
“So what were you thinking about this time?” Line Space was quiet for a bit before responding.
“What Zecora said.”
“What about it?”
“She said we needed to stay calm and restrict our anger. I’ve spent years trying to keep it all inside though and now that Red Pen is gone..” He went quiet, looking away after his voice cracked.
“You think you can let your emotions do what they want don’t you? I’m sorry Line but maybe your anger can be a good thing. I mean it did just save my life.” Line Space shook his head.
“My anger hasn’t done anypony any good. I simply went into a rage and attacked. The fact that I was defending you meant little. It was my own anger that kept my brother away! How am I supposed to simply accept it when its done all of that? Yet if I keep it down like I have for so long then who says I won’t be able to stop?” Line Space’s voice was wracked in pain. Twilight had no idea he could be so afraid of something like that. It felt like she was never going to understand Line Space.
“Line….. I have no idea-”
“Enough Twilight. You don’t deserve to shoulder all of my issues. Lets just get back to Zeckora’s hut. I take walks so I can sort out my own things. Tomorrow…tomorrow will be much better.” He walked off. Twilight sat stunned before she decided to just follow after. She couldn’t figure out what to say to Line. Maybe once they get to know each other…. maybe once Red Pen was taken care of. She followed after Line. Hours after they got back she found herself lying in her bunk still trying to figure out what to say and how to help.