The Forgotten Melody

Picture credited to mlpwikia. Edited personally.

Chapter Six

The Book

* * *

"Twilight!" Spike yelled at the break of dawn from the alicorn's small bed. Usually this was abnormal, unless Spike was really serious about something, because he was always the last one to stir.

However, Twilight was still exhausted from the day before and lazily sat up from her pillow, her mane in a gnarled mess.

"Errgh, what?" she said, her eyes grouchy and droopy. Suddenly she threw herself out of the bed, her sheets flying and her hooves landing onto the floor. She briskly rushed about her room and started using her magic to comb her hair, remake the bed, wash her face, while she was panicking.

"Holy stars, if you're awake, then this must mean that I slept in!" stammered Twilight. "It must be mid-afternoon already! Oh my gosh, I have so much to do and I just spent half the day sleeping and-"

"Calm down Twilight," said Spike, making his efforts to stop her. "Actually it's seven AM, which is the wrong time of the day for me to be up." Twilight dropped everything in the room and turned to Spike.

"Then why were you waking me up so early?" asked Twilight. "You know I like to get up at seven fifteen, right?"

"Yeah, I know," responded Spike, "but Princess Celestia just sent me a letter. She probably wrote it before her sun duties or something, and probably sent it early to us so we can get started on it. I think it's a task." He took out the scroll in his claw and held it out to Twilight, who grabbed it in her magic. Carefully she opened the letter and read aloud what was inside.

"My dearest Twilight," she read, "Today is an important and different day for you to advance in your studies. However, instead of me being the one teaching you, you will be the one... to teach Spike?" Twilight looked at the parchment closer.

"What?" asked Spike, half curious but half nervous. "W-what's there to teach me?"

"Manners," responded Twilight.

"Really?" groaned the dragon.

"No, I was kidding," giggled Twilight, "but I'm not lying when I say that the princess wants me to teach you something today that will benefit all of us. It says here that Celestia wants me to teach you how to send things to her as normal, but not just scrolls. Celestia wants me to teach you how to send to her...BOOKS!" Happily Twilight pranced over and pulled out the largest book in the library, a huge grin lining her face. Spike gulped.

"B-books?" he quivered.

"Yep! Books."

"Can't we, you know, advance slowly? We could start with a pamphlet, then a newspaper, then-"

"Nope, we're starting with books! Celestia says so!" Twilight stated. Then she looked closer at the note. "Oh, wait. It looks like I'll need to send you a certain book, not just anything." She shoved the giant book she had earlier in the shelves. Spike exhaled.

"I hope Celestia wants a picture book," he said.

"Well, let me find it and see," said Twilight, beginning to search through the shelves with her magic. She went through at least half of them before looking completely frustrated.

"Ugh, I can't find it! Spike!"

"Yes?"

"Have you seen the book The Sun's Colors?" she asked, peeking over a pile of manuscripts. Spike clicked a claw.

"Oh yeah!" he said. "As a matter of fact, I was reading it last night. It's a really great bedtime story, if you ask me. Well, technically it isn't for bedtime, but it's a mythology book about a mare who would paint the skies when the sun would go down, and the story always puts me to sleep. Here, let me go get it for ya!" He stumbled up the stairs as Twilight put all the reject books back into the shelves. She then rolled what Spike said through his mind. Why would Celestia need a mythological book, or as Spike saw it, a bedtime novel? Maybe Celestia was just going to check out a good story, Twilight concluded.

"Uh, Twilight," Spike then called from upstairs. "The book, you know? It's not here."

"Ha, nice try, mister," called Twilight back, "but you're doing this spell today whether you like it or not!"

"No, I'm serious, Twilight!" Spike said with concern while appearing at the top of the steps with his pillow. "I leave it under my pillow every night, but it's not there anymore!" Twilight furrowed her brow.

"Are you sure you didn't lose it last night?" she inquired.

"Nope, I read it, I'm sure!" Spike said. "After I cleaned up the mess of the library, I went to my bed and read a chapter, and then I put it under my pillow! Serious!"

"Now Spike," said Twilight in a stern tone. "Be honest. It's not like the book is going to randomly vanish, I mean-" Twilight then stopped in her tracks, making a very very disgusted face. She grunted and then grabbed Spike with her magic. The dragon dropped his pillow as he was placed on Twilight's back. The pony then began walking out of the door.

"Uh, Twilight?" asked Spike. "Where are we going?"

"Well, something tells me that the book isn't here in the library," said Twilight angrily. "I just know it's somewhere else."

"And, that place would be..." said Spike, still confused.

"Fluttershy's Cottage."

* * *

Fluttershy cringed as a bluejay squawked like an ostrich. The other jays ad sparrows in the shy pony's singing bird choir lost some of their feathers and jumped on the branches they were perched in.

"Oh dear," said Fluttershy, shaking her head and turning her attention to the bluejay. "It looks like you haven't been practicing, have you?" The bird shied his face from her view, covering his beak with a wing.

"Thanks okay," the pony comforted. "I'll just sing and practice with you for a while, and when you're ready again, we can bring the group back together and keep going. Does that sound alright?" The bluejay smiled, the other birds chirping in agreement.

"FLUTTERSHY!" A frustrated yell called from the path, startling both the pegasus and her bird choir. Of course, all of her feathered friends sped off into the sky and to the comfort of the clouds and other trees high up.

"Well, okay, maybe later then," she said sadly as she watched them vanish into the air. The shy pony then turned to the pathway that led away from her house to see Twilight trotting towards her, looking rather annoyed, with Spike on her back, who was extremely confused.

"Oh, hello Twilight," Fluttershy said softly with a smile. "Hello Spike. Can I help you with anything?" Twilight marched herself up to the pegasus' face.

"Where's Discord?" she demanded.

"Well, he's just inside napping, I think," said Fluttershy, a little taken aback from Twilight's mood. "I think Sweet Apple Acres tired him out yesterday." Twilight didn't really catch the last bit. She had already made her way past Fluttershy and had a beeline drawn out to the cottage. Fluttershy looked back at her as her hooves stomped angrily to the front door. She then turned back to see Spike, who had hopped off Twilight's back before the alicorn strode away in anger.

"I'll, um, stay here Twilight!" called Spike. Of course, Twilight's frustration ignored him. Fluttershy turned to the dragon.

"Is, um, Twilight okay?" she asked, still in shock from her friend's attitude. Spike shrugged.

"Beats me," he said. "I think she's got a bone to pick with Discord, though. I mean, I don't blame her. He's sort of a jerk every so often, you know."

"Well, I don't think so," disagreed Fluttershy, "and I hope Twilight isn't too strict with him. He's been awfully down in the dumps lately."

"Really? Why?"

"I...I don't know..."

* * *

"Discord!" shouted Twilight as soon as she set hoof in Fluttershy's cottage. Discord was in the center of the main room wearing the most ridiculous pair of spectacles that made his eyes seem to enlarge to alien size, and he was reclining in a large brown chair...that was hanging from the ceiling. He opened one of his closed eyes, looking uninterested.

"Ugh, what is it now, Twilight Sparkle?" he asked with a yawn. "Can't you see that I'm busy enjoying a mid-morning nap?"

"Hardly," conflicted Twilight crossly. "You're up on the ceiling."

"Yes, well that gets the blood flowing to the head," he stated. "Besides, I bet you've never bothered to look at the world from a completely different angle."

"You're ridiculous!"

"Hm, I suppose you're right," pondered Discord. "I should've sat on the west wall. Now that's a point of view!" Twilight, however, batted her wings and flew up to his flipped face.

"Stop stalling, I know what you did, you thief!" she accused.

"Wha? Me?! A thief?!" gasped Discord innocently, a black mask appearing on his face for a second. "That certainly has a few holes in it, don't you think?"

"Oh give up with the act!" said Twilight, who was getting fed up with the spirit. "I know you've stolen a book from my library just like you've stolen my spells weeks back! Now where is it? It better not be eaten already!" Discord raised an eyebrow, but soon removed the spectacles from his eyes, closed them up, and slunk to the floor, upright again.

"Oh, you are such a clever pony, Twilight Sparkle," said Discord with sarcasm. "I still can't believe you hold grudge to those events, even after I've been reformed. You must think that I'm still the bad guy who takes all your things!" He then made his body turn color to black and white stripes like a prisoner as handcuffs appeared on his wrists.

"Take me away, then!" he mocked. "I'm sure I've stolen everything you lost in that clunky library of yours!" Twilight stopped to think. Now Discord was just being plain difficult, and she still hadn't gotten close to making him fess up. If she could just find a reason he would need the book she was missing...

"Well, Discord, say you did happen to take the book," said Twilight, hoping to get somewhere. "Why would you?"

"Depends on the book, really," said Discord, normally his chaotic self again. "Science I plant into the ground to grow sponges. Fiction I enjoy skipping across the lake while holding my breath to watch them explode.But spell books, those I eat, mainly because they have a much better tang to them than any other genre."

"Well, what about..." Twilight thought about how Spike described the book earlier. "What about a bedtime story, one about a mare who painted the skies?" Discord yawned and made a set of markers appear like a deck of cards in his hand.

"Oh, I'd color in that one," he said lazily. Twilight practically jumped and fainted on the spot.

"WHAT?! REALLY?!"

"No, not really!" said Discord, becoming annoyed. He also began to fell boredom and was moving a meatball on a strand of spaghetti like a yo-yo. "Why on earth would I need a boring book like that?" He threw the yo-yo in his mouth and ate it.

"Hm," thought Twilight. She decided to go out on a limb. "You were very interested in my studies with Celestia yesterday." Discord was playing with the bristles of a random broom.

"Yeah? And how does that relate to this?" he asked.

"That book," said Twilight, "is the one that Celestia needs from me today. And who better to know and stop such a thing that you." Discord's face grew serious.

"Well played, Twilight, you're beginning to think for a change," he responded. "I did happen to know all about that." Twilight jumped in the air and flew up to Discord's nose.

"SO WHY DID YOU TAKE IT?!"

"Well, to assure you, I didn't take it for fun," he said, crossing his arms. "And I did not eat it either." Twilight landed back on the floor as Discord turned his back on her. He looked at his hands as he spoke.

"You do know that the copy of The Sun's Colors that you have is the last one in existence?" he said. Twilight didn't know, but that wasn't going to stop her intentions for the book.

"So?" she asked.

"So?" repeated Discord. "Do you even know what's in the book, Twilight Sparkle?"

"Just a bedtime story, plain myth," she said, getting annoyed at the fact that Discord was going somewhere pointless with the topic. She just wanted the book back to send to Celestia.

"Think that way, then, Twilight," he said, walking off to a large reclining couch in the cottage. "Think whatever you want, actually. But I'm not letting Celestia get the book, whether you like it or not." Twilight stood flustered, then grumbled. Discord was acting really stupid. All she wanted was the dumb book!

"You...YOU..." she began. Suddenly a volume landed at her feet. She looked at it closely. It was the book, only with had strange symbols, no words. She looked up at Discord, who had dropped it there.

"What's this?" she asked in disgust.

"It's a decoy book, completely fake and has absolutely nothing to do with the book you want," said Discord like he was giving instructions. "However, it's completely in Chaos language, so no one can read it. Send this to Celestia instead, so that you can advance in your so-called lessons. That way we both get what we want." Twilight instantly shoved the book away.

"Do you honestly think she'll accept this garbage, Discord?" said the alicorn angrily.

"Yes, because Chaos is a real language after all, she just can't read it to know this is a fake." Twilight glared at him. "OH just do it, for crying out loud!" Twilight saw that Discord got really angry about this. She even realized that he had stopped creating little distractions anymore, that he was fully focused on this. Was he serious?

Angry and confused, Twilight picked up the book with her magic.

"I may not know exactly what you're up to, Discord, but I've got my eyes open," she said while heading for the front door. Twilight angrily left the cottage with the book, completely irritated, but picked up Spike and decided to complain to him about Discord's rottenness all the way back to the library. The Spirit of Chaos, however, stood back in the silence of the cottage, arms crossed and watching the pony leave.

"Oh, you'll see eventually what I'm up to, Twilight Sparkle," he muttered quietly to himself. "When the day comes of your ever waited for test, you'll know for sure..."