Unexpected Changes

Chapter 2: Scary Monsters

Vinyl Scratch.

The Vinyl Scratch, also known as DJ-PON3.

That was who Lyra’s old friend was. How had she neglected to tell him this? That she used to be best friends with one of Equestrias’ most popular music producers and DJ’s, and not only that, but that DJ would be traveling down to Ponyville to discuss job opportunities with her…today.

Sketch still couldn’t grasp it, try as he might.

He was proud though, of Lyra. This was an enormous opportunity for her and he intended to support her one hundred percent on it; something she was immensely grateful for.

However, that didn’t mean he wasn’t trying to grasp the fact, Lyra hadn’t thought it was a big enough of a deal she knew the DJ personally. Gears had freaked out when he was told, and claimed to be a fan of Vinyl’s. Even now, the small colt was probably up in his room, tinkering away at some gift he said he was building for her.

Although there was something else that worried him. As much as he wanted Lyra to be successful and do well with her music, there was a small part of him that was afraid things might change if Lyra became famous, that maybe-

“Sketch, hurry up in there before I get in with you!”

Sketch was roused from his thoughts by Lyra shouting at him from the other side of the bathroom door. He had almost forgotten he was in the shower.

“Hold on, I’m getting out…” He threw a towel over himself as he stepped out of the shower, not bothering to turn the water off; Lyra would just turn it back on when she got in.

“It’s all yours.” He called, sounding a tad more worried than he intended.

A moment later, Lyra opened the door and trotted in, a bit of a bounce in her step. Her golden necklace glinting in the light.

“You sure got out fast, did the thought of us showering together scare you, Sketchy?” She said with a smirk, flicking his nose with her tail as she trotted by.

“No…I just know that if we both get in together, you’ll end up being late.” He retorted, inwardly proud of himself for such a comeback in the first place.

“Oh shush.” Lyra stuck her tongue out before disappearing behind the shower curtain.

“Hey, do you want me to cook you breakfast?” Sketch asked as he trotted out of the bathroom.

“Actually, Vinyl and I are going to go out to a brunch type thing, so you don’t get too cook for me this morning, sorry Sketchy.”

“Bah, it’s fine. We’ve got plenty of other days I can cook for you.”

In all honesty, He was a tad disappointed he wouldn’t get to cook for her, but he pushed the feeling away. Lyra meeting with this DJ was worth him not getting to cook for her. He couldn’t really cook well anyway, so it all probably was for the best.

Now that he thought about it, Lyra wouldn’t be around the house until later in the afternoon, so maybe he would spend the day with Gears, it would help get his mind off of his worrying about Lyra and things possibly changing drastically. He could take Gears out to get doughnuts or something, maybe go visit Twilight; if she wasn’t off on one of her crazy adventures again, and Gears could talk to Spike.

Spike.

Sketch remembered when he first saw Spike, he had taken the dragon for a glorified lizard; something the purple and green dragon was a bit offended about when he found out.

“SKETCH!”

Sketch perked his ears up, it was his brother calling him from the attic. He sounded rather frightened.

“SKETCH!”

Sketch trotted over to the staircase leading up to the attic room, looking up into it.

“Gears?”

“SKETCH GET UP HERE!!”

Putting a bit of urgency in his step, Sketch made his way up the staircase and looked around the attic, Gears was nowhere to be found. On the left side of the room was a line of workbenches and cabinets that Gears kept his tools and gadgets in, on the right was a dresser, a bin of toys; that Gears rarely touched, and the bed.

“Gears…?” He looked around the room, panic starting to well up inside of him.

“I’m under here!” Gears’ startled voice came from under his bed, his hoof lifting up the skirting allowing his brother to see him.

“Dude, you scared the hell out of me, what’s wrong?” Sketch sighed softly; relieved his brother was ok.

“O-over there. In the window!” Gears let out a moan of unhappiness before retreating back under the bed.

“The Window?”

“Yes! The window, you fool, the window, I saw a monster in the window!” Gears sounded extremely peeved.

Raising his eyebrow at the empty round window that looked out onto the street, Sketch trotted over to it and looked outside. As expected, he saw the street…not a monster.

“Dude…there isn’t a monster…Gears is this some sort of prank?”

“WHAT!” Gears burst out from under the bed, seemingly brave enough to leave his refuge now that his brother was around. “There was a monster, I swear it. I’m not lying!”

Sketch eyed his brother, who was still sticking close to the bed.

“What did it look like?”

“It was super-fast! I was sitting over there, at my workbench, and out of the corner of my eye I see a black shape in my window! It looked like a pony…but…at the same time it didn’t.” Gears was flailing his front hooves around in excitement, as if that were going to make his story more plausible.

Sketch eyed his brother, then turned to go look at the window again. As expected, there was still nothing abnormal.

“Buddy, are you sure you aren’t inhaling weird fumes from your inventions?”

“Sketch! I. Saw. A. Monster. Why don’t you-“

“What in Equestria is with all the yelling?”

Both Sketch and Gears turned to see Lyra; or rather, Lyra’s upper half, sticking up through the entrance to the attic room.

“Gears thinks he saw a monster in his window.”

“I know I saw a monster. A black one, and it hissed and ran away when I looked at it.” Gears stomped his hoof with frustration.

“Well…what do you think the monster wanted?” Lyra said, her voice kind and sweet.

“Maybe it wanted to ask me out to lunch, Gee. I DON’T KNOW!” Gears yet again was flailing his hooves.

“Gears, calm down, why don’t-“

“No I’m not gonna calm down!” Gears cut his brother off. “There was SOMETHING in my window and neither of you believe me!”

“Hey now, I never said I didn’t believe you.” Lyra narrowed her eyes a bit.

“Neither did I, but do you think maybe it was a big crow or something?” Sketch tried to reason with his brother.

“Sketch. Crows don’t reside in Ponyville during the winter, they migrate to warmer places.” Gears stared daggers at his brother.

“Well animals are weird sometimes Gears, maybe-“

“No, no, no. I know what I saw. It was a monster!”

“Gears, listen to yourself, you aren’t even trying to be open to reason.”

“Boys.” Lyra said softly, rubbing her face with a hoof.

“Reason? Reason yourself mister bigot, you never even for a second believed me.

“Gears, there was no monster in your window! You probably just-“

“CALM DOWN GIRLS, YOU’RE BOTH PRETTY!”

Sketch and Gears both looked over at Lyra, unsure of what they had just heard her say.

“Thank you…” She glared menacingly at the two siblings. “Now, I have to get ready to leave. Monster or no monster. I would appreciate it if you two would stop acting like children and behave, at least until I leave. After that you can bicker all you want.”

“I am a child though…” Gears said, sounding a tad intimidated by Lyra’s sudden crack-down.

“Wrong thing to say bud…” Sketch snickered.

“Oh shut up, you don’t-“

“SHUSH!” Lyra snapped again. “Gears, would you mind going downstairs please?”

Sketch’s stomach did a flip, was she really that upset about this? Quite obviously she was having an emotional moment due to the baby, but still.

“Uh…sure…”

Lyra stepped up into the attic the rest of the way, allowing Gears to get downstairs.

“Now, Sketchy.” She said, as soon as Gears had disappeared from view.

“Lyra, I’m sorry I really didn’t mean to-“

“No, no, no. This isn’t about that.” She waved it away with her hoof, moving closer to him.

It was now Sketch realized Lyra was still damp from the shower.

“What’s going on?”

Sketch raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t give me that look, I can tell when something’s bugging you. I knew something was wrong the second I saw you in the bathroom, plus you only get like that with Gears when you’re upset about something.”

“Lyra, I’m fine, -“

“Sketchy…”

He sighed and sat down on the bed, rubbing his head with a hoof.

“It’s just…I’m worried.”

“About…?” Lyra’s voice was sweet and comforting. She sat down next to him on the bed, rubbing his back with a loving hoof.

“Just…what if you get all famous and stuff…and things change, between us I mean.”

Lyra raised an eyebrow. “What? Sketchy, dear Celestia. That isn’t gonna happen, I promise. We aren’t talking about me becoming an international super-star here, all that’s happening is Vinyl is going to help me get my name out into circulation around Canterlot. We aren’t moving anywhere, nothing is going to change, and I’m not going to go anywhere or do anything significant without asking you first, ok?”

“Ok…I’m sorry…”

“Honey, don’t be sorry.” Lyra wrapped her hooves around Sketch and hugged him lovingly. “You and I have a baby to raise, remember? So it’s gonna be a while before anypony in this house even thinks about running off to be a super-star.”

“You’re right…” He smiled and nuzzled to top of Lyra’s head.

“Except maybe Gears. Although I don’t think he’s gonna want to go anywhere anytime soon.”

This made them both laugh a bit, the thought of Gears upon a stage entertaining thousands of ponies was about as farfetched as one could get, simply because Gears might keel over at the mention of such a large crowd.

“Tell you what.” Lyra said, standing up and pulling Sketch up with her. “If you promise not to worry about that, I’ll make sure you and I can spend the entire weekend together next weekend. No Vinyl, no work, no nothing. Just you and me, and I bet we could even convince Applejack to let Gears spend the weekend there with his friends, alright?”

Sketch gave her a cheeky grin, causing her to blush a bit. “That sounds wonderful.”

“You’re such a perv, you know?”

“Sorry…”

Lyra giggled softly.

“It’s ok though. You’re my perv, and I love you.” She gave him a quick kiss, letting him know she really didn’t mind the perviness.

“Love you too.” He smiled down at her.

“Now, I have to go get ready. You need to go talk to Gears, alright? Or no sexy-weekend-time for you.” She flashed an innocent smile and booped him on the nose playfully, before turning and trotting down the staircase.

“Are you going to use that against me every single day until next weekend?”

“Eeyup!” She called from below, trotting off most likely into the bathroom.

“Thought so…” He muttered, finding himself smiling as he trotted down the stairs. Gears was sitting on the couch, looking rather dejected.

Sketch stopped on the stairs for a moment, watching the small colt pretend to read a book. In reality he had probably been listening to Sketch and Lyra talk, and was now watching his brother out of the corner of his eye.

“What do you want?” Gears spoke up suddenly.

“To apologize…”

“Mmhmm.”

He sighed and trotted down the stairs the rest of the way, taking a seat next to his brother on the couch.

“No…really…I’m sorry.”

Gears sighed and closed the book, looking much older than he really was for a split second.

“I was so scared…and then you didn’t believe me…” He stared blankly down at the book in his hooves.

“I know…It wasn’t right of me to just automatically not believe you, simply because you said you saw a monster…”

“Dang right…” He folded his front legs, which made him look extremely young for a second, as opposed to before. “It was really scary…and it didn’t look like I was just seeing things…it looked very real.”

“Forgive me…?” Sketch held out a hoof, offering a hug to his brother. Gears looked at him for a moment, inspecting him for any sign of hidden intentions or possible trickery.

“Fine…” Gears smiled; if only a bit, then buried his face into his brothers stomach, wrapping his tiny front legs around Sketch’s waist.

“But, I’m only forgiving you, because you’re going to take me out to get doughnuts for breakfast.”

Sketch laughed. “Oh really now?” He decided it best not to tell Gears he had planned on doing that anyway.

“Yes, with hot chocolate.”

“I think I can make that happen…”

“And then candy at SugarCube Corner with Pinkie Pie.”

“Don’t push your luck.” He said with a friendly chuckle, patting Gears on the back.

“Yeah I probably shouldn’t push it.” Gears said sheepishly, unburying his muzzle from his brothers’ waist.

“Go get ready, we’ll leave in a just a minute alright? I’m gonna go say goodbye to Lyra and we’ll be off.”

Gears gave a nod of affirmation and slid off the couch, then trotted across the room and made his way up the stairs.

Sketch forgot sometimes how little Gears was, how he was still a child, even though he acted like he was much older sometimes. He smiled as he watched his little brother lift each leg and climb the stairs, remembering when he had first been born and was learning to crawl around on his own.

Once Gears had disappeared into the attic, Sketch got up and trotted into the bedroom to find Lyra; who was in the bathroom straightening her mane; a rather stunning sight as he discovered.

“Wow…”

Lyra let out a tiny squeal of surprise, not expecting him to seemingly materialize out of thin air.

“Err, sorry…”

“It’s alright, Sketchy, but what was the “wow” for?” She said, returning to straightening her mane.

“I’ve never seen you with your mane all straightened out before is all, it looks fantastic.” Sketch leaned against the doorframe as he spoke.

“Ooohhh, I see.” Lyra blushed a bit, but continued to straighten her mane. “Thank you.”

“Of course, you always look fantastic, so…yeah.” He trotted slowly over to her, kissing her cheek very gently so as not to bother her whilst she toiled.

“Oh stop…” Lyra’s blush intensified a bit.

“I’m gonna take Gears out to get Doughnuts, maybe stop by Twilight’s and say hello, let Gears run around with Spike if possible.”

“That sounds like fun, if Twilight isn’t playing slave driver with the poor reptile…”

“Yeah she does have him do quite a bit of work, doesn’t she…?” Sketch shook the thought out of his head. “Anyway, You may end up being home before we are, so…”

“I’ll see you when I see you.” Lyra set down the tool she had been using on her mane and turned to Sketch, giving him a quick kiss before he turned and trotted out of the bathroom.

“Bye, Sketchy!”

“Bye, Lyra!” He called as he trotted into the living room.

This was going to be good, he hadn’t really spent time with Gears in a while; not like this at least. As much as Gears loved to hole up in his attic and tinker away, he also loved to be outside and run around. Although he usually needed some coaxing in order for that to happen. In this case the coaxing had essentially been doughnuts.

“Gears, you ready?” Sketch called, turning his gaze to the stairs; expecting him to still be getting ready.

“Over here doofus.” Gears was already by the front door; he sure could get ready fast when he wanted to. He was sporting a large black saddlebag that looked filled to the brim.

“Dude…what’s with all the gear, it isn’t like we’re going to war here…”

“I know I know, but we might see Scootaloo and I have stuff to give her.” Gears shuffled a hoof on the ground, his face the tiniest shade of red.

Sketch barely refrained from teasing.

“We better get going…” He opened the door, and Gears raced out onto the sidewalk, almost bouncing.

“Come on, come on, come on!”

“Alright, alright.” Sketch grinned at his brothers’ enthusiasm, shutting the door behind him before trotting out onto the road after him.

“So, where are we going?” Gears asked eagerly, apparently expecting to go more places than just to get doughnuts.

“Well, I was thinking. We go get doughnuts or something. Then maybe stop by Twilight’s? I want to say hi and maybe you can do something with Spike?

“Sounds good to me, as long as we get doughnuts.” Gears gave a strong nod of his head as he finished.

------@------

After a few minutes, they had arrived at the doughnut shop; run by somepony named “Joe”.

Gears had managed to get his brother to buy him three doughnuts, on top of a massive Hot Chocolate that he probably wouldn’t be able to finish. Sketch had settled for one massive doughnut the clerk had called a “Bear Claw” and the two had taken a seat by one of the windows.

“I wonder.” Gears said after a few minutes of silent eating, inspecting a doughnut carefully as he spoke. “If anypony as invented a doughnut making machine yet…”

“They have, it’s called an oven.”

“No, no not an oven, like a machine that makes the dough ad shapes it and bakes them and does the icing and everything.” Gears took a bite out of his second doughnut.

“I don’t know, bud. I bet you could build one though.” Sketch replied, finishing the last bite of his own doughnut.

“Eh, maybe. It would probably be a pretty big-“

“GEARS!”

An excited, high pitched voice cut Gears off, and Sketch, His brother, and just about everypony in the shop soon discovered who it was.

It was Sweetie Belle; one of the “Cutie Mark Crusaders”, as they liked to call themselves.

“Oh, hey Sweetie Belle…”

Sketch couldn’t tell if Gears was startled, annoyed or happy to see the small white filly currently scrambling up into the booth they were in, taking a seat agonizingly close to Gears.

“Hey!” Sweetie Belle seemed to not care whether Gears wanted her there or not, and she was staring at him intently, awaiting a response. It almost reminded Sketch of a dog.

“Hey Sweetie Belle.” Sketch said, trying to be friendly.

“Oh, uh, hey Sketch.” Sweetie Belle barely glanced at him as she spoke, then turned back to Gears; who’s eyes were a bit startled looking.

“Woah, you got doughnuts!?” She exclaimed.

“Yes…”

“Rarity didn’t buy me any doughnuts…” A bit of a pout formed across Sweetie Belle’s face. Gears turned to look at her, and held a stare for a moment, before sighing and pushing his third doughnut over to her.

What was going on between these two?

“Yeee!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, taking a large bite out of the doughnut the second it was in front of her.

“So uh...What…brings you here Sweetie Belle?” Gears asked, almost seeming like he was forcing the words out.

“Oh well, Rarity wanted coffee; blugh, and she ended up talking to some stallion for a while. She’s over there.” Sweetie Belle pointed a hoof over to the other side of the doughnut shop, and sure enough Rarity was there chatting it up with some stallion.

Something was off though, something about Rarity seemed…strange. Sketch hadn’t ever really talked to the seamstress all that much, so he wondered if maybe he was just being strange.

“Rarity’s been acting strange lately though…” Sweetie Belle said, sounding a tad upset; also confirming what Sketch had just been thinking.

“How so?” Gears’ former attitude was totally abandoned upon Sweetie Belle sounding upset, he now sounded concerned.

Sketch perked his ears up as well, wanting to hear what Sweetie Belle had to say.

“Well…the other day, she went out to the Town Hall to help Mayor Mare with re-decorating her office, she told me she would bring me back some new crayons on her way home.” Sweetie Belle leaned in closer. “And when she got home, she acted like she had no idea what I was talking about when I asked her about the crayons.” Her eyes were wide and she did in fact look a bit worried.

“Well…maybe she just forgot?” Sketch suggested, his gaze drifting over to the pony they were gossiping about.

“Maybe, but that wasn’t all…she acted like she didn’t know who I was! When she got home, and I went to say hi to her, she got all startled and said she hadn’t expected me to be home!”

“Hey wait a minute, Miss Cherilee forgot all our names at school the other day, too!” Gears said in a hushed voice.

“Are you two sure that you aren’t overreacting…maybe it was just a coincidence?”

“Coincidence or not, Rarity’s my sister, I don’t think she would forget my name.” Sweetie Belle sounded incredibly insistent on the matter. “I think that-“

“Sweetie Belle, Dear, what have I told you about talking to strangers?”

Rarity’s voice suddenly cut in; the purple maned mare had seemingly materialized next to Sweetie Belle, causing the filly to jump a bit.

“Uh…but, Rarity…these are my friends…”

Rarity eyed both Sketch and his brother, looking like she was inspecting them. Sketch couldn’t help but feel awkward for some reason. Now that he got a closer look at her, Rarity did look a bit off. Not in a particular way, she just gave off a strange vibe; as little sense as it made.

“Oh! Yes, of course. How could I have forgotten?” She sounded rather dismissive. “Anyway, say goodbye dear, we need to be going, I have to stop by Town Hall again, and I want you to accompany me."

“Oh…uh…bye Gears…bye Sketch…” Sweetie Belle hung her head a bit as she slid off the bench, giving off the faintest feeling of being uncomfortable with leaving.

“Bye…” They replied in unison.

Gears watched Sweetie Belle and her sister exit the doughnut shop, waiting until they had left before turning back to his brother.

“Was it just me, or did Rarity seem-“

“Off? Yes, she did. I have barely ever talked to her and I still felt like something was off.”

“Hmm…”

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, alright?” Sketch tried to get his brothers mind off of the matter. “I’m curious though…what’s up with you and Sweetie Belle?”

Gears seemed to tense up a bit.

“Uh…”

“Wait…”

“What?”

“She likes you.”

“NO!” Gears shouted rather suddenly, not even realizing he had shouted until after the fact.

“Er…no…I think, maybe. Yes.”

“Well, that’s not a bad thing, buddy.” Sketch said with a small grin.

“Yes it is! She always clings on to me, and always mooches stuff off of me, like the doughnut, and then she gives this little pout if I even hint about not giving her something.”

“And you give in.”

“What, no! Or wait…yes, sometimes.”

“She likes you.”

“Nooooo that can’t happen.” Gears groaned.

“Why is that?” Sketch couldn’t help but smile at his brother; remembering when he was extremely awkward and never talked to anypony. Maybe being around their mother had done that to him, after he moved to Ponyville, Gears had become much more social.

“Because…”

“Because why?”

“Because I like Scootaloo, and-“, Gears caught himself mid-sentence, looking up at the face of his brother; who was smiling like an idiot.

“Really now?”

“No, wait, I didn’t mean to, I misspoke, or wait, no. Shut up Sketch!”

Sketch’s grin only grew wider upon watching his flustered brother.

“Shush!” Gears insisted, as if his brother’s smile was making sound.

“Hey, I’m not saying anything. You’re the one who just confessed your love.”

“I did not confess my love.” He slapped a hoof on the table as he spoke.

“Right…” Still smiling, Sketch slid out of the booth; deciding to start heading to Twilight’s.

“You, You better…you just stop that right now.” Gears called from behind him, following him out of the shop.

“Hey now, I’m not doing anything.”

“You’re smiling like a fool that’s what you’re doing.” Gears insisted, stomping his little hooves as he trotted after his brother.

“Oh well I apologize then.” He retorted, still smiling.

“Ughh.” Gears hung his head, his cheeks totally red with embarrassment.

Deciding it was time to stop teasing, Sketch turned and sat on his flank in front of his brother, who looked up at him in frustration and surprise, not expecting Sketch to just stop in the middle of the road.

“But really though…”

“What…?” Gears waited for more teasing.

“I think that’s fantastic, really I do. You’ve found somepony you like, that’s a good thing, buddy.”

Gears said nothing.

“I’m your brother, it’s my job to tease you about that sort of thing, you know.”

Gears expression softened a bit, a small smile appearing on his face. “Yeah…”

“And you know I Love you, even though I tease you and we fight sometimes.”

Gears’ smile widened; he raised a hoof and hit his brother in the front leg; hard.

“OW!”

“I love you too.” He said with an air of confidence, looking rather proud of himself.

“You’re a butthead, you know.” Sketch retorted, rubbing his leg.

“Yes I know.”

---@---

The rest of their walk to Twilight’s was mostly tease-free and uneventful. The most exciting thing that had happened was when Gears saw a mouse scurry into a trash can; a trash can Sketch had to pull his brother away from, in order to keep him from taking a broken vacuum cleaner from it. After that Gears had asked if he could ride on his brother the rest of the way; to which Sketch happily obliged.

Eventually they arrived at Twilight’s “tree-house-library-thing”; As Gears had called it.

Twilight was; as expected, inside reading. Even so she seemed pleased to see Sketch and his brother and invited them in, insisting Sketch catch her up on some of the goings-on involving Lyra and her meeting with Vinyl; something that was most likely happening at that moment.

Much to Gears happiness, Spike was work-free; a rare occurrence, and the two had run outside the front of the tree to test out some new invention of Gears’.

Sketch was seated in the main room of the Library. Twilight had insisted that he do so, as she had just bought a new furniture set and wanted to “Break It In.” As usual the tree was extremely clean; considering it was a tree after all, and the faint smell of pine-scented cleaner lingered in the air.

“I had no idea that it was the Vinyl Scratch that Lyra was talking about though, she’s kind of a big deal.” Sketch finished; having spent the past fifteen minutes bringing Twilight up to speed on things, as she had insisted.

“That’s good though, for Lyra I mean. It could mean big things for her you know!” Twilight scribbled something into a notebook, looking away from the book she was reading as she did so. Even though she wanted to socialize, she had also decided to continue working.

“Yeah, it is. I’m happy for her, I really do hope everything works out the way she wants.”

“What does Gears have to say about all this?” She asked.

“Gears is indifferent about it, except for the fact that, well, he’s apparently a fan of Vinyl’s.”

Twilight gave a soft laugh.

Sketch nodded, taking a sip of the drink Twilight had poured for him earlier.

“Hey Twilight, can I ask you something?” He said after taking a sip, not really expecting much of an answer to what he was about to ask.

“Hmm?”

“Have you noticed…ponies around here seeming rather…off lately?”

Twilight stopped writing, she was stone still for a moment.

“You’ve noticed it too?” She said, her voice tainted with concern and suddenly hushed.

“Wait what? You’ve actually noticed something?” Sketch raised an eyebrow at her.

“Yes, I have, quite a bit lately. I was talking to Pinkie Pie this morning after she got back from Town Hall, she was supposed to be talking to the Mayor about some sort of party I believe. Something just seemed…different. Pinkie wasn’t as…well…she wasn’t as she usually was. I asked her if everything was alright and she got kind of nervous and brushed me off, something similar happened with Mr. and Ms. Cake. They seemed off too.” Twilight Explained.

“Wait, Town Hall?”

“Yes, Why?”

“Twilight, I was at the doughnut shop with Gears, earlier this morning. Sweetie Belle was there, she told me Rarity went to Town Hall, and when she came back acted like she hadn’t expected Sweetie Belle to be home and like she didn’t know who she was.”

Twilight’s expression darkened, just a barely noticeable amount, but it was there.

“And, Gears said that Ms. Cherilee; his teacher, acted like she didn’t know anypony’s names on Friday at school.”

Twilight’s face twisted into an expression of confusion.

“This…this is extremely abnormal…Ponies forgetting names, acting strange…At first I thought maybe it was just me being paranoid…”

“Preaching to the choir, Twilight.”

“Whatever it is…something is going on in Town Hall that’s linked to this, I think that maybe I should-“

“That. Was AWESOME!”

The voice of a certain dragon cut Twilight off. Sketch turned to see Gears trotting into the Library; a very excited Spike in tow.

“I know, right!?! I need to adjust the structure strength a bit, but other than that I think it might work perfectly!” Gears chimed happily; almost bouncing.

“And get some helmets…” Spike chuckled sheepishly, rubbing his scaly head.

“Hey, guys.” Twilight chimed, her voice very obviously trying to hide her previous state of worry.

Sketch noticed Spike pick up on it; as the dragon gave Twilight a look that said “I’m guessing you’ll tell me later?” To which Twilight simply smiled and gave a slight nod.

Gears however, didn’t pick up on it at all and trotted over to his brother happily.

“What’s up bud?” Sketch asked.

“Spike and I were testing out an invention of mine used for climbing trees! It was going well until, well, it broke.”

“Is everypony alright…?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, yes…You forget how resilient we dragons are Twilight!” Spike puffed out his chest, trying to look bigger than he was; only to let out a wince a moment later, rubbing his head. “I’m uh…gonna go get some ice…” He chuckled sheepishly again, before walking off into another part of the Library.

“Are we going home soon or…?” Gears asked.

“I’m almost done talking to Twilight, buddy, and then we’ll go.” Sketch smiled down at his brother, who had seated himself next to Sketch’s chair.

“If you’d like, I just got a new book about robots, Gears! If you’d like to read it.” Twilight spoke now, her voice sweet and caring, but with an underlying tone of urgency.

Her persuasion did its job however, and Gears perked his ears up at the mention of the book. “Where is it?”

“Upstairs, first bookshelf on the left, second shelf from the bottom. It’s a green book.” She stated, very obviously proud of herself for knowing where it was off the bat.

Sketch wondered if she knew where every book was, or only could remember under certain circumstances.

Gears nodded, and happily trotted off upstairs to find the book. Once he was out of sight, Twilight returned her gaze to her houseguest.

“Listen, something is going on, I don’t know what or why, but somepony or something is messing with the ponies in this town.” Her voice was hushed and urgent.

“Damn straight…”

“Now, this could be nothing.” Twilight looked like she thought what was happening was anything but nothing. “But, I’ll let you know if anything else comes up, alright? I’m going to write the Princess, ask her if she knows anything about it, and maybe do a little research of my own on the matter.”

“And what about me?” He asked.

“You.” Twilight jabbed a hoof at him. “Just…be careful, ok?”

“Wow, that’s helpful.”

“Sketch, really. I don’t know what’s going on around here, but Ponyville seems to attract trouble. It could be something perfectly harmless, or it could…be something else.”

Sketch sighed; exasperated.

“I guess…for all we know it could be some weird flu or something…” He rubbed his face with one hoof as he spoke.

“A flu…yes.” Twilight even sounded like she was trying to convince herself. “For now just, go home. Live your life, enjoy your weekend, ok? I promise I’ll let you know as soon as I can if anything comes up.”

Giving another sigh, Sketch slid out of the chair and stretched his wings a bit.

“Alright…thanks Twilight. I’ll talk to you later I guess.” He looked up in the direction of the second floor. “Gears, let’s go, buddy!”

“Alright!”

A moment later, Gears came trotting down the stairs, balancing a green book on his back.

“Hey, Twilight, do you mind if I take this-“

“Yes of course.” Twilight answered, already knowing what Gears was asking.

“Awesome, Thanks!”

“Enjoy your weekend, Sketch.” Twilight said, waving at him as he trotted out the door with his brother.

“You too!” He replied as he shut the door behind him, not even suspecting how worried Twilight actually was.

Sketch stepped outside, taking a deep breath in, trying to relax himself a bit.

The air had warmed up a bit, but it was still cool. The streets in front of him seemed rather quiet as compared to the norm; although it was the weekend, so that was expected. He wondered if Lyra was home, and a small part of him worried that she was ok. She had gone to the train station by herself and with such strange things going on around Ponyville, he wanted to make sure she was ok. He scolded himself for leaving his notebook he had received as a present home. He could have used it to communicate with her.

“So where’re we gonna go now!?” Gears asked; stuffing the book into his already full bag and bringing Sketch out of his thoughts.

“Actually, I think maybe we should head home. It’s nearly two already, Lyra’s probably home.”

“Awww. Ok, I guess.”

“Plus, don’t you have a certain tree-climbing apparatus to work on?” He asked as they started away from the Library.

“Yeah…that’s true. It’s supposed to make it so you can climb trees without falling, not so you can climb them and then fall.”

“It all works out then.”

The entire trip home, Sketch couldn’t help but think.

Maybe Gears really had seen something in his window.