Spike, the Cowardly Dragon!
Twilight's Curse
By Ex-Nihilos
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro and its creator Lauren Faust, all copyrights go to them as this is a fanbase story. Courage the Cowardly Dog, the inspiration of this story, belongs to its rightful owners as well. No profit was made from this story.
(Self-edited, must get better at it. If you see errors PM them to me, don't clutter up the comments with them unless you want to degrade me about them, in that case go right ahead.)
A quiet afternoon lay ahead for Twilight and she couldn’t be happier about it.
She loved her friends very dearly and spending time with them was one of her favorite things to do but sometimes all the young student wanted to do was to sit at her desk with a hot cup of tea and study her books. At least with her books there was less chance of ending up on some crazy adventure like fighting Manticores, helping Princess Luna be liked by everypony on Nightmare night, running from Hydras or dragons, or dealing with the strangest phenomena like the Pinkie Sense. The reminder of Pinkie’s special sense caused the unicorn’s eye to momentarily twitch before she let the thought die down as quickly as it had arrived.
That was all behind her and with lessons learned and friends safe and sound she was glad to finally relax in her tree home. Brewing her own kettle of tea, courtesy of Zecora, she set out a single decorative tea cup for her own special use. Setting the tray of snacks and tea down at her desk she breathed a content sigh for her perfectly quiet afternoon. Spike was upstairs quietly doing his chores, the town outside was peaceful with only a small murmur of talking ponies and playing fillies and colts, and a perfect, bright day for her to sit in front of while she read was present.
Shuffling the chair out from under the desk she savored the moment of finally sitting down and letting worries ease away. Just a nice cup of sweet smelling tea, a comfortable chair, and the newest edition of the Daring Do series: Daring Do and the legend of the Sun’s Tears.
Her flank eased into the soft cushions of the seat as she settled down, leaning back into the comfortable, polished wood of its back Twilight took a moment to close her eyes and enjoy the peace of this moment.
It was promptly interrupted with heavy banging on her front door.
Twilight nearly jumped out of her seat from the sudden intrusion into her meditation. “Uuuugh!” she cried and turned towards the offending sound. The pony on the other end of the door did not relent and kept hammering away at the door. “Spike! Can you get the door?!” She called out to her number one assistant but after a few seconds heard no response from him.
The banging refused to relent, removing any hope Twilight had that the visitor on the other end would go away. Breathing an exasperate sigh she reluctantly shoved the chair away from the desk again and stood back up. Walking over to the door she tried to put herself in the best mood that she could muster. Reaching out she opened the door and was surprised to see a face she hadn’t seen since she was a filly in Canterlot.
Standing at her door was a beat up looking violet colored unicorn with a sleek black mane. He was breathing heavy, his hazel eyes darting back and forth as if expecting something to jump out at him. His clothes, an expensive looking pinstripe navy blue vest was ripped near to shreds and his cabby hat was missing its bill. His violet coat was ragged and dusty, clumps of his once fashionably groomed mane was missing, and in one of his forehooves he held a large slab of what looked like sandstone.
“Uncle Bell-lock?” Twilight asked with some apprehension. She was surprised that she recalled his name, she’d met her father’s brother only twice in her entire life. She could only remember the second time they had met and that had ended badly between her father and her uncle, something about an expedition to the far-east and a ‘Lost Ark’.
“Twilight Sparkle!” he bellowed happily, perhaps a bit too happy to be genuine. “Jolly good to see you dear, my you’ve grown so much!” He stopped and jumped when he heard a crash behind him where some pony’s cart had tipped over.
“Umm, it’s good to see you too uncle.” Twilight said, trying her best to keep the suspicion of seeing her uncle out of her voice. Her father had told her Uncle Bell-lock was never the most trustworthy of ponies. “But if you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing here?”
“Ah straight to the point! Good, good, good!” Uncle Bell-lock said, nodding nervously. He gulped and went on, “Well you see my dear I’m in possession of a very important artifact at the moment and I find myself in a position where I cannot keep it safely on me. I was passing through Ponyville you see and knew that my sweet young niece would be of the greatest assistance to me!”
Before Twilight could say she didn’t actually know him that well she found herself staring at the sandstone slab that her uncle had shunted before her eyes. The slab in question looked like it had been chipped off a larger wall as some lines of small foreign hieroglyphics that lined the rock’s top and bottom were abruptly cut off where the slab ended.
Four large pictures dominated the slab’s center. One, the largest was of what looked like a poorly carved pony. The pony, its face wrinkled and sunken in, had its eyes closed and its forehooves crossed before its chest, its body was covered in thick lines of bandages that covered every inch of its body except for the top its head where the bandages had been ripped and worn away. To the right of this mummy pony was a vertical row of smaller pictures. The top picture were wavy lines that Twilight couldn’t make sense of, the second picture was an old style phonograph, and the final picture looked like an evilly smiling Parasprite.
“Let me present to you Twilight, the tablet of Akhal-Teke Ramses the Late! The last ruler of the Turcolt Empire of the far-east,” Bell-lock said, laughing nervously.
“Well, it looks fascinating,” Twilight said hesitantly, “What do those pictures on the slab mean?”
“Pictures?! What pictures?! Those?! They’re nothing, nothing but nonsense is all!” Bell-lock shouted in a panic. He grinned at Twilight but the worry in his shaky eyes was obvious.
“Ooookay then, well I can’t make any sense of any of it,” and she didn’t think she cared to know, “so I’m sorry I can’t really be of any help…”
Bell-lock laughed nervously, “Oh no no no no! All I need Twilight is for you to hang on to it for a bit until I can get to safety- I MEAN… get to Sally’s, yes my colleague Sally who is a fine archaeologist and is an expert on Turcolt culture and who lives very far away and I can’t very well take such a delicate artifact on my journey there. So I’ll just leave this with you and I’ll go and get my colleague Sally, yes that’s right, and then we can take it off your hooves again!”
Before Twilight could protest the slab was shoved into her hooves. To say it was heavy would be an understatement. Somehow Twilight doubted this slab was delicate. “Well wait a moment uncle, I don’t know if-“
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head over anything Twilight. Everything is perfectly alright, no such thing as Pharaoh Akhal- Teke Ramses’ Curse! Oh wait you didn’t mention any curse did you? Well that’s good, no such thing as curses, no worries at all. Well if that’s all now I’ll be running away now- I MEAN… I’ll just be going now.”
“But uncle-,” Twilight began, trying her best to hold up the heavy stone slab.
She was too late though and could only watch as the violet unicorn waved goodbye to her as he trotted away, “Good bye Twilight! We really must catch up some time! Give my regards to Spike.” Once he thought he was out of sight Twilight watched him fall into a mad gallop out of Ponyville, leaving the lavender unicorn thoroughly dumbfounded.
Still frowning she awkwardly closed the door and carried the slab into the library. Sure enough it was only now that Spike came down to see who it was. “Hey Twi, who was at the door? And why are you caring that slab?”
Twilight placed the slab on the ground carefully, its weight only lightly shaking the tree’s foundation and roots. “That was Uncle Bell-lock believe it or not. He was acting really strange and asked me to keep this slab safe for him for a bit.”
Spike walked over to the slab and looked at it, even flat on the ground the stone slab reached up to his knees. He barely needed to bend over to trace the carvings on the slab with his claw, “So what is this thing? Looks old.”
“Apparently this is the tablet of Akhal-Teke Ramses. My memory in ancient eastern pony history is a bit rusty but if I remember correctly he was the last Pharaoh of the Turcolt Empire that lasted for nearly four hundred years. Some pony historians believe Ramses was the reason why it collapsed.”
“Why’s that?” the baby dragon asked.
“Well the story went that Ramses was arrogant and insulted a powerful Zebra enchantress. The Enchantress cursed Ramses and his rule with three destructive plagues that left Ramses alone and hated. I’m not so sure how truthful the story is though, after all it goes on to say that after Ramses died the curse lingered on in all of his belongings and that anypony that dared keep one of Ramses’ artifacts would suffer the same plagues that ended his dynasty.”
“Did you say a c-c-c-“
“Oh please Spike not that again. We already went over this when we met Zecora. There are no such things as curses. It’s just artificial magic and superstition.” Twilight said, slightly exasperated in saying something that she seemed to always have to repeat to Spike and sometimes Pinkie Pie.
“Well still Twi, what are you gonna do with it? I mean isn’t your uncle… well isn’t he-“
“A crook?”
“I was going to say shady but yeah a crook.”
Twilight frowned and walked over to her bookshelves in search of a particular book on Turcolt language. She answered him while she searched, “honestly Spike the way Uncle Bell-lock was acting it seemed like he stole the slab. Knowing him too I’m inclined to believe it. Still… he is family. I don’t want to be accusing him of anything without any evidence.”
“So what should we do?” Spike asked, “And what are you searching for, maybe I can help?”
“Well I’m looking for that book on Turcolt culture so I can figure out what those pictures mean on that slab, and for now we’ll keep it safe, tomorrow we’ll get the day’s issue of the Canterlot Newsletter for any news on stolen artifacts. If that fails I might just write to the Princess about it and see what she thinks I should do.”
“Found it!” Spike said, holding up an old book, on its cover was an eagle’s eye that seemed to symbolize the Sun, below the eye rows of robe clad ponies were bowing before it in reverence.
“Ah thank you Spike,” Twilight said, using her magic to take the book from the dragon’s claws. Setting it down on her desk she opened it up to the section on Turcolt language and writing. A smile played on her lips as she read the first passage. “You know Spike I was hoping for this to be a peaceful, quiet evening without some weird interruption but I have to admit the thought of studying an ancient tablet makes up for it.”
Spike barely listened; he was still eyeing the slab, more specifically the mummified pony on the tablet’s center. Quietly he muttered something about curses before Twilight called for him again to get another book for her.
He turned away, failing to see the mummified pony fade away from the slab’s surface.
The day slowly whittled away the hours until the sun began to duck down behind the horizon. It was a beautiful shade of orange that made the sky a royal purple shade that was entirely missed by Twilight Sparkle. Her curiosity for the strange tablet had rekindled a forgotten fervor for learning about ancient history. And so her interest for the slab turned to an exciting obsession.
Books piled upon the floor, each one with the similar theme of Turcolt culture and eastern pony history. Twilight leaned in closer to her current book of choice, an overlook into Turcolt arts and architecture. After a quickly reading through three entire pages she leaned back and gave an irritated huff, yet another book didn’t even come close to explaining what the tablet’s pictures meant. In fact very few books even went into detail about Ramses’ rule. It was always a footnote or final sentence of a book that he was even mentioned. Very few of his artifacts were studied in detail and the ones that were were left unfinished. Twilight also had to note that the archaeologists who went into detailed studies of Ramses’ belongings met grisly ends for what ever worth that was to know.
The young unicorn couldn’t stifle the sudden yawn that came upon her. Looking out the window she saw the stars out where the sun should have been. “Gosh, I must have lost track of the time, it’s already so late. Spike? Where are you?” she cast her dreary eyes around the room in search of the purple dragon. Her eyes passed by the tablet briefly in her search for the dragon, what she saw caused her to look again in shock.
From nearby a pile of books collapsed as a yawning dragon awoke from his slumber. Scratching his back and stretching Spike stepped out from the pile of books, “You finally done with that tablet yet? Jeez, what time is it?”
Passing Twilight Spike made his way to the window. Hopping up onto a pile of books to look outside he frowned, “Huh. That’s strange, I don’t recall the pegasi scheduling a fog for tonight.”
With her eyes rubbed and cleared of their grogginess Twilight glared down upon the slab with a scrutinizing look, “Spike. What did you do to the tablet?”
The Dragon didn’t turn away from the window but waved a dismissing hand at her, “I haven’t touched that thing at all! I’m not about to get any curse that thing might have.”
“First, there is no such thing as curses. Second, you clearly must have done something! The picture of King Ramses is gone from the tablet. Pictures don’t disappear suddenly and without reason. Unless…”
“Unless it’s cursed?” Spike chimed in matter-of-factly, turning around he gave Twilight a smug smile before going back to look outside the window. “Wow, that fog is getting really thick now!” he said to the distracted unicorn. Beyond the thick fog though he swore he could see some figure appearing. It was hard to tell, it was only a silhouette but it was quickly becoming clearer even though it wasn’t moving at all.
“No not cursed!” Twilight retorted, “But what if the tablet is actually a magical calendar? Maybe certain pictures disappear depending on the time of day or the type of season?”
“Uh Twilight?”
“That opens up so many possibilities! Like why pick these type of pictures to describe each season?”
“Twi? Can you come see this?”
“Still… That doesn’t explain why or where the picture of King Ramses went.”
“Twilight. I know where the picture of King Ramses went.”
Twilight gave an irritated sigh to the baby dragon as she trotted over to the window, “What are you talking about Spike? For the last time the slab isn’t.” She looked out the window and finished her sentence with a lot less enthusiasm, “Cursed.”
From the fog appeared a figure wrapped in tarnished and moldy gauze. It was a pony but its appearance was utterly wrong. It’s features seemed too define, too contrasting to its surroundings. From beneath the gauze on it’s extremely gaunt face two eyes looked at them like death itself. The pure whites of its eyes were stained yellow, almost to match the bright yellow irises that it had. Three strands of orange mane flew freely in a phantom breeze that caught its mane, ragged tail, and strands of hanging gauze in its strong current. It was the exact image of the pharaoh from the tablet.
Twilight and Spike stared out the window, mouths agape at what they saw. The ghostly figure spoke to them, its voice loud and clear for them to hear. The two were painfully aware of its jaw moving and its lip-less toothy mouth forming the words.
“Return the slab.”
Twilight tried her best to rationalize the situation. Maybe this was Uncle Bell-Lock playing a trick on her? Perhaps it was another thief come to try to take the tablet and the potential wealth it entitled. A thousand words crossed her mind, a hundred different responses that her educated and scholarly mind could think of. She called out to the phantom from the fog, her voice full of a resolve that she felt wasn’t really there.
“What’s your offer?!”
Spike turned to look at Twilight, his face clearly asking her ‘what in the world kind of response was that?’ Twilight shrugged and gave a rather embarrassed smile. The ghost either didn’t hear them or didn’t care as he spoke again in his ghostly wail.
“Return the slab or suffer my curse!”
“Oh please,” Twilight angrily said, “there’s no such thing as curses. Is that you Pinkie Pie?! If this is a prank it isn’t funny!”
“This night you will be visited by three plagues, each worse than the last. Return the slab.” The ghost wailed.
Without another word the fog enveloped the phantom again, leaving no trace of his presence to be found. To be sure Twilight bolted and locked her door shut. Prank or not Pinkie Pie was going too far. Leaping down from the pile of books Spike looked to Twilight, the worry clear in his eyes, “Uh maybe we should do what he said Twilight! Think about the c-c-curse!”
Twilight scoffed, “Spike, for the last time, curses don’t exist!” she trotted over to where the tablet lay and leaned it upward to examine it. Nothing had changed besides the figure of Ramses that was still gone. “Clearly this is just Pinkie Pie, Uncle Bell-lock, or some other thief trying to get the slab back for their own gain! Well I’m not going to let them scare me into giving it to them! This is an artifact that belongs in a museum!”
Puffing out her chest and placing a hoof to her heart Twilight looked up to the ceiling of her tree library with a look of determination and complete resolve. Spike though paid little attention to her. His worries only grew as he watched the first picture, the one of waves, disappear.
“Um Twilight?” Spike tried to get her attention, tugging at her forehoof with his claw as he refused to turn away from the slab for fear it would do something else.
“What is it Spike? Can’t you see I’m trying to have a moment here?”
Spike didn’t have time to answer as he became aware of a strange noise, the sound of rushing water. Twilight heard the sound too, causing the two to look around in search of the strange sound’s origins. Twilight’s eyes widened in horror when she spotted the source. From the walls, the shelves, and every crevice in the tree house water began to pour out and onto the floor. The floor covered in her beloved books.
“OH NO!” She cried out, frantically surging forward. Her horn aglow she managed to life several books just before the growing pools of water reached them. Spike meanwhile tried his best to cover the holes that gushed out water, but each time he covered one hole another one would gush out more water. No matter what he did the water kept getting through. He cried out in fear when he felt the water rise up to his ankles. Looking around he saw torrents of water blanket the walls, cascading the floor in waves rather than trickles.
“Spike! Do something!” Twilight desperately called out as she tried to balance on her back hooves, her forehooves just barely holding the massive amount of papers and books that her magic couldn’t hold. The water by now was at Spike’s waist. Wading over to the Unicorn he tried to hold up a pair of ruined books that floated by him.
“What do we do Twi?!” Spike shouted over the roar of water. The young dragon had to tilt his chin up to keep his head above the water, standing on the tips of his claws to keep his small form out of the water as best he could.
Twilight frantically looked around for any signs of stopping the water. The solution struck her suddenly and she couldn’t suppress the smile that came with it, “Spike! Pinkie Pie Emergency plan three!”
Spike grinned and nodded, “On it!” With her magic Twilight grabbed the two books he was hold. Taking a deep breath of air the dragon dived down below the water and made his way to the tree house cellar.
Twilight was barely holding up the massive amount of books, the water was up to her chest now and the bottom of the pile she frantically held was being soaked. “Spike! Where are you?!” she cried out, the fear evident in her voice.
Down below in the cellar Spike desperately swam down to the bottom to a plug that lay in the middle of the floor. Grabbing the chain that kept the plug in place he pulled with all his might. His cry of joy came out as a mass of bubbles when the plug came free and the water started to flow down into the drain. His joy turned to terror when he realized he was being sucked into the drain as well. Arms wildly flailing through the water he tried to keep himself from being sucked down the drain as well. The water levels were quickly falling and the young dragon was able to take a huge gulp of air.
He lay upon the soaked ground as the last of the water was drained, exhausted but glad to be safe from the danger of drowning. Getting up slowly he took a moment to wring out some water from his tail and shake the water from his scales, being just a bit drier he made his way up the stairs. He stepped back into the library, his shoulders sagged in exhaustion. He cast his tired eyes upon Twilight who was busy piling her soaked books and papers on every available surface. Setting the pile down on her desk she spotted the tired looking Spike standing in the doorway. Quickly she pulled her number one assistant into an embrace of relief and thankfulness.
Spike laughed weakly, “Emergency Pinkie Pie crisis plan number three. Never thought it’d come in handy!”
Twilight joined him, the two laughing in relief until a ghostly moan caused their laughter to disappear.
“Oh Come on…” the spectral annoyed voice from outside called out.
The both of them turned towards the window. King Ramses had appeared again, watching them both with cold eyes and an annoyed look. The unicorn and dragon rushed up to the window to get a better look at the skeletal being. Spike smiled triumphantly at the specter, shaking his fist at him the baby dragon called out, “Is that the best you got?!”
“I don’t care who you are!” Twilight called out, “But you’re not getting this slab! It belongs in a museum!”
In response the ghost of King Ramses stood on his back hooves and waved his forelegs to the sky. On that final act the fog enveloped him again and he was gone, and so was the second image on the tablet.
“Huh, I wonder what that was,” Spike said, rubbing his chin in response to the strange motion the ghost made.
Twilight frowned, “I don’t know but… Is it just me or do you hear music too?”
Sure enough it sounded like a record had started playing a piano chord, a very familiar piano chord that chilled Twilight to the bone. “Oh no, It couldn’t be,” she whispered, backing up from the window.
Spike looked into her terror filled eyes with confusion. “Twi? What’s wrong?” The sudden realization dawned upon the young dragon when he heard a familiar, warm voice start to sing.
“WE MAY BE DIVIDED, BUT OF YOU ALL I BEG!”
It was Pinkie’s song from Appleloosa, the one that caused a war.
“TO REMEMBER WE’RE ALL HOOFED AT THE END OF EACH LEG!”
“NNNOOOOOOOO!” Twilight screamed, trying to drown out the dreaded song but the music was louder.
“NO MATTER WHAT THE ISSUE, COME FROM WHEREVER YOU PLEASE!”
Spike looked at her strangely, “Oh come on Twilight! You’re totally overreacting; Pinkie’s song wasn’t that bad!”
“ALL THIS FIGHTING GETS YOU NOTHING BUT HOOF AND MOUTH DISEASE, ARGUING’S NOT THE WAY!”
Twilight didn’t listen to him, instead she was frantically clutching at her ears trying to block out the music. “Just make it stop Spike! Make it stop! Please!”
“HEY COME OUT AND PLAY IT’S A SHINY NEW DAY, SO WHAT DO YAH SAY?!”
“Alright fine!” Spike shouted through the music. He too was clutching his ears as the music was steadily getting louder.
“YOU GOTTA SHAAAAAARE, YA GOTTA CAAAAAARE!”
Claws clutching his ears Spike ran around the Tree library trying to find the source of the loud music. He honestly liked the song but the volume of it was mind-numbing and painful. Pinkie’s voice couldn’t be handled at any higher octaves than it already was in the young dragon’s opinion.
“IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO, YOU GOTTA SHARE YOU GOTTA CARE AND THERE’LL ALWAYS BE A WAY THROUGH!”
Spike couldn’t understand why Twilight was reacting the way she was. The song wasn’t that bad.
“BOTH OUR DIETS I SHOULD MENTION ARE COMPLETELY VEGETARIAN. WE ALL EAT HAY AND OATS WHY BE AT EACH-OTHER’S THROATS!”
Okay maybe that one line was pretty awful but the message was for peace! Even if it did bring the buffalo and ponies into a war of pastries. Opening every cupboard and cabinet in the kitchen Spike could find no trace of the phonograph responsible for the music. Running out of the kitchen he made a mad dash to the bedroom, trying his best to ignore the wailing Twilight currently in the fetal position.
“YOU GOTTA SHAAAAAARE, YOU GOTTA CAAAAAARE!”
Spike checked the shelves, tore off the covers of the bed, and searched the closet from to to bottom. Still no sign of the phonograph. He stopped and paced in his pondering, suddenly he snapped his claws and cried out “Aha!”
“IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO-” Spike stomped down upon the phonograph with all his weight. He didn’t stop until the contraption was nothing more than a pile of broken wood and the record was shattered into irreparable pieces. Breathing heavy he gave the phonograph’s crumpled horn a kick before he went down the stairs to find Twilight slowly recovering from the ordeal.
“Now,” Spike took a moment to brief, “do you believe in curses?! Can’t you just admit that that’s King Ramses out there and give him the slab?!”
“Curses don’t exist!” Twilight shouted, “I don’t know how to fully explain how all of this is happening, I might have never seen any magic like this before but there is no way these are curses!” Spike angrily looked at Twilight, preparing to speak up he was stopped by a abrupt ghostly howl from outside.
“Return the slab.”
Spike rushed to the window and looked outside, there the phantom stood the same as before with the same look of mild annoyance in his eyes. Spike turned around, “Twilight! The third curse is coming! Just give him the slab!”
“No! There are no such things as curses!” Twilight shouted back, hugging the slab against her chest. Spike looked to the window again and saw the pony pharaoh raise his hooves again to the sky. This time he remained where he stood. Outside Spike could hear the a loud mass of buzzing quickly approaching from the fog. The dragon whirled around to look at the slab. The last hieroglyph, the parasprite, disappeared.
“Seriously, what part of ‘Return the slab’ are you not understanding in there?” the ghost called out.
Spike jumped down from the pile of books and looked to Twilight, begging her, “Twilight! Give him the slab! The Parasprites are coming!”
Twilight hugged the slab closer, “No! It belongs in a museum!”
From outside Spike could hear the quickly approaching cloud of parasprites. There wasn’t a lot of time left. Grabbing ahold of the slab he tried to pull it from her grasp. “Twilight! These curses are real! Give him the slab!”
“No!” Twilight shouted, pulling the slab back against the dragon. The walls were abuzz now, the windows covered in multicolor Parasprites biting at the walls trying to get in, they were eating the walls of the tree library.
All the while Twilight and Spike fought for control of the slab.
“Return the slab.” The ghost wailed.
“Give him the slab!”
“Never!”
“Return the slab.”
CRASH.
One of the windows shatters in and a swarm of hungry Parasprites rush in. Spike and Twilight look up to see the hungry things swarming all around them, devouring everything in sight.
One group greedily ate away at the unicorn’s precious pile of books. Twilight gasped, “MY BOOKS!” She looked down at the slab, now as blank as a rock, and then back at her books. The decision was obvious.
“Alright! I don’t care anymore! I believe! I believe! Now take the curse away, take the stupid slab!” she cried out, she let go of the slab and rushed over to the pile of books to swat away the ravenous swarm of parasprites.
“Return the slab.”
Spike rushed over to the window, “Fine, take it!” he yelled and with all the strength he could muster he threw the slab outside towards the ghost like a massive Frisbee.
The results were instant once the slab hit the ground in front of King Ramses.
The parasprites stopped their ravenous feast and as a collective swarm flew back out the window. Twilight slumped down against the pile of partially eaten books, laying in a puddle of water. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Spike came down from the window and took a seat next to her. He took a look around the soaked and destroyed library and started to laugh. In response, Twilight gave her assistant an incredulous look, “What’s so funny about all of this?”
Spike slowly stopped laughing, “This, Is going to take me forever to clean. It was worth it though to hear you say you believe in curses.”
“Yeah that was one doozy of a doozy!”
Both Twilight and Spike nodded, smiling until the unicorn’s eyes shot open.
“Pinkie Pie?! When’d you get here?”
"When the song started silly! I replaced that other old 'Pony in Gauze' song with my own happier song!"
It was early morning, before the sun had even risen yet and before the stars had gone away. The dismal tree library was silent, its occupants asleep as Ponyville lay ignorant to the catastrophe that had befallen it during the night. The slab lay where it had been thrown, unmoved and undisturbed, and yet the hieroglyphs on the tablet had reappeared, the plagues returned to where ever they lay dormant.
In the early dusk a lone violet pony trotted up to the slab.
Bell-lock hefted the slab again and looked at it with greedy eyes, “There you are my darling. Thought I’d leave you behind did you?” He looked to the Tree library with its partially eaten trunk and branches, huge chunks of wood and leaves missing from them. The violet unicorn smirked, “Well looks like you gave my niece Twilight some trouble.”
Hefting the slab into his arms Bell-lock chuckled, “Now then let’s get you on the market! I’m thinking a million bits for the starting bid is reasonable don’t you? Ah you’re just a stupid slab, what do you care?” He turned to leave but stopped when he found the road was quickly disappearing.
“.... and why did it get foggy all of a sudden?”
Bell-lock turned around sharply and stared into the deathly yellow eyes of a gaunt, skeletal pony. The pony locked eyes with his and Bell-lock couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away. The pony in gauze spoke in a ghostly wail.
“Return the slab or suffer my curse.”
Bell-lock gave the pony a leer, “What’s your offer?”
In response the pony raised his hooves to the air and the sound of a buzzing swarm approached.Bell-lock looked up to the sky to see the cloud descend upon him.
Bell-lock thought back to the Diamond Dog that convinced him to take the slab in the first place, he muttered,
“Stupid dog.”
