Why was it (considered Spike as he began to descend the basement stairs) that Twilight Sparkle, the most rational pony he knew, and now the newest Equestrian princess, was so difficult to dissuade from terrible plans? It was as if, every once in a while, the young alicorn got an idea into her head that she just HAD to follow through, regardless of its chances of success or the consequences of getting it wrong.
All of that studying must really drive a pony crazy after a while, Spike thought privately.
In any case, it was his job to help Twilight with her schemes no matter how ill-fated. After all, how likely was it, really, that it would go all that badly?
…Actually, that one was pretty easy. Between time spells, Pinkie sense, and the whole want-it-need-it incident, Spike reflected that things tended to spiral out of control pretty quickly when it came to Twilight’s little episodes. And come to think of it, it had been a pretty long while since the big ones. They were practically overdue for it.
Banishing this harrowing thought with a shudder, Spike arrived at the bottom of the staircase and set down the stack of books he had been carrying. Applying the secret knock to the laboratory door (two knocks, pause, one knock, pause, three knocks), he sighed and waited. After just a few seconds, the door swung open, presenting the dragon with a very strange sight: a purple pony, with her hair tied in a bun, wearing not one, but TWO pairs of goggles: one over her eyes, and one much larger pair which fit over the first and also covered her muzzle. To top it all off, she was wearing a white lab coat that had special strapped wing-covers, giving the princess a look not unakin to a straitjacketed lunatic.
Spike, for his part, didn’t even blink. It wasn’t uncommon for Twilight to get a little bit overconcered with safety when working in her lab. It’s kind of ironic, Spike thought, but out loud he only said: “Hey, Twilight, I have the reference guides. Why do you even need all three? Isn’t it all the same stuff?”
Twilight removed the larger face-goggles, leaving them dangling around her neck so that she could talk to her assistant. “Well, of course I only technically need one of them, but why not be safe? If the one I choose leaves out even a single piece of important information, the results of my experiment could be disastrous! It’s only sensible to double- and triple-check these things. We don’t need another… mishap.”
“Don’t I know it,” muttered Spike under his breath. If Twilight had heard him, she gave no indication, but simply picked up the three huge volumes in her magic and trotted over to what she called the “study table”. Twilight liked the feel of a solid wood desk, rather than all the plastic and metal all the rest of the lab’s furniture was made of. After the first two desks were incinerated to ash and blown to splinters, respectively, the alicorn decided to fortify the latest one with an array of powerful protective enchantments. The only thing that could take down this desk was the direct efforts of an Equestrian princess, or maybe Pinkie Pie.
Setting the books down and levitating over some paper and a quill, Twilight began to write, muttering under her breath. Spike decided to leave her to it, and walked back out of the room, shaking his head. By this time, he thought, you’d think he would be used to his adoptive sister’s antics. That outfit is just too ridiculous. Then another thought struck him. But I don’t even laugh at it any more! I’m getting used to it! If it keeps up like this, I could wake up one day thinking the things that Twilight does are normal!
His reverie was interrupted by a shout from below, followed by a crash of breaking glass. Spike paused at the top of the stairs. Sure enough, the shout came.
“Spiiiiiiike! Do me a favour and fill out an order for a crate of… uhh, two crates of new beakers.” There was an embarrassed pause, after which a much quieter shout came: “And… see if you can find a book with an enchantment that protects things from fogging up. Um. Second thing first.”
Spike sighed again. Nah, he thought as he walked off in the direction of the bookshelf he needed. I think I’d know normal if I saw it.
* * * * *
- Twilight Sparkle -
It felt so good to be working in the lab again! Between the recent , it had been a while since Twilight had been able to work on an interesting problem all on her own, in her basement lab, without any distractions. It seems like forever ago that I was just Princess Celestia's student and nothing more, She thought as she removed the object of her study from its protective box. Even though I guess it really wasn't that long ago at all.
Since becoming a princess, studying had become less and less a part of her daily life. Finding this book was not only a remarkable stroke of luck which made the librarian in her practically explode with joy, but also a great opportunity for Twilight to once again delve into the magical experimentation she missed so much.
The book in question was a true rarity: the only known copy of Potions Moste Curious, a compendium of, as the name suggested, potions and magical substances written by the renowned 4th-era mage Potent Brew. It was largely a compendium of naturally-occurring magical ingredients and their uses in well-known potions of the time, but also contained the details of some the potions he himself had invented- a few of which had never been recorded elsewhere. Twilight Sparkle had in her possession a book that contained the lost work of the most famous potionbrewer of all time! It was almost too good to be true.
Twilight smiled to herself as she carefully turned another ancient page, taking notes as she scanned the section on enchanted herbs. No matter what Spike's opinion on the matter was, studying this book was too good an opportunity to pass up, regardless of how (as her number one assistant had put it) "completely insane" she was for "drinking potions invented by a guy who literally blew himself up". Yes, okay, maybe Potent Brew's fame was partially due to his... interesting fate, but that didn't change the fact that he was a genius. Twilight kept telling herself that anypony could make a mistake when they let their diligence lapse. She would surely be able to spot any errors of exploding magnitude as long as she was careful. Probably.
