The Heart's Shell

Twilight and Rarity headed back to the castle and were both equally confused on what had just happened. They had just seen their recently depressed friend Rainbow Dash have the time of her life, and Twilight had a slight suspicion that she knew what was causing it. When they got to the castle, Twilight spent her time searching through books even though she had read all of them at least once.

"Twilight, what are you doing?" Rarity asked.

"Searching through my books but I can't find anything!"

"Why are you making such a big deal about this anyway? Rainbow is happy now isn't she?"

"That's what I'm worried about. Maybe the watch put a spell on her"

"That's ridiculous. Why would a watch do that?"

"Well why else would she be so happy all of a sudden?"

"Maybe, I don't know"

"I rest my case" Twilight replied, stacking her books back onto the shelves "That's why I've decided to take the watch from Rainbow Dash myself"

"Why? For more experiments that weren't successful?"

"No, to protect our friend"

"So you're actually going to permanently confiscate it from her?"

"Yep"

"I don't know if this is going to work, darling. Are you sure you want this? For Rainbow to be sad again?"

"No, but I want her to be safe"

Rarity sighed.

"So what is your plan? You won't be able to get it from her when she's awake"

"That's why we'll sneak in at night and take it"

"But that's considered as trespassing"

"It won't matter. As long as Rainbow is back to normal the non-magic way that's all I care about"

"Fine. But I still don't think this is a good idea"

"Goodnight Tank" Rainbow said as she finally drifted off to sleep. Twilight and Rarity were nearby, and they had their best ninja outfits on. By now, they were directly below the cloud house.

"Are you sure about this?" Rarity asked.

"I'm positive. There's no turning back"

"No, I mean about these ninja outfits. I personally they need a little more glamour in them"

"Rarity, we're in disguise. We're not supposed to be seen"

"Right, you make a valid point. But I can't help you"

"Why not?" Rarity turned around to her side and pointed on her back.

"I don't have wings. And flying is the only way to get up there" Twilight looked behind her, then looked at her horn.

"You're right. I'm the only one to perform this task. I'll fly up to her bedroom window, then use my magic to safely transport the watch down to the ground"

"And what am I doing?" Twilight thought for a moment.

"You keep guard. Make sure no pony comes this way"

"I think no pony will, darling. It's the middle of the night and almost every pony has gone to bed. It's not like Canterlot where everywhere is constantly guarded" Twilight blinked.

"Did you say Canterlot?"

"Yes"

"Change of plan"

"Oh, what is it?" Rarity asked, annoyed.

"Instead of confiscating it, let's find out where it came from"

"In Canterlot?"

"That's one of the best cities to find strange magical artifacts"

"Or we could just ask Rainbow where it came from?"

"But she doesn't know either"

"This plan makes no sense!" Twilight put her hoof on Rarity's mouth.

"We're supposed to be quiet" Twilight whispered.

"Right"

Twilight started to fly up to Rainbow's house and to her open window. Rainbow was tucked in her quilts to keep warm. Twilight used her magic to try and levitate the watch to her. So far it was successful, until an electrical surge disrupted her levitation magic. Twilight was startled by this and fell. Rarity also noticed this and came to her rescue.

"Twilight, what happened?" Rarity asked as she was trying her best to stand up.

"I don't know what happened, but I was successful in transporting it for a while, but then there was this magical surge that stopped me from taking it" Twilight replied.

"A magical surge?"

"Yes" Twilight looked back. "And I think we may have woken Rainbow Dash up"

"We'd better get out of here"

Twilight transported herself and Rarity out of sight. Then, a sleepy, Rainbow Dash stared out of her window. She had no idea what woke her up until she saw the watch acting strangely. She walked towards it cautiously. As soon as she touched it, it stopped the magical surges.

'What could've happened?' she thought. But she had no time to figure it out, she just drifted back off to sleep.

Rarity and Twilight were safely transported back to the castle where they finally had a chance to catch their breath.

"That was a close one!" Rarity explained.

"Yeah. But we were unsuccessful. We didn't get the watch" Twilight replied.

"Cheer up Darling. I'm sure it wasn't too serious" Rarity responded, patting her alicorn friend on the back. Twilight's eyes widened. "Oh don't tell me you have another idea?"

"No. But I remembered something. When I was testing the watch for magical effects yesterday, I took some footage of it. Whilst I was doing that, there were no magical surges stopping me from handling it" Twilight got out her camera where lots of pictures of the watch were present. "But not just that, I also drew hundreds of diagrams!"

Suddenly Twilight threw a whole pile of papers onto Rarity using her magic. The unicorn was not amused. She shook the rest of the papers off of her.

"You did all of this in 7 minutes?"

"only 7 minutes?"

"well that's how long you were gone for. So how do all of these diagrams help us find out who sent the watch?"

"The store owner of the antique store, Mr Alious knows everything about every single piece of ancient artifact sent to him"

"But the watch isn't really ancient, darling"

"No, but it does have magical powers. He is an expert at that sort of thing" Twilight was on her way to leave but Rarity grabbed her hind leg before she did.

"We're not leaving to Canterlot now, it is too late at night to do so. Maybe tomorrow?" Twilight looked at her friend.

"You don't have to come with me, Rarity. I lived in Canterlot, I think I can do this by myself"

"Don't be ridiculous. I must come with you. For I also have magical powers up my metaphorical sleeve. Besides, it's Canterlot! I'd like to visit again, since I'm planning to open a new boutique there"

"Really? Rarity, that's amazing! You're really planning to broaden your designs to other areas of Equestria?"

"Yes darling. It's about time I share my clothing patterns with other ponies. And I will not fail to do so!"

"I know exactly what failing feels like"

"I didn't say I was going to fail"

"Oh, sorry"

"Let's meet at the station at 8:00 AM"

"Good idea. That's when the earliest train to Canterlot leaves"

Rarity made it safely back to her house and took off the ninja outfit. It was not likely that a fabulous mare such as herself was going to need a disguise again. She was used to other ponies noticing her and whatever outfits she wore. She knew she was going to Canterlot so she needed to pick something sophisticated for the occasion.

Twilight was waiting at the train station and staring at the clock. It was 7:55 AM. She was actually starting to get stressed about her friend arriving on time. Rarity did arrive shortly after she checked the clock and she was wearing her best winter outfit for the occasion.

"Rarity, you spent this time searching for an outfit to wear?"

"Yes, darling. Because we are going to Canterlot after all. I need to look magnificent"

"We're going to an antique store in Canterlot. We're not going to a performance or a social gathering"

"You may not care for fashion, but I must look magnificent whether we are visiting an Antique store or not!"

"Fine, let's just get on the train"

With Twilight's sudden tone of annoyance, Rarity quickly changed out of her formal wear. She didn't want to annoy her anymore on this trip.

The two mares arrived in Canterlot. All of the ponies were looking very sophisticated. But Twilight didn't really care for it. She got out her diagrams of the watch and started looking at them whilst she was moving.

"Twilight, are you sure you know where you're going?" Rarity asked. "Maybe you should have something more useful in front of your eyes like a map"

"I told you. I lived in Canterlot most of my life. I know exactly where I'm going. I don't even need a map"

"If you say so" Rarity sighed. The mares arrived at the building. It was an old looking building with lots of rusty objects inside. They went inside but they couldn't see Mr Alious anywhere. It was almost empty but the sign on the front of the door said it was open.

"Hello, anypony here?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, maybe we shouldn't be here, no pony else is around"

"Don't be ridiculous, the sign said it was open, so he must be around here somewhere"

The mares kept looking through the store trying to find where he might be. Then Twilight saw another room. The room was covered with rugs, drapes and photographs. Inside was a middle aged earth pony who was looking inside a crystal ball. She had piercings all over.

"Um excuse me, do you know where Mr. Alious is?" Twilight asked, making her way into the room.

"He is on a three-month vacation; he is currently on his first month searching for ancient artifacts in lost realms" a voice said behind them. It was the mare from before. Twilight and Rarity shrieked at the sudden teleportation. They turned around but she wasn't there, she was back where she was before. In her room.

"Who are you?" Twilight asked.

"I am Mr. Alious' Aunt; Madam Cleos. I'm looking after the store whilst he's on vacation" the mare replied.

"Are you a fortune teller?" Rarity asked.

"Well, no. I'm actually a psychic, miss Rarity and princess Twilight Sparkle" Rarity and Twilight had their mouths wide open.

"How do you know our names?" Twilight asked.

"Miss Twilight. You are a princess, of course I know who you are. And Rarity, you have come here before too. To Canterlot I mean. You met up with a sophisticated gentlecolt called Fancy Pants" Cleos replied.

"T-that was a year ago. How did you know that?" Rarity asked, eyes widened.

"I am a psychic. And I can also tell that you two are under distress. There is a mysterious watch object that you need my help to tell you where it came from"

"Yes, yes we do" Twilight replied. She grabbed the diagrams and photos from her bag and lay them on the table before her. Cleos examined the diagrams closely. Twilight was getting impatient.

"So, do you know what this object is?" she asked.

"It's a watch" Cleos replied.

"I already knew that. What I mean is..."

"But not just any watch" Cleos put her hoof on the pictures and diagrams in front of her. "This is a magical watch that a Rainbow maned Pegasus called Rainbow Dash owns"

"You can tell all of that by the pictures?" Rarity asked.

"Yes, I have the power to see the origins of anything I touch. For photographs, I am able to tell you about the object inside the photographs and their origin. But I can only tell you whilst I have magical source connected to me"

"So you can tell us who sent the watch?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. I think I might be able to" Cleos replied, putting the photograph onto her forehead.

"What do you see?" The mares both asked.

"I see that the watch has some form of magical being inside. The watch was transported via a fireplace in a vision of smoke"

Twilight and Rarity looked at each other in shock.

"Twilight, you know what this means?" Rarity asked.

"Yes. It means that Spike was telling the truth. There was a black shadowy figure that came out of her fire place. And that explains who sent the watch. It wasn't a pony at all!"

"Anything else?" Rarity asked Cleos.

"Let's see. This watch is magical because it can grant wishes to whoever it was sent to. I also see that it had been disturbed by a magical force, some kind of levitation"

"That was me. I tried to get the watch away from Rainbow Dash but something interfered with it. But that didn't happen when I took it to experiment on. That's when I took the pictures and diagrams"

Cleos was trying to get more information. Then she got something else.

"A wish had recently been made from the watch. When you took these pictures, the wish hadn't been made. But when you tried to take it using your magic, it had already happened"

"That makes more sense now!" Twilight smiled. "Now we still need to figure out who or what still sent the watch and what wish Rainbow had on it"

Cleos looked for more information, but then her concentrated look disappeared to one of worry.

"It's gone" Cleos said.

"What do you mean it's gone?" Twilight asked.

"I mean when I tried to look up the answers to those last two things you told me, the source disappeared"

The two mares wore a look of confusion and worry.

"Disappeared?" Rarity asked "How?"

"I believe if a source disappears, it no longer exists" Cleos responded.

"Kind of like a scent that a dog picks up. Though I do know that a scent of a corpse is filthy and disturbing. And I will know not to go to that part of the Everfree Forest again!" Rarity complained.

Twilight worried that they were getting off topic.

"Do you still remember the last thing you read?" Twilight asked.

"No. As I mentioned before, with this sort of thing, I only remember what I say, not what I see"

"That's annoying. Is there any way to get that source back?"

Cleos tried to find the source of the images again.

"Nothing. I'm sorry but the source is dead. It can't be brought back"

"Thanks anyway" Rarity replied.

"I hope I helped you"

"You did. Thank you so much" Twilight said. The two mares exited the store, slightly unsatisfied. They found out that it wasn't a pony who sent the watch, but they still didn't know who sent it. They found out that the watch had wishing powers, but they didn't know what wish the watch granted.