-<>~--*--~<>-<

Wasp is startled awake as Aurelic taps her on the withers.

"Ah, you're finally awake. Good, I've decided what to do with you now." Aurelic said, happily.

Wasp didn't like this. "And what is that?"

"Well, you see, I happen to have gained new... access, to books on magic. And, wouldn't you know it? Memory erasure is in the restricted section! Mind you, I won't be getting rid of everything, just your time in chains here. While my pills would be a boon for changeling kind, they'd also give you no incentive to change yourselves for the better, and some would still feed directly, by preference. So, I can't have that happening, not when something else is meant to occur. So I'll be moving my pill making station, and all solutions used in it, to a more remote location you can't find them. Then, I'll erase all of your memories since going unconscious after dropping the dopamine concentrate. The others will believe you have been passed out for the last two days from that incident, and you won't remember a thing. Status quo for you, but I get to keep my knowledge." Aurelic explains, smiling widely.

"No! NO! You can't do that! It HAS to be illegal!" Wasp yells in desperation.

Aurelic cocked his head back and laughed. "Legalities went out the window when you started spying on me. Now, this won't hurt a bit... Obliviate!"

With a flash of white light, Wasp felt herself becoming very, very drowsy. Despite her best efforts to remain conscious, her vision and thoughts fade to black.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Forge reads through more books in the restricted section. "No wonder these aren't available to the public. Of course, the time travel spell creates bootstrap paradoxes, so nothing changes as a result of them."

Forge looks over the books on necromancy, inspecting the chains and padlocks over them with his new monocle. "Yep, those are enchanted. But hey, at least I have some info on mind magic now. If I can combine some of that with my minor chaos illusion magic, I could add smell, taste, and touch to the effects. Causing even more realistic illusions just short of manipulating the real world. I can go all Mysterio on motherfuckers!

Forge puts the books away, noticing a cloth covered object on the far wall. Curious, he meanders over to it. Without touching it, he inspects the shape visible underneath the cloth. "It's the mirror Starswirl made. I'd better not touch it, it's a long time away before it will even be active again. I'll have my chance then..."

Forge prances out of the restricted section, the standing guard locking the door after Forge's exit.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Wasp stirs from her slumber, waking up in the empty old castle. She felt groggy, vision slightly hazed until she shakes it off.

"Wasp! Report! You went dark for two days, what happened!?" Chrysalis' voice buzzed through the device.

"I... I don't know, I dropped a vial full of pink liquid, felt... really good, too good. Then I blacked out. It... looks like it was cleaned up. I don't see it anywhere in here anymore." Wasp relays, her eyes scanning the room.

"That must have been powerful, to knock you unconscious for two days. Your replacement should be there by tomorrow, we sent one out the moment you went dark. You're relieved of spying duties, come home." Chrysalis says.

Wasp knew what that meant. Failures of the hive only had one purpose, incubation. The fittest changelings were allowed to breed, and the mothers would transfer their eggs to a broodmare for incubation while they continued working. It was an efficient system, ensuring no member of the hive was truly useless. For Wasp, it meant she'd never get to see the outside ever again. "I-I can still work my queen! Please! I'm one of your best spies! Please don't take that away from me!"

"YOU WILL DO AS YOU'RE TOLD, GET BACK HERE! NOW!" Chrysalis roared, the volume causing Wasp's ears to ring once more.

Wasp knew there was no point in running. She'd be hunted down, and dragged home, no doubt facing more punishment than her defiance surely wrought already. "Yes, my queen. I will return..."

Wasp changed to the form of a hawk, taking flight out of the tree canopy, on her way to her fate.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

The months of January and February seemed to pass without much incident, as Forge read more from both the standard and restricted libraries, adding more useful spells to his repertoire. He noted that it was odd that Hearts and Hooves day isn't linked to Valentine's day, since it seems to be in early March around St. Patrick's day, weirdly. This morning, on the last day of February, Forge looked out his bedroom window to see something odd. The snow was being melted away by various unicorns, the water evaporating soon after.

"So that's how Winter Wrap Up in Canterlot is eh? Quick and efficient. Sucks to be you, Ponyville. Why do they insist on the multi-day traditional ways when magic is this useful? Work smarter, not harder. Clearly, they're not. Should I go help them? Twilight gets them to do it on time this year anyway... Maybe, if they ask me. I hate unpaid labor." Forge thinks selfishly, about to go back to bed.

Suddenly, a scroll poofs in front of him from a cloud of golden magic. Forge groans, opening the scroll. A small note falls out of it, onto his bed.

Forwarded by Princess Celestia to Turner Forge.

"Of course. Can't even THINK without jinxing things." Forge grumps, looking at the main scroll.

Dear Turner Forge, would you mind coming down to Ponyville? Winter Wrap Up here takes some real work to do, and I was wondering if you'd be willing to lend a helping hoof.

-Twilight Sparkle

Written by Spike

"Gotta get your recognition where you can I guess. Uuuuuuugh, work. If I want to keep steady trust, I guess I have to go. Damnit." Forge thought grumpily, teleporting down to Ponyville.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Forge teleports directly in front of Twilight's front door, immediately making his way towards the town hall. Thankfully, he'd made it by the time the vests were being distributed. There were three options: The blue vested weather team, the green vested plant team, and the tan vested animal team. He honestly thought the animal team would be more to his liking, or maybe weather. A farmer he was not.

"Excuse me, miss Mare?" Forge began, approaching the mayor.

Mayor mare turns to greet him. "Oh hello Forge, it's been a while. What brings you to Ponyville today?"

Forge pulled out his scroll. "Twilight asked me to help with Winter Wrap Up, what positions are available?"

"You'd have to go and ask the team leaders about that. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy." Mayor Mare says, heading inside town hall.

"Well okay then." Forge says to nobody in particular. "Guess I'd better track down Fluttershy."

-<>~--*--~<>-<

It didn't take long for Forge to find Fluttershy, due to Twilight's screaming and crashing into things.

"Twilight, you okay?" Forge asks a VERY smelly, stung all-over Twilight.

"I don't want to talk about it." Twilight groans, trudging off with Spike in tow.

Forge waits until Twilight's out of earshot. "She looks like a train wreck, what happened?"

"Oh, um, well... She woke up some snakes from their den, and she got scared. So she backed up into a nest of bats, ran out even more scared, ran into a tree, had a beehive fall on her head, and then she ran blindly into a skunk den." Fluttershy explained, shrinking down a bit with every thing that happened to Twilight.

Forge sighs. "Well, how about I help instead? I promise I won't scare any of the animals."

"Um... I do need the help... Okay" Fluttershy says meekly, giving Forge a bell.

Forge takes the bell, walking over t the dens. "This is gonna be a long... wait, no. Twilight's going to organize things later. I'd give it maybe an hour before we stop." Forge thought as he woke a den of rabbits.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

All's well that ends well. Forge helps finish up the bells for the all-at-once wake-up-call. As soon as he and Fluttershy are done, the bells are rung, waking the animals from their slumber. Forge simply went to wait with Fluttershy for the rest of the teams to finish up.

After the pleasantries are over with, Forge decides to head back to his bedroom with a teleport, Upon arriving there, he's confronted by a displeased Celestia.

"Aurelic. Explain to me why my guards say you've been using my sister's ensign to enter the restricted section of the library." Celestia said sternly, like a disappointed mother.

A chill went up Forge's spine. "Uh, because I used your sister's ensign to enter the restricted section of the library?"

Celestia raises a brow. "Care to explain why?"

Forge reverts back to Aurelic. "I was looking at the spells in there because I was curious. Knowing the bad spells helps you better defend against them, right?"

Celestia thinks in silence for a moment, her gaze remaining fixed on Aurelic. "And you haven't used any of those restricted spells, have you?"

Aurelic shakes his head. "No, why would I ever need to?"

Celestia held her gaze for a few moments. "Alright, just remember to not use those spells."

"I won't use them." Aurelic says, still looking down.

"Good. Have a good day Aurelic." Celestia finishes, teleporting away.

"I just lied to Celestia. Well, I've withheld the full truth, but now I've outright lied. Maybe this will blow over... I hope so, I don't know what she'd do if she knew what I did. No matter how tame it is to me, it might be a legitimate crime for all I know... Ugh, fuck me."

Author's Note

To clarify, Aurelic said obliviate when wiping Wasp's memories because he wanted to, not because it's required for casting.