The Lulamoon Files

The Lulamoon Files

Chapter Nine: Dating Start

Written by TheCrimsonDM

I was laughing, it hurt, I coughed up some extra water. Twilight just stared at me like I had completely lost my mind. Maybe I had. It was just too much. After dealing with a freaking manticore of all things, Twilight just had to show up with some dumb accusations and threats. I swear, it was as though fate had personally chosen me to pick on, and this day to be the worst day ever.

“What in the sun goddess’s name is wrong with you?” Twilight demanded.

“You don’t get it, do you?” I replied. “What, did your little books not tell you how to be civil to other ponies?”

“I don’t have any books on crazy mares that go around killing manticores.” Twilight’s sword slid free of its sheath. “After I run you through, I’ll write one myself.”

That silver blade shone neatly in the setting sun. I wasn’t a fool, I knew that I couldn’t challenge Twilight and win. Not like this anyway. If I ever wanted to fight her I’d have to do a lot more preparation work before hoof. Yet there was one thing I excelled at.

“Twilight, Twilight, Twilight,” I said coolly. “I thought you were above this sort of grunt work. Are you a wizard, a warden, or a barbarian, because right now you're showing me some very earth pony like characteristics.”

She snorted. “You dare to trash my good name? I am Twilight Sparkle, daughter of Twilight Velvet and Night Light. I could take you on in any challenge, and still come out on top. I have books on every duel, game, strategy, and sport that wizards have ever used to settle their debts. You, Trixie, have nothing on me.”

“I do have one,” I said with a wink.

“And what is that?”

I blew a raspberry at her. It might have been childish but Twilight was very much a clean pony and being assaulted by my spit gave me just the break I needed. She brought a hoof up to wipe her face clean, cursing at me the entire time. Meanwhile I swiftly pulled out my invisibility potion and chugged it.

Just as Twilight was done cleaning her face I vanished from sight. A tingly feeling covered my entire body. Carefully I stepped away from Twilight, her enraged expression telling me that I had made the correct choice. Then she calmed down and closed her eyes.

Ha, giving up so easily, I knew you were nothing more than an arrogant, angry little-

Twilight opened her eyes again and they were glowing. I had heard about this before, but never managed to actually use it myself. Not yet anyway. The Sight; a gift that magically induced ponies were able to use. It allowed them to see the world, not as we view it with our eyes, but to see it for what it really was. To see all sensations, smells, feelings, and energy. It came with a price however, for whatever a pony saw when using the Sight, they would remember it as fresh as they’d first seen it for the rest of their lives. There was no forgetting what one saw with the Sight. Thus most unicorns chose to avoid using the sight as much as they could, for each use would forever change them in some form or fashion.

Twilight looked straight at me, blinked and her eyes stopped glowing. “Found you.”

I wasn’t sure what Twilight had seen in me, but whatever it was, it was bad enough to kill. Because she raised her sword and thrust it straight at me. I jumped to the side, the sword scraped along my right shoulder cutting a thin burning line across my flesh. Hot scarlet ran down my leg, and even though it was invisible I could feel it.

Twilight made another swing of her blade, narrowly missing me by a few inches. I stepped back, trying to distance myself from her. After seeing what I did to the manticore I would rather not touch the water. I was sure that Twilight knew at least one lightning spell. Somehow Twilight could tell where I was with fairly accurate attacks, even though she only used the Sight once. I was left dodging, weaving, and ducking under her blows. If she could have seen me I knew I’d already be dead, but because of my invisibility I was able to get by with only a few minor cuts.

My horn hurt and my head ached. I was not ready for this. Not by a long shot. Still I needed to do something, dodging forever was simply not an option. Yet her magic was in a weight class far above my own. I could try to use illusions to project a double of myself to distract her, but of course that wouldn’t work because she already knew where I was.

I was forced to take several steps back in quick secession as Twilight made a dangerous combination of swings and stabs that left me with a new cut on my chin. Fighting her with my magic might just provoke her more, leading to her using spells that would annihilate me in a flash.

Another too close swing nicked my ear. I didn’t yell at a single strike, I didn’t cry, I focused on my twin tasks. Avoiding her attacks, and thinking of an escape plan. If Twilight could fight an invisible opponent, my smoke pellets were not much use either. I knew my time with the invisibility potion was at max five minutes.

If only the stupid manticore had been so effectively slaughtered by me. Than I’d have my perfect dis-

I ducked under a blow that cut a few lengths of hair off of my head. Yet I now had my distraction. Still invisible I withdrew my wand. My horn throbbed with the effort but I waved the wand and create a piece of terrible art that Twilight would now have to contend with. I put all of my fear, hate, anger, and desperation into the spell, and if that didn’t make it work better than I’d just be a lying fool.

A deep rumbling roar filled the air as the manticore rose from its watery grave. Half of its body was still charred, but it took flight with those powerful wings. Water fell off it splashing into the lake with a pounding sensation. Twilight froze as she looked up at it, her eyes widened in horror.

“It’s not dead,” She whispered.

With that distraction I spun around and fled. The manticore swooped toward Twilight and I heard her shout as she flattened herself onto the ground. It was circling her. I locked the spell in place, keeping the manticore in a circling pattern as I continued fleeing into the forest. I couldn’t hold the magic for long, so locking the illusion in place would allow it to stay active for a set amount of time, I gave it about a thirty seconds. If it took that long for Twilight to figure out that the manticore’s real body was still visibly resting in the lake than I’d be a miracle worker. Thirty seconds, even with a bum leg, was more than enough time for an invisible, if not bleeding, mare to get back to her car and out of the park.

The invisibility spell didn’t even last all the way to the car, but I was able to arrive soon enough. I jumped in the driver seat, turned the key, and pulled out of the parking lot faster than I could count. Above me I saw a cloud, strangely lit in the sunset, it almost looked like it was rippling. I looked into the mirror and cursed. Between manticore and Twilight, my face was bruised, bleeding, and worst of all; my mane was a total wreck.

How could I ever look good for this date if I was going to be looking like this? Of course that was assuming that I could go home at all. Twilight knew where I lived, and if she was willing to attack me than she was willing to break my door down and kill me. If she ever found Spike I would be dead in a heartbeat. Still I didn’t think she would be willing to risk it just yet. Breaking into a home uninvited took power for a magical creature, tons of power. Even Twilight couldn’t do that and not be left virtually helpless. Of course sooner or later she could probably find a way in without losing too much power.

So to add to my problems I had Twilight trying to kill a warlock, one she thought was me. Scythe and this warlock were connected. Rider’s goon had tried to murder me as well. But to top it all off I was almost out of gas.

As I pulled into a gas station I was at the very least comforted by the fact that Twilight was going to be forced to deal with the manticore corpse before anypony saw it. The police were probably being called right now by those beach goers. So that bought be a couple of hours at the least. Moving a corpse that large would take effort, will, and probably a portal to the Never Never. None of those things were easy or cost effective.

I was determined to buy some gas, bandages, and a cola. I deserved something to pick me up after all this exhausting crap. It only took a few minutes to find one on a street corner. I parked my car next to a gas pump and waited. A young donkey, probably only sixteen years old and with a shaved head came up to my car. He wore a nice friendly smile. Of course that smile faded when he saw how beat up I was.

With a glance at my fuel gauge I said, “Three gallons”

While he was working on fueling my car I got out, went to my trunk, pulled out my first aid kit and went to the building proper. Leaving my stave in the car was for the best though I did make sure my wand was still on my person. The bathrooms on the outside of the building were actually quite clean which was a nice surprise. I used the sink to wash the blood and grime off of me.

My trench coat was dirty, cut up, and stained with my blood. Taking it off only revealed a nice number of cuts all over my body. Washing them wasn’t so bad, but the peroxide stung like the hottest pits of the Never Never’s Sun Court. Next came bandages, and much to my relief no stitching necessary. Sure I still had a healing potion, but that was going to be used when and only when I needed it. Which I was sure would be soon if my luck continued going like this. As for my mane, there was nothing I could really do with it.

After all that was done I got dressed and went back outside and to the front desk. There was a phone in the corner. First I grabbed a soda and paid for both the gas and the drink at the counter. There was a nice stallion in a wheelchair sitting behind the counter, his name tag read, “Ace”. I smiled at him, and even though he returned it, I noticed that his eyes were attracted to the rough shape my once lovely trench coat was now in, as well as my face with all the bandages on it. Though to be fair in this economy it couldn’t have been too odd to see a mare like myself in such a state of disrepair. The EUP council promised to rescue us all from the depression… eventually.

Finally I sat at the phone against the wall and slipped in a nickel. There was only one person with whom I wanted to speak right now, and it was about something that Twilight had so graciously offered up.

When the ringing stopped I heard Applejack’s southern voice cut in sharply. “Applejack here, who is this?”

I smiled. “Oh, AJ. You’re so cute when you're upset.”

From the growl on the other end I could tell my flirtation was not welcome. “Lulamoon. I was wondering when you’d call. What is it now?”

That was rather off putting but I held my tongue back. “I’ve recently heard that there might have been other warlock attacks. Is that true?”

Applejack was quiet a moment. “Listen, Trixie. You’re plumb lucky you called me at home otherwise Ah’d be unable t' tell ya anything. There have been two other cases like the one you saw. Ah just found out, and their recent.”

“Do you need me to take a look?”

“No.”

I let out a sigh. “Thank the almighty sun for that, I really would like to keep what little bit of food I have left in me, in me.” My stomach hurt at the mention of food.

“Ah take it yer having a rough time of it?”

“Are you kidding, I was nearly-“ I cut myself off before I could finish that. She didn’t need to know about the wardens. “It’s just been rough. At least I have something to look forward to tonight.”

“Sleep?”

A smile crept along my lips. “Only if I’m lucky.”

“What are you going on about?”

“Personal stuff, not too important. Anyway I might have found a clue about how these murders are happening. These monsters seem to have collars around their necks, collars that are controlling them. This warlock is a threat to be sure.”

There was silence.

“Applejack?”

“Nothing, just Ah’m surprised you called t’ tell me that. If’n you get any more information you’ll call right?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

“Yer mah friend, you know that right, Trixie?”

The statement sounded oddly soft coming from her. Almost like she wasn’t telling me something, but was trying to hint at it. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I didn’t like it. “Yeah I know that.”

“If there was more t’ this, you’d let me know. Ya wouldn’t hide things from me would ya?”

“We already had this conversation.”

Her tone grew hard again. “Yer right, we did.”

I didn’t like the way this was going. So I popped the top to my cola and took a drink. It was sweet, bubbly, and kicked my brain back into gear. The weariness was shoving off as cola induced energy came rushing back to me. It occurred to me to check out what time it was. “Oh crap, I’m going to be late.”

“Late for what?”

“My date.”

“Yer what?”

“Nevermind, I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”

I hung up and went out to my car, it was already field up and ready to go. The windows had also been washed. I gave a warm smile to the donkey. “Now if only you could fix my mane like you did my car. I’d be all set.”

I tossed a few copper bits his way before taking off. I was going to be late if I didn’t hurry. Oh how I did not want to keep Miss Rarity waiting.

***

I got home just a few minutes before eight. The first thing I did was check to see if Owlicious had returned, and he had. He was resting on his perch in my room. Which meant that Spike had returned home. I pulled the rug free, opened the trap door, and climbed down as quickly as I could. Spike’s eyes lit up the moment my hooves touched the basement floor.

“Spike!” I cried. “What did you learn?”

“Nothing much, just that there were containers being lifted up onto some ship all day. There were a lot of them though so I don’t know how long it would take to get them all done, two, three days.”

“Did you see the warlock?”

“Dunno, but I did see a suspiciously cloaked pony. Followed them for a bit. They went all the way to this nice big building downtown, fancy place, lots of bellboys and ushers. Red carpet and the works. But that there are lots of places like that in Manehattan.”

“Do you know where it was exactly?”

“Nope, because I was almost spotted by the pony. I figured that they could kill me with a mere thought so I backed out right away.”

“Ugh, you're useless. What good does any of that do me?”

“You’re the detective, you figure it out. Now I lived up to my part of the bargain, it’s your turn.”

Reluctantly I sighed. “Fine, you are free to go for twenty four hours.”

His ball of green light laughed joyfully as it leapt out from the skull and flew up through the floor. Not using my trap door, but literally flying through the woodwork. If only I had that kind of power, I’d be able to get up to all kinds of mischief, fortunately I was still alive, and I figured I could live without such powers.

I checked my watch.

There was just enough time to jump under the showerhead and attempt to get twigs and dirt out of my mane, tail, and fur. The shower was cold, but did the trick. Just as I got dried and dressed into a long white summer dress there was a knock at my door. I threw on my straw hat and went to answer it.

There she stood. That perfect white fur embraced by a tight fitting red dress that sparkled in the light of the street lamps. The black hat on her head held a red rose in it and for a moment she assessed me.

With a smile she offered, “Are you ready, darling?”

I nodded. Looked back and grabbed my saddlebags. My wand was in there so I wouldn’t be too out classed if I came across trouble. “Let’s go.”

Instead of taking my car we got into her jet black one, it looked ten times nicer than mine did. I took the passenger seat and she revved up the engine. Of course she forced me to buckle up before actually going anywhere. I guess she didn’t trust me.

“So where are we going?” I asked.

“We’re going to an auction house,” She said with a smile that told me she had something planned that didn’t involve buying some rare antiques.

“Um, that sounds…” I searched for the right words. Couldn’t find any and finished, “Not very romantic.”

“Darling, you wound me. Romance and excitement are bound to happen, after all, we’re going to be doing some investigation while we’re there. I hear their selling something illegal and magical. Also Mr. Rider is going to be there, and I’m sure that you wouldn’t mind getting to ask him a few questions.”

Before I could even complain about that being a terrible idea for a date Rarity had slammed her hoof onto the gas peddle and we were speeding off down the road. It was clear from her driving alone, that Rarity really didn’t care for the rules, because if any cops saw how fast we were going they might just wet themselves. I know I was about too.