"So, who is this researcher that princess has written about?"
"I really don't know, it could be anypony or can be any other being that Princess may have seen worthy, there wasn't a specific name in the letter right, Spike?"
This letter that Twilight talks about came from Princess Celestia in earlier afternoon of same day. The letter said besides the usual greetings, about an important research, that a someone would come to visit Ponyville in the same night and will need her pupil's help in every way possible.
"Nope, there was just a researcher will visit Ponyville"
"Then, as I said before It could be anyone, and even the names have been there, I wouldn't know much. I wasn't the most social pony in Canterlot ,remember?
"Oh... right" said Spike as he found no other way of how to respond to the answer from Twilight.
A short moment of silence came, only to be chased away by a worried gasp, barely managing to not become an outright scream, of the lilac colored unicorn.
"I totally forgot. Spike!, what time is it ?" The voices coming from Twilight were full of worries, maintaining the same volume.
Spike could swear that can actually saw the emotion emanating from each word.
"Twilight, calm down. You will wake the other ponies"
"Time, Spike. NOW!" the volume went up even more.
"Is fifteen to ten." said Spike turning into the library to see the clock.
"Twilight, jeez you need to cal..." continued Spike as he turned again to the unicorn he was talking to.
He didn't finished the sentence. It was more like he couldn't, as the pony that he was talking to already went full gallop and leaved and only dust were left
As he rolled his eyes, he went inside the library shutting the door behind. With the sound of door closing, night regained the calm nature it had before.
The train station wasn't that far from the library but this time, for Twilight, it seemed like an eternity.
The only thing that Twilight had in mind was:
"late, late, late, late, late, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"
The only thing that guided Twilight was her intuition, nothing entered to her eyes. The only thought she had was that she could be late to greet someone even worse this somebody was designated by her mentor. Until she stumbled near a wooden stair. Finally, she arrived to the train station.
As she went up of the platform controlling her breath, she looked around the station. The platform was empty, not even the shadows of insects could have been seen. She walked towards the window of the booth
As Twilight approached the ticket booth, only the sounds of wood creaking could be heard as she walked.
The ticket booth was well illuminated, making it possible see through the glass the interior of it clearly. As Twilight approached the window of it, a light yellow coated pony greeted her.
"Hi, Can i help you?" The voice form the other side of glass was cheerful, but it failed to hide the tiredness of working entire day.
"Yes" Twilight answered. "Is there a train coming tonight?"
"From where?" the yellow mare told as she started to check the train timetable.
"Canterlot"
"Hmm… Yes. There is a train coming from Canterlot at ten.
"And what time is it, excuse me?"
"Eight before ten.
Twilight sighed of great relief, the possibility of being late and the worries that followed disappeared entirely from her mind. She thanked the mare and directed to the platform again, the only thing left to do was wait the train.
The lilac colored unicorn waited quietly, but a few moment later the boredom flooded her mind.
"Should have brought something to read..."
The eyes of the unicorn looked at the horizons to find something interesting. It failed miserably as the lack of light impeded to actually find something.
As the eyes failed to be lost into something, it looked upwards to the night sky. Which it successfully made it lost to the sky.
The night sky was clear, no clouds to cover the moon and the stars shining and glittering like a dress made by her friend, different colors and different shapes, even looked like it were flowing like a river.
Twilight was mesmerized by the sight, only a few times she had seen something like this. "Princess Luna did an extra job tonight" she thought. As she gazed the jewels of the night sky, an idea came to her mind.
"Let's see. Orion the hunter shining as ever, Monoceros the unicorn. Wow, is far brighter than normal. Cancer the crab. Lepus the rabbit..." she told to herself as she tried to remember every constellation names that can be watched in this season according the book;
Stargazing 101 -includes every constellation names discovered by ponies, dragons, griffins and others- Volume one
The quiet yet heated moment of stargazing was brutally interrupted by a loud noise, the trains was nearby. As it slowly approached to the boarding platform, Twilight could see that it was a steam engine train as nopony was pulling the train.
As the train finally stopped, the doors of the passenger compartment opened. Not many ponies came from it.
One particular pony approached Twilight; It was a pegasus stallion, he had an dark grey coat, or it could be called dark grey as the moonlight made it to look like that color. A rust red mane with the eyes of same color.
He observed carefully the lilac unicorn not changing his stern looking expression, which brought unnerving emotions to Twilight. As few moments passed, he finally opened his mouth.
"Oh, sorry. I must have confused you with another pony" said the stallion with the same stern face, and returned to the passenger car.
"Wha..." Twilight's face was a prime example what is to be dumbfounded. She didn't even noticed that another pony silently observing the situation.
"Miss Twilight?" a voice came from right of her.
"Huh?" Twilight told as she turned to look at the pony who was talking to her.
There was another stallion, this time a unicorn. Slightly taller than Twilight, His mane shortly cut, had very similar shade that of grass. Covering his body in a light grey traveller's cape and a saddlebag over it.
"Miss Twilight? Are you miss Twilight?" the stallion asked again.
"Yes, I'm Twilight. Do I know you?" Twilight responded, as she tried to acknowledge the green maned stallion.
The stallion suddenly smiled wide, which startled Twilight. But she managed to calm herself down as she noticed that there were no ill intention. It appeared to be of pure joy and relief.
"Hi !" said the stallion as he approached Twilight, as the unicorn stood near Twilight, he extended his right foreleg to her.
"I'm Grass Patch, the researcher. Nice to meet you!" the voice of the stallion was very cheerful, similar to somepony that she knows.
And yet it appeared to miss something important.
"Oh, Nice to meet you too." responded Twilight as she extender her foreleg as well.
As soon as her hoof touched the stallions, She was disturbed by the feeling of it. The hoof of Grass Patch looked perfectly normal, but Twilight could feel something, a strange sensation that she's not touching a hoof but a hunk of flesh. Twitching, trembling. Warmth, not like a blanket but that of a creature that recently died.
Twilight barely managed to not scream and remove her hoof violently as her instinct screamed. But the stallion noticed the disturbed face of the lilac unicorn and removed his foreleg quickly and bring it near his face.
"Miss, are you okay?" Grass Patch asked in a worried voice, alternately looking Twilight's face and his hoof, making sure that he didn't stepped in something.
The voice of Grass Patch managed to wake Twilight from her stupor.
"Yeah, sorry. I just lost myself" Twilight apologized, still trying to shake off the feeling from her mind.
-Well done, Twilight. You managed to worry the guest in less than 3 minutes and barely managed to not scream in his face. Wonderful- Twilight thought.
A moment of awkward silence came between the unicorns, as both of them trying to think what to say next. Twilight was first to open her mouth.
"So uh, shall we move?" Twilight asked in still awkward tone.
"Yes, please" Grass Patch answered in same fashion.
They started to walk towards the library, awkwardness still in the air. Only the steps could be heard from them.
But Grass Patch doesn't seemed to mind, as he was busy looking every corner of the street, like a tourist in a big city.
"So where are you from" Twilight asked trying to break the ice, a question that the unicorn regretted asking and managed not to slam her hoof other face very hard.
-Oh for the love of Celestia. Really, Twilight? 'where are you from?' of course he is from Canterl...-
"Actually, I was born in Fillydelphia." Answered Grass Patch, cutting short the thoughts of the unicorn.
"Oh, really?" Twilight asked again, surprised by the fact that the question didn't sounded as dum as she thought.
"Yes, and lived there until almost a year ago, then I moved to Canterlot."
"And how is Fillydelphia?" asked Twilight, had heard about the city. But never have being there.
"Big, a lot of noise, the ponies looks you with strange faces if you say 'Hi, I'm your new neighbor, nice to meet you', ponies moving from everywhere to everywhere. The usual city stuff, i think. If wasn't for friends and families, i would have moved to another place. But for now, i'm in Canterlot." said Grass Patch, still distracted looking the town.
Then he turned to look directly the eyes of Twilight, or at least that is what Twilight thought, as the glasses that covered the stallion's eyes were mirror coated, allowing him to look freely but no one to look his eyes.
"And how about you, miss Twilight?"
"Me? I was born in Canterlot, got to the academy, became the pupil of Princess Celestia, lived in the palace until the princess told me to go and make some friends and sent me to Ponyville." Twilight answered casually as if was nothing special.
As she turned her head to Grass Patch's direction, she could see the brown stallions face, mouth opened wide. He was definitely surprised
"Grass Patch? hello?" Twilight asked with some worries in her voice
The green stallion did not answered, keeping his face of 'What did I just heard' some moment passed before Grass Patch asked
"So, you are a, no. THE pupil of the princess?, of course I thought that you would have acquaintance with Princess Celestia, but her pupil?, Her highness just sent an newbie researcher to her own pupil to help him? I think Princess Celestia should have sent me to help YOU instead, miss Twilight." Grass Patch said, shock still inside of his voice.
"No no, Princess Celestia wrote me in the letter that I do whatever to help you with the research" Twilight said, waving her hoof to dismiss the Grass Patch's idea of he need to help her.
"Do you receive the letter from the princess in pony?" Grass Patch seemed to be even more surprised by the new information.
"Yes, and I send her letter every week" Twilight said with the same tone of voice used to explain that she was the sun goddess's pupil.
"And you send in pony letters to her highness..." whispered Grass Patch as he seemed now lost in the information
"Grass Patch, Are you okay?" This time the unicorn lost in something was the green one.
"Yes, miss Twilight, I'm fine. I was just surprised that I'm seeing in pony the pupil of Her Highness." Grass Patch answered with a smile in his face.
As they made a small chatter, the road to the library seemed shorter than it was. As they arrived to the library, Grass Patch was surprised again by the size of the tree.
"Whoa, that is one big tree." said Grass Patch.
As he got a closer view of the tree, he noticed that there was windows and doors embedded to the branches.
"Wait; is that a door and windows?"
"Yes, I live here"
"You live inside a tree?" Grass Patch asked.
"Is a library but I think yes, I live inside a tree" explained Twilight
And again the brown unicorn lost his words as he observed the giant tree, he just couldn't believe the fact that the inside of the tree there was a library.
"Miss Twilight, you live inside a tree which is a library inside. Am I right?" Grass Patch asked again, just to be sure that he didn't listened wrong.
"Yes, it is a library" Twilight assured.
"Awesome..."
Twilight smiled as she approached the door of the library, and knocked few times. Few seconds later the door opened.
"Oh, Twilight. the door was open, you know?" Spike said
"You didn't locked the door?" Twilight said in a worried voice
"No, why?"
"Why didn't you locked the door?" Twilight said with slightly annoyed voice
"If you are thinking about robbers, nothing ever happens in Ponyville. And besides if therer was a robber in Ponyville, who would like to rob a library?" Spike answered with a flat face
"Fine, but please be more careful would you, Spike? Twilight said, sighing in process
"Okay. By the way, where is this researcher pony?"
"Oh, Grass Patch?"
"Yes, miss Twilight" the stallion answered as he approached and stood near the door
"He is the researcher, Twilight?" asked Spike, curious about the new stallion
"Yes, he is"
"Hi, I'm Grass Patch. and you are?" Grass Patch asked with a friendly smile.
"I'm Spike the dragon, the number one assistant of Twilight Sparkle" Spike said with pride
"Nice to meet you Spike" said Grass Patch as he extended his right hoof towards the dragon
"Yeah, nice to meet you too" Spike said, grabbing the extended hoof of the stallion.
As the claws of Spike touched the hoof of the green unicorn, Spike could feel something, as if something was wrong with the stallion's hoof, he could feel a mass of twitching flesh, his instinct screamed him to let it go now, which the dragon compelled gladly.
"WHOA!" Spike screamed, jumping backwards, eyes wide of surprise
"Spike? Are you okay?" Twilight asked worriedly as she approached to the dragon quickly.
"Yeah... I'm fine" Spike tried to say as nothing has happened, yet he failed to hide the tremble in his voice
As Twilight watched the stallion again, he was observing his right hoof with a slight frown in his face as he tried to look the source of this that happened twice.
The time passed silently as he kept observing his foreleg, until Grass Patch asked.
"Can I use your bathroom, miss Twilight?" Grass Patch asked with serious tone, still frowning.
"Ye, yes. follow me" Twilight said, getting slightly nervous by the sudden change of tone in Grass Patch's voice.
As Twilight leaded the stallion to the bathroom and returned to the main area alone, she approached Spike.
"Spike, what happened?" Twilight asked to the dragon.
Spike was surprised by the fact that Twilight wasn't chastising him, she was actually worried about him.
"You are not going to scold me or something?"
"No, not this time. but tell me what happened."
Spike scratched his head, thinking about what made him to do that. Few seconds passed before the dragon started to talk.
"I really don't know Twilight. but it felt very weird when I touched him, it felt warm, but something told me that it was the wrong kind of warm. Do you get that?" said Spike as he tried to explain
"Yes, I do. I..."
The sentence was cut short by the sound of door opening and closing. As Grass Patch came out from the bathroom, he walked towards Twilight and Spike.
"I..., I apologize if in any way I made you both uncomfortable" said Grass Patch, looking the floor, almost whispering. The tone of his voice was still serious, heavy like lead.
Twilight and Spike looked each other, neither of them had expected this kind of situation.
"No!, you don't need to be sorry about anything and no, you didn't made us uncomfortable. If someone need to apologize, is us" Twilight said, now truly worried that this matter could get really bad.
Spike didn't said a word, fearing that if he talks now, could get worse
Grass Patch slowly raised his head to look Twilight's eyes, the lilac unicorn could feel something from it, but she didn't knew what.
"Yeah... It's silly. Way to brighten up the mood, right?" said Grass Patch with an weak smile.
Only silence remained between the two unicorns and the dragon, neither of them said a single word.
"Well, can I leave this saddle bag somewhere? It's heavy" said Grass Patch, breaking the silence.
The voice of Grass Patch returned to when he first meet Twilight, made her f
"Sure, you can leave it" said Twilight, visibly relaxed.
"Thanks"
As Grass Patch dropped the saddlebag, it made a loud noise, surprising both the lilac unicorn and the dragon.
"What is in there?" Twilight asked, surprised by the loud thud.
"Nothing unusual, just some books. Which by the way those are for you. But i think it was silly to bring you a book, you live in a library after all..." Said Grass Patch, taking his traveler's cloak off, showing a brown coat underneath. He had an thin, five different colored bracelets in his left foreleg and a strangely designed choker in his neck.
"No, is okay. Doesn't hurt having more books, and i don't have all books of Equestria here" Twilight said
"Yes, you do" Spike said flatly
"No, I don't, Spike"
"What book you don't have?" Spike asked, still using the same tone
"Eh... Oh! the 'Advanced unicorn spells Volume three' by Candlefire"
"That book is not even in Canterlot loyal library. The existence of the volume itself is heavily disputed, miss". this time, it was Grass Patch to answer.
"Oh, really? I thought that I was the only one not having it..." said Twilight, as she fell to thinking again
After few minutes;
"What about the 'History of Equestria'? Twilight threw the question in the air, which Spike caught it flawlessly pointing with his finger a bookcase near him, still keeping his flat face.
At the bookshelf that was pointed, there were three books at the bottom at the bottom shelf; the slimmest of three, which was the thickness of an dictionary that the foals in the school uses, marked with the name "History of Equestria" engraved in gold in the spine, with a blue ribbon bookmark.
The book right next to it, with twice the thickness of former, marked "History of Equestria the unabridged version" in it's spine, with a yellow ribbon bookmark.
The last book, with almost the size of a dictionary and a encyclopedia together, marked as "History of Equestria, the unabridged and uncensored version" this time with a red colored ribbon.
"I meant the fourth version, Spike!" Twilight said, slightly embarrassed.
"You actually have three versions of 'History of Equestria'?And I wanted to bring you the all four books... I think it saved me from sprained back, miss Twilight! said Grass Patch laughing.
"Well, good to know that you only have three versions of the book and not four." Grass Patch said while opening his saddleback
He took out a thick book, about one point five times thicker than the third version of the Equestrian history book, from the bag and put in front of him
"What is that?" Spike asked, observing the thick book
"This? This is the book that miss Twilight don't have in her collection of history books. said Grass Patch, with smile in his face.
"Is that the..." asked Twilight, eyes growing wide
"Yes, miss Twilight. the 'History of Equestria the meticulously detailed version' or as someponies call it the 'too much information ' version. And guess what, miss Twilight. Is yours.
"Re, really?" Twilight asked, stuttering a bit, eyes getting wider.
"Really."
"YES!" Twilight screamed repeatedly and jumped like it could say, a filly that got a gift that she always wanted in Hearth's Warming.
As Twilight was already started reading the book with an almost tangible concentration, Grass Patch silently approached to Spike with the saddlebag.
"And mister Spike." said Grass Patch, with the same smile
"Huh?"
"I think Hearth's Warming came earlier, mister Spike." said Grass Patch, smiling mischievously.
"Wha?" said Spike with an confused face.
I think a few gifts don't harm no one. What do you think about it, mister Spike?" asked Grass Patch, changing his voice again to a playful one.
"Eh, I think it don't" said Spike.
"Really? Then is all yours" said Grass Patch giving the dragon a rather big sack.
"What is this?"
"Everyone says that when somepony give something to them. Is a gift, Open it." said Grass Patch playfully
Spike compelled with great pleasure, opening the sack. Which surprised him.
It was full of gemstones, like the gems that he eats everyday. But this time was different, as all of the gemstones gave a strange luster, each of them with different color.
"Those are imported from gryphon lands. I heard about some chemical reaction thingie that makes them glow like that,. but I really didn't paid attention, but it should be safe." explained Grass Patch
Spike wasn't listening, as he was too busy drooling over the gems.
-Well, I believe he liked that- thought Grass Patch.
And again, silent fell in the library. This time a different kind, as everyone was distracted by something; Twilight with the book, Spike with the gems and Grass Patch with the reaction of both.
Until a loud fluttering noise shattered the silence once more. Taking them out from their respective distraction.
Twilight was the first to talk
"Wha?Oh, Owlowiscious, you scared us."
"Hoo"
"Oh, is an... Uh oh." said Grass Patch, silent as he finished the sentence.
There was something strange with Grass Patch, somehow he got pale, visibly panicked as he saw the owl. He kept stepping back and looking around the floor and the owl, as if he wanted an spaces to dodge.
"Are you okay, Grass Patch? Spike asked, observing the stallion's strange behavior.
"Oh sacred ponyfeathers, an owl? really?" Grass Patch was not listening.
"Grass Patch?" Twilight called the green maned unicorn.
"Uh uh... Yes, miss Twilight?" Grass Patch answered, his eyes behind the glasses still looking the owl.
"Are you okay? If you are scared of Owlowiscious, you really don't have to" said Twilight, never had seen somepony scared of her another assistant.
"No, I'm not scared by the owl, I really love animals, all of them." Grass Patch said, still nervous about the owl, but he stopped moving backsides. he couldn't get further as the bookcase touched his hindlegs.
"But there is one problem. They really hate me. They really, really hate me." continued Grass Patch.
"Is okay, He will not attack you." said Twilight, trying to calm the green maned stallion.
"With all due respect, miss Twilight. but everypony said that before the whatever animal attacked me." Grass Patch answered. Almost visibly trembling.
"Grass Patch, please calm down. I swear in Princess Celestia's name that he will not attack you" said Twilight.
"Well, I passed more than fifteen seconds without being attacked and that's something. I will believe you, miss Twilight." said Grass Patch, in a more calm state.
"Owlowiscious, please com here and say hello to Grass Patch" Twilight said to the owl which silently watched the whole situation.
Owlowiscious took a small flight which startled Grass Patch once again
and landed in the back of Twilight, who came closer to the brown unicorn.
"Say hello to Owlowiscious, my other assistant. Grass Patch" said Twilight softly.
"Eh... Hi, I'm Grass Patch, I came to Ponyville for a research, nice to meet you..." said the green unicorn, still nervous about the owl in front of him.
"Hoo"
"Did he asked who am I or he greeted me?" asked Grass Patch, confused by the owl's sound.
"He just greeted you" Twilight responded with smile.
Grass Patch didn't said another word, and moved from Twilight and the owl to the empty space where the purple unicorn stood before moving. As he looked the surroundings as not to make a mess, the stallion stood on his hindlegs , extended his forelegs to the air and screamed at the top of his lung;
"YES!!!"
The lilac unicorn and the dragon were startled again, this time by the big scream of Grass Patch.
"Wha, What happened?" Spike asked.
"Ah, sorry. But I really couldn't hold it. Is the first time that an animal doesnt try to attack me or something similar. I now wan't a owl for a companion animal, what species is Owlowiscious?" asked Grass Patch, truly enthusiased.
"Sage Owl." said Twilight, remembering to had read about it in a book.
"Ah... really?" asked Grass Patch again, visibly disappointed by the information.
"Hoo."
"Oh..." Grass Patch suddenly seemed to be dissapointed.
"Something wrong?"
"No, nothing. still. Nice to meet you Owlou... How do you pronounce his name?"
"OWL-OW-IS-CI-OUS, Owlowiscious." explained Twilight.
"Nice to meet you, Owlowiscious." said Grass Patch
"Hoo" responded the owl, still in Twilight's back.
"Well, I think that's it. We presented to each other and now at least know names of each one of us."
"Yes, by the way. the resea..." said Twilight, interrupted by her yawn.
" Ah, the research. I will tell you everything you need to know tomorrow, but for now I think you need to sleep" said Grass Patch.
"No! I'm not..." Twilight's word was interrupted by another yawn, not from her but from the baby dragon.
"And, mister Spike need to rest too, Is already late, besides there will be no investigation until I get the permission from the princess. Which by the way, I think it would be in few days." said Grass Patch.
"Well, then I will go prepare the bed" Twilight said, moving to the stairs.
"Is okay, miss Twilight. I'm not going to sleep now, I just need to finish some notes that I brought. Which by the way, can I use some of your books?"
"Oh. Then let me help you. What books do you need?" said Twilight, changing the direction from the stairs to the bookcases.
"Mister Spike! can you do me a favor?" Grass Patch said loudly, startling the dragon.
"What do you need?" said Spike, ending the sentence with and loud yawn.
"Please take miss Twilight to her bed, and be sure that she doesn't come out of it until tomorrow"
"Got that. Let's go Twilight" said Spike, pushing the mare from behind.
"But I'm not tired!" said Twilight, trying to struggle but failed due to tiredness.
"Yes you are. So please rest." said Grass Patch with a stern tone.
"Yeah, can you turn off the lights?" asked Spike.
"I will, good night."answered Grass Patch, nodding slightly.
As the dragon and the lilac mare went upstairs, Grass Patch moved around to turn off the lights, until there were only darkness.
Grass Patch walked towards the center of the library carrying his saddlebag in his mouth, leaving it near the center of the library.
The stallion opened the bag, and struggled to find something inside without making much noise. After few seconds, Grass Patch took out a small and somewhat thick disk shaped object from the bag and left it in the floor without making noise.
As Grass Patch took out a stack of paper filled with graphs, symbols, numbers and letters on it and a pencil, Owlowiscious landed near the unicorn.
Grass Patch charged his horn with magic, making it to emit a strange reddish brown color which did not matched with his coat, and touched the disk shaped object with it.
The disk emitted a white light, making visible the arcane symbols engraved on it. Grass Patch took his horn off from the disk and waited patiently as the spell took effect. Moments later, a sphere of faint started to form over the disk, getting bigger and bigger until it had a size of an orange.
The light from the disk faded as the sphere got bigger until only the sphere remained, bright just enough to barely read or write something.
With the help of the faint light, the brown stallion started to put in order the notes that he brought.
Silence came again, only to be broken by a small laughter of a unicorn as remembered someone.
"So, I believe you received the letter?" asked Grass Patch, his eyes still on the notes"
"Hoo"
"Stolas, right? Is a fitting nickname. Never thought that it would be a real owl."
"Hoo"
"Yeah, I know. You are Owlowiscious now. I will remember that."
"Hoo"
"So, do you have any book with recent Spellwave charts?"
"Hoo" answered the owl, as he took flight to the bookshelf near them.
"Great, let's start with that" said Grass Patch, taking the pencil with telekinesis spell.
As for now, it was truly a normal night to everyone in Ponyville...
And the sun rose again, like it did every single day, filling every corner of the land with light and each of it's inhabitants with warmth.
A particular library in middle of Ponyville was not an exception. As the sunlight filed the place, the stange air from yesterday seemed to banish like mist.
Twilight opened her eyes, and closed again. She was yet to wake up completely and could have slept more, but remembering one simple fact was enough to spring her body and mind to an upright position.
-She was having a guest under stairs, with the floor with pretty much nothing remotely useful as blanket, or as she could remember that there isn't any and he passed all the night on it when she was sleeping in her bed completely oblivious about it-
Twilight, now panicked about how she treated her guest. ran to the first floor, and after almost tripping in the stairs multiple times she came to the main area of library.
The first floor of the library was dark, as every curtains were closed and didn't let the sunlight enter. And yet she could see the library
And there was Grass Patch, surrounded by opened and closed books, papers with graphs and number; which most of them was crumpled or torn apart, and a strange disk that the sphere of light floated over, dimly illuminating the area.
The stallion was sitting over the floor, looking down a note; one of the few that was not ruined somehow, not moving or making any kind of sound that is to be expected in a living creature.
"Er... Grass Patch?" asked Twilight, worrying like anyone who see someone like in that state.
Grass Patch slowly raised his head, and turned it to the lilac unicorn, moving like a rusted gear that needed greasing, and talked in a low, almost whispering voice.
"Oh, did I woke you up, Miss Twilight?" he sounded drain.
"No, no. Is already morning, Grass Patch. What happened?"
"Wha... Is already morning? No no no no. I didn't even started with the things..." said Grass Patch, approaching the nearby window, in a slightly higher volume.
As the brown unicorn, to be sure to check if his host was telling him the truth, opened the curtains wide.
As a knight charging to the door of the dark lord's castle, or to a evil creatures lair, the brilliant sunlight entered the unicorn's eyes without hesitation. Like a evil creature that has been stabbed in the eye by a spear, Grass Patch covered his eyes and screamed.
"Arghhhhhhhhhhh! My eyes! the glasses made it even worse!" Grass Patch screamed in genuine pain, throwing his glasses off and rolling in the floor.
The scream was more that enough to startle Twilight and scare her yet to awake assistant, which came running down to the first floor.
"What happe... Grass Patch?" asked Spike, approaching the unicorn on the floor.
"He's okay Spike. His eyes were strained and the sunlight didn't helped at all. Can you please prepare the breakfast? I will go help you as soon as I clean up this." said Twilight, starting to arrange the books in order on the shelves.
As Spike went to the kitchen, Grass Patch silently sat up, now without the big glasses off.
"Got better?" asked Twilight, finished cleaning up the books.
"I think so Miss Twilight. Sorry about the whole mess, I will clean up this" said Grass Patch with a burned out voice.
As the voice slightly worried Twilight, she turned her head to see the stallion's face, which it got worse.
"Uh, Grass Patch?"
"Ma'am"
"Are you okay?" asked Twilight now worried about her guest's current state.
The face of the stallion looked like he didn't slept for few days, had bags under his eyes which was very similar to Twilight's certain friend when she had too many order in her hoof. But that wasn't the worst part.
Was his eyes that worried Twilight the most. Like a heavily scratched metal, the eyes of the stallion was lusterless, it looked more like the eyes of a cheap plastic doll instead of eyes of a living creature.
Feeling the gaze on his eyes, Grass Patch asked:
"It looks that bad?"
"...Yes."
"Heh." The brown stallion smirked weakly.
"Well, everyone would be tired if they didn't slept for about a week..." Grass Patch whispered to himself.
It didn't go unnoticed by Twilight. As it was a bit loud to be actually a whisper.
"What?!" Twilight asked in high volume.
"Did you heard that...? Did I thought in loud again?" asked Grass Patch, tightly shutting his eyes, like somepony about to get hit.
"A WEEK!?, I have been two or three days but a week?"
"Yes, you did. And yes I did" the stallion whispered again.
Now deeply worried, Twilight went closer to Grass Patch, this startled a little bit the sleep deprived stallion.
"Are you going to be okay?"
"Yes, Ma'am. You really don't need to worry about it." Grass Patch answered with a somewhat forced smile.
Now Twilight wasn't sure if this stallion was the same one form yesterday. It felt she was facing a completely different pony even she knew him for not even a complete day.
And then:
"Um, sorry to interrupt both of you, but the breakfast is ready" It was Spike.
"Really? shall we go, Miss Twilight?" said Grass Patch, suddenly changing the tone of voice to the same as yesterday's
"Ye, yes..." Twilight said unwittingly
As both of them headed to the kitchen, a nice scent emanated from it. The stallion took a deep breath and:
"Wow, I don't know what is but I'm already loving it." Grass Patch said cheerfully, like he wanted to take out from his mind the happening.
"Just some waffles. By the way Twilight, the fridge is empty."
Spike said plainly.
"Really? I went to the market just a few.. Oh, right. I didn't bought much, didn't expected a guest..."
"Sorry about that, Miss Twilight." Grass Patch apologized playfully
"Don't worry about it, it was almost empty before you came" Answered Twilight, sitting on the chair.
As both of her assistant and her guest sat around table, the brown stallion, after grabbing the fork with his right hoof, said:
"Well, I humbly receive!" Grass Patch said with enthusiasm, as he tried to use the fork to get one of the waffles.
*THUD*
"Huh?"
The fork spectacularly missed the waffles, and landed on the side of the plate and somehow it managed to lodge deeply to the wooden table.
The vibration alone was enough to startle the lilac unicorn and her assistant
Grass Patch, feeling that his fork was not in the waffles, moved his face closer, squinting his eyes which widened after seeing the fork.
"Whoa... Miss Twilight, may I ask you something"? Grass Patch asked, observing the lodged fork.
"Go ahead..." Twilight answered, observing the fork too.
"Is this fork enchanted?"
"No"
"Is it made with some special metal or something?"
"No"
"Then, how it managed to lodge THAT deeply?'
"Was you who lodged that on the table, you know." said Spike
"True, Mister Spike..." as Grass Patch moved his foreleg to remove the fork.
It came out as easy as it entered. The fork was slightly warped.
"I will pay for this... and please excuse me, I need to find my glasses." Grass Patch rapidly got up and went to the main area, like trying to evade the questioning.
Twilight silently looked at the fork. It was a normal, stainless steel fork. Most of the population in Ponyville used that. Twilight used a simple telekinesis spell to examine it in closer distance, and as soon as her magic touched the fork, she could feel something, something familiar, something that she hoped to never feel it again.
It was the same sensation that she felt when she touched Grass Patch.
It was in much lesser degree than the last time, but it was enough to make the unicorn shiver faintly.
"Something wrong?" Spike asked, noticing the change of expression in the lilac unicorn's face.
"N, no. I'm fine." answered Twilight, managing to not scream this time.
Twilight quietly put the fork in to the sink. She would deal with it later, yes. Later. For now she felt the need of forgetting it.
After few minutes, Grass Patch returned to the table, now with glasses on.
"Sorry to make you wait, Miss Twilight." Grass Patch apologized
"Well, now let's continue eating, shall we?"
"Yep" Spike answered
The breakfast was enjoyable, and after chatting about different topics with Grass Patch, Twilight managed to forget about what happened moments ago. It was not long before the last piece of waffle disappeared from the table.
"Well, that was enough. I congratulate you Mister Spike, for this excellent cooking that brought to us." said Grass Patch.
"Hey, come on. You're saying like it was made from a royal kitchen or something..." said Spike, little bit embarrassed by the complement.
"No, really. I have been few days in the castle and I think you do better than most of chefs in there. Hey...are you blushing? Yes, Yes you are. You don't need to be embarrassed, I'm telling the fact." said Grass Patch, smiling wider and wider each word.
Looking her assistant trying to cover his face, A soft smile appeared in Twilight's face. It was a warm morning.
"Well, let's get up. Shall we?" said Grass Patch
"Sure" said Twilight, getting up.
"Aaaand, I will do the dishes. Yep." Grass Patch said, swiftly taking the dishes with his hoof without any difficulty. As he had done that many times.
"Huh?"
"No, no. I will do it" Twilight said, trying to take the dishes from Grass Patch,
"Nope, not happening." said Grass Patch, swiftly evading
"Grass Patch..."
"I will do the dishes. Now please return to the living room, or should I say the main library...? Anyways, please return, I will not take long."
"But..."
"Mister Spike, please take Miss Twilight to the main area."
As Grass Patch saw that Spike took the lilac unicorn outside of the kitchen, the stallion clashed his right foreleg to his face.
(Good grief, Grass Patch. you somehow managed to screw up again. 'I will wash the dishes!'. Yeah sure you will. I'm very sure that you will do fine with only one hoof. Wait... I can do that...)
The stallion was quick to act, he grabbed the sponge and smudged with liquid soap.
"Let's start"
The washing process was quick, quicker than he thought to be. It wasn't long before all the dishes were cleaned and dried.
"Well, Grass Patch. You managed to get out from the mess, I will give you a cookie after this." the stallion mumbled to himself as he lightly patted his head few times.
As the stallion was praising himself, he found something very strange about the ambient.
Deadly silence. He could hear nothing. Nothing from his host or her assistant. Like if Grass Patch was alone in the place.
This indeed worried Grass Patch, as he could swear that he was hearing at least, mutters from the main area before he started washing the dishes.
Grass Patch carefully lowered his glasses to his neck, as the rubber band made it not to fall. His face became serious, his movement slow and careful as he approached the kitchen's door. As Grass Patch was getting closer, he asked loudly.
"Ma'am?, Miss Twilight?, Miss Twili- Oh..."
Twilight was there, sitting down in the floor in the half-cleaned area of the library, reading some of the papers that were left before breakfast. It was one of the few notes that was not damaged by him.
The stallion went to the side of Twilight silently, even if he was making some kind of noise through the way, Twilight wouldn't have noticed.
"So... It is that interesting?" said Grass Patch,
"..." there was no response
"Miss Twilight?"
"..." still, no response from the lilac unicorn
"Miss?"
"..."
"Ma'am, ma'am?" Grass Patch asked for the third time, this time shaking her with his left foreleg.
"Huh? Oh, Grass Patch." Twilight finally responded, tuning her head towards the stallion.
"Is that interesting, Miss Twilight? Well, I think is interesting enough to you to to be completely lost to it. " Grass Patch said with a smile.
"...Yes. I'm sorry about it, I should asked you first...." answered Twilight, slightly embarrassed.
"Is okay. I needed to share with you anyways."
Grass Patch collected the papers scattered around the floor, only using his left hoof to gather them in one stack.
After gathering the rest of papers, the stallion sat in front of still standing unicorn and asked.
"First of all, you don't need to be ashamed about looking the papers, I was going to show anyways. And please sit down."
"Okay then." Twilight silently sat down in the floor.
"So! Err, by the way, where is Mister Spike?"
"Upstairs."
"Well then. You need to promise me just one thing and nothing else before I start to explain."
"What do you need?"
The expression from the stallion's face got much serious.
"Any information that you are about to hear. They are... dangerous, to say at least. What I need, is that you have to keep in utmost secrecy and to only reveal it when is absolutely necessary."
Grass Patch said with a seriousness not seen before. The information that about to see seemed very important, and dangerous at the same time.
"Is that dangerous the information?" Twilight said, now discouraged about learning the information, not even sure if she should keep asking questions.
"Yes, if is used by wrong groups."
"Groups? What groups?"
"Before I tell you any information about this, I need your promise, Miss."
"I... Yes. I promise to not reveal any of the information, red or heard from now on until is absolutely to do the contrary."
The visible part of face of the stallion changed to a silly expression of surprise.
"All that vocabulary, I simply needed a 'yes' to confirm. But that will do too."
Then, Grass Patch collected the remaining untouched pages scattered around the floor. Twilight didn't had to wait much before The stallion passed the documents.
Documents were notebook sized, filled with the information:
/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=
Designation: Oleander
ID:122C-S
Ref:S670
Location: (Doc.1)
Avem:1420.6 Mem:1735.3
Sz:134-40/52.8-15.7
13/10 Rt 1 (Doc.2)
14/10 Disp: Scissor-Off Key
15/10-1 Rt 2 (Doc.3)/Data.
15/10-2 Q1
16/10 Obv
17/10 Disp: Violet-Old Pot-Clicker
18/10 Eg -!Scissor! *Clicker* 3/1/
19/10 Disp: Tater Sack-Nimbus
20/10 Eg 2/0
21/10 Obv
22/10-1 Eg *Off Key* *Nimbus* 3/0
22/10-2 -EXDN-SG
22/10-3 Ci/01
22/10-4 Ci/03 Eg /1/0/
23/10 Ci/04 Eg /0/1/
24/10 Ci/03
25/10 Ci/07 Eg /0/2/ !Old Pot!
26/10 Disp: S1
27/10 S1
28/10-1 [AS] /Off Key-Nimbus-Clicker-Violet/
28/10-2 Disp:Toy Spear-Blade Blank-Mild Green-Raindance
=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/
"Err... What is this supposed be?" Twilight asked. Now confused.
"A report. The summary report about one particular operation area to be precise."
"Hmm..." The lilac mare concentrated again.
A moment of silence passed by. If the concentration could be touched and gaze could harm, the place would be flooded by the sheer amount of concentration, and the paper would have been shredded to pieces and burnt to ashes at the same time.
"I think I should start to explain before you make a hole in the report paper, Ma'am."
"Yes please." The stallion managed to capture the attention of Twilight.
"Well, let's start then; First, designation. It is a word used to name the place without actually naming it. Err, what was the word...?"
"Code-names?"
"Yes! code-names, thank you. The designation words are mundane enough to not raise suspicion or any unnecessary curiosity. Any questions?"
"Why Oleander?"
"Huh? Oh, I didn't wrote them"
"Them?"
"There is other reports like this, but I didn't brought them,but I noticed that other reports have similar designation codes as well, like: nightshade, fool's trumpet, hemlock, firefly's grave."
"All of them are poisonous plants, aren't they?"
"Correct"
"Why?"
"Because the places that investigators visit to make this report, are dangerous, to say at least. Even more dangerous than the plants named after them. Actually, I think the plants are less dangerous than this things. The plants don't move erratically from one place to another, or taints everything that is living that comes nearby," The stallion said in one go, not even pausing to breath.
"Huh? What moves around? and 'tainting'? What are you talking about?"
"Yeah... I need to explain that too. Let's start with the 'moving' part"
The most part of the sentence was for himself.
"The moving things is called 'Fracture' and 'tainting' is the phenomena that the Fracture brings with it.
"What is this 'Fracture'?" Twilight asked.
"Fracture. Is a literal crack in the space. It can appear anywhere you can imagine. Most of them starts as a small distortion that is barely noticeable but it will quickly get worse. A lot worse."
"What do you mean 'is a literal crack'?"
"Hmmm, How can I explain it... Imagine a picture, and put a glass pane in front of it and you break the glass. The cracks and the parts where the glass broke off is pitch black but the picture itself looks completely normal. That wasn't a very good explanation was it?" Grass Patch asked, but the mare did not answered
Twilight silently thought, of how can the reality break off like a piece of glass.
"I know that it sounds crazy, but for now I will continue to explain, and you can interrupt me anytime if you have a question. Shall I? By the way, others researchers may call it differently."
"Okay."
"A Fracture, by itself, is mostly harmless. But the effect that brings to the nearby area that comes from the other side of the crack, IS dangerous."
"What is in the other side? and What kind of danger brings?"
"I can't answer the first question, Every time that we try to insert any kind of sensors or a camera at least, we are attacked by Aberrations"
"You are attacked by what?"
"Aberrations. This brings the answer of the second question you asked: 'what kind of danger' it brings. Let me ask you something before telling the answer. Did you heard about the term 'RSB'?"
"Repercussive Sorcerous Byproduct. 'Leftover traces of magic, refined and used but not converted to a desired spell of the caster, It can be found anywhere that a spell was used. Although it's lifetime tend to be very short, there were instances that RSB could be detected even after many years.' According to Encyclopedia Magi Third edition."
Twilight didn't heard any kind of answer from Grass Patch. As he was silent, with his mouth tightly shut and his eyes wide open.
"Grass Patch?"
"To be expected from the pupil of Princess Celestia. Correct. Yes! that is the answer." said Grass Patch, with awe.
"Is not hard to memorize it..." said Twilight, slightly blushing
"Sure... Anyways, you know why the RSB is found, so I will skip to the actual answer. One of the three dangers that brings an open Fracture to the nearby area is the heavy accumulation of RSB, and I believe that you know what happen if the RSB get concentrated in a single space."
"It's rare that RSB stay in that form for more than few minutes but it happened before. Concentrated byproducts destabilize nearby magical forces, making them very hard to refine. But it heavily depends of how is the concentration. By the way, how much is the concentration?
`"Do you remember what is the average concentration in a magic duel?"
"Three to five hundred. Seven hundred if they are casting complex spells and up to nine hundred if they are fighting to death"
"Do you see the Avem and Mem?"
"Yes, what does it mean?"
"Average emission and maximum emission by the Fracture."
"Wait... Over thousands?! and that's the average? No, it's not even the concentration that is written here, it's the emission."
"The actual concentration is very difficult to measure without the sensor going overdrive. As you can see, it IS impossible that a normal unicorn to cast a spell or most of magical devices to work when it's close to a Fracture."
Twilight was left speechless. This so called "Fracture" seemed more and more dangerous each explanation that Grass Patch gave. And something inside Twilight was telling her over and over that going further will not bring good things, but Twilight decided to ignore it, for now.
"Should I stop here? you don't look so good, miss Twilight..."
"I'm okay, just astonished..."
"Fine then. I will continue to explain. This 'Aberrations' that you heard before, are... No, no no no no. Please forget about it." The stallion's expression gradually got stiff, as if remembering something important he forgot.
"Huh?"
"Just forget about it, will you, miss?"
"Something wrong?"
"No, it's nothing. It's just that I can't blabber about this subject like this. Well, not this lightly at least. I just got too excited that somepony actually listened to me and this happens, We can't involve more civilians to this. I apologize for this, I didn't had to start this..." Grass Patch apologized profusely. The stallion now looked heavily troubled, like after the happening of yesterday
"Are you okay?" this time was Twilight who asked, worried about the sudden change of mood of the stallion
"I'm okay, I just blabbered unnecessary information because I was excited. You didn't even had to knew about this! Well, not this early, because the investigation didn't even started, nor I had the order to do so." The voice of Grass Patch became more frantic, he seemed to be angry to himself.
"But, no! I always mess up, How did even I became an investigator? Really, how? How Princess Celestia chose me, huh? Do you know anything about it, miss Twilight?"
Twilight could do nothing but shake her head. Surprised by the sudden change of mood of the stallion.
After few minutes of silence, Grass Patch brought both of his foreleg to his face.
"Good grief... I'm useless..." Grass Patch whispered to himself.
"Grass Patch..." said Twilight, getting closer to the stallion.
"I'm sorry about that, I.. sometimes... I.." Grass Patch mumbled, both of his foreleg still in his face.
Twilight put her hoof to the shoulders of the stallion. The same sensation of horror invaded her again, albeit in lesser degree. But Twilight didn't cared about it this time. and then;
"Spike. I know that you are there." said Twilight.
After some footsteps, Spike peeked his head from the staircase.
"Uhh.. Are you guys okay?" asked the dragon, nervous by the stallion's words.
"Yes, Spike. You can come down. Grass Patch is stressed, nothing more. And he's fine now, aren't you?"
"Yes, miss Twilight. I'm fine, I apologize of all this mess and I will not shout at you again, forgive my rudeness, miss Twilight." said Grass Patch, almost whispering.
"Already done, I know that there is a lot to explain and even more to do. But, for now let's take a break, shall we?" Twilight said, with a calming smile.
As Grass Patch saw the mare smiling, he too smiled. The tension in the air seemed to banish like morning haze.
"By the way, is almost lunchtime, Twilight." said Spike.
"Really? The time passes quickly. And the fridge is empty, you said"
"Yup"
"Well, should I eat in home? But what..." Twilight
"How about you take Grass Patch to Sugarcube Corner? and both of you can take fresh air." said Spike, interrupting Twilight.
"Huh, Yeah. Is not bad idea, How does it sound to you?" asked Twilight to the stallion
"Uh. Wha? I, eh. I wasn't listening"
"How about both of you go out and have lunch and meanwhile, take some fresh air. I said." Spike said flatly
"Oh. Sure."
"Great! Can you please wait me outside, Grass Patch?" Twilight said with a smile.
"Yes ma'am."
After watching Grass Patch going through the door, Twilight started to busily looking the more obscure section of the shelves, The area that most of the visitors don't look at it because it was too complicated or the book was just to heavy to take it out alone.
Few minutes later, she was holding a small sack. Which she threw it without hesitation to her assistant.
"Prize of being the best assistant ever! Do you want something from Pinkie?" Twilight said with a smile
After checking inside of the bag, Spike said:
"Cake ingredients, please. She will know about it if you tell her"
"Okay then. We will not take long, and please take care of Owlowiscious "
"Yeah, yeah." Spike answered lazily, distracted by the contents of the bag
After grabbing one a saddlebag, she went out, again leaving the library in silence. Spike swallowed hard, looking the bag with temptation.
"Just one, the smallest one..." Spike said, opening the bag. Just to be interrupted by a noise.
"Hoo"
"What? Can't I eat just one of it?"
"Hoot-hoo"
"Yeah, I know. How could I forget it..."
"Hoo"
"Okay, okay. I will wait...: