Twilight's Researchby KillerSteelChaptersPrologue: HypotheosisChapter 1: QuestionsChapter 2: Preliminary StudyChapter 4: Mixed ResultsChapter 3: Blind TrialPrologue: HypotheosisI'd asked myself a lot of questions in the past. I'd hunted down a lot of answers. And I was still finding more mysteries to solve, to sate my curiosity when it came to Equestria. Its history is long and filled with interesting facts, like the Age of Chaos, where Discord actually ruled for two hundred ninety six years, until the Royal Sisters, Princesses Luna and Celestia, overthrew him in a rebellion that lasted two years. The land taken during that war was actually three times larger than Equestria, but some of the landmass had been sheared off during the final conflict between Celestia and Discord, creating the Dragon Nest Isles East of Equestria. Not many ponies know about that, but it definitely scares me with just how powerful the Princesses are. Oh, and during the Beginning Age, when Princesses Celestia and Luna began their rule! How Starswirl the Bearded actually discovered time travel through a misplaced cup of tea in the path of a high-intensity beam of energy. He'd managed to throw his cup of tea thirty seconds into the future, and through the deconstruction of what was flowing through the beam between two crystals, and a certain ingredient that made his spiced tea taste just right, he found that the ingredient could amplify magic's volatile properties near-twenty fold! In fact, the time travel scroll I used to travel back in time was made from parchment laced with that ingredient! Or in the Banishment Age, when Luna was trapped in the Moon, how Clover the Clever single-hoofedly discovered the cure to Calestrova Demiscus, or 'Horn Catalyst Disease'! Pretty weird recipe involving tree bark and Poison Joke... more on that later. Equestria's magic is a whole other kettle of fish... that's the term, isn't it? Anyway, the magic of Equestria; in unicorns, in the air, in the ground... how everything reacted with one another in a constant state of harmony. How this environmental magic could be affected by Discord, and thrown into Chaos, or how it could be controlled by Earth ponies... oh, now I'm rambling. Anyway, I'd discovered a lot of things about Equestria and its ponies, but there was always one thing that had me stumped. It wasn't really things I'd thought, or experienced, or even done on instinct... but, actually, how I felt. I couldn't explain it, even if I'd wanted to... which I didn't, really. But haven't you ever had some weird twinge in your gut area when you walked past somepony? Kinda like guilt, but not guilt... but it was kind of guilt, but not the kind of guilt you felt when you'd done something bad, but rather when you'd missed out on something good, but you didn't quite understand what that good was until... never mind. I've never had this kind of trouble before, and it's freaking me out! There's only one thing that can trump a smart pony, that one little grain of sand in somepony's shoe that just annoys them to no end! A question without an answer! I need that answer! So, well, um... how can I find an answer to a question I can't even explain? Where does a pony even start? Well. There's always been one solid starting place for a mare like me! And that is... Books! Chapter 1: Questions"Ngh... just five more minutes, please..." Why was it that, when a pony begged morning for five more minutes of sleep, the Sun always found a way to prod its way into your life? You could toss and turn in bed, which I did, and that infernal light still managed to blind me. "C'mon, Sun, just leave me in bed!" I mumbled, or groaned, I couldn't even tell what I sounded like that morning. Everything was just a milky haze in my head, like when I tried to read three books at once, and it all just twisted into some scary maelstrom of ink. I still refrained from doing that ever since that one time I was studying time travel, and I tried to read five books at once... I had nightmares of all that ink for a few nights after that. Wait... what was that smell? And what sounded like... burping? Uh oh. I quickly snapped open my eyes and looked up at the ceiling, green trails of fire shooting up towards it... well, more like green balls. Green puffs? Clouds? Doesn't matter, room on fire! With an appropriately loud screech and a leap, I jumped from my bed and lit my horn, trapping the rising fire before it could burn down the rest of my precious library. The Sun trailing in from the window turned the room into a bunch of black and white lines and blobs, my head still pounding from the sudden rush of blood in my panic, the aura shifting in intensity with each thud. Maybe that 'thump thump thump' was from my heart, or from my horn, couldn't tell at that point, my whole body reverberated with it. I dragged the flames back down from the ceiling and made a sort of umbrella, or parasol, or something to trap the fire above the source of the destruction; a very meager, kind dragon. Not really the kind you'd expect to burn down a hay bale, let alone a house. "Should've stopped him from eating all that ice cream last night... he's gonna wake up with some crazy heart burn," I grumbled, anticipating what he was gonna say when he woke up. Oh, Twilight, my heart's on fire! Is Rarity around? And other crazy stuff like that. Spike was very good-hearted, there wasn't a doubt in my mind about that, but he did tend to relate his bodily issues back to his... adoration? Idolization? Something, he felt something for Rarity. Should read up on that... "Well, since I'm awake. What was I going to do today? Schedule events for the next three weeks, do some timekeeping for today, read the next book in the line of Orion Hunter's tomes on astronomy," I whispered, eyes trailing upward as I tried to remember what I was going to do. That thudding was still going in my head, though, and it had an evil tendency to scramble my thoughts. Everything just flushed, one thought after the other, kind of like when Pinkie's on a really long tangent... in one ear and out the other. Well, there, it was in one side of the brain and out the other side. Nothing stuck! "Rrrrrgh, c'mon, think!" I tapped the side of my head until the thudding was quelled by a far more familiar sound, and feeling; the partial sickness that came with hunger. "Breakfast. Yeah, that'll help me think!" I grinned and raced for the stairs, but by the time I'd reached them, the thudding had filled my ears with its drum beat... actually started to make walking difficult. I took my time down each step of the library, letting the melding colors of the books scroll by me, but the way everything shifted and blurred together just made for one heck of a sickening ride. "Why is this happening to me today? Did I eat something bad last night, or something?" Upon asking that, my mind sent back a pretty hefty checklist of food I'd consumed. Daisy soup with four salt-topped crackers, followed by a small salad and a cup of cider. Cider was aged two weeks in the fridge, assured by Applejack that it would remain good for consumption for up to three months if chilled, 'chilled' equating to three degrees Larus. Despite the things she usually talks about, Applejack is extremely quick on calling up details on her food and drink... always trust her. "Alright, that's actually pretty... ohhh, jeeze," I covered my mouth with a particularly flipping rumble from my stomach, and leaned on the wall beside me. The shelves didn't provide all that good a surface to lean on, the pain in my shoulder as the edges dug into it told me that much, but it at least stopped me from moving. "Why am I feeling like this, though? Am I sick or something?" I raised an eyebrow slightly at the thought, going through the usual symptoms of a sickness. I touched my horn, rubbing along the familiar, smooth coils, finding that none of them had sharpened, decayed or worn away. That rules out about four diseases... forehead. A quick pass of the foreleg over my forehead revealed that, yes, I did have a proper temperature. I felt along my neck, finding no bruises or bite marks, and along my side to see if any strange growths had appeared. Nothing. Nothing at all. Well, that wasn't unsettling in the slightest, since I could think about twenty different sicknesses with entirely internal symptoms, a very upset stomach suiting a symptom for about six of them. None of them lethal, of course, but several that could've chained me to a bed for about three months. "Maybe I should just... sit down. Just got up too quickly, and worrying about sicknesses is just gonna make it worse." I let out a sigh and sat down, feeling the chill of the step hit me, as well as the pain of my tail being pressed under my rump. It wasn't too unpleasant, and helped fight against the cold. It is Autumn after all. No wonder it'd be cold. I let my eyes wander, slowly, across the library as my stomach tried to do damage control and stop me from throwing up. The windows all revealed that same, opaque ray of white light, but it was starting to come into view, with the colors of the books all consolidating into single tomes. Brown for informational, blue for non-fiction, red for fiction... it was a nice way of organizing, until you got to the Daring Do series, as well as a few other famous fiction and non-fiction series that dared to break out of the standard coloring scheme. "And if I get into that issue, I'm gonna be here all day, and my walls are gonna be green and yellow... don't worry about it, Twilight, just get to the kitchen, make yourself some food. Maybe an omelette, or some toast even... oooo, or pancakes." The pleasant feeling of drool pooling in my mouth at the thought of the food added to my anticipation as a smile slowly crossed my face, "Pancakes sound really good right now. Sweet and fluffy, with three blueberries arranged to make the vertexes of a triangle, and syrup to make the lines. An equal flavor for every bite, long as I don't shake with the knife again," I mumbled, smile failing to hold back a slight grimace. That was something that plagued me over the past few weeks or so. I wasn't even sure when it started, or if I'd had the problem all my life, but it was a... weird feeling in my gut. My mind would wander through the usual subjects I considered for breakfast and the day, what magic tricks I'd practice for a few hours, who I'd go hang out with, what shopping I had to do... the usual, right? But, then, my mind would trip over itself as I thought back over the past day. Certain ponies I saw, certain... details I noticed. The weird thing is I could never remember what part of them incited such a reaction, it was always a blurry picture of them... but it made me feel weird. And a weird feeling was never good. But sometimes it was good. But most of the time it wasn't, except when it... "Ok, no, I'm confusing myself. Alright, focus," I whispered, squinting my eyes to perceive the library again. Finally, all the colors had found their rightful place in their points in space, and everything finally looked normal again. I could even pick out a few titles, like "Space Eye for the Curious Guy", one of my favorite astronomy books. "Wonder why they have such weird titles though... you'd think "Big Book Of Stars And Planets" was already taken." I chuckled at the thought of twenty books hitting the publishing company, all with the same title. With my stomach finally calmed down, I resumed my quest to the kitchen for some much-needed sustenance, of the golden brown, fluffy variety. If there was something that could be said about me, it was that my unstable gut always offset my love for food. Most ponies would never even guess that I was some kind of gourmand, but I knew my way around the kitchen, and I definitely knew how to cook my favorite foods. As the clean surfaces - as they should be - of the kitchen revealed themselves to me, the stool set up next to the stove, little pink apron set on top of it, I almost heard Spike's voice calling out to me... What'll it be today, Twilight? "I'll take two pancakes, cooked the usual way, Spike," I responded, feeling something brush past my tail. "On it!" The overly boyish tone was immediately recognizeable, and sure enough, the baby dragon strolled right past me. "W-Wait, how'd y-... did you just wake up?" I raised my eyebrow in abject curiosity as he took up his favorite apron and started zipping about the cupboards, pulling out numerous ingredients and pans. Whatever I could say about my cooking ability, I knew for certain that Spike had me beat in almost every category. Even as I walked over to the table, checkerboard table cloth laid over it at a perfect fourty-five degree angle - I measured -, I was mesmerized by just how quickly he'd assembled everything. How does he get all that done so fast? I wondered, head tilting to the side slightly as I took my seat at the table. "Alright, pancakes coming right up... now, um, where'd we— oh, right, fridge!" Spike hopped off his stool and quickly crossed the distance to the fridge, throwing it open with a strength I rarely saw in his morning ritual. Maybe he decided to be extra quick today? "Alright, got 'em. Now, the pan's heated up, got my flour, eggs, milk..." he rambled off into a descending stream of mumbles, quickly becoming incomprehensible. To think, he's only... what, thirteen now? Fourteen? Still a baby by every standard of a dragon, but you'd swear he had a special talent for cooking! I entertained the idea of my assistant serving in a five-star restaurant, celebrities praising his God-like cooking. Oh, wait... he's standing on the counter, everypony's clapping for him... wait for iiiit... There it was! The trademark mustache twirl, and a smug grin to top it off. That's the Spike I know. Humble until somepony praises him, then he soaks it up like a sponge. I shook my head with a smile, and looked out the window above the kitchen table. Luckily, the library was built with everything somepony needed for a house; bedroom on the top floor, kitchen on the bottom floor, and more books than Starswirl himself would know what to do with! Even I got lost in it all sometimes, but that was usually when I lost my 'Books I've Already Read' list... cursed thing kept getting buried under all my other lists. The window above the table offered a nice view across the fields and hills of Ponyville, houses lining the streets just beyond. Ponies sauntered about on their usual business, probably off picking flowers for loved ones, or buying them... That's a question, actually. Why buy flowers when you can pick them? Surely the effort is worth the admiration you'd get in return, and you could save some money... but the Flower Sisters always stay afloat. Heck, they make a real premium off it all... is there a difference in quality between their flowers and ones grown in the wild? And just how do their finances work? And why am I prying into that? I wondered, brow furrowing on the last point. It was a good question, though, honest! Just how did the whole flower business work? Were ponies too lazy to go out into the field and pick their own flowers, or was it assured quality from Roseluck and her sisters? "Mmm, too much thought for the morning," I mumbled, still staring out to the street. Three stallions, five mares, two foals, both fillies. Ten houses, twelve visible windows, twenty four shutters, ten doors. Eight counts done out of boredom. Maybe I just need something else to focus on... I scratched my battlefield of a mane, getting at an itch just beginning to make itself known to the world as a... well, an irritating itch. Wonder if I know any of the ponies out there? A quick glance revealed one mare I knew well enough, her maroon coat reminding me a lot of one of the highlights in my mane. Cheerilee's off towards the schoolhouse again, I bet... even in this light, those sunflowers still shine so bright. I quirked my mouth slightly as she walked along the street, the two fillies quickly joining her at her side. I was certain they were talking about something, their mouths were moving after all, but... Oh, great, there's that feeling again... I leaned on a hoof as my target of interest simply moved in tune with her body. It wasn't really the sunflowers that devoured my attention, though, it was the surface they were on... something about the shape, the size, maybe... it just held me in abject fascination. Cheerilee stopped in the street, likely telling the fillies about what they were gonna be learning that day, or giving advice, or... something, it didn't really matter. What's happening to me? The rogue thought raced through my mind as I shook my head, the street coming back into focus. I've... I was just staring at her... but, why? I blinked in confusion, my mind unable to readily answer the thought, but my body happily answered for me. I felt warmer, definitely, but my head felt kind of numb, like I'd just lost myself in a story, or a medical study. Except it was in a round, maroon, bouncing, flex... ing... Snap out of it I quickly shook my head, earning a smack against something hard with my cheek, "Oh!" "Oh, sorry, Twilight! You were, uh," Spike stumbled over his words, looking up at my face. A rather confused look scrolled by as he held up the plate of pancakes in one claw, and a fork and knife in the other. "Twilight. I know you like breakfast, but that red on your cheeks is kinda freaking me out... you sick or something?" "Red on my cheeks? Wait, you mean here?" I blinked, raising my hoof to tap the area just under my right eye. It definitely did feel warm... kinda like how your cheeks burn in the cold of Winter. Wasn't that cold in the library, though; on the contrary, it was sweltering in the kitchen. "Yeah. You feeling alright?" "Just fine, Spike, honest. Just, um... well, I know I'm not sick." I looked over at the pancakes held on the inviting white plate, spotless as usual. "Oooo, does head chef Spike have something for me?" "Yes, m'lady," he said with a bow, and put on his best Manehatten accent, placing the plate and cutlery on the table in front of me as he spoke, "Two pancakes made to order, containing the precisely measured amounts of milk, eggs, flour, a touch of buttermilk, one knife's edge of margerine, a layer of oil to allow the golden brown-ness of the delicacy, and an assortment of fruit and syrup available, erm..." his accent faltered as he looked over at the counter, "On the counter. Darn it, I need more arms!" I giggled at his complaint; maybe having a horn did make life really easy compared to others, "It's alright Spike, I've got it." With a quick flick of my horn, and thankfully, no return of that dreaded thumping, I retrieved the syrup and delectable— "Raspberries? Wait, don't we have any blueberries left?" "You're forgetting the massive pancake binge you had last weekend? You know, after finishing your one hundred page report on the effects of unicorn magic when trying to inspire growth in plants and animal species. The one to the Princess? The one that I had to have six glasses of water after to get the burning out of my throat?" Spike scratched at his windpipe as I leaned back slightly, remembering the events that took place. "And then, in celebration, I demanded sixty pancakes and all the fruit in the house. Sorry, Spike, my memory's been flaky lately..." I gave my head a good shake, my body thankfully calming down. What were the symptoms of this latest bout, anyway? Let's see... flushed cheeks... absence of mind... complete and total focus on the subject... and numerous parts of my body heating up, ranging from my cheeks to my chest to my belly to my... my, um... I hid my eyes behind my hoof in a mock attempt to lean my head on it and looked down. Yeah... that. That heated up, too. But why? Hmmm... This would require further study, definitely, but first came breakfast! Oh, that intoxicating smell was already stealing away my focus. The formula could be shifted a bit, but raspberries were notoriously uncooperative when it came to placing them at just the right places. Have to account for any shifts from environmental disturbances, and random earthquakes... as well as— oh, right. "Thank you, Spike, it looks great. Just gonna..." "Take your time. If the pancakes get cold while you're placing the berries, I'll heat 'em up. Gonna get started on getting my breakfast out." He grinned and walked over to his stool, hopping up onto it and turning the stove off. First came food - probably emeralds -, then he'd get started on his chores. Chores... I've put a lot of chores on his back, haven't I? Even with Owlowicious around, Spike's still got a lot of work to do. Maybe I should help him out today while I read up on this... weird thing I've got going on. Maybe even a letter to the Princess? Should I alert her about this? Ohhh, I don't know. And that was the worst feeling I could experience that morning: not knowing. There was nothing that bothered me more than not having an answer to a question. Though nothing beat not being able to solve the Pinkie Sense. That mystery still drove me nuts! Still, I did accept that it was something I couldn't solve... it definitely didn't mean it stopped giving me nightmares. My eyes moved away from Spike as he gathered up his cherished gems for breakfast, and down to the food that a pony actually could eat: pancakes! Top raspberry goes here... then the second one at a fourty-five degree angle, about two inches away... then the third the same distance and angle... ok. I smiled as the berries actually cooperated for once. Maybe the planets aligned that day? I let out a laugh as I imagined every planet in the solar system aligning, projecting some form of ultimate will on the berries to make my morning better. Definitely made me smile, at least, seeing those berries stand at attention as I drizzled just the right amount of syrup between them. "Now we just cut..." I mumbled, and at the thought of 'cutting', my horn fired up on its own and produced a lavendery triangle, hovering just over the berries. The vertexes extended out to cover the entire delicacy, and my tongue ran over my lips as I pressed down, cutting the pancake into equal pieces. Glad Spike has something better to do besides watching me do this... he'd probably fall asleep. But the cut has to be perfect! I nodded to the thought, and took the berries in my magic. The cut had been done, now all that was left to do is to spread the berry juice and syrup across the pancake, evenly. The same amazing taste for every bite... it was a science, after all! Soon, the deed had been done, and I took up my knife and fork, diving right into the food. The science was done, but boy, was I hungry! The sweet, sugary flavor of the syrup with the slight tang of the berries... it didn't match up with the cold, slightly bitter balance of a blueberry, but it definitely had its merits. Before I knew it, not a survivor had been left on the syrup covered plate held in front of my face, not wanting to leave even a stripe of syrup behind. Once the pure white of the plate had been restored, I placed it back on the table... revealing Spike's face to me. His rather... bothered face. "Something wrong, Spike?" I raised an eyebrow, feeling a lone tear scroll down my face. What could I say? Those pancakes were the best pancakes I'd ever had. Right, dragon was speaking, listen! "Um... nothing, nothing at all. Just, you were really going at that plate, Twilight." He quirked his mouth up at the side, emerald in his clenched claw; seemed he halted just before taking a bite to watch me fill my gut. Bit creepy... "Well, the pancakes were good! Really good." I sniffed, wiping my damp cheek, "Really, really really good..." Spike grinned, taking the emerald between his fangs and crashing down on it, "Well, what can I say? I'm the chef for a reason, Twilight. So." he gulped down the emerald chunks, spinning the remains of it in his claw, "What's the plan today?" "Oh, right, my plan! Shoot, um... I was gonna do a lot of timekeeping today." "Schedule writing today, then?" He raised his brow and leaned on his claw, tossing the other half of the emerald into his mouth. I'd always wondered just how strong a dragon's mouth was... those emerald shards had to be sharp, after all! "Yep. Gotta get a schedule down for the next three weeks, then sort out the time periods for today..." I trailed off, blinking as an image flashed through my mind. It didn't look familiar... or even visible, but it was definitely there; if it wasn't, then why did I feel myself heat up a bit again? "Twilight?" "Huh? Oh, sorry, sorry! Um, I was going to do some reading today!" I shook my head, quickly throwing the sentence out of my mouth. I *really** need to read up on this!* "Oh yeah, that astronomy book, right?" Spike spoke through the shattering glass of the emeralds, wincing a bit as he went, "Oh jeeze, that's sour... ahem, anyway. Right, that new Orion Hunter book." "That's the one. Is anypony coming over today?" "Nah, I don't think so. You know, besides Rainbow blowing another hole in the wall, or Pinkie kicking the door down to invite us to another party," Spike chuckled as he lounged in his chair, shaking his head. Yeah, that wasn't too fun... "It was really hard fixing that hole last month, wasn't it?" I smirked, covering my mouth in time to muffle a light belch. Ate a bit too quick... I thought, letting out a small sigh, "Pardon me." "Pardon what?" "Never mind. You were saying?" "Right. No, that hole wasn't too fun, but at least we had your number two assistant to help out with carrying the wood." Spike grinned at the exclamation of his dominance, however much worth it had to me. I couldn't help but humor him, though... after that huge mess between him and Owlowicious, the two just never saw eye to eye, no matter what I could sort out concerning work schedules. They eventually agreed to disagree, and left each other alone to their work, but I always enjoyed seeing them work together, whenever the blue moon shined above. "You're gonna keep calling him that, aren't you?" I rolled my eyes, smiling at the silliness of it. "Hey, I've been your assistant ever since I was a little baby. That's not gonna stop," he said, gesturing at me with an emerald, "Think we should get started on those schedules, then?" "If you want t—" I stopped after a blink, realizing I was talking to a dust cloud that looked suspiciously like Spike. Where the heck did he run off to? It only took a few moments of looking to spot him standing right next to me, stack of parchment and a lot of ink at claw and ready. "Well, you're on the ball, today!" "Gotta keep up my A game. Can't let it slip after those pancakes. Take it away!" And after that was, quite honestly, the most peaceful two hours I'd ever spent in my life. Even while sitting in my lonesome back in Canterlot, reading through Starswirl the Bearded's theory on time travel. The weeks just built themselves. Stunt practice with Rainbow two days from now, then help Pinkie over at Sugarcube Corner, then read some Daring Do on the weekend. By the end of it, though, I found that my brow had furrowed quite intensely, Spike looking back up at me as he sat on the ground. "Something wrong, Twilight?" "No, nothing's wrong... everything's been scheduled just fine. I guess... it's just surprising to hear I have so much free time on my hooves." I scratched the back of my neck in honest confusion. My days were usually packed to the brim with scheduled activities... yet most of them had more than seven hours of free time, excluding sleep! It was unheard of! Something has to be missing, but what!? Letters to the Princess on Saturdays, whenever one comes up, then astronomy study on Mondays. Today's Wednesday... And that was when the realization hit me, like an angry train riding right off the rails. I didn't have any work to do to fill in those seven hours a day. I felt my jaw drop at the thought. I-Impossible! How could my days not be filled?! I hurriedly charged through every single idea I could come up with to fill the time: biology, chemistry, magic, physics, studying the Sun and Moon, looking at the stars, hanging out with friends! E-Everything's got a space! It's all scheduled! *I can't fill the time!!*** "Twilight, hey!" Spike grabbed my neck, constricting it just enough for me to feel that I was hyperventilating, and I felt a tremble race through me. "Wh- H-Huh?" I shook my head, Spike's blubbering accompanying it; must've been shaking him along with my head! "S-Spike?" "Twilight, are you really sure you're ok? You just spaced out, then you started hyperventilating and- you freaked me out!" Spike tightened his grip into a hug, resting his head under my chin. Wait, he's... alright, panicking dragon under my chin! I quickly snapped out of my trance and returned the hug, putting on a shaky smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just fine, Spike. Just... never had that happen before." I stared off into space as his claws lowered to my shoulders, returning the hug as best he could. Really scared him, didn't I...? My eyes moved down to him, catching only the tip of a green spine sticking up past my muzzle. His trembling body against mine told me everything I needed, though: he really was scared. "It's alright... just never had so much time available in my day." "R-Right, that's true." Spike let out a small chuckle into my neck, answered by my own little giggle. Hey, it tickled! "Guess I overreacted a bit..." "No, no. I was panicking over nothing. Don't worry about it, Spike," I gently spoke as I squeezed him in a hug, smiling. It was always nice to be reminded that somepony nearby cared that much for me, even in my little world of schedules and panic attacks. Refreshing. "Alright, since you helped me with the schedules, how about I help you with the chores?" "Huh? But, I always do them." He leaned back into my view with a squinted look, "Are you trying to take my job, too?" "Now how in the world would I do that?" I could've sworn I puffed out my cheeks a bit, trying to hold in that laugh, "C'mon, there's no way I could replace you!" "Well..." Spike quirked his mouth, as if considering the thought, and almost as quickly shrugged, "Yeah, I guess you're right." He let go after I gave him a last squeeze, and dropped to the floor from my forelegs. "Alright, chores. What to start with... dusting, sweeping, setting up the ladders, sorting the sign-out sheets, organizing the books..." "Wow. I really had no idea you did so much everyday..." "Really? I just kinda kept taking jobs over when you went out on your crazy adventures with everypony. I do a pretty good job, don't I?" Spike put on a smug smirk, folding his arms. "Good job? You do a fantastic one, Spike! I swear, sometimes it looks like I did it!" And that was no joke. Every time somepony came by to sign out a book, Spike was ready to receive them and bring them to me. "Why do you worry about losing your spot as my number one assistant so much? The job's pretty much yours, permanently. Nopony understands my methods as well as you!" "And believe me, it took a long time to understand them as well as I do!" His smug smirk gave way to an exasperated look, slouching a bit, "I spent years studying where everything went! Pretty much had to start over when the Princess ordered you to study friendship in Ponyville. At least the smaller library made things a lot easier... but it was a rough first year!" "And I'm always impressed by your work. So, Mister Spike. What's the first order of business?" I stood at attention with a work-ready smile, or at least, I thought I did... I tried to mimic my brother whenever he was out on drills. Hopefully it came through. "Alright, Miss Sparkle. First job is dusting. It's crazy, this library gets so clogged with dirt sometimes, it's like walking on a beach." Spike chuckled a bit as he lead me into the library, and the two of us got to quick work. He handled the books while I multi-tasked sweeping, dusting and cleaning the windows. A simple task, but one that always amazed everypony who'd catch me while I was working. The library quickly became a cloudy, dusty... cloud of dust! "Alright, slow down, Twilight! The Princess isn't coming today!" Spike shouted from somewhere in the room. Couldn't quite see him. "Hang on, I'm getting everything off the walls so I can do..." I smiled as my horn sparked up, aura quickly wrapping up the entire room. With a flick of my head, all the dust was dragged together into a small ball in the middle of the room, Spike flopping onto the floor from the sudden yank. "This! Oh, oops! Spike, are you ok?" "Yeah, fine. I've lived through higher falls," he groaned as he rolled over and onto his feet, staring at the dust ball in the middle of the room. "Woah... now that's cool! How'd you do that?" "Oh, just a little adaptation for my levitation. I've been studying a few new spells, and got interested in the concept of gravity. I just attracted all the dust to each other, and built a ball out of it." I smiled and gestured to the bowling ball of dirt, Spike looking it over with interest. "Sweet. Wish I had a horn and that spell, it'd make cleaning a lot easier!" He scratched the back of his head and poked the ball, it rolling off from the touch. "Hey, get back here!" He set into a chase, though every time he got close, he'd accidentally kick the ball and send it off in another direction at a higher speed, like a cat with a yarn ball. Did dragons react to dirt the same way cats reacted to yarn? He's not really playing with it. Hm. Something to study. Along with that weird... thing that happens to me. I thought as I tapped my chin, looking around at all the books on the shelves, seeming to stretch upwards for miles from where I was sitting. That was a really weird trick of the eyes, and even after two years of living there, it still got to me! "Well, as long as I've got time, I could read that new book on astronomy..." I nodded, Spike's random yelps and grunts as he tried to retrieve the mischievous ball of dust fading away into my mind as I grabbed book after book off the shelves, reorganizing them. I can ask Spike to take over today. Think I'll do some reading out in the park... I thought. Spike could definitely handle running the library on his own, unless Rainbow came by, then there was a problem or three to deal with. In fact, whenever I got back from the crazy stuff I did with my friends, I'd always find the sign-out page organized and written with about twelve items on it. Book returns, sign-outs, names, birthdays... he was the smartest little dragon I'd ever met, and likely ever would meet. With the important house in the important claws of my important dragon, I could focus on the important problems of space, time, and me. Of course, me was number three on that list, but still! "Right then. That's a book on magic, goes in Classics... 'Checklists For The Novice Scheduler', that's in Foals... 'Daring Do And The Castle Of Nazaal', definitely Fiction. Ah, 'Stars And Planets For The Avid Stargazer, Orion Hunter'! Perfect." I continued organizing the books absent mindedly as I tried to uncover the secrets of the book through the front cover. The planets in our solar system, only ever observed... could we actually get to them someday, though? Doubt we'll ever be able to reach the stars in my lifetime... but I can always dream, can't I? I mused, smirking lightly. "Alright, Spike. I'm just gonna finish up with the books, then I'm gonna head out for some reading in the park." "Alright! Come back here, you little!" Spike grumbled, climbing a ladder to catch the dust ball that had somehow ended up on one of the upper shelves. "How'd you ride that book up here, anyway!?" "Sorry, Spike. You gonna get it down on your own?" I called up, readying my horn as he tipped back a bit on the ladder. I let my caught breath go as he landed back against the shelf, but I could definitely tell he was just a bit more tense than before. "Yeah, no problem. Almost got it. You done with the books?" "Yes, sir!" "Alright, that's it, then. I can take care of everything else." Spike grabbed the ball of dirt in a claw, digging into it slightly to get a better grip. Sliding back down, he hit the ground with a light thud and rolled, ball still held between his claws. Agile little guy! "Have fun, Twilight, with... well, whatever you do." "I always do, Spike. Take good care of the library." With a nod and a wave, I headed back upstairs and retrieved my saddlebag, placing the book on astronomy in it. Where should I go today, then? Could go to the square, relax on one of the benches... or sit out on that hill in Embark Fields. The square isn't that far away, though, and I should be through this book in no time. I nodded at the plan, but that one little itch at the back of my mind acted up again, reminding me of the questions I wanted answered. "Can't keep having these reactions happening to me... I don't even know what they relate to, or mean. Should take a few medical texts as well." With another nod, I raced back downstairs, thankful that I could do it with a manner of speed, and quickly snatched up several books on pony anatomy. With another wave, I was out the door and heading to the square. I had questions. It was time to get some answers. Chapter 2: Preliminary StudyAlright. There's a lot of questions I need answered, but they all revolve around my body. What do I need to ask? I need to figure out why I feel what I feel, when I feel it. The temperature increase could be related to a sickness, but I've been healthy for the last few months, and it's not time for allergy season yet. I let my body move on auto-pilot to the square, the sun high up in the sky, despite it barely being past ten. Ponies walked by, giving me waves to which my body, thankfully, responded with a smile or a wave, making sure not to trip itself up. I sometimes wondered just how Ponyville could be so awake at such an early hour, even if ten wasn't all that... well, early. Canterlot was really sleepy when it came to the hours before noon, and most of the streets would be empty, except for those stallions who enjoyed taking a walk in the breezy city, or mares heading out for some early shopping. Me? I just stayed cooped up in my house all day, so it didn't bother me much whether I woke up at nine or five. Well, until I started attending Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. My manic scheduling started pretty well after the first day there, stuck with me ever since. The whole process was never that hard, but it was a lot of busy work back then. Just wasn't that good at time-keeping, so I'd find myself constantly re-scheduling and re-re-scheduling and re-re-re— oh, there's the bench. The walk went by faster than I'd thought, the smell of the park in Autumn greeting me. A frigid breeze blew across my back, reminding me that I really should have brought a scarf or some kind of jacket. Just too excited to read this book, I guess. Well, I'll find a spell that can help in the meantime. I hopped up onto the orange bench in front of me, the gentle curvature of it supporting me perfectly. If there was one thing I always applauded, it was the craftsponies who worked in Ponyville under Mayor Mare, as they made some of the best benches in Equestria. Smooth oak with a laminate finish, and was that a— yes it was, a heating enchantment! Those ponies really think of everything when making these! Oooo, now I know why Lyra loves sitting on these! I grinned to myself as I settled into the bench, and cracked open the cover of the book. As soon as I'd set off on the first page, I was taken on a trip through the solar system. The acid rains of Nyx, the chilling tundras of Mu, the seemingly-war-ravaged landscape of Teerus... it was all fascinating, and Orion's writing really brought the studies and numerous exploration efforts of scientists to life. Though ponies couldn't reach the stars, we could still see out far enough to make guesses. Just how cold could Mu get...? It's like a comet grew too big for a tail. Astrology was a field that always interested me. Sure, magic was interesting, and so was geology and geometry, and yes, they are two entirely different fields, but what's better than wondering what's beyond your own world? I've never even travelled beyond Equestria's borders... and to read about things beyond every border on our planet is just incredible. "Oooo, mountain studies... 'Though the tallest mountain in Equestria is easily The Lonely Mountain that supports Canterlot, the current tallest mountain in our solar system is the massive Mt. Keynote of Teerus, at over fifteen miles high.' Ohhh, so fascinating!" I giggled with excitement, nearly bouncing on the bench as I flipped through page after page, containing more scientific tidbits of the solar system. By the time I was finished, the sun had fallen quite far out of the sky, sitting around the four o' clock mark. Telling the time via the sun wasn't all that hard, come to think of it. "Guess I'd better be getting home. I can think on it more later." I started moving my legs, inwardly groaning about having to leave my warm bastion of comfort. Now that the book's finished, I can get back to my original problem... why does my body do what it does, when it does. This morning, I was looking out the window and I saw Cheerilee. Lost focus, stared... then came back into the world when Spike interrupted me. I sat up on the bench and tapped my chin, the toasty wood keeping my legs warm. Maybe I should... ooo, that is nice... very high-quality wood, and the heat enchantment is just right. Wait, huh? My eyebrow shot up a good inch at the sudden realization of warmth. But it was a weird kind of warmth... far out of reach of the bench. And... wait... that smell... oh no. I didn't even have to look down to figure out what was going on, and immediately threw myself over the side of the bench and onto the cool grass behind it, a rather unceremonious 'thud' coming from it. I know that smell! Oh, thank goodness I understand at least *that** much!* My eyes whipped around to a few curious looks aimed back at me, offering a rather normal smile in return. At least, I thought it was normal. It should've been normal! It was normal, wasn't it?! Wait, no, don't freak out! Don't give them a hint, don't even *look** at them in a funny way! It'll pass, it'll pass... it always does.* Despite the many eyes on me, this was a practice I'd fallen into over the last year or so, couldn't be shaken, even if I had the world staring at me. Even if I couldn't figure out the why, when and how, I always knew what was happening: a certain part, or parts, of me would heat up, and if it got hot enough, a weird smell would come up, and the answer to getting rid of the smell would be to simply sit in a cold spot for a while and let it fade. It was a simple biological reaction for when a mare was... well, the word would be 'aroused', but I never understood it that way, since it was never logical about when and where it happened. I'd just lose my focus and keep on staring at something. What was weird is it tended to happen around warm places, so I avoid fireplaces more than what would be considered 'healthy' during Winter. Wonder if this happens to Lyra and Bon Bon a lot? Maybe it was a lie that I couldn't be shaken, since I ducked my head down behind the bench to avoid the eyes of everypony around. Sometimes I loved that Ponyville was such a small town, since peace and quiet - besides the occasional Hydra attack, and the Ursa Minor - was assured, but it also meant that anything at all happening that could be called interesting caught everypony's attention. And a mare hiding behind a bench? It was just enough, I figured. Maybe if I teleported? Ah, but then everypony'd come by the library and ask what was going on. I grimaced as a shudder ran down my back, but at least the heat was fading away. Cold shower once I get back... not comfortable in the slightest, but it always works. Just, um... need to wait for this smell to go away. Also in a village like Ponyville, boredom was such a prevalent occurrence that I actually loved it when Pinkie came by to knock down my door. I was thankful that that didn't happen while I sat on the grass, though that didn't stop my eyes from hunting around for any suspicious trench coats; I was an open target there, and that mare had the eyes of a hawk! Well, with luck, she won't spot me on my way back... and Luna forbid she gets a whiff of this. It'll be a mile a minute with questions. I turned to look at the tree behind the bench that I sat on, hopefully hiding my quick sniff of the air. Oh good, the smell's gone... alright, time to head home then. And hopefully not pull anypony else along for the ride. After a few more seconds of enjoying the chilling grass, I got to my hooves, slowly, and took a long whiff of the air. The park was always covered by the fragrant scent of flowers, so it helped cover up my actions, but it didn't really help me in finding the scent I needed to. Still, it was gone for the most part. Ok, so it's gone... now I just have to make it home without anypony finding me. Avoiding *her** is gonna be pretty difficult though, and I can't randomly teleport from place to place. I wish teleportation wasn't so hard to do... it makes it hard to move around when you're the only mare who can do it in the whole village!* I inward groaned as I moved out from my fortress of warm wood, looking around to make sure nopony was staring. Sure enough, the square was filled with more interesting things than me, and everypony decided that they'd focus on those instead. It was time to move. Making a last glance about, I grabbed my book and slipped it back into my saddlebag with my magic, moving away from the square. "Ok, what else was I planning for today? I was gonna read this book, which I finished off already. Helped Spike out with the chores... don't really need to do any shopping. Oh dear... the dreaded 'free time' is coming." I grimaced at the thought of having hours on my hooves, but it was a cruel fate forced upon me by my efficient planning. Is this what they refer to when they say 'digging your own grave'? That was an interesting saying, actually. The phrase originally pointed to the concept of a lie, and how it would go deeper and deeper until somepony found out the truth, almost like digging a deeper and deeper hole in order to hide yourself from somepony else. And, when the lie became too deep and you were found out, it was like a grave, since you couldn't escape the implications. Funny, how four words could carry such a meaning... wait, right, getting home, I had three hours saved the next day for philosophy! With a quick shake of my head, I set off down the street towards home, vying for the cover of the alleyways. I need a bit of silence to think on all this, and the alleyways should keep me out of everypony's way. So, these reactions of mine... they're triggered nearly at random, but there does tend to be a linking property: other ponies. It's just a question of what triggers it... but I don't think anypony'll let me just experiment on them. Kinda creepy, staring at them all day. So what's a good alternative? My eyes drifted up towards the darkened wall of a building as I stopped in the alleyway, the minor stink of a few trashcans not registering. It was obvious what kind of alternative I could use, and I'd been taking them once in a while over the last two years. How'd I not figure it out sooner? Pictures! I've got pictures of my friends at home in a big scrapbook. Only a few, but it should be enough for testing... it'll be nice to look back at some of those memories, as well. With a smile, I picked up the pace out of the dark and into the sunset light of Ponyville, tromping on down the dirt path. And I passed by that quill and sofa place, another question boiling in the back of my mind. One that had been bothering me ever since I first heard about the place. How *does** somepony sell quills and sofas in the same place!? It's crazy! The two have absolutely no relation to each other!* I felt a grimace cross my face as the shop seemed to spit in the face of logic. Spit in the face of my logic, at that! Ooooo, it set me on fire sometimes! But that was a question I could save for later - granted I could solve it all, like the Thing-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named -, as the shops finally let go and my library came into view. It was strange, though, that my library's leaves didn't change color in Autumn, unlike Whitetail Woods. Oh, right! Whitetail Woods! The Running Of The Leaves is coming up, isn't it? Maybe I should participate again... I entertained the idea of competing against the entire town, charging between the wonderful colors of the trees: the reds, the oranges, the yellows all zipping past in a beautiful blur. The wind cascading past my face in a chilling breeze as my heart raced and my lungs exploded with the fresh air... But it was all just a dream. I mean, sure, I competed once, but it had been so long since I ran in a race. Wait. When's the Running of the Leaves? A few weeks from now... hm. I should look into getting fit for that, it'd be a great use of my spare time! Only question is... where'd I put that book on running? My head tilted slightly at the thought. Where had I put it? It was easy to find most of my books, since they were organized by subject: biology, chemistry, physics, magic... but none of them really encompassed the science of running. Maybe I could learn from Applejack? Applejack was a good runner, definitely, as those monstrous bucks of hers would indicate. Should help out at the farm more often, get some strength back into these legs of mine. Buck a couple trees with her, talk about running... would she even be interested? No, after that whole fiasco a year ago, she'd definitely accept help. Get to work alongside her, knocking apples off the branches... watch her kick tree after tree without even breaking a sweat... so much power in them, so sleek, so... mesmerizing... Watching Applejack buck trees was a strange thing, to be honest. But the strength in those hind legs of hers was insane... she could probably knock down a tree on her own if she kicked hard enough. She'd often take a while to get her aim right, tail waving as she used it, almost like a crosshair. She'd lean forward and hop up off the ground, then strike with the force of a God. It was poetry in motion, each second passing by in the slowest of moments... watching her hips flex and turn like a well-oiled machine. Then the crash exploding in my head like a bomb as her hooves made contact, showing off her built frame. The sweat on her coat shining in the s— "Oof!" I shook my head as I ran into something, blinking a few times to stare at the red... thing that had popped up in my way. "Who the heck put a door here!?" My glare couldn't have said enough to the door as I looked around, rage building in my g— oh, it was the library. "Did I lose... huh." I blinked a few times at the innocent sign looking back at me, offering a friendly greeting to the Golden Oaks Library, the familiar sketch of a book sitting on a tree branch - the one that I renewed with a few quick swipes of my magic. I got home before I even realized what I was doing... Weird. Very, very weird... but why is that heat there again? Wasn't I picturing working with AJ? My brow fell slightly as my magic made a path for me, pushing open the door as I walked in. My answers were still avoiding me, and it only bugged me more as that same feeling welled up inside my gut, the same one I linked to 'arousal'. But why would it come up when picturing Applejack? It didn't make sense. I mean, she's nice, but... just how did 'arousal' work, anyway? This needs more study... a lot more study. Right, the test method I was gonna use to figure all this out. "Oh, hey Twilight!" Gotta be Spike. A quick look around didn't reveal him, however. "Hey Spike... uh... where are you?" "Up here..." I looked up as his voice trailed off into a groan, and spotted him hanging from the ceiling. He'd apparently set up a sort of gym on top of two bookcases, a ladder spanning the distance between them, and was hanging from his legs. Or was that his s— was his head stuck between the rungs!? "Spike, what'd you do!?" "Well, I got bored since nopony was coming by. Read a few pages of one of those Daring Do stories, then I... guess I decided to do something with my time. So I set this up, and please, don't ask me how I did it. I'm still figuring that out myself. Anyway, I set this ladder up up here... started walking over it like a bridge to a castle," his voice trailed off as I noticed a telltale gleam in his eye, and that same silly smile as you-know-who came up in his mind, "the castle holding my Lady Rarity..." His grin curved and widened as he started walking, or at least trying to... his legs were moving at least! "Spike, you really shouldn't do that. How long've you been up there?" "Ten minutes or so." His eyes turned up in thought as, I guess he tried to confirm his time estimate. He'd probably be scratching his chin too, if his arms could reach down - up? Down? - through the ladder rungs. I simply rolled my eyes and pulled him out of the crazy contraption with my magic, bringing him back down to earth. "If you're gonna set something like that up, could you at least do it in a place where you might not be knocked unconscious?" "Knocked unconscious? Whadya mean?" "Really? Spike, it's a paramount fact of the circulatory system. Aren't you reading books from the medical section from time to time?" I raised my eyebrow at his curious, then slowly falling to understanding, face. He scuffed a foot on the ground as he grimaced. "Heh, um... no, I haven't." "The blood rushes to your head, Spike, and the brain is overwhelmed by the rush. You black out, and that's a really bad position to fall asleep in." "Right... sorry." He sighed, staring at the floor. Ohhh... now I feel bad. I frowned with him; I didn't like lecturing him like that, because it always ended with him feeling bad, like he was taking time out of my day to get him out of a troubling situation. I was always happy to do it, but I suppose the lecture route was just too hard-written into my head... darned teachers at the school. "It's alright, Spike, honestly. You just have to be careful, alright?" "Yeah, I know. You were out for a long time, though. Enjoy the book?" He looked back up as he spoke, and I was glad to see that little spark in his eyes of a returning happiness. Certainly lifted my spirits! "Oh, definitely! Gonna recommend it to Rarity next time she comes by!" "Huh? Why Lady Rarity?" "Didn't you know? She likes astronomy as well. Though she mostly comes by for books on new sewing techniques, fabric details and other stuff, she pops in once in a while to learn about the stars. Always fun talking about what I learn with her, since she's got a pretty good understanding as well." I walked over to one of the bookcases and started looking through the titles, my hoof tapping each one as I ran through them all. "Seriously? Hey, do you still have that book on the solar system, or whatever it is?" "Oh, come now, Spike, you should know that much. I teach you better than that!" "Right, right, sorry. Doesn't stick sometimes..." "Then how about a question? How many planets are in our solar system?" "Five, counting Equis. Ours." Spike definitely sounded sure in his answer. Good thing it was right. "Correct. What are the names of the planets stretching out from our sun?" "Let's see... Ariys, Mu, Equis, Teerus, and Nyx." And he said it didn't all stick! "Right! What's the one feature we know about Nyx?" The quizzing made my search a little easier to bear, it was usually such a pain to sort through the books by hoof. Still, it was nice to feel the leather bindings, if only to remind myself of what it was like. "It's really, really, really cold!" "Right! And you said it didn't all stick." "I said sometimes. But c'mon, Twi', I need that book! Please, can you lend it to me?" "I can tell you only have the best intentions about learning about the planets and stars. Sure, go ahead, it's in my saddlebag." I shrugged the bags off my back with a smirk, kicking it back towards Spike as I continued going through the books. Magic section... where was that scrapbook? Restricted... that was three sections up! Ugh. "Thanks Twilight!" Spike chuckled as he rummaged through the bags, grabbing the book and running upstairs past me. "I'll go read it right now!" "Have fun, Spike! Remember what learning's about!" "It's not about what you need to learn, it's about what you want to learn! I know!" He was up the steps before I could blink. It was amazing just how quickly that dragon could run, but that book would keep him occupied for a very long time. Especially with his hardwired sleeping schedule. "Baby dragons will be babies... even when it comes to something they want to stay up for," I mumbled to myself as I slowly walked up the steps, tapping each of my books as I searched. The scrapbook had a blue cover with gold stripes... as well as a drawing of my Cutie Mark. I still remembered when that scrapbook was started... it was a few days after Nightmare Moon was beaten. We all came to the library to talk and get to know each other, and Pinkie of all ponies brought up the idea of a scrapbook. I entertained the idea, since cameras had been circulating through the country for quite a while, so we pooled some of our bits - even me, way back when, and I was still skeptical about the whole 'friendship' thing -, and bought a neat little camera. Same camera's still sitting in Pinkie's bedroom, actually... funny how she didn't bring it out unless it was for a picture with her friends. She did let me borrow it from time to time for research, though. I'd snapped lots of pictures over the years, mostly of trees during their transitions from season to season, some of Froggy Bottom Bog, some of the wildlife in Whitetail Woods, even one or two from my rare trips into the Everfree. It held a lot of good mem— Ah, here it is! My hoof fell on the familiar cloth spine of the book, and moving it down revealed Rainbow Dash's incredulous drawing style. She went through five versions of this drawing... I giggled at the thought of her constant grunts and shouts about how frustrating it was to get my Cutie Mark right. She always said 'why are the stars in such weird places?' As if it was difficult to get the five little stars correctly placed around the main starburst. Well, maybe it wasn't all that hard for me, at least getting the measurements right... I pray that nopony ever asks me to draw a face for them during a criminal case. I'd probably send them after some innocent Gryphon halfway across the world! Drawing it out with my magic, I inspected the cloth folds holding the parchment together. Despite its age, and the one really bad moth infestation I got a few months back, the book still held as strong as ever. The three brown strings used to hold the spine were still tied as well as ever, thanks to Rarity's accurate magic, and the cover had a wonderfully stylized picture of the six of us, the combined efforts of Rainbow's tenacity and Fluttershy's keen eye. Despite her shyness, the mare had such attention to detail... it was incredible. "Alright... I should be doing this in my room, though. Uhhh... well, it's an experiment, right?" I nodded at the thought; it really was just an experiment. Not like I was gonna be doing anything beyond looking at pictures, right? So I set a course for the kitchen table, it'd be private enough for what I needed. Nopony could see much through the kitchen window unless they got a good angle, and that would take them quite a while. Long enough for me to find out, anyway. I sat down at the end of the table bearing the most light from the setting sun, and very gently placed the book on the table. Even if it had fared well against time, I didn't want to throw it around. It's been a while since I went through these pictures... Opening the cover revealed the first picture that camera ever took, and one Pinkie said she was quite proud of. A picture of me and my friends all set up in the library, hooves on each other's shoulders and grinning like nothing was wrong with the world. It brought a nostalgic smile to my face, Pinkie fumbling with the camera on the stand, Rainbow trying to help out. She managed to knock it over more often than getting it stable, but she meant well, and the camera was a lot harder to break than that. The picture itself... it was the usual group photo. AJ with her legs crossed on the far left, a smug smirk on her face... Rainbow at her side, hoof up behind her head as some childish thing somepony would do in a class photo, a big smile under her puffed mane. Fluttershy peeking out just behind her, like the camera was going to roar at her or something. Me and Rarity smiling next to each other, my horn lit so I could snap the picture... and Pinkie off to the side, making a silly face with her tongue stuck out. "And that was only a few days after we saved Equestria for the first time... heh, looking at this, you'd think nothing at all was going on." I leaned on my hoof as my eyes trailed over the old photo. "Hard to believe it's already been two years... two years since we beat Nightmare Moon, and learned about the power of the Elements. We were inseparable after that... not even Discord could keep us apart." I gently brushed the page across the book to look at the next few pages. All the pictures were of Pinkie's parties: one of Gummy's birthday, all of us dancing around the little alligator - what a time that was! Another of her tail, for some reason... Weird, didn't think I put that one in here. Did she sneak it in while she was here? The next one was, thankfully, a little more normal: a picture of Rainbow rocketing through the sky during one of her amazing stunts. That mare was a real daredevil... I'm surprised she's not already one of the Wonderbolts. Heh, maybe Captain Spitfire doesn't want a challenger... then again, I don't think Rainbow would be all that great a captain. I smiled, moving away from the rainbow line carved through the sky, to a picture of myself. Must've been from when I was still practicing with the camera, and just wanted a photo. "Wow, I looked young back then..." The picture of me was rather... youthful. I was definitely shorter, and my horn had a lot less wear and tear in it. My face had, maybe, a few less wrinkles in it, but a lot of my features survived to twenty one years of age for me. What a relief that was. That twinkle in my eyes... the ever-living drive for knowledge. I guess that survived as well. It was a good profile shot of me, the stars on my flank seeming to shine under the flash of the camera. "Ahhh, the memories... I think my voice was a little higher back then, too." Another page brushed aside, and I was shown two other images. Lyra on the left as she was learning a few of my tricks, and Roseluck on the right, tending her garden as usual. Ahh, Lyra. Wonder if you're still just as lazy today as you were a year ago? I giggled at the thought. She really was lazy for a unicorn, but that drive of being outdone by others pushed her along to learning most of the spells I had to teach. She always groaned about it being too much work, but the moment I made it look easy, she took it as a challenge and fought tooth and hoof to learn it. Kinda like a pegasus I know... Then there's you, Roseluck. You never leave those flowers along for a moment. I looked away from the picture of Lyra struggling to move four things at once - a titanic task when you don't know the trick - to the one of Roseluck, simply raising her eyebrow at me in the picture. What? It's just practice, Roseluck! I blinked at the random thought as she replied, 'I know, Twilight, but why a picture of me?' Heh, the memories all come back way too easily. Didn't she keep asking me what I did with the photo after I took it...? Went on for days, even after I told her it was just as a memory. Acted like I was gonna get her a career in modelling or something... she certainly has the looks for it. That flowing, wine-colored mane of hers, the cream body a stark contrast... true to her name in body and soul. Pure like a flower. The next page revealed one of my more troubling memories, me and Rarity, each holding a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala above our heads, smiling. What a night *that** turned out to be! Quickly became one of the worst nights of my life. But, a quick trip to Joe's was all I needed to pick myself up. I still remember his shocked face when we walked into the store, all dressed up to take on the world.* My grin grew at the sight of his face, despite the fact that the night really was terrible. "Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say!" Beside it was a picture of a very familiar trophy, its owner sitting beside it with a rather troubled smile on her face. A trophy that still decorated Applejack's foyer, even today. That thing dug a pretty deep trench from Town Hall to Sweet Apple Acres! It didn't take long for Mayor Mare's staff to get the trench cleared up, but they sure weren't happy about having to take care of it. It was a good three miles long! "I haven't even cracked the tip of the iceberg, and already everything's coming back to me... photo of Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom a day after they met, a picture of me with my fifth place medal in my first ever Running of the Leaves... oh yeah, this one." I stopped flipping the pages on one of the most memorable, something that Rainbow Dash would never let me live down: a photo taken above a Sonic Rainboom, with the arced rainbow shot through it like an arrow at a target. That was an incredible sight... the legendary Sonic Rainboom... I could feel the shockwave from the stadium. The ring was still expanding when I took it, and the flash was nearly bright enough to blind me. Princess Celestia actually sent me a letter, asking what Rainbow was like after the stunt... I stared at the picture as the words I sent back to her scrolled by in my mind. I reported that nothing was out of the ordinary, beyond an extreme increase in her brashness and ego... but I never put much thought into what the Princess was talking about in the first place. "Should look into that later... it's been two years since that happened." The pictures scrolled by one by one: a photo of me in my All-Team Jacket, after so much effort to help the town - without magic, and boy did I learn not to use magic for the next one! -, a picture of the Crusaders with their medals, after one heck of a show. Didn't they hang those up in Sweetie Belle's room at the Boutique? Oh, what a week that was. A trio of destructive jokers... but everypony loves them all the same. I bet everypony was just like them at their age, even me... I had pictures of a lot of things in my scrapbook, but one of the most impressive, and the one I was most proud of, was a picture of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and my brother, Captain... well, Prince Shining Armor, the night after their wedding. What a day that was... nopony ever expected Chrysalis and her horde to attack the city, or to do it in such a manner... Still remember when nopony believed me when I said Cadence was acting strange... but why would anypony doubt me? I had her as a foalsitter for four years. Right up until I was accepted as Celestia's protege. Hmm... speaking of Cadence, actually... I leaned back from the scrapbook, closing it as I stared up at the ceiling. When I had Cadence as a foalsitter, the only name I knew her by was Cadence. I had no idea she was a Princess... it wasn't until I saw her in Canterlot that I found out she was. So why hide that? Secret mission, maybe? Run out of her home? But why would my brother marry a tyrant? "Ahh, maybe I'm overthinking it..." I shook my head and sighed, crossing my forelegs. "Shouldn't be thinking about Cadence right now anyway... I went through the entire scrapbook, and none of the pictures triggered... well, anything. So what can I do now?" The obvious thought of asking my friends crossed my mind, but I immediately dismissed it. This was a problem I wanted to solve on my own, and though I'd love the assistance of my friends, this kind of thing was a discovery a mare had to make herself... only trouble was figuring out where to go. What can I do to incite the reaction? I can't just ask a pony to pose in front of me randomly, to see what'd happen. It'd be creepy. And I don't want this reaction triggering near another pony, since I know that's just wrong. Mom always said it was... and she's been right. So what do I do? Sneak around town and find a pony to watch? Then enjoy a few days in a cell when I get found out. I let out a heavy sigh as my eyes drifted to the window, mind scrolling back through the day. Pictures didn't work at all, and sneaking about to hunt down a test subject would just get me labelled as a creepy stalker... There's gotta be something. I felt that reaction when it came to three scenarios. When I saw Cheerilee. When I was lying on that bench. And when I thought about Applejack. Hmm... Applejack? Now there was an interesting thought. Applejack... didn't I...? A slight quirk crossed my mouth as I placed my chin on the table, the gears cranking in my head, Working with AJ, that's what I thought about. Going to her to work out and talk about running, right? Get prepared for the next Running of the Leaves... wonder how... that'd... go... My focus blurred as the kitchen faded from my sight, my thoughts running rampant. Chapter 4: Mixed Results"Alright, so what do I know?" My hoof fished through folder after folder in the miles-high vault of my mind. Sometimes, it was impossible to find anything useful in this place, but it was nice to have everything there on a 'just in case' policy. Another steel-grey drawer spent, I pushed it closed and carried on down the hall. "Lots of stuff, that's for sure. I always forget how big this place can be." I looked around at the file cabinets stretching off towards the ceiling, impossible to count in their vastness - and believe me, I tried! The vault was huge, but I was grateful that I could get in at all. All the information that I'd collected over my life was safely sealed away in the massive granite walls, and the only key to its lock was in my safekeeping. Of course, when the only way to get to the Vault is through my dreams, it tends to be very secure. The actual creation of the Vault was always a mystery to me, though. Perhaps it was connected to me being a very studious mare? Or my mind really was just that organized. Right, back to the matter at hoof. Another drawer, another massive row of folders. Where is AJ's file? Adrius, Agriculture, Aku, Antimatter... ah, here we go. Applejack! Though I didn't really need to go through the folders by name, it was still an official process I held to. Opening the folder in my hooves revealed the usual information about a pony: name, date of birth, age, Cutie Mark - along with a picture, helps with organization -, race, height, weight, measurements - mostly guessing, but I tended to be pretty accurate -, and birthmark, along with a lot of other tidbits. Ok, file. Let's see what I can find out about AJ... why did I have that dream about her? "Subject, Applejack. Occupation, apple farmer and businesspony, salesmare, accountant... wow, she does a lot for her family. Age is twenty two, two years older than me. Seniority, maybe? But then I'd probably have been attracted to one of my instructors... then again, I was a filly back then, so probably not. What else, what else...?" The file on AJ was actually rather sparse, containing not much more than the general information you'd write about on a survey. The only thing that really held any value was her profile picture, and even that didn't reveal much. Orange coat, emerald eyes, blonde mane and tail - dunno why she put on those bands, it looked much better without -. She was curvy, but... why would that interest me? "Hm. Was the dream just a fluke? AJ was the last pony I thought about that night, so it'd make sense. But then... what was with me acting like that? The fear, the attraction, the kiss, the... well, what happened next. It was like I'd never talked to a mare before. Maybe... well, it was a dream. That's the theory... now I just have to carry out the experiment, see how things go with that. Worst case scenario? It all plays out and... me and AJ never talk again." I gulped, fearful of the thought. There was a lot of danger with that kind of experiment, trying to play out a fantasy with a friend. The reward was finding out if I was interested in AJ in... that way, and the risk was losing a friend! Was there a better way to carry it out? There has to be... gotta be. I folded my forelegs and tapped my forehead, setting my thoughts to the task. Alright. Nopony said that I'd have to carry out the dream to the letter... all I have to do is start it. In the dream, I was going to ask Applejack about running and the Running of the Leaves, maybe get my strength up by bucking a few trees. Simple. All I have to do is replicate the conditions, and see if the results match. My sight moved back to the picture of AJ as I considered my possible courses of action. One worst-case scenario was that I'd lose a friend... but the other was that everything would go perfectly. Me and AJ find ourselves hugging each other... we kiss, then whatever happens, happens. I gain a marefriend, somepony to stand by me for the rest of my life. Only question is... do I want that? Do I want AJ and me in that kind of relationship? We'd be hanging out everywhere together, making each other... happy? I guess? But we don't have any of the same interests. She'd be taken away from her work, or I'd be taken away from my studies. "Question is, do you want something like that?" "Huh?" I blinked at the profile picture, which had suddenly started speaking to me. Wait, what? "C'mon, Twilight. It's a question, and you should have the answer to it, right?" "Why is a picture talking to me?" My brow furrowed for only a moment before I came to the conclusion, a completely sensible, reasonable conclusion. I'm going crazy. "No, yer not goin' crazy. You're just hearin' yer thoughts in a different voice. Back to the topic at hoof, do ya want a marefriend?" "Well, I don't know. Do I want a coltfriend? Do I want somepony like that at all? What does it even imply?" "Lotta questions for a simple situation, eh?" "Hardly simple, AJ." I placed my forehooves back on the ground, staring at the picture as the folder floated in my magic. Where did she get off, telling me all that? "Well, it's only simple when y' stop makin' it complicated. Ask yerself, do ya want somepony like that? Yes or no. Don't consider any a' the alternatives." The picture sat in the white space around it, raising an eyebrow at me. "At this point in my life? Well... I don't know. It's a hard question to ask!" I put on an indignant tone - maybe more indignant than I intended to. "Twi', to be blunt, you did just have a fantasy about me." The picture simply lowered its brow, glowering at me. "Ah dunno if it'd be worse for the real me t' find out if you love her, or if you're fantasizin' about 'er!" "She's finding out about neither! T-There's no way I'm telling anypony about this. But..." Ohhh, there was that grimace again! I couldn't be doubting myself then, I couldn't! "But yer wonderin' why you went an' got off to my real self makin' out with you?" The picture smirked at me! Smug little... "Yes, but you don't have to be so mean about it! T-This is normal, right!?" I felt my breathing speed up, and my teeth clamp down on my lip like a vice. Panic attack. Those aren't good, not good at all! "Calm down, Twi'. This is as normal as natural gets. Y' find the real me attractive, but not enough t' say yer in love. Maybe it just means you're into mares?" The picture shrugged, and I felt just as confused as it did. But it did make sense, definitely. My eyes moved down the picture to the profile below it, and I nodded. "That... makes sense. It's a reason to continue my experiments at least. Ohhh, I hope I don't do that in front of others..." "Yer kiddin'. Y'all're worried about that?" My eyes went back up to see the picture's jaw dropped, and that face of complete shock digging into my own. Wow... did I really act like that in public? No, don't think about that, it would just make matters worse! "W-Well, of course not! J-Just thinking out loud, you know?" Funny, my peace offering smile got denied before... deja vu. "Twi', wake up before I start bein' honest like mah real self." "Yes, ma'am." I quickly nodded as the world started to bleed away. Not like I'd wanna be around you any longer than I should. "Ah heard that!" Was the last thing that boomed in my head before I woke up. First thing. No burning smell. Well, that's good... phew! Opening my eyes to see the ceiling not cloaked in flames was a relieving sight. Though the relief was soon dashed by a grumble of my stomach. Cursed hunger! You hold me back sometimes... well, let's get this morning ritual out of the way. There's science to be done! Leaping out of bed with a determined smile on my face, and a stomach that really didn't like getting up that quick - like I could blame it -, I headed down to the kitchen to fix some breakfast. Sure, Spike's pancakes were amazing, but they took so much time to make. Didn't he say the batter alone takes about an hour to make properly? Nah, it's for special occasions anyway. What should I snack on today? Should make some lunch as well. Gonna be moving around a lot today. With a nod, I set about prepping some food I could take with me. What came of my efforts and nearly blowing up the kitchen twice was a set of sandwiches - but not just any sandwiches, no! Very special sandwiches. Ohhh yes, very special indeed. I found myself with a rather devious grin as I tapped my forehooves together - felt a bit like a mad scientist, and I was right to! The sandwiches were infused with a special kind of magic that flowed more commonly through a unicorn's blood stream, rather than the magus coti. Most other ponies could get through their mornings on caffeine - coffee, strong tea, sugar, soda as a last resort - but unicorns had a trick up their sleeves! Or in their blood... heart? Appendix? I shrugged the thought off. Magic that triggers the adrenaline reflex, an all-natural caffeine that's served me so well on more than one study night! Only issue is a problem or two with the kidneys, but in a proper dose - the sandwiches in question -, it was completely safe! Completely. "So, that's about an hour burned, and Spike still isn't up. Should write him a note," I mumbled as I looked around for some parchment. Why did I never keep a quill and parchment in the kitchen? Cooking was just as good a science as magic or... well, science! A hunt through the library revealed my bounty, but why was it under my desk? Ah, doesn't matter. Scribble out the note, aaand... there. Totally legible! It only took a few seconds of staring at the chicken scratch before I re-wrote it. Several times. I sighed, happy with the properly written note, and gathered up my breakfast and lunch - brunch? Lunchfast? Breaklunch...? Headache! - and headed out. With the firm slam of the door behind me, the dirt road below me and the wind racing through my mane, my day was ready to begin! Erm... just had to figure out where to go. "What's the best place to find plenty of ponies in a natural environment, but with lots of hiding places?" I mumbled to myself, the wind in my mane down to a leisurely stroll as I watched the individual rocks scroll by me, wracking my brain over that difficult question. "Hmm. Well, whenever we have our pet play dates, we head to the park. Oh shoot, when is that, anyway!? Gonna have to ask somepony... ugh. Is it Tuesday or— no, no, it's Thursday. Yeah! Ok then, and the play dates are on Sundays. I've got time!" Was that sweat on my brow? Bah. "Alright, location, location. Park would be an excellent place to start, then I could go talk with Applejack, see how... that theory turns out." I definitely wasn't looking forward to that meeting, but it had to happen eventually. Like having a tooth pulled out. Without any painkillers or magic assistance, just me, the dentist and a pair of tweezers. A pair of tweezers that were on fire. Not fun, not fun at all. "Well, park's a ways away... guess I could study the ponies in the street for a while as I walk." It was a solid notion, considering my research. So, my eyes started their hunt for anything half-interesting in the morning sunlight. A few stallions, quite a few mares, and lots of flanks to stare at. Ugh, this is so inappropriate... but Roseluck's coat does look rather nice. Very eye catching with her slender body, feminine build and those... fl— "Twilight?" Well, at least the jump of shock and my heart stopping prevented my eyes from going anywhere! "Oh, uh, hi Roseluck!" "Hi, Twilight..." Her voice fell off, not a good sign. Questioning look, definitely not a good sign. Rising eyebrow, oh no... "So, what brings you by here?" Her tone didn't seem too interested. That was a good sign among the other three of a possible social apocalypse. "Just on my way to the park, that's all." I smiled as naturally as I could, worried that she caught me staring. Distraction, distraction! And that prayer was quickly answered as I looked to the flowerbed that seemed to be dominated by the flower on her hip; it was like staring into a river of red! Wondrous red that stole the eye. Some of the flowers still had morning dew, sparkling like diamonds... wow. "Extremely high quality as usual! Those look beautiful!" "Oh, thank you, but it didn't take that much work! My sister, Daisy, is a wizard with fertilizer!" Roseluck grinned as I turned back to her, pride thankfully replacing her interest in me. I smiled back at her; at least she seemed happy for a distraction. Well, may as well humor her... but what should I talk about? Think, Twilight, things are getting awkward! "So, how're things going with prettying up the village? I know you and your sisters have been working pretty hard on it." They had, hadn't they? Yeah, definitely. Oh, please be right... "Oh, you noticed? Yeah, we've been working pretty hard," she placed the watering can down on the ground as she spoke, but a tinge of... something came up, "And as you can see, daisies have been taking over..." she gestured around her, and I couldn't help but agree; if the rosebed was a river, the sight before me was a snow field with little yellow spots. It was very nice, no doubt; nopony could beat the smell of a well-taken-care-of daisy, but... why were there so many? Kinda ruined the depth of the town to only have one flower out in force. "Why aren't there any roses or other flowers?" "Because, unlike roses or lilies, daisies can grow pretty much anywhere, and pretty quickly at that. They spread like..." She bit her lip before carrying on to what I could only assume would be an angry tirade against her sister. "They just don't get the same love and care as other flowers. It's disappointing." "Ahhh." I nodded. Maybe I should take up studying agriculture and botany? Maybe help Roseluck out with her issue, once mine's all dealt with? Heh, super-fast-growing roses! That'd be interesting. I smiled, humoring the idea of a magic seed that would grow a perfect rose in seconds. What a challenge that would be! Certainly something that would drive my brain to the brink of crazy in search of an answer. So exciting! "So, I guess you and Lily have just been caring for your respective flower beds?" "Yes, though I can't help but..." she sighed and shook her head, lowering her voice, "I shouldn't be talking like that." "Hm?" "Nothing, sorry for taking up your time, Miss Sparkle. I hope you have a good time at the park." That smile of hers definitely set something in my stomach, and it wasn't what I felt with that fantasy. Should come back here and check on her later, see if she wants to talk. I don't like that look... I simply nodded, offering a smile of my own - hopefully a lot more natural than before -, "It's alright, Roseluck. Always happy to chat! Good luck with your flowers, and I hope you take back some of your territory!" "Thank you, and I'll certainly try." We waved to each other as I walked away, but that sick feeling didn't calm down in my stomach. I really hoped that this issue wouldn't interrupt my research... but maybe it'd end up helping it in the future? I mean, I was studying mares after all, and Roseluck was a mare. Not just any mare, but a rather beautiful one... that would be able to help my research. What constituted attraction, though? Was it simply the mental aspect of a pony, their personality, wit, intelligence? Or the physical aspect, their body, shape, strength, fat and muscle? How deep did it go, and what factors contributed to overall attraction? There were so many questions to answer, but the flame of hope still burned; the park held lots of ponies everyday, so it would be easy to collect data. Data. Data... oh no. No! No, I forgot my note-taking materials! Alright, so, with several teleportations out of the way and my mind actually straightened out, I'd found my hiding place at the park. A completely inconspicuous bush under a tree... nopony would find me there. Nopony! Well, it was better than hiding in a tree with a bird's nest on my head. Also, less harmful a prospect. That bird was angry! "Alright," I whispered, experienced eyes scanning the battlefield around me, "Checklist. Binoculars, check. Parchment, check. Quill and ink, check. Plenty of targets..." one, two, three... "Check. Alright, let's see here. There's about twelve stallions and twenty mares wandering about today, several colts and fillies as well. Plenty of specimens." A grin crossed my lips as I raised the binoculars to my eyes - with my hooves! Magic was very noticeable by proximity for unicorns. -, and peered about. Let's see... there's Derpy, rolling around on the grass... Lyra wandering about. That's a really interesting color scheme on her, actually. Haven't seen many ponies with a primarily bright coloring, short Rainbow Dash. Even Fluttershy's coloring doesn't make my eyes hurt... ow. I took a moment to rub my eyes; darn things really were starting to sting. Right, back to it. Derpy, Lyra, Thunderlane... hmm, Thunderlane. Wonder how he's doing? Probably still getting over his latest cold. Surprised he hasn't gone to the hospital to get his immune system checked out. Still, he isn't any worse for wear. Wonder where Rumble is, though? Those two are usually together Chapter 3: Blind Trial"Woah... where?" It took a few blinks of my eyes, but... I definitely felt warm. A milky haze took up everything as I looked around, but the faint images of... trees stood around me. Ok, I *know** I was just in the library... now I'm in a forest?* It didn't make sense... but, I was supposed to be there, right? Something about... "Well there y' are, sugarcube! About time you made it!" "WAH!" I was pretty sure I jumped at least six feet during that scream. At least it snapped everything into focus and got rid of that nasty haze... but it didn't do much to solve the heat problem. I crashed down on my flank in front of a pony, her familiar Stetson covering her face with a shadow. "Uh... Twilight? Y' sure you should be sittin' there in the middle a' the road?" "Uh, um, uh, ah, oh uh..." "Calm down, girl, y'all give yerself a heart attack. C'mon," the mare said in that drawl of hers as she offered her hoof to me. Yep, definitely knew where I was at that moment, and I let out a sigh at the realization, taking her offer to be helped up. Sweet Apple Acres... right, I was coming by to help AJ out with some of the trees, and build up my strength. I grinned at the thought, feeling rather silly, "S-Sorry, Applejack... you surprised me." "S'aright. 'S a good thing you offered to help out, actually, since Big Mac's off with m' little sister at th' market, sellin' apples." Applejack smiled to me as she tipped her hat up, a toothpick stuck out the corner of her mouth. Weird... she seemed a lot more... radiant. The sunlight bounced off her blonde mane, making a sort of angelic 'glow' around her... "Uh... Twi'? Equis t' Twi'?" "H-Huh? Oh, um, sorry... spaced out for a second there." I offered a small chuckle and a sheepish grin, but I don't think she bought the peace offering. A raised eyebrow and quirk of the mouth were returned by her, defeating my small ploy. "Uh huh. Welp, c'mon. Ah'll show ya where we're workin', then we can get started on that other thing y' wanted t' do today. Somethin' t' do with runnin'?" Applejack turned and started moving away from me, heading down the road towards the farm. What was with the sun though? Her tail shined like her mane, casting a light glow outward from it... and her walk had a more... feminine touch? Why am I staring...? I-I shouldn't be! Get your head on straight, Twilight! A quick shake of my head set my mind straight as I jogged to catch up, but my brain complained. "Yeah, running. I wanna participate in the coming Running of the Leaves," I quickly nodded as I spoke, which was a bad idea as my brain just complained more. Stupid finicky organ! Rainbow Dash hits harder things with her head, why can't you take a small beating!? "Runnin' of th' Leaves? Didn't you skip out on that last year?" Applejack simply looked over at me with a raised eyebrow. She wasn't wrong, though; I didn't participate in the Running a year ago. It was pretty nice the first time, but after seeing AJ and Rainbow act like that... I wasn't about to get between them again, to give it a term. "Yeah, I did. Just... wasn't up for the whole running thing again, I guess. Bogged down with studying and... everything..." "Twilight, seriously. You alright?" I felt my legs stop moving, so we must've stopped, but my mind was just... stuck. Her eyes were never this bright before... It was like staring into two brilliant emeralds, the shadow draped over her face by the lone guardian of the hat simply accentuating it, an almost ghostly quality. "Twilight." "H... uh..." "Twi'?" "Uh..." "Ugh. Twilight!!" "AH!" I jumped again and landed straight back on my bruised flank. Oh, jeeze, that hurts! Great, now my rump was complaining along with my brain, and my mind was freaking out! It was like sitting on a hot stove, my rump burned so bad! "Seriously, sugarcube. This is gettin' kinda weird... you sure you should be out here?" "I-I'm sure! Just, um..." Losing my mind. "H-Haven't had anything to drink in a while. Probably dehydration, heh." Great lie. "Well, go sit under one a' th' trees. Ah'll get us some drinks, and we'll talk, alright? An' you stay in that shadow. Ah don't want anypony droppin' on this farm." So direct... "Uh, yes ma'am." I managed a nod and walked under one of the apple trees, sitting down a bit too hard for my sore rump, sending another bolt of pain up my spine. "Ouch...!" "An' try not t' hurt yourself, ok?" Applejack sighed and tipped her hat, raising an eyebrow at me. "Yes..." Milady. "Right, AJ." "Good. Ah'll be back in a sec." She nodded to me and turned away, walking off. But... there was a lot more to each step than she usually had. Normally, when I watched her walk, it was more tromping on the dirt, like she was trying to get somewhere in a hurry. Here, it was more... deliberate, savoring each movement, enjoying the flexing in her legs. How does she get so fit...? So sleek? So... so... my eyes followed every movement of her body, every sway in her hips as the steps had just an extra bit of care. Everything moved so slowly... the world letting me take in the sight of her cat walk, tasting it, savoring her glow and moves. But as soon as it began... it was gone, along with her around the bend. "What... was that?" I whispered... I think I did. I heard it, barely, so it was a whisper. It had to be, since she didn't turn around... I leaned to try and catch another sight of that wonderful machine, but... she was just gone. Maybe she ran back to the barn... and maybe I'm really losing it. I turned around and laid my head on the stalwart trunk of the tree, moaning slightly. "What's wrong with me...? I just... stared at her as she walked away. One of my friends... and..." A sniff broke off my track of thought. That smell... Oh no... no... s-seriously? But it couldn't be! She was a friend, nothing more. Just, just another trick of the body, that was it. All it could be! "Calm down, Twilight, just be calm! It's the heat. Gotta be... same thing happened with the bench... I felt warm, my body started heating up, then that smell got out. It's fine, the sun's just a little bit hotter today than it usually is." I shut my eyes, letting the darkness sharpen my focus as I took a deep, calming breath. As my chest expanded, the banging of my racing heart beat away at me, but it slowed down as I held the breath. Just a bit more... bit more... alright. Now just let it out, slowly... Following my thought, air ran out of my nose, in no rush to rejoin the atmosphere. Sadly, it wasn't a way to describe my mind as it ran a mile a minute, trying to figure out what just happened. What *did** just happen!? I-I've never looked at AJ like that! No, no! It's like I said, dehydration! I lose focus when I'm dehydrated, it's why I drink lots of water. Perfectly natural! Perfectly normal! So stop worrying so m—* "Sugarcube?" "Huh?" Oh, thank goodness that train of thought was broken. I looked over my shoulder at Applejack, looking back at me with a... well, look of concern. A tray was carefully balanced on her back, two glasses of water standing up from it like crystalline towers. "Oh... sorry, I w-was just thinking. Thank you." "No problem, Twi'. But..." she sighed, walking up beside me and leaning down a bit, letting me take the tray off her back. I must've stalled as my eyes caught her toned f— "Twi'. Equis t' Twi'." "Oh! Sorry!" I quickly pulled the tray off her back and held it up over my head, letting her take a well-needed seat. Her wonderful eyes burrowed into mine with an incredulous stare, as if demanding that I say what's gone wrong. As if anything's wrong, Milady... "Twilight, y'all better put the tray down. Yer gonna tip over." She reached out with a hoof and stopped me from, indeed, tipping over. The contact was quite nice, actually... I subconsciously leaned into her hoof, but the rigid limb never gave an inch. So strong... "Twilight Sparkle, put the tray down." "Yes ma'am." I quickly nodded and set the tray down, looking down at the grass below me. Even the ground was burning! Darned sun... "What's with the 'ma'am' stuff, sugarcube? Ah've never heard you talk like this." Just keep staring at the ground. Don't... just don't look up. My mind was being driven by my heart. I had no idea what to do! That radiant glow, how she walked, her voice rocking my soul... e-even her touch... "I-It's nothing, I-I haven't been s-saying 'ma'am', hehe, y-you're just, uh..." "Twilight. Talk to me." "I..." "Listen, Ah know when a pony's tryin' t' hide somethin'. But you can talk t' me, you know that." Even if I couldn't look up, my ears tracked her voice as she walked to my side. I felt two powerful legs pull me towards her, trapping me in an even stronger heat. The sun couldn't compete... not even an open flame could battle this heat burning inside... my eyes only widened a bit more as her gentle whisper fell into me, "You can tell me..." "Well, I, uh..." I struggled against my urge to turn to her, but with her hoof slowly rubbing up and down my leg... so hard to resist... Can I really tell her...? About my issues? "You can tell me. You know that. Ah'm here t' help you with anything you need. If that means being a pillar for you to lean on, then Ah'm more than happy to oblige." How did this mare speak so well? She didn't need volume, or some kind of magic enhancement to make herself more convincing or demanding or... even sound better... "I... Applejack, I don't know what's happening to me... I don't know if it's the sun, or i-if it's you, or... me... but I just... feel really warm." I bit my lip as that smell came back to me. It was like some insane truth I couldn't get away from... something I wanted to get rid of, or escape, or cover up... I couldn't even think straight. My eyes slowly turned toward the field of fur beside me, bearing the same color of the horizon at sunset. A heartbeat pounded in my ears, mine out of tune with hers as it raced. I looked up toward her face, suddenly feeling so small... so out of control. Like the world was going to come down on me, all alone... but she was there to help. Dependable, powerful, commanding... yet gentle, caring... I fell into her eyes as they locked with mine, and I just felt my body relax. I burned, I begged for release from whatever nightmare had taken me... I leaned in closer, trying to see deeper into the emerald pools as I returned the hug. "AJ... I need help..." "That smell... Twilight, are you?" She leaned back a bit to look at me properly, but her gaze seemed to soften slightly... inviting me in. Coaxing the truth out... "I can't... hide it very well, no. But I know what the reaction is... I just don't know why, but... I don't know how to deal with this." I looked back down at her neck, feeling so guilty. I always had the answers to every question ever asked, and if I didn't, I'd study until I found it. But this one question, this one problem... the answer wasn't obvious, and it couldn't come from some equation. It bothered me on such a deep level, I couldn't stand it! Why can't I figure this out!? "Well, like y' showed me, Twilight... you just need a little help." And, as if responding to some signal I'd sent out, she leaned in, tightened her embrace... and I felt a sensation as she pressed against me, feeling a warmth against my lips. The emerald pools were closed off to me, the answers to my problems lost in them... but I was given another respite in the embrace of my guardian, a mare I could trust to always be there for me, and never tell a lie. I fell into the kiss, submitting as she held me close, the fire in me growing to an inferno. All I could let out was a little 'squeak' as I felt myself falling backwards, yet never leaving her grasp... The grass felt like ice along my spine as she laid me out, my legs barely functioning enough to hold her close. My heart was beating a mile a minute, but I could pick out the slow, deliberate beating of another against my chest as another heat was added to my own... a single hoof held me up against her lips... it was indescribable. I simply melted in her grasp. I could barely resist as she broke the kiss, following her lips, her burning breath for as far as I could before falling back onto the grass behind me. The goddess simply smiled down at me, blonde mane cascading like a waterfall down from her. "See...? All y' need is a little help..." "Yes milady, please..." that heat was ripping me up every second I was away from her, but my forelegs just wouldn't let me get any closer. I was going insane! "Please, I-I need this!" "Ah know... and like Ah said. Ah'm happy to oblige..." she leaned back in and joined with me, the burning leaving once more as I felt her lie down. It was a noticeable weight, but I didn't care; another body against mine helped alleviate the inferno, helped distract me from my own chaos. Despite my moans, cries into her, she barely responded with a sound, simply letting her actions speak for her. The scent only got stronger as I felt her lips open just a bit, something poking against my own mouth. She raised an eyebrow at me, conveying the request... order... command in a mere look. But as I felt her tongue pass into me, my vision went dark... somepony cried from within the dark as a new vision rushed to me like an angered train. I gasped, raising my head from the table just under my chin and looked around. Kitchen. Definitely a kitchen... my kitchen... my kitchen? And that heat from before, it was... gone? What just happened...? I was... at Sweet Apple Acres, with Applejack, and she... she brought drinks, and... a-and... my already-fragile train of thought was broken by something very physical, and such a strong scent, I was amazed I'd missed it before. But it usually accompanied heat, didn't it? When my senses finally came back, I felt something resting against my... lower section, something wet. I leaned back and looked down. "What...?" Below me was the very obvious source of the smell: a small puddle had grown under me, clear, but catching the moonlight so well that it shone like a mirror. And my hoof was covered in the same liquid that made the puddle... still rubbing up against my— "Oh my... d-did I j-just...?" The thought struck me harder than the fantasy, or even the question itself. I had no idea the answer to this question would be so... s-so... Terrifying... I quickly looked around for any prying eyes; I couldn't deal with another pony, or dragon, seeing me like this, let alone what I just did it to! After a quick survey revealed nothing, I didn't let myself relax, reaching out with my magic for some kind of... thing to dry all this stuff off with. Towel, paper towel, toilet paper, *something!*** Before I could even consider my search complete, I teleported to the bathroom and collected a roll of toilet paper, warping straight back to the kitchen. I couldn't be bothered to check if my locational algorithms were right, short-range hops were easy enough anyway, right!? I quickly mopped up the mess on the chair and below it, then wiped what I could off my hoof and very sensitive area! "Gah, that doesn't feel good!" I hissed. With the soiled paper dealt with, as well as the moisture problem, I warped back to the bathroom and chucked the waste paper in the toilet, giving it a good flush. Then another flush. Then another, just to be sure! Please please please *please** don't let anypony smell that!* I zipped over to the sink before my thought finished, frantically washing off my hoof. Once it had been thoroughly cleaned - it actually sparkled when it caught the moonlight -, I let myself take a break on the floor. I... can't... believe I did that. My eyes couldn't leave the sight of my soiled hoof, as well as my... I quickly shook my head to get the last of that fantasy out of my mind, looking up into the mirror. A thick blush was still present on my cheeks, only adding more pressure. What would this mean? What did it mean!? Was I 'into' Applejack? Did I find her attractive? And it was just a kiss, nothing more... I'm sorry, AJ. I-I didn't mean to... t-this is so wrong! The implications of doing such a thing, what it was meant to be, who it was meant to be with... I took everything and chucked it out the window when I saw that puddle under me. "I at least got an answer. An answer to what's been happening to me for all this time... but what does it mean? If I were to take it literally, it would mean I'm..." I gulped, biting my lip at the thought, I-In love with... Applejack? B-But it doesn't make sense! She's my friend, and she's a lovely mare, sure, but I could never be in a relationship with her! But, what was that dream supposed to mean, then? If it doesn't mean that I love Applejack, then... ohhh, why does this have to be so confusing!? I snorted out a breath, gritting my teeth as something cooked in the back of my head. I wasn't in love with Applejack! The two of us would never go together, so it couldn't possibly be an answer! And without that, I was back to square one!! Alright, calm down, or at least *try** to!* After a few calming breaths, my brain stopped broiling in my skull, letting me think straight. Alright. What question was I asking? 'Why did my body heat up when it did, and how?' Well, that's three question. Anyway. 'Why' is related to arousal... the specific triggers will have to take some experimentation, as it's still kind of random. 'How' is related to ponies, definitely, but it's any number of reasons... too soon to draw a conclusion. 'When' is related to 'how', so I can't draw up something on that, but it's usually when I see a pony in a certain way, or when I'm near a heat source. That's 'when' figured out, at least. My mirror image nodded in acceptance of the thought. Just 'why' and 'how' to figure out... but it would take a lot of experiments to nail down those. And hopefully, it wouldn't be locked to my biased mind. It was a start, at least, and as I walked out of the bathroom and toward my bed, I started planning for the next day. It seemed my free time would have a use, after all. And it couldn't have been devoted to a more urgent cause.
Prologue: HypotheosisI'd asked myself a lot of questions in the past. I'd hunted down a lot of answers. And I was still finding more mysteries to solve, to sate my curiosity when it came to Equestria. Its history is long and filled with interesting facts, like the Age of Chaos, where Discord actually ruled for two hundred ninety six years, until the Royal Sisters, Princesses Luna and Celestia, overthrew him in a rebellion that lasted two years. The land taken during that war was actually three times larger than Equestria, but some of the landmass had been sheared off during the final conflict between Celestia and Discord, creating the Dragon Nest Isles East of Equestria. Not many ponies know about that, but it definitely scares me with just how powerful the Princesses are. Oh, and during the Beginning Age, when Princesses Celestia and Luna began their rule! How Starswirl the Bearded actually discovered time travel through a misplaced cup of tea in the path of a high-intensity beam of energy. He'd managed to throw his cup of tea thirty seconds into the future, and through the deconstruction of what was flowing through the beam between two crystals, and a certain ingredient that made his spiced tea taste just right, he found that the ingredient could amplify magic's volatile properties near-twenty fold! In fact, the time travel scroll I used to travel back in time was made from parchment laced with that ingredient! Or in the Banishment Age, when Luna was trapped in the Moon, how Clover the Clever single-hoofedly discovered the cure to Calestrova Demiscus, or 'Horn Catalyst Disease'! Pretty weird recipe involving tree bark and Poison Joke... more on that later. Equestria's magic is a whole other kettle of fish... that's the term, isn't it? Anyway, the magic of Equestria; in unicorns, in the air, in the ground... how everything reacted with one another in a constant state of harmony. How this environmental magic could be affected by Discord, and thrown into Chaos, or how it could be controlled by Earth ponies... oh, now I'm rambling. Anyway, I'd discovered a lot of things about Equestria and its ponies, but there was always one thing that had me stumped. It wasn't really things I'd thought, or experienced, or even done on instinct... but, actually, how I felt. I couldn't explain it, even if I'd wanted to... which I didn't, really. But haven't you ever had some weird twinge in your gut area when you walked past somepony? Kinda like guilt, but not guilt... but it was kind of guilt, but not the kind of guilt you felt when you'd done something bad, but rather when you'd missed out on something good, but you didn't quite understand what that good was until... never mind. I've never had this kind of trouble before, and it's freaking me out! There's only one thing that can trump a smart pony, that one little grain of sand in somepony's shoe that just annoys them to no end! A question without an answer! I need that answer! So, well, um... how can I find an answer to a question I can't even explain? Where does a pony even start? Well. There's always been one solid starting place for a mare like me! And that is... Books!
Chapter 1: Questions"Ngh... just five more minutes, please..." Why was it that, when a pony begged morning for five more minutes of sleep, the Sun always found a way to prod its way into your life? You could toss and turn in bed, which I did, and that infernal light still managed to blind me. "C'mon, Sun, just leave me in bed!" I mumbled, or groaned, I couldn't even tell what I sounded like that morning. Everything was just a milky haze in my head, like when I tried to read three books at once, and it all just twisted into some scary maelstrom of ink. I still refrained from doing that ever since that one time I was studying time travel, and I tried to read five books at once... I had nightmares of all that ink for a few nights after that. Wait... what was that smell? And what sounded like... burping? Uh oh. I quickly snapped open my eyes and looked up at the ceiling, green trails of fire shooting up towards it... well, more like green balls. Green puffs? Clouds? Doesn't matter, room on fire! With an appropriately loud screech and a leap, I jumped from my bed and lit my horn, trapping the rising fire before it could burn down the rest of my precious library. The Sun trailing in from the window turned the room into a bunch of black and white lines and blobs, my head still pounding from the sudden rush of blood in my panic, the aura shifting in intensity with each thud. Maybe that 'thump thump thump' was from my heart, or from my horn, couldn't tell at that point, my whole body reverberated with it. I dragged the flames back down from the ceiling and made a sort of umbrella, or parasol, or something to trap the fire above the source of the destruction; a very meager, kind dragon. Not really the kind you'd expect to burn down a hay bale, let alone a house. "Should've stopped him from eating all that ice cream last night... he's gonna wake up with some crazy heart burn," I grumbled, anticipating what he was gonna say when he woke up. Oh, Twilight, my heart's on fire! Is Rarity around? And other crazy stuff like that. Spike was very good-hearted, there wasn't a doubt in my mind about that, but he did tend to relate his bodily issues back to his... adoration? Idolization? Something, he felt something for Rarity. Should read up on that... "Well, since I'm awake. What was I going to do today? Schedule events for the next three weeks, do some timekeeping for today, read the next book in the line of Orion Hunter's tomes on astronomy," I whispered, eyes trailing upward as I tried to remember what I was going to do. That thudding was still going in my head, though, and it had an evil tendency to scramble my thoughts. Everything just flushed, one thought after the other, kind of like when Pinkie's on a really long tangent... in one ear and out the other. Well, there, it was in one side of the brain and out the other side. Nothing stuck! "Rrrrrgh, c'mon, think!" I tapped the side of my head until the thudding was quelled by a far more familiar sound, and feeling; the partial sickness that came with hunger. "Breakfast. Yeah, that'll help me think!" I grinned and raced for the stairs, but by the time I'd reached them, the thudding had filled my ears with its drum beat... actually started to make walking difficult. I took my time down each step of the library, letting the melding colors of the books scroll by me, but the way everything shifted and blurred together just made for one heck of a sickening ride. "Why is this happening to me today? Did I eat something bad last night, or something?" Upon asking that, my mind sent back a pretty hefty checklist of food I'd consumed. Daisy soup with four salt-topped crackers, followed by a small salad and a cup of cider. Cider was aged two weeks in the fridge, assured by Applejack that it would remain good for consumption for up to three months if chilled, 'chilled' equating to three degrees Larus. Despite the things she usually talks about, Applejack is extremely quick on calling up details on her food and drink... always trust her. "Alright, that's actually pretty... ohhh, jeeze," I covered my mouth with a particularly flipping rumble from my stomach, and leaned on the wall beside me. The shelves didn't provide all that good a surface to lean on, the pain in my shoulder as the edges dug into it told me that much, but it at least stopped me from moving. "Why am I feeling like this, though? Am I sick or something?" I raised an eyebrow slightly at the thought, going through the usual symptoms of a sickness. I touched my horn, rubbing along the familiar, smooth coils, finding that none of them had sharpened, decayed or worn away. That rules out about four diseases... forehead. A quick pass of the foreleg over my forehead revealed that, yes, I did have a proper temperature. I felt along my neck, finding no bruises or bite marks, and along my side to see if any strange growths had appeared. Nothing. Nothing at all. Well, that wasn't unsettling in the slightest, since I could think about twenty different sicknesses with entirely internal symptoms, a very upset stomach suiting a symptom for about six of them. None of them lethal, of course, but several that could've chained me to a bed for about three months. "Maybe I should just... sit down. Just got up too quickly, and worrying about sicknesses is just gonna make it worse." I let out a sigh and sat down, feeling the chill of the step hit me, as well as the pain of my tail being pressed under my rump. It wasn't too unpleasant, and helped fight against the cold. It is Autumn after all. No wonder it'd be cold. I let my eyes wander, slowly, across the library as my stomach tried to do damage control and stop me from throwing up. The windows all revealed that same, opaque ray of white light, but it was starting to come into view, with the colors of the books all consolidating into single tomes. Brown for informational, blue for non-fiction, red for fiction... it was a nice way of organizing, until you got to the Daring Do series, as well as a few other famous fiction and non-fiction series that dared to break out of the standard coloring scheme. "And if I get into that issue, I'm gonna be here all day, and my walls are gonna be green and yellow... don't worry about it, Twilight, just get to the kitchen, make yourself some food. Maybe an omelette, or some toast even... oooo, or pancakes." The pleasant feeling of drool pooling in my mouth at the thought of the food added to my anticipation as a smile slowly crossed my face, "Pancakes sound really good right now. Sweet and fluffy, with three blueberries arranged to make the vertexes of a triangle, and syrup to make the lines. An equal flavor for every bite, long as I don't shake with the knife again," I mumbled, smile failing to hold back a slight grimace. That was something that plagued me over the past few weeks or so. I wasn't even sure when it started, or if I'd had the problem all my life, but it was a... weird feeling in my gut. My mind would wander through the usual subjects I considered for breakfast and the day, what magic tricks I'd practice for a few hours, who I'd go hang out with, what shopping I had to do... the usual, right? But, then, my mind would trip over itself as I thought back over the past day. Certain ponies I saw, certain... details I noticed. The weird thing is I could never remember what part of them incited such a reaction, it was always a blurry picture of them... but it made me feel weird. And a weird feeling was never good. But sometimes it was good. But most of the time it wasn't, except when it... "Ok, no, I'm confusing myself. Alright, focus," I whispered, squinting my eyes to perceive the library again. Finally, all the colors had found their rightful place in their points in space, and everything finally looked normal again. I could even pick out a few titles, like "Space Eye for the Curious Guy", one of my favorite astronomy books. "Wonder why they have such weird titles though... you'd think "Big Book Of Stars And Planets" was already taken." I chuckled at the thought of twenty books hitting the publishing company, all with the same title. With my stomach finally calmed down, I resumed my quest to the kitchen for some much-needed sustenance, of the golden brown, fluffy variety. If there was something that could be said about me, it was that my unstable gut always offset my love for food. Most ponies would never even guess that I was some kind of gourmand, but I knew my way around the kitchen, and I definitely knew how to cook my favorite foods. As the clean surfaces - as they should be - of the kitchen revealed themselves to me, the stool set up next to the stove, little pink apron set on top of it, I almost heard Spike's voice calling out to me... What'll it be today, Twilight? "I'll take two pancakes, cooked the usual way, Spike," I responded, feeling something brush past my tail. "On it!" The overly boyish tone was immediately recognizeable, and sure enough, the baby dragon strolled right past me. "W-Wait, how'd y-... did you just wake up?" I raised my eyebrow in abject curiosity as he took up his favorite apron and started zipping about the cupboards, pulling out numerous ingredients and pans. Whatever I could say about my cooking ability, I knew for certain that Spike had me beat in almost every category. Even as I walked over to the table, checkerboard table cloth laid over it at a perfect fourty-five degree angle - I measured -, I was mesmerized by just how quickly he'd assembled everything. How does he get all that done so fast? I wondered, head tilting to the side slightly as I took my seat at the table. "Alright, pancakes coming right up... now, um, where'd we— oh, right, fridge!" Spike hopped off his stool and quickly crossed the distance to the fridge, throwing it open with a strength I rarely saw in his morning ritual. Maybe he decided to be extra quick today? "Alright, got 'em. Now, the pan's heated up, got my flour, eggs, milk..." he rambled off into a descending stream of mumbles, quickly becoming incomprehensible. To think, he's only... what, thirteen now? Fourteen? Still a baby by every standard of a dragon, but you'd swear he had a special talent for cooking! I entertained the idea of my assistant serving in a five-star restaurant, celebrities praising his God-like cooking. Oh, wait... he's standing on the counter, everypony's clapping for him... wait for iiiit... There it was! The trademark mustache twirl, and a smug grin to top it off. That's the Spike I know. Humble until somepony praises him, then he soaks it up like a sponge. I shook my head with a smile, and looked out the window above the kitchen table. Luckily, the library was built with everything somepony needed for a house; bedroom on the top floor, kitchen on the bottom floor, and more books than Starswirl himself would know what to do with! Even I got lost in it all sometimes, but that was usually when I lost my 'Books I've Already Read' list... cursed thing kept getting buried under all my other lists. The window above the table offered a nice view across the fields and hills of Ponyville, houses lining the streets just beyond. Ponies sauntered about on their usual business, probably off picking flowers for loved ones, or buying them... That's a question, actually. Why buy flowers when you can pick them? Surely the effort is worth the admiration you'd get in return, and you could save some money... but the Flower Sisters always stay afloat. Heck, they make a real premium off it all... is there a difference in quality between their flowers and ones grown in the wild? And just how do their finances work? And why am I prying into that? I wondered, brow furrowing on the last point. It was a good question, though, honest! Just how did the whole flower business work? Were ponies too lazy to go out into the field and pick their own flowers, or was it assured quality from Roseluck and her sisters? "Mmm, too much thought for the morning," I mumbled, still staring out to the street. Three stallions, five mares, two foals, both fillies. Ten houses, twelve visible windows, twenty four shutters, ten doors. Eight counts done out of boredom. Maybe I just need something else to focus on... I scratched my battlefield of a mane, getting at an itch just beginning to make itself known to the world as a... well, an irritating itch. Wonder if I know any of the ponies out there? A quick glance revealed one mare I knew well enough, her maroon coat reminding me a lot of one of the highlights in my mane. Cheerilee's off towards the schoolhouse again, I bet... even in this light, those sunflowers still shine so bright. I quirked my mouth slightly as she walked along the street, the two fillies quickly joining her at her side. I was certain they were talking about something, their mouths were moving after all, but... Oh, great, there's that feeling again... I leaned on a hoof as my target of interest simply moved in tune with her body. It wasn't really the sunflowers that devoured my attention, though, it was the surface they were on... something about the shape, the size, maybe... it just held me in abject fascination. Cheerilee stopped in the street, likely telling the fillies about what they were gonna be learning that day, or giving advice, or... something, it didn't really matter. What's happening to me? The rogue thought raced through my mind as I shook my head, the street coming back into focus. I've... I was just staring at her... but, why? I blinked in confusion, my mind unable to readily answer the thought, but my body happily answered for me. I felt warmer, definitely, but my head felt kind of numb, like I'd just lost myself in a story, or a medical study. Except it was in a round, maroon, bouncing, flex... ing... Snap out of it I quickly shook my head, earning a smack against something hard with my cheek, "Oh!" "Oh, sorry, Twilight! You were, uh," Spike stumbled over his words, looking up at my face. A rather confused look scrolled by as he held up the plate of pancakes in one claw, and a fork and knife in the other. "Twilight. I know you like breakfast, but that red on your cheeks is kinda freaking me out... you sick or something?" "Red on my cheeks? Wait, you mean here?" I blinked, raising my hoof to tap the area just under my right eye. It definitely did feel warm... kinda like how your cheeks burn in the cold of Winter. Wasn't that cold in the library, though; on the contrary, it was sweltering in the kitchen. "Yeah. You feeling alright?" "Just fine, Spike, honest. Just, um... well, I know I'm not sick." I looked over at the pancakes held on the inviting white plate, spotless as usual. "Oooo, does head chef Spike have something for me?" "Yes, m'lady," he said with a bow, and put on his best Manehatten accent, placing the plate and cutlery on the table in front of me as he spoke, "Two pancakes made to order, containing the precisely measured amounts of milk, eggs, flour, a touch of buttermilk, one knife's edge of margerine, a layer of oil to allow the golden brown-ness of the delicacy, and an assortment of fruit and syrup available, erm..." his accent faltered as he looked over at the counter, "On the counter. Darn it, I need more arms!" I giggled at his complaint; maybe having a horn did make life really easy compared to others, "It's alright Spike, I've got it." With a quick flick of my horn, and thankfully, no return of that dreaded thumping, I retrieved the syrup and delectable— "Raspberries? Wait, don't we have any blueberries left?" "You're forgetting the massive pancake binge you had last weekend? You know, after finishing your one hundred page report on the effects of unicorn magic when trying to inspire growth in plants and animal species. The one to the Princess? The one that I had to have six glasses of water after to get the burning out of my throat?" Spike scratched at his windpipe as I leaned back slightly, remembering the events that took place. "And then, in celebration, I demanded sixty pancakes and all the fruit in the house. Sorry, Spike, my memory's been flaky lately..." I gave my head a good shake, my body thankfully calming down. What were the symptoms of this latest bout, anyway? Let's see... flushed cheeks... absence of mind... complete and total focus on the subject... and numerous parts of my body heating up, ranging from my cheeks to my chest to my belly to my... my, um... I hid my eyes behind my hoof in a mock attempt to lean my head on it and looked down. Yeah... that. That heated up, too. But why? Hmmm... This would require further study, definitely, but first came breakfast! Oh, that intoxicating smell was already stealing away my focus. The formula could be shifted a bit, but raspberries were notoriously uncooperative when it came to placing them at just the right places. Have to account for any shifts from environmental disturbances, and random earthquakes... as well as— oh, right. "Thank you, Spike, it looks great. Just gonna..." "Take your time. If the pancakes get cold while you're placing the berries, I'll heat 'em up. Gonna get started on getting my breakfast out." He grinned and walked over to his stool, hopping up onto it and turning the stove off. First came food - probably emeralds -, then he'd get started on his chores. Chores... I've put a lot of chores on his back, haven't I? Even with Owlowicious around, Spike's still got a lot of work to do. Maybe I should help him out today while I read up on this... weird thing I've got going on. Maybe even a letter to the Princess? Should I alert her about this? Ohhh, I don't know. And that was the worst feeling I could experience that morning: not knowing. There was nothing that bothered me more than not having an answer to a question. Though nothing beat not being able to solve the Pinkie Sense. That mystery still drove me nuts! Still, I did accept that it was something I couldn't solve... it definitely didn't mean it stopped giving me nightmares. My eyes moved away from Spike as he gathered up his cherished gems for breakfast, and down to the food that a pony actually could eat: pancakes! Top raspberry goes here... then the second one at a fourty-five degree angle, about two inches away... then the third the same distance and angle... ok. I smiled as the berries actually cooperated for once. Maybe the planets aligned that day? I let out a laugh as I imagined every planet in the solar system aligning, projecting some form of ultimate will on the berries to make my morning better. Definitely made me smile, at least, seeing those berries stand at attention as I drizzled just the right amount of syrup between them. "Now we just cut..." I mumbled, and at the thought of 'cutting', my horn fired up on its own and produced a lavendery triangle, hovering just over the berries. The vertexes extended out to cover the entire delicacy, and my tongue ran over my lips as I pressed down, cutting the pancake into equal pieces. Glad Spike has something better to do besides watching me do this... he'd probably fall asleep. But the cut has to be perfect! I nodded to the thought, and took the berries in my magic. The cut had been done, now all that was left to do is to spread the berry juice and syrup across the pancake, evenly. The same amazing taste for every bite... it was a science, after all! Soon, the deed had been done, and I took up my knife and fork, diving right into the food. The science was done, but boy, was I hungry! The sweet, sugary flavor of the syrup with the slight tang of the berries... it didn't match up with the cold, slightly bitter balance of a blueberry, but it definitely had its merits. Before I knew it, not a survivor had been left on the syrup covered plate held in front of my face, not wanting to leave even a stripe of syrup behind. Once the pure white of the plate had been restored, I placed it back on the table... revealing Spike's face to me. His rather... bothered face. "Something wrong, Spike?" I raised an eyebrow, feeling a lone tear scroll down my face. What could I say? Those pancakes were the best pancakes I'd ever had. Right, dragon was speaking, listen! "Um... nothing, nothing at all. Just, you were really going at that plate, Twilight." He quirked his mouth up at the side, emerald in his clenched claw; seemed he halted just before taking a bite to watch me fill my gut. Bit creepy... "Well, the pancakes were good! Really good." I sniffed, wiping my damp cheek, "Really, really really good..." Spike grinned, taking the emerald between his fangs and crashing down on it, "Well, what can I say? I'm the chef for a reason, Twilight. So." he gulped down the emerald chunks, spinning the remains of it in his claw, "What's the plan today?" "Oh, right, my plan! Shoot, um... I was gonna do a lot of timekeeping today." "Schedule writing today, then?" He raised his brow and leaned on his claw, tossing the other half of the emerald into his mouth. I'd always wondered just how strong a dragon's mouth was... those emerald shards had to be sharp, after all! "Yep. Gotta get a schedule down for the next three weeks, then sort out the time periods for today..." I trailed off, blinking as an image flashed through my mind. It didn't look familiar... or even visible, but it was definitely there; if it wasn't, then why did I feel myself heat up a bit again? "Twilight?" "Huh? Oh, sorry, sorry! Um, I was going to do some reading today!" I shook my head, quickly throwing the sentence out of my mouth. I *really** need to read up on this!* "Oh yeah, that astronomy book, right?" Spike spoke through the shattering glass of the emeralds, wincing a bit as he went, "Oh jeeze, that's sour... ahem, anyway. Right, that new Orion Hunter book." "That's the one. Is anypony coming over today?" "Nah, I don't think so. You know, besides Rainbow blowing another hole in the wall, or Pinkie kicking the door down to invite us to another party," Spike chuckled as he lounged in his chair, shaking his head. Yeah, that wasn't too fun... "It was really hard fixing that hole last month, wasn't it?" I smirked, covering my mouth in time to muffle a light belch. Ate a bit too quick... I thought, letting out a small sigh, "Pardon me." "Pardon what?" "Never mind. You were saying?" "Right. No, that hole wasn't too fun, but at least we had your number two assistant to help out with carrying the wood." Spike grinned at the exclamation of his dominance, however much worth it had to me. I couldn't help but humor him, though... after that huge mess between him and Owlowicious, the two just never saw eye to eye, no matter what I could sort out concerning work schedules. They eventually agreed to disagree, and left each other alone to their work, but I always enjoyed seeing them work together, whenever the blue moon shined above. "You're gonna keep calling him that, aren't you?" I rolled my eyes, smiling at the silliness of it. "Hey, I've been your assistant ever since I was a little baby. That's not gonna stop," he said, gesturing at me with an emerald, "Think we should get started on those schedules, then?" "If you want t—" I stopped after a blink, realizing I was talking to a dust cloud that looked suspiciously like Spike. Where the heck did he run off to? It only took a few moments of looking to spot him standing right next to me, stack of parchment and a lot of ink at claw and ready. "Well, you're on the ball, today!" "Gotta keep up my A game. Can't let it slip after those pancakes. Take it away!" And after that was, quite honestly, the most peaceful two hours I'd ever spent in my life. Even while sitting in my lonesome back in Canterlot, reading through Starswirl the Bearded's theory on time travel. The weeks just built themselves. Stunt practice with Rainbow two days from now, then help Pinkie over at Sugarcube Corner, then read some Daring Do on the weekend. By the end of it, though, I found that my brow had furrowed quite intensely, Spike looking back up at me as he sat on the ground. "Something wrong, Twilight?" "No, nothing's wrong... everything's been scheduled just fine. I guess... it's just surprising to hear I have so much free time on my hooves." I scratched the back of my neck in honest confusion. My days were usually packed to the brim with scheduled activities... yet most of them had more than seven hours of free time, excluding sleep! It was unheard of! Something has to be missing, but what!? Letters to the Princess on Saturdays, whenever one comes up, then astronomy study on Mondays. Today's Wednesday... And that was when the realization hit me, like an angry train riding right off the rails. I didn't have any work to do to fill in those seven hours a day. I felt my jaw drop at the thought. I-Impossible! How could my days not be filled?! I hurriedly charged through every single idea I could come up with to fill the time: biology, chemistry, magic, physics, studying the Sun and Moon, looking at the stars, hanging out with friends! E-Everything's got a space! It's all scheduled! *I can't fill the time!!*** "Twilight, hey!" Spike grabbed my neck, constricting it just enough for me to feel that I was hyperventilating, and I felt a tremble race through me. "Wh- H-Huh?" I shook my head, Spike's blubbering accompanying it; must've been shaking him along with my head! "S-Spike?" "Twilight, are you really sure you're ok? You just spaced out, then you started hyperventilating and- you freaked me out!" Spike tightened his grip into a hug, resting his head under my chin. Wait, he's... alright, panicking dragon under my chin! I quickly snapped out of my trance and returned the hug, putting on a shaky smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just fine, Spike. Just... never had that happen before." I stared off into space as his claws lowered to my shoulders, returning the hug as best he could. Really scared him, didn't I...? My eyes moved down to him, catching only the tip of a green spine sticking up past my muzzle. His trembling body against mine told me everything I needed, though: he really was scared. "It's alright... just never had so much time available in my day." "R-Right, that's true." Spike let out a small chuckle into my neck, answered by my own little giggle. Hey, it tickled! "Guess I overreacted a bit..." "No, no. I was panicking over nothing. Don't worry about it, Spike," I gently spoke as I squeezed him in a hug, smiling. It was always nice to be reminded that somepony nearby cared that much for me, even in my little world of schedules and panic attacks. Refreshing. "Alright, since you helped me with the schedules, how about I help you with the chores?" "Huh? But, I always do them." He leaned back into my view with a squinted look, "Are you trying to take my job, too?" "Now how in the world would I do that?" I could've sworn I puffed out my cheeks a bit, trying to hold in that laugh, "C'mon, there's no way I could replace you!" "Well..." Spike quirked his mouth, as if considering the thought, and almost as quickly shrugged, "Yeah, I guess you're right." He let go after I gave him a last squeeze, and dropped to the floor from my forelegs. "Alright, chores. What to start with... dusting, sweeping, setting up the ladders, sorting the sign-out sheets, organizing the books..." "Wow. I really had no idea you did so much everyday..." "Really? I just kinda kept taking jobs over when you went out on your crazy adventures with everypony. I do a pretty good job, don't I?" Spike put on a smug smirk, folding his arms. "Good job? You do a fantastic one, Spike! I swear, sometimes it looks like I did it!" And that was no joke. Every time somepony came by to sign out a book, Spike was ready to receive them and bring them to me. "Why do you worry about losing your spot as my number one assistant so much? The job's pretty much yours, permanently. Nopony understands my methods as well as you!" "And believe me, it took a long time to understand them as well as I do!" His smug smirk gave way to an exasperated look, slouching a bit, "I spent years studying where everything went! Pretty much had to start over when the Princess ordered you to study friendship in Ponyville. At least the smaller library made things a lot easier... but it was a rough first year!" "And I'm always impressed by your work. So, Mister Spike. What's the first order of business?" I stood at attention with a work-ready smile, or at least, I thought I did... I tried to mimic my brother whenever he was out on drills. Hopefully it came through. "Alright, Miss Sparkle. First job is dusting. It's crazy, this library gets so clogged with dirt sometimes, it's like walking on a beach." Spike chuckled a bit as he lead me into the library, and the two of us got to quick work. He handled the books while I multi-tasked sweeping, dusting and cleaning the windows. A simple task, but one that always amazed everypony who'd catch me while I was working. The library quickly became a cloudy, dusty... cloud of dust! "Alright, slow down, Twilight! The Princess isn't coming today!" Spike shouted from somewhere in the room. Couldn't quite see him. "Hang on, I'm getting everything off the walls so I can do..." I smiled as my horn sparked up, aura quickly wrapping up the entire room. With a flick of my head, all the dust was dragged together into a small ball in the middle of the room, Spike flopping onto the floor from the sudden yank. "This! Oh, oops! Spike, are you ok?" "Yeah, fine. I've lived through higher falls," he groaned as he rolled over and onto his feet, staring at the dust ball in the middle of the room. "Woah... now that's cool! How'd you do that?" "Oh, just a little adaptation for my levitation. I've been studying a few new spells, and got interested in the concept of gravity. I just attracted all the dust to each other, and built a ball out of it." I smiled and gestured to the bowling ball of dirt, Spike looking it over with interest. "Sweet. Wish I had a horn and that spell, it'd make cleaning a lot easier!" He scratched the back of his head and poked the ball, it rolling off from the touch. "Hey, get back here!" He set into a chase, though every time he got close, he'd accidentally kick the ball and send it off in another direction at a higher speed, like a cat with a yarn ball. Did dragons react to dirt the same way cats reacted to yarn? He's not really playing with it. Hm. Something to study. Along with that weird... thing that happens to me. I thought as I tapped my chin, looking around at all the books on the shelves, seeming to stretch upwards for miles from where I was sitting. That was a really weird trick of the eyes, and even after two years of living there, it still got to me! "Well, as long as I've got time, I could read that new book on astronomy..." I nodded, Spike's random yelps and grunts as he tried to retrieve the mischievous ball of dust fading away into my mind as I grabbed book after book off the shelves, reorganizing them. I can ask Spike to take over today. Think I'll do some reading out in the park... I thought. Spike could definitely handle running the library on his own, unless Rainbow came by, then there was a problem or three to deal with. In fact, whenever I got back from the crazy stuff I did with my friends, I'd always find the sign-out page organized and written with about twelve items on it. Book returns, sign-outs, names, birthdays... he was the smartest little dragon I'd ever met, and likely ever would meet. With the important house in the important claws of my important dragon, I could focus on the important problems of space, time, and me. Of course, me was number three on that list, but still! "Right then. That's a book on magic, goes in Classics... 'Checklists For The Novice Scheduler', that's in Foals... 'Daring Do And The Castle Of Nazaal', definitely Fiction. Ah, 'Stars And Planets For The Avid Stargazer, Orion Hunter'! Perfect." I continued organizing the books absent mindedly as I tried to uncover the secrets of the book through the front cover. The planets in our solar system, only ever observed... could we actually get to them someday, though? Doubt we'll ever be able to reach the stars in my lifetime... but I can always dream, can't I? I mused, smirking lightly. "Alright, Spike. I'm just gonna finish up with the books, then I'm gonna head out for some reading in the park." "Alright! Come back here, you little!" Spike grumbled, climbing a ladder to catch the dust ball that had somehow ended up on one of the upper shelves. "How'd you ride that book up here, anyway!?" "Sorry, Spike. You gonna get it down on your own?" I called up, readying my horn as he tipped back a bit on the ladder. I let my caught breath go as he landed back against the shelf, but I could definitely tell he was just a bit more tense than before. "Yeah, no problem. Almost got it. You done with the books?" "Yes, sir!" "Alright, that's it, then. I can take care of everything else." Spike grabbed the ball of dirt in a claw, digging into it slightly to get a better grip. Sliding back down, he hit the ground with a light thud and rolled, ball still held between his claws. Agile little guy! "Have fun, Twilight, with... well, whatever you do." "I always do, Spike. Take good care of the library." With a nod and a wave, I headed back upstairs and retrieved my saddlebag, placing the book on astronomy in it. Where should I go today, then? Could go to the square, relax on one of the benches... or sit out on that hill in Embark Fields. The square isn't that far away, though, and I should be through this book in no time. I nodded at the plan, but that one little itch at the back of my mind acted up again, reminding me of the questions I wanted answered. "Can't keep having these reactions happening to me... I don't even know what they relate to, or mean. Should take a few medical texts as well." With another nod, I raced back downstairs, thankful that I could do it with a manner of speed, and quickly snatched up several books on pony anatomy. With another wave, I was out the door and heading to the square. I had questions. It was time to get some answers.
Chapter 2: Preliminary StudyAlright. There's a lot of questions I need answered, but they all revolve around my body. What do I need to ask? I need to figure out why I feel what I feel, when I feel it. The temperature increase could be related to a sickness, but I've been healthy for the last few months, and it's not time for allergy season yet. I let my body move on auto-pilot to the square, the sun high up in the sky, despite it barely being past ten. Ponies walked by, giving me waves to which my body, thankfully, responded with a smile or a wave, making sure not to trip itself up. I sometimes wondered just how Ponyville could be so awake at such an early hour, even if ten wasn't all that... well, early. Canterlot was really sleepy when it came to the hours before noon, and most of the streets would be empty, except for those stallions who enjoyed taking a walk in the breezy city, or mares heading out for some early shopping. Me? I just stayed cooped up in my house all day, so it didn't bother me much whether I woke up at nine or five. Well, until I started attending Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. My manic scheduling started pretty well after the first day there, stuck with me ever since. The whole process was never that hard, but it was a lot of busy work back then. Just wasn't that good at time-keeping, so I'd find myself constantly re-scheduling and re-re-scheduling and re-re-re— oh, there's the bench. The walk went by faster than I'd thought, the smell of the park in Autumn greeting me. A frigid breeze blew across my back, reminding me that I really should have brought a scarf or some kind of jacket. Just too excited to read this book, I guess. Well, I'll find a spell that can help in the meantime. I hopped up onto the orange bench in front of me, the gentle curvature of it supporting me perfectly. If there was one thing I always applauded, it was the craftsponies who worked in Ponyville under Mayor Mare, as they made some of the best benches in Equestria. Smooth oak with a laminate finish, and was that a— yes it was, a heating enchantment! Those ponies really think of everything when making these! Oooo, now I know why Lyra loves sitting on these! I grinned to myself as I settled into the bench, and cracked open the cover of the book. As soon as I'd set off on the first page, I was taken on a trip through the solar system. The acid rains of Nyx, the chilling tundras of Mu, the seemingly-war-ravaged landscape of Teerus... it was all fascinating, and Orion's writing really brought the studies and numerous exploration efforts of scientists to life. Though ponies couldn't reach the stars, we could still see out far enough to make guesses. Just how cold could Mu get...? It's like a comet grew too big for a tail. Astrology was a field that always interested me. Sure, magic was interesting, and so was geology and geometry, and yes, they are two entirely different fields, but what's better than wondering what's beyond your own world? I've never even travelled beyond Equestria's borders... and to read about things beyond every border on our planet is just incredible. "Oooo, mountain studies... 'Though the tallest mountain in Equestria is easily The Lonely Mountain that supports Canterlot, the current tallest mountain in our solar system is the massive Mt. Keynote of Teerus, at over fifteen miles high.' Ohhh, so fascinating!" I giggled with excitement, nearly bouncing on the bench as I flipped through page after page, containing more scientific tidbits of the solar system. By the time I was finished, the sun had fallen quite far out of the sky, sitting around the four o' clock mark. Telling the time via the sun wasn't all that hard, come to think of it. "Guess I'd better be getting home. I can think on it more later." I started moving my legs, inwardly groaning about having to leave my warm bastion of comfort. Now that the book's finished, I can get back to my original problem... why does my body do what it does, when it does. This morning, I was looking out the window and I saw Cheerilee. Lost focus, stared... then came back into the world when Spike interrupted me. I sat up on the bench and tapped my chin, the toasty wood keeping my legs warm. Maybe I should... ooo, that is nice... very high-quality wood, and the heat enchantment is just right. Wait, huh? My eyebrow shot up a good inch at the sudden realization of warmth. But it was a weird kind of warmth... far out of reach of the bench. And... wait... that smell... oh no. I didn't even have to look down to figure out what was going on, and immediately threw myself over the side of the bench and onto the cool grass behind it, a rather unceremonious 'thud' coming from it. I know that smell! Oh, thank goodness I understand at least *that** much!* My eyes whipped around to a few curious looks aimed back at me, offering a rather normal smile in return. At least, I thought it was normal. It should've been normal! It was normal, wasn't it?! Wait, no, don't freak out! Don't give them a hint, don't even *look** at them in a funny way! It'll pass, it'll pass... it always does.* Despite the many eyes on me, this was a practice I'd fallen into over the last year or so, couldn't be shaken, even if I had the world staring at me. Even if I couldn't figure out the why, when and how, I always knew what was happening: a certain part, or parts, of me would heat up, and if it got hot enough, a weird smell would come up, and the answer to getting rid of the smell would be to simply sit in a cold spot for a while and let it fade. It was a simple biological reaction for when a mare was... well, the word would be 'aroused', but I never understood it that way, since it was never logical about when and where it happened. I'd just lose my focus and keep on staring at something. What was weird is it tended to happen around warm places, so I avoid fireplaces more than what would be considered 'healthy' during Winter. Wonder if this happens to Lyra and Bon Bon a lot? Maybe it was a lie that I couldn't be shaken, since I ducked my head down behind the bench to avoid the eyes of everypony around. Sometimes I loved that Ponyville was such a small town, since peace and quiet - besides the occasional Hydra attack, and the Ursa Minor - was assured, but it also meant that anything at all happening that could be called interesting caught everypony's attention. And a mare hiding behind a bench? It was just enough, I figured. Maybe if I teleported? Ah, but then everypony'd come by the library and ask what was going on. I grimaced as a shudder ran down my back, but at least the heat was fading away. Cold shower once I get back... not comfortable in the slightest, but it always works. Just, um... need to wait for this smell to go away. Also in a village like Ponyville, boredom was such a prevalent occurrence that I actually loved it when Pinkie came by to knock down my door. I was thankful that that didn't happen while I sat on the grass, though that didn't stop my eyes from hunting around for any suspicious trench coats; I was an open target there, and that mare had the eyes of a hawk! Well, with luck, she won't spot me on my way back... and Luna forbid she gets a whiff of this. It'll be a mile a minute with questions. I turned to look at the tree behind the bench that I sat on, hopefully hiding my quick sniff of the air. Oh good, the smell's gone... alright, time to head home then. And hopefully not pull anypony else along for the ride. After a few more seconds of enjoying the chilling grass, I got to my hooves, slowly, and took a long whiff of the air. The park was always covered by the fragrant scent of flowers, so it helped cover up my actions, but it didn't really help me in finding the scent I needed to. Still, it was gone for the most part. Ok, so it's gone... now I just have to make it home without anypony finding me. Avoiding *her** is gonna be pretty difficult though, and I can't randomly teleport from place to place. I wish teleportation wasn't so hard to do... it makes it hard to move around when you're the only mare who can do it in the whole village!* I inward groaned as I moved out from my fortress of warm wood, looking around to make sure nopony was staring. Sure enough, the square was filled with more interesting things than me, and everypony decided that they'd focus on those instead. It was time to move. Making a last glance about, I grabbed my book and slipped it back into my saddlebag with my magic, moving away from the square. "Ok, what else was I planning for today? I was gonna read this book, which I finished off already. Helped Spike out with the chores... don't really need to do any shopping. Oh dear... the dreaded 'free time' is coming." I grimaced at the thought of having hours on my hooves, but it was a cruel fate forced upon me by my efficient planning. Is this what they refer to when they say 'digging your own grave'? That was an interesting saying, actually. The phrase originally pointed to the concept of a lie, and how it would go deeper and deeper until somepony found out the truth, almost like digging a deeper and deeper hole in order to hide yourself from somepony else. And, when the lie became too deep and you were found out, it was like a grave, since you couldn't escape the implications. Funny, how four words could carry such a meaning... wait, right, getting home, I had three hours saved the next day for philosophy! With a quick shake of my head, I set off down the street towards home, vying for the cover of the alleyways. I need a bit of silence to think on all this, and the alleyways should keep me out of everypony's way. So, these reactions of mine... they're triggered nearly at random, but there does tend to be a linking property: other ponies. It's just a question of what triggers it... but I don't think anypony'll let me just experiment on them. Kinda creepy, staring at them all day. So what's a good alternative? My eyes drifted up towards the darkened wall of a building as I stopped in the alleyway, the minor stink of a few trashcans not registering. It was obvious what kind of alternative I could use, and I'd been taking them once in a while over the last two years. How'd I not figure it out sooner? Pictures! I've got pictures of my friends at home in a big scrapbook. Only a few, but it should be enough for testing... it'll be nice to look back at some of those memories, as well. With a smile, I picked up the pace out of the dark and into the sunset light of Ponyville, tromping on down the dirt path. And I passed by that quill and sofa place, another question boiling in the back of my mind. One that had been bothering me ever since I first heard about the place. How *does** somepony sell quills and sofas in the same place!? It's crazy! The two have absolutely no relation to each other!* I felt a grimace cross my face as the shop seemed to spit in the face of logic. Spit in the face of my logic, at that! Ooooo, it set me on fire sometimes! But that was a question I could save for later - granted I could solve it all, like the Thing-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named -, as the shops finally let go and my library came into view. It was strange, though, that my library's leaves didn't change color in Autumn, unlike Whitetail Woods. Oh, right! Whitetail Woods! The Running Of The Leaves is coming up, isn't it? Maybe I should participate again... I entertained the idea of competing against the entire town, charging between the wonderful colors of the trees: the reds, the oranges, the yellows all zipping past in a beautiful blur. The wind cascading past my face in a chilling breeze as my heart raced and my lungs exploded with the fresh air... But it was all just a dream. I mean, sure, I competed once, but it had been so long since I ran in a race. Wait. When's the Running of the Leaves? A few weeks from now... hm. I should look into getting fit for that, it'd be a great use of my spare time! Only question is... where'd I put that book on running? My head tilted slightly at the thought. Where had I put it? It was easy to find most of my books, since they were organized by subject: biology, chemistry, physics, magic... but none of them really encompassed the science of running. Maybe I could learn from Applejack? Applejack was a good runner, definitely, as those monstrous bucks of hers would indicate. Should help out at the farm more often, get some strength back into these legs of mine. Buck a couple trees with her, talk about running... would she even be interested? No, after that whole fiasco a year ago, she'd definitely accept help. Get to work alongside her, knocking apples off the branches... watch her kick tree after tree without even breaking a sweat... so much power in them, so sleek, so... mesmerizing... Watching Applejack buck trees was a strange thing, to be honest. But the strength in those hind legs of hers was insane... she could probably knock down a tree on her own if she kicked hard enough. She'd often take a while to get her aim right, tail waving as she used it, almost like a crosshair. She'd lean forward and hop up off the ground, then strike with the force of a God. It was poetry in motion, each second passing by in the slowest of moments... watching her hips flex and turn like a well-oiled machine. Then the crash exploding in my head like a bomb as her hooves made contact, showing off her built frame. The sweat on her coat shining in the s— "Oof!" I shook my head as I ran into something, blinking a few times to stare at the red... thing that had popped up in my way. "Who the heck put a door here!?" My glare couldn't have said enough to the door as I looked around, rage building in my g— oh, it was the library. "Did I lose... huh." I blinked a few times at the innocent sign looking back at me, offering a friendly greeting to the Golden Oaks Library, the familiar sketch of a book sitting on a tree branch - the one that I renewed with a few quick swipes of my magic. I got home before I even realized what I was doing... Weird. Very, very weird... but why is that heat there again? Wasn't I picturing working with AJ? My brow fell slightly as my magic made a path for me, pushing open the door as I walked in. My answers were still avoiding me, and it only bugged me more as that same feeling welled up inside my gut, the same one I linked to 'arousal'. But why would it come up when picturing Applejack? It didn't make sense. I mean, she's nice, but... just how did 'arousal' work, anyway? This needs more study... a lot more study. Right, the test method I was gonna use to figure all this out. "Oh, hey Twilight!" Gotta be Spike. A quick look around didn't reveal him, however. "Hey Spike... uh... where are you?" "Up here..." I looked up as his voice trailed off into a groan, and spotted him hanging from the ceiling. He'd apparently set up a sort of gym on top of two bookcases, a ladder spanning the distance between them, and was hanging from his legs. Or was that his s— was his head stuck between the rungs!? "Spike, what'd you do!?" "Well, I got bored since nopony was coming by. Read a few pages of one of those Daring Do stories, then I... guess I decided to do something with my time. So I set this up, and please, don't ask me how I did it. I'm still figuring that out myself. Anyway, I set this ladder up up here... started walking over it like a bridge to a castle," his voice trailed off as I noticed a telltale gleam in his eye, and that same silly smile as you-know-who came up in his mind, "the castle holding my Lady Rarity..." His grin curved and widened as he started walking, or at least trying to... his legs were moving at least! "Spike, you really shouldn't do that. How long've you been up there?" "Ten minutes or so." His eyes turned up in thought as, I guess he tried to confirm his time estimate. He'd probably be scratching his chin too, if his arms could reach down - up? Down? - through the ladder rungs. I simply rolled my eyes and pulled him out of the crazy contraption with my magic, bringing him back down to earth. "If you're gonna set something like that up, could you at least do it in a place where you might not be knocked unconscious?" "Knocked unconscious? Whadya mean?" "Really? Spike, it's a paramount fact of the circulatory system. Aren't you reading books from the medical section from time to time?" I raised my eyebrow at his curious, then slowly falling to understanding, face. He scuffed a foot on the ground as he grimaced. "Heh, um... no, I haven't." "The blood rushes to your head, Spike, and the brain is overwhelmed by the rush. You black out, and that's a really bad position to fall asleep in." "Right... sorry." He sighed, staring at the floor. Ohhh... now I feel bad. I frowned with him; I didn't like lecturing him like that, because it always ended with him feeling bad, like he was taking time out of my day to get him out of a troubling situation. I was always happy to do it, but I suppose the lecture route was just too hard-written into my head... darned teachers at the school. "It's alright, Spike, honestly. You just have to be careful, alright?" "Yeah, I know. You were out for a long time, though. Enjoy the book?" He looked back up as he spoke, and I was glad to see that little spark in his eyes of a returning happiness. Certainly lifted my spirits! "Oh, definitely! Gonna recommend it to Rarity next time she comes by!" "Huh? Why Lady Rarity?" "Didn't you know? She likes astronomy as well. Though she mostly comes by for books on new sewing techniques, fabric details and other stuff, she pops in once in a while to learn about the stars. Always fun talking about what I learn with her, since she's got a pretty good understanding as well." I walked over to one of the bookcases and started looking through the titles, my hoof tapping each one as I ran through them all. "Seriously? Hey, do you still have that book on the solar system, or whatever it is?" "Oh, come now, Spike, you should know that much. I teach you better than that!" "Right, right, sorry. Doesn't stick sometimes..." "Then how about a question? How many planets are in our solar system?" "Five, counting Equis. Ours." Spike definitely sounded sure in his answer. Good thing it was right. "Correct. What are the names of the planets stretching out from our sun?" "Let's see... Ariys, Mu, Equis, Teerus, and Nyx." And he said it didn't all stick! "Right! What's the one feature we know about Nyx?" The quizzing made my search a little easier to bear, it was usually such a pain to sort through the books by hoof. Still, it was nice to feel the leather bindings, if only to remind myself of what it was like. "It's really, really, really cold!" "Right! And you said it didn't all stick." "I said sometimes. But c'mon, Twi', I need that book! Please, can you lend it to me?" "I can tell you only have the best intentions about learning about the planets and stars. Sure, go ahead, it's in my saddlebag." I shrugged the bags off my back with a smirk, kicking it back towards Spike as I continued going through the books. Magic section... where was that scrapbook? Restricted... that was three sections up! Ugh. "Thanks Twilight!" Spike chuckled as he rummaged through the bags, grabbing the book and running upstairs past me. "I'll go read it right now!" "Have fun, Spike! Remember what learning's about!" "It's not about what you need to learn, it's about what you want to learn! I know!" He was up the steps before I could blink. It was amazing just how quickly that dragon could run, but that book would keep him occupied for a very long time. Especially with his hardwired sleeping schedule. "Baby dragons will be babies... even when it comes to something they want to stay up for," I mumbled to myself as I slowly walked up the steps, tapping each of my books as I searched. The scrapbook had a blue cover with gold stripes... as well as a drawing of my Cutie Mark. I still remembered when that scrapbook was started... it was a few days after Nightmare Moon was beaten. We all came to the library to talk and get to know each other, and Pinkie of all ponies brought up the idea of a scrapbook. I entertained the idea, since cameras had been circulating through the country for quite a while, so we pooled some of our bits - even me, way back when, and I was still skeptical about the whole 'friendship' thing -, and bought a neat little camera. Same camera's still sitting in Pinkie's bedroom, actually... funny how she didn't bring it out unless it was for a picture with her friends. She did let me borrow it from time to time for research, though. I'd snapped lots of pictures over the years, mostly of trees during their transitions from season to season, some of Froggy Bottom Bog, some of the wildlife in Whitetail Woods, even one or two from my rare trips into the Everfree. It held a lot of good mem— Ah, here it is! My hoof fell on the familiar cloth spine of the book, and moving it down revealed Rainbow Dash's incredulous drawing style. She went through five versions of this drawing... I giggled at the thought of her constant grunts and shouts about how frustrating it was to get my Cutie Mark right. She always said 'why are the stars in such weird places?' As if it was difficult to get the five little stars correctly placed around the main starburst. Well, maybe it wasn't all that hard for me, at least getting the measurements right... I pray that nopony ever asks me to draw a face for them during a criminal case. I'd probably send them after some innocent Gryphon halfway across the world! Drawing it out with my magic, I inspected the cloth folds holding the parchment together. Despite its age, and the one really bad moth infestation I got a few months back, the book still held as strong as ever. The three brown strings used to hold the spine were still tied as well as ever, thanks to Rarity's accurate magic, and the cover had a wonderfully stylized picture of the six of us, the combined efforts of Rainbow's tenacity and Fluttershy's keen eye. Despite her shyness, the mare had such attention to detail... it was incredible. "Alright... I should be doing this in my room, though. Uhhh... well, it's an experiment, right?" I nodded at the thought; it really was just an experiment. Not like I was gonna be doing anything beyond looking at pictures, right? So I set a course for the kitchen table, it'd be private enough for what I needed. Nopony could see much through the kitchen window unless they got a good angle, and that would take them quite a while. Long enough for me to find out, anyway. I sat down at the end of the table bearing the most light from the setting sun, and very gently placed the book on the table. Even if it had fared well against time, I didn't want to throw it around. It's been a while since I went through these pictures... Opening the cover revealed the first picture that camera ever took, and one Pinkie said she was quite proud of. A picture of me and my friends all set up in the library, hooves on each other's shoulders and grinning like nothing was wrong with the world. It brought a nostalgic smile to my face, Pinkie fumbling with the camera on the stand, Rainbow trying to help out. She managed to knock it over more often than getting it stable, but she meant well, and the camera was a lot harder to break than that. The picture itself... it was the usual group photo. AJ with her legs crossed on the far left, a smug smirk on her face... Rainbow at her side, hoof up behind her head as some childish thing somepony would do in a class photo, a big smile under her puffed mane. Fluttershy peeking out just behind her, like the camera was going to roar at her or something. Me and Rarity smiling next to each other, my horn lit so I could snap the picture... and Pinkie off to the side, making a silly face with her tongue stuck out. "And that was only a few days after we saved Equestria for the first time... heh, looking at this, you'd think nothing at all was going on." I leaned on my hoof as my eyes trailed over the old photo. "Hard to believe it's already been two years... two years since we beat Nightmare Moon, and learned about the power of the Elements. We were inseparable after that... not even Discord could keep us apart." I gently brushed the page across the book to look at the next few pages. All the pictures were of Pinkie's parties: one of Gummy's birthday, all of us dancing around the little alligator - what a time that was! Another of her tail, for some reason... Weird, didn't think I put that one in here. Did she sneak it in while she was here? The next one was, thankfully, a little more normal: a picture of Rainbow rocketing through the sky during one of her amazing stunts. That mare was a real daredevil... I'm surprised she's not already one of the Wonderbolts. Heh, maybe Captain Spitfire doesn't want a challenger... then again, I don't think Rainbow would be all that great a captain. I smiled, moving away from the rainbow line carved through the sky, to a picture of myself. Must've been from when I was still practicing with the camera, and just wanted a photo. "Wow, I looked young back then..." The picture of me was rather... youthful. I was definitely shorter, and my horn had a lot less wear and tear in it. My face had, maybe, a few less wrinkles in it, but a lot of my features survived to twenty one years of age for me. What a relief that was. That twinkle in my eyes... the ever-living drive for knowledge. I guess that survived as well. It was a good profile shot of me, the stars on my flank seeming to shine under the flash of the camera. "Ahhh, the memories... I think my voice was a little higher back then, too." Another page brushed aside, and I was shown two other images. Lyra on the left as she was learning a few of my tricks, and Roseluck on the right, tending her garden as usual. Ahh, Lyra. Wonder if you're still just as lazy today as you were a year ago? I giggled at the thought. She really was lazy for a unicorn, but that drive of being outdone by others pushed her along to learning most of the spells I had to teach. She always groaned about it being too much work, but the moment I made it look easy, she took it as a challenge and fought tooth and hoof to learn it. Kinda like a pegasus I know... Then there's you, Roseluck. You never leave those flowers along for a moment. I looked away from the picture of Lyra struggling to move four things at once - a titanic task when you don't know the trick - to the one of Roseluck, simply raising her eyebrow at me in the picture. What? It's just practice, Roseluck! I blinked at the random thought as she replied, 'I know, Twilight, but why a picture of me?' Heh, the memories all come back way too easily. Didn't she keep asking me what I did with the photo after I took it...? Went on for days, even after I told her it was just as a memory. Acted like I was gonna get her a career in modelling or something... she certainly has the looks for it. That flowing, wine-colored mane of hers, the cream body a stark contrast... true to her name in body and soul. Pure like a flower. The next page revealed one of my more troubling memories, me and Rarity, each holding a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala above our heads, smiling. What a night *that** turned out to be! Quickly became one of the worst nights of my life. But, a quick trip to Joe's was all I needed to pick myself up. I still remember his shocked face when we walked into the store, all dressed up to take on the world.* My grin grew at the sight of his face, despite the fact that the night really was terrible. "Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say!" Beside it was a picture of a very familiar trophy, its owner sitting beside it with a rather troubled smile on her face. A trophy that still decorated Applejack's foyer, even today. That thing dug a pretty deep trench from Town Hall to Sweet Apple Acres! It didn't take long for Mayor Mare's staff to get the trench cleared up, but they sure weren't happy about having to take care of it. It was a good three miles long! "I haven't even cracked the tip of the iceberg, and already everything's coming back to me... photo of Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom a day after they met, a picture of me with my fifth place medal in my first ever Running of the Leaves... oh yeah, this one." I stopped flipping the pages on one of the most memorable, something that Rainbow Dash would never let me live down: a photo taken above a Sonic Rainboom, with the arced rainbow shot through it like an arrow at a target. That was an incredible sight... the legendary Sonic Rainboom... I could feel the shockwave from the stadium. The ring was still expanding when I took it, and the flash was nearly bright enough to blind me. Princess Celestia actually sent me a letter, asking what Rainbow was like after the stunt... I stared at the picture as the words I sent back to her scrolled by in my mind. I reported that nothing was out of the ordinary, beyond an extreme increase in her brashness and ego... but I never put much thought into what the Princess was talking about in the first place. "Should look into that later... it's been two years since that happened." The pictures scrolled by one by one: a photo of me in my All-Team Jacket, after so much effort to help the town - without magic, and boy did I learn not to use magic for the next one! -, a picture of the Crusaders with their medals, after one heck of a show. Didn't they hang those up in Sweetie Belle's room at the Boutique? Oh, what a week that was. A trio of destructive jokers... but everypony loves them all the same. I bet everypony was just like them at their age, even me... I had pictures of a lot of things in my scrapbook, but one of the most impressive, and the one I was most proud of, was a picture of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and my brother, Captain... well, Prince Shining Armor, the night after their wedding. What a day that was... nopony ever expected Chrysalis and her horde to attack the city, or to do it in such a manner... Still remember when nopony believed me when I said Cadence was acting strange... but why would anypony doubt me? I had her as a foalsitter for four years. Right up until I was accepted as Celestia's protege. Hmm... speaking of Cadence, actually... I leaned back from the scrapbook, closing it as I stared up at the ceiling. When I had Cadence as a foalsitter, the only name I knew her by was Cadence. I had no idea she was a Princess... it wasn't until I saw her in Canterlot that I found out she was. So why hide that? Secret mission, maybe? Run out of her home? But why would my brother marry a tyrant? "Ahh, maybe I'm overthinking it..." I shook my head and sighed, crossing my forelegs. "Shouldn't be thinking about Cadence right now anyway... I went through the entire scrapbook, and none of the pictures triggered... well, anything. So what can I do now?" The obvious thought of asking my friends crossed my mind, but I immediately dismissed it. This was a problem I wanted to solve on my own, and though I'd love the assistance of my friends, this kind of thing was a discovery a mare had to make herself... only trouble was figuring out where to go. What can I do to incite the reaction? I can't just ask a pony to pose in front of me randomly, to see what'd happen. It'd be creepy. And I don't want this reaction triggering near another pony, since I know that's just wrong. Mom always said it was... and she's been right. So what do I do? Sneak around town and find a pony to watch? Then enjoy a few days in a cell when I get found out. I let out a heavy sigh as my eyes drifted to the window, mind scrolling back through the day. Pictures didn't work at all, and sneaking about to hunt down a test subject would just get me labelled as a creepy stalker... There's gotta be something. I felt that reaction when it came to three scenarios. When I saw Cheerilee. When I was lying on that bench. And when I thought about Applejack. Hmm... Applejack? Now there was an interesting thought. Applejack... didn't I...? A slight quirk crossed my mouth as I placed my chin on the table, the gears cranking in my head, Working with AJ, that's what I thought about. Going to her to work out and talk about running, right? Get prepared for the next Running of the Leaves... wonder how... that'd... go... My focus blurred as the kitchen faded from my sight, my thoughts running rampant.
Chapter 4: Mixed Results"Alright, so what do I know?" My hoof fished through folder after folder in the miles-high vault of my mind. Sometimes, it was impossible to find anything useful in this place, but it was nice to have everything there on a 'just in case' policy. Another steel-grey drawer spent, I pushed it closed and carried on down the hall. "Lots of stuff, that's for sure. I always forget how big this place can be." I looked around at the file cabinets stretching off towards the ceiling, impossible to count in their vastness - and believe me, I tried! The vault was huge, but I was grateful that I could get in at all. All the information that I'd collected over my life was safely sealed away in the massive granite walls, and the only key to its lock was in my safekeeping. Of course, when the only way to get to the Vault is through my dreams, it tends to be very secure. The actual creation of the Vault was always a mystery to me, though. Perhaps it was connected to me being a very studious mare? Or my mind really was just that organized. Right, back to the matter at hoof. Another drawer, another massive row of folders. Where is AJ's file? Adrius, Agriculture, Aku, Antimatter... ah, here we go. Applejack! Though I didn't really need to go through the folders by name, it was still an official process I held to. Opening the folder in my hooves revealed the usual information about a pony: name, date of birth, age, Cutie Mark - along with a picture, helps with organization -, race, height, weight, measurements - mostly guessing, but I tended to be pretty accurate -, and birthmark, along with a lot of other tidbits. Ok, file. Let's see what I can find out about AJ... why did I have that dream about her? "Subject, Applejack. Occupation, apple farmer and businesspony, salesmare, accountant... wow, she does a lot for her family. Age is twenty two, two years older than me. Seniority, maybe? But then I'd probably have been attracted to one of my instructors... then again, I was a filly back then, so probably not. What else, what else...?" The file on AJ was actually rather sparse, containing not much more than the general information you'd write about on a survey. The only thing that really held any value was her profile picture, and even that didn't reveal much. Orange coat, emerald eyes, blonde mane and tail - dunno why she put on those bands, it looked much better without -. She was curvy, but... why would that interest me? "Hm. Was the dream just a fluke? AJ was the last pony I thought about that night, so it'd make sense. But then... what was with me acting like that? The fear, the attraction, the kiss, the... well, what happened next. It was like I'd never talked to a mare before. Maybe... well, it was a dream. That's the theory... now I just have to carry out the experiment, see how things go with that. Worst case scenario? It all plays out and... me and AJ never talk again." I gulped, fearful of the thought. There was a lot of danger with that kind of experiment, trying to play out a fantasy with a friend. The reward was finding out if I was interested in AJ in... that way, and the risk was losing a friend! Was there a better way to carry it out? There has to be... gotta be. I folded my forelegs and tapped my forehead, setting my thoughts to the task. Alright. Nopony said that I'd have to carry out the dream to the letter... all I have to do is start it. In the dream, I was going to ask Applejack about running and the Running of the Leaves, maybe get my strength up by bucking a few trees. Simple. All I have to do is replicate the conditions, and see if the results match. My sight moved back to the picture of AJ as I considered my possible courses of action. One worst-case scenario was that I'd lose a friend... but the other was that everything would go perfectly. Me and AJ find ourselves hugging each other... we kiss, then whatever happens, happens. I gain a marefriend, somepony to stand by me for the rest of my life. Only question is... do I want that? Do I want AJ and me in that kind of relationship? We'd be hanging out everywhere together, making each other... happy? I guess? But we don't have any of the same interests. She'd be taken away from her work, or I'd be taken away from my studies. "Question is, do you want something like that?" "Huh?" I blinked at the profile picture, which had suddenly started speaking to me. Wait, what? "C'mon, Twilight. It's a question, and you should have the answer to it, right?" "Why is a picture talking to me?" My brow furrowed for only a moment before I came to the conclusion, a completely sensible, reasonable conclusion. I'm going crazy. "No, yer not goin' crazy. You're just hearin' yer thoughts in a different voice. Back to the topic at hoof, do ya want a marefriend?" "Well, I don't know. Do I want a coltfriend? Do I want somepony like that at all? What does it even imply?" "Lotta questions for a simple situation, eh?" "Hardly simple, AJ." I placed my forehooves back on the ground, staring at the picture as the folder floated in my magic. Where did she get off, telling me all that? "Well, it's only simple when y' stop makin' it complicated. Ask yerself, do ya want somepony like that? Yes or no. Don't consider any a' the alternatives." The picture sat in the white space around it, raising an eyebrow at me. "At this point in my life? Well... I don't know. It's a hard question to ask!" I put on an indignant tone - maybe more indignant than I intended to. "Twi', to be blunt, you did just have a fantasy about me." The picture simply lowered its brow, glowering at me. "Ah dunno if it'd be worse for the real me t' find out if you love her, or if you're fantasizin' about 'er!" "She's finding out about neither! T-There's no way I'm telling anypony about this. But..." Ohhh, there was that grimace again! I couldn't be doubting myself then, I couldn't! "But yer wonderin' why you went an' got off to my real self makin' out with you?" The picture smirked at me! Smug little... "Yes, but you don't have to be so mean about it! T-This is normal, right!?" I felt my breathing speed up, and my teeth clamp down on my lip like a vice. Panic attack. Those aren't good, not good at all! "Calm down, Twi'. This is as normal as natural gets. Y' find the real me attractive, but not enough t' say yer in love. Maybe it just means you're into mares?" The picture shrugged, and I felt just as confused as it did. But it did make sense, definitely. My eyes moved down the picture to the profile below it, and I nodded. "That... makes sense. It's a reason to continue my experiments at least. Ohhh, I hope I don't do that in front of others..." "Yer kiddin'. Y'all're worried about that?" My eyes went back up to see the picture's jaw dropped, and that face of complete shock digging into my own. Wow... did I really act like that in public? No, don't think about that, it would just make matters worse! "W-Well, of course not! J-Just thinking out loud, you know?" Funny, my peace offering smile got denied before... deja vu. "Twi', wake up before I start bein' honest like mah real self." "Yes, ma'am." I quickly nodded as the world started to bleed away. Not like I'd wanna be around you any longer than I should. "Ah heard that!" Was the last thing that boomed in my head before I woke up. First thing. No burning smell. Well, that's good... phew! Opening my eyes to see the ceiling not cloaked in flames was a relieving sight. Though the relief was soon dashed by a grumble of my stomach. Cursed hunger! You hold me back sometimes... well, let's get this morning ritual out of the way. There's science to be done! Leaping out of bed with a determined smile on my face, and a stomach that really didn't like getting up that quick - like I could blame it -, I headed down to the kitchen to fix some breakfast. Sure, Spike's pancakes were amazing, but they took so much time to make. Didn't he say the batter alone takes about an hour to make properly? Nah, it's for special occasions anyway. What should I snack on today? Should make some lunch as well. Gonna be moving around a lot today. With a nod, I set about prepping some food I could take with me. What came of my efforts and nearly blowing up the kitchen twice was a set of sandwiches - but not just any sandwiches, no! Very special sandwiches. Ohhh yes, very special indeed. I found myself with a rather devious grin as I tapped my forehooves together - felt a bit like a mad scientist, and I was right to! The sandwiches were infused with a special kind of magic that flowed more commonly through a unicorn's blood stream, rather than the magus coti. Most other ponies could get through their mornings on caffeine - coffee, strong tea, sugar, soda as a last resort - but unicorns had a trick up their sleeves! Or in their blood... heart? Appendix? I shrugged the thought off. Magic that triggers the adrenaline reflex, an all-natural caffeine that's served me so well on more than one study night! Only issue is a problem or two with the kidneys, but in a proper dose - the sandwiches in question -, it was completely safe! Completely. "So, that's about an hour burned, and Spike still isn't up. Should write him a note," I mumbled as I looked around for some parchment. Why did I never keep a quill and parchment in the kitchen? Cooking was just as good a science as magic or... well, science! A hunt through the library revealed my bounty, but why was it under my desk? Ah, doesn't matter. Scribble out the note, aaand... there. Totally legible! It only took a few seconds of staring at the chicken scratch before I re-wrote it. Several times. I sighed, happy with the properly written note, and gathered up my breakfast and lunch - brunch? Lunchfast? Breaklunch...? Headache! - and headed out. With the firm slam of the door behind me, the dirt road below me and the wind racing through my mane, my day was ready to begin! Erm... just had to figure out where to go. "What's the best place to find plenty of ponies in a natural environment, but with lots of hiding places?" I mumbled to myself, the wind in my mane down to a leisurely stroll as I watched the individual rocks scroll by me, wracking my brain over that difficult question. "Hmm. Well, whenever we have our pet play dates, we head to the park. Oh shoot, when is that, anyway!? Gonna have to ask somepony... ugh. Is it Tuesday or— no, no, it's Thursday. Yeah! Ok then, and the play dates are on Sundays. I've got time!" Was that sweat on my brow? Bah. "Alright, location, location. Park would be an excellent place to start, then I could go talk with Applejack, see how... that theory turns out." I definitely wasn't looking forward to that meeting, but it had to happen eventually. Like having a tooth pulled out. Without any painkillers or magic assistance, just me, the dentist and a pair of tweezers. A pair of tweezers that were on fire. Not fun, not fun at all. "Well, park's a ways away... guess I could study the ponies in the street for a while as I walk." It was a solid notion, considering my research. So, my eyes started their hunt for anything half-interesting in the morning sunlight. A few stallions, quite a few mares, and lots of flanks to stare at. Ugh, this is so inappropriate... but Roseluck's coat does look rather nice. Very eye catching with her slender body, feminine build and those... fl— "Twilight?" Well, at least the jump of shock and my heart stopping prevented my eyes from going anywhere! "Oh, uh, hi Roseluck!" "Hi, Twilight..." Her voice fell off, not a good sign. Questioning look, definitely not a good sign. Rising eyebrow, oh no... "So, what brings you by here?" Her tone didn't seem too interested. That was a good sign among the other three of a possible social apocalypse. "Just on my way to the park, that's all." I smiled as naturally as I could, worried that she caught me staring. Distraction, distraction! And that prayer was quickly answered as I looked to the flowerbed that seemed to be dominated by the flower on her hip; it was like staring into a river of red! Wondrous red that stole the eye. Some of the flowers still had morning dew, sparkling like diamonds... wow. "Extremely high quality as usual! Those look beautiful!" "Oh, thank you, but it didn't take that much work! My sister, Daisy, is a wizard with fertilizer!" Roseluck grinned as I turned back to her, pride thankfully replacing her interest in me. I smiled back at her; at least she seemed happy for a distraction. Well, may as well humor her... but what should I talk about? Think, Twilight, things are getting awkward! "So, how're things going with prettying up the village? I know you and your sisters have been working pretty hard on it." They had, hadn't they? Yeah, definitely. Oh, please be right... "Oh, you noticed? Yeah, we've been working pretty hard," she placed the watering can down on the ground as she spoke, but a tinge of... something came up, "And as you can see, daisies have been taking over..." she gestured around her, and I couldn't help but agree; if the rosebed was a river, the sight before me was a snow field with little yellow spots. It was very nice, no doubt; nopony could beat the smell of a well-taken-care-of daisy, but... why were there so many? Kinda ruined the depth of the town to only have one flower out in force. "Why aren't there any roses or other flowers?" "Because, unlike roses or lilies, daisies can grow pretty much anywhere, and pretty quickly at that. They spread like..." She bit her lip before carrying on to what I could only assume would be an angry tirade against her sister. "They just don't get the same love and care as other flowers. It's disappointing." "Ahhh." I nodded. Maybe I should take up studying agriculture and botany? Maybe help Roseluck out with her issue, once mine's all dealt with? Heh, super-fast-growing roses! That'd be interesting. I smiled, humoring the idea of a magic seed that would grow a perfect rose in seconds. What a challenge that would be! Certainly something that would drive my brain to the brink of crazy in search of an answer. So exciting! "So, I guess you and Lily have just been caring for your respective flower beds?" "Yes, though I can't help but..." she sighed and shook her head, lowering her voice, "I shouldn't be talking like that." "Hm?" "Nothing, sorry for taking up your time, Miss Sparkle. I hope you have a good time at the park." That smile of hers definitely set something in my stomach, and it wasn't what I felt with that fantasy. Should come back here and check on her later, see if she wants to talk. I don't like that look... I simply nodded, offering a smile of my own - hopefully a lot more natural than before -, "It's alright, Roseluck. Always happy to chat! Good luck with your flowers, and I hope you take back some of your territory!" "Thank you, and I'll certainly try." We waved to each other as I walked away, but that sick feeling didn't calm down in my stomach. I really hoped that this issue wouldn't interrupt my research... but maybe it'd end up helping it in the future? I mean, I was studying mares after all, and Roseluck was a mare. Not just any mare, but a rather beautiful one... that would be able to help my research. What constituted attraction, though? Was it simply the mental aspect of a pony, their personality, wit, intelligence? Or the physical aspect, their body, shape, strength, fat and muscle? How deep did it go, and what factors contributed to overall attraction? There were so many questions to answer, but the flame of hope still burned; the park held lots of ponies everyday, so it would be easy to collect data. Data. Data... oh no. No! No, I forgot my note-taking materials! Alright, so, with several teleportations out of the way and my mind actually straightened out, I'd found my hiding place at the park. A completely inconspicuous bush under a tree... nopony would find me there. Nopony! Well, it was better than hiding in a tree with a bird's nest on my head. Also, less harmful a prospect. That bird was angry! "Alright," I whispered, experienced eyes scanning the battlefield around me, "Checklist. Binoculars, check. Parchment, check. Quill and ink, check. Plenty of targets..." one, two, three... "Check. Alright, let's see here. There's about twelve stallions and twenty mares wandering about today, several colts and fillies as well. Plenty of specimens." A grin crossed my lips as I raised the binoculars to my eyes - with my hooves! Magic was very noticeable by proximity for unicorns. -, and peered about. Let's see... there's Derpy, rolling around on the grass... Lyra wandering about. That's a really interesting color scheme on her, actually. Haven't seen many ponies with a primarily bright coloring, short Rainbow Dash. Even Fluttershy's coloring doesn't make my eyes hurt... ow. I took a moment to rub my eyes; darn things really were starting to sting. Right, back to it. Derpy, Lyra, Thunderlane... hmm, Thunderlane. Wonder how he's doing? Probably still getting over his latest cold. Surprised he hasn't gone to the hospital to get his immune system checked out. Still, he isn't any worse for wear. Wonder where Rumble is, though? Those two are usually together
Chapter 3: Blind Trial"Woah... where?" It took a few blinks of my eyes, but... I definitely felt warm. A milky haze took up everything as I looked around, but the faint images of... trees stood around me. Ok, I *know** I was just in the library... now I'm in a forest?* It didn't make sense... but, I was supposed to be there, right? Something about... "Well there y' are, sugarcube! About time you made it!" "WAH!" I was pretty sure I jumped at least six feet during that scream. At least it snapped everything into focus and got rid of that nasty haze... but it didn't do much to solve the heat problem. I crashed down on my flank in front of a pony, her familiar Stetson covering her face with a shadow. "Uh... Twilight? Y' sure you should be sittin' there in the middle a' the road?" "Uh, um, uh, ah, oh uh..." "Calm down, girl, y'all give yerself a heart attack. C'mon," the mare said in that drawl of hers as she offered her hoof to me. Yep, definitely knew where I was at that moment, and I let out a sigh at the realization, taking her offer to be helped up. Sweet Apple Acres... right, I was coming by to help AJ out with some of the trees, and build up my strength. I grinned at the thought, feeling rather silly, "S-Sorry, Applejack... you surprised me." "S'aright. 'S a good thing you offered to help out, actually, since Big Mac's off with m' little sister at th' market, sellin' apples." Applejack smiled to me as she tipped her hat up, a toothpick stuck out the corner of her mouth. Weird... she seemed a lot more... radiant. The sunlight bounced off her blonde mane, making a sort of angelic 'glow' around her... "Uh... Twi'? Equis t' Twi'?" "H-Huh? Oh, um, sorry... spaced out for a second there." I offered a small chuckle and a sheepish grin, but I don't think she bought the peace offering. A raised eyebrow and quirk of the mouth were returned by her, defeating my small ploy. "Uh huh. Welp, c'mon. Ah'll show ya where we're workin', then we can get started on that other thing y' wanted t' do today. Somethin' t' do with runnin'?" Applejack turned and started moving away from me, heading down the road towards the farm. What was with the sun though? Her tail shined like her mane, casting a light glow outward from it... and her walk had a more... feminine touch? Why am I staring...? I-I shouldn't be! Get your head on straight, Twilight! A quick shake of my head set my mind straight as I jogged to catch up, but my brain complained. "Yeah, running. I wanna participate in the coming Running of the Leaves," I quickly nodded as I spoke, which was a bad idea as my brain just complained more. Stupid finicky organ! Rainbow Dash hits harder things with her head, why can't you take a small beating!? "Runnin' of th' Leaves? Didn't you skip out on that last year?" Applejack simply looked over at me with a raised eyebrow. She wasn't wrong, though; I didn't participate in the Running a year ago. It was pretty nice the first time, but after seeing AJ and Rainbow act like that... I wasn't about to get between them again, to give it a term. "Yeah, I did. Just... wasn't up for the whole running thing again, I guess. Bogged down with studying and... everything..." "Twilight, seriously. You alright?" I felt my legs stop moving, so we must've stopped, but my mind was just... stuck. Her eyes were never this bright before... It was like staring into two brilliant emeralds, the shadow draped over her face by the lone guardian of the hat simply accentuating it, an almost ghostly quality. "Twilight." "H... uh..." "Twi'?" "Uh..." "Ugh. Twilight!!" "AH!" I jumped again and landed straight back on my bruised flank. Oh, jeeze, that hurts! Great, now my rump was complaining along with my brain, and my mind was freaking out! It was like sitting on a hot stove, my rump burned so bad! "Seriously, sugarcube. This is gettin' kinda weird... you sure you should be out here?" "I-I'm sure! Just, um..." Losing my mind. "H-Haven't had anything to drink in a while. Probably dehydration, heh." Great lie. "Well, go sit under one a' th' trees. Ah'll get us some drinks, and we'll talk, alright? An' you stay in that shadow. Ah don't want anypony droppin' on this farm." So direct... "Uh, yes ma'am." I managed a nod and walked under one of the apple trees, sitting down a bit too hard for my sore rump, sending another bolt of pain up my spine. "Ouch...!" "An' try not t' hurt yourself, ok?" Applejack sighed and tipped her hat, raising an eyebrow at me. "Yes..." Milady. "Right, AJ." "Good. Ah'll be back in a sec." She nodded to me and turned away, walking off. But... there was a lot more to each step than she usually had. Normally, when I watched her walk, it was more tromping on the dirt, like she was trying to get somewhere in a hurry. Here, it was more... deliberate, savoring each movement, enjoying the flexing in her legs. How does she get so fit...? So sleek? So... so... my eyes followed every movement of her body, every sway in her hips as the steps had just an extra bit of care. Everything moved so slowly... the world letting me take in the sight of her cat walk, tasting it, savoring her glow and moves. But as soon as it began... it was gone, along with her around the bend. "What... was that?" I whispered... I think I did. I heard it, barely, so it was a whisper. It had to be, since she didn't turn around... I leaned to try and catch another sight of that wonderful machine, but... she was just gone. Maybe she ran back to the barn... and maybe I'm really losing it. I turned around and laid my head on the stalwart trunk of the tree, moaning slightly. "What's wrong with me...? I just... stared at her as she walked away. One of my friends... and..." A sniff broke off my track of thought. That smell... Oh no... no... s-seriously? But it couldn't be! She was a friend, nothing more. Just, just another trick of the body, that was it. All it could be! "Calm down, Twilight, just be calm! It's the heat. Gotta be... same thing happened with the bench... I felt warm, my body started heating up, then that smell got out. It's fine, the sun's just a little bit hotter today than it usually is." I shut my eyes, letting the darkness sharpen my focus as I took a deep, calming breath. As my chest expanded, the banging of my racing heart beat away at me, but it slowed down as I held the breath. Just a bit more... bit more... alright. Now just let it out, slowly... Following my thought, air ran out of my nose, in no rush to rejoin the atmosphere. Sadly, it wasn't a way to describe my mind as it ran a mile a minute, trying to figure out what just happened. What *did** just happen!? I-I've never looked at AJ like that! No, no! It's like I said, dehydration! I lose focus when I'm dehydrated, it's why I drink lots of water. Perfectly natural! Perfectly normal! So stop worrying so m—* "Sugarcube?" "Huh?" Oh, thank goodness that train of thought was broken. I looked over my shoulder at Applejack, looking back at me with a... well, look of concern. A tray was carefully balanced on her back, two glasses of water standing up from it like crystalline towers. "Oh... sorry, I w-was just thinking. Thank you." "No problem, Twi'. But..." she sighed, walking up beside me and leaning down a bit, letting me take the tray off her back. I must've stalled as my eyes caught her toned f— "Twi'. Equis t' Twi'." "Oh! Sorry!" I quickly pulled the tray off her back and held it up over my head, letting her take a well-needed seat. Her wonderful eyes burrowed into mine with an incredulous stare, as if demanding that I say what's gone wrong. As if anything's wrong, Milady... "Twilight, y'all better put the tray down. Yer gonna tip over." She reached out with a hoof and stopped me from, indeed, tipping over. The contact was quite nice, actually... I subconsciously leaned into her hoof, but the rigid limb never gave an inch. So strong... "Twilight Sparkle, put the tray down." "Yes ma'am." I quickly nodded and set the tray down, looking down at the grass below me. Even the ground was burning! Darned sun... "What's with the 'ma'am' stuff, sugarcube? Ah've never heard you talk like this." Just keep staring at the ground. Don't... just don't look up. My mind was being driven by my heart. I had no idea what to do! That radiant glow, how she walked, her voice rocking my soul... e-even her touch... "I-It's nothing, I-I haven't been s-saying 'ma'am', hehe, y-you're just, uh..." "Twilight. Talk to me." "I..." "Listen, Ah know when a pony's tryin' t' hide somethin'. But you can talk t' me, you know that." Even if I couldn't look up, my ears tracked her voice as she walked to my side. I felt two powerful legs pull me towards her, trapping me in an even stronger heat. The sun couldn't compete... not even an open flame could battle this heat burning inside... my eyes only widened a bit more as her gentle whisper fell into me, "You can tell me..." "Well, I, uh..." I struggled against my urge to turn to her, but with her hoof slowly rubbing up and down my leg... so hard to resist... Can I really tell her...? About my issues? "You can tell me. You know that. Ah'm here t' help you with anything you need. If that means being a pillar for you to lean on, then Ah'm more than happy to oblige." How did this mare speak so well? She didn't need volume, or some kind of magic enhancement to make herself more convincing or demanding or... even sound better... "I... Applejack, I don't know what's happening to me... I don't know if it's the sun, or i-if it's you, or... me... but I just... feel really warm." I bit my lip as that smell came back to me. It was like some insane truth I couldn't get away from... something I wanted to get rid of, or escape, or cover up... I couldn't even think straight. My eyes slowly turned toward the field of fur beside me, bearing the same color of the horizon at sunset. A heartbeat pounded in my ears, mine out of tune with hers as it raced. I looked up toward her face, suddenly feeling so small... so out of control. Like the world was going to come down on me, all alone... but she was there to help. Dependable, powerful, commanding... yet gentle, caring... I fell into her eyes as they locked with mine, and I just felt my body relax. I burned, I begged for release from whatever nightmare had taken me... I leaned in closer, trying to see deeper into the emerald pools as I returned the hug. "AJ... I need help..." "That smell... Twilight, are you?" She leaned back a bit to look at me properly, but her gaze seemed to soften slightly... inviting me in. Coaxing the truth out... "I can't... hide it very well, no. But I know what the reaction is... I just don't know why, but... I don't know how to deal with this." I looked back down at her neck, feeling so guilty. I always had the answers to every question ever asked, and if I didn't, I'd study until I found it. But this one question, this one problem... the answer wasn't obvious, and it couldn't come from some equation. It bothered me on such a deep level, I couldn't stand it! Why can't I figure this out!? "Well, like y' showed me, Twilight... you just need a little help." And, as if responding to some signal I'd sent out, she leaned in, tightened her embrace... and I felt a sensation as she pressed against me, feeling a warmth against my lips. The emerald pools were closed off to me, the answers to my problems lost in them... but I was given another respite in the embrace of my guardian, a mare I could trust to always be there for me, and never tell a lie. I fell into the kiss, submitting as she held me close, the fire in me growing to an inferno. All I could let out was a little 'squeak' as I felt myself falling backwards, yet never leaving her grasp... The grass felt like ice along my spine as she laid me out, my legs barely functioning enough to hold her close. My heart was beating a mile a minute, but I could pick out the slow, deliberate beating of another against my chest as another heat was added to my own... a single hoof held me up against her lips... it was indescribable. I simply melted in her grasp. I could barely resist as she broke the kiss, following her lips, her burning breath for as far as I could before falling back onto the grass behind me. The goddess simply smiled down at me, blonde mane cascading like a waterfall down from her. "See...? All y' need is a little help..." "Yes milady, please..." that heat was ripping me up every second I was away from her, but my forelegs just wouldn't let me get any closer. I was going insane! "Please, I-I need this!" "Ah know... and like Ah said. Ah'm happy to oblige..." she leaned back in and joined with me, the burning leaving once more as I felt her lie down. It was a noticeable weight, but I didn't care; another body against mine helped alleviate the inferno, helped distract me from my own chaos. Despite my moans, cries into her, she barely responded with a sound, simply letting her actions speak for her. The scent only got stronger as I felt her lips open just a bit, something poking against my own mouth. She raised an eyebrow at me, conveying the request... order... command in a mere look. But as I felt her tongue pass into me, my vision went dark... somepony cried from within the dark as a new vision rushed to me like an angered train. I gasped, raising my head from the table just under my chin and looked around. Kitchen. Definitely a kitchen... my kitchen... my kitchen? And that heat from before, it was... gone? What just happened...? I was... at Sweet Apple Acres, with Applejack, and she... she brought drinks, and... a-and... my already-fragile train of thought was broken by something very physical, and such a strong scent, I was amazed I'd missed it before. But it usually accompanied heat, didn't it? When my senses finally came back, I felt something resting against my... lower section, something wet. I leaned back and looked down. "What...?" Below me was the very obvious source of the smell: a small puddle had grown under me, clear, but catching the moonlight so well that it shone like a mirror. And my hoof was covered in the same liquid that made the puddle... still rubbing up against my— "Oh my... d-did I j-just...?" The thought struck me harder than the fantasy, or even the question itself. I had no idea the answer to this question would be so... s-so... Terrifying... I quickly looked around for any prying eyes; I couldn't deal with another pony, or dragon, seeing me like this, let alone what I just did it to! After a quick survey revealed nothing, I didn't let myself relax, reaching out with my magic for some kind of... thing to dry all this stuff off with. Towel, paper towel, toilet paper, *something!*** Before I could even consider my search complete, I teleported to the bathroom and collected a roll of toilet paper, warping straight back to the kitchen. I couldn't be bothered to check if my locational algorithms were right, short-range hops were easy enough anyway, right!? I quickly mopped up the mess on the chair and below it, then wiped what I could off my hoof and very sensitive area! "Gah, that doesn't feel good!" I hissed. With the soiled paper dealt with, as well as the moisture problem, I warped back to the bathroom and chucked the waste paper in the toilet, giving it a good flush. Then another flush. Then another, just to be sure! Please please please *please** don't let anypony smell that!* I zipped over to the sink before my thought finished, frantically washing off my hoof. Once it had been thoroughly cleaned - it actually sparkled when it caught the moonlight -, I let myself take a break on the floor. I... can't... believe I did that. My eyes couldn't leave the sight of my soiled hoof, as well as my... I quickly shook my head to get the last of that fantasy out of my mind, looking up into the mirror. A thick blush was still present on my cheeks, only adding more pressure. What would this mean? What did it mean!? Was I 'into' Applejack? Did I find her attractive? And it was just a kiss, nothing more... I'm sorry, AJ. I-I didn't mean to... t-this is so wrong! The implications of doing such a thing, what it was meant to be, who it was meant to be with... I took everything and chucked it out the window when I saw that puddle under me. "I at least got an answer. An answer to what's been happening to me for all this time... but what does it mean? If I were to take it literally, it would mean I'm..." I gulped, biting my lip at the thought, I-In love with... Applejack? B-But it doesn't make sense! She's my friend, and she's a lovely mare, sure, but I could never be in a relationship with her! But, what was that dream supposed to mean, then? If it doesn't mean that I love Applejack, then... ohhh, why does this have to be so confusing!? I snorted out a breath, gritting my teeth as something cooked in the back of my head. I wasn't in love with Applejack! The two of us would never go together, so it couldn't possibly be an answer! And without that, I was back to square one!! Alright, calm down, or at least *try** to!* After a few calming breaths, my brain stopped broiling in my skull, letting me think straight. Alright. What question was I asking? 'Why did my body heat up when it did, and how?' Well, that's three question. Anyway. 'Why' is related to arousal... the specific triggers will have to take some experimentation, as it's still kind of random. 'How' is related to ponies, definitely, but it's any number of reasons... too soon to draw a conclusion. 'When' is related to 'how', so I can't draw up something on that, but it's usually when I see a pony in a certain way, or when I'm near a heat source. That's 'when' figured out, at least. My mirror image nodded in acceptance of the thought. Just 'why' and 'how' to figure out... but it would take a lot of experiments to nail down those. And hopefully, it wouldn't be locked to my biased mind. It was a start, at least, and as I walked out of the bathroom and toward my bed, I started planning for the next day. It seemed my free time would have a use, after all. And it couldn't have been devoted to a more urgent cause.
