Just Blink
Digital_Hex
Chapter Two
The airship ride took the entire night and almost a full day following.
Did I get any sleep? Nope, because my second-cousin Shining Armor, Captain of the Equestrian Guard, spent the entire fragging time teaching me about the past decade in Equestria. I'd heard of some of it, such as Nightmare Moon returning, but when you live on a separate continent you usually don't get a whole lot of up-to-date news.
While he gave me a general overview about Equestrian society in the past twelve years, he eventually got to the part where Twilight really popped up. And boy did she pop up.
Any and every time Celestia so much as blew her nose, it seemed like Twilight and her friends were called in to fix something, even if there didn't seem to be anything to fix. I mean, sure, they saved Equestria from complete chaos at least a bajillion times over, but seriously, how bad was the Equestrian Guard back home? Our outpost at Anville, high in the griffon kingdom, a separate charter of land owned by Equestria, had absolutely no problems holding it's own against the rogue griffon factions that raided it almost weekly. Or, attempted, to raid it, as I should point out.
Finally, long after day break, around noonish the following day we left the home of the feathered ones, he told me the really important news:
"Twilight is now an alicorn princess."
… Hold the phone- captainoftheguardsaywhatnow?
"Huh?"
Shining Armor gave a soft chuckle, having long returned to his friendly demeanor. He was a totally separate colt inside and outside of battle.
"I know, hard to believe, right? I guess she earned her wings, at it is, by finishing some spell. No clue what it does, but apparently it was enough for Celestia. And hey, can't argue with her, right?"
My eyes told him I definitely intended to argue with her.
"Whoa whoa whoa, are we talking about the same Twilight Sparkle?! The same one that I only met once, and in that short span I actually taught her something about magic?!"
I fell on my back, looking up at the ceiling openly.
Well there you have it, apparently anypony could become an alicorn princess.
"I thought she had magical deficiencies, I had no idea she was the fragging child-prodigy of Princess Celestia!"
"Nah, you only met her right after she was accepted to Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns."
I sat up bolt-right.
"She was an academy student at that age?! She was barely- she is barely- older than I am!"
"I know," Shining Armor said, chuckling. "She's smart."
"She must be a complete genius," I commented before falling back against the floor. By now, the hard wooden planks beneath my hide were as welcoming as a soft cloud pillow, it was all the same to me after all these years.
"Well, she did always specialize in one particular field of magic, and if I do recall it started right after you left," Armor said, still chuckling softly to himself about some inside joke only he was privy to. I looked around and saw a few other guards grinning at his statement.
Why was I the only one out of the loop?!
"Oh yeah?" I countered. "What field was that?" I asked as I blinked upright, now sitting back in my chair. I could see Equestria on the horizon.
"Teleportation."
I sputtered. I just sputtered. There was nothing I could do other than sputter. Well, I guess falling out of my newly reacquired chair counts as something, but still.
I could hear a round of laughter go around the cabin.
"More influential in her life than you thought, huh?"
I rubbed my head as I blinked back into my chair, cringing.
"I guess," I answered.
"It'll be alright, Blink. This is just a temporary security detail until we can find a counter-spell to whatever Marelin planned for us. It shouldn't take long at all," he assured me.
"Do you even know what spell she might be using?" I asked innocently enough. Shining Armor shook his head 'no', the goofy smile still plastered to his face.
I groaned.
"Well, at least I'll be able to catch up with Twilight. It'll be good to talk with some family."
"Hey," Shining Armor whined, waving a hoof over himself.
"Oh, I've gotten enough of you, dude. I'll take Twilight."
The round of laughter that elicited lasted until we reached a little town in the north of the south-eastern desert, at a little town called Dodge Junction. It wasn't really a town, more of a little community along the rail line.
"Why are we docking here?" I asked Shining Armor. He responded to me by tossing me my saddle bag.
"This is your stop. We're circling back to Baltimare, have to alert the coastline cities about the threat from the griffon kingdom. We still have to assume the griffon king is now dead, so in all sense, we failed the mission. The only thing left to do is prepare for a possible war.
"You, on the other hoof," he said as he picked me up with his magic, taking me to an open door hatch.
Gulp.
"Are taking a train to Ponyville."
With that, he pushed me out the door.
Let me repeat that: HE PUSHED ME OUT THE FRAGGING DOOR.
"BUUUCK YOOOU!" I screamed as I fell, trying to get a lock on myself with my magic. It didn't take too long for me to teleport safely o the ground, but that wasn't the point. He'd pushed me out of a moving airship! The nerve...
"Hey pal," I heard somepony call to me. I turned to see a tired old pony standing next to a train that looked as if it were about to set off.
"You going to join us?"
I sighed and teleported over to him, passing him and entering the train. The inside wasn't shabby but it was definitely plain. More wooden flooring for me. I know my hide was thick and all, but I would have killed for some shag carpet at that point.
I reached into my saddle bag to remove my bits bag for my ticket aboard the express.
"Your ticket was paid for in advance," the old pony said as he closed to door.
Well okay then.
I dropped the bag unceremoniously back into my bag before settling down into a seat. I saw the sun beginning to dip in the horizon.
"We are off to Ponyville," the conductor said before moving up the train. Moments later, the car I was in lurched forward.
"I took out a book from my bag, completing the three items I had in there: a single charge cuff, my bag-o-bits, and the book I was currently opening.
And what could that book have been?
Why, a spell-book. I had a promise with Twilight I fully intended her to break.
Then I realized that she'd become an alicorn princess specifically through completing a spell of her own.
I tossed the book aside as I fell the other way, falling asleep instantly.
Thankfully, I was the only one on the two-car train.
The conductor woke me when he made it to the station in Ponyville. The sun had dropped from the horizon not too long ago, the moon beginning its glorious trail across the sky.
I took a deep breath, preparing myself as I collected my book, stowing it in my bag before departing the train, tossing a bit at the conductor and blinking away before he could throw it back. Hey, I could give tips, couldn't I?
I looked around, spotting a massive oak tree not far away from the train depot that I assumed was the Golden Oaks Library, as Shining Armor had described it. I guess this was where I was going to be staying.
I trotted over, but right as I knocked on the door, my horn lit up, Shining Armor's voice ringing through my mind.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, but I don;t think that Twilight needs to know she is in danger, so it would be best if you don't mention that you are there to provide security. Good luck!"
I felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of my face as the door opened. What was I going to to say?! I thought Shining Armor had set this up for me already, but judging from his message, I was completely on my own! What was I going to do, be all, "Hey I know we haven't seen each other for over a decade and all but I really wanted to visit you and maybe hang out here a week or two until I decide to leave for no apparent reason?"
NO!
"Oh, why hello..."
I snapped back to reality to find a white unicorn mare had answered the door, her fashionable purple mane bouncing as she cocked her head to the side, waiting for a response.
"Are you here for a book? I'm so sorry, but I regretfully inform you that the library is closed," she said with a small frown, as though she didn't want to be telling me this.
"Ah, uh..." I stammered, shaking my head. "Is Twilight here?" I asked, trying to peer around the mare.
"Oh, you're here for Twilight?" the mare asked, casting me a suspicious look. "I don't believe I've seen you around, do you know her from somewhere?"
The words live here sparked an idea in my head. It was a rather cheesy idea, but it was a way nonetheless that I might convince Twilight to let me stay here for a little while.
"I'm her second cousin," I said, turning slightly so she could see my cutie mark. I'd seen Twilight's cutie mark once before, and I had realized we shared the light purple central star in both of ours. However, while hers was flanked by five smaller stars, mine had a winged set of keys on each side.
"Oh! Well, let me get her..."
The white mare stepped away from the door, heading back inside. She'd left the door open a crack, although I'm sure it was more as a courtesy of not closing it in my face as opposed to inviting me inside, so I sat down on the mat outside.
A few moments later, I heard the steady clopping of hooves and the door swung open again, revealing the white unicorn. She ushered me inside, a tiny smile on her face. She motioned for me to be silent, pointing me along the wall. A curtain had been set up in the center of the room, a curtain that I went ahead and assumed Twilight was behind.
"Rarity, was that the last dress you had?" I heard Twilight call out from (of course) behind the curtain. There was no mistaking Twilight's voice; she still sounded like the little filly I remembered.
Rarity stifled a laugh as she magicked over a picture Twilight had on a table nearby. I recognized it immediately.
It was the last family picture we'd all had together, all the family up to great-grandmother Iris Haze. It was when I'd actually met Twilight, and as I remembered, we were on completely opposite sides of the picture. That night had been the last time I'd been in Equestria until then. I was actually rather surprised that she had such a picture.
"How'd you notice me in this picture?" I hissed to Rarity.
"I'm a designer," she hissed back. "I can pinpoint little details like that rather easily, dear."
"I see," I mumbled, tossing the picture into the air and catching it shakily with my magic to return it to its original position. If I'd tried simply levitating it from where I'd been with any motion to it, I would have probably drained my entire reserve of mana. Yeah, I wasn't very efficient at anything that wasn't teleporting.
"Rarity?" Twilight called again.
"Ah, yes dear," Rarity said, stumbling through the curtain.
They began a hushed conversation on the other side of the curtain, one I guessed that I wasn't supposed to hear.
The funny thing about curtains, they don't exactly block sound that much.
"You didn't tell me that you had a member of your family coming here!" Rarity said, a tinge of excited glee in her voice. Was it really that rare for- never mind.
My heart started racing.
"Family?" Twilight asked, voice full of confusion. I smiled a little bit, knowing I was the source. Ah, such beautiful confusion.
"I don't remember getting any letters... and I certainly don't recall sending out any invitations..."
I would have taken warning at her words, which seemed intimidating at first, but the way in which she said them was almost hoping. Perhaps she was optimistic as to who it might be.
A thick cloud of purple magic wrapped the curtains, and before I could so much as twitch they were cast aside. My heart stopped.
There was Twilight Sparkle, wearing a simple purple dress with light magenta design stitching. She was...
I had to blink to make sure I was seeing this right.
She was absolutely beautiful, breath-taking. Shining Armor had told me she was an alicorn now, but having only seen the Princess Celestia once in my younger years, this was officially the second time I'd seen such an ethereal creature. Hard to believe she was my second-cousin.
I had a small urge to bow to her, show some sign of respect, but instead-
"Howdy," I said as I tipped a hoof from my forehead. "Long time no see, eh cuz?"
She was speechless. The look on her face was sheer shock. I knew she recognized me, but I don't think she actually realized that I was truly standing not five paces away from her, the first time after twelve years. It must have been like seeing a ghost.
However, why was seeing me so suddenly such a dramatic event for her? I was doubtful that I was the only cousin she hadn't seen in a while, and to top it off we'd only met once before.
She snapped out of her trance, raising a leg in a victorious pose.
"I think I won the bet," she said with a giggle, stretching her giant wings for emphasis. I smiled.
"I guess you did," I said, my smile turning into a sincere smirk.
We held eye contact for a while, not daring to look away. I realized I'd missed the studious little unicorn- excuse me, alicorn- more than I'd originally thought.
Rarity coughed next to Twilight, gathering our attention.
"Twilight, won't you be a dear and introduce me to your...?" Rarity asked, slowly approaching me.
"Ah, this is my second-cousin, Aural Blink," Twilight said as Rarity raised a hoof to me. I mentally rolled my eyes as I took and it offered a simple, dignified kiss to the hoof. I'd had to impersonate royalty before, I knew the motions well enough.
"I'm rather surprised you remembered my name," I admitted. "It's been over twelve years, after all."
Rarity gasped.
"You two haven't seen each other in over twelve years?! That's horrible!"
"Yeah," I said, sharing a look with Twilight. "The four of us moved to Anville, which is an Equestrian outpost in the northern part of the griffon kingdom."
I bit my hoof after saying that, knowing I just said something I really hoped they wouldn't pick ask about.
"Oh my..." Rarity said.
"Yeah, I-"
Twilight interrupted me.
"-Rarity, I'm not trying to be rude, but isn't Sweetie Belle waiting for you? We were supposed to be done almost an hour ago, after all."
Rarity gasped, her magic grasping each and every object I assumed to be hers in the room. Dresses on hangars, folding curtains, fold-out mannequins, all of it was shoved and crammed onto a luggage cart and pushed out the door by Rarity.
"So sorry to cut this short, Aural," she said as she struggled with her things.
"It's just, Sweetie Belle can be rather a hoof-full when left alone, so-"
"No problem," I assured her, laughing slightly. "And it's Blink, Miss Rarity."
"And it's Rarity to you," she told me, throwing me a wink before she slipped through the door after her cart. I heard her scream down the road after her things.
"That's Rarity for you," Twilight said, her wings secured at her sides.
I finally took a decent look around the room we were in. It was... a library. Big surprise. I guess she was as book-hungry as when I'd met her.
She trotted over to me before throwing a big hug around me, catching me slightly by surprise before I warmed up to her touch, returning it briefly before we pulled away. It took me a second after we separated to realize I was looking down at her slightly; I was taller than her, now.
"You know," Twilight said, tears forming in the edges of her eyes, "It took me almost four weeks of waiting for you to show up for me to realize the going-away party was for you."
I rubbed the back of my mane awkwardly. "That's... quite sad, honestly." I chuckled slightly.
"Yeah, it is!" Twilight laughed. She had a wonderful laugh.
"But I took what you said to heart," she said as she brought a hoof to her chest.
"I really improved a lot after that, actually."
"Yeah, Shining Armor said you were particularly fond of transportation spells for a while after I left. Still are, as he said."
"You've spoken with Shining Armor? When was this?"
"On the airship over here," I said, rolling along without realizing where the conversation was inevitably heading.
"You took an airship here? Where from?"
"We were doing an... operation, in the griffon kingdom. He led me and two others on a mission recently."
My mind was subconsciously telling me to shut up, that I was saying too much, but I reasoned she had a right to know this stuff. I mean, she was a princess now and all.
"Oh," Twilight said, looking a little upset.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
"I don't want him doing anything too dangerous."
"He wasn't," I said firmly. Lie number one.
"Okay," she said, visibly perking up.
"Still, that doesn't explain one thing," she said, cocking her head to the side.
"Oh?"
"What are you doing here?"
I gulped hard. Do or die time.
"I, uh..." I stammered, looking around, willing myself to use the excuse I'd come up with.
She blinked twice, starting to give me a suspicious look.
I had to say something.
"I'm looking for a house here."
She blinked in surprise.
"What?" she asked.
"Yeah," I stuttered, taking a deep stabilizing breath. "I was going to look for a house here, you know. Shining Armor keeps telling me I need to find a place to settle down, after all that's happened."
"What all has happened?" Concern flooded her face.
"N-nothing," I assured her. Lie number two.
"Nothing serious, at least." Still technically lie number two.
"But he suggested I look in Ponyville; he said you loved it here and all, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
Wow, I was actually surprised I'd followed that excuse all the way through without completely falling apart. I was normally pretty bad at excuses, mainly because I rarely made and/or used them.
Twilight gave some thought to this, looking off to the side.
"Okay," she said as she returned her gaze to me.
"Okay?" I asked her.
"Okay!" she said, excited. "I could always show you around town! We're planning for the Great Apple Ball, after all, so the town will be even more festive soon! It's the perfect time to look around the town, meet the ponies. Everypony here is so friendly, I'm sure you'll love it!
"But I take it you don't have anywhere to stay, right? That's why you're here?"
She wore a smirk that was half amused and half knowing. She really could put two and two together after all. So far she was leagues ahead of her brother. Too bad what she believed was a lie.
"Y-yeah," I admitted. "I don't really know anypony here, so-"
"Great!" Twilight exclaimed, hopping into the air with excitement. "You can totally stay here! As long as you need!"
She seemed a little too... willing.
"Is there any particular reason you're so willing and excited for this?" I asked.
"This is good news," Twilight explained, "because you could help out around town while you browse. It'll help you get situated with the ponies so much quicker, plus we could use all the help we can get! The Ball is in two weeks, after all!"
I saw what she was doing. She was offering me board for assistance around town. I admit, I was impressed. She already had a plan.
"Sounds good," I said with a smile. Two weeks was just about the time Shining Armor wanted me to stay by Twilight's side, after all. Plus, after Shining Armor explained the meaning behind Marelin's threat, I wanted to keep my eye on my cousin.
"Yeah!" she said with a huge smile, throwing another bear hug at me.
"This is going to be great!"
I couldn't wipe the smile from my face. I hadn't seen any family (besides Shining Armor, and him only recently) in, well... a while. It was nice.
"You can use the basement room," Twilight said as she pulled away, giving an excited flap of her wings.
"I'll have to clean it up, of course, but it should be plenty accommodating for you!"
"Thanks," I said, ruffling her mane with my hoof. She giggled.
A quiet thud sounded from up the staircase to our right.
"Oh, we should... probably be quiet. Spike is asleep, after all."
"Spike?" I asked. Was there somepony else here as well?
"Yeah, he's my assistant. He's the baby dragon I hatched during my entrance exam for Princess Celestia's school, and he's been with me ever since!" she said proudly.
"Nice."
"Right, so... this way!" she said, opening a door underneath the staircase that revealed...
… Another staircase. Nice.
"After you," I said, holding the door open with a small prick of magic. It was about all I could manage, but it was enough.
Twilight looked at the small purple burst holding the door open for her, then at me. She raised a brow.
"You're still not good with physical magic?" she asked.
"N-nope," I said, shifting my magic slightly.
She noticed my slight studder and stepped inside the door way, lighting some candles along the stairway. I noticed they gave off no smoke. Nifty.
I took a deep breath of relief as I stepped inside the stairwell, letting my magic drop.
"That should be a rather simple spell, you know?" she said as we descended the stairs.
"Yeah, I'm really only good at teleporting spells," I admitted.
"Fair enough," Twilight said. "I've been struggling with transfiguration, we all have our strengths and weaknesses."
"True," I added.
We reached the foot of the stairs, where Twilight lit a few more candles. I studied her as she did so, how she performed the spell. It seemed like a simple combustion spell, but I knew she had some kind of ward or hex on it to prevent it from growing or dying out. She really was good at magic.
"You'll have to teach me how to do that sometime," I said as I looked around the newly-illuminated room. It was a storage room for (what else?) books. She had a big piece of machinery under a tarp hidden in the corner, something I did not want to go near. Ever.
There was a simple bed along the wall, a lamp on a small table next to it. That was it, everything there was to the room.
"Huh, I guess Spike really did clean up the room a bit," Twilight said as she ran a hoof along the floor, coming up with a very thin layer of dust.
"Recently, too," she added.
"Well, I appreciate it," I said, taking off my bag and setting it down next to the table.
Twilight yawned deeply, in turn causing me to yawn even deeper. This set off a string of yawns between us, almost as if we were trying to out-yawn each other.
"That's enough of that," I said as I clamped my mouth shut after the fourth minute of the little competition.
"Yeah, well, I'll show you around town tomorrow morning then, m'kay?" she said, eyes drooping slightly.
"Sounds good," I said.
She began climbing the stairs.
"Want me to wake you up in the morning?"
"That would be nice," I called back to her. I didn't get a response other than the door closing. I assumed that was a yes.
I looked back around the room, eyes falling eventually falling on the table. I hadn't noticed before, but a small book was tucked between the lamp and the wall. Curious, I prodded it out with a hoof and blew the dust off the cover.
A single tear welled up in my eyes.
It was the same spell-book Twilight had been reading the day I met her. The spine was well-worn, and the book had definitely seen better days, but it looked as comforting as a teddy bear would have.
Sighing, I flicked on the lamp, using my magic to extinguish the candles. Extinguishing spells were pretty simple, but they still took a bit out of me.
Cracking open the book, it fell open to the last page I'd seen, the teleportation page. However, there were now little notes scrawled in-between the lines of text, clean font and evenly spaced. If the ink hadn't been a purple color, I might have mistaken it for actual text in the book.
I smiled as I laid my head down, looking at the diagram. She'd taken the liberty of drawing the direction the magic should move along the flute, how much energy should be applied per second, all sorts of things I never truly thought about. She had magic down to a science.
I never remembered closing my eyes, but before I knew it, I was asleep.
My dreams were never pleasant. They almost always started out innocently enough.
This time, I was sitting in a swing, alone in a playground atop a hill. I recognized it as the playground back in Anville. Rocky formations dotted the playground, natural formations the foals would use as pretend mountains and the such.
"Blink..."
I looked around, searching for the source of the sound. It had come from all around me, yet nowhere at the same time.
"Bliiink..."
There, right behind me. I teleported, now facing directly behind me.
There was a dark purple filly, her white mane the same wild mess it had been the last time I'd seen her. Her horn was crooked, having been broken. Blood drained slowly from an open wound along it. Her eyes were closed.
"D-Dream..." I gasped, feeling my legs go weak.
"Why'd you let them do it, Blink?" Dream asked me, her voice exactly the same as it had been ten years ago.
"Why'd you let them hurt me?"
I fell to my face, tears forming. This was the way the dreams always went, this was my reminder to never fail.
"Why weren't you there?"
I looked up, wanting to say something to comfort my little sister, the sister I would never see again.
That was a mistake.
Her horn imploded into her face, just as it actually had. Her blood splattered everywhere, but I couldn't see it. I couldn't see anything.
Through all the tears, I blinked.