Golden Oaks Library:

“Uh Twilight, what are you doing?” Spike asked, and to be honest he wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to know why exactly his mother figure was standing over a giant piece of stone glittering with all sorts of gems -Spike had to keep himself from drooling- with a chisel. Twilight’s eyes were set in intense concentration as she chipped away at the stone, knocking free some of the gems. Magictite if Spike remembered correctly, but what was Twilight doing with such a rare stone in the first place, and why for that matter?

His eyes began to drift. Near the massive stone which sat on a table, rested a little card saying: “With love from the Pie Family!” and a crude crayon drawing of Pinkie giving the peace sign. Spike forced back a chuckle. Guess that answered the question of what Twilight was doing with a chunk of Magictite but didn’t answer why exactly. Also resting near the stone were little pieces of metal.

“Crafting,” Twilight answered simply, never taking her eyes off the stone.

“...No seriously Twilight, what are you doing?” Spike asked in a deadpan tone, arms folded and an eyebrow raised.

“Like I said, crafting.”

“...Um, okay then,” Spike said pulling up a chair. “Didn’t know gem cutting was a part of crafting anything,” he remarked, grabbing some of the Magictite or at least trying to before Twilight smacked his claws away.

“Ep-Ep-Ep!” Twilight started. “I need these!”

Spike rolled his eyes, keenly noting Twilight’s research on her Lockseeds had been put aside for the time being. Both the Sengoku Driver and the varying Lockseeds had been shelved, and were currently gathering dust, quite literally.

“Need them for what?” Spike started slowly.

“Well, if you may remember, the Orgs have sorta been getting the drop on us lately. And with one Ranger down, decided we needed a bit of help. So I remembered something my counterpart from Wyatt’s world told me about.”

The sounds of hammers driving in nails, and drills driving in screws echoed throughout Ponyville as repairs from Drakkon’s brief, but still frightening reign of terror got underway.

“I’m sorry, Pla-What?” the Twilight from this world asked her counterpart with a rather confused expression.

“PlaMonsters,” the Wizard version of her repeated, slipping a ring onto her finger and tapping it to her belt. She held her hand up, a small mechanical bird seemingly made mostly of orange gemstone appearing in her hand. She put the ring on its stomach and it sprang to life, flying around their heads. “Familiars that can be used for scouting out monsters or other tasks.”

“Cute!” Twilight briefly squeed, booping the little orange bird on the beak and it nipped slightly at her finger affectionately. “I’ve got to get me one of these. No offense intended to Owlowiscious but I think I can find some use for this little guy… Owlowiscious, he’s just a pet you understand, I don’t think he can sniff out monsters like this… Well, I think it’s a Thunderbird.” Twilight mused, eying the creature closely.

“Garuda, but you were close,” her Wizard counterpart corrected. “Another bird tied to storms. The Thunderbird is from what Wyatt calls the Native Americans while the Garuda is from the Indian subcontinent.”

“Okay, so how did you…?” Baroness Twilight asked.

“I've attuned Rarity's gem hunting spell to specifically find the magic stones for my rings,” Wizard explained, letting Garuda land in her hand. “As for how I came up with it, I didn't. Once Zecora and I start carving the stone, we just let it take the form it wishes.”

“Interesting… I wonder if I could come up with something similar. The element of surprise, getting the drop on an Org or anything else, that’d be a definite advantage. ...Probably suppose I should focus my efforts on these Lockseeds your Applejack gave me first though.” Twilight mused, idly tossing the Dragon Energy Lockseed in her hand several times.

“If that's what you want to do, then go for it,” !Wizard said, taking the ring off Garuda and letting it disappear. “Just something to consider.”

Twilight nodded.

Back in the present, she was repeating her counterpart’s words to herself. “Just something to consider…” she mumbled

“Well, took ya long enough, you Princess Dweeb!” a very familiar, and to be rather frank somewhat unwelcome voice remarked, and Twilight looked up from her work to see Gilda standing there in slashed jeans and a leather jacket.

“Oh boy…” Spike muttered.

“Hello Gilda,” Twilight remarked, crossing her arms and her horn crackling with magic out of pure instinct. “So, come to apologize for the stunts you pulled last time you were here? Pinkie’s still not entirely pleased you ruined her welcome to Ponyville party she did for you.”

Gilda actually burst out laughing.

“Oh, that’s a good one! Me, apologize for getting fooled by all those lame pranks?” she cackled throwing her head back as she did so before she noticed Spike and Twilight’s glares. Wiping a tear away from one of her admittedly brilliant amber eyes, she stared at Twilight. “...Oh wait, you were actually serious about that. Suppose I’ll get to that when I feel like it. Anyways, you really should consider yourself lucky you know,” Gilda remarked, filing away at her claws. “Landing someone as hot as me and all…”

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked, alarm bells starting to go off in her head.

“Wait, wait, wait, slow down!” Gilda exclaimed, waving her paws and her eyes wide in abject shock. “You’re telling me you don’t know? Seriously, your ‘all-loving’ Princess of the Sun didn’t inform you?” she asked, punctuating ‘all-loving’ with air quotes just for good measure.

“Know what? What didn’t Princess Celestia tell me about?” Twilight asked urgently.

“...Wow, you really are out of the loop,” Gilda mumbled, rubbing her temples with a paw feeling a headache coming on. She sighed and began to explain. “Well in that case, quick recap. To keep my father from going ballistic, -you remember him right? All-mighty king of the Griffon Kingdoms?- and from him deciding to overthrow Celestia or whatevs, your teach decided to foster a peace treaty in the only way she knew how. Arrange a marriage between you,” Gilda continued, poking Twilight in the chest with a claw. “And me.” Gilda then said, gesturing to herself, and wrapping an arm around her new ‘wife’. “So break out the party cannons, the wedding veils and the giant slabs of roasted meat! We’re now officially engaged!”

“B-B-B-But… WHAT!?” Twilight stammered out before letting out a squawk of shock shoving Gilda away as she did so. Gilda huffed as she picked herself up off the wooden floor. “Okay, okay… This… This… This is…”

“Deep breaths Twilight. Deep breaths,” Spike reminded, holding up a brown paper bag as his mom began to hyperventilate. Twilight quickly took it as Spike stared the griffon down carefully, his eyes boring into her own. Gilda wouldn’t admit it at the time, but being stared at by a dragon was pretty damn scary especially when you took in the fact said dragon could fry you to a crisp anytime he wanted. “Are you sure you’re not joking? Are you sure you and Rainbow Dash haven’t made up, and Rainbow’s just off waiting in the wings somewhere with Pinkie waiting to jump out and yell “Psyche!”

“As nice as making up with that pony-loving dweeb is, and yes I do understand the irony now,” Gilda grumbled. “Even I couldn’t think up this as a prank.”

“...This… This is completely insane, even for Princess Celestia!” Twilight bellowed, throwing her arms up in the air in exasperation. “She… She wouldn’t do this! She couldn’t, she wouldn’t!”

“I’ll… I’ll just… uh, show myself out,” Spike commented with a little nervous laugh pointing to the door. “Rarity needs my help after all.”

He then dashed out the front door like a bat out of Hell leaving behind a smokey afterimage of himself in his wake.

“Newsflash Bookhorse,” Gilda stated, crossing her arms. “She can, and she did. Look, I’m not happy about this either, but as long as it keeps my father from going completely nuclear and invading your country with a good couple thousand griffon troops then I'll go through with it,” Gilda remarked, taking a long deep heavy resigned sigh as she slumped her shoulders and sat back in a nearby armchair. “Look Twilight, the last thing any of us wants is Equestria under Griffon occupation right? Flags of Griffonkind superiority hanging everywhere, and all that. Probably a few new statues of my father as well, after he knocks down the statues of Celestia and Luna.”

“...Please don’t call me Twilight.” Twilight mumbled in distaste.

“You’re gonna have to get used to me calling you that considered that we’re now, y’know, married and all,” Gilda sighed, before grabbing Twilight by the shoulders and looking her dead in the eyes. “You gotta listen to me girl, do you want any of what I just described to happen?”

“No…” Twilight whimpered. She had to admit, Gilda was kinda attractive in a way. In that bad girl you didn’t ever want to take home to your parents kinda way.

“Look, as I said I’m no fan either. But there’s some good that can come out of this. Seriously, aside from me being hot as all hell and rather good in the sack if I do say so myself, I make a very great bodyguard.”

“...What, you’ll scare everyone off with your griffon battle roar?” Twilight chuckled weakly, cracking a small nervous smile. Gilda smirked in return.

“Not exactly…” the griffon princess replied, before getting into a martial arts stance and her entire body glowed with a misty sea-green aura that looked frighteningly familiar to Twilight.

“No way…” she thought, her jaw hanging slack and it was soon to drop even further as an elephant in the same color of Gilda’s aura smashed through a wall. After she’d recovered from her shock, she turned to a smirking Gilda.

“How…?” Twilight whispered.

“Spirit of the Elephant. Seems there’s a few followers of the Pai Zhua way still out there,” Gilda shrugged. “Who’d have thunk right? Like I said, one hell of a bodyguard.”

“...You do realize I just had that wall fixed right?” Twilight asked with a deadpan stare.

“Eh, I’ll repair it. Consider it part of my dowery.”

Meanwhile, one Emily Suzuki had found herself wandering the edges of town, her swords on either her back or on her hip in their sheaths.

“God-Dammit!” Emily swore silently to herself, as she thought back to her last -emphasis on last- training session with Robert.

“Is all of this really needed? The holograms? The whole bit? Or is this just some sadistic pleasure for you, you pushing me to my limits and potentially getting me killed? Did 3,000 years really change you that much? Because the Emily I remember, she’d never throw me to the wolves like this!”

“You’re right, I’m not the Emily you knew. But I’m the one you need right now, the one who will train you to be able to defeat any enemy, including Thrax if need be!”

Emily’s eyes watched as she saw Robert knock the Drakkon hologram to the ground with a powerful leg sweep. He was improving, bit by bit. Developing his own style, and not just mimicking Commander Cruger’s. Drakkon quickly recovered, and slashed downwards after a brief bit of acrobatics with Robert only barely blocking the strike. Robert staggered back but spun around and scored a powerful slash across the chest.

“Whatever happened to you Emily?” Robert shouted as blades met, again and again, Robert side-stepping or parrying the strikes to bleed the power of Drakkon’s katana away. “What happened to your kindness?”

Emily flinched, the words stinging her like a nick of blade. Was Robert right, was she being too harsh on him? Was all of this really needed, the holograms, the whole bit? She could have easily trained him in kendo if she wanted to, but no instead she was pulling this sorta shit.

“I grew up, it happens! All little girls have to grow up sometime. You think I had a choice in the matter? I didn’t, when my sister got sick it was either me going into battle or her, and she would have died in the battle against the Nighloks if she went instead of me! I had to pick up her blade!” Emily shouted, remembering back to when she saw her sister lying in bed, coughing thanks to a bout of pneumonia. The doctors said she’d live, but her sister was in no shape at the moment to pick up the fight against the Nighlok. Even now, she remembered the hot tears streaming down her sister’s face as she handed Emily her Folding Zord. “You think I wanted this? Any of this?” she continued to shout, years of long-held bitterness and resentment finally being let loose. “But no, Mentor had me train day and night!” she continued to shout, her words quickly beginning to lose their meaning even as the battle continued, with one Drakkon Hologram being replaced by another.

Robert swore loudly, another remark of “Yatsume!” was tossed her way somewhere in-between the clashing of blades.

“Again! Not until you defeat him in under one minute will I let you rest!” Emily barked, and in the back of her mind, she swore she could have heard Serena’s voice.

“He’s got a point you know, any Ranger worth his or her salt defeating that monster in under two minutes? That’s enough, just enough graduation,” 'Serena' commented. “The poor man’s exhausted, and yet you still push him so. What happened to you Em?” her sister asked, and Emily fought back tears before pushing her sister’s voice out of her head.

And then Zen-Aku came, darting out of the shadows and pinning her up against a tree and giving her a sound lecture. After that, he picked up Robert and gave her one last look before vanishing.

“...She may have been a Ranger once, but in my eyes, she no longer has the ability to bear that title. Not after this.” Zen-Aku snarled in disgust, his fangs bared and eyes glowing.

As Zen-Aku teleported Robert away to safety in a black flash of light, Emily looked at her Energem which was mysteriously cracked. In later days, she’d know the reason why that was, she’d gone against the code that had bonded it to her in the first place. She’d gone against her own character, her own innate kindness. But right now, she was more than a little hesitant placing it in her Dino Morpher, which stated: “Purple Energem, engage!”

But this time, it was in a distorted tone of voice, almost like something was wrong with it. And there was something wrong with it, as Emily was soon to find out.

She let out a cry of: “Unleash the Power!” and fired the morpher skywards but unlike usual, the shot did not return to her and change her into the Purple Plesio Ranger. It finally hit home for her then, and she fell to the ground fighting back tears of sadness and sorrow. Next, she let out a whisper of: “What have I done?”

Back in the present day, Emily looked over the town of Ponyville where night was falling. She’d heard from Zecora -who had been looking at her with no small amount of disgust- about Robert’s condition.

“You see what you’ve wrought?” the zebra snarled, as she pulled Emily into the hut’s small little guest bedroom. “Look at this, just look at this!”

Emily didn’t want to, but she was forced to anyway. Robert, covered in just barely healed cuts and bruises. More scars that would probably be added to his already long list. She fought back hot tears that were threatening to break. Shame, that was what she felt right now. Shame for herself, for breaking the Power Ranger and Samurai Codes.

“Serena, what have I done…?” Emily whispered to herself, clutching the little Ape Folding Zord that hung around her neck in it’s triangular folded up format. Not even right now, could she hear it’s gentle calls or words of wisdom. It was like even it was disgusted with her.

“I don’t know who this Serena is, nor do I care,” Zecora nickered in disgust. “But you’ve brought shame upon your house, your family!” she roared. “I thought you and Robert were in the language of my people; sisi ni sawa or one in the same. Adhered to the same codes, the same standards of right and wrong. Guess I was wrong on many aspects. Right now, you’re no better than the monsters you fought against.”

With that, before Emily was even allowed another look at Robert, Zecora was practically shoving her out the door. Not that Emily blamed her, really. She wouldn’t want to be around herself either, at least not at the moment.

Back in the present, looking at one of her swords, Emily briefly considering pointing the blade tip at herself and shoving it through her stomach. Emily then chose against it, while it would restore her honor it would not change a thing. Robert would still be laying in bed, and the Orgs would still be wreaking havoc. With a cry of rage and frustration completely unsure what to do at this point Emily swung her Spin Sword widely, cleaving a tree clean in half. With a mighty crack, it fell down accompanied by a loud thud as birds flew away from the small grove in fear flocking to the skies.

“So, wonder if there’s any truth to that old saying about a tree falling in the forest and a bear hearing it?” a familiar voice, usually full of warmth and comfort remarked as a figure began to shimmer into existence in sparkling flashes of light almost resembling fireflies. “...Because, let’s be frank here little sister, your attitude probably would scare away a bear or two. I know it’s scaring me.”

“S-Serena?” Emily whispered, nearly dropping her sword where she stood. “I-Is that you?” she stuttered out, almost too afraid to ask.

“Oh little sis…” Serena whispered. “Of course it’s me, didn’t I always say your big sister would be there when you needed me? Didn’t I always say that?”

“B-But… But you’re dead! I was there, I went to your funeral! H-How can you b-be here?” Emily whispered.

“Blame Bunglay,” Serena remarked. “You’ll have to pardon me for my language here, but the bastard didn’t really seem to realize that if you open a door to the spirit world, someone may just step through. A door can always open both ways, you know.”

“S-So I’ve noticed,” Emily stuttered out, remembering some of the vague accounts of previous Rangers and even a villain in Prince Olympius’ case returning at either the best or worst possible times. “Tell me, you here to shame me like everyone else, disown me as your sister?”

“Oh, you know I’d never do that… I’ll always love you sis” Serena whispered, placing a hand on her sister’s arm in a comforting motion. “I’m just here to give you some advice, try and remind you who you are.”

“Yeah, I doubt that’s possible, I lost my way centuries ago. What I did to Robert, that was proof enough of that.” Emily spat out in disgust.

“And yet, while the way you did it cannot be excused in any form, you still had his best interests at heart,” Serena reminded her. “You just thought what you were doing was the best way.”

“But how do I get my way back? Return to the way I was before, kind and understanding? Willing to help others in need, not always solve problems with a blade!”

“You’ll figure it out, I’ve got that much faith in you sis,” Serena stated, ruffling her sister’s messy blond hair. “You’re strong, strong as the Earth itself. For you to go on this long, always trying your best to adhere to your own values… Well, in a way that says a lot more than any form of spoken or written word ever could.”

“But that’s the thing sis,” Emily shouted. “I tossed those values aside long ago! You know perfectly well what I did!”

“Maybe so,” Serena replied, her voice barely as high as a whisper. “But you can still get them back. Nothing that’s part of the Earth can ever be fully destroyed, only rebuilt. Rebuilt ever the more stronger. I have enough faith to believe you can rebuild yourself back to the fine young woman you once were.”

“...I wouldn’t exactly be calling me young Serena,” Emily laughed, and Serena chuckled.

“Point, but you know what I mean, don’t you?” she asked, and Emily nodded. Serena smiled, and gestured for Emily to sit as she conjured up a familiar looking flute. “Come, just listen for a while. Be at peace.”

For what seemed like forever, lost in a sea of tranquility Emily just listened as her older sister played her flute, and Emily flashed back to younger simpler times when it was just her and her sister, and then just her and her friends. Back before the days when she found the Purple Energem, and back before the days when her friends and family started to die off one by one. Back before her downfall.

“Your playing... “ Emily smiled. “It hasn’t changed one bit. Actually, I’d say it’s gotten better.”

“Well, being dead does give you a lot of time to practice,” Serena chuckled, and Emily returned it. Serena then kissed her sister on the forehead. “Never forget sister, never forget.”

With that, she soon began to fade away.

“Serena!” Emily shouted.

“I’m sorry, but from here on in, you’ll have to figure things out on your own. But remember sister, remember what I told you. Stay strong, and stay kind. Both me and Mike, we’d want that.” Serena said, before vanishing in a swirl of leaves. Emily stood there on that hill, for only God knew how long before she heard footsteps walking up from behind her. Emily turned, and saw Princess Shayla walking up, with the Princess of Animaria putting a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry…” Shayla whispered, only for Emily’s dam to finally break and she started sobbing with Shayla bringing her in for a hug.

“No, I am…” Emily choked out, and Shayla just held her as the former Samurai Yellow cried.

“Know what?” Spike asked one Owlowiscious the owl as he traversed the probable maze of bookshelves in the old ruins that once was the Castle of the Two Sisters. In times long ago, before Luna decided to go on a power trip of sheer jealousy as we all know, this was where Celestia and Luna called home. Now, it lay rotten and mostly abandoned. Mind you, knowledge ages old was still long held in its walls, gathering up dust laying mostly forgotten, but Spike thought here he could find a solution to his current dilemma. “This blows. Seriously, this really blows. I mean, not for me of course but for Rarity. You saw her right?”

“Whoo?” Owlowiscious hooted.

“No, of course, you didn’t. But she was laying on her couch, crying her heart out with tubs of ice cream surrounding her. I mean look, I got over my crush with her long ago but-

“Whoo!” Owlowiscious hooted in reply, and Spike rolled his eyes even as he began searching through the bookshelves for anything of use.

“Yeah yeah, believe what you want bird,” Spike said, waving his claw dismissively. “Point is, she’s my friend, and I can’t just let her sit like that wallowing in her own misery right?” he remarked, with a shrug of his shoulders before tossing what was apparently a useless book aside. “Argh, there's gotta be something in here somewhere.”

“Whoo!” Owlowiscious hooted, again. Somehow, don’t ask me how but Spike could understand the owl. Must have been years of living with him.

“It's not ‘who’, it's ‘what’! Like, what can help Rarity make something in time for the fair? She really, really, really wants to make a creative contribution,” Spike continued, going on through another book and then tossing that one aside as it too proved to be useless. “She said I'm her favorite dragon, so it's up to me to come through for her in her time of need. There's gotta be some kind of spell that'll do the trick.”

“Whoo!” Owlowiscious hooted.

“Yes yes, I know, not many would go out on this far of a limb for someone they used to have a crush on,” Spike continued. But seriously Owlowiscious, Rarity’s more like a big sister to me than anything else right now. If I was interested in romance, I’d try someone my own age.”

“Whoo!” Owlowiscious hooted.

“What?” Spike laughed. “Scootaloo? Seriously? You got to be joking. Pretty sure she’s sweet on… um, well, Sweetie Belle.”

“Whoo!” Owlowiscious hooted.

“If you say so…” Spike muttered before he groaned. “Oh come on, help a dragon out would ya? This is for Rarity, you know, the mare who made you that little bow-tie once?”

“Whoo!” Owlowiscious hooted yet again.

“Yeah yeah, I get it,” Spike replied with yet another roll of his eyes. “You don’t think we should use magic. But still…”

“Whoo!” hooted… well, you know by now I think. Spike’s thoughts then turned to other matters for the time being. He had to admit, he was rather taken off-guard by these sudden revelations by Gilda the Grumpy, and her now arranged marriage to Twilight.

“Owlowiscious, you really think Mom’s making the right move here?” Spike asked, as he hopped down off the ladder. “I mean, I get this is to foster peace and all, but shouldn’t she be marrying for love?”

“Whoo!”

“Yeah, I suppose it’s possible she may wind up falling in love with Gilda, but I dunno Owlowiscious, I just don’t like it. You know how arranged marriages generally work, right? Once you’re in it, you can’t get out of those damn things. That’s Twilight’s situation now, she’s stuck with Gilda the Grumpy for life!”

“Whoo!”

Spike actually laughed at this, it was a scoffing laugh but a laugh all the same.

“What, you think there’s more to Gilda than meets the eye here?” Spike asked, raising an eyebrow. “Owlowiscious, as much as I love your optimistic view, this is the same griffon who insulted us over a bunch of childish party pranks that weren’t even meant for her. She made old Lightning Dust, from what Rainbow told me about old Lightning Dust or Mystic Mother, old Robert look tame by comparison in sheer demeanor!”

“Whoo!”

“Yeah, I suppose maybe you’re right. Maybe I should get to know her better,” Spike muttered. “Not like I have much choice. Maybe you’re right, maybe there is another side to her nobody’s seen yet, and she just has to open up more.”

“Whoo!”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Maybe I should talk to Rainbow Dash, the two were childhood friends after all. Remember, they did meet at the flight camp. Bahamut above, I even remember the motto!” Spike commented, before reciting it. “Junior Speedsters are our lives, Sky-bound soars and daring dives! Junior Speedsters, it's our quest, To someday be the very best!” he sung, with a little wave of his finger to some unheard tune. “You know, whenever I sprout wings, I really should look into getting into that camp. I mean, it’s not like there’s any other dragons around willing to teach me how to fly.”

“Whoo!”

“...Okay, sure maybe mom would help as soon as she figures it out but still, I think I should be socializing with kids, or at least teens my own age, right? Good for me isn’t it? As far as I can tell, the flight camp has a very loose definition of junior.” Spike shrugged.

“Whoo!”

“Yeah yeah, believe what you want…” Spike muttered. “I’m just saying here, I need to start applying myself more, be something more than someone’s glorified gopher! You know, do something with my life. This is my way of starting to do that. Just be a friend, y’know.”

“Whoo!”

“Okay, you know that’s starting to get annoying right, you judging me like that?” Spike asked, with an eyebrow raised. “Maybe not be a superhero or anything like that, but you get my point right? Just be something aside from a Number One Assistant, gratifying as that title is. I heard this quote from a man once, great guy. Created the Power Ponies if you can believe it. He said this to me: “One thing I do know is this, I don’t know where the hell I’ll be in 5 years. Maybe I’ll be producing movies, maybe I’ll be on a corner selling apples. I don’t know, but I’m having a hell of a lot of fun.” Man, I wish I’ll get the chance to meet him again. Don’t know if I ever will, but I wish I do get that chance again. Bahamut above, what a guy. Always loved to shout Excelsior for whatever reason, but what a guy…” Spike sighed wistfully.

“Whoo! Whoo!” Owlowiscious hooted urgently, pointing to a book that looked oddly out of place. Spike looked at it, and hmmed to himself. He pulled, and with a distinctive click, a wall moved aside to reveal a dimly lit passageway where at the end of it, rested this book with spikes covering it.

Spike walked up to it, and read the title. “Inspiration Manifestation, let all your dreams come true…” he snapped his fingers. “Yeah, this is gotta be it!”

Owlowiscious hooted nervously somewhere behind him

“Oh great…” Spike muttered. “First you support me, and then you change your mind. What’s with you?” he asked, as Owlowiscious glared at him, and the book. “What’s got your feathers all ruffled? If I wasn't supposed to have it, it wouldn't be so easy to get. And it's covered in spikes, like me!”

With that, he grabbed the book and ran off, missing the small flickering of lights, and a gray elf-like figure appearing and snickering a little before vanishing.

Author's Notes:

Okay, so yes. This fic isn't dead and I'm not completely focusing on To the Stars and Destiny's Play. I'm still devoting a bit of my time to this, and because I have the whole week off thanks to Thanksgiving I can write as much as I want to.

Speaking of writing, huge thank you to Thunderclap for coming back to write Wizard!Twilight upon request, and for helping me set up the PlaMonsters. Also, thank you Shagohad for giving me the idea that will form the basis for this storyline.

Now, as ever, comments and feedback are welcomed.