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Post by DuMourne on Oct 3, 2011 10:40:28 GMT -5
Libraries weren't DuMourne's favourite place to go, normally they were completely boring to go in with librarians ripping your tail off for the slightest misplaced book or talking a little loud, but today he'd have to put up with it and venture into Ponyville's library. Of course today wasn't about reading book for the fun of it, like there was any fun for him waiting in a library, it was about gaining the help of the library's main occupant: the unicorn named Twilight Sparkle. More importantly, he needed the use of her dragon IF he was able to. Until Mailstrem came back from Canterlot, communication between him and his partner was damn near impossible and hopefully the baby dragon could help.
Making sure the stachel and peices of parchment were there, he opened the door to the library and trotted in looking around for any sign of the two he needed. Surprisingly it wasn't busy which was a bonus, the less ponies there were to listen in the better. He needed all the privacy he could get, especially with a project this big. He moved over to a nearby bookshelf and leant on it.
"Hello?" He called out. "Anypony home? I'm looking for a filly named Twilight Sparkle, is she home or am i wasting my time?"
He continued to wait for a while until his ears perked up as he heard a noise close by. As he looked around, he caught sight of an owl perched on a nearby desk, looking at him with big eyes. DuMourne stared back.
"Hey there little guy, what's your name?" He asked playfully.
"Who." The owl replied.
"Who?"
"Who."
"What'd you mean 'who'? I'm asking your name here." He moaned.
"Who."
"Ok seriously, stop it."
"Who."
"I mean it." He moved closer, heading for the desk.
"Who."
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Post by Twilight Sparkle on Oct 3, 2011 19:57:33 GMT -5
Twilight Sparkle was NOT having a good day. First, she woke up late, which wouldn't be so bad if she hadn't been packed with studying. Next, she had lost a scroll on her desk from leaving her window open last night. She was behind her tree house hoping she would find her scroll when she heard a tell-tale 'who' from inside. At first it meant nothing, but the more she heard it, the more she noticed one was not her owls calls, but rather a pony.
She left her search regretfully to deal with the pony in her home. As she entered, she saw him intrigued, and rather annoyed by her pet. "You know he can only say 'who' right? Its like how birds can only go chirp." She said with a somber tone. Her duty to help this pony had cooled her anger to where she was neither sounding chipper nor grumpy. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. Do you need help with anything?"
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Post by DuMourne on Oct 4, 2011 10:41:23 GMT -5
"huh?" DuMourne turned around, hearing another voice beind him as he argued with the owl. THe filly behind him was indeed Twilight Sparkle, looking quite annoyed. "Oh, r-really? Well that explains why he's not responding." He laughed nervously. "S-sorry."
Growling at the owl one last time, he trotted over to the unicorn. From Twilight's expression, it looked like she was on a short fuse, meaning that any stupid mistake may push her over the edge and ruin his chances of communicating with Prof. Chercher.
"Hey, I was just wondering if your dragon was able to send messages to locations other than to Princess Celestia." he grabbed the parchment from his satchel and placed it on a nearby table. "I kinda need it to be sent to a place called Anvil Gait Research Facility."
"Normally I'd get Mailstrem to do it, but she's in Canterlot at the moment." He scratched his ear. "I can pay if you want anything for this favour. I don't mind."
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Post by Twilight Sparkle on Oct 4, 2011 17:48:00 GMT -5
Twilight paused in thought. Of course she wanted to help, but she worried. If she did this favor, then word would get around and there would be more and more favors... "He can send letters to other places, but listen here: I'll only do this for you once, and dont talk about it. I dont want Spike to suddenly have to be a mailbox. As for bits, keep them." She walked over to the note on her table. "Mind if I ask who its from?" She said growing a bit curious.
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Post by DuMourne on Oct 5, 2011 5:39:41 GMT -5
"Ok, deal. Don't worry i won't utter a word about it, Pinkie Pie promise or whatever it's called." DuMourne replied, flapping his legs or whatever they did to make the promise. "Is that how you do it?"
He trotted over to the table and opened the curled parchment, showing Twilight what was written on it.
Prof. Chercher,
Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on the circumstances) no, Ponyville has yet to recieve an ill pony with the yellow substance in their nose as you previously mentioned. A few ponies have caught a cold recently but not to the same symptoms a you told me to look out for. Will continue to montior and hopefully get back to you when a case like this occurs.
DuMourne
P.S. Don't worry about it too much Professor, i'm sure this is like the fire-eye incident last month. Just an anomoly that'll go away soon.
Rolling up the scroll, he gave it to Twilight with a smile.
"There you go, one message away. You know where Anvil Gait is right?" He asked.
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Post by Twilight Sparkle on Oct 5, 2011 19:15:59 GMT -5
Twilight smiled a bit at his attempts of a pinkie pie promise. She realised he knew a lot about her and her friends. Were they that well known? They had saved Ponyville on more than one occasion, but she didn't think that suddenly everypony would know everything about them. She thoug little of it though, as Pinkie Pie was always active and knew everypony and she means everypony. She looked over the paper before her reading it.
As Twilight read the letter, her expression slowly turned blank. She felt a familiar feeling from this note. She recieved a similar one from Princess Celestia. Twilight began piecing things together in her mind. All was not well in Equestria, although it would seem everything was fine. All of this went through her mind in the blink of an eye. Her expression changed to a smile as she took the not from the blue pony.
"I do know where that is. I'll get Spike to deliver this message as soon as possible!" She rolled up the scroll with magic and heated wax over it for a seal. She tried not to worry. She tried not to jump to conclusions. At a time like that all she needed to do was trust in the Princess. "Now," She said as she put the note in a drawer for safekeeping, "Do you need anything else, mister.... DuMourne is it?" She had read his name on the note.
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Post by DuMourne on Oct 6, 2011 12:13:05 GMT -5
"Anything else? Hmm....." He began to think, seeing if there's anything else that Twilight could help with.
Looking at Twilight, he realised that Twilight's face had changed as she had read his letter, her face turning to a blank, uncomprehendable expression that may mean she was in disbelief or something. Was this whole little incident in Anvil Gait Facility a big shock or something? Maybe he should tell her. Wait, he couldn't, he promised Chercher not to tell anypony until they understood the substance and conditions more.
But this was Twilight Sparkle, the element of magic and student of THE Princess Celestia. Perhaps she could understand the situation more and even help them find someway to help them. Placing a hoof on the table he looked at Twilight.
"Look, I'm not allowed to tell you, but since you're helping me i think you have a right to know. But it's up to you if you wanna know. One thing, if i do tell you, Princess Celestia cannot hear about it. Deal?" He said with a serious tone.
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Post by Twilight Sparkle on Oct 6, 2011 17:05:34 GMT -5
As DuMourne pondered his buisness affairs, Twilight had Spike come over and send the letter. He had been half asleep in his bed, still not quiet aroused from this morning. He would have been up if Twilight had the time to force him out of bed earlier. The note flamed up in the usual green embersthen also like normal, it wisked away in a small cloud of smoke. Spike went to the other room without a word, probably still half asleep, to make himself some breakfast; Even though it was around noon.
Twilight listened to DuMourne begin to say he had a secret about the note. Thats when he said not to tell Celestia.
not to tell Celestia.
not to tell Celestia....
Time froze for Twilight. She didn't know what to think. What if it was important? Like the princess had to know? She couldn't lie and tell Celestia anyway could she? But what if she could help? Like fix it before the princess has to deal with it? What if she tried and failed? All of these things wizzed around in her mind all in a single second. She had to make a decision.
"O-oh, sure DuMourne. I... promise I wont tell the princess." The last part almost made her cringe. She wore a semi-believable smile on her face. She wasn't yet sure if she would keep her promise, although she would try to.
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Post by DuMourne on Oct 7, 2011 14:38:49 GMT -5
"Ok" He sighed, taking a bottle of juice from his satchel and taking a swig, keeping his throat hydrated for the lengthy discussion he knew he was going to have.
"Sorry if it sounds like we're going behind the Princess, but if she catches wind of this incident, they'll be a lot of panic and a lot more stress on the facility. The less stress, the more chance of us getting rid of it. Don't worry, this is probably just one little incident that'll never emerge again. An anomoly if you will. Basically, a pony's been diagnosed with a severe cold, he delusional, sneezing and complaining of a headache. That's not the problem though. The problem is that he's sneezing some yellow substance that none of the researchers have ever seen before. They have no idea what causes it, or what the substance even is. So far they're interested in where the patient's been and if any other pony is filled with the substance. Chercher asked me if anypony in Ponyville's got this cold and basically that letter was my response. I think you should know that if any more get this cold, they'll be treating it as a worst case scenario. I have no idea when they plan to tell Celestia, though i doubt it'll be when the whole thing goes public, most likely before." He said, barely pausing for breath.
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Post by Twilight Sparkle on Oct 7, 2011 18:24:15 GMT -5
Twilights mind drifted to a letter she had received from Celestia a few hours before the eclipse ended. It was happening. Twilight stuck to questions, because she wasn't quite ready to betray the princess a second time all in one day. "Well, wouldn't it help if the princess knew and just the princess? Maybe she can help, or even stop it all before it all gets out of hand?" The princess probably was already finishing a cure for Luna as we speak. She just knew the princess would make everything better...
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Post by DuMourne on Oct 9, 2011 14:29:41 GMT -5
"The princess? I know we should tell her, she has a right to know and i really hate going behind her back like this, but if Celestia found out she'd put a lot of pressure on Anvil Gait. Just between you and me, they don't know whether they can cure it. For all we know there could be nothing that gets rid of it and Celestia would do her nut. I'll send a message to Chercher soon asking if they've made any breakthroughs, but don't hold your breath" He said, a slight hint of frustration.
DuMourne reached for another parchment and quill from his satchel and began to hastily scribble down a message for Spike to send. He knew he promised that he'd only send one message, but if Twilight wanted to know more and tell the Celestia, he'd have to use Spike a few more times. Finishing the letter, he turned to Twilight.
"L-look, in know you said to do this only once, but if you wanna let Celestia know, i'm gonna need Spike's services a few more times. If Chercher agrees and has some good news, then you'll be allowed to tell Celestia." He told her.
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Post by Twilight Sparkle on Oct 9, 2011 14:56:21 GMT -5
Twilight took the parchment with a slightly grim look. She knew the princess couldn't do everything, but it was still hard to believe. She took the parchment in the other room for Spike to send. "Spike, I have another urgent message to Anvil Gait."
"But cant it wait till later, like noon?" He said meekly sitting at the table infront of half-finished cereal.
"Spike, it is noon. And besides this is important!" Twilights tone had the subtle sound of worry in it.
Spike picked up on her distress and stood up sending it with a single breath of fire. Twilight coaxed Spike into the main room so he would be more easily accessed. "Well, lets hope your friend Chercher has something reassuring to say..." She then sat quietly waiting for the message. Spike on the other hand was working double time to finish his morning chores. She hoped this would all be a misunderstanding and they could laugh about it years from now.....
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Post by DuMourne on Oct 15, 2011 16:05:40 GMT -5
"Yeah, those ponies are quite smart....when they put their mind to actually getting off their flanks and working they do amazing stuff. No doubt in a couple of days it'll all be over and done with and Equestria can return to normal." He said with a smile, feeling good about himself.
"And don't worry, Chercher will probably allow you tell Princess..."A giant burp came from the other room and a scroll was thrown from the doorway at him. DuMourne caught it midair.
"Speaking of which....That was fast!"
He placed the scroll onto the table, breaking the seal and unrolling it to read the message. To make sure Twilight heard what Chercher had written, he read the letter out loud, rehersing it in the heavy thick accent Chercher had as he spoke.
DuMourne,
We are aware of that incident thank you very much, that does not mean we should treat this one the same. So far yes, there has only been one case of this but we are concerned about whether or not there may be others in different places that have the same illness.
If i'm not mistaken, you are using a dragon to relay messages to me. I suggest you minimise communication with me through this method as much as possible. You'll understand in the near future. As for Celestia, i can't stop you from telling the Princess, but she must know we are on top of the situation and does not need to get involved. Everything is taken care of.
Chercher.
P.S. DuMourne, Violetta has been worried sick about you, write to her in the near future or come home for a week.
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Post by Twilight Sparkle on Oct 15, 2011 20:46:52 GMT -5
Twilight Sparkle listened to the note biting her lip, her faced turned away from DuMourne. She was close to losing it. A weighty choice was hers to make. She knew that she could be severely punished for what she was about to do. "But the princess has lived thousands of years... Surely she knows best, right?" Even though her mind protested, she still found herself withdrawing the unmarked parchment from a drawer magically.
"Listen," She said. "Im not sure if I should show you this. I could get in alot of trouble for this, but I feel like I have to, in case this can help in anyway. That, and I feel like I can trust you. This is between you and me. " The parchment floated and opened before DuMourne. It was in Twilights handwriting, and was quickly jotted down. It read:
To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle~
I can only assume that the recent lunar eclipse has left ponies a bit alarmed as to what might be happening here in Canterlot. I would like to assure you that they have nothing to fear. Perhaps a better phrase would be that they have nothing to fear yet. I trust that you will tell nopony of this information; in fact, I would like for you to return this letter immediately after you finish reading it.
In my studies of Luna's past, specifically her transformation to Nightmare Moon, I have taken notice of a small, magical creature, one that cannot be seen without a highly developed sense for magic. I am unsure if they are the cause of Luna's transformation, but they very well might be. Luna herself has become unstable, much to my sorrow, and until I am certain about the cause of such a happening, you are to announce to the mayor that everything is alright. I detest lying to my subjects, but it is best to prevent a mass panic.
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Post by DuMourne on Oct 16, 2011 15:09:23 GMT -5
DuMourne read the parchment intentively, noting down key points within the letter. HIs eyes widened and some of the colour drained from his face, re-reading it again to make sure he wasn't misunderstanding it. He prayed he did, but the third time he read it smashed all his dreams, it really meant that.
"A-A creature? Like a parasite? Oh sweet Celestia! This is terrible." DuMourne had gone into full panic mode, trotting nervously around the table. "So the illness in Anvil Gait and Luna's illness....They're connected?"
"It's magical, what does that mean? Is it like unicorns and can harness its own magic to change a pony? What if it can spread easily, like through the air?"
He began to blabber out insane nonsense about what the illness could do. Celestia knew about the illness through Luna, that was extremely bad. He wanted to stay optimistic, but that parchment made him freak out. He began to pant, his breathing intensified as he trotted in circles.
"Chercher needs to be informed, he has to know!" He panicked grabbing a parchment and quill from the desk.
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