Chapter 3 - Visiting Rarity, and Fluttershy's Dilemna

Twilight finally arrived at the Golden Oaks Library, and was relieved to find it still in good condition.

"Well," she said to herself, "at least the library is okay." But then she felt the needed to check inside the library just to make sure. As she approached the door, she heard a hacking noise from beyond the door, like somebody was choking.

Then a surprised gasp from Spike, "Omigosh! Peewee!"

Just what in the world are they doing in there?! She opened the door to check.

FLASH!

She yelped! A flash of pink, and then-

SPLAT!

Some sticky drops of the ice cream dropped on her face and body when some container landed on her head, and then started dripping on her hair. A wooden stool lay toppled on its side, and a metal spoon was next to it with the melting pink semi-solid spilled over from it.

Spike lay just in front of her, belly down. Peewee chuckled mischievously as he fluttered toward Twilight's tail. When she looked at the little dragon in disapproval, he got up and gasped to see what happened to Twilight!

FLASH!

There it was again. Twilight looked to see a camera on the table, just in time to see a second photograph slip over the first one.

"Umm... T-twilight!" Spike stammered. "Y-you're back!"

"Spike," Twilight demanded as she took it off with her magic and set it on the table, "just what is going on here?!"

"Well, umm... uhh..." Spike's eyes shifted everywhere as he struggled to find the words. "Y-you see, Twilight. I was, uhh, umm... dusting the library! Yeah! See?!"

Spike rushed over to one of the bookshelves, grabbed the feather duster and hastily brushed off the books, even though there was very little dust on them, having just done so this morning. Spike smiled nervously at Twilight in hopes she will buy into his story. Of course with the obvious mess, she didn't fall for it.

"Okay," he sighed and slumped over in defeat. "We were eating some ice cream. You've seen the signs."

Twilight thought about Peewee. Spike's intent on keeping such an exotic pet hatchling to raise as a pony would not be a good idea, as that would cause him to behave as he was not meant to be, especially when he grows up. As a bonus, she would be lifted from the burden of worrying about the mischievous little bird ruining things. With that in mind, Twilight had one thing to do.

"Spike," she began. "It's time you take Peewee home."

"What?" Spike protested immaturely. "But Twilight, it wasn't my fault! We just wanted to cool off with some ice cream. I just wanted to have fun with him!"

"I don't want to argue with you, Spike. Keeping such an exotic pet to be a pony may sound convenient, but it's not right. That's not natural. How is he going to behave when he grows up?

Then, he gets on his knees and begged, "Oh please, oh please, let me keep him! Please! Please!"

"Fine," she sighed. "I'll give him more time. As long as he behaves, you can keep him. But you must remember that Peewee is a phoenix. It's just not right to keep him where he doesn't belong."

Twilight trotted closer to Spike, and knelled to him with an air of sympathy. Her front hoof on the little one's shoulder gave him a brief and subtle feel of care.

"Besides," she added with a smile, "I'll make it up to you, I'll go visit Rarity and ask her if she will give you a gem as a reward for telling me what really happened."

"A gem?!" Spike was getting excited as he contemplated the possibilities. "Oh! I wonder what it's gonna be! A ruby? An emerald? How about an amethyst? No wait, a sapphire!"

Twilight giggled. "Oh, I'll find something that you deserve for your hard work, Spike. Because it's the truth is what matters."

"It does?"

"Of course, Spike. Why not? But from now on, I'll let you think about what I've said, and leave it to you whether or not you should keep him."

Twilight was surprised when she noticed how tired her legs are, after all the work at the Apple orchard and the running to the library. She could use some rest.

"But for now," she stretched her legs. "I need to get some rest."

"What for? You've been gone for like four hours. Where have you been?"

"Oh boy," Twilight groaned, and then told him about how she came with Pinkie Pie to Sweet Apple Acres, talked with Applejack, worked at the orchards, Rainbow Dash scaring her into spilling the apple cart, and then the talk with the mayor. Spike giggled about how Twilight spilled the apple cart (to her embarrassment), and she and the others had to clean up the mess. He was also enthralled with the idea of inviting Twilight and the others into the Day of Harmony festival.

"Oh, boy!" Spike was feeling giddy as he hopped on his toes. "We're going to be special guests in the festival! Woo!"

"Yeah. But that's next week, and Mayor Mare didn't tell me anything about what we'll be doing."

"Well, a week is a full seven days. You'll have that much time to find out."

"You're right, Spike," Twilight came over to put one hoof at the foot of the stairs. "But like I said, I need to rest, then I'll go ask Rarity. Alright?"

"You bet!" Spike was now excited by two things: that they were going to be special guests of the festival and that he's getting a gem from Rarity.

Twilight Sparkle proceeded upstairs to her bedroom. Her bed is well-made with the blankets flattened against the mattress. She went to one side of the bed and simply lied down on her back. She felt a rush of relief as her spine was stretched flat out, and she stretched her legs. She took a deep breath to take it all in, and when that was done, she started thinking about the festival. Should they just smile and wave at the guests? Wear fancy clothes (which shouldn't be a problem, considering the Gala uniforms Rarity made for them earlier)? Run booths? Or do they get to participate like everybody else? She didn't know, so she reminded herself to ask Mayor Mare, or Princess Celestia, or perhaps Pinkie Pie about it.

But she was met with a lingering uneasiness inside her, that there's something more important that she needs to address. There's the odd asteroid thing from the newspaper, and then the flying thing Apple Bloom saw last night. If she recalled correctly, the sky object Star Gazer saw in the paper was also alleged to have disappeared last night - the same night Apple Bloom saw the flying thing. Both objects seemed unnatural, so is it possible that the two are connected? Could they be the one and the same? If so, then what is it? What is it doing here? Of course, they could all be fake stories. Twilight never trusted the mainstream media as very reliable, as they could contain sensitized or biased information. And Apple Bloom, as a child, could easily make up stories. So there's that.

But then, she remembered from Celestia's letter "try not to focus too much of your attention on it, it'll hurt your head! Why don't you keep it at the back of your mind?" Twilight tried to shake the feeling off by telling herself that she doesn't quite know for certain. Perhaps more information will come to verify these claims.

So she simply rested in quiet thought, listening to her breath to calm her down. Already she could hear Spike's footsteps from downstairs, saying, "Oh boy! Oh boy! I just can't wait for what Twilight's gonna get for me for all my hard work!" He then got into his little fantasies where he is thanked for his accomplishment. Twilight tried to ignore it and payed attention to the silence around her room.

After only fifteen minutes, she began to experience hunger pains again. So she hopped out of bed, brushed her hair right where she laid on her pillow, and head downstairs.

"Alright, Spike," Twilight called over. "I'm off to visit Rarity! I'll be back in about an hour!"

"Awesome! Wait," Spike's excitement suddenly halted into confusion. "The Carousel Boutique is only a fifteen-minute walk from here."

Ponyville was a very small town, being at roughly only half a kilometer across. So it didn't take long for one to get from one side of town to the other.

"I need to buy some lunch." Twilight grabbed her satchel with her magic and checked for any bits she might find, and indeed there are roughly ten bits inside, which should be enough to get her an okay meal. She continued, "I'll get Rarity afterwards, alright?"

"That's fine, Twilight."

"Okay, good." Twilight proceeded to the door.

Author's Note

Now, you may be thinking "it's rated teen, so there should be all this crazy stuff happening by now. Where are the aliens?" Yes, I know that things have been going slow now. But believe me, I've got the whole story outline set up. My problem now is trying to flesh it out. I am sorry to say that nothing interesting is happening on this chapter. But trust me, the aliens are still coming and there will be exciting stuff.

And as for Ponyville's size, I used this as a reference. He even used photographs and stills to make this map.

Thank you for your attention.

~Petro Beherha