Friendship and the Beast

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"RAINBOW DASH! That's not funny!"

As Twilight now stood in a pool of water, Rainbow Dash was laughing hysterically above her.

"I-I'm sorry Twilight. You just looked so... comfortable!" Rainbow Dash said, covering her mouth and then suddenly letting out loud laughter.

Well this is a great start to the day... Twilight thought.

Twilight shook the cold wetness out of her coat and mane, and comfortably sighed as she turned to her cyan pegasus friend.

"Rainbow Dash! Is that... the Wonderbolts I see?!" Twilight exclaimed, pointing in the direction behind Rainbow Dash. The cyan Pegasus squealed and turned fast to see an empty sky. Now it was Twilight's turn to break out into hysterics. Rainbow Dash didn't look so impressed.

"Ha. Very funny Twilight. Just you wait. Next prank, it might not be water that'll be pouring over you." And with that said, Rainbow Dash flew off into the sky like a bolt of lightning. Twilight simply chuckled to herself as she went back to her daily routine.

Today was such a beautiful day in Ponyville, and Twilight Sparkle was going to seize it. She decided to see what her old friend Pinkie Pie was up to on such a beautiful day, and headed in the direction of the main square. She hummed to herself as she walked, fully gazing upon the busy atmosphere of the town. Ponyville was never usually that busy, but on a day like today, there were definitely exceptions.

As Twilight finally arrived at Sugercube Corner, the door springed open to see a very happy pink mare staring right back at her.

"HELLOOOOOOO TWILIGHT!" Pinkie Pie shouted loudly, causing Twilight to lose her footing and fall back.

"Hello Pinkie Pie," Twilight replied.

"Want a cupcake?!" Pinkie asked excitedly. She was now positioned very close and was staring directly into Twilight's eyes. She looked very serious. Twilight let out an awkward laugh, and lifted herself off the ground.

"No thanks Pinkie. I was just here to see what you were planned on doing on such a beautiful day!" Twilight said, now fully basking in the warm sunny environment of the town. She didn't seem to realise that she had now spun around three times with her eyes closed with a big smile upon her face. Pinkie Pie suddenly joined her.

"Ooooh! I love this game! 'You spin me right round baby right round!'" Pinkie sang to herself, as she started to spin around in circles. Twilight had only just realised what she was doing, stopped, and let out a small squee with shades of red blossoming in her cheeks. She turned to Pinkie Pie who was still spinning in circles.

"Like a record baby, right round r-"

"PINKIE!" Twilight shouted, causing Pinkie to stop spinning.

"Eeeeyes Twilight?" Pinkie asked happily.

Twilight sighed and let out a small giggle.

Classic Pinkie Pie... Twilight thought.

"What are you plans for today?"

"Who me?! Well for starters, I gotta go and buy some supplies for the Cake twins! Then I have to get some apples from Sweet Apple Acres so that I can make a big apple pie! Then I have to show a new pony around town, then perform my welcome song, then go through an entire twenty two minutes to finally convince her that we're friends, then I gotta..."

As Pinkie Pie continued to talk at a million miles per second, Twilight noticed a very large line of ponies waiting outside the library. Twilight tilted her head sideways, and turned back to Pinkie.

"Uhhh Pinkie? Could you excuse me for one moment please?" Twilight asked politely.

"Sure thing Twilight!"

As Twilight began to make her leave, she could hear Pinkie Pie still rambling on about what she had to do today, with no other pony around to hear it.

"And then I gotta repair my party cannon, and then I gotta..."

Twilight giggled and headed off towards the library. She wondered to herself why there was such a large line outside the library. There were never lines as big as this outside the library! And the library is always closed on Sundays!

Twilight arrived at the library to hear cries of whines and complaining by the waiting ponies.

"Uhhh what is everypony doing here on a Sunday?" Twilight asked.

"It's finally here! 'The King of the Crystals' is finally out on sale!" A bright young filly exclaimed brightly. All the other ponies in line agreed with smiles and began to celebrate.

Twilight looked confused. What in the hay is 'The King of the Crystals'?

She decided to head on into the library to see what was really going on. Twilight opened the door to see her number one assistant lifting a box full of new books to the counter. He was humming the exact same tune that Twilight was singing this morning.

"Spike! What is happening?! Why are there ponies waiting outside? And what in the hay is 'The King of the Crystals'?!" Twilight asked nervously.

Spike laughed at Twilight's sudden outburst and motioned her to calm down.

"Calm yourself Twilight! We just recieved packages of new books by a mysterious publisher called 'The King of the Crystals'! I've known about the sale date for quite some time now, but I have no idea who 'Nus Noom' is..." Spike said, adding a very confusing tone as he finished the last two words.

Twilight walked over to see a row of boxes with the exact same book inside all of them.

'The King of the Crystals'... Twilight thought. Why haven't I heard of these?

Twilight shook her head and simply shrugged. She then turned to Spike.

"Well... what are we waiting for? We've got books to sell!"

~~~~~~~~~~

After a long day of selling so many books, Twilight wandered upstairs and slumped deeply into her bed. The amount of copies of 'The King of the Crystals' that they had sold was incredible! Everypony from all over town came to purchase the new exciting tale. Twilight was surprised that she had never heard of it. Being in charge of Ponyville's library, she assumed that she knew all about the incoming new books from Canterlot. This copy was not the case.

Twilight had managed to save a copy of the book so that she could read it for herself. It didn't seem very long, with only a few pages in the book. Maybe it was a filly book? She turned the book over to see the front cover. The image on it was very strange, yet mysterious as well. It resembled the black shadow of a pony holding some sort of red rose.

With her interest peaking, Twilight opened the first page and began to read.

'Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria...'

~~~~~~~~~

That made no sense!

Twilight closed the book with a very demeaning and angry expression on her face.

A story is supposed to have a beginning, a middle and an end. That was just... well, just a beginning! What happened to the King in the end? What happens afterwards?!

So many questions and thoughts ran through Twilight's mind. She didn't know what to make of this strange novel. She re-read the last line over and over again.

'For who could ever learn to befriend a beast?'

Yes... and THEN WHAT HAPPENS!?

Twilight's mind was screaming. No story should ever do this to a pony! Twilight knew that something had to be done. She decided to look up the author of the novel and find out for herself what happens.

"Uhhh Twilight? What are you doing?"

Twilight turned to see Spike coming up the stairs, letting out a very silent yawn.

"This story makes no sense Spike! I simply must look into it! Tell me, how did you get in contact with the publisher?!" Twilight asked, adding a lot of stress in her voice. Spike simply stared into Twilight's frantic eyes, and shrugged his shoulders.

"To be honest, I have no idea... All I know is that there was an order coming in from Canterlot today. I don't even know how I know!" Spike exclaimed, now suddenly beginning to panic.

Twilight shook her head and began to pace up and down.

"This is all such a big mystery, and I intend to solve it!" Twilight said proudly.

......

"And... just how do you suppose to do that at this time of night?" Spike questioned.

Twilight looked outside her window. The sun had already been lowered and the moon was now rising ever so slowly into the sky. There was not a single cloud in the sky, as the stars glistened brightly.

Twilight sighed. "Maybe I should look into it in the morning..."

As Twilight hopped into her bed, Spike turned off the light and went straight to sleep as soon as he layed down. Twilight smiled, and then turned to stare out the window of the library. No book had ever made Twilight like this before, and she was determined to get to the bottom of this tale.

One way or another.