Lost at Home

Lost at Home: A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfic by the *Secondbestscribe*

Chapter Six: Diamonds in the Rough

"Why, thank you, darlings!" cooed an alabaster unicorn, on the outskirts of Ponyville. She flipped her extravagantly-curled indigo mane and gave them a grateful look with her azure eyes, the cornflower of her eyeshadow complementing the look perfectly.

"Don't worry, Rarity, it was a pleasure for Spike and I to help!" This had come from a mulberry-coloured alicorn, with a somewhat unnaturally-straight dark-sapphire mane and tail, striped with violet and rose.

"Yeah..." This particularly deep and insightful contribution to the conversation was courtesy of a baby purple-and-green dragon, who was currently gazing at the unicorn with a soppy, love-saturated expression.

Rarity laughed again, using the tinkling tone used only by aristocrats and those who know that they can be aristocrats, but aren't in this moment of time.

"Why, thank you, Twilight!" cooed Rarity, as the trio turned to go back to Ponyville. "It was a pleasure for me, too. I would think that Equestria's newest alicorn princess would have something more to do than help a simple seamstress like me in my diamond-gathering!"

"Well, I'm always looking to further my magical knowledge," said Twilight Sparkle, the newest Equestrian alicorn princess. She shifted her wings, which were temporarily trapped by the large wooden cart that she had been hitched up to, which was in turn bearing a heaping pile of assorted gemstones. "Besides, I still haven't perfected your gem-finding spell yet."

"You'd think that you would, seeing as you've done any number of magical spells!" remarked Spike, earning himself a glare from Twilight.

"Well," said Rarity, who had been hitched up to a cart-and-gemstone-pile of her own, "it took me quite a while to perfect it myself, darling." As an afterthought, the unicorn flipped her mane again.

Twilight shook her head and sighed, frustratedly. "No, Rarity, Spike is right. I should be able to perform this spell easily!"

As Celestia's sun crept across the sky, Spike shifted the load of crystals that he was carrying in his arms. It wasn't so much of a physical test as it was a mental one. He was constantly salivating, gazing at the gemstones eagerly and fantasising about their taste, their crunch...

"But you managed it perfectly fine while you were a unicorn!" exclaimed Rarity. "Why should it be any different now, hm?"

Twilight sighed again. "I don't know. Princess Celestia thinks that it's because of me becoming an alicorn, but I don't see how that's supposed to affect my magic. If anything, it's made my magic stronger!"

Rarity thought. "Well, darling, I won't pretend that magic is my forte, but I can't see how your magic has gotten any weaker. You've been teleporting left, right and centre! The Golden Oak library has been positively sparkling with magic ever since that cutie mark hullabaloo!"

Spike chuckled.

"What's so funny?" asked Twilight suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing," said the baby dragon, turning away to hide his toothy smile.

The princess sighed and shook her head yet again. "The gem-finding spell isn't all, though. I'm finding it hard to use simple spells like the cloud-walking one. It's a good thing that I have wings now!"

"Well, your levitation and illumination is fine," remarked Rarity. "We did see a spectacular display of lights and floating down in the caves!"

"Thanks, Rare," smiled Twilight sheepishly. "But... well, I don't know. It might just be a phase or something that us unicorns are going through..."

"Well," said Rarity, "I did have some trouble cooking breakfast today. My magic just didn't seem to be in it, if you know what I mean."

"The levitation?" Twilight hazarded.

Rarity nodded, and added, "But that's not all. Oh, no, I've half a mind to ban Sweetie from any more crusading for the rest of the month. She had a magical explosion incident a few weeks ago! Would you believe it?!"

"Fluttershy told me about that," mused Twilight. "She heard the explosion from her cottage."

"Yes, the poor darling," sighed Rarity. "Do you know, it turns out that all her animals are on edge because of it? They won't even listen to her, and that ruffian Angel isn't making matters for her any better. Oh, did I give Sweetie Belle such a scolding...!"

"A phase," repeated Twilight distantly. "Just a phase... a magical phase? Hmm, I think I should write to Princess Celestia about this. It's probably nothing, but it pays to be safe, don't you think?"

"Poor girl, she deserves a quiet little cat like my dearest Opal..." Rarity was saying. Then, she said, "What?" and "Oh, yes, of course, dear!"

"Thank you, Rarity," smiled Twilight. "It's nice to have somepony else's honest opinion once in a while."

"Oh, whatever do you mean, dear?" said Rarity, still slightly flustered.

Twilight's eyes narrowed angrily. "Well, just yesterday, I was out getting some extra quills from Sofas..."

"Ye-es?"

"And then the stallion there tried to sell me the whole load for fifty bits! Fifty bits! What an insult! The whole thing was worth fifteen bits at MOST!"

Twilight's mane began to smoke at the edges, a sure sign that she was beginning to get angry. Tentatively, Spike tugged at her tail and muttered, "Erm, Twi? Your mane..."

"You are looking a bit... frazzled, dear..." added Rarity, nervously eying her friend's hair.

"I'm a PRINCESS!" exclaimed Twilight, at no-one in particular. "How DARE he! How DARE!"

The last word was practically screamed, and the surrounding cliffs propelled the sound back towards the trio, echoes bouncing around everywhere.

DARE-are-are-are...! DARE-are-are-are...! DARE-are-are-are...!

"The echoes are echoing themselves...!" marvelled Twilight, her rage completely forgotten. "Fascinating! I didn't know that they could do that!"

"Well, darling, I'd much rather we get back to Ponyville quickly," said Rarity, even more nervously.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to start a rock slide or something!" exclaimed Spike, which earned him a "Don't jinx it!" look from Rarity and a thoughtful look from Twilight.

"Oh... oh, yes, of course!" said the alicorn, as they picked up the pace, Ponyville beginning to crest the rise of the rocky hill they were on. "I must mention that to Princess Celestia in my letter, as well..."

Meanwhile, above the outskirts of Ponyville, riding the thermals with outstretched wings, Ponyville's newest resident looked down at the trio with interest.

"We-ell, I can't believe it!" she crowed. "An alicorn, eh? Hmm, those guys aren't exactly the commonest around here... this is in-ter-esting!"

The pony dived, enjoying the pleasant lurching feeling in her stomach. She pulled up right before the ground met her, and watched the trio walk towards the carousel-shaped place with interest.

"A dragon and a unicorn, too!" she remarked, shifting her position in the tree she had decided to land in. "Cool..."

Then the sound of laughing fillies caught her attention.

Turning her head in an engrossed manner, the pony saw four fillies running towards the trio and the carousel-house. One of them was a unicorn, one was a pegasus and the other two were earth ponies.

All of them had capes on!

"Capes?" whispered the pony, joyfully. "Oh, they have CAPES on! This is great!"

While she watched the fillies and the trio disappear, she made a vow to find out just who had made the capes.

She wanted a cape, too!