All of Ponyville lay asleep. Not a single light was on throughout the entire town. But it was not a quiet night. Thunderclouds raged with lightning and rain. Thankfully, the storm was not enough to awaken the Ponyvillians from their sweet dreams.

But it was enough to depress one blue unicorn mare, who was trotting through the shallow rivers that the rain was forming in the streets. She had been running aimlessly for some time. After having been freed from an uncontrollable corruption, she had fled from Ponyville and had been searching for a permanent home ever since. However the news of her tyrannical and temporary reign of the village had spread throughout Equestria in the blink of an eye. No town or city would let her in. Now, she had returned to the very village that she had earned her notorious reputation in, and she knew that nopony in the place would want to welcome and accept her.

But she had no choice. Ponyville was her last hope.

I have to find shelter, quickly. That was all that the poor mare could think of. Indeed, she was in no perfect condition to travel. With every step the drenched unicorn took, her mane, coat, and tail only grew soggier, and running faster to try and avoid the rain in vain exhausted her. The wide brim of her pointed hat and the length of her long flowing cape did not help her block out the rain. And for some reason, the more steps she took, the more her eyes felt like they were on fire, and the less she could breathe. Had she still had her wagon with her she would have used it, if it had not been for the one incident ages ago which included having her wagon crushed by a star-furred bear cub, making her a laughingstock, and forcing her to work on a rock farm to earn a living. The young mare had made many other wagons with the help of the Pie family after the original had been destroyed, but ponies would draw over them and mess them up every time, forcing her to abandon the method of transportation and travel by hoof many long distances. The unicorn gritted her teeth, trying not to remember those harsh days which had led to driving her insane and studying evil magic, up to the point of seeking the Alicorn Amulet.

The blue mare was growing more and more desperate with every step she took. There was a certain place she was seeking, she knew the pony she was seeking. But where was that pony's home? Her memory was usually outstanding, but this time, she could not remember where she was heading. She knew that the place was here, and yet, her head failed to understand where in Ponyville it was.

Then, she finally found it. A humongous tree in the middle of the thatched-roofed-houses with a red door that had a candle painted on it.

Waves of relief and relaxation flooded over the blue unicorn, but those cheerful surges were soon followed by intense anxiety. She knew that the pony who lived in the tree had already forgiven her long ago, but she was not certain if that pony would listen to her pleas. Worse, what if that pony had never forgiven her completely? It was highly unlikely that the tree's resident would allow herself to hear the unicorn mare's words if that was the case.

It was, nonetheless, worth a shot.

Cautiously, the blue mare trotted up to the door, and then and there she knocked. For a while, the mare, whose hooves have now been rooted to the spot, waited. But there was no reply. Worried, the unicorn began to back away when she spotted the lights of the tree house switch on one by one. As soon as the lowermost light was lit, the door glowed a magenta hue, and proceeded to open. Behind the door was another pony mare, a purple one, who had been aroused from her not-so-deep sleep due to her nighttime studies. The mare, annoyed, had opened the door, and she was about to give whoever that was at her doorstep the what-for, when she saw who had arrived in front of her house. The sight of the pony before her made her wide awake.

"Trixie?" the purple mare said, gaping. "What are you doing here?"

Here goes nothing, the blue unicorn, Trixie, thought to herself.

"Twilight Sparkle, I--" was all she could say before she was cut off by a sight quite unexpected to her. The purple mare, Twilight Sparkle, had two feathered structures folded up at her sides.

Wings.

Trixie blacked out before her body finished crumbling to the floor.

"I still don't understand why you'd take her in! I mean, think of all she's done to you, Twilight!"

"That's all in the past, Spike!"

"Still, think about it! She might strike when your letting your guard down!"

"Look, Spike, she's sick. She's got a fever and a cold. If you ask me, she's far too ill to try and get back at me," the purple mare said, turning to gaze at Trixie, who now lay soundly asleep on a spare bed, a thermometer stuck in her mouth.

"Well, I hope you're right," sighed a small, purple-and-green dragon. "I wouldn't want to think about Trixie taking over Ponyville again."

"Oh, Spike, you know perfectly well I don't want that either," Twilight said to the dragon. "Now, hurry up and get me Healing Wounds with Magic by Jewel Film."

"Um, Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"Why don't you just get help from Nurse Redheart or Doctor Stable or somepony like that?"

Twilight sighed. "Spike, you know I'm not going to go out in the rain. Besides, I'm not sure if a lot of ponies would want to see Trixie, no matter what state she's in." Gazing out the window, Twilight continued, "We'll have to wait until everypony's ready to see her again."

"Meanwhile, Spike, why don't you just get me the book and go to sleep, and when you wake up in the morning be a little nicer to Trixie?"

Spike threw his claws up in the air. "Fine," he said, and carelessly grabbed a book on one of the lowest shelves and threw it at Twilight. Luckily, she managed to catch the book with her magic before it hit her.

She grumbled as the dragon climbed into his bed. Carefully, she flipped through the pages, until. . .

"Ah!" she exclaimed, and began to read the page.

How to Cure a Fever Using Magic: Part One

You Will Need. . .

Author's Note

Yay, so, here goes my first MLP fanfic. I'm sorry if the prologue stinks, but I'm not the best writer in the world. This is one of my first fanfics after all. I promise I'll get better as time passes. Meanwhile, please let as many as possible know about this new story and look forward to the next chapter~