Wrath

Chapters

Sin
Envy
Gluttony
Greed
Pride
Sloth
Lust
Wrath
Reflection
Blaze
Goodnight

Sin

Chapter 1: Sin

sin, noun: any reprehensible or regrettable action, behavior, or lapse

"Are we there yet?" Spike asked for what must have been the tenth time at least. He let out a yawn following that.

He'd been riding on his mentor's back for most of the day while she trotted through the Everfree Forest. Twilight Sparkle, she who could be called the best unicorn in Ponyville, and to Spike, the closest thing he had to a mother and sister all in one.

About an hour earlier he'd been entrusted with reading the map, though it quickly became apparent that they may as well have spun around in circles and wandered off wherever they ended up aiming. It didn't help that Spike had woken up early to get everything ready, and he'd been half asleep for most of the trip. The forest was thick and threatening as ever, even in the noon light. Perhaps even moreso- everything was awake now.

"I don't know" She answered quickly, stopping in front of a widely running river, "Map". This path should have been so easy to find, even if most of it had been improvised the last time she came this way. Twilight gave a nod of thanks when Spike pulled the map out of their pack into view.

Twilight had only just taken hold of the map with her magic and only barely managed to get a clean look at it when a splash was heard from the river, followed by a shadow suddenly stretching up before her. Twilight lowered the map to look up at the figure. Most other ponies would have run at the sight, yet Twilight knew better.

The purple-scaled Sea Serpent near immediately grinned from ear to ear. "Ah hello! I remember you, it's been such a long time! Why, I haven't seen you since..." The sea serpent trailed off, deep in thought. He remained still in the water, thinking it over, while Twilight remained silent, waiting for him to continue for a time.

Eventually, after a few shrugs exchanged between Twilight and Spike, she finally spoke. "Right... well, it's good to see you too"

"Yes of course, oh it's just been so long!" The sea serpent squealed in delight, twisting his body down until he was on eye-level with the mare. "Tell me, is that friend of yours with you? She who was so kind to repair my mustache?" He took the moment to stroke the right end of said mustache, which had long ago grown back in properly and held no trace of the old purple that had replaced it.

"Well, no actually..." Twilight started. "But could you help us across again?"

"Of course, of course!" The serpent twisted back away from her, disappearing into the river. Seconds later, it returned to view, stretching its body of the surface of the water to provide a path for her while still remaining and gleeful as ever.

"Thank you" The mare said, returning her map to its original place in her pack and stepping onto the Serpent's body. She only just taken a few steps forward when she noticed the serpent staring at her. "Something wrong?"

The serpent broke his gaze, smiling sheepishly again before leaning in and referring to her back. "Oh, it's nothing, it's just... It appears you've picked up one of my cousins along the way"

It took Twilight a moment or so to realize what he meant, and she had to strain her neck to look back and see Spike had fallen asleep where he sat. She gave him a few gentle shakes to wake him before continuing along the serpent's body. Twilight only just stepped onto land on the other side when Spike finally yawned and sat up.

Twilight turned to show her appreciation to the serpent, who seemed eager and waiting, but not for her thanks. "If you wouldn't mind..." He started, before disappearing beneath the water. Seconds later, he returned to the surface, a bubble of air in his hand, which he offered forward. Rarity's tail was suspended within it. The serpent had obviously been doing everything he could to take care of it, as the tail looked as fresh as the day it'd been removed.

The serpent sat the bubble down in front of Twilight, popping it with one of his claws. "I'm sure your friend would like it back. Could you return this for me?" While Twilight was reluctant by the very thought of carrying it along with her, Spike literally jumped from his seat at the idea.

He took the tail in his arms, hugging it to himself and returned to his seat on Twilight's back, while she asked the serpent "How did you do that? I mean, keep it so well preserved; what was that bubble?"

The serpent could only let out a hearty laugh at this. "Oh dearie" He twisted himself around once more until he was on her level, this time laying his head on the edge of the water. "You ponies are not the only ones with magic. I could do things you've never dreamed of" Before she could inquire further, the serpent gave Twilight a gentle push. "Come now, you mustn't be late wherever you're going. It's been great seeing you again. Don't be a stranger!" And without another word, he pulled himself back and disappeared beneath the waters once more.

Twilight stood in silence, not sure what to make of this. She'd read about sea serpents after the first time she'd met this one. Whether they truly had any magic was unknown, though they did manage quite a few obscure feats. "What do you think, Spike?" She asked, looking over her shoulder. Spike had once again drifted off to sleep, this time hugging the tuft of tail to him.

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, Twilight pulled the map from her pack and returned on her way.

The sun, thankfully, remained mostly high in the sky for the rest of their trip. In fact, Twilight hadn't even needed to check the sun until she and her faithful assistant were walking up to the old abandoned ruins.

A temple, by the look of it, with a mighty tower just off to the side. "So, this is where you fought Nightmare Moon?" Spike asked, actually looking somewhat genuinely interested.

"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds like I did it on my own" Twilight chuckled, bringing them up to the front.

Spike stepped off her back and pushed the main door open, revealing the inner building. "Well they couldn't have done it without you, right? You're the hero"

"Spike, stop" Twilight answered him bashfully. He hadn't been there, but he did love hearing the story of how she and the rest of the gang had defeated Nightmare Moon.

"Come on, you have to admit it's cool!" He answered, helping her to let down the pack she had strapped over her side. Twilight had, as usual, insisted on bringing more than was necessary. They'd come to study the ruins; a task Twilight had wanted to do quite some time ago, though she had been a bit preoccupied last time she'd been here.

When Twilight grabbed hold of the pack with her magic, letting it down herself, he let go.

"Alright, I wont argue with that. Go take a look around if you want, I'll get everything set up"

Spike, needing no further instruction, rushed up the backmost stairway, leading up to the tower. It was much taller than it had seemed on the outside, and took him a fair few minutes to climb. When he emerged, Spike saw what could have been once called a beautiful ballroom. It had a hint of royalty about it, even if it was abandoned. Even the light pouring in through the windows seemed to shine just right to make the place feel important.

Still, these were all features Spike had seen plenty of back in Canterlot. If it were not for the look of wear and the bits of rubble spread throughout the room, he'd be sourly disappointed.

"Wow, I'm bored already..." He mumbled to himself, stepping up onto the central stand. Truth be told, he had no idea what he'd be finding here, but this certainly wasn't it. With a sigh, Spike sat back onto the stone, only to jump up a second later, letting out a yelp.

"Spike, what was that?" He heard Twilight calling for him. For these few seconds at least, he could ignore it.

He turned to look on the ground where he'd sat. There were several pieces of broken glass on the ground; a few connected to what looked like several torn bits of what was once a blue-black strap. But all of that was nothing compared to that which lie in the center.

A jewel, perfectly round in shape. Dull blue in color, and even in the light available, it seemed to let off some sort of glow. Then the final piece that sent a shiver down his tail. On the face of the jewel facing Spike, was what looked to be an eye carved into it.

Spike took it carefully in his hand, lifting it to eye level. It let off a feeling he hadn't felt since Twilight had strapped Rainbow Dash's Element around his neck.

"Spike?"

It looked good though, better than most jewels. In fact, the longer he stared, the more appealing it seemed to be. Well, Rarity could keep his Fire Ruby, but this...

He raised it to his mouth and took a bite out of the jewel. Or so he tried, at least. Spike had never before found something, let alone a gem that he couldn't bite through. This, however, was the first, and not expecting it, Spike felt one of his teeth chip against the jewel.

"Ow!" He hissed, pulling the gem from his mouth and lightly rubbing his cheek.

"Spike!" Twilight finally appeared, running up the stairway. She dashed over to him, seeing him in pain. "Spike, what happened, are you okay?"

Spike only shook his head lightly, holding the jewel out to her. Twilight stared at it for a moment, before turning her attention back to her loyal assistant. "Open up" She ordered.

While that was the last thing he wanted to do, Spike took a deep breath and opened his mouth wide for her to see. Yes, just as she'd expected, one of his front teeth had chipped. "Spike, how did you manage that..." She mumbled, now trying to push him back over to the stairs. "Come on, let's go back down, I think I have something for the pain..."

"Twi'hight" Spike mumbled through a mostly closed mouth, stopping her. He held the jewel out in front of him again, and this time it took all of a few seconds for Twilight to put two and two together.

She lifted it from his grasp with her horn, holding it close so that the eye was staring at her. Hadn't she seen this before? Maybe not in this form, but undoubtedly, she'd felt this same presence before. It gave off the magical feel of the Elements of Harmony, but with a pinch of... menace.

Twilight lifted her head to look back over the tower. A gem like this that had even managed to break one of Spike's teeth, giving off a dark feeling of magic, in the same place where two years ago she'd helped to defeat Nightmare Moon once and for all. Yes, Twilight had been looking forward to studying these ruins, but that would just have to wait for another time.

"Spike, can you handle the pain for a little while? I think we should head back home. Quickly. Princess Celestia needs to hear about this"

Envy

Chapter 2: Envy

envy, noun: a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages

They had been traveling for what was almost the rest of the day, and when Twilight finally stopped to check, the sun was hanging low in the sky.

Spike had been seemingly wrestling with it with his tongue for the whole trip, judging by the look on his face. This didn't do anything to ease Twilight's mind; it was just a constant reminder that something had caused one of the hardest substances in the land, a dragon's tooth, to break.

Soon enough, Twilight stopped and gave the baby dragon a pleading look. "Spike, could you please stop that? It's getting distracting" Even if she couldn't see his face without turning, she could hear his tongue-work with ease, and it was quite disgusting.

Spike gave a muffled sound of agreement, which thankfully allowed Twilight to continue on her way through the forest with little distraction. For a few minutes or so, at least. Then, with at least some effort put into trying to be quiet, Twilight heard him start up again and let out a loud groan. "Okay, hold on, we're taking a detour"

Spike tried to give a feeble protest of mumbles -still not willing to open his mouth-, but Twilight ignored this. She instead stepped off the beaten path, through the trees. "Don't bother, I'll need to bring you here eventually either way" She spoke back to him.

The density of the forest was increasing, and rather quickly and though Twilight had gone through this area many times before, it was not necessarily from this direction. Even Spike, by now, recognized this area of the forest. He didn't like it.

Then, just as the trees seemed they could get no thicker, there were none. The two of them entered a wide open clearing, still covered in darkness by the leaves overhead, but at least giving off a warmth of safety. This warmth came from the hut that sat in the middle of the clearing, light pouring out from its windows and smoke pouring up from its roof.

Spike, never breaking eye contact with the hut, lowered himself down from Twilight's back. While she approached the door, he took in the sight of it, only coming to his senses and going to catch up with her once he'd heard her giving three quick raps on the door.

There was a sound of rustling from within, and seconds later, a shaman of source in the form of the zebra Zecora opened the door. Her face seemed to light up at the sight of the two of them. "Ah! Twilight Sparkle and Spike, my friends, to what pleasure do I owe this end?" She asked, stepping aside to allow the two to enter.

Even now, annoyed as she was, Twilight had to smile at the words of the zebra, and entered into the warmth of the hut with Spike following after. While Spike looked between the many hanging and shelved oddities that lined the hut, Twilight spoke.

"Thanks, it's great to see you too. We've had a bit of a rough day" As usual, the building had its customary smell of all things bizarre and sour. While it had first stunk, Twilight soon came to know it as one of the most reassuring scents there were. "Spike has a bit of a problem" She added on, grabbing Spike and spinning him around, interrupting his thoughts, to face Zecora.

Still, Spike kept his mouth firmly shut, and would have kept it as such if Twilight hadn't given him a quick nudge in his side. With some reluctance, he opened wide to let Zecora peer around the inside of his mouth for a short time. She spotted the problem more quickly than Twilight had.

"Now there's a sight known most uncouth! A baby dragon with a chipped tooth..." The zebra hurried off to the other side of the room, grabbing ingredients down from her shelves to fix the problem most haste. "I have no remedy for such a thing, so we'll see what good then this can bring"

With an eager start, she began brewing and mixing all sorts of liquids and seeds of different colors into the central cauldron of the room. "This brew is meant for Ponies, true, but I see no reason it wont work for you" With these words, she took a ladle full of the remedy and poured it into a waiting bowl. Were Apple Bloom here, she'd have recognized the remedy as the one that had helped her in a similar situation.

"Drink that all down, now Twilight, let's speak" Zecora finally finished her work, approached Twilight again while Spike lifted the bowl to his lips and began to consume the tonic. "At your temple, did you find what you seek?" Zecora had been a destination on both their leave and return; her hut lay almost right on the path.

Keeping an eye on Spike as she spoke, Twilight answered. "Actually no, that's why we're here" Twilight had only just began fishing for the blue jewel when a muffled yell from Spike rang out, drawing both ponyies' attentions.

Twilight's jaw hit the ground. Spike seemed to be panicking where he stood, yet he didn't dare move. She could imagine that he couldn't see; his entire face was missing, and in its place was just another coat of purple scales.

Both unicorn and zebra rushed over to his side, Zecora so that she could quickly look through her shelves in hopes of finding something to perhaps fix what she'd done, and Twilight to look after her helper. "Spike! Can you hear me?" Twilight asked, alarmed. It was met only with a series of muffled words she couldn't make out. At least he didn't seem to be in any pain...

"Can you breathe alright? One mumble for yes, two for no" Spike let a single grunt out in response, patting down the space where his face had been not five minutes ago. Twilight let a sigh of relief free, looking over her shoulder to Zecora who didn't seem to be having any luck. "How did this happen?"

"The remedy he took just now, was meant for ponies, not dragon mouths" She stood up on her hind legs to look through the higher shelves, though with no apparent luck if her continued frantic searching was anything to go by.

"So, can you fix him?" Twilight asked, giving Spike a soft nudge when he started leaning to one side, unable to see.

Zecora only glanced over to the two of them once before continuing her search. "Er, yes i think. Give me an hour, or two I'll bet. Come back then, he'll be all set..."

Twilight looked between the zebra and dragon. Spike at least had stopped panicking, though he did occasionally pat down his former face and let out a string of mumbles that neither mare could understand. "Are you sure? I could help you here if you needed it..." The unicorn offered.

Zecora stepped down from her shelf and rushed off to the other side of the room, straight past Twilight as she did. There, she began pulling drawers open and pushing between their contents, looking for one thing or another. It was becoming oddly aware that even she didn't have much an idea what she was looking for.

"No Twilight Sparkle, you mustn't stay. I would not have you watch this display" The zebra finally pulled her head back up from the drawer, with a bottle bearing an odd green flower label clenched beneath her teeth. Spike let out another mumble of uncertainty.

Twilight, giving quick glances between the two, slowly backed towards the door, not entirely sure how the zebra would expect Spike to drink anything she made without a mouth. "After all, to tell the truth to you; I've no idea what this will do"

On the final word, Twilight stepped outside and shut the door. Her mind was suddenly in a haze by all that she'd just seen, and she wasn't entirely sure how she should be reacting to this. Zecora could be trusted, this wasn't a question of that, nor was it one of the zebra's efficiency.

Still, Twilight left herself a silent reminder to look up a spell concerning missing faces before she came back.

Finally, when the sun could only barely be seen over the horizon, did Twilight pull herself free of the Everfree Forest. She still felt herself in somewhat of a daze from the events that had occurred in the forest, all of them. The jewel's appearance, its sinister nature, its apparent unbreakability... and of course her mind was troubled with the thoughts of Spike's... problem.

Twilight would have shown Zecora the jewel, hoping the zebra might have known something of it, but Spike's predicament had called to their attention and she had forgotten in an instant.

Going back now would just make it all feel pointless, though she could not in good conscience send a letter off to the Princess without knowing what would happen. There was also the added problem that with Spike being mouthless, she had no way of sending off any letters.

Finally she stepped onto the familiar dirt roads of Ponyville. The streets were just about devoid of life now, most people just finishing up their deeds for the day.

Not Twilight though, she didn't as much have any set destination, but rather, she just tried to walk and think. At one point Scootaloo had gone on by, forcing her to quickly dodge out of the pegasus's path. Scootaloo had at least waved and given a quick hello, though with Twilight's thoughts quickly returning to mind, the unicorn gave only a half-hearted "Hi" as Scootaloo sped away.

What would she do? The only two people she could actually speak to about the jewel, Celestia and Zecora, weren't exactly available- or at least she couldn't in good conscience go to speak with either.

So what was she to do? Twilight finally sat herself down in a seat outside Sugarcube Corner. She could hear the faint rattling off of Pinkie Pie within the building, though to be honest the pink Earth Pony was more likely to confuse Twilight than help.

Then the idea struck her. No, there weren't just Celestia and Zecora. Twilight stood up and retrieved the jewel from her bag, looking it over quickly. True, Rarity had claimed to be busy that day with a big order, but if anyone in Ponyville would know about a gem of any kind, it was the designer herself.

A minute later, Twilight found herself running through the streets toward Carousel Boutique. It took no time at all with such little traffic of ponies. It wasn't until Twilight was approaching the designer's store did she slow to catch her breath.

A grey coated yellow-maned Pegasus was happily trotting out the door with a package in her mouth and a happy look on her face which suggested she only had a vague idea of what she'd just bought. She gave a mumbled "Hello" while passing. Twilight could only bring herself to give a smile and nod to keep from letting out a laugh.

The unicorn approached the doorway just as it shut, the sign in the window being quickly changed from "Come In, We're OPEN" to "Sorry, we're CLOSED" as she did.

Twilight gave a few light raps on the door with her hoof, provoking a yell from Rarity inside. "Sorry, no more business today! Come back tomorrow!". She sounded as though the Pegasus had given her a bit of trouble.

Twilight gave a few more knocks, followed by her own hushed yelling of "Rarity! It's Twilight!"

A quick click and slam later of the lock being undone, the door was pulled open from within, revealing the most dazzling pony in all of Ponyville; Rarity. Or at least she would be. Twilight hadn't seen her looking so distraught since their little gang had displayed their "revised" dresses at the fashion show so long ago. Even in this state of disaster she now wore, pure beauty could be seen underneath.

"Oh, Twilight, sorry about that, always a pleasure" Her mane was lightly ruffled, and her eyes had bags under them. The designer's glasses also seemed to have a tilt to them, which, by her look, Rarity had not noticed yet. "Come in, come in" Rarity waved the other unicorn inside, stepping in herself.

Twilight stepped in as well, and just for a moment was surprised by the look of pure disaster that had overtaken the place. Fabrics and quilts seemed to have been thrown randomly over the building, and a few dressing mannequins were completely overturned in a corner as though someone had thrown them out of the way in frustration.

"Sorry for the wreck, this place really has seen better days..." Rarity murmured, hurriedly beginning to use her horn to pick up whatever she could find out a place- a process that would surely take her all night at best.

Twilight lifted the large pile of overturned mannequins, taking a moment to separate them from each other, before setting them down. "Long day?"

Rarity turned and gave Twilight a pleading look. "Has Derpy ever visited your library?" she asked.

"Wait, all of this was just for one pony?"

Rarity went back to her cleaning, giving a quick "I'll take that as a no."

Twilight lifted a few things with her own magic off the floor, eager to help, though mostly in hopes of cheering up her stressed friend. Rarity certainly didn't look like she needed to be bothering with any of Twilight's problems at the moment... or would she?

Once Rarity trotted over and pulled away just about everything Twilight had picked up away, to be sorted, Twilight cleared her throat loudly and spoke up. "Rarity? Could i ask for your help on something?"

Rarity seemed to hesitate for a moment as she was setting rolls of fabric back into their usual positions on the shelf. She continued on with her work, talking without looking. "Uh, could it maybe wait a while? You know I always have time for you, but I'm a bit busy..."

"Trust me, you'll like this" Twilight spoke with confidence, fishing out the dull blue jewel once again and holding it before her with her magic.

Rarity finally set down a quilt she'd picked up by mouth, and turned. "Well, alright, but just for a mo-" She froze at the sight of the gem, jaw nearly hitting the floor. She'd rushed over to Twilight in under five seconds, grabbing it from the air and holding it between her two hooves. "My... oh my dear! Where did you ever find something like this? Why, I've never seen anything so... so... beautiful..."

"We... found it" Twilight spoke cautiously, not sure if Rarity was even listening to her at this point. The designer was turning the jewel over in her hooves, studying every inch of it. "Me and Spike? While we were in the abandoned castle of the princess sisters?"

Rarity gave a quick "Mhm", turning over the gem once more so that the eye was facing her. It gave off a dull blue glow that Twilight, from her angle at least, couldn't see. In fact Rarity herself wouldn't have spotted it if it hadn't been dark out, should the sun's rays be lighting up the building even more.

"Spike chipped a tooth on it? You know he eats gems, right? You've seen him do it" Rarity turned the gem over once more, this time not even managing out a response of any kind. Twilight, quickly growing frustrated, finally said. "And then we went to Zecora's and she made his face disappear"

Rarity, once again, only let out a quick "Mhm" Before turning and calmly walking back to her desk, jewel in hoof. Twilight stared at her as she went, before flipping open the satchel to her pack and fishing out the purple tuft of tail found within. She followed over after Rarity, who had set the gem down and was now silently examining it from all sides.

Twilight lifted the gem high in the air, just out of reach of Rarity who instinctively tried and failed to grab for it. Then, Twilight lifted the tail above Rarity's head and let it drop.

Rarity, who had been looking up at the gem, had the purple mass of hair cover her face when it fell, and could only stand dumbstruck for a few short moments. "Twilight, is this my tail?" Her muffled voice came out from under the tufts.

"Yes it is" Twilight pulled the gemstone back down to her, this time keeping it safely in reach just in case the designer unicorn tried to grab for it again.

"Ah" Rarity's voice sounded again, and she slowly pulled the swirl of purple hair off her face to lay it down on the desk. She spun, eyeing the gemstone but now at least with her attention fully at Twilight. "I take it you met the Serpent again, then?"

"Yeah, listen, can we talk about the gem now?" Twilight asked. She was quickly growing tired of this whole ordeal, but was at least relieved to have her friend's full attention. Or most of it anyway.

"Oh, yes, of course" Rarity quickly straightened her glasses and set her mane back to form. "I haven't actually ever seen a gem like that before" She leaned slightly towards Twilight's direction, hoof held out as if expecting it to be given to her. "But i could look into it if you'd like, it'd be no trouble at all! Just leave it here with me..."

Twilight stepped back, away from her friend while moving the gem back as well. "Sorry, but I'm not letting this out of my sight until i have the Princess's say so"

Rarity stepped forward, still smiling widely. "Oh come now, what harm could it do? Such a beautiful gem, you know I'd never let anything happen to it..." Her own horn lit up, and Twilight felt a tug on the gemstone. She tugged it back towards her.

Rarity's smile disappeared into a glare. "Give me that gem" Rarity tugged the gem her way once more. Rarity's eye gave a quick twitch of annoyance.

"You are not getting this gem, Rarity!" Twilight growled in response, pulling it back towards her.

Rarity's horn lit up brightly, and the next thing Twilight knew, she couldn't see. She felt her whole body being wrapped in a flurry of fabrics and sheets until she could neither see nor move. Twilight could hear the gem letting out a few 'dinks' as it fell to the floor and bounced several times.

"Much better" Rarity's spoke, her voice slightly muffled. Twilight could hear the familiar hum of Rarity's horn starting up again, and she knew that the designer was picking up the gemstone.

Taking a deep breath in her prison, Twilight jabbed her head forward so that her horn partially cut through some of the fabric. She repeated this process several times, until before finally poking her head up and out of the ball of sheets she'd been wrapped in.

From here, she could see Rarity just about to head upstairs to her room, probably to hide the jewel. After all, she couldn't keep Twilight wrapped up forever.

Thinking fast of whatever spell might help her -as she was still unable to move-, Twilight put all of her effort into a single burst of magic from her horn. Rarity only just turned to see her friend when it hit her, and after a brief moment of glowing brightly, Rarity transformed into a potted cactus.

Twilight lay in her ball for a few seconds more, thinking over what she'd just done. Not about Rarity's safety- she had full confidence changing her friend back would be no trouble at all.

What alarmed her was that she hadn't used that spell for at least ten years, and the last time she'd done it had been to her father during her entrance examination to Celestia's school. The energy is must have taken to pull off a spell to change a living being into that... Last time she'd been surprised. This time... was it anger?

Struggling a few more moments, Twilight eventually had to pull herself free of the fabric by hoof and teeth; she was woven into such a knot that even her magic hadn't been able to sort it out.

Finally free of the ball of sheets, Twilight hurried over to Rarity and the gem, which had fallen to the floor on her transformation. She grabbed the gem in her teeth, and quickly hurried out of the store. She only just stopped by the window, and barely brought herself to quickly undo the spell from there before trotting away.

Inside the shop, a very confused Rarity was lying upside-down on the floor, trying to figure out what just happened.

Gluttony

Chapter 3: Gluttony

gluttony, noun: excessive eating and drinking

Only once Twilight was certain she'd gone far enough that she was comfortable Rarity would not attack again did she slow herself. The moon was visible the sky now, however low, and Twilight stood on the grounds of the Apple Family farm. She had no intention of going to Applejack for help so soon, though it was an appealing idea. So, for now at least, she'd station herself beside a large apple tree for a few minutes to think things over.

Checking once more that no one was watching (not a difficult feat, considering most of the town was heading to sleep at this hour), Twilight finally spat the gem out onto the ground. It spun on its axis for several seconds as though a top, before finally slowing to a stop with the eye facing her.

"I'm watching you!" Twilight leaned in and hissed to the gem. She glared at it for a few seconds more, before standing herself back up straight and taking a seat beside it, leaning against the tree. 'I just talked to a gem', she thought silently, suddenly much happier that no one had seen that.

Her horn lit up, and with minimal effort, the jewel was lifted into view, hovering directly in front of her. Twilight took a few more quick glances around before finally speaking again. "Okay, little gem, let's see what you're hiding..."

Twilight scrunched her face up in concentration, trying to use her magic to peer into the object floating before her. Her mind was empty for a moment, forcing its way in. Then, for a split second only, an image of Nightmare Moon flashed through Twilight's mind.

The next thing she knew, she was back in reality just in time to see the gem fire a quick zap of magical energy back at Twilight's horn. It hit dead on, and it felt like she'd run into a brick wall.

Suddenly Twilight's head, along with whatever of her wasn't touching the tree, was flung back into it with such force it was guaranteed to leave a bit of a bruise the next day. Losing concentration for that moment, the gem dropped to the ground and rolled away a few feet, stopping with its eye facing Twilight again.

Twilight was stuck in a daze, with a sharp pain in her head and uncertainty flooding through her mind. She slumped forward, quietly, staring at the gem. It seemed to stare back. "The sooner I'm rid of you, the better" Twilight mumbled. She flinched from the pain as she stood herself back up, taking the gem in her teeth again. She'd need to see Zecora first; it was time to find out if Spike could ever eat again.

Next would be Celestia.

Twilight stopped short on the edge of the clearing, so she was just barely still in the lining of trees. She could see faint shadows darting about through the windows of Zecora's hut, and hear quite a bit of chaos going on within.

Oh, this could only end well.

Twilight made a note to return the gem to her pack before she knocked. While true, she was worried of how Zecora was react, there was also the tiny problem of her needing the ability to talk.

She knocked thrice upon the door, and heard only the sound of a shattering bowl in response followed by a foreign string of words Twilight could not recognize. They must have come from Zecora.

With some hesitance, Twilight pushed the doorway open, and immediately had to stifle a chuckle at the sight.

Spike and Zecora were on opposite sides of each other, separated in the middle by the cauldron centering the hut. Spike at least had his face back, though his scales were irregularly discolored. Where his purple and green scales had been were now bright red and yellow. In Zecora's mouth was a slightly tilted bowl holding a red liquid, which she seemed to be doing her best to not spill.

The two of them circled around the cauldron, Zecora trying to get to Spike, and Spike trying to keep away from her. Zecora mumbled something unintelligible with her mouth full.

Twilight stepped up behind spike, wrapping a hoof around his front and holding it over his mouth, both to keep him from running, and to prevent him from screaming. "I'm guessing he's been giving you a bit of trouble?" She asked. Spike was pulling at her hoof and desperately trying to get himself free.

Zecora finally let a sigh of relief and calmly approached the two of them. Twilight uncovered Spike's mouth just for a moment for Zecora to shove the bowl in and tip its contents down his throat. When done, Zecora idly tossed the bowl to the side, not caring where it landed. "Twilight Sparkle, though you are my friend; never bring him here again"

Twilight released her grip on the baby dragon, stepping back. He let out a few short coughs, and within seconds, his scales had faded back to their normal color. He looked down at himself, giving a disappointed "Aw..."

He looked back to his caretaker, pointing an accusing finger at Zecora. "What took you so long? I've been growing extra limbs thanks to her!"

Zecora glared at the dragon, accusingly. "You grew a second tail, not a single limb more! Tell no more lies, or I'll have you worse than before!"

"Thanks!" Twilight spoke up over the two arguing friends, drawing both of their attentions. "Thanks" she repeated, quieter this time, to Zecora. "Spike, say thank you. She fixed your tooth" Spike turned away stubbornly, crossing his arms. Twilight's horn lit up, and he spun around involuntarily on the spot to face the Zebra. "Spike" Twilight growled.

Eyes on the ground, Spike mumbled something of thanks. "Good. Now, can you wait outside a minute? I need to talk to Zecora. Alone" Still with a pout on his lips, Spike turned and left the cottage, with only just enough will to keep from slamming the door on the way out.

Zecora gave a quiet huff. "Childish dragon, I don't know how you manage" She turned back to her shelves -most of which appeared to be empty-, and began resetting everything as it had been before the ordeal. "I would not have minded if one of these made him vanish..." she finished in a mumble.

"I'll just pretend i didn't hear that" Twilight said aloud, now opening the top to her pack still wrapped around her body. "I needed to ask you about something, and I was hoping you might know..." Twilight reached in and pulled the gemstone out by the mouth.

Zecora turned to give her a look, and gave a double-take at the sight of it. Then, she rushed over to the central cauldron, grabbing the ladle sticking out and flinging a hot green substance at Twilight with it. The unicorn only just managed to back away without being sprayed. "Twilight Sparkle! I did as you asked, I healed your friend and removed his extra limb, and now you come to this place with an omen so grim?"

Twilight wouldn't have known what to say even if she had been able to talk at the moment. Zecora rushed over and gave her several good pushes towards the door. "Keep your dragon, and keep your Sin! Never bring that item back here again! You'd do wise to beware what lurks within!" The zebra yelled, finally pushing Twilight out the door and slamming it.

Twilight was stuck standing outside. She didn't know what to say, and calmly let the gem fall from her mouth onto the ground. She looked to Spike, who had obviously heard what had been said by the look on his face. "What the heck just happened?" She asked, not honestly expecting any real answer. He gave only a confused shrug.

"I think she's crazy" Spike managed to get out, hurrying over around the hut to check in the windows. As he did, they, too, had blinds fall over them. Muffled angry chants from the zebra within could be heard. Spike gave Twilight a confused look. "What did you do?"

"I don't know! I just showed her the gem and she flipped out!" Twilight half-spoke, half-yelled. She was not angry, though the surprise and panic was clear in her voice. She gave the blue jewel at her feet a quick nudge with her hoof. It made no response.

Spike approached, grabbing it from the ground and staring into it himself. "Well, that's that then?" He asked.

"Yep, come on" Twilight gestured out, to the forest, and beyond that, to town. "No doubt about it now. The Princess needs to know, and she needs to know now"

"Do you want to break a tooth again?" Twilight asked. After such a long day, it was nice to finally enter the massive tree she and Spike called home.

Speaking of Spike, the baby dragon was following behind her, occasionally gnawing on the gem without even noticing. He'd stopped himself several times now, and stopped several times more at Twilight's notice.

Shutting the door behind him, Spike pulled the gem from his mouth and held it away from him. While desire stayed in his eyes, he wasn't one to disobey Twilight's orders without good reason. "It's not my fault! This is one of the best looking jewels I've ever seen"

At this, Twilight's horn lit up, lifting the gem into the air with Spike still holding onto it. "Hey! Let go! I'll stop, I'll stop!" He pleaded. She shook it several times until finally his grip loosened and he dropped off it. Twilight set it down only on the highest shelf she could manage.

"You can have it back when and if the Princess says it's safe" Twilight replied, stepping up the ladder to the upper floor, and laying down on the bed. "Now, take a note"

With a disappointed "Fine...", Spike hurried over to the podium holding a ready strip of paper and quill, for such events as this one. He readied himself to write as she spoke.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I'm sorry to interrupt your day, but I bring urgent news. Spike and I went to the Castle of the Princess Sisters today. He managed to find a blue jewel tough enough to chip one of his teeth, and it's been giving me weird looks since. There's an eye on it. Normally I wouldn't think much of it, but it's been getting some strange reactions ever since we found it, and I think it may be magical. It's here with us in the library, if you're wondering. I'm worried it might have something to do with Nightmare Moon. Please write back as soon as you can.

Your Most Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle

"And... done" Spike finished off the letter with Twilight's signature. He rolled up the newly made letter and attached a red band around it to keep from unwinding on its own. "Hey, do you think we should wait until morning?"

Twilight gave him a questioning look. "Well, think about it, it's past midnight. Most ponies are... you know, sleeping at this hour?"

Twilight waved him on to send the letter. "I'm sure the Princess will understand. And if she doesn't, I've given her better reasons to punish me"

"That's not what you said when you were late on your assignment... or when the town got eaten by Parasprites"

"Just do it, Spike" Twilight sighed, falling back onto her pillow. She heard him finally blow into the letter, and could feel the warmth of it as it soared up over her head and out the open window.

Moments later, she felt the same warmth, followed by the sound of a loud burp from Spike. Twilight sat herself up again, looking down to her assistant. He'd only made it about a foot towards the ladder when the return letter had come, which was laying in front of him now. He looked up at her with a shrug. "Maybe the Princess stays up late"

"What does it say?" Twilight rushed back down the ladder to the letter, unraveling it herself with her horn and setting it down onto her podium to read. Spike had rushed up to her side, having to stand on his toes somewhat to see Twilight in the way.

Twilight Sparkle,

You made the right decision contacting me about this. I'm out of the country right now, but I'll be coming personally to collect the gem as soon as I possibly can. Try not to spend too much time with it, try to keep it safe, and most important, try to keep yourself safe from it. I urge you, do not let my sister, or anypony else know about this. Do not go out of your way for this find, Twilight. It's more dangerous than you know.

With You Always,
Princess Celestia

Twilight read and reread the letter, taking its meaning it, or at least trying to. "That... that doesn't tell me anything!" Twilight groaned, marching back to the ladder to head up into bed, thoroughly disappointed.

"Twilight, the Princess said not to go out of your way for it. I don't think you're supposed to be-" Spike shut himself up once he caught Twilight's hard glare on him.

"Come on, let's just go to bed" She hissed, crawling beneath the covers and laying her head on the pillow. She gave a quick blow to the bedside candle, engulfing her half of the room in semi-darkness.

Twilight heard Spike blow out the candle down on his floor, engulfing the whole library into darkness, followed by him coming up the ladder as well. She shut her eyes and prepared to fall to sleep, as impossible as it seemed with so much on her mind.

"Hey, Twilight, are you okay?" Twilight opened her eyes to see Spike standing over her bed; not in his own as she imagined he'd have gone. "You've always been a bit of a hothead, but lately you've been getting kind of..." Spike trailed off, standing awkwardly, fiddling his fingers together. He didn't know what to say.

With a sigh, Twilight reached up and hooked a hoof around him, pulling him under the covers with her to sleep there, with her, just for the night. "No, I'm not okay Spike. But I'm not angry at you, and I'm sorry..." With a sigh, feeling Spike snuggle up next to her as a baby might do to its mother, Twilight shut her eyes. She only managed to yawn out her final words for the night.

"I'm worried"

Greed

Chapter 4: Greed

greed, noun: excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions

Something was wrong.

Twilight's eyes sprang open, though she must've managed to get her head covered by the blanket, because she couldn't see. After a moment of struggling through it, her head popped free of the covers. She felt through the blankets plenty while trying to get free of them. Spike had left her side.

That alone didn't scare her, he probably wanted to sleep on his own anyway, independent as he was. What scared her was that he'd woken before her, and he knew where the gem was hidden.

Twilight took a quick glance out the window. Yes, the sun was still only just rising over the horizon. Maybe Applejack would be waking at this time, but certainly not Spike if he didn't have a reason for it.

It took her a minute or so to stretch her limbs and shake the sleep from her eyes, but soon Twilight was standing and made her way down the ladder. Spike's bed had been empty.

"Spike?" Twilight called. She expected no answer, and got none in return. She pulled the step ladder to her with her magic, and set it down in front of one of the higher shelves; where she'd left the gem the previous night.

Twilight only took one step up it when she heard an oddly disturbing gnawing noise. 'Please tell me I'm dreaming'

She stepped up to the top and took a moment to balance on her back hooves, so that she could peer up onto the shelf. What she saw brought out a gasp.

Spike lay upon the shelf, very much asleep as he had been throughout the night. The difference now was that he had the gem clenched between his teeth; a full set of teeth that now looked as though they'd been shattered.

"Spike! Wake up!" Twilight called, pulling him over as best as she could with her flat hooves. She didn't even think to use her magic right now, just to get the gem away from him and hope that she could find a way to fix him on her own.

That was literally her downfall. First the step-ladder gave a jerk backwards, then Twilight along with Spike and the gem went tumbling down to the floor with a loud thud.

While her head poundedand her vision flashed red for a second, Twilight tried her best to sit up where she lay, with Spike laying on top of her and only now just waking up. He looked dazily over to Twilight, letting the gemstone fall from his mouth and roll idly away. He spoke through broken teeth; "Twilight? What happened to you?"

"What happened to me?" Twilight groaned angrily, giving him a rough push off of her and onto the floor. He looked up at her with confused eyes, running a hand over his mouth as though only just now noticing. "What were you doing up before dawn chewing on that thing again?"

Spike was at loss for words, slowly standing himself up, though apparently finding himself sore from his sleeping position, if his flinching was any sign. "I... uh, just couldn't..."

"Couldn't help yourself? Spike..." Twilight sat herself up, using a hoof to pull his bottom lip down, revealing his broken teeth. "What did you do? What were you thinking..."

Spike let out an unintelligible mumble, with his lip being pulled as it was. "How are we supposed to fix this? Zecora's not going to do it again..."

Spike let another mumble free, this one sounding vaguely along the lines of an apology. Twilight let his lip free, hurrying over to the many bookcases lining the room. She'd pull some seemingly at random towards her, glancing at their titles before returning them to their positions.

No, no, no, not a single one was what she was looking for. Sure she could make up a spell to grow facial hair from nothing, but repairing teeth...

"Spike, what were you think-" Twilight finally halted to turn back to her assistant. He'd picked up the gem again, and was gently gnawing on it while watching her. He looked a like a child who hadn't gotten its fix of sugar might. "Spike, cut that out!" She actually yelled in anger. Her horn lit up once more and pulled the gem from his mouth, towards her.

"Sorry, sorry! I can't help it..." Spike mumbled. "But I think you're overreacting, we could just-"

"Overreacting?" Twilight yelled, stopping herself just as it left her mouth. She was getting angry again, unnaturally so. With a deep breath, she continued. "Spike, you know what the Princess said about this thing... Maybe she can fix your teeth when she gets here, I don't know, but..."

After a few moments of intense thinking on her part, she hurried back upstairs, finding and slinging a bag around her neck, which she shoved the gem into. "I don't think-" Spike started to protest, but couldn't quite find the words.

Twilight hopped down from the bedside, back to the main floor, and headed for the door. Spike had yet to move, still staring awkwardly at the floor.

"Twi', I'm sorry, really, but I really don't think you should be carrying that thing around with you" He murmured, rocking on his heels again like a scolded child.

"Well I can't leave it here, alone with you, can I? Listen, just... stay here, tidy the place up or something. I need to find some place to put this for the day" She asked, sounding slightly more hostile than she'd meant to. Twilight stepped outside as calmly as she could manage, catching Spike's look as she was leaving. "Spike, I'm not mad at you, honestly" She finally finished before shutting the door from the outside.

'What a bad liar you are, Twilight Sparkle'Twilight thought idly. She gave the door a quick kick with a back leg, taking a seat right there on the doorstep. She was very much angry. In fact, she was boiling inside. Maybe the gem was doing something to her, like it had to Rarity and Spike... But that was a thought she was not eager to accept. Yes, she was getting angry, yes, maybe even she'd been more mean than necessary, but something inside her just seemed to shout that they deserved it. Spike knew what he was doing, and he did it anyway.

Spike may as well have just used a hammer to do away with his teeth, damaging- no, destroying them so quickly after they'd just gone through the trouble of fixing one. And the way he obsessed over the gem, maybe less dangerously than Rarity had, after what the Princess said... How could Twilight not be mad? Spike certainly gave her enough reasons to worry. So much stress, so much left to figure out.

Twilight finally let out a loud groan of annoyance, not caring who heard (which was, thankfully, not many at this early hour). They'd never quite fought like this before... Fine, yes, she'd calm down later. She'd apologize, try to understand where he was coming from. Later. Right now, the thought of him being anywhere near the gem was terrifying and infuriating all at once.

Giving several quick glances around herself, Twilight set out, once more, to walk and think. Maybe she'd think of a place to hide the gem until the Princess arrived; maybe she'd find one. Maybe she'd just find a fountain to dunk her head into and cool down.

Twilight had only just made it out to the park, away from the streets and homes, when she heard a familiar voice call out "Heads up!"

Instinctively, she flattened herself against the ground. Just in time too, if the sudden rainbow appearing mere feet above her head was any indication. Twilight slowly rose back up, legs a little shaky from that close encounter.

The stream of rainbow circled around in the air, coming back at her. This time, however, it slowed as it neared, until a cyan pony with rainbow mane could be made out from it. The fastest flier in Equestria, Rainbow Dash.

The pegasus slowed to a hover before Twilight, never laying a hoof on the ground. "My bad, Twilight. You okay?"

"You almost took my head off"

"Yeah, but I didn't" Rainbow replied smugly. Twilight's gaze dropped to a look of 'are you kidding me', which Rainbow at least seemed to pick up on and cover for. "Besides, I'm flying out here every morning, and there's never really anyone out here getting in the way"

"Wait, you fly around Ponyville every- is that why you sleep in every day?" Twilight asked, suddenly coming to that realization.

Rainbow Dash gave a quick shrug, finally landing herself on the ground as she did so. "Gotta get practice in some time, right?"

Now it was Twilight's turn to give a shrug. "I just thought what you do normally was your practice... and that you were just lazy" Twilight started off again, knowing Rainbow Dash would be eager to follow after even if she was in the middle of practicing.

"Yeah, yeah" Rainbow rose back into the air, following after and circling around as expected. It suited her best considering the pegasus loved to move. "You don't get to join the Wonderbolts with day to day practice and being lazy, though. You should see some of the new moves I came up with on my own. Want to watch?"

There was a thought. As exciting as watching Rainbow perform was, even to a bookworm like Twilight, she hadn't actually considered the pegasus' flying abilities until just now. The gem suddenly felt like it was burning against her chest through the bag. Rarity and Spike were easy, small, not very strong and certainly not on Twilight's level of magic. If the others found out about the gem, if Rainbow wanted it, Twilight couldn't honestly be certain that she could stop the pegasus from taking it.

"Uh, no, I'm actually kind of busy right now" The thought to get away from Rainbow, find a spot to hide the gem was suddenly making its way into Twilight's mind. She would never think of herself as a paranoid one, but after what had happened earlier...

Rainbow swooped down to hover just a few feet before Twilight, backing up as the unicorn kept walking. "Let me guess, on another assignment for the Princess?"

"You know me too well" Twilight responded, putting on a smile and asking nonchalantly "Hey, weren't you practicing a minute ago?"

The realization seemed to hit Rainbow hard, as though she'd forgotten what she had been doing by simply talking to Twilight. "You're right, I need to keep my time! I need to get back to it, see ya around!" Those were good words.

Within a second the pegasus had taken off out of sight. Twilight let out a sigh of relief, finally continuing on her way without worry. At least she would have, if Rainbow's voice hadn't sounded up seconds later. "Wait, you're doing something for the Princess?"

The pegasus reappeared before Twilight, stopping her in her tracks, now somewhat worried. "Yeah, so?"

"Don't you normally do your assignments in the library?" Rainbow asked confusedly. Her eyes wandered to the bag hanging around Twilight's neck. "Oh, are you bringing something somewhere for her? I can do it!"

Speaking as quickly as she could, Twilight brought up the first excuse coming to mind "Oh nononononono, I couldn't keep you from your practice, I mean, you're already late on it now, aren't you?" The unicorn took an awkward step back.

"Well, yeah, but my time's already messed up. Besides, this is routine now, it's better practice if I try something completely new!" Rainbow took off again, hovering closer to Twilight as the unicorn stepped back.

"Really, I should just do it myself" Twilight felt her horn hum with some power again, this time pushing the bag against her so that Rainbow couldn't grab it if she tried. Not that the pegasus had any reason to at this moment, though the fear of her trying didn't help in Twilight's mind.

"Come on, Twilight, what's in the bag? I can help"

"Nothing!" Twilight finally yelled, finally physically holding it against her. Rainbow hovered back some, a look of genuine surprise on her face from Twilight's outburst. 'Oh please no' Twilight thought to herself at this realization.

Slowly, the look of surprise changed to one of curiosity and confidence. "Oh really?" Rainbow asked with a hint of sarcasm. She flew a few feet closer to Twilight before setting herself down. "You're hiding something, aren't you?"

"Nothing at all" Twilight's attempt to sound calm this time wasn't even remotely believable.

"It's something for me, isn't it?" Rainbow stepped forward closer, until she and Twilight were nearly close enough to count each others skin cells. "Come on, surprise over, what'd you get me?"

Where was Discord when you needed a good lie? "Alright, you got me, it's... uh..." Twilight took an uncertain step back, looking Rainbow up and down and saying the first thing that came to mind. "Rainbow Appreciation Day!"

Rainbow at least seemed confused for a moment, stopping herself from coming any closer and sitting back onto the ground. "Rainbow Appreciation Day? We don't have a Rainbow Appreciation Day"

"Of course not!" Twilight gave a quick wave of the hoof as if dismissing it. "But we had it back in Canterlot, and I just thought, hey, why not celebrate it here with the best Rainbow pony I know?"

"Uh... okay" Rainbow scratched her head thoughtfully, trying to picture such an event. Considering she was from Cloudsdale, the very idea of a Rainbow-based holiday in any part of the world seemed unheard of. "Are you sure-"

"Just come to Sugarcube Corner at noon. But don't tell anyone I told you!" Twilight stepped up and gave Rainbow a few nudges in the shoulder. "It's still supposed to be a surprise!" With her luck, this would probably be the one day Pinkie wouldn't be up for a random party.

"Uh... great, I guess" Rainbow answered uncertainly. She nudged the bag around Twilight's neck. "So... what about my gift?"

Another sentence, another lie. "Come on, Rainbow, let's have one real surprise today, alright?" Twilight tried to laugh it off like no big deal.

Dash only gave a disappointed shrug. "Fine, I'll see you there I guess..." Giving a quick nod of thanks, she lifted off into the air and out of sight for the second time.

Twilight finally let out a much needed sigh of relief. Her heart felt like it was going to explode. After all, if Rainbow had just been as greedy as she'd expected, the whole situation could have turned out much worse. Now of course she'd have to buy a present for later, but that was most certainly worth it...
And, on cue, a rush of color passed by Twilight, she felt a sudden yanking on her neck, and finally looked down to see the bag was nowhere in sight. "Rainbow!"

Her horn lit, and suddenly the rush of color speeding away from her gave a sudden lurching stop. Not expecting it, the pegasus twisted backwards somewhat and hit the ground, still holding the bag firmly in her teeth. Rainbow spat the handle from her mouth. "Come on, I hate waiting around" She groaned, nudging the bag with her hoof.

That simple action was all it took. The bag tipped over onto its side, the top opening and the blue gem rolling out onto the dirt.

"Well, you'll just have to manage" Twilight rushed over as quickly as she could, grabbing the gem in her teeth and returning her bag to her neck with a quick use of magic. "If you're going to spoil the surprise like that, I don't have to get you anything at all" She reminded the pegasus, falling back into the lie and hoping Rainbow hadn't seen too much of the gem already.

Her hopes, as they seemed to do a lot recently, fell hollow. "Whoa whoa whoa, hold up" Rainbow Dash lifted herself from the ground, hovering just a few feet from Twilight with head bent in close to see the jewel. "Cool..." She murmured, positively transfixed by the sight. The color visibly drained from Twilight's face at this realization.

"Let me see it!" Rainbow suddenly lurched forward in the air, making a grab to pull the gem from Twilight's mouth. The unicorn had expected this, however, and ducked down beneath the pegasus's grasp, firing a shot of magic from her horn up at her rainbow-maned friend.

Rainbow Dash, unlike Rarity, however, was much quicker than that, and was well out of harms way before the shot even left Twilight's horn.

Twilight only just stood back up once Rainbow came in close again, this time circling around her in a rainbow daze of color. The same 'Rainbow Dry' as she'd called it once suddenly seemed a lot more menacing.

With some fear in her heart, Twilight lit her horn again and, in a flash of light, teleported out of the rainbow twister.

She appeared only a few meters away, catching her balance. Rainbow seemed to notice at the same time, and broke from the twister, coming at Twilight again. "Let me see that gem!" She yelled.

"Will you forget about the stupid gem!" Twilight yelled in return. Her voice seemed to be off, somewhat, more... hateful. Her horn lit itself again, and this time fired a blast, much greater than those even she had seen before. Rainbow must have been just as surprised as she, because the pegasus hit the blast of magic head on.

Within an instant, each feather on her wings turned grey and lifeless, ceasing their flapping and suddenly weighing Rainbow down. At this speed, she hit the ground hard, grinding against it somewhat with her stone wings keeping her from getting up.

It wasn't just the fall, it seemed. From the look on Rainbow's face, the stone wings were really pulling down more than they shouldn't. Twilight had never seen such a look of pain before. Something foreign, sinister inside of her cherished it, and she hated that feeling.

This thought was tossed from her mind in full, however, when Rainbow started shouting from the ground, "Twilight! Sorry, sorry! Change them back, change them back!"

"Promise you'll keep your hooves off my gem!" A shout of pure rage that sounded nothing like her own escaped Twilight's lips.

"Fine! Fine! Change them back, change them back!" Rainbow yelled. It was scary, actually, the pegasus sounded genuinely terrified, and the sight of her pleading on the ground like this was not a comforting one.

Had she perhaps gone too far? No time to think on it now. Twilight gave Rainbow another quick magical burst, and as quickly as they'd changed before, Rainbow Dash's wings transformed back to their old feathery selves.

The pegasus sprang back to her feet, quickly backing away from Twilight with a look of pure fear on her face. She seemed to be folding her wings back into herself with some force, as if hoping to keep them safe. "What is wrong with you?" Her shaky voice could barely be heard.

Without another word, Rainbow turned and sped up into the air, quickly hiding herself amongst the clouds.

Yes, she had undoubtedly gone too far, or so Twilight thought to herself. The unicorn hung her head, not bothering to look where her friend had sped off to. 'I lied to my friend, I hurt my friend... and I might have just lost her too'

Pride

Chapter 5: Pride

pride, noun: a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority

Applejack it was.

Wandering around aimlessly had so far failed her twice. Besides, this time, Twilight didn't need to think, she needed to know. Not only about the gem, but particularly Rainbow; she needed to apologize.

'And just what were you thinking using a spell like that on her?' Twilight scolded herself as she continued walking. She'd stepped out of the town moments ago. On her left and right were endless fields, as far as the eye could see, and in front of her was Ponyville's own Sweet Apple Acres. She could hear the smack of hooves connecting with tree bark from here.

Besides, it wasn't like she had many other options. Fluttershy, while helpful, had proven to know nothing about cheering Rainbow up in times like this. And Pinkie Pie was... Pinkie Pie.

So, Applejack it was. Out of their little group, the apple farmer was the closest there was to being Rainbow's best friend... and with so much land, she probably wouldn't notice if Twilight decided to keep the gem hidden somewhere nearby.

As Twilight came closer, three little fillies came into view, running from the farm. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle passed by Twilight, ignoring her with some mischief in their eyes. No doubt they'd either been causing some trouble, or they had been going to try some other random scheme for their cutie marks.

Apple Bloom seemed to be lagging behind them however, and wore a mask of mud over most of her face. "Ya'll get back here and help me! Big Mac's gonna get mad at me when he sees-" She stopped running as she was passing Twilight, jogging in place as she did. "Oh, hey Twilight, you looking for Applejack?"

"Um, yes actually, I-"

"She's in the back. Sorry, gotta run!" Apple Bloom gave a quick point to the farm and hurried on after her two friends, yelling after them. "Get back here you two varmints!" Those were the last words Twilight heard from her as she hurried off after her friends.

Twilight gave a silent chuckle and, for the first time in a while, cracked a decently genuine smile. 'You need to calm down, just a little longer and you'll be all set for the rest of the day'

In only a few short minutes, Twilight reached the main gate of Sweet Apple Acres. The voice of an old woman called out, Granny Smith from the front of the house, sitting in her rocking chair. "Twilight? Is that there Twilight? Oh, come on in dear!" She waved the unicorn over, falling back into her chair with a look of pure bliss, as she usually wore.

She'd never needed an invitation in before, and of course she didn't actually need one now. Still, it was nice to give the old-timer these little moments.

Giving a nod of thanks, Twilight hurried in and up to the main building; the actual living quarters of the Apple Family. Specifically, to Granny Smith. Twilight was anything of polite, especially to this pony. "Thanks Granny Smith, how are you doing? Apple Bloom causing some trouble?" She asked with mild interest.

Granny Smith waved it off with a smile, rocking back and forth in her chair. By her face alone, you wouldn't know she'd heard any of what Twilight had said. "Oh don't worry about an old mare like me, hun. What about you?" The old mare sat forward in her seat, suddenly stopping its rocking, to stare Twilight in the face. "You look troubled. Things not been going your way lately?" Her kind smile fell to a look of concern.

Twilight's stomach gave a jump in surprise. "Just a lot on my mind, it's nothing too bad. I had a bit of a fight with Rainbow Dash..." Now, this old mare was one of the least expected people to talk to, but if she wanted to hear...

"With who?" Granny Smith asked, as if she'd never heard of the pegasus. She leaned back in her chair with some slight interest.

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight raised an eyebrow, answering the question.

"What about her?" The old mare asked again, starting her rocking once more and going back to her blissfully ignorant look.

Well, that was Granny Smith's few minutes of proper thought for the day. Twilight inwardly smiled and shrugged to herself. "Thanks. I'm going to head around and see Applejack, okay?" Twilight turned and began heading off behind the house.

"Of course, dearie" Granny Smith gave a friendly wave to send Twilight off. "And if you see Big Mac back there, let him know the pigs got loose in his room, would ya kindly? Can't imagine how they managed it, but..." With these words, she closed her eyes and drifted off too sleep.

Quickly wishing her well, Twilight hurried around back and into the acres of apple trees that littered the area. When she'd first come, Twilight might've gotten lost within the trees. How long ago that seemed now...

Soon enough, Twilight found the orange mare within the trees. Current head of the Sweet Apple Acres and known champion of Ponyville if there ever was one, Applejack. She stood not far off from a few baskets already filled, with her older brother, Big Macintosh standing not far off.

He, too, seemed to have a fine coating of mud on him. "She just left" Applejack answered an unheard question, and with that, Big Mac hurried on his way right past Twilight.

Twilight risked one question. "Apple Bloom?"

"Eeyup" He answered, hurrying on out of sight.

"Oh hey Twilight!" Applejack's voice pulled Twilight back to the task at hand. The earth pony was setting herself up against another nearby tree, giving it a quick buck to let the apples fall out neatly into their baskets. Her face turned to one of horror almost immediately afterwards, when she got a clear look at Twilight. "Whoa, hold on sugarcube, what happened to you?"

Twilight stopped where she was, not sure what to make of it. "What do you mean?"

"Er... might want to follow me real quick" Without a word of warning, Applejack hurried off through the trees, Twilight only barely keeping pace behind her. They ran until finally Applejack stopped in front of a pond, pointing a hoof towards it. "Take a look"

Twilight did indeed look into the surface of the pond, and she almost let out a yelp at what she saw.

Her mane was twisted in a fashion that screamed of the Rainbow Dry she'd been a victim of earlier, yet at the same time it seemed a bit longer, painfully crumpled out of shape. Her eyes were baggy, as though she'd gotten not a wink of sleep the previous night, though it must have been stress; Rainbow certainly hadn't mentioned it. Twilight's eyes themselves seemed to have a wild hint to them, as though she only had a loose grip on her sanity.

But perhaps most troubling of all was her horn. It had undoubtedly grown at least an inch, and even now glowed its customary purple despite her not using it. Instinctively, Twilight used it to cancel any magic she might have been casting, and its glow stopped. The bag around her neck also suddenly felt heavier. Had she been levitating the gem inside the bag? Why? Or had the gem perhaps been doing the magic this time?

"So..." Applejack's voice finally pulled Twilight from her thoughts, and she turned to address the apple farmer. "Princess got you working overtime, or something?"

Twilight gave a weak, fake smile, though she knew that looking like she did, it was nowhere near believable. "You could say that"

"Twilight, I'm not just the best here apple farmer in Ponyville, I'm the Element of Honesty" Applejack leaned in accusingly, giving a playful jab to Twilight's shoulder. "Don't lie to me. Come on, what's got ya all worked up?"

And that was it. Those words were all it took. Without hesitation, Twilight let everything out. The trip to the abandoned Castle, the Sea Serpent, the gem. Spike's teeth, and the visit to Zecora. Rarity's attack, along with -and she reminded herself she was breaking rules by saying this- what she'd told the Princess and vice versa. Spike's want for the gem despite his pain, her blowing up at him. Onto the meeting with Rainbow, the fight they'd had, how she turned the pegasus's wings to stone and driven her away.

But the story was just one part of it. Twilight told her the stress, the undying stress she'd felt from looking after the stupid jewel the whole time while juggling all of these never ending problems. The rage she seemed to be feeling more and more and how she worried that her magic had been effected by it. How she was deathly afraid that Rainbow might hold what had happened against her, and that the one thing she wanted to do right now was let it all just go.

Element or not, Applejack was anything if not loyal. While she did drift around some and eventually settle on laying on the grass, she listened to every word of it. Twilight, on the other hand, was much more animated, and practically paced around the pond throughout the entire story with the energy of Pinkie Pie.

Finally Twilight collapsed down onto the grass before Applejack, giving a final sigh and asking "So, that's what happened"

Applejack waited a few minutes in painful silence, thinking it all over before finally rolling over onto her back, hooves behind her head to relax. Twilight followed suit. "You certainly got yourself in quite a pickle, huh sugarcube?"

"Yeah... so, what should I do?" Twilight had to strain herself a bit to get a look at Applejack from this angle. Though the farmer was obviously just cloud watching while she spoke.

"Well, break it down first off. Little miss Rainbow, to start. I may not know her head as much as I'd like, but I'm amazed you even managed to fight her"

At this Twilight sat up and turned slightly to give Applejack a look of confusion.

Applejack must have caught this look, because she quickly specified "Not like you're a string-bean or nothing, just that she's got a bit of a soft spot for you. You've done her good in the past" Twilight gave a nod of understanding and laid back down as she had been. "But that girl's wings are like to her as this here farm is to me, you know? You shouldn't have hurt 'em"

"Thanks, I hadn't figured that one out yet" Twilight mumbled sarcastically.

"But you managed to explain it all to me, right? Just say you're sorry, let her know you were a bit freaked at the time"

Twilight sat up for the second time, this time actually standing and stepping over Applejack to block her view of the sky. "She attacked me!"

Applejack gave a shrug and sat up, avoiding bumping heads as she did so. "Sugarcube, I know it hurts but you've gotta swallow your pride here a bit. I certainly wouldn't much care where you were coming from if you set Sweet Apple Acres ablaze, even if you did put the fire out. She'll be nicer than that"

"But but-!" Twilight started to object, though she already had the suspicion it wouldn't do her any good. She stepped back over to the lake, sitting before it and staring into the water once more. "You're right, fine... But what about the gem?"

Applejack's figure appeared in the water beside Twilight's, staring in at the unicorn's reflection. "Well, I don't know much anything about your unicorn magic, but..." After a few moments of thought, she raised a hoof to Twilight's side. "Give it here"

Instinctively, Twilight jumped up from her seat and backed away, clutching the bag to her with her magic. "Are you crazy?"

Thankfully, the farmer seemed to be expecting this, and sprang up in an as least-threatening pose as she could manage. She took a few calm steps forward towards the unicorn. "Now listen Sugarcube, you told me yourself you wanted to get that thing off your hooves. I'm sorry, I know you're a bit wound up, but I don't think you're the best person to be carrying that thing around"

If Twilight looked down now, she'd see the eye on the gem glowing brightly enough to be seen through the bag. "I am not giving this up! I promised the Princess!" She finally shouted, taking another step back, but raising her glowing horn to Applejack as though threatening her.

"She'll understand, hun. Trust me, I'm more than proper enough to handle that there voodoo gem of yours. You don't have much a mind left by the looks of it, I can't have you carrying it around. Come on, have I ever lied to you?"

Twilight only stepped back once more, horn glowing brighter. The waters of the pond beside them began to ripple.

At this, Applejack's calm look fell to one of frustration. "Twilight, you'll thank me for this later" She dragged one hoof across the ground, preparing to gallop forward.

Twilight's eyes darted from the pond to Applejack and back once more.

Finally, Applejack kicked off the ground, sprinting forward right at Twilight with the intent to ram her and rip the bag from Twilight's neck if need be.

Twilight saw only a brilliant flash of light from her horn lighting up so brightly. Once she could see again, she had to blink several times to clear her vision, and what she saw made her gasp. Applejack, not an inch in front of her, frozen in an everlasting gallop. The water from the pond has vanished, and in its place was the apple farmer before her frozen solid, an unmoving look of determination over her face.

With a sigh of relief, Twilight stepped back from the frozen form, her legs suddenly feeling very wobbly. "Sorry AJ, I know it hurts, but you've gotta swallow your pride here a bit" Twilight could swear she heard something of a crack in the ice at these words. "I certainly wouldn't much care where you were coming from if you tried to steal from me. The Princess might be nicer than that"

Angry? Yes. Very, that was the only word to describe it. Very, very, angry. This time, Twilight didn't even bother undoing the spell. AJ could thaw on her own. Twilight turned and headed away from the dried pond.

She still had a job to do, but perhaps some calming might be nice beforehand.

Sloth

Chapter 6: Sloth

sloth, noun: habitual disinclination to exertion; indolence; laziness

Of her two choices, neither was good.

Forcalming, Fluttershy was the obvious choice, consideringit was impossible to be mad at the ponywhile inher presence, or within several miles of her. Or at least it was difficult, Twilight reminded herself. She'd managed it once or twice. While Fluttershy was the best choice to help calm herself, Twilight also knew if she did blow up at the pegasus, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself.

Right now, Twilight casually brought her mane back into its usual form, and forced herself to put on a decent face. She stepped out the front gates of Sweet Apple Acres, mulling it all over.

So the other option was Sugarcube Corner, which at least managed to get Twilight's spirits up without fail. The problem was that Pinkie Pie happened to live there.

Still, the confectioner was nothing if not hyperactive, and spent almost all of her time out and about. With any luck, Twilight could be in and out without Pinkie Pie ever being there.

This thought remained in mind as she reentered town and hurried through towards the bakery. It wasn't that Pinkie Pie was a bad person, or that she above all made Twilight angry. It was more the idea that it wouldn't even be worth it to try and stop Pinkie from finding the gem.

'Okay, coast is clear...'Twilight stopped outside Sugarcube corner, looking in through the windows. Mr. Cake was nowhere to be seen, while the Mrs. was trotting around the store with Pound and Pumpkin riding on her back and squealing with glee.

Giving a sigh of relief, Twilight pushed open the door with her head and entered the bakery. She only just managed out a smile when the twins caught sight of her from their mother's backs. The happiness fell from their face in an instant.

Mrs. Cake only just turned to Twilight when the both fillies started crying loudly, and based on the look on Mrs. Cake's face, it was obvious why. She quickly gave something of an apology that could barely be heard under the cries, and hurried back into the kitchen with both twins on her back.

She returned a few minutes later, free of children. Twilight could faintly hear Mr. Cake trying to calm the twins down in the back.

"Twilight! Glad you could visit!" The baker spoke happily, and a bit loudly to be heard over the background noise. Despite her kind smile, her face showed traces of uncertainty. "You look..."

"Scary?"

"Taller" Mrs. Cake corrected, giving a quick flash of understanding, before hurrying back into the kitchen to check on her husband. The crying had died down. "I'm sorry if this is a bit sudden" Twilight heard her calling from the back. "But we're only just waiting on Pinkie to arrive. Business out of town"

Mr. Cake popped his head out through the swinging gates, the rest of his body following shortly after with the twins sitting on it. They both looked, frightened, at Twilight. "I really don't know what's gotten into them, but we're a bit behind on schedule. Could you watch the twins for a few minutes until Pinkie Pie gets back?"

"Uh, actually-"

"Look kids, it's Twilight! You remember her, don't you? Twilight" He stopped in front of Twilight, turned in such a way that the twins would both be able to see her up close. The two fillies looked her up and down, seeming almost uncertain.

"Twi-"

"-Light?" They went, Pound before Pumpkin as they usually did with new words.

Carrot Cake seemed at least pleased with this, and set the twins down right there. "See? Just fine. Now Twilight, Pinkie should be here in just a few minutes, thanks a bunch" He disappeared back through the swinging doors, reappearing with a pile of bags stacked high on his back, along with is wife who was in the same position.

"Actually, I'd really rather not-" Was all Twilight could get out before the door was shut behind them on their way out. She turned back to the two fillies who sat on the floor before her, who seemed to be fading from their fear of her and preparing to go explore the shop in their typical chaotic fashion.

'Okay, gotta leave... can they stay here on their own?' "Do either of you know where mommy and daddy keep the knives?" Twilight asked. The two babies looked up to her, smiles spreading across both of their faces at the sound of it. "Of course you do..." Twilight groaned. Okay, so no, she couldn't leave.

Twilight mulled over her options in silence for a few seconds more, keeping both fillies in her sights at all times before simply deciding to run with it. All she could honestly hope for now was that Pinkie would be too excited to care about the gem.

With her horn, she lifted both of them into the air when the two started heading off in their own directions. Pound Cake at least seemed to try to fly away, now airborne, only to be disappointed when he couldn't move from Twilight's magical grasp. Pumpkin Cake on the other hand seemed content with spinning lightly in the air and eventually getting herself stuck hanging upside-down.

"Hold on a minute, auntie Twilight needs some alone time..." With moderate care, the unicorn hurried through the swinging doors into the kitchen, grabbing the first sweet that came into view, a cupcake with green icing, and hurrying back out to the main room.

She sat herself down at a table with the treat before her, only now carefully letting both fillies down from the air gently. 'Okay, calm yourself, this will all work out just fine...' She thought to herself. An assortment of toys were already strewn about the floor, which did their jobs to occupy both children. Still, she kept her eyes on them.

With a sigh, Twilight pulled the gem up and out of her satchel, laying it on the table beside her treat. 'And just what am I going to do with you?' She sighed, leaning forward to take a bite out of the cupcake.

A second later, there was the sound of the front door bursting open followed by the familiar yell of "Sorry I'm late Mr. and Mrs. Cake!"

In a quick fit of fright, Twilight bit forward, and felt only a sharp stinging as the gem ended up between her teeth instead of the cupcake. She spat it back out onto the table, and thinking quickly, lifted it with her magic and shoving it into the cupcake. True, it was only just vaguely smaller, but it'd have to do. The disguise looked halfway believable.

Looking up from the table, Twilight turned her attention to the front door just as Pinkie Pie rushed inside, slamming it behind her. The earth pony didn't even seem to notice Twilight, and ran directly over to the twins, who welcomed her with open hooves.

"Hi Pound Cake! Hi Pumpkin Cake! Where's mommy and daddy?" Pinkie half-yelled in her usual excited manner, quickly falling to the floor and rolling over to play with the two as if she were a dog.

It certainly seemed to work, both fillies were quickly climbing all over her, resulting in laughs from the three. Pound Cake specifically stopped when he was seated upon her chest, pointing a hoof to the corner table Twilight sat in and saying "Twi-", which was naturally finished by Pumpkin's "-Light"

Pinkie lifted her head off the floor just enough to see Twilight, and immediate pulled herself up, hugging both fillies close to her in each hoof and rocking them happily. "Hey Twilight! Are you here to help me babysit? Oh I've never had any help with this before! It's loads of fun!"

Twilight only smiled unconvincingly and sat back, resisting the urge to mention that Pinkie had kicked her out the first time Twilight had tried to help her babysit. She felt through her teeth with her tongue, happily finding that she hadn't bit as hard as she could have, and had all of her teeth intact. "Yeah, you know, I just figured I'd stop by"

"Ooh!" Pinkie didn't seem to hear her. The earth pony sat both twins down on either side of Twilight, peering at the slightly fattened cupcake. Her smile faded. "Wait a second, you were going to pay for that, right?"

"Uh..."

"Just kidding!" Pinkie pie let out a giggle. Twilight gave a fake laugh alongside it, smiling uncertainly. Twilight silently noticed Pumpkin reaching for the cupcake-gem, slid it away, much to the filly's disappointment. "On the house! Hold on, watch them for a minute, I'll be right back!"

With those words, Pinkie Pie rushed back through the swinging doors and into the kitchen. Twilight sat in silence with the two babies, one hoof holding Pound Cake down to keep him from flying off, and another occasionally giving Pumpkin's hoof a quick slap whenever she tried to grab at the cupcake.

Pinkie Pie returned a second later, arms full of all sorts of colors of cupcakes, which she let fall onto the table. "I'm not really supposed to give them sweets, but if you're here to help, that means its okay, right?"

Twilight opened her mouth to object, more out of knowledge that it was unlikely either child could even eat solid foods, but her eyes fell on the table. Which one was hers again? Twilight only just managed to sputter out an objection.

"Pinkie, they're not even a year old!"

"But they love cupcakes, look!" Pinkie pointed to Pumpkin Cake, who currently had the top half of a cupcake sticking out of her mouth, and was sucking on it more than actually eating it. Pound Cake, on Twilight's other side, seemed more interested in squishing them under his hooves. "Come on, you were having one anyway!" At this, Pinkie took one and shoved it playfully at Twilight, managing to smear most of it down the unicorn's face.

Twilight could care less about this once Pinkie Pie started digging in as well. On her left, Pumpkin Cake occasionally exchanged whatever sweet she was sucking on when it ran out of icing. On her right, Pound Cake would take whatever was in front of him and squish it under his hoof, while across from him, Pinkie was stuffing her face and letting out an occasional laugh at either of the kid's antics.

Twilight only gave a light shudder, not daring to move. Which one was it? One of them was going to find it, and then oh lord would Pinkie be a problem.

It was no sooner then she thought this then a loud cry was heard to her left, drawing every one's attention. Cringing, Twilight looked over to see Pumpkin Cake with half of a cupcake in her lap. The other half was vaguely covering the blue gemstone, which seemed to be lodged painfully in Pumpkin's mouth.

"Pumpkin!" Pinkie was at her side in a minute, pulling the gem from her mouth, which emptied it enough for the filly to start very loudly crying. Seconds later, Pound Cake seemed to catch onto the idea, and starting crying as well. Pinkie looked panicked between the two of them, then to Twilight, who have already shoved the slobber and frosting-covered gemstone back into her bag.

"What was that! Why did she just try to eat that? She's not supposed to actually eat them!"

"I'll explain later, help me calm them down!"

It took long enough, and it would certainly be an interesting story for Pinkie to have to later tell to the Cakes. That story, being of course, the reason why their daughter had nearly choked and had had an object in her mouth like that in the first place.

It must have taken an hour at least to get the twins both calmed down and settled into their room, before Twilight finally sat ashamedly on one side of Pinkie's room, across from the earth pony who seemed to be trying very hard to understand.

While her gaze was directly mainly at the ground, Twilight did glance around the room. The ceiling had its own set of personal streamers, and the wallpaper had a repeating balloon and candy design. Her bed was, fittingly, bright pink, a single circular table sat in the center of the room, piled high with goods to be used should they be needed for party, and sitting off in the corner was Pinkie Pie's personally made Party Cannon.

Pinkie, pacing through the room, was the first to break the silence. "What did she put in her mouth?"

"Who knows? Maybe it was supposed to be- Ow!" Twilight suddenly sat up straight from her slumped position, feeling quite a bit of very wet pressure being created around her tail. She turned her head just enough to see Gummy seated behind her, gnawing on the hairs quietly with that same blank expression on his face.

"Don't you lie to me, Twilight! I made that whole batch myself! I could get in trouble for this, what if Mr. and Mrs. Cake don't want me to babysit anymore!" Another thought equally bad must have crossed her mind, because a look of horror suddenly flashed across her face. "What if they kick me out? I only get to live here because I work here!"

Twilight visibly winced at these words. Hearing Pinkie Pie angry was a rarity, and it was never for anything small or silly. In fact, if Pinkie hadn't been so scared for her own sake, she probably would have been much more directly angry.

With a pained look and a lump in her throat, Twilight pulled the gem from the satchel hanging around her neck, holding it up for Pinkie to see. The earth pony stopped her pacing at the sight of it. "That's all? Why would you hide that in a cupcake?"

"It was an order from Princess Celestia..."

Pinkie tilted her head to the side lightly at this. "The Princess ordered you to hide a blue ball in one of my cupcakes? Maybe she meant to put it on top, it looks like it'd be a good ornament"

"No, no, Pinkie..." Twilight hushed herself, covering her face with her hoof for a few seconds. She took a deep breath, prepared to explain it in full. When she uncovered her face, however, she discovered the hoof she'd been holding the gem in was now empty.

Her eyes darted across the room to Pinkie Pie, who, as was expected, had the gemstone between her hooves, looking amazedly at it and letting out a soft "Ooh..." Every so often.

'Oh no, please no' Twilight darted over to the table, grabbing a party blower between her teeth and rushing over to Pinkie with it. She gave a powerful blow through it, letting it fall from her mouth right afterward. "Come on, Pinkie, we could have a party! To celebrate... well, that Pumpkin's going to be alright! The twins will love it, come on!"

Inside, Twilight knew this was an empty request. Pinkie was less than likely to care for a party under the effects of the gem.

As she expected, Pinkie only gave Twilight a quick shove away, still looking over the gem in her hooves. "Why bother?" Her voice came out a little less perky than it normally did. "I'm probably going to get fired anyway, no more parties for me..." The earth pony fell forward onto the floor, laying on her stomach while holding the gem out in front of her. "Besides, why all the effort? This is much better than a party..." She spun the gem so it twirled in her hoof.

Twilight steadied herself, looking between the gem and Pinkie. Making her decision, she marched up to the earth pony, grabbing it with her magic and hurrying for the effort. "You're not going to get fired, and I'm not letting you keep th-

A second later, a blast was heard from behind her and Twilight felt something collide in her back, throwing her forward towards and smashing her into the wall. Twilight took a few moments to straighten her vision, realizing the gem had fallen to the floor and was rolling away. But what was the bigger concern was that she was now covered in... party decorations...

'Really?' Twilight thought, lifting her head up to look towards Pinkie. The earth pony stood on her hind legs in the corner, party cannon in front of her with a smoking barrel.

"Pinkie, you just shot me! With a Party Cannon!" Twilight sputtered something incoherent, slowly picking herself up onto wobbly legs and shaking a few streamers off of her that tried to hold on. "I... I don't even know how to be angry at that!"

Pinkie Pie slammed her hoof down into the Party Cannon again, yelling "You're not leaving after what you did!" As if sensing this, the Party Cannon let out a lurch and fired forward a blast of frosting. Twilight only just dodged out of the way of it, splattering Pinkie's wall with a warm green frost.

The last few times, her anger itself had come natural, and with it, powerful magic. But for whatever reason, Twilight couldn't bring herself to do it again, it just didn't seem right for Pinkie to be this angry, to be angry at all for that matter. And it seemed less right to fight her...

'But maybe it wasn't my anger that was doing it...' Twilight looked over to the gem, sitting calmly in the corner with its eye brightly lit up. She glanced over to Pinkie who was setting up the cannon for another shot. 'Please work!' She inwardly begged, pulling the gem over to her with her magic.

The moment it neared, an inward fire seemed to light itself.

Twilight turned her attention back to Pinkie, horn blaring and eyes blazing. She fired a bolt of magic over to the Party Cannon, just as Pinkie Pie slammed her hoof down into it once more. Instead of firing normally, it spun over on its wheels, facing Pinkie, and fired out... a giant bubble. A bubble that hit Pinkie hard, and quickly encased her within it, floating up into the air.

Twilight, with wobbly legs, brought the gem to her and let it drop back into her satchel, watching Pinkie Pie the whole time. The earth pony banged her hooves against the inside of the bubble, yelling out something that came out all distorted through the thin wall, but unable to escape.

"Party's over, Pinkie" Twilight mumbled. Her mane felt as though it was lightly flowing, probably she'd figure out why later. For now, Twilight gave a quick sinister smile to the trapped pony, before turning and heading on her way out.

Lust

Chapter 7: Lust

lust, noun: a passionate or overmastering desire or craving

Fleeing the bakery as fast as she could, Twilight went over once, twice, then thrice all of her actions for the past day. Assaulted by each of her friends, willingly attacked them back, then the confirmation that it was the gem making her so angry. But the others didn't seem to get angry, or at least not as much, they all had their own little quirks.

Speaking of...

Twilight stopped where she was, glancing back to Sugarcube Corner. The thought that it might be wise to go back and help crossed her mind. After all, she had no idea whether or not that bubble she'd trapped Pinkie in would ever break... And the kids did know where the knives were, that could prove problematic. 'Wait, what am I thinking? They know where the knives are, they can get her out'

If her head had been on properly, Twilight may have seen the dangerous error in that thought process. For now, however, she had vaguely more important things to think about.

Like, for example, the many ponies that would gasp and quickly get out of her way when she walked. The action was becoming so common now that it was staring to get discouraging. Perhaps it'd be best to investigate...

So, Twilight hurried off her path for a moment to look into a store window. The reflection was a bit dim, but she could make it out well enough. Her mane was longer, sticking up as if she'd spiked it. However, it flowed freely, giving off the impression it was made of flame, which, as a few people who knew her best knew, was an indication that she'd grown from angry to downright wrathful.

"I don't feel angry..." Twilight mumbled, peering closer at her reflection. It did look intimidating, combined with her slight growth and her horn sharpening up some. Squinting at her reflection now, Twilight saw another pair of eyes, looking back at her. She refocused her vision and saw through the glass, into the music store.

On the other side were the pair, Octavia who looked as though she'd been examining a cello, and Vinyl Scratch standing not far, both staring back with looks of uncertainty, as though not sure whether to run or not.

Twilight put on a smile to cover herself up, giving a fake chuckle, a wave, and whispering a "Sorry, bye" before dashing off.

Okay, that was incredibly awkward. Twilight was just outside town now, trying to forget the looks she'd received, and how absolutely dreadful she looked.

Fluttershy was her last hope, unfortunately. She was both a hope for some kind of peace today, and one to test the gem. After all, Fluttershy wasn't known to have any downsides at all; if the gem could manage some type of miracle with this pegasus, Twilight was just about ready to toss it in a ditch.

Just crossing over a small bridge heading over the stream, Fluttershy's cottage came into view. Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she walked; everything was always so peaceful out here, away from the town... though, a little too much so this time at least.

She stopped moving and opened her eyes once more, glancing around. She was just outside the gate to the cottage, and the usual cries of the animals were nonexistent. In fact, Twilight couldn't see a single creature. "Hello?" Twilight called. She'd normally not bother trying to speak to the animals, that wasn't her thing, but it just... felt weird.

So, Twilight swung the gate open with her magic, and stepped inside onto the property.

A moment later, a hawk swept down from a tree and Twilight had to duck down to avoid its talons. Seconds later, chickens began storming out of their coop, squirrels could be seen descending their trees, and oddly enough, a rather large seal poked its head around the side of the cottage, glaring in Twilight's direction.

It was only when all of these animals started rushing in her direction with rather angry sounds did Twilight herself start running forward towards the cottage. "I didn't even do anything yet!" She yelled, quickly reached the door and banging on it. "Fluttershy! It's Twilight, open up!"

Only a quick squeak was heard from through the door. Oh, had that pegasus chosen a bad time to have some sort of a problem. "If you don't open up, I'm coming in anyway!" Twilight yelled, charging her horn and vanishing from her spot just as a chicken came flying her way.

Twilight reappeared within the cottage with a loud snapping sound. The first thing she saw was that she'd reappeared behind Fluttershy, who had been glancing out the window but quickly spun and raised her hooves defensively out of the surprise of it.

"What... was that?" Twilight gestured to the door, breathing heavily and taking a seat down right where she was.

In typical fashion, Fluttershy bowed her head some, speaking more to the ground than to Twilight directly, eager to not anger her any more than she already was. "I... What was what?"

"What was what? Why were all of your little woodland demons attacking me?"

"Attacking... what?" Fluttershy raised her head slightly, glancing out the window. By now, all the commotion outside had ceased, and not a single creature was in sight. "I didn't tell them to do that..."

Twilight sighed, pulling herself over to Fluttershy's couch and sitting herself right down onto it. Her heart was still going a mile a minute in her chest from having nearly been mauled by a variety of animals. "Yeah, right. So, why didn't you let me in then?"

Fluttershy looked back to Twilight, then the window once more, mumbling something uncertainly under her breath.

Twilight gave a sigh, knowing she'd need to calm herself some to get a straight answer. "Come on, spit it out, I know what you're thinking, but I wont get mad" Twilight lightly waved it off, quickly scanning the room.

After a few moments of silence, Fluttershy finally spoke up. "Rainbow Dash came over for help a little while ago, with a dislocated wing. And, she told me..." Fluttershy trailed off, silently hoping she'd need not have to explain further.

"Oh... well" Now it was Twilight's turn to find a sudden interest in the floor, thinking this over. "It was nothing, really, we just got into a little argument"

"It looked pretty painful, I don't know how she even managed to fly here like that" Fluttershy went deep into thought on the subject, flying over and sitting herself down on a sofa opposite Twilight. Twilight herself could feel a bit of tension in the air at this.

"So, you were afraid I'd hurt you?"

Fluttershy dare not say a word, instead only giving a look of pleading and a quick, subtle nod. The two sat in silence for a short time afterward, Fluttershy being Fluttershy and Twilight feeling worse than guilty. Perhaps a change of subject might be in order.

"So... Where's Angel?" Twilight asked. Fluttershy gave a look of bewilderment, pointing a hoof towards Twilight's neck. With some confusion, Twilight looked down, seeing a pair of rabbit legs sticking out of the satchel around her neck and trying to fish out the gem. "Hey!" Twilight immediately lit her horn, pulling the rabbit up and out of the satchel and holding it in the air upside down. "Hands off!"

Fluttershy flew over, quickly taking Angel, who had been swinging his little fists in the air at Twilight, in her mouth and setting him down on the couch beside herself. "I'm sorry, I thought you must have noticed him there..."

"If you haven't told them to attack me, why are all of your pets going crazy?" As she said this, Twilight gave a silent glare to Angel who stuck his tongue out at her and turned away, arms crossed.

Fluttershy didn't seem to take any notice of this. "I don't think it's really crazy, Angel's just a little grumpy today because we missed our trip for Rainbow Dash"

"What trip?"

Fluttershy bent down to nuzzle Angel some, who groaned childishly but didn't openly protest. "He wanted to go to the park" Of course, the rabbit did. Not the owner. The rabbit. Twilight raised an eyebrow, but said nothing of this awkward relationship the two shared.

"Right... so, anyway, what about the others?" Twilight gestured to the window again, where a chicken had been peering in rather menacingly for a few short moments. If it hadn't been so weird it would have been equally terrifying.

Fluttershy gave a quick shrug of her shoulders, giving Angel a quick nudge. Angel seemed to understand this, and hopped down from the sofa, arms still crossed, before scurrying away to some other part of the cottage. "I haven't noticed anything different. Well, one of Squirrley's little wind flaps got torn the other day, so he might be a bit frustrated from not being able to fly for so long..."

She seemed to have trailed off just before finishing whatever it is she was saying. With a sigh, Twilight added; "Or?"

"... Or, they might be a teensy bit afraid of you. Animals can get a little... overactive when they're afraid" Fluttershy gave an uncertain smile, accompanied by a squeak. Even without saying it directly, Twilight was very much aware of just why they'd be afraid.

Twilight gave a quick shrug. "I've had a rough couple days, in fact, that's why I came here." It seemed rather odd to think so, but the sudden feeling that she was being watched by more than just Fluttershy suddenly flooded in, as though every creature on this lot was just waiting for her to make that wrong move. In fact, out of the corner of her eye, Twilight could see Angel peeking his head down the stairs, watching.

Well, now or never. "Tell me, what do you think of when you see this?" Horn lit, Twilight pulled open her satchel and removed the gem from it, raising it in front of her for it to be easily seen.

Then, much to her astonishment, Fluttershy squinted, and gave an uncertain: "It's... nice?"

Twilight blinked twice. That was unexpected, entirely. She lifted the gem a bit closer to the pegasus. "Do you want it?"

"Why? Is it a gift?"

"Well, no..."

"That's okay then, you can keep it" Fluttershy waved it off like it was nothing, gesturing for Twilight to take it back. "But you said you had a rough day, right? I can help with that, if you want"

With a sigh, Twilight set the gem down beside her again. "How can you help?" she asked, eyes on it.

Fluttershy flew over with a pillow in hand, plopping it down on top of the gem and hiding it from view. "Stop worrying so much, you've had a horrible time, haven't you?"

"But I kinda need-" Twilight reached for the pillow, only to be stopped when Fluttershy put both hooves on the sides of Twilight's mouth and stretched them some.

"You look just awful, a smile will do you good, come on" Fluttershy released Twilight's face, staying suspended in the air with her wings for a few moments. She gestured towards her mouth, growing as big a smile as she dared.

"I'd really rather not" Twilight murmured, reaching once again for the pillow her gem was hidden under.

Fluttershy gave Twilight's hoof a playful swat, pulling the pillow away from her. "Well, I wont force you, but I'm not letting you leave until you're all better" Fluttershy spoke proudly, making the same 'smile' gesture as she had before, and leaning in as if hinting at it.

She and Twilight locked eyes for a few short seconds, before Twilight finally gave a sigh of defeat. "Fine" She mumbled, quickly putting on a small, while still fake smile. She'd barely done more than lift the corners of her mouth.

"Come on, you can do better than that, big smile!" Fluttershy made the same gesture again, this time adding in her own large smile to it.

Twilight's eye gave a quick twitch. This time, she at least put the rest of her face into the expression, though the only result was an uncertain grin, like a scolded child might.

"Better, one more try. Biiig smile!" Fluttershy once again reached out and pulled Twilight's cheeks up some, releasing them a second later.

Twilight gave a sigh. Okay, big smile. With a strangely great amount of effort, Twilight spread her face into the largest and most legitimate smile she could manage. It felt natural once she'd accomplished it, like how easy it used to be before this whole thing started.

Fluttershy must have disagreed. Her wings snapped closed, and she fell a good three feet to the floor. Twilight took her by the hoof to help her back up, now undoubtedly glum. Fluttershy's wings usually had that effect whenever she'd seen or heard something that managed to terrify her. "Good smile?" Twilight asked sarcastically.

Fluttershy blushed slightly, knowing she was lying. She brushed herself off, standing up on shaky legs. "Good... it was... good, how do you feel?"

"The word scary comes to mind" Twilight sighed, turning her attention back to the pillow. She lifted it up and off the couch with her horn, and immediately went rigid. It was gone. In a fit of panic, she tossed the pillow to the other side of the room, which Fluttershy had to duck under, and stood up on the couch. She lifted and tossed the other pillows too, searching frantically. "Where is it, where'd it go? What'd you do with it?" Twilight suddenly yelled, spinning and turning her attention to Fluttershy.

From where she now lay on the floor, both in response to dodging the thrown pillows and fear of Twilight, Fluttershy gave only a squeak and a shrug of the shoulders in response.

Breathing heavily, Twilight dropped down from the couch beside Fluttershy, lifting it up off the floor with her horn. What she saw beneath was Angel, clutching the gem to him and glaring at Twilight. Her eyes lit up in a flare, and, without thinking, Twilight tossed the couch across the room with her horn, embedding it into the far wall. "You little rat!" Twilight yelled, pouncing at him. But anger or not, the rabbit was quick, and bounded away from her, leaving Twilight landing only on wooden floor.

Twilight sat up, breathing heavily, and eyes darting around the room. She turned back to Fluttershy, who was examining the couch stuck in her wall with a look as though she was about to cry. "Where is he? Where did he go?"

Fluttershy only sank down against the floor, a squeak of a response coming out, and pointing a hoof towards the centerpiece of the room, a wide wooden beam, hollow in the inside for the birds that chose to live indoors.

Twilight only just saw the tail end of Angel as he disappeared into one of the holes at the base of the beam. She pounced forward again, this time landing just before the beam and sliding her hoof inside of it. "Get out here you little-!"

Just as she started to reach around inside of it, a few birds appeared from the higher up entrances to the beam, and flew down. Twilight didn't even get a chance to withdraw her hoof before they started pecking at her from all sides.

Pulling herself free, Twilight backed up from the beam, waving her hooves and head around wildly while shouting "Birds, birds, birds!" Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Fluttershy floating among the birds, not attacking, but trying to talk them down in a voice too quiet to be heard among all the commotion.

Finally, after one more quick wave of her hoof, Twilight felt a sharp few pecks among her forehead, and she finally yelled "That's it!" Her horn blared up, and after a blinding flash of light, all was quiet.

The birds around her dropped out of the air like rocks, and Fluttershy had to scramble underneath them, only barely succeeding in catching them all. Fluttershy carefully set them all down, a look of horror among her face. The flock of birds that had been lively only seconds before had turned into a glass menagerie, which which she could only touch with the greatest of care, for fear that any of them might crack or shatter.

Twilight finally sat back, breathing heavily and eyes darting between all the little glass figures she'd created. Fluttershy had stopped trying to prevent it, and now had free flowing tears going. With a quick look of panic, Fluttershy rushed back over to the bird's beam, reaching inside the base of it and pulling out Angel.

Just as the birds had been, Angel was only a glass figure of his former self, with the gemstone clutched to his stomach, only barely retrievable without having to break his little arms off. Fluttershy, now breathing heavily, looked between Angel, and the assortment of glass birds littering the ground. She carefully pulled the gem from Angel's grip, eyes locked on it for a few crucial seconds with a look combining lust, loss, and pure hatred.

Finally, Fluttershy set Angel down on the ground, looking over to Twilight. She tossed it a the unicorn with bit of anger, which Twilight made sure to catch out of the air with her magic and quickly return to her satchel. "Leave" Fluttershy hissed, tears flowing freely.

Yes, this was what she was afraid of. Twilight took an uncertain step forward. "I'm sorry, it was all in the moment, I can change them all back, I swear-"

"Leave!" Fluttershy yelled, louder than Twilight had ever heard her before. The very sound of it left a ringing in her ears, and knowing she wasn't wanted here any longer, Twilight quickly teleported from where she stood to the outside.

Wrath

Chapter 8: Wrath

wrath, noun: vengeance or punishment as the consequence of anger

The door to the library slammed open. Outside, the sun had just about passed its prime and was now on its way back down to end another day. Twilight stomped inside, a heavy glare on her face and bags under her eyes.

She stopped just in the doorway, spotting Doctor Whooves who had been holding a book in his mouth. He had been searching through the shelves, but on her rather loud introduction, he looked her way. "What are you doing in my house?" Twilight growled.

"I... uh, isn't this the public library?" Doctor Whooves asked, setting the book down and taking a step back from her in fear.

"Get out"

Doctor Whooves gestured towards his book, taking another step back. "Sorry... Can't I just-"

"I said get out!" Twilight yelled, this time lighting her horn and teleporting him from the building without much concern for where the destination would be. The area around where he'd stood now had a rather dark scorch mark on it.

Stepping through completely, Twilight slammed the door shut behind her. She lifted the book Doctor Whooves had left from the ground and shovedit back on the shelf at random. Despitethe newburn mark on the ground and part of the shelf, the place actually looked pretty tidy. Spike must have spent a good portion of his day getting the place looking good. It was understandable if he felt bad.

"Spike!" Twilight called up the ladder to her bedside. She expected to see her assistant's head appear over the ledge, but there was no response. "Spike, get down here!" This time Twilight hurried herself up the ladder, only to find nothing, no Spike, no message, no note anywhere. Just two well made beds. Perhaps he'd gone out looking for her. Twilight mentally reminded herself that she had been out all day.

With a sigh, Twilight brought herself over to her bed, and collapsed down onto it with a huff. The way her "friends" had all been acting these past couple days. The way she herself had been acting, and all over some stupid gem...

"I'll be coming to collect it as soon as I can" Twilight mimicked the Princess's voice to herself, letting out a sigh of annoyance. "Don't tell Luna, don't tell anyone, it's all up to you, Twilight" Twilight rolled onto her back, animatedly mimicking all of these words and finally giving a huff.

'What are you doing here anyway? Her orders have caused nothing but trouble. You should be writing to her to tell her to forget it and find someone else to do it' Twilight thought angrily to herself. A second later, she rolled back over, pulled the satchel from around her neck, and tossed it over to the other side of the room. 'No, that's not me. That's the stupid gem talking'

Twilight glared at the satchel for a time, mind pondering through her options. 'But... maybe breaking one more rule and telling Luna wouldn't be such a bad idea'

With a jump in her step, Twilight leaped down from the bed, to the main floor, and approached her old podium where a quill and paper sat waiting for use. Thanks, Spike.

Dear Princess Luna

Two days ago, I came across an old blue gem in the castle where we last saw you during your... incident. I brought it home, and sent a message to your sister about it. While she's claimed to be on her way here right now to retrieve it, I feel you should know. It's caused nothing but trouble, I've been tearing my mane out over this thing, I just want it gone. Technically I'm not allowed to send you this letter, but I can't continue on with this much longer.

Your Friend,
Twilight Sparkle

Okay, maybe not 'Thanks, Spike' after all. Satisfied with that letter, Twilight glanced around the library, and realized she had no way of sending it off until Spike returned.

A knock at the door made Twilight jump, however. Her first instinct screamed "Lucky you, that must be him", until the realization that Spike would not be knocking on his own door set in. With a huff, Twilight over to the door.

Not bothering to ask who it was, she pulled open the door with her horn and was, for a moment only, stunned to see Rarity standing before her. The designer looked near worse than she had the day before; clearly she too had been under quite a bit of stress from something. A wrapped box was balanced carefully on her back. "Oh, hey" Twilight mumbled, already feeling some sort of bubbling anger in her stomach.

Rarity's head lowered a bit, clearly ashamed of the incident. "Hello, Twilight..." She rubbed a hoof against the ground lightly, like a scolded filly might, before using her horn to liftthe box from her back andover her head towardsTwilight. "I... wanted to apologize for my ghastly behavior yesterday. I really don't know what came over me"

Twilight raised an eyebrow at this, taking the box in her mouth and setting it down in front of her.

"I wasn't sure what you'd like, but I wanted to make you something to make up for it" Rarity gave a quick nod at the box. "For your jewel, since you'll be keeping it. I wanted it to be practical enough for you, I know how you are with..." Rarity caught Twilight's uncaring eye and trailed off, lowering her head and backing away a few steps more.

"Thanks" Twilight murmured aloud, pulling the box inside by the hoof. "Thanks, Rarity" Oh how she wanted to forgive the designer, but something inside her simply refused to allow it. Still, she'd be as nice about it as she could.

"Great, then, great..." Rarity spoke awkwardly, turning away to cough lightly. They stood in silence for a few seconds longer, before Rarity finally said. "Well, I suppose I'd better be off. Sorry again, I'll... check up on you tomorrow, then" Rarity gave an uncertain smile, before turning and hurrying off.

Twilight resisted the urge to give a wave, instead stepping back inside and shutting the door. She glanced over the box before her, nudging it a few times as though expecting a trap from it, and finally pulling the red ribbon off the top, and the lid right after that.

Inside was a silky purple necklace. Twilight immediately recognized it as being made of the very same material she'd returned to Rarity the day prior- her tail. But that wasn't all. It tied around one singular point on one side of the necklace, where three sturdy wires hung in the shape of a ball. They were easy enough to bend that she might fit the gemstone inside, while still sturdy enough not to let it simply slip out afterwards.

Well, this'd certainly help. Twilight pulled the satchel back over to her, removing the gemstone from it and quickly locking it into place in the new necklace she'd received. It did look good, with the eye facing outwards...

The eye gave off a slightly glow, that Twilight took no note of. With a quick sigh, Twilight pulled it up and on, wrapping the whole thing around her neck and locking it into place. It did feel soft, about as much as she'd imagine Rarity's mane to feel, while looking beautiful all at once. A tiny part of her wanted to be thankful, she knew how much this must've meant to Rarity to give this away.

"She's your friend... What do you think you're doing here? You should be going to accept her apology..." Twilight hurried back over to her letter to Luna, looking it up and down. The gemstone hanging around her neck now glowed brighter, and more unkind thoughts rushed their way into her mind. Why so suddenly? Why now? 'She still attacked you, you should get back at her before you forgive her so easily...'

"No!" Twilight yelled, rearing back as though actually able to get away from the gem while it hung around her neck. She grabbed the hanging gem with her hoof, twisting it up to look it eye to eye. "She's my friend, I'm ready to forgive. No more anger! No more anger!"

But the gemstone was clever, it knew what to do, for it had done so before. The eye glowed intensely, a magic Twilight herself had never seen before released, and before she could even look away, a bright glow enveloped both her and the entire building.

Just like that, dear children, Twilight Sparkle was gone. Wrath had won. She stood there in silence, her mane and tail suddenly flaring upwards, flowing like a flame might while keeping their colors. Her eyes went blank. Rarity's kindness was no longer important. All that went through Twilight's mind right now was the word "Revenge".
Twilight Blaze was born.

"Was she there?" Spike asked. He sat atop a counter in front of a large mirror, within Carousel Boutique. He was first to speak when Rarity returned home. Spike hopped down from his seat to approach Rarity as she closed the door.

"Yes, I don't think she's feeling any better though. I really don't know what's gotten into her, but I feel awful about it" Rarity pulled herself back over to her desk, seating herself and laying her head down on it.

Spike gave her a few quick pats on the shoulder. "Hey, she's smart. Twilight will come around" Spike knew it to be true, but it felt like a lie to say it out loud. Twilight may be smart, but she was also irritable... "Uh, but I should probably get going, she might be looking for me"

"Oh, are you sure?" Rarity lifted her head and spun aroundwhere she sat to face Spike. "I certainly wouldn't want you to be there with Twilight in such a foul mood" She wanted him to stay for her sake as much as his own.

"I'd love to stay, really" Spike gave a quick shrug, and hurried for the door. "But I can't, it's not going to calm her down at allif I'm not there and she needs me"

Just as he reached the door, it slammed open. Twilight stood before him, flaming mane and all, with a sinister smile on her face. "Oh Spike, goody, I was looking for you earlier" Her voice came out thick with hate, a hate that seemed foreign to her. That was the strange thing though; hate, not anger.

"Twilight, I-"

"Not now, Spike" Twilight quickly scanned the room, taking the biggest ruby from a stack of them in the corner, lifting it over with her horn, and shoving it in Spike's mouth to shut him up. "Adults are talking" Twilight hurried forward past him, while Spike struggled for a few minutes trying to pull the ruby out of his mouth.

He seemed to be having some trouble breathing, but was thankfully able to force himself to spit it out onto the floor after a few short seconds, at which point he backed away from her uncertainly.

Rarity tried next, stepping down from her seat. "Twi-"

"Quiet!" Twilight finally yelled, silencing the whole building. A quick spark appeared from her horn, and as it did, all the lights in the building promptly went out. Twilight alone stood there as the soul source of light; she glowed like a bonfire, and her mane looked like one too.

"You know what your problem is? Too envious. You're a country pony trying to grow up like the big-shots in Canterlot" Twilight stepped forward right up to Rarity, glancing over the designer's shoulder to the desk. At a quick nod of her head, the mirror laying on the desk flung itself off and shattered on the ground. "Oh, sorry, did I do that? You know how we lowerclass people can get"

"Twilight, I just wanted to-" Rarity started again, only to shut up when Twilight turned her burning glare back on her. Twilight's tail twisted around to Rarity, giving the designer a quick flick on the chin. It burned slightly, but Rarity dare not say a word.

"I was never your type, never quite classy enough. You've always been just a little too selfish. This friendship never could have worked" Twilight brought her horn down so it aimed directly at Rarity's face. "I wish I could say it's been fun, but... what was it Discord said? Arrivederci"

Just as her horn lit itself, Twilight felt a sharp tug from behind, pulling her leg out from under her and letting her fall to the ground. Rarity sprang at the chance, running from her spot across to the exit. She stopped in the door, looking to Spike who was holding onto Twilight's hind leg. "Spike, come quickly!"

Spike refused to let go, though, even biting into Twilight's leg a few times before she finally shook him off and stood back up. Without hesitation, she aimed her horn to him and let out a spew of fire from it. Spike took the whole blast, being thrown across the room by it in a smoking heap, though was visibly unharmed. He let out a groan, slowly trying to pull himself back up. "Oh, I forgot, you're fireproof, aren't you? We'll have to test that" Twilight spoke sarcastically, stepping over to him just as he managed to sit up properly.

She only just managed to aim her horn at him once more when Rarity appeared again, bounding over and standing atop of Spike. Her own horn lit first, and in a quick flash of light, the two vanished.

They reappeared not far, just down the street in the middle of it. Spike was still smoking, and struggled a bit to pick himself up, while Rarity was wobbling freely from the spell; teleporting had never been a favorite of hers, and doing it for two people was especially difficult.

"I think... we made it..." Rarity mumbled, swaying slightly and only just catching herself. Even from here, she could hear the angry yells from the inside of Carousel Boutique, and only faintly see it from down the street. What she saw next broke her heart; huge streams of fire bursting out from the windows, for a few seconds only, before fading away. Rarity could only stand and stare, letting out a quick sniffle.

Spike, on the other hand, finally regaining his composure, grabbed her by the shoulder and started pulling her the opposite way down the street. "Come on, we've gotta find help. I can send another letter to the Princess..."

The two passed a stunned Lyra Heartstrings and Bonbon, both of which were stuck standing and staring with horror as the Carousel Boutique began to burn. Neither of them said a word, though Lyra did manage a look of concern to Rarity as she and Spike passed.

"Girl, you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Oh come on, if it was Pinkie Pie doing this to you, you wouldn't doubt her"

Applejack's front half was sticking up and out of the large ice chunk that kept her back half frozen solid. She was suspended a good fifty feet in the air, above the pond where she and Twilight had spent some time, by too many balloons for her to count, tied to each of her front hooves. Rainbow floated a good few feet away, trying to aim a mirror to reflect the sun into Applejack's still frozen half.

"'Course I would, I'd just at least already know it'd work anyway"

"Well I can't really carry you out of here, this is the only way I can think to get you above the trees and into the sun" Rainbow gave a quick shrug, losing her grip on the mirror for half a second in the process and having to scramble to grab it from out of the air.

Applejack let out a sigh, slumping forward slightly, knowing she'd be there a while. "Can you at least light a match or something? This ain't working"

"Hey, it got you out this far!" Rainbow tossed the mirror idly over her shoulder, crossing her arms and hanging there, hoping for an idea. A more efficient one, preferably. A few seconds later, both her own nose and Applejack's perked up, raising both of their heads slightly. Rainbow sniffed inwards a few time. "Speaking of matches, is that smoke?"

"Sure smells like it. Must be close too; my flanks freezing, but the rest of me feels-" Applejack was interrupted by a loud pop from over her head. "-hot..."

Rainbow's eyes widened, and she immediately dived forward, grabbing Applejack by the hooves just as the rest of the balloons began bursting from the intense heat coming from below. Maybe AJ alone would be light enough, but with her bottom halfcurrently stuck in a chunk of ice twice her size, all Rainbow managed to do was just barely slow their descent as they crashed back down to earth.

Rainbow went tumbling on contact, and the ice around Applejack split almost immediately when it hit the ground, shattering and flying all over the place. It did break her fall for half a second though, and that was all that she needed to thump down onto the grass safely.

Applejack was the first to pull herself up. "Ugh... what in tarnation was that all about?" Her question was answered a moment later, when she lifted her head up to see the flaming-haired Twilight leaning casually on an apple tree, looking widely amused by the display. "Twilight?"

"Twilight?" Rainbow yelled, jumping to her feet, then immediately lifting off into the air again. She flew nice and close, forcing Twilight to back up a few steps, while yelling "I've got a bone to pick with you"

Twilight only smirked, leaning forward suddenly and forcing Rainbow away from the intense heat that seemed to emanate from the unicorn. "But I've already picked your bone, remember? Fluttershy told me all about it"

Rainbow went red in the face at this comment, ready to retaliate when Applejack suddenly bounded between the two of them. "Hold on now ya'll!" She looked first to Rainbow, waving for her to calm down. Rainbow begrudgingly backed off some, landing down hesitantly and glaring at Twilight over Applejack's shoulder.

Then Applejack turned her attention to Twilight. "Glad to see you finally came to your senses..." She looked the unicorn up and down, her words coming out more uncomfortably as she spoke them. She just wanted to get past this little scuffle, but admittedly, Twilight's look and behavior was just... threatening. Applejack stopped when she noticed the gem hanging around the unicorn's neck.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing still carrying that thing around?" AJ pointed a hoof at the gemstone, actually giving it a quick tap before Twilight whacked the hoof away, growling. Applejack instinctively backed up until she stood next to Rainbow Dash.

"Hooves off! I already told you I don't appreciate you stealing from me, big head" Twilight took a quick glance to Rainbow, smirking. "That goes for you too, greedy. Wouldn't want another incident, would we?"

That was all it took. Before she could be stopped, Rainbow leaped off the ground, pouncing forward with the intent to tackle Twilight to the ground. She got about an inch within reach when she received a full blast of fire from Twilight's horn, blasting her back through the air and just over Applejack's head.

Instinctively, Applejack turned and rushed over to Rainbow, having to forcibly stop her from writhing to get a good look at her. Even then, Rainbow's constant half-yells and groans of pain kept her from concentrating properly. Still, it didn't take a genius to find the problem.

Rainbow must have raised a wing to protect herself, because her right one had all of its feathers scorched black and only just hanging on. She could certainly still fly with it, though the main question was how long the feathers would last before falling out, not to mention the great amount of pain that she was obviously under.

Staring in horror, Applejack turned back to Twilight, almost feeling like attacking herself in not afraid for her own safety. "What was that? You burned her! You just burned your friend!"

"My my, I thought you'd be happy. You always were the conceitedone, AJ. Shouldn't it be more along the lines of 'better her than me'?" Twilight stepped forward to Rainbow, giving her a slight nudge with the hoof. Applejack instinctively knelt down and wrapped her own hoof around her friend, refusing to run now and leave Rainbow at the mercy of this... monster of a friend.

"I understand though, you try not to look at things through my eyes. If I recall..." Twilight leaned back and gave her head a quick wag to the side, sending a spark flying from her horn onto a nearby tree. It almost instantly burst into a huge roaring flame, engulfing the wood. "You said you wouldn't care where I was coming from if I set Sweet Apple Acres ablaze. Well, now at least I know I don't have anything to explain to you"

Applejack stared in terror while Twilight turned and sent another spark onto a far-off tree. The first was already starting to spread to others. She didn't know what to do, there certainly wasn't any way of saving her farm, and getting Rainbow out of here would be a miracle enough with how quickly the fire was spreading.

"I can see you need some time to take this all in. Maybe swallow your pride a bit? Whatever it is, come find me when you..." Twilight glanced around once more, firing a third spark onto a third tree. This one almost immediately began spreading to others, and the area was quickly turning more orange and red than brown and green, and routes of escape were quickly disappearing. "Oh yeah, that's right" Twilight chuckled quietly to herself. "Well, good luck with that"

A moment later, a bright flame swirled up and around her, and as it vanished, so did she.

"Maybe we can call Trixie!" Pinkie Pie lay upside-down on Fluttershy's sofa, specifically, the one that was still embedded in the wall even as she laid there. She had a glass bird lifted in her hooves, looking through it with wonder and giving the occasional "Ooooh"

"I'd really rather not" Fluttershy flew over, taking the glass bird from Pinkie's hooves and hurrying back over to a hanging shelf, where she set it back down next to all the others. The thought that 'The Great and Powerful Trixie' could help was reassuring and terrifying all at the same time.

"We could go find Rarity then!" Pinkie rolled over where she lay, hopping down from the hanging sofa. A stray piece of wood fell from the severely cracked wall. "She uses glass sometimes, right? She'll definitely know how to fix your little birdies!"

Fluttershy turned to face her exuberant guest. "I don't know, I don't think she'd really understand this kind of thing..."

"Come on, Fluttershy!" Pinkie grabbed Fluttershy from the air, pulling her down to the floor and giving a quick march, saluting herself. "You helped me explain to the Cakes, I owe you my assistancewith your little glass birds!"

Fluttershy managed a blush at the comment. "Really, it was nothing" Fluttershy had been both the one to free Pinkie of her bubble confinement, and at the same time the one to explain what had happened to the Cakes.

It'd taken quite some time, and in the end, Fluttershy took the blame herself for what happened to Pumpkin. Even as angry as she was, she couldn't bring herself to throw Twilight under the bus. It just wasn't in her. Besides, it wasn't like the Cakes could honestly be mad at Fluttershy of all ponies. They did, however, only just barely let Pinkie keep her job and room, and insisted that they find a new babysitter until Pinkie could be trusted with the twins again.

"I'm just happy to have your company" Fluttershy stood herself back up, glancing at a table off in the corner where the glass Angel stood in a permanent greedy grabbing pose. "It's been lonely..."

"Lonely for Pinkie? Really?" A disbelieving voice asked. As it did, a very dark and very visible wisp of smoke seemed to roll in through the window, floating harmlessly around the room."That reeks of desperation" As these words came, strong and hating as they were, the wisp stopped high above the two ponies, shaping itself into the form of two seductive eyes, staring down on them.

Then, much to the wisp's surprise, Pinkie Pie asked: "Why? I think I'm pretty fun"

"What?" The eyes turned on Pinkie, looking suddenly confused. The wisp's next few words came out much less intimidating, as though it'd been putting on a charade. "No, see Pinkie, I'm getting to that, I-"

"When are you getting to it? Is it going to be a story? I like stories, I know some scary ones! Have you ever heard the one with Slendermane?"

"Pinkie Pie, I was the one who told you tha- Wait! What am I doing?" Clearing its voice quickly, the wisp resumed it's much louder and much more threatening tone. "Quiet Pinkie! I mean really, I had this whole speech set up and-"

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Pinkie hopped up and down on her spot for a few short moments, like a child calling for the teacher.

The wisp gave a quick groan, falling into a look of annoyance and dropping the voice once more. "Yes Pinkie?"

"That just reminded me of that time that we had to go out looking for Applejack! 'Cause you remember, before we left and the Mayor wanted to personally thank her, and she said how she wasn't one for speeches, but then she gave one anyway, and-"

"Pinkie!" The wisp finally fell to the floor, shaping itself until it materialized into the form of Twilight, who immediately leaped forward and shoved a hoof into Pinkie's mouth. "Quiet! Please, for the love of Celestia, just be quiet!" Pinkie's eyes widened, and she let out a muffled unintelligible yell. "I'll assume you just shouted my name like everyone has so far today. Anyway-!"

"Twilight?" Fluttershy spoke up, drawing both ponies attentions to her. She had seemed wary at first of the wisp, but at the sight of Twilight she seemed much more cold. "Twilight, I already told you. Please, just leave"

"Hey, Fluttershy, shut up and let me talk!" Twilight finally yelled, silencing both other ponies. With a huff, she finally tried to continue. "Now-" Then, she felt a sharp pain around her hoof and pulled it from Pinkie's mouth, seeing a red indentation around it. "Ow! You bit me! You... you bit me!"

Pinkie Pie stepped up to Twilight, actually forcing the unicorn to lean back into the ground some while Pinkie stared her down. "You almost got me fired! Fluttershy had to take the fall for you!"

"Um, girls?" Fluttershy spoke up, drawing both ponies attention. She pointed to the window, which smoke was now seeping in through. "Something's burning"

With a sigh, Twilight finally pushed Pinkie away from her. "Well, if you hadn't interrupted me, you'd know..." She finally stood up straight and resumed her much louder, commanding voice. "I decided your little cottage here would need a bit of warming up! After all, you're toobusy having fun" She spoke primarily to Pinkie, "And you're just plainly fickle!" She then turned to Fluttershy. "Who's to make sure all your little pets are nice and toasty if you can't do it yourselves?"

Twilight's voice then fell back into its normal manner, and with a sigh, she continued. "I had more fire puns and this whole big monologue planned, but I have a headache now and I'd really rather not. But before I go..." Twilight trotted harmlessly over to the wall, giving it a quick but hard buck. "Ta-ta!" She said before vanishing into a wisp once more and flying back out the window.

Fluttershy had to dive to where Twilight had been standing, once again only barely succeeding in catching the many glass birds that Twilight had managed to get to tip and fall off the hanging shelf.

Pinkie hurried to the window, at first intent on yelling at Twilight to get back here, only to quiet herself when she saw the fire quickly spreading around the cottage outside. "Uh oh..." Pinkie hurried away from the window, bouncing towards Fluttershy. She continued to bounce in place when she said "We should probably leave. Right now!"

"I can't!" A desperate Fluttershy squeaked, carefully trying to gather up all the glass birds properly. Her eyes drifted to the glass Angel sitting off on the table. The realization that Fluttershy wouldn't be able to willfully leave suddenly became apparent to Pinkie.

Thankfully, a solution came banging on the door seconds later. "Fluttershy? Are you in there? Your house is on fire!" Rarity's voice sounded through the wood.

Pinkie bounded over to the door, pulling it open with one quick sweep and answering "We know!"

Rarity glanced over Pinkie's shoulder, spotting the downed Fluttershy, and quickly rushing over to help. "What are you doing like this? Come on..." Raising her horn, all of the delicate figures of the birds raised up and out of Fluttershy's grasp. "You can explain once we're outside" Rarity continued, manually helping Fluttershy onto her hooves and rushing outside with pegasus and glass birds in pursuit.

Pinkie stopped for just a moment to grab the glass figure of Angel off its table before rushing out the door.

They stopped running only after they'd gotten safely off the property, next to the treeline, finally taking an exhausted breath in plain view of the burning building if still completely safe from it. Rarity sat the birds onto the grass, giving them a nudge, and catching Fluttershy's look. "Let me guess, Twilight?"

"Duh!" Pinkie answered, setting down the glass form of Angel onto the grass. Rarity looked to all the glass figures laid about around her, and raised her head up, shining her horn brightly. After a quick flash, life suddenly returned. Their glassy bodies vanished in place of very lively ones, and suddenly the air was full of chirping and the sight of birds taking off into the sky.

The figure of Angel quickly went back to it's pure white form as well, quickly shaking itself back to life and scampering away. Fluttershy watched with amazed eyes. "But... I... how..."

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you just bring them over earlier, dear? You know I've worked with glass"

Pinkie turned and flashed a victorious smile to Fluttershy, who only sighed and laid her head down on the grass. She picked it up a second later, looking to Rarity surprised. "You've turned animals into glass before?"

"Photo shoots only, never permanently, and only if they were willing. I changed them back right afterwards of course"

"Where's everypony else?" Pinkie finally asked, breaking the two from their conversation. On cue, a loud thud brought them all to attention, looking towards the trees.

Spike and Applejack appeared from them, both with slight burn marks coating their bodies. Above their heads, they struggled to lift a much more heavily burned and barely conscious Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy gave a squeak of surprise, quickly rushing over and nudging herself in beside Applejack to support the wounded pegasus, taking Spike's place and allowing him to finally lower his arms and stumble over.

"You found them! Oh I knew you could do it!" Rarity rushed over to Spike's side, wrapping a hoof around him just as he started to tip over.

"Yeah, well... she was right, fireproof" Spike gave a dull smile, closing her eyes and leaning into the hug.

Applejack and Fluttershy lifted Rainbow over to the grass, setting her down there where the multicolored pegasus made some snide remark about an egghead under her breath. Pinkie Pie hopped up and down expectantly, finally asking "What happened to you guys?"

"Us? Why's Fluttershy's cottage burning?" Applejack asked in return. The group finally all went silent, looking to each other knowingly.

"Twilight" They all said in unison. It might have been funny if it weren't so painful.

As if called by them, a wisp of smoke soared high above their heads, twisting its way down across the grass from them before landing and materializing itself into the form of she who they spoke of. If faces were to tell the story, she was not happy. "I guess I should've seen this coming. Spike mindlessly consumes things and he doesn't work. Why would fire?"

Spike, seeming genuinely hurt by this comment, stepped back some. Rainbow on the other hand raised herself up from the ground, growling lightly and taking a step forward. Sensing her plan, Applejack sprang in front of her, forcing the pegasus to take a step back. The farmer gave the group a quick shake of the head, before looking to the pyromaniac.

"Come on sugarcube, you're our friend!" She began.

"No matter what may have happened between us, nothing's going to change that" Fluttershy mumbled, though seeming genuinely hurt to have to say it. Her temper held for now.

"Sure we may have done some wrong-" Rarity continued.

"But you're the one being all grumpy!" Pinkie finished.

"Now cut this out before we make you!" Rainbow yelled weakly, now taking another step forward and giving Applejack a tough shove out of the way.

Despite their words, Twilight's anger only grew. Quiet visibly, in fact, her mane flared up high above them and for a brief moment actually took the form of fire before returning to its original color scheme. "You can take your friendship and shove it! I only wish I'd done this sooner!" Twilight yelled, now aiming her horn forward. The high flying flames from her mane circled their way down through the air until they wrapped around her horn. A moment later, a jet of flame was fired forward from it.

The group only just had time to flinch and try to duck down when a bright light consumed all of them. There was a brief silence for a few moments, where the only thing that could be seen was a bright white before them.

Then, it faded away, and with it, the group saw a field of white light directly in front of them, which Twilight's fire now flared against but couldn't mange to get through or around.

"Twilight Sparkle!"A voice from high above yelled. Oh the group knew that voice.

Twilight must have known it as well, because the moment she heard it, she stepped back uncertainly, before turning and dashing away towards the forest. Mid-stride, her body lost its form and quickly changed back into its wispy ghost-like appearance, vanishing into the trees.

The bright white form of Princess Celestia herself slowly lowered down into the field, taking her stance in front of the group and stepping idly back and forth, staring into the forest as though she'd been expecting Twilight to return. Only when it became apparent that she would not did the Princess let the glowing on her horn cease, and with it, the magical field before the group vanished.

Reflection

Chapter 9: Reflection

reflection, noun: a fixing of the thoughts on something

The group could only stand staring, dazed by the spectacle of magic they'd just witnessed. They stared off towards the forest, where their friend -their binding friend, she who was always the voice of reason- had disappeared into.

Celestia trotted back and forth on an invisible line separating the forest from the town, before finally turning back to the small group. By the looks on their faces, even Pinkie who'd rarely be seen not smiling, they were either dumbstruck or crushed. Most of them were both. It was hard for Celestia herself to keep the authority in her voice. "I need you all to meet me at the Library as soon as you can. I know you might all be a bit busy..." Her eyes drifted to a patch of black onRainbow's wing that had been singed. "But this is of the utmost importance"

With a quick turn of her head, she waved Spike over, who, as if shaken, could only barely make his way over to the Alicorn. Celestia lowered herself some, to allow him to climb on. Normally he'd have jumped at the chance to ride on Celestia's back, as many would. Now it was the last thing in his mind. "We need to talk, Spike" She sighed, feeling him getting on, and only then taking off into the air, out of sight within seconds.

"What just happened!" Pinkie Pie shouted, pulling the other four from their thoughts and nearly causing them to jump out of their skin.

"Twilight attacked us" Fluttershy murmured, keeping two fearful eyes on the treeline as if afraid that Twilight might return at any moment.

Oddly enough, Rarity spoke up next. "No she didn't" She said plainly, drawing all eyes to her. "It's that awful gem she's wearing around her neck that's been doing all of this. Spike explained everything to me"

"Then come on, let's go get her! Let's just pull it off and toss it away" Rainbow raised herself up into the air a few short feet, before her wing gave a powerful lurch, a few stray black feathers came raining off it, and the sudden smell of burnt leaves was in the air. Rainbow Dash fell back to the ground a second later, grumbling loudly and massaging the burnt wing.

"Hold on there girls, we should think about this first" Applejack called their attention. "The Princess asked us to go see her. I bet she came with the Elements, we'll be needing them for this"

"Why waste time?" Rainbow stood herself back up, glaring towards Applejack. "We already know what the friendship problem is, 'We weren't caring about her feelings' or whatever, let's go get her!"

"Were we watchin' the same Twilight? That wasn't no friendship problem. That there was a Discord level problem! A Nightmare Moon level problem! I'm sure the Princess would've come prepared!"

"I'd like another Discord level problem" Pinkie Pie quickly said, sounding ecstatic for a moment at the memory of the chocolate rain. That joy quickly faded. "This isbigger than a Discord problem"

"All the more reason we need the Princess's help" Applejack finished smugly.

Fluttershy raised a hoof a moment later. "I vote for going to see the Princess"

"Well I vote we go find Twilight before she causes any trouble! What if she hurts someone?" Rainbow turned and started heading off to the forest on her own. "You know what? Forget it! You guys go have tea time with the Princess, I'm going to go find our friend!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack bounded in front of the pegasus's path, glaring. "If you go walking into that forest, you're doing it on your own!"

"She is?" Pinkie asked from where she stood.

"She is" Rarity confirmed, giving the stamp of a hoof and refusing to take a step forward as proof.

"Listen hun" Applejack laid a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, who for just a moment tried to force her way past. "You think we don't care about her? You know we want to be out there finding Twilight right now too, but we're kinda outmatched here. Just give it a chance, we need the Princess's help here"

Rainbow Dash, finally taking a deep breath, looked Applejack up and down before sighing in defeat. "Fine, but let's make it quick! Twilight's probably gonna try to burn the forest down or something"

Despite Celestia's reassurances, Spike found himself pacing over the floor of the library for the next few hours. The news she'd given had been anything but good. In fact, if this had been anyone else telling him such things, Spike would have called them a liar to their face.

The Princess had busied herself in the second room of the library, looking idly through the collection of books to keep herself busy.

Spike had almost given up hope when he heard several quick raps on the door, tripping over his feet as he hurried to go answer it.

Applejack stood at the head of the group, covered in numerous small patches and bandages where she'd been burned. She still managed to look better than Rainbow, to her right, whose wing was completely wrapped up, and still seemed to be in relative pain when she moved. To Rainbow's right was Rarity, who, despite her best efforts, still seemed oddly unpampered, not including the obvious stress in her eyes. Meanwhile, to Applejack's left were Pinkie and Fluttershy respectively, with Pinkiebouncing expectantly on the spot and the pegasus bearinga small white rabbit which had beenriding her.

"What took you guys so long? You should hear what Princess Celestia's been saying!" Spike hurriedly shoved each member of the little group indoors, shutting it behind them. "You guys have to talk some sense into her!"

"Beg pardon?" Applejack asked. Princess Celestia appeared from the doorway across the room moments later.

"So? What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?" Pinkie bounced forward, expectantly awaiting the Princess orders.

With a sigh, Celestia looked to each of the girls before finally answering "Nothing"

This received a unanimous "What!" from the group. Rainbow actually charged forward, stopping just short of the Princess and shouting "What do you mean 'nothing'!"

Rarity sheepishly stepped forward, pulling Rainbow back gently. "Please relax, dear. This means the Princess has it covered, right?" Rarity gave a false smile to Celestia, who only shot it down with a shake of her head.

"I wish I could say as much, but you all deserve to know the truth. There's nothing we can do, I'd have gone after Twilight myself otherwise"

"See? This is what I was talking about!" Spike shouted from the corner he'd chosen to take as his seat.

"Spike!" Celestia said warningly, quieting him. He kept up a constant shallow glare, which the Princess either didn't notice, or didn't care about.

Fluttershy floated close next, asking anxiously "Um... Sorry to contradict, but what about the Elements? Those always work"

With a gentle nod, understanding who she now spoke to, Celestia gesturedFluttershy down, who abliged. Celestia looked to the room she'd exited moments before, and witha quick wave of her horn, drew out from it a magnificently designed purple box, one that may have held jewels.

The group knew better, however. Celestia set the box down on the ground, swinging the top open to reveal five intricately designed necklaces, each with a gemstone matching one of the group's cutie marks. The centerpiece was a beautiful golden tiara, with a magenta star donned on the top. One never forgot the Elements of Harmony.

Another flick of the horn, and each necklace vanished from their place in the box, and reappeared on their corresponding masters. Pinkie in particular gave an "Oooh!" of excitement. She began bouncing happily once more, asking "Are we ready now? Are we ready now?"

"Hold on just a moment" Celestia quickly said.

Pinkie froze mid-jump, stopping instantly in the air and neither coming up or going back down. Rarity and Applejack exchanged quick looks between themselves at this, but simply waved the Princess on.

"I recommend you don't take them off" The Princess warned. While Rainbow Dash looked ready to charge off with renewed spirit, Celestia quickly cleared her throat, drawing the group's attention from their Elements back to her. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

Their faces fell to the remaining tiara, laying in the box without its master.

"What Twilight wears is the Element of Sin, and so long as she wears it, she'll only get angrier" The Princess explained. "It was a byproduct of the Elements of Harmony... I won't go into detail. What you need to know is that as long as you wear your own Elements, you'll be safe from its effects"

Rarity casually cleared her throat, giving her Element a quick polish with her hoof. "If that's the case, why can't we just force Twilight to wear her own?"

The Princess gave a quiet smile. "If you'd like to try, be my guest". Normally she'd not be sarcastic on such a serious matter, though it was the very seriousness of it that made Rarity realize the truth behind those words. They had a better chance of teaching Winona to talk. The same problem unfortunately arose at the idea of stripping Twilight of the blue gemstone. "I couldn't ask any of you to put yourselves in that kind of danger"

"So what?" Rainbow asked, almost taking off into the air again before her restrained wing reminded her otherwise. "She can't stop us all!"

"That is not for you to decide!" Celestia's voice was suddenly harsh, quieting their protests. "As much as I may wish it, you are still my subjects, and I will not allow you to do something so dangerous"

"That's not what you were sayin' when your sister was on the loose, or when Discord was destroyin' everything!" Applejack actually shouted, much to the surprise of everyone.

Fluttershy stepped up beside her, giving Applejack several gentle pulls back. "Maybe we should trust the Princess on this..."

"That would be for the best" Celestia stepped back from the group, trying to calm herself some. The kind motherly princess facade worked on Twilight, but she still had a job to uphold. "Discord didn't hate you, after all... Listen to me. As Princess of this land, I do decree that you five are forbidden to reenter the Everfree forest until this situation has been dealt with!"

This received yet another resounding "What!" from the group. "But you're going to go stop her yourself, right?" Pinkie asked, in a panic.

"What would happen if I did? I can't defeat Twilight, not as she is now!What would I do? Imprison her? Banish her? Trap her in the moon as I did to Luna?" The Princess's voice had broken into a yell. While Fluttershy would have loved taking the opportunity to cower, to hide herself away from this anger, now was not the time to show weakness. She, like the others, stood proudly, meeting the Princess's gaze with unwavering confidence. Celestia turned from the group, scanning through many of the books aligning the shelves, but not really taking in the meaning of any.

"She's only a girl; she has parents in the very same city as me, and friends like you in this town. How could I?" Now, even Pinkie could only stand in silence. There was nothing that could be said. "I did what needed to be done to Luna, because she threatened us all. I only hope Twilight doesn't go down the same path"

Applejack's voice perked up, on the verge of desperation. "Please, miss, there has to be something-"

"No, my little pony, I'm sorry, but that's just it. I hope Twilight can simply remain as she is, even if she must be forever enraged. If she makes me go against her... I don't think I can bring myself to stop her" With a sigh, Celestia turned back to the group. It pained her very core to see the crushed looks on their faces.

With nothing more to say, Celestia turned to head for the door. "I trust you'll all be sure to write if Twilight returns with any more trouble. Come along now Spike" Celestia only just stepped outside when it became apparent thatthe familiar patter of feet wasn't heard. She turned to see Spike who wasstill standing inside with the others, justas shocked as they were -if not more. At the very base of it, he seemedembarrassed.

"I... your highness, I should really stay and look after the place..."

"Spike, come along. I have other students who'd love an assistant like you. Wouldn't you like to live in the palace again?"

"What about the Library, who's going to look after it?"

"It was standing just fine before you started living here. Come along now" Celestia gave an impatient tap of the hoof. She knew what he wanted, even if he couldn't say it. Even now, it pained her to know she couldn't allow it, for the dragon's sake.

"But... maybe I should collect her things. And mine too, we settled in here and everything..." Spike was by now rocking back and forth on his heels, like a child scolded by his mother.

"Spike, this is only going to hurt more if you-"

It was Rarity who spoke up to defend the baby dragon. "Please, your highness" She started, giving Spike a few gentle pats on the back with her hoof. "I think he should have the chance to say goodbye to the old place, don't you? He has lived here for two years now"

Spike and Rarity exchanged a look, as did Rarity and Celestia. It would only end badly either way, and finally the Alicorn let outa sigh. "Fine, Spike, you have a week here. I'll be sending someone to collect you for Canterlot then and not a moment after"

In an instant, the Princess was out of sight, flying off through the sky back to her home. The group stood in quiet shock, the only sound being Rarity's murmured promises to Spike to look after him for the week.

Then, Rainbow Dash turned to Applejack, yelling "Great plan! Really, great! We're never going to see Twilight again because you wanted to see the Princess!"

"Ooh... What are we going to do..." Fluttershy floated quietly up, deep in thought, searching for a way out that didn't exist. "What would Twilight do if she were here?"

Applejack finally turned to the others, revealing a few stray tears that had managed to get free and show themselves. "She'd listen to the Princess"

So, for a full week, that's what happened.

Each of the group had at least attempted to return to their homes, each went back to their lives, for it was all they could do now. They'd gotten by just fine before Twilight had appeared in town with her little baby dragon andthey could certainly get on without her.

That was the belief at first, anyway.

But it wasn't the same. In truth, the little gang, the six of them, they knew each other, as everyone in Ponyville did, but had never quite spent such time together, grown such bonds without their little egghead.

So, they stuck together, as best they could. Rainbow Dash, with a burnt wing, couldn't return to her home without help, and it quickly became apparent that needing someone's help to get into and leave her cloud house was too much of a hassle. So, she chose to stay in the Library with Spike.

The same went for the others; Rarity's home had taken the most burn damage of all, and she was quick to dub it unlivable, choosing to live within the Library and watch over Spike. Fluttershy and Applejack's homes were much the same, much each less burned than Carousel Boutique had been, but both quick to decide that they'd rather live in the Library for the time being. Even if not for the reasons they'd admit.

Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, was the only one of them that had come by choice, and had chosen to bunk with her friends out of sheer loyalty and the knowledge that she could cheer them up whenever needed. It proved to be almost all the time.

It was during one of these days within the following week that it was decided that achange was needed, and the decision came from an unusual, though not unexpected place. It was just approaching sundown, the day before Spike's final goodbye.

"Poor boy's been working himself to death" Rarity lay atop what had once been Twilight's bed, looking down over the main room of the Library.

"Well, he did lose his mommy" Pinkie replied from her spot. She'd taken a number of the available sleeping bags, brought individually by the others, and stacked them all onto one spot where she could bounce up and down on them for fun.

"Twilight wasn't Spike's mommy" Rainbow murmured under her breath. She was laying her back, slightly curled within Spike's bed. It looked incredibly uncomfortable, though it left her in a good position to look through whatever book she'd found interest in. On cue, she tossed 'Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone' over her shoulder, onto the quickly growing heap of books she'd been trying to reread to take her mind off things. They weren't working.

"Well maybe not" Pinkie gave one final powerful bounce, launching herself from her spot up to the second level, where she landed beside Rarity and promptly launched the unicorn off the bed. "But he didlose his real mommy, didn't he? When he was little egg. I bet I'd be sad if I lost my mommy as an egg"

Rarity picked herself up from the woodenfloor, rubbing the new pained lump on her head. "And what, do tell-" she hissed at Pinkie, who turned from pink to red at the realization of what she'd done. "Does that have to do with Spike overworking himself?"

Pinkie thought to herself for a few moments, rubbing her chin with herhoof before resuming her bouncing, now on the bed. "That probably has to do more with Twilight"

"Ya think?" Rainbow asked smugly, just as the door downstairs received a few quick knocks. She along with Pinkie looked to Rarity, who had only just stood up properly.

"Oh, don't get up, I've got it" She growled sarcastically, hurrying down to the door.

Rarity had only just reached for the handle when it slammed open, giving her a quick smack to the face and knocking her out of the way. "We're back!" Applejack announced, trotting inside with a bag set up over her back and a Fluttershy following not far behind, a box clenched in the pegasus' teeth.

Pinkie hopped down from the landing, hurrying over to Fluttershy to take the box from her; a delivery of sweets she'd ordered from everyone, for a minor goodbye party at best.

"Where's Rarity?" Fluttershy asked once her mouth was free. Pinkie hurried back to the center of the room, setting down the box there.

A groan came in response, and Fluttershy stepped out of the way while Applejack shut the front door, bringing the pained Rarity back into view. "Oops... sorry hun" Applejack chuckled, lending a hoof to help the unicorn up. With a flick of the head, she opened the bag around her body and grabbed a brush from within, setting it down before the dazed unicorn.

"I am never sharing a roof with you again" Rarity hissed, gaining only a chuckle from Applejack, who hurried back over to Fluttershy. She reached in once more, this time pulling a framed picture out from the bag and handing it to Fluttershy, giving a quick wave of the head up to the second floor landing.

Understandingly, Fluttershy took the picture and flew up to the second floor, giving Rainbow a few quick nudges to draw her attention before setting the picture down in her lap. "We thought it might cheer you up, since-"

Rainbow took only one glance at the frame before half-shouting "You guys went in my house?" In surprise. The picture was a signed one she normally kept at her bedside, of the Wonderbolts formation.

"Well no, it was just me. Applejack couldn't reach" Fluttershy clarified, not fully understanding. It was probably a good thing she did, Rainbow seemed less than happy about this little fact.

Pinkie Pie hopped her way up onto the landing, offering first a cupcake to Rainbow. The pegasus, however, only gave a nod of thanks to Fluttershy and set the picture down on the floor, face-down, before turning over in the basket that was Spike's bed and facing away. With a huff, Pinkie redirected the cupcake to Fluttershy, who gave only a disappointed sigh at the sight of Rainbow and floated back down to the others without notice of Pinkie.

"Maybe we should do something special, it being Spike's last day and all..." Applejack suggested, quietly waving Pinkie off when the party-pony tried the same with her.

Spike's voice drew their attention, coming from the kitchen door. "Don't bother" The baby dragon muttered. He looked genuinely annoyed by the sight of all of them, and for once, Rarity's presence did nothing to cheer him up. Spike hurried over through the room, towards the basement doorway.

"Spike, please, we might never see you again" Rarity pleaded, ignoring Pinkie's attempts to shove that same cupcake into her face as well.

"I'm not in the mood" Spike replied sternly before disappearing through the basement door, slamming it behind him. A soft click could be heard as he locked it from his end.

Rarity glanced between the group, up to Rainbow Dash who had already chosen now as bed time, and finally the door Spike had locked himself behind. "Let's just go to bed" Rarity finally huffed, hurrying up the ladder. She ignored the cyan lump in the basket that was Rainbow, and flung herself beneath Twilight's sheets.

Pinkie, finally giving up with a huff of her own, stuffed the treats back into the box they'd been delivered in and laid herself down onto the pile of sleeping bags she'd made.

"Oh, bedtime already?" Fluttershy asked uncertainly, a hint of sadness in her voice. With some reluctance, she lifted herself up, flying around to the different light sources keeping the Library brightly lit, and blowing each out.

Applejack cautiously approached Pinkie's pile of sleeping bags, intent on getting her own. It was only when she reached out to take hers and she suddenly heard a loud, almost rabid growl from Pinkie that she realized that she wasn't getting it. 'Some goodbye party' Applejack thought sarcastically, glancing up to Fluttershy. "Tell Rarity to make room, share the bed with her for the night"

"Are you sure? What about you?"

"Ain't the first time I slept on the floor, won't be the last" Applejack gave a final nod of certainty, and with some wonder on her face, Fluttershy flew out of sight to take a spot next to Rarity.

Now in total darkness, Applejack laid herself down on the floor, eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. "So, this is how our last day together's gonna be, huh?" She asked loudly, knowing that despite their attempts to sleep, everyone could hear her. "I ain't stupid. This is the last time we're going to see each other... We can try all we want to pretend, but it'll never be the same, will it? And this is how y'all want to spend our last night?" Applejack felt a pillow hit her, thrown by someone unseen in the darkness. "Fine. Goodnight, and good riddance" A single tear broke free as she laid her head down for the night.

Blaze

Chapter 10: Blaze

blaze, noun: a sudden, intense outburst, as of fire, passion, or fury

"What in tarnation is that?"

Maybe it was a few minutes later, maybe several hours, who knew?Applejack rubbed her eyes sleepily, slowly lifting herself off the floor and stretching to crack her spine back into place. The room was still coated in darkness, and if the starlight hadn't been pouring in through the window upstairs, it'd have been impossible to see.

But something had woken her, someone moving, awake at this hour. Applejack's eyes flew to Pinkie Pie, still asleep and now hidden in the pile of sleeping bags she'd claimed as her own. With a sigh, Applejack hurried over to the ladder, quietly making her way up it, fearingshe'd wake the others.

Rarity was still asleep in Twilight's bed, and Fluttershy naturally slept on the other side with the majority of the covers pulled over her. Rarity didn't seem to mind. Finally Applejack's eyes fell to Spike's basket, where Rainbow Dash slept. Or rather, where she should have been sleeping; it was empty. A figure stood by the window, slowly lowering itself out.

Applejack rushed over, grabbing the escaping Rainbow by the tail with her teeth, just as the pegasus tried to drop herself outside, effectively hanging Rainbow by her tail. "Let go! Let go!" Rainbow's hushed voice came. Applejack gave only two grunts of disapproval -as her mouth was full- and started tugging, hauling herself and Rainbow back up and into the Library.

"Why do you guys always have to grab my tail?" Rainbow hissed in a hushed voice, finally turning and snatching her rainbow tail from Applejack's mouth. "You know that hurts, right?"

"Just what do you think you're doing?"

"None of your business! Go back to sleep before you wake everypony else up!"

"I'm makin' it my business!" Applejack gave Rainbow two quick pokes to the chest. "Tell me what you're doing now or I will wake everypony up!" Applejack needed only open her mouth as if to shout, and Rainbow shoved her hoof into it, to quiet her. The two shared an awkward glare for a moment, Rainbow with a fairly wet hoof and Applejack with a taste in her mouth oddly similar to one of Pinkie's cupcakes.

Finally, Rainbow pulled her wet hoof away, wiping it on the floor. "Fine. My wing's better. A little tender, but I can fly again. You were right" Applejack raised an eyebrow at this, before Rainbow continued. "Tonight was supposed to be our last chance, I was going to go find Twilight. Have you heard what everypony's been calling her?"

"Twilight Blaze, yeah I know. I caught Applebloom saying it yesterday" Applejack's gaze fell to the floor. Applebloom had, of course, been scolded, though the thought that even a filly like her was calling Twilight a name so vile, hurt. "I know how you feel, I want to go find her too, but do you really think-"

"Think what?" Rainbow now stepped close, giving Applejack a quick shove. "I don't care what the Princess said, or how dangerous it is! You were wrong. Twilight would never abandon any of us, no matter what Celestia said! I'm going to go find her, whether you like it or not"

The two stood in heated silence for a few moments, Applejack's face growing a sly smile. "I was going to say 'Do you really think you should be going all alone?'"

Now it was Rainbow's turn to look surprise, and once again, they stood in brief silence, before Applejack reached over and gave her a few quick pats on the shoulder. "Tonight's our last chance, right? I guarantee none of us are gonna give it up. Come on, let's wake the others"

Before either of the two could take a single step, there was a soft click, and the room around them was illuminated. Both AJ and Rainbow had to suppress a scream, seeing the other three ponies were all huddled around them, listening in with gentle smiles worn by all. Spike sat at the foot of Twilight's bed, holding a newly lit candle and, for the first time in week, actually smiling.

"We're wasting time with all this talk" Rarity chuckled.

"I'd like to go too, I mean" Fluttershy's voice fell, looking over to Spike. "If it's okay with Spike"

Spike finally hopped down from the bed, giving a quick laugh. "You guys are the best"

"I have a question!" Pinkie raised her hoof high, as though signaling a teacher. "How are we going to save her? Last time I tried, Twilight trapped me in a bubble"

"A bubble, huh?" Spike fell into a moment of deep thought, before pulling out a bit of parchment and showing it off to the group. "I have an idea" He said confidently. They each gave one anothera few nods of understanding. Spike rolled the paper back up, held it high, and giving it a quick blow with his magic breath. The paper disintegrated before their eyes and rolled away in a puff of green smoke out to who knows where. Then, after pulling the group into a huddle, Spike took a deep breath. "Okay, so here's what we do..."

"Is everything ready?"

Twilight gave a quiet snort as she woke. The area around her was illuminated in a purple glow from her mane, a flame that refused to go out despite her best attempts. Hence,she was fairly easy to find.

Raising her head from the dirt, Twilight listened. The forest hadn't been kind to her, though it had provided. She'd been able to practice her new abilities, and let her newfound anger seep in for the whole week. Being woken up so late was nothing new. The voice on the other hand...

"What are you doing?" Rarity asked in her own hushed voice.

"Quiet! Y'all are gonna wake her!" Applejack hissed. She and the rest of the group stood at the edge of the small clearing where Twilight lay sleeping. Pinkie happily had Spike riding atop her back. "If we can do this the easy way, we wont even need to risk-" AJ looked through the trees again, to where Twilight lay. Or at least, where she should have.

"What are we looking at?"

A unanimous scream came from the group as they all jumped back, away from Twilight who had materialized herself behind them.

"Okay, forget the plan, run! Run!" Pinkie shouted. On cue, the whole lot of them scattered through the forest, into the trees just as Twilight let out her first stream of fire.

"Okay, so much for that!" Rainbow shouted, flying just above AJ who sprinted on the ground.

"Quiet you, just stick to the plan!" Applejack retorted, stopping in her stride and turning to rush back towards Twilight.

Meanwhile, Twilight spun on the spot, firing her spell into the trees, almost all of which had ignited by now. "Come out and face me!"

"Right here!"

Twilight spun just in time to be rammed back andoff her feet by Applejack. As she fell, Twilight vanished into a wisp, backing away a few feet before returning to form upright.

Twilight aimed her horn forward and, this time, only fired off a few stray sparks. With a quick "Wha..." She looked down to the gem around her neck. A small white rabbit was dangling from it, trying to pull it free.

Twilight shook herself back and forth wildly, flinging Angel free. Fluttershy flew down into sight only just briefly to catch the airborne rabbit before flying up into the trees once more.

"No you don't!" Twilight yelled, charging forward through the trees in the direction Fluttershy had gone.

She didn't make it far until there was a sharp crack, and moments later, several trees came crashing down around her. Twilight stopped short just in time to avoid a tree coming down in front of her that most certainly would have crushed her.

"I'll be taking that gift back!" Rarity popped up from the bushes behind Twilight, horn glowing brilliantly. The necklace around Twilight's neck spun around, being pulled back to its creator. Twilight let out only a growl, turned, and fired another stream of flames at the bushes just before Rarity ducked back into them, releasing her magical grip.

Twilight had no time to rest, however, Pinkie came charging in next from the side, pushing a party cannon as she did.

Twilight wisped herself up and out of reach again just in time to avoid the first blast, and she rose up high above the trees. She'd have been breathing heavily if it were possible in this state. Twilight, however, had no time to do this. She felt herself, even as a wisp, being sucked downwards. Her eyes materialized just in time to see a tornainbow beneath her, sucking her wisp-self back down to the ground.

Twilight only just rematerialized again when she crashed into the dirt below, dazed and confused. She lifted herself shakily back to her feet, immediately spying Spike not far from her, waving her old tiara, the Element of Magic, in the air as though taunting her.

Twilight gave a light growl, stamping herself back to sense. "Give that to me!""You want it, come and get it!" Spike yelled, running off through the trees once more. Twilight was more than happy to oblige, vanishing into a wisp again and charging forward into the forest once more. She blindly went forward, through and between trees before finally coming into a wide clearing. Trees all around her, and a river in front of her, which Spike stood in front of.

Twilight came back to form, only briefly, to say "Last chance, 'World's Greatest Assistant'"

"You're not getting this until I get Twilight back!" He yelled. Twilight smirked, before wisping forward again directly at him. Just as she neared, Spike turned and hopped back into the river.

Twilight fell back into form again at the water's edge, looking over the tiny hillside into the water below. A streak of rainbow came flying into view, up from the river and past her head. Twilight spun, back to river, and blared her horn up. Now, she was cornered. She saw her six friends standing between her and the treeline, with only water at her back.

"Keep away from me, all of you!" Twilight backed herself up until she was only just barely not falling back into the river behind her. "I'll fry you all! I swear it!"

Rainbow Dash raised herself up above the group, yelling out "Now!"

"Now? What do you mean now?" Twilight asked. Her question was answered a second later by a large shadow suddenly rising up over her from behind. She turned just in time to see the Sea Serpent slap both of his hands together with her in between.

A squeak of fear came from Fluttershy, who quickly covered her mouth with both hooves, staring horrified at the Serpent's closed hands. She was not the only one, most of the others, Rainbow Dash included, looked absolutely terrified. "Oops, bit too rough there. Ah well, she should be fine..." The Serpent quickly explained, slowly pulling his hands apart. As he did, a bubble seemed to form between them, about the size of Big Macintosh while perfectly round.

Once big enough, it detached from his hands, falling to the ground and revealing a dazed and confused Twilight laying inside. "There we are, good as new" The Serpent said cheerfully, grabbing the bubble in one of his claws and lifting it forward for the others to see. The group let out a sigh of relief, seeing their friend laying inside unharmed.

"Don't you worry Twilight" Rarity trotted up to the side of the bubble, giving it a soft tap. "We're here to help get you back to normal"

"Help!" Twilight flared up inside the bubble, sprouting a few flames that only caused her to start coughing briefly from the smoke, before she continued. "I don't know what I ever saw in any of you, you selfish, fat, greedy-!" Twilight was turning herself around repeatedly in the bubble, occasionally giving a kick to it from the inside or otherwise trying to bash herself into it to break it from within. "-big-headed, lazy, fickle-!" Finally her horn lit itself, and she vanished for about half a second. She reappeared leaning heavily on the inside of the bubble, wincing as if she'd tried to teleport but ran into a brick wall instead. "-JERKS!"

The Serpent brought his free hand up to stifle his laugh, casually tossing Twilight's bubble up and catching it repeatedly. "Sorry dear, that there's a Null Sphere, there's no getting out of that"

"Hey! Careful with her!" Rainbow flew up beneath Twilight's bubble during one of these tosses, attempting to catch her but only serving in plummeting to the ground when it landed on her. She did, however, soften the landing some.
The Serpent gave another soft chuckle, lifting taking the bubble in hand and lifting it up and off of Rainbow Dash. "No need to worry, dear, after all, no magic's getting in or out of this"

"How about some heat!" Twilight shouted from within, blasting the side of the bubble a moment later with a flame from her horn. It took all of a second for the transparency of the bubble to disappear, and for it to begin to glow red instead. The Serpent panicked in just that moment, tossing the newly hot orb from hand to hand before letting it fall to the ground.

The bubble popped on impact, revealing Twilight who lay there. She clearly had managed to burn herself from that act, and in was was still a bit off balance from the whole experience.

"Now now, don't worry, I'll-" The Serpent reached his hands forward again, to trap Twilight a second time. He was not so lucky, Twilight spun, vanishing into a wisp briefly to escape from his grabbing hands. She flew over, through the group of ponies who hurriedly dodged to get out of her way, before rematerializing on the other side of them.

The moment she was back to form, she fired another burst of flame forward, at the Serpent. The scaly beast only just managed to duck down in time, hands over his head to avoid the flame. Peeking out from between his hands, he slowly lifted himself up, until the smell of burnt hair filled his nostrils. The Serpent's eyes drifted down to his mustache, now a charred black bit on that which had only just been regrown. "Mustache down!" He yelled, recoiling back from the sight of it before collapsing down onto the shore, slowly sliding back into the water as though unconscious.

Pinkie was first to react, jumping over to Twilight and wrapping her hooves around the unicorn's neck from behind, trying to pull back and keep her from aiming her horn at anyone.

Twilight vanished into a wisp a second later, leaving the pink Earth pony to fall to the ground grabbing only at air.
Twilight reappeared again in the center of the group, once again ready to attack. Rainbow rushed past her before she could make a single spark, grabbing the gem and tugging on it while about two feet away in the air, trying to free it from around Twilight's neck who pulled against the pegasus's grip. "Go ahead, try to smoke your way out of this so I can take the stupid gem!"

Twilight's glare was the only response, and she struggled briefly to aim her head properly at the pegasus. Before she could manage it, Fluttershy appeared behind her, grabbing her by the head and pulling back against Rainbow. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She shouted. The fabric that made up the necklace it self began to strain against the two ponies pulling in opposite directions.

Rarity appeared behind Fluttershy, grabbing the pegasus by the waist and pulling as well, while Applejack grabbed Rainbow by the tail, pulling her back onto the ground yet still trying to tug the gem from Twilight's necklace. "Pinkie! Do it now!" AJ yelled.

"Oh! That's my cue!" Pinkie Pie quickly swooped her head down beneath Spike, raising him up on top of her and charging forth to the tug-of-war. Just as they were close enough, Spike reached for his former master and slammed the Element of Magic tiara down onto her head, before Pinkie circled around and hurried away from the fight.

"Let go of me!" Twilight yelled, wildly shaking her head as though trying to knock the tiara loose. It upon her head and the gem strained around her neck both began to spark violently.

"It's ain't working!" Applejack yelled.

"Get that gemstone off of her neck!" Rarity replied. Both teams gave one final tug in opposite directions, straining the necklace for the last time.

Finally, the Element of Magic upon her head grew to a blinding light, just as the Element of Sin around her neck did. A moment later, there was a pulse of magic, knocking all ponies away from Twilight onto the ground in separate piles, leaving her there to finally catch her breath with both element sparking on her.

And moment after that, the Element of Magic upon her head gave a violent hiss, before being launched upwards a good hundred feet or so. Rainbow was only just raising her head from the ground when it came down fast, gem-first, right in front of the Pegasus and implanting itself into the ground. An inch closer, and it'd have taken off her head. As it was, Rainbow saw a small tuft of her mane beneath the Element that had been sliced clean off.

Her heart sunk a moment later. The gem of the Element of Magic, normally a bright magenta, was now grey and empty.

All eyes fell back on Twilight, still the only one left standing with the Element of Sin stuck hanging from her neck. It still sparked violently, even swinging wildly as though refusing her as its master. Twilight herself was visibly trying to pull it free, eyes shut tight and tears flowing freely. "Help... me..." A tortured voice made its way out of her mouth.

A loud clapping of thunder sounded, and with it, the beating of wings. Twilight suddenly heard the sound of a sharp slice, and with it, suddenly, the pain from the Element was gone. Her mane and tail fell back into place within seconds, and she physically felt herself shrinking back to her normal size, along with her horn dulling up.

But it was not only physical, her mind was suddenly flooded with so many emotions and memories, too many for her to count, too many for her to keep track of. Twilight only just peeked a single eye open. It was all too much. She fell down onto her side, staring gratefully at the pony who had saved her, removed the Sin. The name only just escaped her lips before she fell asleep.

"Princess Luna?"

Dawn had arrived by the time Twilight next awoke. She still lay on the grass, feeling drained, hurt, and shamed. Anything of herself that hadn't changed back the night before had most certainly had gone now. With a groan, she lifted her head up and opened her eyes.

There was a sudden silence, her six friends stood huddled not far, who all quickly ended their conversation and looked to her. Off in the distance, Princess Luna stood in the shade, leaning against a tree as though afraid of what would happen if she stepped into the sunlight.

"You guys saved me" Twilight managed out, tears beginning to flow freely again. A moment later, she was swamped in a number of hooves that all grabbed and hugged at her with unbridled love. "I'm so sorry, so so sorry, I wasn't me, I never meant a word of it..." She managed out within the pile of friends.

With a few stray chuckles, the group finally split free from her, stepping back. Applejack offered a hoof forward to help her up. "Hush now, sugarcube, we know..."

"How... how did you all know how to stop me?" Twilight gratefully took the help, standing up for only just a moment before falling back to the ground. Her legs felt like jello.

Applejack gave a light chuckle, laying herself down when it became apparent Twilight would do no walking for a while longer. "Spike here showed us the letter you left to Princess Luna that you never sent off. Little guy was smart enough to save it just in case. After what the Princess told us, we knew Luna would want to help" As she said this, Applejack gave Spike a quick nuzzle on the cheek. Luna herself gave a visible blush from where she stood, far off leaning against a tree.

Rarity was next to compliment him, wrapping a hoof around the dragon and pulling him close. "Spike thought of everything, like how angry you'd get, how sorry you were-"

"How afraid you were of us!" Rainbow gave a quick flex while floating above the group. After catching their looks, she clarified "On the inside at least"

"How your big blue ball thingy worked and made you all crazy and super protected!" Pinkie Pie added in, waving a hoof around her head to animate it.

"How Mr... uhh..." Fluttershy looked to the serpent who lay not far from the water's edge, watching with mild amusement. His mustache had, for the second time, been repaired using a tuft of Rarity's tail, and judging from the absence of the Sin gem or its necklace, Twilight had to assume it was the original.
The Serpent seemed to catch this pause and answered "Steven."

"How Steven would be able to catch you and keep you safe" Fluttershy flew over to the relaxing serpent, landing beside him and hugging as much of his face she could fit in her small arms while he closed his eyes and let her.

Twilight felt as though she was swelling up with thankfulness, almost unable to compose herself. "There is one teeny weensy thing though" Pinkie added, which immediately shot down Twilight's emotions.

"We, um... had to let the Princess know what we did..." Fluttershy added in, smiling ashamedly and ducking her own head down. As though on cue, a mighty shout was heard seconds later.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you're all in!?"The group turned their heads up, just in time to see Celestia land down in the middle of them all. Twilight didn't have the strength to back away even if she had the will to.

"Princess Celestia, I'm... I can't say how sorry I-" Twilight started. Celestia marched right up the unicorn though, quieting her.

"Twilight Sparkle! You blatantly went against every order I gave you! I told you to not spend time with Sin, and it hung from your neck! I told you to keep everyone safe, and you attacked them! I told you to tell no one of this, and now almost everypony, especially Luna, now knows of what you've done!"

"Now wait just a minu-" Rarity began, stepping forward to Twilight's side as though to shield her shamed friend, before Celestia turned her cruel gaze over to the designer.

"And don't get me started on the rest of you! I never thought I'd have to ban people fromthe Everfree Forest, well perhaps you'd all like to spend the rest of your days there if you like it so much? You could have all been hurt! You could've, you could've..." Celestia felt her anger dying off quickly, though there would still be hell to pay.

She opened her mouth to continue only briefly, before Luna's voice stopped her. "That's enough, sister" Celestia turned her gaze back to her younger sister, who had now approached the group and stood proudly. "Twilight Sparkle has done better than we might have. We are very proud of her, and we believe you should be as well. Are you not?"

"Luna, this doesn't concern-"

"This concerned us more than anypony here, sister" Luna cut off the Princess, looking to her sternly. For once, it was Celestia's turn to look embarrassed. "We believe if not for Twilight Sparkle's actions, much ruin may have followed"

Celestia looked from Luna back to the group. Then to Twilight, who still laid with her head down ashamedly. "Twilight, stand"

With some difficulty, Twilight brought herself up onto her jelly legs. Celestia must have noticed this difficult, because she waved for the unicorn to lay back down a moment later. "Luna... is right. I never should have trusted you with something so dangerous. As much as I wish it, you're still just a little filly, and I was wrong to do so"

"But... Princess..." Twilight managed out with a shaky voice.

"Really Twilight, I'm in no position to punish you. Remember, my own sister made the same mistake, and she was wiser then than you will be in many years" Celestia tried reassuring the young unicorn.

Despite her kind words, Twilight couldn't bring herself to accept that. Nor could she bring herself to stand up properly in this state of shame. "Please, Princess, you were right, I deserve something, I ruined things for everyone, I need to make it up somehow!"

Celestia gave a sigh and a gentle smile, thinking over something for a few seconds. "Well... very well, Twilight" She waved her head at the others, who, at the Princess's orders, finally approached the two of them. "As you know, when me and Luna were no longer connected to the Elements, a certain someone was released..."

At this, even Twilight raised her head slightly, having a vague idea of where it was going. Celestia smiled and continued on. "Well, for a short time at least, you severed your own connection to your Element." Even as she spoke, the clouds overhead began to gather and slowly fade into a bright shade of pink. A few stray drops of brown fell down onto the group. Pinkie Pie's tongue instinctively came free of her mouth, catching one of the drops on it.

"Twilight Sparkle, would you be so kind as to demonstrate your Element, and prove yourself to us again?"

As she finished these words, a laugh from far off sounded. One with a hint of charm, and a slip of evil. Twilight finally understood what she meant, and raised herself up from the ground. Celestia bowed her own head, using her horn to lift Twilight's discarded tiara over to them, returning it onto the head of its rightful owner. As soon as it touched her, the color seemed to fade back into the grey jewel, as it did into Twilight's face. "It would be my pleasure, your highness"

Goodnight

Epilogue: Goodnight

goodnight, noun: a farewell or leave-taking

Dear Princess Celestia

I understand if you've got a lot on your mind, but I thought you'd like to know what I've learned. Friends... friends are the most amazing people you'll ever meet, but they're not perfect. No matter how amazing they may seem, everyone has their quirks. I'm no angel, and neither are my friends, but it's not about getting over those downsides. It's about accepting them, loving your friends all the more for having them, and trying to understand where they're coming from. You should never judge a pony on their downsides, you should be thankful for the good, rather than angry at the bad. Whether it be envy, gluttony, greed, pride, sloth, lust, or even rage... you never know what could happen.

Your Most Faithful Student
Twilight Sparkle

Princess Celestia rolled the letter back into a scroll and set it down before her, closing her eyes for a brief moment. She lay on her usual spot, in front of the fireplace in her room. It was pleasant, a nice retreat from the duties of the day, the worries of outside.

"So, this Twilight Sparkle, she is your student?"

Except tonight.

Luna sat upon Celestia's bed, looking out the nearby window towards the falling night. The day had been a long one, with quite a bit of chaos on the way back for both Celestia and Luna, though defeating Discord a second time was barely a challenge for Twilight and her friends. After all, they had already been wearing their elements.

"My finest and most trustful, yes. Even when she makes mistakes, Twilight never ceases to amaze me. She reminds me of you, when you were little" Celestia gave a soft chuckle to herself.

In her hoof, Luna held the blue orb; the Element of Sin. She looked it over repeatedly, yet gave no ill thought of it. "We believe thou are quite lucky to have someone so... determined. "

Celestia smiled softly to herself. Yes, it was true, she was quite lucky to have Twilight, as both a student, and perhaps the closest thing she'd ever have to a daughter. "You know, Luna, you're free to take up a student of your own, if you'd like. She's learning so much, so fast..."

Luna only gave a smile and shake of the head, setting the gem down onto the bedside. "None would compare to Twilight Sparkle. Perhaps onehast learned a lesson of her own?"

With a quick nod, Celestia stood from her spot. "Luna, we don't spend enough time together I think. We have the night to ourselves, how about I go have a servant prepare some fruit for us?"

"We would be most grateful, it has been a long day" Luna gave a nod of thanks, resting her head down onto the bed. With minimal effort, she lifted the gem from her own hoof and brought it over to Celestia, who took it with some understanding,

Celestia turned and hurried to the door, to go fetch a servant. She stopped briefly in the doorway. "Of course, I'll make sure to lock this up again. I trust you wont make the mistake of taking it for yourself once more. Oh, and before I forget, do you like bananas?"

Luna froze for half a second, giving Celestia a look half of terror, half of confusion. "N... no, we would rather no bananas in our fruit..."

Celestia raised an eyebrow at this, but gave only a quick shrug and hurried out.

"Hey Spike?"

"Hm?" Spike peeked his head up from his basket, looking over to Twilight who lay in her own bed. The room was once again dark, and they'd only just climbed into bed.

"You think my parents would be proud of me? When they hear about everything that happened?"

Spike rolled over in his bed, letting out a loud yawn. "You worry too much, I'm proud of you"

Twilight gave a quick chuckle from where she lay. "You really shouldn't be. I didn't do anything, it was all my fault after all... And that doesn't count, I'm not your mommy"

"Close enough"

"Oh for Pete's sake!" Rainbow yelled from where she lay; in between Twilight and Rarity. The whole six of them lay inside Twilight's bed, all trying to sleep. "You guys are going to make me sick"

"Some of are trying to sleep" Rarity growled from her position, turning over to face away from the others.

"I don't mind, really, if you want to keep talking..." Fluttershy continued; who lay between Applejack and Pinkie Pie on Twilight's opposite side.

Twilight let out a low groan. "You guys know I'm not leaving again, right? You don't have to stay here anymore"

"Nice try Sugarcube" Applejack sat up just to give Twilight a few pats on the head, before sinking back beneath the covers. "But you're stuck with us 'til you pay us all back for the property damage"

"I don't actually have to be here, it's just nice and warm for my little hoovsies! This is like one big slumber party!" Pinkie yelled, raising her hooves in the air and clapping them together. "Oh, wait, we should all say goodnight to each other! I'll start! Goodnight Fluttershy, goodnight Applejack, goodnight Twilight, goodnight Rainbow, goodnight Rarity, goodnight Spike!" Pinkie sat up where she lay, looking to the others. She was met with five glares. "Or... maybe we could all just go to sleep..."

Spike gave a quick laugh and snuggled himself back into his bed, satisfied. "Goodnight"