Starting Off

by Basmati

Rating: everyone
Tags: Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Adventure
Length: 5271

Adara and her friends, having just arrived in Equestria, begin their training of their powers.

Having learnt about why they are here and what they must do, Adara and her eight friends - Garnet, Skylar, Effie, Liz, Sophie and Lacey - wake up to a brand new day in Equestria, knowing that they must not only begin their new lives as citizens of Ponyville, but also must start to learn about the mysterious powers they hold - they powers of the Bindings of Hope.

The Sequel to 'The New Journey'.

Published 2012-03-08 22:44:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-03-12 18:26:57 UTC

Chapter 1

Author's Note

This is the sequel to 'The New Journey'. If you haven't read that, you may want to go back and read it, as you may not fully understand what's going on. But if you think you will, go ahead - I can't stop you. Mata.

Chapter 1

The newly risen sun beamed all over Equestria. The dew on the grass glistened like tiny crystals as the sunlight hit it. The birds Down in the town of Ponyville, only a few ponies were up this early. The market ponies were organising their stalls, insuring everything was ready for the day to come. The town's mail mare was up, walking towards the post office to collect the mail that need to be delivered today. A few of the weather pegasi were clearing the few clouds that were in the sky, making sure that the summer day would be perfect.

All of the ponies up were about doing their jobs, making Ponyville the place they want it to be.

All except one.

In Ponyville library, a grey unicorn with a turquoise and blue mane lay in bed awake. She had not been able to get to sleep at all that night. She lay in bed, looking up at the ceiling, thinking about the events that happened last night. About her strange arrival in Ponyville with her friends. About learning about the powers she never knew she had. About having the best 16th birthday ever. She turned around, saw that the sun was up, and decided not to stay in bed any further.

She walked out of her room, and tiptoed down the stairs quietly, as not to wake up Twilight, or her friend Sophie. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she looked around the library, smiling. I can't believe I'm actually standing here, the grey mare thought. She started walking towards one of the bookshelves, thinking about perhaps reading up on the history of Equestria, when a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Good morning, Adara."

Adara turned around to see Twilight sitting in the kitchen, reading a newspaper that she was floating in front of her.

"Morning, Twilight," she walking into the kitchen.

Twilight put the newspaper down and stood up. "Breakfast?"

Adara nodded - as excited as she was, she had never been so hungry before. She walked over to the dining table and sat down. Twilight quickly made a sandwich and gave it to Adara.

Adara moved to pick it up, but then remembered that she didn't have hands - only hooves. She began looking at the food in front of her, wondering if it was rude to eat it right of the plate, when she remembered something. She was a unicorn. She began concentrating on the sandwich, trying to raise it up. She closed her eyes and though of nothing but the sandwich. When she opened her eyes, her sandwich was floating in front of her, surrounded by blue light.

Twilight stared at her, shocked. She had never seen someone master magic so quickly before - it had taken her years to be able to use her magic to make something float, and Adara had done it in less than a day.

"That's amazing," she said, walking over to her.

"What's amazing?" Adara asked, her mouth full of sandwich.

Twilight raised her hoof and pointed to floating food. "I've never seen anyone master magic so quickly. Most unicorns can do simple lifting spells, but not after only having magic a day!"

"Oh." Adara thought about it - normally it took fillies years to be able to use their magic, and she hadn't even had a day. "Maybe I was just lucky. Let's see how Sophie deals with it, then you can decide whether I was quick or not."

Twilight smiled. "How would you like to visit Sweet Apple Acres today?" she asked.

"Would I!" Adara exclaimed, finally dropping the sandwich.

Chapter 2

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3

Sophie woke up to find sunlight streaming in through her window. This shocked her a bit - she had never been able to see as well as she could now. That was the reason she always wore glasses . But then she remembered. Adara's party, going unconscious, waking up in Ponyville as ponies. The light blue pony lay back in her bed and thought to herself. She remembered the princess's - her name as Celestia, right? - speech, remembered her talking about the Bindings of Hope, and a great evil that they had to destroy.

This was a bit too much for her to handle. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she got out of bed, pushing her purple mane out of her face, and walked out of the room. After a few wrong turnings, she finally made it into the main room, where Spike was sitting in a chair, eating some rubies.

"Oh, I see they didn't leave me alone then," he said, licking his fingers.

Sophie had a puzzled look on her face - she had never seen his dragon before, but hadn't Adara spoken about Twilight having a sort of assistant. What was his name? Rick? No, that wasn't it. Wait a minute, she had seen him before - yesterday, Twilight got him to write down where all her friends were staying and then he blew some green flames on the parchment and burnt it to a crisp. But she still had no real idea who he really was - let alone remember his name.

"Err...sorry, but who are you?" she finally asked walking up to the dragon.

"Oh," the dragon hopped down from his seat, and held out his claw for her to shake. "I'm Spike. I'm Twilight's friend - her only friend from her days in Canterlot."

Sophie took the dragon's claw and said, "I'm Sophie."

"It's nice to meet you Sophie, but if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna go and see if Rarity needs some help," Spike said, walking towards the door.
"Wait, Rarity? The white unicorn, with the purple hair?"
Spike sighed dreamily. "The perfect purple hair..."
Sophie looked at him as he went into his own world. She snapped him back to his senses by saying, "I'll come too, if you don't mind. It's just my friend is staying with her, and I guess I should go and see her."
Spike looked at blue unicorn. He knew where she had come from, and why she was here, and he also knew that Twilight probably wouldn't like it if he just left her, all alone, in the library. But what if other ponies asked who she was and where she was from? He couldn't exactly tell them the truth.
But Twilight had left her with him, and he didn't want Twilight to be disappointed with him.
"Sure, you can come. It might be nice for you to see the sights of Ponyville." Sophie beamed.
Spike walked towards the door and opened it for Sophie. "To Carousel Boutique!"

***
"CUPCAKES! So sweet and tasty! CUPCAKES! Don't be too hasty! CUPCAKES! Cupcakes, cupcakes, CUPCAKES!"
Lacey woke up with a start. Looking around the room, her confused face gradually went away, as she remembered the previous night. She reckoned the voice that woke her up was that of Pinkie Pie, the friendly pink earth pony that she was staying with for a while.
She smiled as she thought of Pinkie Pie. The pink mare was doing nothing but laughing and dancing and singing last night - mainly because she was celebrating not only their arrival, but also Adara's 16th birthday. But Lacey had a feeling that she was like that pretty much all the time. That was fantastic, though, as that was the sort of person Lacey was - not as bouncy as Pinkie, but, nevertheless, very similar.
The fuscia mare got out of bed, and walked towards the location of the voice. As soon as she walked into the room, Pinkie Pie pounced on her.
"Good morning!" she said. "Did you have a nice sleep? You probably did - I know I always sleep well after a great party. Last night was great, wasn't it? It was super duper fun, and it was the first fun we had together! We should do it again sometime. Whose birthday is next? Oh, I can't wait for that - let's do one next week."
Lacey laughed and nodded. This was going to be fun.

***
"Oh, that colour is gorgeous with that lace," Rarity said. Sophie and Spike had just walked into Rarity's shop, and immediately she had been taken aback by the number of the dresses and their beauty.
"Wow."
Rarity turned around. "Spike! And Sophie! What a pleasant surprise!" she said, trotting towards them.
Spike stared dreamily at her and said quietly, "Hi."
Sophie shook her head, and walked over to what Rarity was working on. At the moment, it didn't really look like anything to Sophie, but she knew that Rarity would probably have it looking like a ballgown in no time.
Rarity noticed the attention her new masterpiece was getting. She walked up to Sophie and asked, "Do you like it? It's for my new collection of dresses. Perfect for the Grand Galloping Gala. I'm hoping that a few Canterlot ponies will take an interest in them."
"I'm sure it'll be amazing. All your dresses are," Sophie said, gesturing to Rarity's work.
The white unicorn beamed, and she quickly thanked her. "I'm sure you want to know where Elizabeth is right now - she's in the kitchen, with Sweetie Belle," she said, pointing to a door. Sophie thanked her and began walking towards it.
As she walked into the kitchen, she saw Liz talking to a small white unicorn filly with a purple and pink mane.
"So all of us really want our cutie marks, but we don't know how we can get them - I mean we've tried zip lining, bowling, comedy, everything. Everypony keeps telling us to wait, but we just can't!" Sweetie Belle said, sighing.
"Aww, don't worry. They'll come if they're going to come - and they will definately come. Just take your mind off it and worry about other things," Liz replied, patting the filly on the head.
Liz looked up and saw Sophie in the doorway. Her face lit up and she instantly went over to blue unicorn and gave her a big hug.
"Who's this?" Sweetie Belle said, jumping down from the chair and walking over to them.
"I'm Sophie. I'm one of Liz's best friends," Sophie replied.
"Oh. Well, hi." Sweetie Belle ran out of the kitchen, yelling, "Rarity! Can I help?" Her sister's immediate reply was a very loud and very certain 'NO!'
Sophie turned towards her smiling friend. "Since when were you called Elizabeth?" she asked.
Liz rolled her eyes. "I introduce myself as Elizabeth to everyone - only you guys call me Liz, and I can't stop you now."
The two unicorns talked - about Equestria, about their roles in its future, but more importantly, about their future.
"Do you think we'll ever go home?" Sophie asked, quietly.
Liz lowered her head. Truely, she had no idea. If Sophie, the genius of the group, was asking a question, usually none of them would be able to answer it - this situation was no different.
"Really, Sophie, I have no idea. Personally, I don't think so. But we should think about it too much - I mean we should concentrate on the present rather than worrying about the future."
Sophie nodded. "Yeah, you're right." But she still couldn't help thinking about what would happen if they did go back...and when that would be.

Chapter 4

"Wait. We actually have to KICK trees?" Garnet asked, astonished.
"Err...yeah. That's why it called 'apple buckin''," Applejack simply replied.
"I thought we would be picking apples - you know, with our hands." Garnet indicated to her hooves.
"Err...not sure that you've noticed Garnet, but we don't really have hands anymore," Adara reminded her friend.
Garnet looked between Applejack and Adara, then gave up with a sigh. She was not meant to be here, and everyone knew it. She might as well give up now.
However, Adara had other plans. She took one look at her friend, then charged towards the nearest tree. Garnet looked up.
Adara kicked out when she reached the tree - not a particularly strong kick, but strong enough to make the tree sway for a bit. She went to the next tree and did the same, with the same effect. Again and again, she kicked trees, but no apples came tumbling down. Garnet smiled at her friend understanding exactly what she was indicating.
Adara stopped for a moment to look at her friend, and saw the smile. She walked over to the nearest tree and, without breaking eye contact with her friend, kicked the tree. Immediately, the apples began falling from the branches, landing perfectly in the baskets below.
Adara walked over to her friend and uttered one word.
"Understand?"
Garnet smiled - she had to admire her friend's guts. The purple mare nodded and hugged Adara. "Keep moving forward," she whispered into the unicorn's ear. Adara smiled, and hugged her friend harder.
"Now, come on - let's go buck some apples!"

***
Skylar opened her eyes to a bright blue sky. She sat up and smiled. She was in Rainbow Dash's house - her favourite pony of the entire show. She remembered her jumping at the chance of staying with Rainbow and laughed at herself. Still, she was lucky - not many people can say that they are staying with their favourite character.
She walked outside and saw Rainbow Dash lying on a cloud nearby. Skylar looked at her wings; yesterday, she somehow managed to fly up to Rainbow's house, but that could have been due to the adrenaline. She decided not to risk it - she didn't want Rainbow Dash having to swoop in to save her.
"Hey! Rainbow!" she yelled.
Rainbow sat up and saw Skylar and immediately flew over to her.
"Hey!" she said, landing softly next to her. "Nice sleep?"
"Like on a cloud," Skylar joked. I'm so witty, she thought.
Rainbow shook her head, while laughing.
"So, what are you planning to do today?" Skylar asked.
"Well, I was just going to practise some tricks today, but since you're here, I have a even better idea!" Rainbow said, turning to face the green pegasus mare. "How would you like to go to Cloudsdale?"
Skylar's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She nodded her head quickly, her dark green mane bouncing. "I would like that VERY much."

***
"That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."
Applejack, Twilight, Adara, Garnet and Heidi were walking back to the house, after filling all the baskets they brought. Garnet, surprisingly, was the best out of all of them, apart from Applejack of course.
"See, you did enjoy it. My Little Pony isn't seeming so bad now, is it?" Adara said.
"Don't push it."
The ponies laughed, and were met halfway by Big Macintosh.
"Adara, yer haven't met my big brother, Big Mac, have yer?" Applejack asked. Adara shook her head and shook Big Mac's hoof.
"It's very nice to meet you," she said.
Big Mac helped them carry the baskets back to the house. But while they were walking back, something kept going through Adara's mind - eventually, she had to speak up.
"Twilight, what do you know about the Bindings of Hope?"
Twilight sighed - she had been expecting this question eventually, just not now.
"I'm not entirely sure," she said. "I did some research last night - that was why I was up when you came down so early. There wasn't a lot on the subject, but what I did find was that the Binding of Hope are similar to the Elements of Harmony - an ancient magic that can be used to defeat evil. While the Elements specialise in creating harmony between others, the Bindings specialise in hope - hope for loved ones, hope for the future, hope that everything will become eventually better. That was all I was able to find out - I don't even know what the Bindings are! But I'm sure the princess must know more and she will have to tell us at some point."
"Any idea when?"
Twilight shook her head. Adara lowered hers - she thought that that would be the case.
Suddenly, she heard a loud 'Whoo hoo!' above her. The entire group looked up to see a rainbow blur above them, followed by a green pegasus.
"Skylar!" Adara, Garnet and Heidi shouted. Skylar looked down, saw her friends, and swooped down to greet them.
"Hey guys!" she said, smiling as Adara gave her a huge hug.
"How's Rainbow?" she asked.
"She's awesome - we're just going to go so she can show me Cloudsdale - I can't wait!"
Heidi and Garnet were just about to ask a question when Adara exclaimed, "That's amazing! You have to tell me all about it when you get back."
Skylar looked above her and saw Rainbow gesturing to her. She turned back to her friends and said, "I have to go. I'll talk to you guys later, ok?" She then spread her wings and carefully took off.
Watching her friend fly away after Rainbow, Adara felt a pang of jealously - Skylar was off living the dream, flying to Cloudsdale, and she was stuck here. Then she realised what she was saying. She was in Ponyville, for god's sake! How can she been jealous when she was in the very place she wanted to be.
Turning away from Skylar, she smiled then ran after the others towards Applejack's home.

Chapter 5

"Spike!" Twilight called for the baby dragon. They had returned from their visit to Sweet Apple Acres, with a bag full of apples as thanks for their help. They had arrived at Ponyville Library to find both Sophie and Spike gone. They had checked all the rooms, but were unable to find any trace of them.
"Oh dear. Oh no," Twilight said, pacing up and down the room.
"Twilight, don't worry. I'm sure they're fine. Spike wouldn't leave Sophie alone, especially when he knows that Sophie doesn't know her way around Ponyville," Adara said, putting her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. But this didn't calm the magical purple pony.
"Princess Celestia trusted me to look after you and your friends - it's the first day, and I've already lost one of them!" Twilight said, lying on the floor with her head in her hooves.
Twilight then started murmuring about her options. Adara stared at her on the edge of a mental breakdown, and decided since Twilight wasn't going to be doing anything, she should take it into her own hands - or hooves, as it was now.
She left the library as Twilight said, "I could send a letter to Princess Celestia - oh, but Spike's not here. How can I send her letter without Spike?!"
Adara walked down the high street, looking around for her friend and the green dragon. She knew that Sophie would most likely be visiting her friends, as she didn't have any reason to visit anyone else in the town.
She decided to check her friends in order of Sophie's preference - first Effie at Fluttershy's, then Lacey at Sugarcube Corner, and finally Liz.
She looked around and started walking in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage.

***
Knock knock.
Fluttershy opened the door, and saw a grey unicorn that she recognised from last night. She was one of the new ponies that Fluttershy and her friends were looking after.
"Hello Fluttershy. Is Effie here?" the unicorn asked, smiling.
"Oh. Yes," the timid yellow pegasus said, as she shuffled out of the way. Adara immediately saw the orange pegasus with the short blue mane playing with Fluttershy's pets.
"Effie!" Adara said, walking towards her friend. Effie looked up, and saw the unicorn mare walking towards her.
"Adara?" she said, standing up, and giving her a questioning look. Adara nodded, and Effie walked over to her friend and gave her a hug.
"I'm sorry - I can't remember what anyone looks like. I keep forgetting it's me when I look in the mirror," Effie explained.
Adara reassured her that it was ok, and Effie calmed down a bit.
"How are you, Effie? Are you having fun here?"
"Oh, yes. Fluttershy is so nice - today, we went around and she introduced me to all her animals. They're all so lovely."
Adara was happy - it was nice to know that her friends were happy. She now knew that Heidi, Garnet, Skylar and Effie were all happy - she just hoped that the rest were too.
"So, why are you all the way over here?" Effie asked her.
"Well, actually, I came to see if you had seen Sophie today? It's just that Twilight and I came back to the library after going out for a bit and found her gone."
Effie thought about it for a bit, then asked, "What does she look like again?"
Adara smiled and told her that Sophie now had a blue coat, a purple mane and she was a unicorn.
"No. I don't think I have seen her. Sorry."
Adara sighed. She had hoped that Sophie had decided to visit her closest friend, and that Effie would be able to tell her where she now was.
"Don't worry, Effie. It's not your fault. I'll just have to keep looking. I'll see you soon, right?"
Effie nodded, and waved her friend goodbye. Adara walked out of the room, bidding Fluttershy goodbye on her way, then made her way back to town.

***
Sugarcube Corner. Adara had seen it before, during episodes of My Little Pony, but never had she thought that it would be this big.
Adara snapped herself out of her daze, and walked into the bakery.
"Well, hello dearie, I haven't seen you here before," a kind voice said. Adara looked up and saw Mrs Cake smiling at her.
"I'm Adara - I'm a friend of Twilight's. I'm staying with her for a bit."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Adara. How can we help you?" Mrs Cake asked.
"Actually, I was wondering if Pinkie Pie was here."
Mrs Cake gestured to a door behind her. "She's back there. With a friend, I think."
Adara thanked her, and walked through the door. She was immediately hit with the smell of baking cake and cookies - she saw Pinkie Pie bouncing around the kitchen, singing 'Come on, everypony. Smile, smile, smile!' Behind her, she saw Lacey - a fushia coated, blue maned pony - smiling and singing along. Mr Cake stood on the other side of the room, looking like he was about to crack. "Two Pinkies..." he mumbled repeated. He saw Adara, and quickly left room, slipping 'good luck' as he walked passed her.
"Hey," Adara said, finally attracting the two earth ponies' attention.
"Adara!" Lacey yelled, jumping on her.
"Adara!" Pinkie Pie yelled, doing the same.
Adara collapsed under the weight of the two mares, and burst into laughter, which set Pinkie off, which then set Lacey off.
After a few minutes, the three of them had calmed down, and Adara was finally able to talk to her friend.
"So how are you enjoying Ponyville?"
"It's great! Pinkie Pie is sooo much fun - when I woke up, she was singing her cupcakes song - oh, and we're going to plan another party because we didn't get a have a proper one last night, with Princess Celestia explaining everything to us. Do you know when everyone is free?"
"Err...no, but I'll ask everyone when I see them." Adara was surprised for a minute - occasionally, her friend did reminder her of the pink earth pony with the curly mane, but never this much.
"Okay dokie lokie, Adara. Thanks!" Pinkie Pie said, jumping in front of her, then bouncing over to the oven. Adara watched her for a moment, then snapped back to her senses.
"Can I ask you something, Lacey?"
"Of course you can. What's up?"
"I was wondering if you had seen Sophie today - Twilight's getting a bit worried, you see. We came home from the farm, and we didn't see Spike or Sophie. She's probably fine, but Twilight is overreacting. So I thought that I should go looking for her - before Twilight gets a mental breakdown again, or gets the royal guards involved."
Lacey shook her head. "Sorry, Dara. I haven't seen Sophie today. But I'll let you know as soon as I do."
Adara baded the ponies goodbye and went to leave, but the two earth ponies refused for her to leave without tasting some of the cakes that had just been taken out of the oven.
By the time Adara left Sugarcube Corner, she had been forced to eat five cupcakes, half a cake and eight cookies. Slowly walking out, groaning from a full stomach, she made her way to her last destination - Carousel Boutique.

Chapter 6

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique - how may I - oh!" Rarity recognised the unicorn standing in front of her. "It's Adara, isn't it? How are you? Are you enjoying it here?"

"Oh, yes. I'm having so much fun here. This is the best after-birthday day ever!" Adara said, smiling that the elegant white unicorn.

"Good. Anyway, how can I help you?"

"Well, I was just wondering if-" Adara started.

"Hey Adara!"

Adara turned and saw Sophie standing in the kitchen doorway.

"Sophie!" Adara galloped at full speed towards her friend, and pounced on her.

Sophie was thrown off her guard, and was surpised at her friend's behaviour. "Dara, what's wrong?"

"We had no idea where you were! Twilight had been sick with worry - I'll be surprised if she hasn't lifted up the library to search for you under it!"

Sophie raised a hoof to her mouth. "Oh, I'm so sorry! Spike wanted to go and see Rarity and I thought that I should come and see Liz."

Adara put an arm around her friend's shoulders and reassured her.

"Come on - I better take you home," she said, walking towards the door of the shop.

"Yeah. I'll just go and get Spike."

The blue unicorn called for the dragon, who, of course, was unwilling to go. Eventually, after ten minutes of asking, pleading and threatening to tell Twilight, the two unicorns managed to persuade him to leave.

"Adara?" Sophie said.

Adara looked towards her friend and said, "What's up?"

"I was just wondering...I mean, are we ever going to get back home?"

Adara stopped - she had been thinking about this question all day. She had no idea if time when differently in Equestria - a year here might be a second back in her world. She hoped that her parents weren't missing her, but she also hoped that they were. She didn't want to be gone for ten years, come back, and realise it had only been ten seconds there and they didn't know she was gone.

"I really don't know, Soph. But the sooner we defeat that...thing, the sooner we can go home, I expect."

Sophie nodded, and followed her friend in the direction of Ponyville library - their home for the meantime, and hopefully not forever.

***
The group walked through the library door, and immediately Sophie was covered with a purple unicorn, who was mumbling "Thank Celestia you're alright!"

"Whoa! Twilight, it's ok. I told you she was fine," Adara said, gently pulling the unicorn off her friend. During all of this, Spike stood behind Twilight, laughing at the mare's reaction.

"Spike!" she shouted finally, noticing him. "Why did you take Sophie away, without even leaving a note behind, explaining where you were?!"

"Err...sorry Twilight. I must've forgotten," the dragon said, digging his foot into the floor of the library.

Twilight sighed - she knew couldn't blame Spike for everything. He was a baby dragon after all. "That's ok, Spike. Just next time, try to remember."

Adara drew Twilight's attention, and took her into another room.

"Adara, are you ok? Is everything alright?"

"Twilight, I'm fine. It's just...my friends do keep asking the same question - when-"

"When are you going to be able to go home." Twilight sighed. "I thought that you may be asked that question by your friends, considering that they know of your knowledge of our land. But I can honestly tell you that I have no idea."

"I thought so, but we should start preparing our...powers, right?"

Twilight smiled. "You still can't believe that you're special, do you?"

"No," Adara admitted, shaking her head. "I am not special. I am a normal girl who isn't popular, who isn't funny, who isn't cool, who isn't smart, who isn't fashionable - I am not special. It must not be me. Simple as that."

"You can't think like that!" Twilight shouted at her. Adara looked up in surprise. "You were taken from world, brought to ours, for a special purpose. You were chosen out of billions! How can you know that and still say that you are not special?"

Adara stared at Twilight. She was right. Out of over 7 billion people, only eight were chosen to come here, and Adara was one of them.

"You're right," she finally realised. "I was being stupid - I'm sorry."

"Don't worry - I know exactly how you feel. You'll get used to it."

"I hope so."

Next story: The Sky is Always Green in Cloudsdale

Letter 1

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today Adara, Garnet, Lacey, Liz, Skylar, Sophie, Heidi, and Effie woke up to their first day in Ponyville, as you well know. After you left, we arranged where everypony would be staying; Sophie and Adara are currently staying with me, Rarity has taken in Liz, Lacey is staying with Pinkie Pie, Applejack offered to take in both Heidi and Garnet, Skylar is with Rainbow Dash, and Effie has been taken inby Fluttershy. They have begun to fit in, with Lacey begining to bond well with Pinkie Pie already - they are already driving Mr and Mrs Cake of Sugarcube Corner completely mad.

Liz and Rarity are both fashion crazy, and are already beginning to design together. As mentioned before, Lacey and Pinkie Pie are working together in Sugarcube Corner, and are both planning another party for all of us. Rainbow Dash is currently taking Skylar to Cloudsdale to show her her home town, and should be back in a few days. Effie has been helping Fluttershy care for her animals, and I hear that she is doing a very good job. Applejack took Heidi and Garnet out for their first apple bucking, and Garnet was quite good at it.

Sophie went to visit her friend Liz, at Carousel Boutique, with Spike, which caused a bi of panic between Adara and myself as we didn't know that she had gone there.

Adara herself is still doubting the fact that she is special but is now starting to come to terms with her destiny and seeing herself in a new light.

I will continue to keep you posted on their events - if something happens you will be the first to know.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

p.s. Also, Twilight learnt the importance of CALMING DOWN and not to overreact when somepony decides to visit their friend - from Spike.