Persona: Harmony

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 1
Chapter 4

Chapter 2

*Wednesday, 8/16*

*Morning*

Twilight woke up with a jolt. She gasped, exhaustion evident on her sweating brow, forcing large breaths into her lungs. She somehow felt drained, like she had spent all of her energy. How? She had only just woken up. She looked around the room, the bright morning sunlight filling it with the promise of a new day. Through heavy eyes, Twilight smiled up at the light her mentor was bringing. It was as if Princess Celestia was wishing Twilight good luck through the sun. She felt grateful of her teacher. Then, the sudden image of a black void for a sky grabbed hold of Twilight’s vision.

Nervous, she hopped out of bed and walked to the window. She wasn’t expecting to see the sun shine so brightly and the ground covered in young foals going to school and adult ponies on their way to their daily lives. She stood by the window, puzzled. The last time she looked out her window it was the dead of night. The large moon was shining amongst the stars from below and casting an evil shadow on everything. That was in that dream. . . .

As if realizing this was the cure for her condition, her breathing grew easy and she didn’t feel so drained. She took one final deep breath, memories of the previous night suddenly returning. The strange setting, Spike, those monsters, that brave pony with the sword, everything came surging back in her mind. She shook her head and let out a grunt in frustration. None of it made sense!

Another memory surfaced. In the dream, her leg had been injured! Twilight test her hind leg, putting more and more weight on it until she was almost balancing on it. Not a single wave of pain. Not even a sting.

Satisfied, Twilight made her way to the kitchen and fixed herself some breakfast. She pulled out one of the delicious red apples she bought from the salespony the day before. She took a bite out of the fruit. She chewed, but once, before the juice reached her taste buds. The sudden shock of flavor surprised her. It took everything she could not to gulp down the rest of it in one bite! This apple was the best apple she’d ever eaten! How could that pony’s farm be in any danger with something like this growing locally?

“Maybe I should pay them a visit.”

*Afternoon*

Twilight found her way back to the dirt path Applejack showed her yesterday, the one leading to Sweet Apple Acres. The dirt was darker here than the dirt in the village. From the little she knew about gardening, it was probably because of the care taken to the soil so the plants could grow. The difference was already obvious with the lush grass that seemed to act as the border between city and country.

She followed the path over the hill, the farm rising into view as she reached the peak. The trees stretched farther than Twilight could see, wrapping around the large, red barn house at the very front and going past the hills beyond. Each tree was dotted with the same delicious fruit Twilight had just sampled that morning, the thought making Twilight’s mouth water. She continued trotting down the hill and to the barn house door, ready to knock when she was suddenly tackled by a yellow blur. It had come from the door, shocking Twilight and causing her to stumble to the ground.

When she regained her senses, she stared into the face of a young filly, yellow coat with a bow binding her strawberry-red mane. She was lying on Twilight’s stomach in a daze, hooves sprawled out around her body. When the filly’s own senses returned, she gasped and bashfully leapt off of Twilight.

“Sorry, Miss.” She pawed at the ground a little and then zoomed off without even looking at Twilight again. A little startled by the encounter, Twilight proceeded to the open front door of the barn and knocked. Applejack came running at the noise and smiled when she saw who it was.

“Hey, it’s you! Twilight, right? What can Ah do ya for?”

“Well, I want to help out on the farm.” Twilight smiled and stood with confidence, as if she were at a job interview trying to impress her future boss. Applejack eyed Twilight for a moment, a look of disbelief on her face.

“Really?”

“Uh-huh!” Twilight’s voice wasn’t missing a beat.

“Ah’m sorry, ah don’t mean ta be rude, but you don’t look much like a workhorse. Have you even applebucked before?”

“Well, no. I admit I haven’t, but I want to try anyway!”

Applejack thought it over a moment, and then shrugged. “Ah guess it couldn’t hurt. Ah never turn down a hard worker. Follow me.”

Applejack led the way out of the barn and into another building next to it: the shed. It stood smaller than the barn house, but it seemed to act as a side attachment. Here, Applejack picked up a few empty baskets and put them into a wagon. She strapped herself into the harness and pulled the wagon into the patch of trees until they reached a few with very ripe, unpicked apples. Applejack released herself from the harness’s grip and placed the baskets around the tree’s base. She turned to Twilight.

“Here, try buckin’ down the apples by kickin’ the base o’ this tree as hard as ya can. You’ll shake the tree hard enough that the apples’ll just fall right outta the tree and into the baskets.”

Applejack moved out of the way so Twilight could get into position. Twilight faced away from the tree, put all of her weight onto her front hooves, raising her hind legs into the air, and shot them straight into the tree’s trunk. The impact caused the tree to rattle and a few apples fell out into the baskets. Applejack whistled and tipped her hat.

“Not too shabby, but yer pose is wrong. Here, do as Ah do.” Applejack got into position herself next to another tree, bringing one of the baskets with her. “First, spread yer front hooves out, like this, about shoulder-length apart. If I were ta push ya, ya shouldn’t fall over. Then, you want ta hit the dead center o’ the tree with everythin’ ya got! If ya hit the tree jus’ right, every ripe apple should just fall into the basket--” Applejack performed a marvelous applebuck onto her tree, kicking it just above her lowered head. Like she said, every apple on the tree, all of the most delicious-looking apples Twilight had ever seen, fell into the basket, never once missing and hitting the ground, “--like so.”

Twilight had been taking mental notes the whole time, noting how to stand, where and how to kick, and what the final product should be. Going over everything in her head, she took position, fore hooves spread out at shoulder-length, and kicked the tree with all of her strength. She ended up making contact with the lower base of the tree, almost directly behind her chin. The tree hardly budged and instead Twilight felt the impact bounce back at her legs and she fell to the ground, her hind legs aching and shaking. She heard Applejack chuckle quietly to herself but didn’t give up, not after her confident presence earlier. Twilight got up, ignoring her protesting legs, and gave another swing. This time, she completely missed the tree and landed flat on her belly. She felt the wind get knocked out of her, keeping her down until she could breath agin.

“Maybe applebuckin’ just aint right fer ya. There are other jobs you could do.”

“Can’t I just use my magic and levitate the apples into the baskets?”

Applejack seemed to be hit with those words as she heard them. “No! Ah mean, it’s kinda one o’ our policies that any unicorn volunteers don’t use magic ta pick the apples. It’d feel a little like cheatin’ if we let them pick half the orchard all by themselves.”

Twilight grumbled a little bit in frustration, but respected Applejacks’ wishes.

“Here, let me show ya another job that Ah think you’d do OK in,” Applejack pointed to the full basket of apples she had bucked just a few seconds ago, “You can put these baskets into the wagon and pull ‘em into the back door o’ the barn. And when ya get there, tell Big Macintosh that he needs ta hightail it over here so he can help me buck apples fer you ta pull in.”

“Got it!” Twilight strapped herself to the harness of the wagon full of baskets of apples and was about to pull when she got an idea. She grabbed hold of the baskets with her magic and levitated them around her, lifting the weight of the wagon to a manageable amount that she could handle. Applejack eyed Twilight accusingly.

“What’re ya doin’?”

“I’m not picking the apples with magic. And besides, it’s easier for me to carry them back and forth with my magic rather than pulling this heavy wagon.” She held a mischievous smile as she said this.

“Heh heh, all right, all right. Ah s’ppose Ah can let that slide as long as they get ta the barn safe. Sneaky little Miss Magic.” Applejack giggled and continued her work.

Twilight walked back the way they came and found herself at the front of the barn again in a matter of minutes. After putting the wagon away, she walked around the border of the large red building until she found an extension in the back with large wooden doors open a crack.

Inside was a large room, much larger than the shed, mostly taken up by boxes and barrels that were probably ready to be sold on the market. On the other side was a couple of ponies, an old green mare with her white mane in a bun and a large red stallion with his casual, messy, orange mane. The stallion was hunched over a desk lit by a hanging bulb just powerful enough for the area around him, fussing over some paperwork and the mare was digging her hooves into a pile of apples, tossing bruised or otherwise ruined apples into a separate bucket, her own source of light being the bulb above the stallion. They turned around when they noticed Twilight nervously walk in.

“And who is this young’n?” The old mare asked in a creaky voice.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle. I just started working here. Applejack told me to bring these baskets here and to tell Big Macintosh to help her out with bucking apples.”

“Ah guess that means Ah should go, Granny.” The stallion said in a deep voice.

“Don’t worry ‘bout me none sonny. Ah can handle these apples by mahself. You go help yer sister.”

Big Macintosh got up and walked out of the barn as Twilight set down her own baskets next to the old mare’s pile. The mare immediately went to work as she talked to Twilight.

“Oh, where’re mah manners? Mah name’s Granny Smith. Ah’m glad Applejack has found more help fer this old farm. It sure needs it.”

“Applejack told me that you were having problems making sales and that you might have problems during winter.”

“Ha! That’s an understatement. This farm’s well on its way ta bankruptcy.”

“What?” Twilight nearly jumped in surprise.

“Ah’m sorry ta say it, but it’s true. We’ve got a lot o’ new shops in town recently and it’s hurtin’ business. It doesn’t help none that everypony here knows what our apples taste like since most of the adults’ parents have lived here since Ah have. We sell the finest apple products this side o’ Equestria, but everypony has a limit when it comes ta eatin’ the same food over an’ over again,” Granny Smith’s greeting smile slowly turned sour until with was a complete frown, “Unless we come up with somethin’ new ta sell this farm’s on its way to disappearin’.”

“T-that. . . terrible!”

“Sad, but true,” Twilight was surprised by the smile that reappeared on her face, “But, no matter how far down the hole we go, even if our farm, our home, does get taken away from us, we’ll still be family.”

There was a long pause as Twilight took in everything that she was told. She could feel her emotions reach her eyes, but the thought of crying now seemed wrong to her. Resolve washed over her like water from a shower as she seemed to grow taller.

Granny Smith looked at Twilight with her old, sweet eyes, “Thank you fer listening to an old mare. Why don’t ya follow Big Mac ta the shed and go on helpin’ the farm?”

“Right. Bye!” Twilight galloped off to the shed after Big Macintosh. She hadn’t seen him on the way there, so she figured he had taken some baskets himself. She grabbed a few of her own and continued her work, fully determined to do what she could to help the farm.

About an hour later, at the front of the barn, Twilight noticed a pony come running down the hill. He seemed to be in a hurry and didn’t even take notice of Twilight. That is, until he tripped, tumbled and rolled along the ground, and crashed into her. The impact caused Twilight’s magical grip on the baskets she was carrying to vanish and drop them on her head. She laid there for a few seconds, dazed, for now the second- or was it third?- time this day, before she pushed the pony off of her, who quickly got to his hooves.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to crash into you like that!” He bowed his tan head in apology, his brown mane bobbing along with it.

“No, it’s fine. No harm done,” Twilight tried to brush off the damage like the dirt that was now on her coat, “Where are you off to in such a rush?”

“I work here, but I’m really late. Where’s Applejack?” He was running in place, sweat visible on his forehead from running all the way from town. He quickly looked around, probably searching for Applejack.

“She’s already in the field bucking apples.”

“Oh no! I was hoping they had started work late. . . . Maybe I can just sneak in and they won’t notice I’m late. . . .”

“Caramel!”

Twilight and the stallion turned to see Applejack emerge from the sea of trees, her face peeved.

“What did Ah tell ya ‘bout showin’ up late? We gotta lotta work ta do and we need every set o’ hooves we can get! Twilight, get him some baskets!”

“Right!” Twilight levitated a few over to Caramel and placed them on his back. “Be sure not to trip again!” Twilight joked with a smile. Caramel’s cheeks flushed a little before he took off into a different section of the acres.

“Ya think you can keep gallopin’ all over the farm like this?” Applejack directed her question at Twilight, “Ya now have three ponies ta supply baskets for an’ we can’t waste time waitin’.”

“I’ll tr--” Twilight’s throat suddenly felt dry and she let out a couple coughs, objecting to her answer. Applejack shook her head and walked towards the shed.

“Ah shoulda just given ya this earlier.” She came back out with a couple water bags fashioned into a saddle and a straw sticking out from each bag long enough to reach the mouth of any pony. She fit them onto Twilight, wished her luck, and sped off into the layers of apple trees once again. Twilight took a sip of the water and loved how clean it was; like nectar for her throat. She magically grabbed the baskets on the ground, a few more from the shed, and ran back into the orchard in search of full baskets.

Twilight headed off towards the east section of the acres, where she knew Big Macintosh was. She caught him in the middle of bucking a tree, not a strain on his face, hay, hardly a change in emotion, on him. All it took was a simple kick and every apple fell off of the tree, even a couple which looked a little pink. He cursed under his breath when he saw them, then changed back to indifference when he saw Twilight.

“Wow, you’re really strong.” Twilight couldn’t help but stare a little.

“I-it’s nothin’ much.” He stumbled a little over his words, “Actually, it works against me sometimes, like when Ah mistakenly buck off the unripe apples. Can’t exactly put ‘em back on the tree. . . .” His eyes looked off into the distance as he trailed off. He seemed to be thinking of something, although exactly what Twilight couldn’t really guess. Big Macintosh shook his thoughts from his head and got back to work. She stood there for a second, the silence only interrupted by the next tree to get bucked by his powerful strikes.

“Well, here you go Mr. Macintosh.” Twilight put some of her load of baskets next to Big Macintosh, trying to act nonchalant to try to escape the sudden silence.

“Jus’ call me Big Mac.” He bucked another tree, managing to get only the ripe apples this time. Another long silence fell between them; Twilight rocked on her hooves, trying to find some way to recover from the sudden quiet once again.

“R-right,” Twilight gave up in trying to salvage any sort of conversation they might have had, “Anyway, see you later.” Twilight galloped off, baskets both empty and filled with apples following behind her, trying to get away as fast as possible from the land of silence.

After giving Applejack more baskets and collecting the filled ones, Twilight was on her way to the west fields where Caramel was. She heard a grunt, then some loud noise, and then painful moans. When she found the source, Caramel was lying on the ground, head right at the base of the tree. She helped him up and waited a moment for his eyes to focus.

“Are you OK?” Twilight asked with honest concern.

“Uuugghhhh. . . . Yeah, I. . .” Caramel shook his head vigorously, which managed to cure his dizzied state, “I’m fine.”

“What happened?”

“Oh, no big deal, just tried bucking a tree, but somehow spun around and smacked my head against the tree. Don’t know how I managed to do it, but that’s what happened.” He put a hoof up to his skull and rubbed it, possibly tending to a sudden headache.

“Do you need anything? I have water.”

“No, it’s alright. Believe me, there are worse things that could happen. This is nothing. There are some filled baskets over there.” Caramel pointed to a few trees surrounded by filled baskets. Twilight collected those too, and suddenly felt strained. Sweat became visible to Caramel, so he flipped the conversation around.

“Whoa, you feeling OK?”

If Twilight wasn’t lifting such a heavy load, she would have laughed a little at that, “Yeah, the load’s just a little heavy this time around. I should get back to the barn quick before I lose my grip on these.”

“If you say so. Don’t strain yourself!” Caramel gave a big smile as Twilight galloped off once again to the back of the barn to meet Granny Smith and dump her load of apple-filled baskets.

*Evening*

Twilight collapsed in front of the barn, gasping for air and desperately trying to sip the last drops of water left in her bags. Applejack came by behind her, lifted her back onto her hooves, and helped her inside. She took the water bags off of Twilight and sat her down at a long table with several empty chairs starting from Twilight’s left to the end. The room was very comfortable, soft, dark brown walls with several pictures hanging, showing Applejack, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, the filly from earlier, and some other ponies. One was a group photo with the four residents, Caramel, and some ponies who had obviously been working the whole day up until the photo was taken. There was a brick fireplace placed next to a set of swinging doors that led to the kitchen, a set of stairs opposite of Twilight that split off in two directions, and a window that showed the apple orchard’s night beauty.

Applejack sat across from Twilight and Granny Smith took the head. The front door opened and shut in time for Big Mac to come out of the kitchen and see the yellow filly sitting to Twilight’s right. Applejack eyed the filly, who put on an innocent smile, a halo appearing above her head. Applejack scolded her about being late to dinner while Big Mac carried a tray of food to the table: some bowls of salad with apple slices and, enough cups of apple juice for everypony, and one big apple pie for dessert. He set the food down and placed himself between his sister and his granny.

Everypony dug into their food greedily, most of the sounds coming from the little filly, who introduced herself as Applebloom. Applejack scolded her younger sister, again, for forgetting her table manners. Big Mac and Granny Smith seemed to be in a discussion about the farm, though Twilight couldn’t really follow it. The different personalities around the table clashed so well that Twilight couldn’t help but smile. She had flashbacks of when she still lived with her parents as a foal, but was never able to talk about anything interesting to her parents. They faked interest really well, so it was enough to satisfy the young Twilight.

She also remembered the dinners she would spend with Princess Celestia. Her mentor was always accompanied by the same three guards: Diamond Shield- a white Earth pony-, Breeze- a white pegasus-, and Black Magic- a black unicorn. Twilight had gotten to know them very well and had formed their own sort of family. They always talked warmly to Twilight, only scolding her when she really deserved it. They were always on active duty, being the princess’s personal guards, but occasionally they got the chance to slip away and play with her, sometimes teach her a little about Equestrian history they had to learn when becoming guards.

The smile slowly faded from Twilight. She suddenly felt a pit in her stomach, but the food wasn’t the cause. Applejack bellowed at her younger sister, and Big Mac and Granny Smith ignored the yelling by talking to each other in the only way a real family would. All of this noise, conversations good and bad between siblings and elders, Twilight couldn’t help but smile. She looked between the Apple Family in longing, though they never noticed. They were too engrossed in their conversations to notice.

Suddenly, a thought popped out of nowhere in Twilight’s mind. Looking around, she noticed a certain pony missing.

“Hey, where’s that other pony?”

“Ya mean Caramel?” Applejack looked up from her food at her new friend, “He insists at eatin’ at his own place. We try ta feed him fer helpin’ us out be he simply refuses and gallops off before we can.” Applejack paused a moment before speaking again, “Why, ya worried ‘bout ‘im?”

“Wha- no! I was just wondering since I’m here eating and he isn’t, yet we both helped out.”

“Well, as nice as he is and as hard as he works, he doesn’t really help out all that much.”

“Sis!” Big Macintosh had finished talking with Granny Smith in time to hear his sister’s comment.

“Ah know, Ah know. Ah don’t mean ta be so hard on him. He really tries, sometimes too hard. He jus’ messes up a lot. Not his fault. Well, mostly not his fault. He’s just accident prone. He’ll knock over whole wagons just by takin’ a step forward. Once, he even put a hole in the barn jus’ by turnin’ his head.”

Twilight crossed her brow in confusion, “Wha. . . how. . . .”

“That’s just the kind o’ thing that happens ta him. Like Ah said, he really does try hard. Once, he even out did me in apples bucked fer the day. But for every good thing he accomplishes at least ten accidents make up for it.”

“Well then, and I don’t mean any offense to him when I say this, if he’s so accident prone that he can hardly get a job done why don’t you just fire him?”

“’Cause he’s family. Well, not really family. He ain’t blood, but we’ve been together ever since we were foals. Me, him, and Big Macintosh were always together. He would always show up here and try ta help out by doin’ chores or occasionally even got away wit’ helpin’ out in the fields. We’ve been good friends and he’s never done any o’ us wrong. That’s why we let him help.”

“That’s. . . actually a really nice story.”

“Yeah? Well, don’t be getting’ any ideas about hittin’ on ‘im.”

Twilight, who had been taking a drink of apple juice when she heard this, spat all over the table in front of her, managing to spray Applejack a little. She coughed a little at some juice that instead escaped down her throat. Applebloom decided to help by smacking Twilight on the back a few times before Applejack glared at her. When Twilight finally regained her composure, she asked in a wheezy voice, “What?”

“Since he’s family, Ah’ll protect him like he is.” Applejack grabbed a napkin and wiped the juice from her face, “You do anythin’ ta him and you’ll answer ta me.”

“I wasn’t even thinking about doing anything like that!” Twilight’s face got suddenly red from the thought. She could hear Granny Smith chuckle quietly, trying to conceal her amusement. If Big Macintosh was reacting at all he was doing so quietly.

“Good, . . . ‘cause I was jus’ jokin’!” Applejack’s face betrayed her words as she finished her sentence with a death glare. Big Macintosh finally made an audible laugh, Granny Smith had finished her own giggling to eat her meal, and Apple Bloom stared between them trying to figure out what they were talking about. For the rest of dinner, Twilight couldn’t help but get the feeling of being watched.

After dinner, Twilight found Applejack upstairs in her room. The room was small, just big enough to be considered personal quarters rather than a closet. There was a bed at the far end and a hat rack by the door. A nightstand stood next to the bed with a picture of Applejack’s family as the only thing decorating it. Applejack, taking her hat off and hanging it on the rack, was just preparing to turn in.

“Listen, Applejack. I know that I can’t help all that much around the farm, but-“

“What’re ya talkin’ about? Ya did amazin’ out there! You don’t run that fast, but you were able to keep up wit’ the rest o’ us jus’ fine!”

“Oh, well thank you. Anyway, I realize that even though we collect the apples quickly it won’t help sales. We need to come up with something new to-“

“Don’ worry ‘bout the sales none.” Applejack waved a hoof dismissively, “We’ll be jus’ fine.”

“But, yesterday you said-“

“Ah know what Ah said, but now that I think about it, there was no need ta worry! Sure, our profit hasn’t been the best, but we still got money!”

“Granny Smith told me that the farm was on the way to bankruptcy!”

Applejack looked at Twilight for a moment. She wasn’t sure what the work horse was thinking, though whatever it was soon disappeared to make way for a yawn, “Twilight, Ah love mah granny, but she worries too much. Jus’ ‘cause we’re turnin’ up slightly lower profits she thinks we’re gonna be outta business. See these apples on mah flank?” Applejack waved a hoof over her cutie mark made up of three red apples, “This represents my talent and dedication ta this very farm that mah Granny’s Pa started when she was mah age. I was born an’ raised ta run this farm an’ ain’t no way it’s gonna get taken away that easily. There’s no need ta worry ‘bout the farm.”

Twilight was about to object again, but closed her mouth. She would just have to trust Applejack’s words. She gave a “good bye” to the farm pony and her family and walked over the hill to her library home.

Twilight’s brain set off another alarm to alert her of her surroundings again. She was in the Velvet Room with Igor and Derpy across from her, just like last time. Igor smiled the same creepy smile with his beady eyes and greeted her.

“Welcome to the Velvet Room. I see you have made your contract.”

Twilight paused for a moment before answering. “What do you mean?”

“You braved through your fears and fought back with an unparalleled force, full of confidence. Any uncertainty you felt before is now gone. By doing this, you have stepped onto the path of destiny, ready to face any hardships this choice forces upon you.”

“Fought back? You mean in that dream? So it wasn’t a dream after all?” Twilight’s voice rose with each question thrown at the stallion before her.

Igor chuckled, which only made Twilight frustrated.

“You don’t have to laugh at me! Why don’t you just answer my question?”

“I’m afraid my only job is to guide our guests and assist in our own special way. The paths our guests choose are their own; we simply do them a few favors. We cannot interfere any further than that.”

“Of course you can’t.” Twilight slumped in her chair with annoyance painted on her face.

“But be warned, everything you see in your dreams is an omen to something much greater. When the time comes, it could very well mean a change to your very life.”

“So what do you do?” Twilight couldn’t help but ask with a little bit of doubt.

“In due time. First, some more details. Every pony has a darker side to them, something that they wish others not to see. This is all part of their ego, which is where a ‘persona’ comes from.”

“Persona?” Twilight felt a bell ring in her head.

“Yes. A Persona is another side of you given form. However, as with every rule there are exceptions. You have the power to hold many egos. You are like the number zero: empty, but filled with endless possibilities. Because of this ability, you are able to wield different personas. Not very many other ponies have this ability. How you use this power is entirely up to you. Our job is to help you fuse these personas into stronger ones.”

“Fusion?”

“You’ll come to understand in time. It seems our time has been cut short. Whenever you need to see us, simply think about us before you fall asleep. You’ll soon find yourself here and we will humbly do as you wish and will not interfere. We may also contact you while you are dreaming, so do not be alarmed if that happens to you.”

Twilight couldn’t even get another word in before her vision grew white, and felt herself leave the Velvet Room.

Twilight woke up in her bed, somehow wide awake, staring at the dark ceiling above her. It was unusually dark, giving a familiar feeling to it. She turned to see the pitch-black sky outside her window, and then turned the other way to see Spike next to her. She was about to gasp, but the bright colors of the creature next to her gave her a sudden sense of safety. She sat up to face him properly.

“You’re back. . . .” Spike didn’t look sad, but at the same time didn’t seem all that happy.

“Yeah, . . . I guess I am. I guess this wasn’t a dream after all,” Twilight looked down glumly at the covers of her bed. She knew that the dangers of this world weren’t going to leave her anytime soon. Figuring that, she turned to Spike and decided to get right to the point, “Since I’m going to be coming back here every night, you may as well answer my questions.”

“I. . .” Spike seemed to hesitate a little. His attitude from last time seemed to have been replaced with a timid side, “I guess that’s only fair.” He climbed on the bed and sat next to Twilight, getting comfortable to answer her questions.

“Last time, what were those things that attacked us?”

“Those are shadows. It’s hard to tell what goes through their mind, but what’s not hard to tell is why they show up. They sense food and seek it out. Once they find it, they’ll do anything to catch it. They hadn’t shown up for a while, but came back when you arrived. It’s no coincidence that they barged in here last time. What they actually are is harder to explain. They’re bad thoughts given form, in a sense. That’s why they look so gross. How they show up or why I don’t know. I’ve just been trying to hide from them.”

“Fair enough,” Twilight decided to move on, “What is this place?”

“Well, I’ve never really given it a name before, nor have I read about it in any of these books.”

“Hmm, . . . I see.” Twilight wasn’t satisfied with that answer, but figured she wasn’t going to get anything else, “What are you?”

“I’m Spike!” Spike looked annoyed at having to repeat his name.

“No, I know that. I mean, what are you? What species are you?”

“Species? You mean what kind of animal I am? Well, I’m a dragon.”

“A dragon?” Twilight nearly fell backwards. “You mean, like, those huge things in the sky that fly and breathe fire?”

“Uh-huh!” Spike puffed out his chest with pride.

“But, . . . you’re so little. How can you be a dragon? You must be just a baby.”

“Hey! I’m not a baby! How could a baby take care of himself all his life, huh? I’m twelve!”

“Still, that’s impressive. A young dragon, not even in his teenage years, living by himself in a place like this. How long have you lived here?”

“For as long as I can remember. My first memories are here. I don’t even remember having parents.”

“So you’ve been by yourself this whole time?”

“Yup.”

“How sad. . . .”

“Hey, don’t look down on me! Like I said, I’ve lived here my whole life! Now, if you’re done with your questions I’d like you to answer some of mine.” Spike crossed his arms and prepared to interrogate Twilight for a change. “Now, what are you?”

“I’m a unicorn, a race of pony that can use magic with this horn on my head.” Twilight pointed to her horn.

“That sounds. . . girly.” Spike couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice.

“Well, sorry Mr. Macho.” Twilight huffed.

“Next question: Where are you from? I’ve never seen you before, but you show up once out of nowhere! And when you passed out last time you immediately disappeared! You weren’t even in bed yet!”

Twilight furrowed her brow at that for a moment, then shook it off, ready to answer his question, “I’m from a land called Equestria, specifically from a town called Ponyville. I recently moved there and on my first night I woke up here. I don’t know how or why, but it seems that I’m going to be here a lot.”

“Well, glad that cleared things up.” Spike rolled his eyes.

“Actually, I have another question. Why do you keep referring to ‘last time’? Wasn’t it yesterday?”

“Was it? I can never tell when days pass. The moon never moves; it’s always night. There’s no way to tell time. But, since you only seem to show up when you fall asleep, I guess that means a whole day goes by between your visits. I’ll have to keep that in mind. . . .” Spike trailed off as he held his chin in his claws.

“Wait, if you can’t tell time here, then how do you know how old you are?”

Spike paused for a second as he searched for an answer, “Because. . . I just know!”

“You don’t even know how old you are, do you?” Twilight’s eye’s showed how sad she found that.

“I said don’t look down on me!” Spike stomped his feet.

Spike suddenly froze in place, his entire body tensing up. The sudden change in behavior surprised Twilight, causing her to jump a little. His body seemed to stiffen and he stood at alert, as if trying to sniff something out.

“There’s something here.”

“Here?” Twilight took a step back, fear coating her voice.

“Not here at the library, somewhere else in this world. I think I might be able to track it.” Spike sniffed the air and pointed his head in the opposite direction of the bed.

“But if we go out there, isn’t it likely that we’ll run into shadows?” Twilight asked, fear of the outside world gripping her. They weren’t even safe inside shelter! How were they going to survive the open streets of the city filled with those creatures?

“I know it’s dangerous, but I just have this feeling that whatever this is I’m sensing is important. Besides, if we do run into shadows you can protect us!” Spike smiled at Twilight, giving her a weird feeling. Why was Spike suddenly so trusting and confident in her? Before she could reply the little dragon hopped off the bed and ran down the stairs, either knowing she was going to follow or not caring either way.

“Wait, Spike!” Despite her fear, Twilight couldn’t let defenseless Spike go out alone when shadows were on the loose.

She followed him down the stairs and out the still broken front door. Twilight stood at the doorframe, hesitant to step out onto the night. . . ground. It looked like an eternal abyss to her, the stars showing no way to ensure safe travel. However, Spike walked across it just fine, as if it wasn’t anything special to him. She gulped down her fears as best she could and placed a shaky hoof forward.

She expected it to go right through and to lose her balance and fall into the endless night sky, never to be seen again. She didn’t, though. Her hoof met something solid and she tested it by placing more weight on it. When she felt safe enough, she put another hoof out in front of her. Soon, she was walking just fine atop the night sky, as if a clear plate of glass had been placed under her. When she had made some progress away from the library she made the mistake of looking down. The lack of any visible surface beneath her made Twilight’s eyes spin and give her a bad case of vertigo. She almost felt like losing her dinner.

“Are you always so slow? Come on!” Spike yelled from several yards away. Twilight shook her head and kept her head pointed forward. She wasn’t going to look down, she wasn’t going to look down, she wasn’t going to look down, she wasn’t-- and she looked down. The sight alone forced her off-balance, trying to find footing for her hooves. She decided to just close her eyes and stay close to Spike. As long as she could hear where he was going, she could follow him with no difficulty.

They had already been walking a while, but Twilight could tell they were close. She could feel it. She could. . . hear it? Something in front of her was causing a lot of noise, almost like rushing winds. She dared to open her eyes to see a giant tornado-like phenomenon before her, blocking off any way to proceed. The tornado was completely black, debris following its currents, sometimes even hurtling it in random directions, and purple energy crackled in streams. The wind seemed to pick up as they got closer, forcing them back and acting as a barrier.

“We can’t get any closer!” Spike yelled over the force of the wind, “But there’s definitely something there! I don’t know what it is, but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s important to get in!”

“So what do we do?” Twilight yelled back.

“We have to find a way in! Do you think you can use your magic to get us in there?”

“I--I can try!”

Twilight focused energy on her horn. A brilliant light shined forth and nearly blinded the baby dragon. It was then that Twilight noticed the crown she had been wearing last night on her head again. The light turned purple and surrounded her and Spike. In a flash, the light disappeared and exploded. The energy had fizzled out, the only evidence of her attempt being their scorched bodies. Luckily, Twilight had managed to save them from the worst of it and merely shook off the soot that now covered her, revealing no serious injuries.

“Well, that didn’t work.”

“You think?” Spike threw his arms up, letting his own clouds of soot into the air. He suddenly tensed up, his eyes growing wider as he sensed another presence, “Shadows!”

He pointed at the swirling black tornado as several dark figures of many different shapes and sizes flew out of the whirling mass and straight at them, ready to feast on their new prey. Twilight sat her flank down next to Spike. “Get on!” Spike wasted no time. They galloped off as fast as they could from the incoming menace, but found it futile.

“They’re gaining! You have to fight!” Spike yelled into her ear.

“I can’t take on that many of them!”

“You have to at least fight long enough for us to get back to the library! We’ll figure out something then! I’ll tell you how to defeat them quickly as they come, so just do as I say!”

Twilight raced circles in her mind, but knew he was right. She just had to fight long enough to reach the library. She could do this, as long as she didn’t decide to become a hero. She could feel the shadows reaching closer to her. She didn’t waste time. Her crown let off its brilliance again and shot forth the same card as last time. “Izanagi!” The card shattered and the stallion from last night burst through, his sword drawn and raring to go. He cut through a few shadows that were leading the swarm, catching them completely by surprise, and followed his summoner down the streets of Ponyville.

Spike looked back and nearly jumped off Twilight’s in shock, “Twilight! There’s more behind us! Electricity should knock them down!”

After hearing this, Izanagi made a complete 180 and stood up on his hind legs. Several shadows resembling crows flew straight at him without faltering or realizing the danger they were in. Izanagi smashed the ground below him with his front hooves and from which electricity lashed out at them at blinding speeds, causing them to burst at the sudden electric power. It only took a second and he was back with the group.

“Turn right there!” Spike pointed at an intersection ahead of them.

Twilight made a quick turn around the corner, just dodging a couple of the charging spheres from last night. Spike looked up to see more of them flying above them, dropping their acidic saliva. The drops were narrowly missing Twilight, sometimes hitting her tail and burning the hairs off. Izanagi flew up and spun around, gaining momentum to cleave right through the airborne shadows with one strike. On contact, the spheres split and disintegrated, some of their saliva splashing in a wave below. A couple drops landed on Twilight’s back, past Spike. She cried out in pain as the liquid fire burned through her coat and damaged the skin underneath, nearly falling over from the agony. But she had to keep running- they had to reach the library, and their survival rested on her!

Twilight turned a corner and gasped in pure joy when she saw the library down the road. She gained speed, trying to outrun the shadows chasing her down the final stretch. Just then, a burst of wind appeared right under her hooves and blasted her. The attack cut her stomach and sent her sky high, forcing Spike off her back, luckily avoiding the freefall and landing on the ground a couple feet below, and Izanagi to collapse where he was running, tumbling to a stop several feet away from them. Twilight finally came back to solid ground on her back, the impact knocking the wind out of her and her position making it hard for her to see anything as she stared into the endless black void of the sky, her eyes glued open in shock.

Spike got back up relatively unscathed and raced to Twilight to help her up. Her brain finally registered the pain she was feeling and she winced, her vision growing suddenly blurry and use of her legs impaired. Spike sensed a shadow coming towards them and puffed up his cheeks. Without taking special care to choose his attack wisely, he blew out a puff of green fire, searing its wing and managing to stun it for a second rather than do damage. Izanagi took the opportunity to kick the offending shadow with his hind hoof and get in a defensive stance above his master.

Twilight’s vision finally cleared and she managed to get back up, though her legs were wobbling. She followed Izanagi’s gaze and her jaw dropped at what she saw. The many shadows that had followed them were now circling around one figure.

He was giant, much bigger than Izanagi, and wore black armor not unlike the armor Princess Celestia’s guards wore. He stood tall, grey with a black mane that waved like fire in the wind. He glared down at the weakened prey before him, his red eyes boring themselves into Twilight’s memory and printing his appearance into her brain. He gave off the feeling of an overlord with the shadows abiding by his will, the feeling of a hunter for chasing them all this way from the black tornado, and the feeling of a monster from the depths of Tartarus for his evil glare and menacing figure.

Fear struck Twilight more than ever this time as she realized she wasn’t going to be able to escape. She was going to have to fight it, this Hellish creature before her.

“Spike, can you tell me what to do here?”

“I-I’ve never seen anything like this! It’ll take me a while to give you any information. I’m sorry Twilight.”

“Just tell me when you can. And get somewhere safe. I don’t want to risk you getting hurt in this fight.”

Spike did as he was told and hid behind a building close by. Twilight spread her legs out, almost giving way to them, trying to stance herself the way Applejack showed her earlier that day. If she was hit with another attack like that, she would have to remain standing at all cost. She looked up at the grey shadow before her and grit her teeth. Izanagi charged forward and took flight at the shadow’s head, sword clenched in his teeth, and took a wide swing at the monster’s neck. One of the other shadows surrounding it flew right in the way of his sword, taking the blow for its master and disintegrating into dust. The shadow pony rammed his head into Izanagi and sent him flying to the ground next to Twilight. Taking up the opportunity, the surrounding shadows all changed course and aimed for Twilight. Izanagi remained motionless, body parts shifting in and out of existence at random, leaving her totally defenseless. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact.

“You are like the number zero. Empty, yet filled with limitless possibilities. You are able to hold many different egos, allowing you to hold and use multiple personas.”

Twilight suddenly found herself sitting in the Velvet Room again, though their presence was faint. Igor looked up at her with a small, raspy chuckle, “It seems you’ve run into a bit of trouble. But do not worry, you already possess the power to overcome this obstacle.”

Derpy noticed a small light dance in front of her. She reached into a bag that was sitting next to her and brought out a folder with a sheet of plastic slots big enough for cards to fit. “Look, some mail!” She exclaimed in delight. The light formed a card and fell into the folder. There was sword pointing up on a wheel, black lines dividing the circle into sections, like a clock or a wheel. One animal, a cat, stood up top, displaying fancy clothing and happiness while a serpent occupied the bottom, lying dead wearing ragged clothes and unhappiness. The card changed and started showing moving pictures of Applejack, specifically the time Twilight spent with her earlier. It was as if the card was a roll of film, somehow recording their time together to keep here.

“Oh, yay! The Fortune Arcana! How rare!” Derpy closed the book and tried to contain her excitement. Then, she stopped as realization came to her. “Oh yeah, I haven’t told you what my job is, huh? Well, you’re in a bit of a pickle, so I guess that’ll have to wait. But I will tell you that you’ll be seeing a lot of me!” She smiled as if she were talking to her best friend.

“All you must do is simply believe in yourself. Do that and you can fight your way through this dangerous road. Farewell.” Igor finished with a “farewell” wave and Twilight’s vision shifted.

She was back in the battle, the shadows still charging at her. She looked over at Izanagi and felt a new wave of confidence. This feeling resonated with her crown and it lit up again. Twilight focused on this new source of power and let her grip on Izanagi fade. Izanagi’s body became covered in light and his body shifted shape, forming his card. Then, the card turned around to reveal the other side, its bright light melting off just like Izanagi’s the first time. It revealed the Fortune card Twilight just saw in the Velvet Room.

“Fortuna!”

The card shattered and a new persona took the stage. This pony had a pure silver coat cut down the mid-section by a wheel similar to that on the card. Her cloak covered the top part of her body with the hood hiding her short blue mane. Her eyes were pale blue, appearing glassy and strangely mysterious. She stood daintily on her hooves, first landing on the tips of her hooves before slowly lowering herself to a normal stance. Each step seemed to let off a small reaction, dust and mist cloaking her lower half. She stared up at the giant shadow unflinchingly and prepared herself.

She lifted her front hooves from the ground and stood, the wheel revealing itself in all its glory. You could see right in between the white border and separators, the strange sight attracting anyone to her only to stare in wonder. She smiled and touched her hoof to the wheel, this time reacting with small green sparks. She dragged the wheel around once, slowly, as if hypnotizing those watching. The incoming shadows suddenly halted just before making contact with Twilight, who hadn’t moved a muscle or lost any of her confidence.

Fortuna lifted her hoof but the wheel kept spinning, faster and faster until it looked like a full circle. Several green circles formed in front of her, moving counter-clockwise and spinning. The green forces in these circles twisted around before letting themselves loose onto the shadows as blasts of wind, effectively obliterating all but the large, fiery stallion.

“Twilight!” Spike yelled from his hiding place, “Attack his legs! If you can knock him off balance, you might be able to do some serious damage to him before he can get back up!”

Twilight didn’t hesitate. Fortuna spun her wheel again and another blast of wind, this time directly under the giant’s front hooves. The unexpected force tripped him up, sending his leg in a random direction. The shadow toppled over, causing the ground the shake when he impacted. One more swift attack would be all she needed. Twilight decided to bring back her stronger fighter to make sure the next blow would be the last.

Fortuna glowed and took her card form again, turned around, and Izanagi burst forth The Fool. He didn’t even land on the ground as he kept careening forward towards the downed foe and impaled him at his temple. He tilted the sword and dragged it through the head and over the side, the sword cleaving its way through the skin of the shadow as Izanagi pulled it down with his weight. The shadow started flailing in agony as his life slipped away from him, and his body slowly disintegrated into purple dust, following his minions. Soon he was completely gone, showing no signs of ever appearing before or since.

Twilight stood there, panting and gasping. Her adrenaline faded and the spent energy finally took its toll. Her weakened legs finally gave out from underneath her and she rested on the ground, breathing evenly as her body was finally allowed to sleep. Spike ran up to her and checked for signs of damage or serious injury and sighed when he found none that wasn’t there before. He noticed her body slowly fading, just like last time. Her crown hit the ground with a clatter, and pike picked it up and smiled.

“You. . . you really are trying to protect me. . . .” Spike’s eyes began to water as it finally hit him. He then shook his head, tears flying off his face but failing to clear his mind. “But. . . why? What am I to you? Am I really supposed to believe that some random pony just started showing up to keep me company? Do you really care for me, . . . or are you only protecting me because I’m useful to you?” Spike began to cry again, sobs and hiccups interrupting his thinking as he sat down, his eyes buried in his arms and resting on his knees, not paying attention to his surroundings, or caring if he was attacked, “Twilight, . . . please don’t leave me. Please, show me that I can trust you.”

Chapter 3

*Thursday 8/17*

*Morning*

Twilight arrived at Sweet Apple Acres just in time to see Big Macintosh and Caramel hauling baskets on their backs towards the orchard. The sun was beating on her, one of the hottest days of the year, causing her to sweat before she had even started to work; she could only imagine what the day would be like.

The unicorn snorted. The old Twilight would have feared and whined at the idea. Not her. She could do this. She just needed to keep herself hydrated and stay in the shade if possible. Besides, Applejack was counting on her.

Twilight approached them, ready to work through the heat, when she noticed said pony missing.

“Hey, where’s Applejack?” she asked.

“She’s in her room,” Big Macintosh said, his deep voice dragging out his words, “She just got a big chewin’ out by Granny. Ah didn’t listen in, so Ah don’t know fer sure what about, but Ah got a feelin’. If ya wanna see her, go right ahead. We can start workin’ without ya.” Caramel followed Big Mac without getting his own words in and they both disappeared into the trees. Twilight didn’t hesitate in going to check on her friend.

She walked in to see Granny Smith knitting in a rocking chair, something Twilight thought she’d only see in books. Granny Smith looked up, her wrinkly face showing signs of slowly dwindling anger.

“Good luck tryin’ ta talk ta that hard-headed filly. Thinks she knows what’s best fer the farm. Can’t even notice the trouble swallowin’ ‘er up.” She started to mumble through her words and returned to her knitting, not paying any more attention to Twilight.

Twilight walked up the stairs and found the door slightly ajar. She nudged it open and poked her head inside to see her friend sitting on her bed, silence in the room. Her eyes were wide open, revealing an empty gaze leading to nowhere. Her body was rigid, not moving save for the slight rising and lowering of her chest as she breathed. The bewildered unicorn gathered the nerve to take a step into her friend’s room uninvited, only now seeing signs of life in her when she turned her head to look at the unicorn.

“Applejack?” Twilight was hesitant, wondering if it was alright to disturb her friend at all right now.

“Heya Twi.” Applejack was quiet, rivaling Fluttershy even. “Wassup?”

“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” Twilight couldn’t help but let concern cross her face, “Is everything OK?” She took a cautious step, wincing at it as if she was stepping on glass. The sound of her hoofsteps seemed to echo in her mind, setting off alarms. She took another cautious step, and then another, until she was inside, though only enough so that her hind legs were still by the door.

Right then, the normally strong and independent farmer started bawling. She tried to walk over to Twilight, but her hooves slipped when she got off the bed and she fell to the floor. She didn’t even try to get up as she sobbed at her friend’s hooves. Twilight reflexively took a step back, but forced herself to remain in place. She couldn’t help but stare at Applejack’s crying and vulnerable state, sweating, and finally breaking her stare to look around the room for a clue. When her frantic searching proved fruitless she sighed, knowing that all she could do was to wait until Applejack could speak. After a few minutes, she was finally able to speak somewhat coherently between sobs.

“Twilight. . ." She looked into the unicorn's eyes through her tears as long as she could before dropping to the floor again, "No, everythin’s not alright! Everythin’s terrible! Ah shoulda listened, but Ah didn’t! An’ now, the farm might end up bein’ the price fer my ignorance!”

“You mean--" Twilight had a feeling she knew where this was going.

“The farm really is in danger o’ goin’ bankrupt. That would mean the loss of the farm, our home, everythin’ we have! We’d have nothin’ and it’d be mah fault!”

Twilight audibly gasped, failing to hide her increasing anxiety, “How can that be?!”

“Our sales have been goin’ down since new products started comin’ into the market. We usually earn enough every year ta get by, but with apples and some small desserts bein’ our only products we couldn’t keep up with the change.” Applejack was managing to speak through her harsh hiccupping and sobs, though Twilight was having slight trouble understanding her.

“Soon, ponies were losin’ interest in our apples in favor of the new stuff. Big Mac warned me about it last season, sayin’ that we needed ta do somethin’ soon, but the sales hadn’t dropped by that much at the time and Ah didn’t pay no attention to it! Our sales are still fallin’ and with the way it’s goin’ we won’t have enough money to support ourselves or our farm!”

Applejack started to cry uncontrollably again. Twilight raced through ideas and things to tell her. Whatever she did, it would have to be said gently. This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Applejack, I might have a way to save the farm.”

Applejack shot her gaze straight up at Twilight, pools still under her eyes and streams staining her face. She quickly stood back up to be eye-level with her. “Really? Ya do?!”

Twilight recoiled a bit, now not being able to take it back, though she wouldn’t. “Yes, but it’s kind of risky. Well, anything at this point would be risky, really.” She noticed Applejack’s eyes showing collapsing trust and quickly got to the point. “Look, I have a way to get the farm more money, but it’s going to take some time for the sales to rise. But I have to ask you to trust me.” Her face became stern with that demand.

Applejack almost went for the obvious answer, but thought about it for a moment. She hesitated, then eventually gulped down the knot in her throat and spoke.”Yes Twilight. Please, help me save mah farm. Ah trust ya. Ah don’t really have a choice. . . .” she finished her promise quietly.

Twilight smiled, “Good. Now, stay here and clear your mind, it’ll help you get through today. If you see Big Mac or Caramel, tell them I won’t be working today. I’ll come back with good news as soon as I can.” With gusto, she quickly galloped out of the room, out the front door, leaving a puzzled Granny Smith in her wake, and over the hill back to Ponyville.

*Afternoon*

Twilight raced through the streets of Ponyville, getting to her library as fast as possible. When she finally saw the large tree house in the distance, she lit up her horn and surrounded herself in magic. In a bright flash, she disappeared off the streets and landed in the middle of her first floor.

Twilight groaned dizzily, catching herself on her hooves before she could fall over, soon recovering and galloping upstairs to fetch quills, ink, and scrolls. She’d barely scribbled a few notes on the parchment when she heard a knock at her door. Bringing her stuff with her in a magical grasp, Twilight trotted back downstairs and opened the door to see Fluttershy and Rarity.

“Hello, darling!” Rarity greeted Twilight. “We were just in the neighborhood and thought to drop by.” She noticed the paper and quill floating next to her fellow unicorn and seemed ready to take back what she said. “Oh, are we interrupting something?”

“Well,” Twilight thought her words carefully, “actually, I am really busy.”

“Oh. . .” Fluttershy looked down, disappointed, “That’s okay. We’re sorry to have disturbed you. . . .” Her whisper dropped down even lower. They turned around and were about to walk away when Twilight called them back.

“This might be a stretch, but I need help. I’m trying to figure out a way to save Sweet Apple Acres from going bankrupt an--"

“Oh dear!” Rarity raised a hoof up to her mouth in shock, “I had no idea it was in such bad shape!”

Twilight nodded her head, “If they don’t start getting sales up now, then at the rate it’s going the Apples will lose their farm,” Her ears fell flat on her head as she looked to the side, hopelessness and sadness creeping across her face as she realized the task she had signed herself up for, “I had the idea of coming up with a new product for them to sell, but I don’t have any idea about what that product should be! And forget about business techniques! I can’t just learn them like I can with magic!” Her voice grew louder as she went on, her anxiety from Applejack’s room returning tenfold. She was sweating now and breathing hard as she felt her mind crumbling on itself.

“We’ll be happy to help,” Rarity returned with a smile, like a ray of sunlight forcing its way to Twilight’s panicked mind, “Won’t we, Fluttershy?” She turned to the pegasus, who smiled and nodded her head in reassuring silence.

Rarity turned back to Twilight as she thought aloud, “I do own my own business, and the first thing I learned was that a new product puts you back on the map, so you have a good start there. However, I’m no good at baking. . . .” Rarity drifted off into her own mind, putting a hoof up to her chin.

“What about Sugar Cube Corner?” Fluttershy piped up, “They always make the best desserts and they’re really popular. I’m sure they can make something mostly out of apples.”

Rarity took over the brainstorming, “If the Cakes can whip up something that everypony will enjoy, then they can cut a deal with the Apples to share the profits. They could also include the recipe for a separate price--"

“Which they’ll have to buy apples to make!” Twilight finished with excitement. “This is genius!”

“Another thing I know is that a dazzling appearance attracts attention. That drab, old cart of theirs is so rickety and brown. If it stood out, ponies would have to take a look!” Rarity clapped her hooves at the idea. “I can’t wait to design it myself!”

“That settles it!” Twilight said, “Rarity, you go and start designing a new paintjob for the cart. Fluttershy, lead me to Sugar Cube Corner so we can make an order!” She pulled her bag from the house and placed her equipment inside for the journey.

“W-what?” Fluttershy’s eyes widened like saucers, “D-do I have to? I think I should help Rarity with the designing. . . .”

“But I don’t know my way around here yet. Rarity sounds like she can take care of the cart by herself, anyway.” Rarity had already taken off in the other direction.

Realizing she had nowhere to hide, Fluttershy slumped and sighed, “Okay. Follow me.”

Twilight could see a large, gingerbread-like house, the same one she spotted when she first arrived in Ponyville, down the street. She was ready to race in and get things done quickly, but Fluttershy seemed to have other ideas. The pegasus was slowly losing pace, and eventually stopped at the door.

“Okaythereitisgoodluck!” Fluttershy spoke faster than she could ever run. With a quick turn-around, the pegasus was galloping in the other direction, only to be stopped by Twilight’s magic.

“If they need taste testers, it would be best to have more than one opinion!” Twilight walked through the doors with Fluttershy clutching as much of the earth as she possibly could before bumping up the steps and onto the hardwood floor of the sweet shop. Once the door was closed, Fluttershy was released from the magical grip and they both stood at the counter.

“Hello!” A mare cheerily welcomed them as she stepped through a door standing far behind the counter. The smell of baked goods flooded the front room, teasing Twilight with their delicious scent. The blue mare straightened her apron with a hoof as she approached the counter, making sure she looked presentable to her customers.

Twilight couldn’t help but look at her pink-red mane, topping her head like a tuff of whipped cream. She noticed the mare still smiling at them and quickly stopped staring at her mane.

The mare didn’t seem to lose a single friendly beat, “What would you girls like?”

“Actually, we’re here on business.” Twilight answered matter-of-factly.

“Oh my, what’s this all about?” Her smile drifted into a curious, if worried frown.

“You see, Sweet Apple Acres is having a rough time with sales. At this rate, they could go bankrupt soon,” Twilight got out her notes and quill and readied them next to her head, “We were hoping that your store could make something new, mostly made up of apples, for them to sell. They could sell this new product and split the profits with you.”

The mare cut Twilight off, “That poor farm! And those ponies are such nice folks. We’ve done plenty of business with them in the past. You don’t have to convince us, we’d be happy to help them! Right, Sugar?” The mare called out, facing the door she had come from.

A gold-colored stallion with an orange mane popped his head through the door. He was wearing a small baker’s hat that pressed the top of his mane down between his eyes. The strands were thick like spines, continuing along the top of his head and down his neck in a straight line, “Of course we would, Honeybuns!” He retreated behind the door again.

“We’ll even split it 25-75, the 75 being for them.” “Honeybuns” offered.

“That’s very generous of you!” Twilight felt hope rising in her, “We would also like to include the recipe, if we could, to sell at a separate price. Since the recipe would call for apples--"

“Then the customers would have to buy apples to make it themselves. Of course we’ll include the recipe!” The mare just kept going along with it, as if she were doing this for a child of her own. Twilight couldn’t help but frown in concern.

“I don’t mean to turn down the offer, it’s very generous of you, but I just had a thought. Are you sure this won’t hurt your store’s profits, if not soon, eventually?”

“Don’t worry about our shop. We earn more than what is fair for that farm. Besides, this adventure will improve our reputation, so we’ll end up getting more customers as well. It’s win-win!” the mare turned up to a set of stairs on the far wall, “Pinkie, we have a job for you!”

“Oh no. . . .” Twilight heard Fluttershy from underneath the counter. She had her hooves up to her ears, as if protecting herself from an audio assault.

As if there was a jump in time, a pink pony with a cotton candy-pink mane had popped into existence next to the blue mare. A smile that could put Celestia’s sun to shame stretched her face from ear to ear.

“I’m ready, Mrs. Cake!” The pony saluted, her squeaky voice piercing Twilights ears. Twilight began to smell a strong scent of cake frosting, pondering shortly where that could possibly be coming from all of a sudden.

“I need you to make something new, something made mostly out of apples.” Mrs. Cake didn’t seem fazed by this pony’s presence.

“Not a problem, Mrs. Cake!” The pony looked ready to race through the back door until she turned to Twilight, “By the way, sorry for not giving you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party yet. I’ve just been soooooo busy playing with the new foals that I haven’t been able to plan a proper party yet! I promise it will be soon, though!” The smell of frosting seemed to assault her nose even more as she spoke at her. Twilight did her best to keep a good face, but the pink pony was getting to her every new second. Pinkie peered over the counter and continued, “Hi, Fluttershy!”

“Hello Pinkie. . . .” Fluttershy was shaking with her hooves still over her head.

“Well, time to work!” Pinkie disappeared as fast as she had appeared, almost as if she was never there, her escape visible only by the swinging door behind the counter.

Mrs. Cake noticed Twilight frozen in place and couldn’t help but giggle behind a hoof. Despite being Celestia’s prized pupil, she was having trouble processing what she just saw. The pink pony’s energy seemed so unreal; Twilight couldn’t understand how that pony functioned in such an abnormal way.

“She’s on the energetic side, but she has a good heart.” Mrs. Cake said after getting over Twilight’s expression.

When Twilight finally regained her composure, she had too many questions, “What did she mean by a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party?”

“Well, she knows everypony in Ponyville. Literally. She could tell you anything she knows about anyone. So, when a new one comes to town, she sets up a party for them; she just has to look for the ponies she doesn’t recognize.
“The parties usually turn out fun for the newcomer, so everypony’s happy. Throwing parties is her special talent, after all,” Mrs. Cake paused for a moment, “Believe me, that was the short version. Anyway, we only have enough apples for one experiment like that. Could you take this bag of bits and get us another shipment?” She plopped down a sack from behind the counter in front of Twilight.

Twilight gasped at the sack of bits in front of her, realizing something that had been pushed from her mind since Pinkie’s sudden arrival, “The Apples!” Twilight grabbed the bits with her mouth, not even thinking to use her horn, and turned to make a run for it when Fluttershy tugged at her tail.

“Why don’t I go get those apples?” She asked pleadingly.

The unicorn wanted to just yank off the meek pegasus, but only let that thought linger for a moment before repressing it. She looked at the pegasus as politely as she could through her racing mind, “Feh Ahhles--"

Twilight let out an annoyed grunt as she levitated the bag from her mouth, “The Apples are in a really tight spot and probably won’t trust just anypony with that shipment. I have to go,” She noticed Fluttershy open her mouth to say something and, against her better judgment, spoke before she could give a rebuttal, “And if they finish the new recipe before I’m back you should be here to taste test it.”

Twilight lifted her tail as fast, but gently, as possible from Fluttershy’s grip and started for the door. She did remember she had the use of her horn this time and swung the door open in a purple aura.

Just before she left, she called back, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back as soon as I can!” Her magic hadn’t even fully shut the door before it released itself. Her fast hoof steps were kicking up dust, causing discomfort for the ponies around her. She couldn’t care about that, however, as the sound of ticking echoed in her mind, ticking faster than her hooves could run and chasing her all the way down to the farm.

“I. . . can’t believe. . . I actually. . . .” Twilight huffed for breath with her head low, exhausted and sweating. She was standing at the gate of Sweet Apple Acres, the barn clearly in sight. She had managed to keep up her speed for the whole trip, which turned out to be just a little farther than it was from the library. She took a moment, wondering how she’d manage to gain so much more physical stamina since arriving here, then shook her head. This wasn’t the time to ponder that.

She continued at a trot down the hill and to the front of the barn. She had managed to catch her breath by the time she reached the door and put a hoof to the doorknob. She was about to enter when she heard the familiar sound of bucking close by. She allowed her curiosity to control her for the moment, running through the possibilities of who it could be. Though, Twilight figured, meeting any of them would suffice right now.

She entered through the break of trees to find the one pony she actually was looking for. Applejack turned her head after another hard buck and saw Twilight running towards her.

“Hey, Twi,” Applejack said through an obviously fake smile, “That was quick.” She turned her head to the sky and spotted the sun hiding behind her trees, giving her the time of about 2:30pm or 3:00pm, “Anythin’ yet?”

“Definitely something, but I still want to wait a while before sharing my plan,” Twilight pulled out the sack of bits, “Sugar Cube Corner needs another shipment of apples.”

Applejack’s smile lost part of its anxious edge, “Sugar Cube Corner, huh? They were always kind ta us fer business,” The Earth pony loaded up the wagon next to her with three full baskets, “Not that Ah don’t trust ya Twi, but I’d feel better knowin’ these apples got there safe. It’s a lot farther than to the barn.”

“I understand.”

Applejack cleared her throat and sucked in as much air as she could, “CARAMEL!!!” Her voice shattered the air and echoed throughout the farm, forcing Twilight to cover her ears. In what seemed to only take seconds, Caramel had galloped from his end of the farm, at attention. His boss turned to him and pointed to the wagon, “Take these here apples to Sugar Cube Corner with Twilight. Don’t waste time, though. Ya still got a lot o’ work ta do here.”

“Right away, Jack!” Caramel quickly strapped himself to the wagon and started to pull. It was slow going at first, but soon he was pulling it along with relative ease. Twilight, confused, turned to Applejack.

“Are you sure you want Caramel to take those apples? Didn’t you say he was really accident prone?”

“Fer some reason he causes a lot fewer accidents when pullin’ somethin’. He actually lugged the baskets around like you do now before you came along. Jus’ watch out around ya when ya follow ‘im,” Applejack gave a reassuring smile and let Twilight turn to leave. Just before she was out of earshot, she called out again, “And Twilight, . . . thanks, fer everythin’.”

Twilight smiled back before turning around again to follow Caramel up the hill and to town.

Twilight left Caramel at the door. The walk had taken them quite a while considering they were pulling a load. Normally Twilight could make the trip to the farm from her library in half-an-hour’s time, even getting there in only twenty minutes when she raced there earlier from Sugar Cube Corner. This time, however, took them a whole hour-and-a-half. It was almost four-thirty.

While Caramel went to the back to meet Mr. Cake, she would see if the dessert was ready. When she entered, an explosion of confetti and noise went off right in her face, knocking her backwards and back down the steps to the ground. When she recovered from her daze, she could see Pinkie standing right in the doorway, still smiling that same huge grin. Twilight was about to growl in anger when the delicious smell of baked goods filled her nostrils and overpowered her judgment.

“That’s just a preview of what you’re going to get at your party!” Pinkie giggled through a kazoo in her mouth that was letting off a low buzz with each word, “But that’s all I’m going to tell you! I want it to be a surprise, of course!”

She bounced to the side so Twilight could walk safely into the sweet shop and see a steaming plate of delicious cupcakes. She continued to bounce at Twilight’s side to the plate, letting her motor mouth go.

“I just pulled them out of the oven a couple minutes ago! It took a lot of work to think up a cool design but I think they turned out really good I hope they turned out really good do you think they turned out really good?” Pinkie eyed Twilight eyeing the cupcakes, waiting with baited breath for the unicorn to give her creation a shot. Twilight looked over at Fluttershy, who was sitting farther along the counter and enjoying her own free sample.

Twilight reached for one herself and inspected it. Each cupcake was covered with yellow, green, or red frosting. On top of the frosting was a chocolate-covered apple slice. She felt the base of the cupcake with a hoof, the nice, solid, not mushy sensation making her mouth water from the feel alone. She dared to take a bite, first swallowing the apple slice with unanticipated delight, then savoring the green frosting that was on her cupcake. It tasted of delicious granny smith- the apple, not Applejack’s granny- and finally the cupcake itself.

She was surprised when a cool mush covered her tongue and coated the chewed-up cake in her mouth. She immediately thought about spitting it out when the strange combination of textures danced on her taste buds, but thought better of it when the flavors meshed together. Twilight couldn’t help but let out an audible “Mmm” sound, closing her eyes in pure delight at the deliciousness that graced her senses. Before she could give her opinion, Pinkie went ahead to give the details.

“I used as many apples as I could, just like you asked!” She smiled proudly, “The cake is dotted with very small apple squares to give that chewy texture and provide a blast of apple flavor before you taste the awesome applesauce in the middle! The frosting was a little difficult, but it turns out that apple juice works really well for flavoring! I made each frosting separate so that each cupcake would taste exactly like the apple I used in the frosting! I even used the same apples for the slice on top!”

Twilight couldn’t help but stare at the cupcake in her magical grip after hearing the ingredients. She could now feel the small apple bits combine perfectly with the applesauce and frosting, the chewy texture giving it surprising character that only made her want more.

“These are magnificent!” Twilight exclaimed louder than was probably necessary, but the cupcakes were just too good to not shout to the heavens about. Despite wincing in embarrassment at her outburst, she wanted to devour the rest, but thought better of it until Pinkie offered her more. Once the tiny cakes were consumed, Pinkie gave her a proper greeting.

“My name’s Pinkie Pie, party thrower extraordinaire! Also, bomb cake maker!” She raised a hoof to Twilight.

“Twilight Sparkle, uhh, . . . learner from Canterlot! And great lecturer?” Despite the effort it took to give herself titles, she returned Pinkie’s hoofshake.

“I’m happy I could help that farm!” Pinkie beamed and waved vigorously good-bye as Twilight and Fluttershy turned to the door, “We’ll make sure to make lots for them to sell tomorrow!”

Fluttershy let out a heavy sigh, “So, what now?”

Twilight pondered a moment, “I don’t know. Do you think Rarity’s done designing their cart?”

“She would come looking for us if she was,” Fluttershy looked up at the sun. It wasn’t setting yet, but with it being summer it wouldn’t set until around seven. She let out a small gasp as she realized the time, “Oh, my, it’s getting late. I have to get home quickly or my animals will have a late dinner. It’s a very strict dinner time. Rarity’s house is on the way to my cottage, so is there anything you need me to tell her?”

“Just that she should bring the finished design to Sweet Apple Acres with me tomorrow so we can show Applejack.”

“Got it. See you later, Twilight!” Fluttershy galloped off in a surprising hurry for such a meek pony.

Twilight pulled out her list from her bag and stared at the unfinished words marking its incompleteness. It bothered her, it really did. The thought of losing track frustrated her. She was about to dwell on it longer until she yawned, her mouth stretching farther than she thought possible. She made her way back to her library home, ready to tackle the rest of this issue tomorrow.

“How are you feeling?” Spike was racing around Twilight, inspecting her over and over again, looking for wounds that she had sported the previous night. To his surprise, she was completely healed, as if that big fight had never happened.

He sat down next to her and sighed, “Good.” He looked up at her again.

“What’s with the surprise inspection?” Twilight eyed the dragon suspiciously.

“I’m, uh, just worried that you might not be able to see my awesome help out there again!” Spike slowly worked through the sentence, his face betraying any truth in it. Twilight shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, deciding not to dwell on it as the dragon went to speak again, “I think we should go back.”

To his surprise, Twilight agreed, “I think so, too. I have this strange feeling that tornado is important, and that we have to go inside it somehow.”

Twilight found her crown on a nightstand next to her bed. Either it disappeared last night and reappeared on the nightstand or Spike carried it back in after she left. Either way, she placed it on her head, raring to go. With a nod, Spike jumped off the bed and led the way back to the tornado.

As they walked through the empty streets of “Ponyville”, the unicorn, keeping her stomach in check, began to look around their surroundings, examining all of the buildings from afar. A strange sense of familiarity came over her. She shook it off. Of course it looked familiar, it was Ponyville! Everything was right where it should be! They were in the shopping district, with all of the tents, stands, shops and carts, among other things, exactly where they should be, standing on the not-ground starry sky.

She felt the wind start to pick up, then increase more and more the closer she got close to the tornado’s location. Her mane and tail whipped violently around her, slapping her, and sometimes Spike, in the face. They turned a corner and found the source, its terrifying blackness still putting a twinge of fear into the pair.

Finally, it hit her. This tornado was right on top of--

“How do you think we’ll get in?” Spike asked, snapping Twilight out of her thoughts. Strands of her hair floated in front of her face, which she quickly brushed away only to end up being in vain. Spike grabbed the offending hair and held it back so she could concentrate.

Twilight stared at the tornado, now realizing its location in this strange world. Her mind went off in the distance, letting itself be consumed by the blackness of the tornado, blinding her from the inside of her own mind. Then, images of Applejack appeared, along with Big Mac, Caramel, Applebloom, and Granny Smith. They were all at the farm, memories of the last couple days surfacing. Applejack teaching her how to buck apples, taking the apple baskets back and forth, and Applejack pleading at Twilight’s hooves, begging for her help in keeping her farm.

Suddenly, Twilight’s crown started to hum, emitting a soft glow and growing brighter and brighter. The light became steady and covered the six-pointed star in pure, white brilliance, then focused on the very center of the jewel. The light shot forth as a beam at the tornado, piercing straight through it. The sudden disturbance forced the tornado to teeter from side to side, the wind slowly dying and the black disappearing as the tornado lost control of itself. After what seemed like minutes, it was gone, not a single gust of wind blowing.

Twilight gasped at what was before her, despite knowing what was there. At the very edge of where the tornado had been was the path leading to a wooden arch at the top of the hill. She slowly stepped forward and climbed the hill, Spike in tow. When she reached the top, she could see trees stretch out before her like a forest, going for what seemed like miles. At the very bottom of the hill, at the start of the trees, was a red barn with a shed next to it. She was unsure of how to take this, simply staring in silence.

Spike nervously looked up at Twilight, “Twilight? What is it? Is there something about this place?”

“I know this place, Spike,” Twilight kept looking at the forest of trees, never once looking away even to talk to Spike, “This place-- I visit it all the time. It’s Sweet Apple Acres.”

“What does that mean?” Spike turned his attention to where Twilight was looking.

“I don’t know, . . . but if I had to guess it would mean that one of my. . . someone I know could be involved with this world.” Twilight, still stunned by the sight before her, let her mouth hang a little open.

“Twilight, . . . there’s something here. But, . . . it’s nothing like I’ve ever felt before. It’s not familiar. I don’t think I can even define it as a shadow!” Spike clung to Twilight’s leg, the weird sensation scaring him out of his wits. She grabbed him with magic and planted him on her back.

“Just do what we did last time. Warn me of any incoming danger and--" The Fool appeared next to them and Izanagi made his usual appearance, “--I’ll knock them out of the way. I’m still hoping I won’t find what I think I’ll find. . . .” Twilight let her last sentence trail off and slowly walked down the hill, reaching the barn, and turning into the forest of apple trees, entering like she had the day she tried bucking apples.

The forest, aside from the usual eerie glow from the night sky being below them, surrounded them with an ominous feeling, making Twilight’s steps heavy and almost echo in her head. She could see every root of each tree, as if the trees were suspended in mid air. Shadows covered the top half of the trees, spots of light getting through the leaves and reaching random parts of the next set of branches. Some shadows even made faces, faces with fangs, beady, evil eyes, and devilish grins that only an otherworldly creature could have.

Twilight was suddenly blinded, something scaly covering her eyes. She could hear Spike screaming next to her ear.

“Don’t look at them!”

“Spike! Spike!!! What’s going on? What’s happening?!” Twilight, after having a mini-heart attack, tried to control her breathing back to normal.

“Don’t look at their eyes, Twilight!” Spike’s voice was frantic, “You’ll be paralyzed in place!”

“What do you mean? How could the trees do that?”

“Those aren’t trees, Twilight! They’re shadows!”

“You mean we just walked into a trap?! How are we supposed to get out of here now?” Twilight started panicking again.

Just then, a loud, thunderous crash shook the ground, a gust of wind blowing Twilight off her hooves and on the ground. Spike jumped off in time so as not to get trapped under the unicorn’s weight, but lost his balance on the landing and tumbled next to her anyway. Despite Spike’s earlier warning, Twilight opened her eyes to see several trees crushed into tiny splinters while others lied on their side, defeated by whatever caused the force. In the middle of the clearing was a huge boulder, standing as tall as the trees that managed to stay on their roots. The two of them stood back up and cautiously approached the boulder, Izanagi close by in case of danger.

“Don’t get too close, Twilight,” Spike put a claw on her leg as if to stop her, “I’m getting a strange feeling from it.”

Twilight remained quiet and took another step forward. As if triggering a trap, the boulder shook at the landing of her hoof. At first the shaking was gentle, and then it started teetering back and forth, then faster and faster until it was vibrating in place. Finally, a piece at the top of the rock broke almost completely off, then the other side did the same, then the same happened to the lower half.

The rocks were shifting and moving together like gears in a clock, dust and small debris falling off of the transforming stone. The broken pieces were swinging around on a single piece of pebble connecting them to the main body, as if they were appendages moving along a joint. The strange appendages started growing smaller appendages resembling Spike’s claws, but rounder, cylinders attached to a ball. Between the two top appendages a large bump was slowly rising, two yellow openings functioning like eyes in a skull.

When the transformation seemed to be done, the boulder stood even taller, growing at least another tree-length in size. It stood up tall on two legs. It had arms, shoulders, a head, and beady, yellow eyes. Twilight stared up at the monster before her, frozen in place. The monster stared back down at the unicorn and her party, menace clear in its eyes.

“That’s it!” Spike was frantically squealing in fear next to Twilight, “That’s the ‘not shadow’ I’ve been feeling!”

The monster picked up one of its arms and raised it high in the air and above his head, fingers clenched in a fist. Twilight tried to move her legs, but fear was gripping her too tightly merely by the monster’s presence and not necessarily by the trees around them.

Desperate, Spike puffed up his cheeks and blew green fire in front of Twilight’s face, slightly burning her snout and singing her hair. Now snapped back to reality and, ignoring the pain, the burnt unicorn picked Spike up and galloped off between the trees, barely dodging the stone fist in time. She was glad that regular light physics applied in this world. Her speed was blurring the trees’ faces and making it easier for her to not accidentally look one in the eye. She could hear the stone giant crushing the trees in front of him, each step getting louder and closer. Spike suddenly pulled her head right and forced her in the other direction, missing a smaller boulder by the hairs of her tail.

The chase went on all throughout Sweet Apple Acres, much longer than Twilight thought she could run even with the constant running back and forth working at the farm testing her endurance or her sprint to the farm from Sugar Cube Corner. They quickly weaved around tree after tree, ducking under low-hanging branches and side-stepping incoming boulders. Just as the unicorn thought she had finally gotten away from the giant she hit an overgrown tree root, tripping her up and sending her and Spike to the ground a second time.

She stood back up as quickly as she could, but froze when she realized that the crashing and mini-earthquakes had ceased. Confused, she made herself into a ready stance, preparing herself for any more incoming boulders or a giant foot. What actually came was the one thing she wasn't prepared for.

“Twilight!”

Twilight jumped at the sound of Spike’s voice and noticed him looking up at the black sky, following his gaze, and gasped. The moon lit something up, something large and made of stone. It was falling fast, too fast for her to possibly run out of the way in time. As she was about to make her desperate run for safety, Izanagi shoved his whole weight to her side and threw the baby dragon with her. They rolled and tumbled along the ground, finally coming to a stop with Izanagi several hooves away. In almost an instant, the giant came down with the weight of gravity on Izanagi, flattening the Persona and everything in the surrounding area.

Twilight felt pain roar through her body, mostly her head, and the force of the giant’s impact sent her and Spike flying through the air yet again. She screamed in pain, as if the giant had landed on her instead of Izanagi. She collided with the ground, the impact knocking the wind out of her. After several seconds of her face in the dirt, she tried forcing her hooves to move again, the muscles cramping and trembling at even the thought. Spike managed to get up despite his own injuries and hurried over to the pony’s aid, though unsure of what exactly to do. He saw a stream of tears in her eyes, the pain so much that she couldn’t even bear through it.

“Twilight! Oh no, oh no! What can I do? Is there anything here that can cure pain? No, no no no no no no! Please, don’t leave me alone!” Spike’s eyes were spilling tears with her, frantically looking around them to find something, anything, that could help her, “Please, Twilight, don’t leave!” His voice had come out as a whisper, barely audible to the unicorn. It seemed Spike didn’t know she could hear him when he continued, “I need you. You’re the only one I can trust, that I’ve been able to trust since I was born. I can’t even trust myself to stay alive anymore with the way things have been happening lately! You’re the only other living being I’ve met, and I don’t want to lose you!”

Through her silent sobbing and intense pain, Twilight heard Spike’s desperate pleas of help. If she could, she would probably laugh and hug him right then, letting him cry into her fur. Desperate, she lit her horn up and covered herself in her magic, a blue glow crawling over her and disappearing shortly after. Spike stopped crying as she slowly rose to her hooves and looked confidently at the little dragon. With sheer joy he tackled her with a hug around the neck, almost knocking her over again. Twilight quickly broke off the contact, however, and then looked at his worried face- that he didn’t even seem try to hide- with a grim expression.

“I hate to say it, but I’m not actually cured. I just numbed the pain so I could keep moving. Whatever my injuries are to cause that much pain are still there, but I don’t want to leave until we’ve properly investigated this place. We do have to be extremely careful, though. If I’m hit again with a strong enough force, the spell will break and all of that pain will come back.“

Spike nodded in understanding and climbed back up on Twilight’s back. She peered around and was surprised to be in a large clearing, going at least a quarter of a mile around. It was a circle of sky amongst a forest of dread, and right in the middle of it was a figure, one that was standing on four legs.

Fearing the worst but willing to press on, Twilight galloped over to the figure and skidded to a halt as the figure became distinct. It was orange with a yellow mane, female in appearance. She sported a cowpony hat and her mane was tied up with red hair ties. On her flank were three red apples.

Although it was what she expected, she still looked on in shock at Applejack standing in front of her. However, Twilight could feel something, something that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, something that screamed at her to run away before it killed her. Applejack wasn’t scared, or even phased at her surroundings. She was standing perfectly still, staring at the unicorn with odd eyes and a wry sneer.

“I’m getting a weird reading from her, Twilight,” Spike said nervously, “She looks like you, but the feeling I get from her is much different from yours.”

“Well, look what the cat dragged in and pissed all over,” Applejack spoke with venom at Twilight, “You took quite a spill there, partner.”

“Applejack?!” Twilight was taken aback by her attitude, “What’s gotten into you? What are you doing here?”

“Obviously I’m tryin’ ta get away from you! How the hay did ya follow me all the way here?”

“That’s not important, Applejack. This place obviously got to you. We need to get you out of here,” Twilight approached the farmer and went to grab her hoof, “I’m not sure how I’m going to do it, but I will!” She tugged Applejack towards where they came from, but lost her grip when the much stronger Earth pony jerked her hoof away.

“Ah ain’t goin’ nowhere! Ah don’t know what yer tryin’ ta pull!” Applejack was getting angrier and her words expressed that.

“What do you mean?”

“You, . . . you come all th’ way from that fancy city Canterlot o’ yers, actin’ all innocent like. Then, you have the nerve to even suggest that mah farm was in so much danger ta hire yerself, insultin’ me with the very idea that Ah needed yer help!”

“Applejack, you know that’s not true!” Twilight’s eyes watered at the edges, but focused on Applejack to calm herself. She needed to think rationally and be strong for her friend. She wasn’t sure what was going on with her, but she needed to find out.

“The hay it aint’! You even go so far as ta convince mah family that the farm’s in ruins, breakin’ me down to such a low ta ask you, of all ponies, for this help that you think mah farm needs so much!” Applejack started to emit a dark aura, something like a sickly orange color that obscured her figure.

“Well, Ah’ve had it! If Ah needed yer help in the first place Ah woulda asked for it! Let me say it jus’ one more time: Mah farm. Is. Jus’. Fine!”

With that final outburst, Applejack’s orange aura exploded and shot at Twilight, aiming straight for her body. Her crown glowed reflexively at the aura’s presence and repelled the offending aura away from its bearer. Applejack stomped her hooves in frustration and snorted like an angry horse.

“Jus’ get outta here!” Applejack screamed to the blackness above her.

A massive boulder, the same one from before, burrowed out of the ground next to Applejack and transformed into its giant form again, preparing to attack the unicorn. Twilight easily jumped out of its slow attack and readied her crown.

“It’s weird, . . . I think she’s controlling it!” Spike said from atop Twilight, “It’s kind of like how you control Izanagi!”

“What are you talking about, Spike?” Twilight looked back questioningly, “I don’t control Izanagi at all!”

“Twilight, I would love to explain it to you, but now’s not the time! Just know that if you attack that giant, you’ll be hurting that pony, just like how you get hurt when Izanagi does!”

Twilight stared in horror at the dragon, then at Applejack, then the giant, Applejack again, and finally back to Spike, “How am I supposed to fight back, then?! I can’t hurt her!”

“It’s them or us, Twilight! And by the looks of it, she’s not willing to let us escape! You don’t have to kill her like you do shadows, just knock her unconscious or something! That should make the giant disappear!”

Twilight decided to simply take Spike’s advice and bring out her Persona. Her crown lit up, but as much as she tried The Fool wouldn’t appear. The light faded from her horn and she gasped, sweating and out of breath. She heard Applejack scoff at her.

“Are ya kiddin’ me? First, you squabble between yerselves like siblings, then you put on a light show? And you’re tryin’ ta stand up ta me?!” The giant next to her clenched his fist again, cocked his arm back, and punched forward, shooting his hand at the pair. Twilight dove out of the way and watched as the hand continued on and on along the ground, finally coming to a stop far away.

Twilight stood back and was about to try summoning Izanagi again when she remembered him having been squished by the giant. Apparently, that rendered that Persona unusable. Frustrated, she decided to go for her other one. The Fortune card appeared from her crown this time and Fortuna gracefully danced out of the card and in front of her summoner, ready to defeat her foe. Determined to finish this quickly, Fortuna stood up and spun her wheel, green sparks charging up her attack and finally releasing a strong blast of wind under the stone giant. The blast connected cleanly, evident by Applejack’s wince at the attack. However, the wince was small, and, once the attack’s wind had finally died, the giant remained on its feet, as if the attack did nothing.

“An’ now you can’t even put up a fight when ya try?!” Applejack was almost rolling on the ground in her fit of laughter.

Twilight turned to Spike, “Do you have anything at all on this rock thing?!” That came out harsher than she intended.

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” Spike shook his head, “This isn’t a shadow, so I have no idea how to even look for a weak point!”

“This is jus’ sad!” Applejack cut in when she’d finished laughing, “Now, stand right there an’ let me put ya outta yer misery!” The giant next to her cocked back his arm again and heaved boulder after boulder into the air, throwing them into the black sky, arching them just so to land right in Twilight’s vicinity.

Panicking, Twilight quickly dashed back and forth, narrowly dodging the stone missiles. She leaped left, almost crashing face-first into a stationary boulder, then side-stepped away before a falling one crushed her and Spike. She looked in awe at her blurring hooves, pushing her from place to place in an instant with more dexterity than she thought she had. She felt a brush of soft wind from her side and looked. Fortuna was keeping pace easily with her and giving Twilight a warm, small smile. With new confidence, she just let herself move on auto-pilot, knowing that if she kept calm, the boulders couldn’t touch her.

By the end, she was standing on top of one of them, it being the only safe place the falling boulders would give her. She sighed, taking a breather from another long run.

Just as Twilight finished her thought, the rock she was on top of started shaking. Five fingers rose from the edges and brought themselves to a fist, trapping the unicorn and dragon. They were lifted off the ground as the surrounding boulders moved and shifted by themselves, reforming the rock giant. With an intimidating glare, he tightened his grip around them and lifted them up even higher, all the way up to his arm’s length. Twilight could see the starry sky beneath her, knowing that even a simple drop from this height would kill them even without the force of the giant’s stone hand.

Before Twilight could even register what happened, she felt the rock hand release his grip on them. She turned around as gravity pulled her back to earth to see Fortuna’s wheel return to her middle after attacking the wrist like a makeshift blade. She screamed in fear, watching the stars get closer to her. Her mind began to reel, words and images appearing disjointedly.

“It’s weird, . . . I think she’s controlling it!” Spike said from atop Twilight. “It’s kind of like how you control Izanagi!”

Control Izanagi. . . .

As she was about to make her desperate run for safety, Izanagi shoved his whole weight to her side and threw the baby dragon with her.

“You’re the only other living being I’ve met, and I don’t want to lose you!”

Twilight stopped screaming and focused her thoughts to Fortuna. She had a plan.

“Brace yourself, Spike!”

“What? What are you doing?!” He yelled back.

At Twilight’s command, Fortuna had caught up to them, wheel spinning again and green sparks spraying everywhere. She looked below to see a flat circle of green energy facing away from the golem and towards Applejack, the green swirls of energy telling her it was ready to go. She lit up her horn and surrounded Spike with a protective bubble. He looked around, kicking in surprise for a moment.

He was about to ask Twilight what was happening when the circle exploded with wind energy. It knocked them off course and propelled them forward. Spike, being protected by the bubble, landed shortly, bouncing once before the bubble disappeared and planted him on the ground, relatively undamaged. Twilight, however, kept going like a purple missile crossing the air. She was heading straight for Applejack, who was too stunned from the Fortuna’s effective blade attack on her rock giant to even notice the incoming unicorn.

Spike looked up in time to watch his companion speed towards their foe. He felt dread cross over him, realizing how much damage to herself the wind blast caused and how much more damage she would do to herself when she hit the ground. He remembered what Twilight had said about her numbing spell and panicked helplessly.

“TWILIGHT!!!”

Twilight braced herself for impact, yelling as loud as she could, “Applejack, please forgive me for this!” She turned her head just before her horn would have jammed itself into Applejack and used her body to slam into the farmer’s side. She opened her eyes just enough to notice Applejack being physically knocked out of the aura and leaving a faint copy behind. Before she could question what happened, she and Applejack hit the ground hard. Twilight bounced off of the farmer’s now unconscious body and continued flying, bouncing and finally skidding to a stop. As she finally was able to take a breath, she felt the pain from the fall paralyze her, unable to do any more than survive. She could feel the power of the spell she cast earlier fading, the pain from last time slowly rolling over her mind and aiming to crush it with this new pain. She had to bear through it, though. There was something more important than her well-being.

She had to make sure that Applejack was alright.

She opened her eyes to see two Applejacks, one covered in that orange aura and a second one, the one she knocked out of the aura. They were staring at each other, the aura-less version acting as if she had just woken up.

“Wha. . . wha’s goin’ on?” She looked around with sleepy eyes, which shot wide open when she noticed her strange surroundings, “Where am Ah? What is this place?” She turned straight ahead and saw the aura-covered Applejack, “And why am Ah over there? I’m right here!”

“Don’t play dumb, you know exactly what’s goin’ on.” The other Applejack sneered confidently.

The two Applejacks stared at each other, one glaring the other down with a sneer and the other utterly confused. Applejack’s eyes glazed over for a second as she seemed to remember everything that had just happened. She stood there, stunned, pupils shrunk to pebbles, and collapsed on the ground sobbing in her forelegs. She whipped her head violently back and forth, muttering something too quietly for Twilight to hear. “Applejack” laughed maniacally at this display.

Spike sat, stunned at the two look-alike ponies, “There’s two of them. . .” Spike’s spines on the side of his head perked up, causing him to shout at himself over his readings, “That can’t be! They have the same exact reading! It’s like they’re the same thing. . . .”

“You know what we think is true,” “Applejack” continued berating her twin, “If it wasn’t for that wretched unicorn, we wouldn’t be havin’ this problem! She’s the entire reason our farm’s in danger!”

“No!” Applejack shouted back, finally showing her face from behind her hooves, “That’s not what Ah think at all! She’s helping us!”

“Don’t play dumb! She brainwashed our family and used them to convince us that she was helping! It explains everything!”

“Shut up!” Applejack stood up, ran over to her other self, reared around, and bucked her hard in the face, kicking her a yard away. She panted, her lack of energy from this whole ordeal showing, “Twilight has been nothin’ but kind this whole time! Ah would never--"

“It’s okay, Applejack.” Twilight said as loud as she could. Apparently it was enough, as both Applejacks turned to her weak and limp body. Applejack only now noticed the unicorn’s state and rushed to her, Spike running beside her. They skidded to a halt in front of Twilight, green eyes widening with worry and the dragon kneeling next to her.

Twilight’s body was covered in something that looked like sand, except it sparkled and glistened in the moonlight. Some spots were heavy with it where she landed harshly on the ground and some of it was piled against her side where she slid.

Spike put a claw on the prone pony’s chest, feeling the heaving of her lungs as they drew slow, heavy breaths. Her body lay limp despite the hard working of her lungs, legs stretched out, and ears flat against her head.

“Hi Spike.” she coughed, a smile breaking on her muzzle. Her cough shot a cloud of sparkling dust out of her mouth, letting loose some that was caught in her throat. She was sweating, some of it mixing with the dust and clotting her fur.

Spike gently brushed strands of her mane off of her face, revealing quivering eyes. Applejack stepped back at the sight of them, feeling something familiar about them. The eyes seemed to reflect emptiness, like the end was certain. She didn’t want that to be true, not here, not in this place she had no idea where she was or what it was. Not when she had just made a wonderful friend.

“I hope I didn’t hurt you too bad, Applejack.” Twilight smiled up at her, contradicting her eyes.

“I-idiot!” Applejack eyes watered, eventually shedding tears the longer she looked at her limp friend, “Ah’m not that one you should be thinkin’ about right now!” Applejack sobbed, her knees buckling under her and planting her next to the unicorn, “This is all my fault. . . .”

Applejack’s lower lip trembled.

“Twilight! Ah’m so sorry! Ah didn’t know what Ah was doin’! And Ah would never think you were the cause of my farm’s problems! That’s my own stupidity!” Applejack’s tears continued to fall next to Twilight’s body, “Ah don’t even remember what happened,” She mumbled to herself, too quietly and choked up for Twilight to hear, “The last thing Ah remember was goin’ ta sleep in my bed. . . .”

“You’re a terrible liar,” Twilight was almost laughing, the last of her tension melting away, “Besides, it only makes sense. I don’t know what this place is, but I can only get to it when I’m sleeping. In a way, this is all a dream, but at the same time it acts as another reality. It’s just like Ponyville.” She started to cough, then hissed as even more pain started to return from the weakening spell.

“And this place, it’s Sweet Apple Acres, your farm. When I found you here, and then when you separated from yourself, I was convinced. That Applejack over there is part of you in some way. Whatever it is or how it came to be, it came from you. You would have to have thought her way at some point for her to be here.”

“Twilight, . . .” Applejack’s throat was knotting itself around her voice now, “why are you willin' ta forgive me so easily?” She looked into Twilight’s eyes, hoping for an answer, only to find the same emptiness that seemed to be overtaking her each moment.

She made a deep sigh through her tears. She knew Twilight deserved the truth. She swallowed heavily to bring her voice back as evenly as possible to confess, “Ah just didn’t know what ta think. My farm was in danger, but I didn’t want ta admit that ta myself. But then when you came along and met my folks they got all upset wit’ me. They knew what ah was tryin’ ta hide from myself, but Ah didn’t wanna admit it then, either.”

Applejack got up and turned to her other self, who was now standing close behind and replaced her sneer with a blank face, though her eyes seemed to give away understanding. Applejack didn’t flinch at the sudden closeness of her double, now able to stand with some ground to this darker version.

“Ah kept lyin’ ta myself, and even blamed you for it,” She continued, still directing her explanation to Twilight while maintaining eye contact with her mirrored self, “Ah never once thought it was true, that you were causin’ my farm’s bankruptcy, but Ah knew I couldn’t blame my family, so Ah just took it out on you. In the end, it was all jus’ one big, fat lie. Ah feel ashamed that somethin’ like this came outta me,” she gestured to “Applejack”, “but Ah can’t deny that it did, and Ah’m sorry you got caught up in it.”

The other Applejack nodded, a smile gracing her face. A small light erupted from her chest and slowly spread over her body, eventually becoming a pony-shaped white light. In the distance, the rock giant had also become covered in light. It felt warm this time, comforting Applejack’s still choked up mind. She had stopped crying when the warmth reached her, allowing her to stare up in amazement at the spectacle before her. They hovered just above the ground and moved towards each other, stopping midway and floating higher into the air. The two merged together, orange ripples flowing through the white light from the center. They shrank, morphing, and formed a crescent shape. It flashed and revealed its full self, a gold necklace, matching Twilight’s crown, with an orange apple-shaped gem on the front similar to Applejack’s cutie mark. The necklace floated over to Applejack and attached itself to her. The stunned pony simply stared at the jewelry in awe.

“It feels so warm. . . . Persona. . . .” Applejack murmured as if in a trance.

Twilight smiled to herself, then winced painfully now that the numbing spell had completely worn off. She couldn’t cast it again. Because she had to sustain that spell throughout the battle she only had enough energy to save Spike from his own fatal crash. She was now empty and slowly slipping away. She closed her eyes and made sure she left with a smile on her face.

*Friday, 8/18*

*Morning*

“Twilight!”

Twilight felt the full force of the orange Earth pony tackle into her. Twilight had only looked up for a second, not having any time to react. Applejack sobbed on her shoulder, a tight hug around the unicorn, “You’re OK!”

Twilight looked past her and saw Big Mac staring in wide surprise. She waved a hoof dismissively, telling him silently that everything was fine. He shrugged and went to his work, disappearing through the trees.

“I thought you were dead!” Applejack finally let go of Twilight to look her in the eyes, waiting for an explanation.

“No, but I’m pretty sure had I stuck around any longer I would have,” Twilight pondered what happened last night. In all honesty, she was right at death’s door, facing it like the thing had stuck her in place, immobile. The last thing she remembered was falling unconscious, “The damage was enough to kill me, but not instantly. As soon as I let myself fall unconscious, I woke up in my bed, completely healed.”

“So, what, you don’t hafta worry ‘bout diein’ in there or nothin’?” Applejack questioned.

“No, I don’t think that’s the case. It is within a dream, after all. While our physical bodies may not have the scars, enough pain will affect the subconscious and it will carry over to the real world,” Twilight focused on the hoof at her chin as if writing her thoughts on it, “If I die in there, I’m sure I’ll die here.”

“But you hafta go anyway, huh?”

“Yeah,” Twilight looked down with half-lidded eyes, a slight frown creasing her face, “I have this power to defeat the monsters in there and I have a feeling that the arrival of this world is going to mean something later. I have to look into it as much as I can. I’m the only one who can.”

A small silence divided the two ponies before Twilight broke it.

“Did Spike make it out OK?”

“You mean the purple thing?” When Twilight nodded, she continued, “Yeah. Ah was surprised when your body disappeared and he tried to calm me down. It took a while, but eventually Ah figured with the way he was frettin’ over ya you two had some sorta connection. By the time we had walked out the gate Ah was too tired ta move and collapsed right there. Ah’m sure he made it back to wherever you two call home there.”

“Good.”

Another small silence. This time, Applejack broke it.

“Well, it’s about time we got ta work.”

Twilight snapped her head up, a slight happiness returning to her, “Oh, by the way, there’s a surprise coming today! In fact, one of them should be--"

Almost as if on cue, a light, refined voice came from up the hill, “Yoohoo, Twilight~!”

Twilight smirked at Applejack a bit, “Get ready to see your new apple cart!”

*Evening*

The sun was setting behind the tall hills surrounding Ponyville, casting a magnificent orange fire around the small town. Twilight and Applejack sat on the hill after another day’s hard work. Rarity had shown her and Big Macintosh her cart design and, while much more showy than they would have liked, agreed that it was just the thing they needed to attract ponies to their apple cart. They would spend the weekend painting it and adding extra shelves for their new product, called “Applecups”, that Pinkie had brought over to let the Apples sell. After having a bite themselves, they couldn’t refuse the new dessert creation. The recipe called for quite a few apples, but on the first day the sold recipes alone were enough to turn up a profit.

With their new cart, Monday would mean a full day of apple bucking, both for Sugar Cube Corner to make the dessert and for the Apple’s cart to keep up with demand. In the end, the plan worked perfectly and Sweet Apple Acres, while still in a rut for the time being, was finally rising back up.

Applejack turned to Twilight, “Ah can’t thank ya enough, Twi. You’ve done so much for our ol’ farm. And what you did for me last night. . . .”

Twilight shook her head, “You don’t need to thank me. Only somepony cruel would turn a blind eye to your farm. And last night. . . honestly, I still don’t quite understand what all that was about.”

Applejack cocked an eyebrow, “But you were the one who explained it ta me, remember?”

“I just said what I had gathered from appearing there the last few nights. I still don’t know anything about that place, how it works, why it is what it is. I don’t know how it was able to create another you, a you that you didn’t want anypony to see. Honestly, I’d be dead if Spike wasn’t there with me, and I don’t even know what he has to do with that world, either!”
Twilight was starting to rant, but Applejack put a hoof to her shoulder. The unicorn immediately stopped at the touch, taking the message to calm down.

“Ah wanna help.”

Twilight looked at her, confused at the random statement, “What?”

“Ah wanna help you learn about that world. If Ah can get there, then other ponies might end up there, too. Ah have this power now, a Persona, and Ah can’t stand sittin’ back here and doin’ nothin’. Besides, you said that you can only get there when you sleep. Ah have a feelin’ that whether Ah want to or not ah’m goin’ ta end up in that place every night with you, so yer stuck wit’ me.” Applejack finished with a cocky smile.

Twilight stared at Applejack and smiled. Applejack extended her hoof out to her and she took it, forming their partnership.

“No matter what,” Applejack turned to the setting sun, a burning fire in her eyes, “as repayment fer what you did for me, and as a testament to our partnership, Ah promise ta protect ya with everythin’ Ah got.”

Chapter 5

*Thursday, 9/14*

*Morning*

“Twilight?”

Twilight could hear Applejack’s accent call through the tree house. She made no attempt to answer it, however. She stayed laid down on her bed, her mind completely disconnected from the outside world. She simply continued to read the book floating above her, completely silent and motionless.

The farmer knocked on her front door again, the sound not as profound as her call.

“Ah was jus’ wonderin’ if you were OK?” she said after a few silent moments, “Ah haven’t seen any sign o’ ya the past few days an’ Ah got worried.”

A few minutes of silence passed after she said that. Twilight figured she had simply given up and walked away. She didn’t really care, though. After all, there wasn’t much point in getting too close to somepony. She much preferred her books.

*Saturday, 9/16*

*Afternoon*

Twilight quickly made her way around the walking ponies in the marketplace. She didn’t want to spend too much time here. Get her food for next week and go home. It would take thirty minutes at most. Her saddlebags rustled on her sides, the contents taking up nearly every available space. She had just a few more things to get before she could head home.

She kept her head low, keeping an eye on the ponies’ hooves so as not to bump into anyone. She looked up once to check for the produce she was looking for, only to unwittingly run smack into a fruit stand. She fell on her haunches, the flaps on her bags flying open and spilling her fresh produce. She groaned and rubbed her head before being offered a hoof. She looked up to politely thank them and move on, only to freeze as she recognized the red, unshorn fetlocks of the pony helping her.

She reluctantly took the hoof anyway and ended up face-to-face with Big Macintosh at the Apple Family’s apple cart. She blushed and looked away as his blank stare seemed to study her. She knelt down and began picking up her spilled groceries when she heard him offer his help.

“No no, that’s OK,” she then began to rush, using her magic to lift her food back into her carrying bags. She had reattached the saddle to her and was about to leave when he spoke again.

“Ya know, AJ’s been worried ‘bout ya.”

The comment seemed to weigh her down, forcing her to stop in her tracks. She didn’t respond, but simply kept her eyes on the ground. After a few moments passed, her spoke again.

“We haven’t seen hide or tail of ya since last Sunday. AJ says that you haven’t been meeting at your regular place since then, either. Ah didn’t even know you two met every day. . .” He finished with a quiet comment.

“I’ve just been busy studying,” she said flatly, “I’m still a student, after all. Since I’m not working at the farm anymore I decided to spend my new time catching up on my studies.”

“Now that Ah think about it, Ah haven’t seen Caramel since then either.”

Twilight turned around sharply, her face inches away from his, “Do not mention him!”

Big Mac’s eyes opened wide in surprise for a few moments before returning to his normal stare. After Twilight recovered from her rage and she realized what she’d done, her face softened and blushed again. She turned back around and kept her gaze on the ground.

Just as she was about to walk away, she heard another voice behind her.

“Hello, Big Macintosh.” She turned around to see a pink mare with long, yellow hair approach the stallion. He nodded to her with his blank stare and responded politely. She seemed to be nervous, fidgeting awkwardly in her coin purse for her bits and clumsily dropping her bought apples in her bag. She apologized for every small mistake she made, even some that only she seemed to notice.

After a minute or so and she’d made her purchase, she cleared her throat and looked at the farmer in the eyes.

“B-by the way, Big Macintosh,” she said with a shaky voice, “I was wondering, if you have time that is, to take a walk in the park or something?” She finished with a much-too-large grin.

His face never changing, Big Mac shook his head. “Sorry, Ma’am. Ah still have work ta do ‘round the farm.”

The mare stood for a while, looking as if she was expecting more. When he didn’t continue, she looked away, her eyes betraying the disappointment she was trying to hide. “Oh, right. Well, be seeing you!” She trotted around the cart and past Twilight. As Twilight caught her eyes, she could see tears forming at the corners. One drop happened to come loose and fell to the ground at Twilight’s hooves.

She opened her mouth to say something to him, but closed it as she looked at his unblinking eyes. The sight burned her, the way he didn’t flinch or change emotion once as the mare asked him out and then left crying. She turned away without a word and angrily finished her shopping before returning home.

*Sunday, 9/17

*Afternoon*

Much to Twilight’s surprise, she had customers in her library. She watched as the two of them poked around her shelves, a scroll and quill ready for when they finally picked out their books. One of them, a pink mare with a blue, twisty mane, came up to her with a book that listed different theories of the universe. Twilight had poked into this one before, reading about the possibilities of multiverses and an ever expanding universe. She’d found the tome a little heavy on her mind then, but no less fascinating.

Twilight looked at her with uncertainty. “This is some complicated stuff. Are you sure you want this?”

The mare looked at her with excitement. “Oh, yes!” she exclaimed, “I’ve always found the universe fascinating. I figure since school is starting again soon I may as well catch up on studies.”

The other mare audibly scoffed at her. “Is that what you came here for?” She asked, carrying a thin magazine with her. Twilight had to do a double-take when she came into view. The two mares looked like they could be twins. Their faces and hair styles were the same, except their colors were reversed.

The pink mare rolled her eyes and retorted, “And what did you come here for?”

The blue one winked at her. “Don’t you know me by now, Sis?” She plopped the magazine on the center table where they had gathered. The cover had large letters that seemed to shout at you with its bright colors and bold text, some of which was being covered by the larger-than-life stallion on the cover wielding a giant sword that should clearly be impossible to use. “I came for the manga.”

I didn’t even know I had this in here, Twilight thought. She dotted down the title of the books on her scroll along with the mares’ names. The blue one, Cotton, was chattering on to her sister, Candy, who was only mildly interested. Twilight couldn’t help but listen- unavoidable considering the volume she spoke at- but turned her interest away when boys became the topic.

Until a familiar name caught her ear.

“Hey, Sis,” Cotton continued, poking at Candy with a hoof, “do you remember Big Macintosh from the marketplace?

Candy looked at her sister with slight annoyance, “I’ve been away for college for a couple years. I’m surprised I can remember who you are.”

“You know, that big stallion that runs the apple cart?” She paused as she only received a flat look, “Anyway, he’s grown up since we went to school together!”

“Everypony does, Candy. It’s nothing new.”

“No, I mean he really grew up! Every mare is swooning over him! But he keeps rejecting them so coldly!”

“I would too if I was suddenly getting that much attention.”

“He wasn’t always like that, though,” Candy said as her eyes seemed to look at something far away, “He kept to himself, but he respected others and always seemed content.”

“Didn’t you have a crush on him back then?”

“Not the point! Anyway, he’s been looking kind of,” Cotton paused as she seemed to search for a word, “sad lately. All he ever does with those big eyes is stare anymore.”

“Are those ready to be signed for now?”

Twilight, who had been frozen as the mares talked, jumped as she realized the question was directed at her. “Oh, yes.” she placed the scroll by their hooves and the mares gently stamped their hoof signatures over their names and the book titles. Twilight then tore the scroll into makeshift bookmarks as she always did in Canterlot and slipped them between their respective pages. “Sorry for the wait.”

The mares nodded and took their books. Candy continued her gossip as they left. “Anyway, maybe he’s just tired. He only has a few other sets of hooves to help him at the farm anymore.”

Their conversation left with them, leaving Twilight alone. Candy’s words echoed in her head, bouncing around and making her think. She then remembered how Big Macintosh had rejected the mare yesterday, making her frustration bubble a little once again. Then, the thoughts connected. She remembered Big Mac’s eyes as the mare ran away as she heard Candy’s words for the last time. He wasn’t always like that, though.

She looked over at the closed library door, it’s wooden form hiding the outside she’d been doing her best to avoid. She lifted a hoof forward, only to turn around and make her way upstairs. It’s none of my business.

She opened the door to her bedroom and used her magic to pull a book out of her suitcase, which was now being used as simple storage. As the tome flew out, a soft thud caught her attention. She turned to see Smarty Pants looked up at her with her button eyes. They looked sad, almost pathetic as the right button hung loosely by a string. She remembered the last night she’d slept with it, the night she made a promise to herself.

She looked at the clock, realizing it was nearly two already. His shift would be ending soon. Without another moment’s hesitation, she placed her book back into her suitcase and left the library and into Ponyville.

In a matter of minutes she could see the Apple’s cart. Luckily, Applejack appears to be late for her shift. The stallion caught sight of her, a look of mild surprise on his face as she trotted towards him with a sense of determination.

“Pleasure seein’ ya, Twilight,” he said with an even voice that his eyes soon matched, “What can Ah do ya for?”

She put on the friendliest smile she could manage. The smile was sincere, though she felt silly when it seemed to her she was trying too hard. “I just want to talk. I don’t think we’ve ever just talked before. I wouldn’t mind helping out, either.”

His eyes remained deadpanned, though a glint of the surprise that was just there returned. “What do ya wanna help with?”

“Anything! Customer service, sales balances, organization, anything you need an extra hoof for.”

“Well,” he thought, “Ah’m ‘bout ta head back home when AJ comes back. If ya wanna help, it’ll have to be in the kitchen.”

Twilight was about to nod happily when she realized what he’d said. “Excuse me?”

“When Ah’m not sellin’ our stock Ah bake in the kitchen until it’s mah turn again. Whatever Ah make ends up either bein’ sold or our supper.”

Twilight blushed as she realized her misjudgment. “Oh, right. Well, I can’t bake but I can certainly get you whatever you need. Just give me a job to do.”

“Twilight!”

Twilight suddenly felt Equestria ram into her side and lock her in a hug. By some miracle, she’d remained standing. When she was released she turned to see Applejack’s overjoyed face looking right at her.

“You’re OK! Where’ve ya been?”

Twilight shied away from AJ’s grin, but only because she’d forgotten she’d been hiding for so long.

“I’m sorry to worry you. I just haven’t been ready to come out in a while.”

“What happened?”

Twilight just looked away sadly, which quickly gave AJ the hint she needed. “Right,” she nodded, “personal. Ah won’t ask about it till ya wanna share.”

They shared a hug before Twilight left with Big Macintosh back to Sweet Apple Acres. They entered the kitchen, the sight something interesting to behold. Just like the rest of their home, it was made of wood, except for the stove and oven on the right wall. In the center of the far wall was a sink filled with dirty dishes. The room was small, made for no more than three ponies to comfortably fit, with cupboards lining the walls above the stove and sink and a pantry to the right of the stove.

The main thing that caught Twilight’s attention was how well everything fit, as if everything in it was necessary and served a specific purpose, yet stood out with how simple it all was. Her kitchen at the library was extravagant compared to this one, though mostly due to the marble that served as her countertop. Big Macintosh walked in with purpose towards the pantry and opened it. On the inside of the doors were aprons and hair nets hanging on hooks with labels above them. They had the names of the four residents in order of age. Seeing a tiny apron for Applebloom made Twilight giggle.

Big Macintosh grabbed his apron and hair net and fastened them quickly, the motions Twilight could recognize as routine from how she would get ready for her studies. Then, Big Mac turned to her and looked her over, craning his head over as he seemed to be studying her, causing Twilight to fidget uncomfortably. After a few seconds of that, he returned to the hooks and picked up Applejack’s apron and hair nets and handed them to her.

“Yer just a mite smaller ‘n her. If it’s too big Ah can give ya Granny’s.”

After some help from him, Twilight had successfully tied the apron around her and fit her mane and tail into buns and into the hair nets. The apron hung a little loosely than it should, but was workable despite that. Big Mac chuckled lightly at the sight.

“Funny, Caramel’s almost too big fer that. Funny how clothes look on different ponies.”

Twilight suppressed her anger at the mention of his name and instead stood attentively, awaiting her orders.

“Ah s’pose the dishes need cleanin’,” he said looking over at the pile in the sink, “Ah have enough clean pots fer today, but they may as well get done now. Sorry, but we don’t have a dishwasher like most ponies nowadays.”

Twilight nodded and immediately went to work, grabbing a sponge and filling the sink with warm, soapy water. Silence fell upon the kitchen as the two went about their duties, which didn’t sit well for Twilight. She wanted to start a conversation, but she had no idea how. Fortunately, Big Mac was the first to speak.

“What did’ja want ta talk about?” he asked as he cut up some apples.

“Anything at all,” she replied with a smile, “I’ve gotten to know AJ quite well, but I’ve hardly talked to you at all.”

“Not much ta talk about when it comes ta me.”

Twilight mentally fished for a topic. “Anything new happen today?”

“Nnope.”

No dice. She tried again, “The weather sure was nice today.”

“Eeyup.”

Shoot. She searched again and smiled as she finally came up with something that she knew would get something started. “What about your foalhood? Any fond memories you have?”

She could almost hear him sift through his thoughts, looking for memories he might deem worthy of sharing. After a minute or so, he shook his head. “Not really.”

“Really? AJ had plenty of fun stories she told me about the three of you.” She mentally cringed as she referenced him again, but whatever it took to get Big Mac talking she had to do.

He shook his head again. “She was always the outgoin’ type. Ah tagged along every now and then, but ya prob’ly heard all those already.”

Defeated, Twilight turned her focus to the dishes, deciding to wait a little longer before trying again. Before she could think of anything to say, though, he’d spoken up.

“Well, Ah s’pose there was one time ya hadn't heard of.”

Twilight beamed as she heard that. She stood quietly, waiting for him to start the story.

“It was before AJ was even old enough ta work the farm. It was one of the first times Mel had snuck in ta help. He’d always stay near me when he did. Ah wonder why. Ah never spoke that much ta him back then. . .”

His voice trailed off as he seemed to get lost in his thoughts. When he spoke again, it came out flat, as if he was saying whatever first came to mind. “He came back almost every day since we met fer the first time. He’d never been good at knockin’ the apples down. When he finally knocked down his first one, it was unripe and hit him square on the head,” Twilight looked over to see him smiling, his half-lidded eyes shining with fond memories, “Ah remember he’d speak with that accent o’ his. Ah dunno how he lost it with how often he was here.

“Ah remember one time we’d gone ‘round Ponyville after school. Ah was s’posed ta be at the farm, but fer some reason neither of us wanted ta go back. Ah thought fer sure Ah was gonna get scolded.”

Twilight looked over when she noticed he wasn’t talking anymore to see him stirring something in a bowl. When he was finished he placed the gooey contents into a pie tin, covered it with the soon-to-be crust, and placed it into the oven. While he went to gather the next set of ingredients he needed, he continued his story.

“Oddly ‘nough, Pa wasn’t mad. He asked where Ah went an’ when Ah told him Ah was wit’ Mel he didn’t seem ta mind.” At the mention of his father Twilight looked over in curiosity. What she found tore at her heart. His eyes were watering and staring at the floor. He spoke quietly, too quiet for Twilight to hear him. After a few minutes, he started again, his breath steady, if a little shaky.

“When Ma ‘n Pa passed away, Mel was the first one to comfort me. AJ and Granny were still comin’ ta terms like Ah was an’ Bloom was still a baby. He stayed close ta me all night, not once movin’ away as Ah cried mahself ta sleep.”

“I’m so sorry.” It was all Twilight could think to say.

Big Macintosh shook his head. “Nothin’ ta be sorry ‘bout. Thinkin’ on it now,” he continued, “Ah think that was when Ah started thinkin’ o’ Mel as a big brother instead of a friend.”

“Big brother?”

He nodded. “Mel’s a li’l less than a year older ‘n me.”

The shock was enough to almost permanently alter her face. She looked at him, mouth agape. She remembered when she first met Caramel, how he’d acted all flustered. Then she remembered his mannerisms, how he seemed so young, and then how much Applejack would boss him around when working. The image suddenly became hilarious, causing Twilight to erupt in a fit of laughter, her magic losing grip on the plate and sponge- which fortunately landed with a soft splash in the water- as she rolled on the floor.

After a few minutes and she’d finally calmed down, she wiped a tear from her eye and took heavy breaths, steadying her breathing as more laughs attempted to escape.

“It is kinda funny now, huh?” Big Mac said to himself, “You would never think so lookin’ at ‘im.”

The rest of the afternoon continued like that. Twilight shared her own foalhood memories with him, and he would continue with his. By the end of the afternoon and just before supper, they had finished the cooking and cleaning. Twilight insisted that she not have dinner here despite his invitation and left just as AJ was returning with their cart.

As Twilight entered the library and made her way to bed, she remembered the promise they made before she left. They would have to do that again tomorrow.

*Monday, 9/18*

*Afternoon*

Twilight trotted through town, weaving between the usual crowds of ponies as she made her way to meet up with Big Macintosh. He should have just started his shift at the cart and she’d planned on helping him out there instead of in the kitchen again. She caught sight of the cart far down the street, along with something unexpected.

The unmistakable sight of Caramel was standing in front of the cart. He seemed to be talking with Big Macintosh, a nervous look on his face as he shifted his gaze around him. When he inevitably saw Twilight approaching, he quickly turned to Big Mac, bowed, and galloped off before she could even get close enough to hear what they were saying.

She looked at Big Mac with curiosity, to which he merely shrugged. She hesitantly shrugged it off as well, deciding it best to not push the subject. She was given the assignment of keeping track of money balance, a list of different expenses and writing materials hoofed over to her.

They worked hard, giving a side comment every now and then between customers. When the line would finally end before the next wave they talked more, sharing more about themselves. A couple hours passed like this, the time flying by between the two.

The sun’s light began to dim, marking the start of sunset. It was around that time that a familiar face stopped by for some shopping. Twilight greeted the customer with a happy smile.

“Good evening, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, Twilight!” the pegasus said with surprise, “It is you! I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Sorry, I’ve been kinda occupied.”

“What can Ah do ya for, Miss?” Big Mac asked with a bright smile.

Fluttershy recoiled at the sound of his heavy voice, and then slowly poked out of her shell when she looked at his eyes. “Umm, I just wanted to buy some apples, if that’s alright.”

Big Mac nodded and made the exchange, placing several apples into her bag while Twilight took the bits and added the earnings on her paper. Fluttershy didn’t move, however. She scuffed her hoof along the ground, her head down and eyes going from looking at him to looking at the ground. Finally, she spoke.

“I-I don’t think we’ve ever properly met,” she said with a delicate, barely audible voice, “I-I’m Fluttershy.”

“Big Macintosh Apple.” He introduced himself with a low bow. Fluttershy seemed to grow flustered as her face turned completely red and she picked herself up in the air.

“Sorry, never mind! Gotta go!” And with that she zoomed off faster than Twilight thought she should be capable of. She turned to Big Mac, who was smiling to himself.

He muttered under his breath, almost too quiet for Twilight to hear. It sounded something like, “That’s the first mare Ah haven’t made cry. . .”

He kept his gaze on the ground where he bowed, the setting sun casting a shadow over his features. Twilight looked up at him with worry. She couldn’t see his face against the sun, but she thought she could see something glisten at the bottom of his muzzle.

“Ah’m sorry Ah brought up Caramel so much yesterday.”

Twilight jumped when he finally spoke, not expecting the sudden apology. Before she could reply, he continued.

“Ah jus’ can’t remember a time of my foalhood when he wasn’t there. He’s a big part of mah life. Because o’ that, Ah can tell ya that he’s not a bad pony. He makes mistakes, a lot o’ them, but he never harms anypony intentionally. Whatever happened between the two o’ ya, Ah hope you can work it out.”

“But he--” Twilight blurted out, but she was interrupted.

“Ya don’t have ta forgive ‘im, but please jus’ listen ta what he has ta say. Ah don’t mean ta step outta line, but Ah hate seein’ mah family not get along.”

She had no response to that. The words seemed to pierce her, freezing her in place and unable to move. She watched him pack up his cart and leave, hearing only a simple “g’night” from him. Only after the sun had set and the chill moon ascended above her did she have the will to move. She let her legs move for her, unsure herself where she was going.

She was soon walking across the park, the moon’s light shining like stars on the ground as the trees attempted to hide it. She could see the stars she once saw in his eyes, the innocent eyes that wrapped her into this mess. She remembered the first time they went out as a couple. They’d walked around this very park in the dead of night. No real destination was set, but they somehow ended up sitting at a park bench and staying close to each other for warmth. They both knew that their homes were warmer, but that wasn’t the point.

This wasn’t where she wanted to go, though. She kept walking, far past the park and towards the back end of town. There was one place she thought she’d try first. She could already see the bright lights and the loud thumping of the music of the bar, the bar Caramel had first taken her.

She walked inside, the noise drowning in her ears as she focused only on what she was looking for. She saw the bartender and asked him without another thought.

“He left just a little bit ago,” he said, washing a mug, “I stopped him before he drank too much, but he still drank a lot. I hope you find him before he gets in too much trouble.”

Twilight thanked him and left, happy to be out of the obnoxious building. It’d seemed so much easier to stand when Caramel was with her. She began running around the dark streets of Ponyville, searching for any sign of him. At first she was just short of a gallop, but as more and more of Ponyville was searched the more frantic she became. Soon she’d gone as far as the library with no sign of him.

She imagined him lying on the ground, unconscious in the middle of the street, or being picked up by the Ponyville Police for the night. What if he’d fallen down a hill? What about that cliff edge on the far side of town? Soon, she couldn’t even see where she was going. Images of injured Caramel flashed before her and she was running on auto-pilot.

Within a few minutes, she was at the edge of town. She came upon a large hill, one that made it seem like she could reach up and touch the stars. She’d stopped at the base, looking up and seeing the silhouette of a pony at the top. Hope filled in her as she went to investigate, only to be replaced with concern as she came upon his body.

He wasn’t hurt, thank goodness, but he was unconscious. His mane and tail were in tangles, like they hadn’t been brushed in a while. The wind blew by and he visibly shivered. She attempted to lift him up with her magic, but the energy she used to run around town left her drained. She knew she couldn’t carry him, at least not far, so she instead took a spot next to him. She looked into his face, his mouth hanging open and following the soft snoring and steady breathing of sleep. The sight was somehow soothing, lulling her into a peaceful sleep.

A hoof flew at Twilight’s face, smacking her hard on the cheek and sending her skidding along the floor. She felt tears form as she rubbed her sore face. She looked up to see a large, imposing figure looming over her, his hoof still raised from his strike. He was a tan pony much larger than her with a chocolate brown mane that was short and hardly kept. His eyes were red, burning hot in her mind. He took in heavy breaths, rage seeping through his teeth.

“Don’t ya ever think like that, Caramel!” he bellowed above her, “It’aint natural!”

For some reason, Twilight felt compelled to respond. “But why? What’s wrong with it?”

“Don’t talk back ta me!” He hit her again, beating the idea into her anyway he could. She curled up in a ball, defending herself as best she could as he continued to abuse her, punching and kicking her until she blacked out.

*Tuesday, 9/19*

*Morning*

Twilight’s eyes shot open, sweat pouring down her face and her breathing hard. She forced herself to stay put instead of sitting up when she noticed Caramel holding on tight to her. She let her breathing even out, letting the morning sun cover their bodies, before she thought about what she just saw. She noticed her horn lightly touching Caramel’s forehead and the connections were made. Did I somehow see his dream?

She looked at his still-sleeping face. He had been crying, the tear stains still on his coat. However, he now seemed content again, like it never happened. He opened his eyes a few minutes later. He moaned, the sun’s light on his eyes no doubt feeling like the flames of Tartarus on his hangover. He blinked several times and yawned, a couple last tears falling from his eyes. Twilight could smell the alcohol on his breath still.

He stared at her, eyes half-lidded and glazed over. After a moment or two, realization seemed to hit him as she shot up, releasing his grip in her and backing away shyly. Before he could get too far, twilight stood herself up and wrapped her arms around his neck, her own tears falling now.

“I’m sorry, Caramel,” she said through sobs, “I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t know! I shouldn’t have reacted like I did!”

Caramel, though confused, hesitantly returned the hug. “Why are you apologizing? I’m the one that screwed up. And what do you mean you ‘didn’t know’?”

Twilight pulled away and looked at him, his eyes not giving anything away. “That dream. I accidentally saw your dream last night.”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t have a dream last night. Even if I did I don’t know what it would have to do about this.”

He doesn’t--? Then, she experienced her own realization. Neither AJ nor Big Mac ever mentioned a time he was sad. The only time he was ever not happy was . . . then.

When she noticed neither of them had spoken, she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Look, I don’t like that you lied to me, but I suppose we could start over. You know, as friends.”

After hearing that, Caramel’s face lit up from pure joy. He wrapped Twilight in another hug, almost knocking the air out of her.

“Thank you,” he said, his voice chocking, “Thank you so much, Twilight.”

Twilight felt him suddenly wince. He pulled away and rubbed the side of his head, gritting his teeth and holding back a groan. She shook her head and stood them both up. “We should take care of that hangover. After that, why don’t we hang out?”

Caramel smiled through his pain and lightly nodded his head. They took a casual walk back to town, making sure not to anger his headache any more.

*Afternoon*

Twilight and Caramel sat together at the outdoor café, each of them enjoying the other’s company as if nothing happened. As far as they were concerned, what happened the past week didn’t matter. What did matter was happening now. They talked to each other, joked about their past mistakes, just like friends should. They were soon waiting for their pay when Caramel changed the topic.

“You know, you’re the only one I’ve told.” He looked down the corner of his eyes, his shyness coming through again.

It took a moment for Twilight to realize what he was talking about. She remained silent, unsure of what to say. When he knew she wasn’t going to reply, he continued.

“I’m glad it wasn’t a mistake. I was so scared of telling you after what my father did.”

She looked at him with surprise. “So, you--?”

He nodded his head. “Yeah, I remember. I remembered when that headache went away. That memory was repressed for so long; I thought it was something my hangover made up. I’m sorry you had to see that,” he paused for a moment, as if to think something through, “Do you mind listening? I feel like you’re the only one I can talk to about this.”

Twilight shook her head, telling him that she didn’t mind. He drew in a long breath, closing his eyes and sighing before starting.

“It was back before my family moved to Ponyville. I used to live in Appleloosa. My father worked at the orchard with the other settlers and sometimes he would take me with him. One time I met the son of one of the other farmers. I can’t remember his name, but I do remember his mane reminding me of the setting sun, the moment the sky changes to a bright orange.

“Anyway, we really hit it off. Whenever our fathers brought us to the orchard we would run off and play. One night I was drawing a picture I was going to give to him. I was so proud of it that I went to show my father and said I was going to marry him. Course, I didn’t know what marriage actually meant at the time. I just knew that two ponies who really liked each other did it. He was the first friend I ever made and I really did like playing with him.

“He didn’t like that. He took the picture and tore it up, and then hit me over and over, saying that that two stallions shouldn’t get married,” his voice was chocking again and he had started crying, “H-He kept hitting me until I fell unconscious. The last thing I heard was that it was unnatural.”

He had rested his front hooves on the table, his tears falling on the table as he hiccupped and cried uncontrollably. Twilight placed a hoof on his shoulder, not sure what she could do to help him stop. He immediately began recovering when he felt her touch and wiped the tears from his eyes.

“I couldn’t remember that night until now. We left Appleloosa soon after that when father had a disagreement with the sheriff. We came straight here for a calmer, less stressful life,” Twilight jumped in surprise when she heard him laugh, “As soon as I heard there was an apple farm at the edge of town I felt drawn to it. I can’t believe I let the same thing happen so soon after the first time. . . .”

That also caught Twilight off guard. “What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. I’ll tell you when I’m ready,” he stood up when he noticed their receipt on the table. It had been placed while Caramel vented, but neither of them had paid attention to the waiter when he arrived, “I suddenly feel really tired. I think I’m going to head home and sleep.”

They parted ways. Twilight turned the other way, heading home. For some reason, it felt like she’d been away forever.

Her bed upstairs seemed to be calling her as she entered, but the empty room before her seemed different somehow. It was welcoming, yet quiet. Not a sound was to be heard, a sense of peace floating in the air. She took a glance around, finally coming upon her writing podium. On it was an open scroll, a quill, and an ink pot. She made sure to always have them ready, usually for a sudden idea or list she needed to make. As she walked over to the podium, however, she had a different idea.

“I haven’t kept a journal since I was a filly,” she reminisced, “Maybe I should start again.”

She picked up the quill with her magic, dipped the end in the ink, and began writing.

*Wednesday, 9/20*

*Afternoon*

Twilight and Applejack waved goodbye to the last customer in line, sighing in relief as they got their first break of the day. Twilight had been writing and adding non-stop, trying to keep up with Applejack’s sales pitching and money making. They both turned to the clock tower, curious on the time, only to groan when they realized it was the middle of the day.

“At least this means we’ll be switching off soon, right?” Twilight asked, turning to the farmer.

“Ah hope so. Ah haven’t seen mah brother all day. He didn’t seem awake this mornin’ an’ he didn’t come down fer breakfast,” they both turned back to the front of the cart, anticipating more customers to arrive, when they both saw something coming towards them, “Speak o’ the Mare. . . .”

Soon, two ponies that were becoming all too familiar to Twilight came walking towards them. They both had tired looks on their faces and their manes were a mess, like they’d just crawled out of bed. They greeted the mares when they arrived, their voices thick with exhaustion.

“Big Macintosh, where’ve ya been?” Applejack interrogated him.

“Ah spent the night at Mel’s. He really needed the company.” He said with a smile. He turned to the smaller stallion, bumping him forward a step. He gave the bigger stallion a nervous look and was given a reassuring nod in return. He gulped heavily, faced Applejack, and spoke.

“Jack, I’m coming out of the closet.”

Twilight’s quill and paper fell to the ground, her magic suddenly losing grip on them. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see AJ’s hat sliding forward over her wide eyes. She looked at Caramel, then back to AJ, waiting for a reaction. Finally, she seemed to be coming back to Earth.

“Whassat now?”

“I’m gay.”

Applejack opened her mouth and attempted to speak several times. She kept getting interrupted by a cough, or a clearing of her throat. “Well, Ah guess it was kinda obvious, now that Ah think about it,” she said when she regained her composure somewhat, “Ah’m glad you were able ta be open wit’ me.” She looked between the two, noticing their state once again. She watched them as their gazes met each other’s and her face turned suddenly red. “It’s your turn for sellin’, Big Mac!” she quickly rounded the cart and called back when she was out of sight, “You comin’, Twi?”

“I’ll catch up,” She yelled back. She turned to the two stallions, “Alright, what’s the story?”

*Tuesday, 9/19*

*Evening*

Caramel opened his front door, tired from his interrupted sleep. He rubbed his eyes until his vision cleared and looked up to see Big Macintosh standing above him.

“Mac?”

“Ah jus’ wanted ta come by and see how you were doin’,” Caramel welcomed him in and he stood in the middle of the living room, “’Sides, it seemed like you really wanted ta tell me somethin’ before.”

Caramel averted his eyes from Big Mac’s, attempted to hide his nervous blush. He took several long sighs before he started.

“Y-Yeah. . .” Caramel’s legs visibly shook as he spoke, “S-See, Mac, there’s something I-I’ve really wanted to say to you,” he took a moment to calm his lower lip that was now shaking, but to no avail, “E-Except, I don’t know how to even begin telling you.”

“Mel. . .”

“I don’t even know how you’ll take it. And. . . and. . .”

Big Mac tried to inch closer to him, try to comfort him, but stopped when Caramel said his next words.

“. . . And the thought of what might happen scares me! It scares me so much!” he was shouting now, tears falling from his eyes and his sobs emphasizing his words, “I don’t want to lose you! You, of all ponies!”

Caramel’s legs buckled and he let himself lay down. His tears were pooling on top of the hardwood floor, the splashing as they fell beating like drums in Big Mac’s ears. He approached Caramel slowly, making his steps light as possible. He sat next to him and wrapped his arms around him, lifting him up and letting him rest on his chest.

“It’s OK,” he shushed soothingly, stroking the sobbing pony’s mane, “It’s OK.”

They stayed like that for a long time. Big Mac didn’t move his head, never stopped stroking his mane, and only listened to his sobbing slowly die down. His breathing eventually returned to normal and the tears stopped falling.

“I love you, Big Macintosh.” Caramel whispered, his voice weak from his harsh crying.

“I know. Ah feel real bad tellin’ ya Ah like mares.”

Caramel sighed. “I figured. I just really needed to get all that off my chest.”

“Ya don’t have ta worry ‘bout me leavin’ ya behind. That’s not what family does.”

A few more silent minutes passed before either of them spoke.

“Now I have a headache.” Caramel complained.

“Why don’t Ah get ya ta bed?”

Caramel nodded as he stood up, wiping away the tears that had long stained his coat. They left the living room and made their way upstairs to his bedroom, a small room just big enough to fit everything. His bed was placed in the center of the back wall with a nightstand on the left side. Caramel crawled in and Big Mac tucked the covers under him, making sure the blanket’s hug was tight and comfortable. He gently nuzzled the colt, giving a silent goodnight before turning around.

“Big Mac. . .”

He turned his head back around to face him, only barely able to see his red face as he laid on his side.

“. . . Would you mind staying here tonight?”

He smiled, “What’re little brothers for?” He walked to the other side of the bed and lied down on top of the covers facing Caramel.

Caramel sighed, annoyance apparent in it. “It’s weird calling you ‘little brother’ now. I’m the one smaller than you. And get under the covers, you’ll freeze.”

“Maybe it’s ‘cause yer bossin’ me around?” Big Mac teased as he slipped under the blanket with him.

There was a long pause between them. They both kept their eyes closed, listening to the other’s soft breathing. They were both content, ready to sleep as the moon shined above them through the window.

“I love you, little bro.” Caramel whispered.

“Ah love A too, big bro.”

“That’s so sweet.” Twilight wiped away the tear in her eye.

“Until he woke me up with his screamin’ this mornin’.” Big Mac rolled his eyes as he nudged the tan pony again.

“I woke up using his chest as a pillow. I didn’t realize what happened until I turned my head and saw him sleeping right under me.” Caramel hid his cherry-red face in vain, his hair hanging loosely over his eyes as a sort of cover. After recovering enough to look Twilight in the eyes again, he bowed his head. “Thank you, Twilight. If it weren’t for you, I’d probably still be keeping that part of me locked away. I’m sorry I caused you grief in the process, but I’m thankful all the same.”

“It’s no problem, Caramel. I’m glad I could help.”

“Excuse me? Are any of you busy?”

Almost instantly, Caramel spun around with an energetic smile and greeted a mare behind them. “Not at all, Ma’am! Sorry for the wait. How can I help you?”

Big Mac motioned Twilight over to the side now that Caramel was distracted. When they were out of earshot, he spoke.

“Ah wanna thank ya too, Twilight.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Caramel already did.” Twilight replied, her lack of understanding clear.

“No, not about that. Well. . .,” he shook his head quickly before starting over, “If it weren’t fer you, Ah don’t know how Ah would’ve handled that.”

“What do you mean? What did I do help you?”

“You got me ta talk.”

Twilight let a look of surprise fall on her. She raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“D’you remember what Ah was like when ya first met me?”

Twilight thought back, remembering all the awkward silences that would fall between them whenever she tried making small talk. She looked at him again, almost not recognizing the stallion before her as the one then. He was smiling now, eyes caring and sometimes even wide open.

“Ah was never good at talkin’ wit’ ponies outside o’ family, an’ even then Ah came out short. Then you came along ‘n kept tryin’, talkin’ wit’ me and helpin’ me remember what it was like ta smile,” he looked over at Caramel, his bright, blue eyes shining brighter as he made sales to complete strangers, “Mah Pa’s last words ta me were, ‘Take care o’ family. Family’s the most important thing ya have,’ so Ah did. Ah took responsibility o’ farm work the next day an’ made the money we needed. It ate up all my free time. ‘Cause Ah was workin’ so hard, Ah thought Ah was doin’ right. Now, Ah think Ah know what he meant. Ah never left Mel’s side last night. Not even once.”

Twilight looked up at him with admiration. She watched as his face turned to horror, only to be distracted by the sound of something falling over. She turned to see Caramel covered by an avalanche of apples next to an overturned basket. The line of customers that formed looked at him with worry, only to sigh in relief when he spoke to Big Mac.

“Mac, I knocked over the apples. . .”

Big Mac just stared at the mess before him. Apples were strewn about the stand, though miraculously everything else was untouched. He soon cracked a smile and burst out in laughter after trying to contain it. He was rolling on the ground, gripping his sides at the sight before him. The tan pony huffed.

“It’s not funny~!” he wined, only eliciting more laughter from his younger brother.

Chapter 6

“Look! Look, Twilight!” Derpy exclaimed excitedly as two small lights danced together like a duet down from the ceiling and in front of her. She pulled out the folder from her mailbag and opened it. The two lights slid themselves into the plastic sleeves next to the Fortune card. The lights dimmed and eventually revealed two new cards that Twilight had never seen before. One had a lone, kingly figure standing at his throne before a mural. It gave off a sense of loneliness, yet that of strength as well. The other was a mare raising a single hoof in front of her to a lion, as if passively halting it in its tracks.

“The Emperor and Strength Arcana,” Derpy lamented, “always such sad cases, yet somehow they turn out OK in the end.”

Twilight first watched the Emperor card as it shifted from its original picture to moving pictures, much like Applejack’s Fortune card next to it. It showed her time spent with Caramel, from the moment they met, all the way through her dates with him, the break up, and finally when they made up for the best.

The Strength card next to that one began showing her the moments she and Big Macintosh spent sharing each other. The scenes were few, but she never realized just how many hours they spent with each other the few times they did see each other, almost all of it while doing the last-minute farm work before the season changed. Both cards ended with Big Macintosh and Caramel walking up to Twilight and Applejack at the Apple cart. She never really realized how intertwined these two situations were until she saw them played before her simultaneously.

“Trying to understand what they go through kind of inspires me think about what I could have done differently. . .”

Twilight looked up at the gray pegasus to see her eyes tear up slightly. The assistant seemed to realize that she was crying and quickly wiped the tears and shook her head, slammed the folder, and put it away.

“Until we meet again.” Igor’s raspy voice almost made Twilight jump after being silent for so long. They waved her goodbye before her vision faded to black.

*Satruday, 9/30*

*Afternoon*

The wind danced around the trees, the dry leaves’ rustling bringing a calm to those who heard it. The wind changed color along its journey, sometimes red, other times orange, and on occasion yellow. At times, they would all blend together into a beautiful zephyr to show off the autumn season’s true glory.

The leaves resounded in a satisfying crunch under Twilight’s hooves as she trotted down the colorful road to the edge of town. Something special was happening today, something she had never seen in Canterlot. Everything there was done by unicorn magic, while the earth ponies here kept tradition, making some boring activities in Canterlot infinitely more fun and interesting here.

She soon came upon a crowd of ponies, most of them standing to the side while a small group faced down the road together. The small group seemed to be doing exercises, warming up and stretching for what was yet to come. You have to be ready, after all.

She took her place in the line, making sure to stay in sequence with the numbers on each pony’s flank. She was number forty-two, a number that made her laugh for some reason, as if it were an inside joke she’d long forgotten. She did her own stretching, following her guide she memorized as perfectly as she could remember it. As she stretched her forelegs out, sticking her rump in the air, she heard a voice next to her.

“Twilight?”

She turned to see a familiar large, red stallion standing next to her. How she managed to miss him she’d never know. She lit up even brighter than she was, the nerves she wasn’t aware she felt melting away at the sight of a familiar face. An orange figure popped up on the other side of him, her hat bobbing as she waved her hoof.

“Hello, Big Macintosh, Applejack!”

“Nice ta see ya gettin’ some exercise after the farm.” Applejack commented with a smile.

“Well, I’m not really racing,” Twilight admitted, “I’ve never seen the leaves fall back in Canterlot. I’m probably going to stay in back and watch the view.”

“Good afternoon, everypony!” a shrill voice echoed from high above. The ponies looked up to see a hot air balloon hovering just above the trees with a bright pink pony holding a megaphone. Her voice bubbled with excitement as she continued her intro, “Welcome to the annual Running of the Leaves! I’m your announcer, Pinkie Pie, ready to tell you exactly what’s going on exactly as it happens! What are we waiting for? Let’s get this party started! Everypony, on your marks. . .”

The racers halted their stretching and prepared for their anticipated race.

“. . . Get set. . .”

The racers laid low to the ground, ready to kick off at the signal.

“. . . Go!”

Pinkie somehow managed to let off the sound of a small explosion, and the ponies raced off into the forest. The ponies kicked off clouds of dust and dirt behind them, leaving a coughing Twilight behind. The thundering of their hooves on the ground felt like an earthquake, threatening to knock the unicorn off balance.

When the dust finally cleared, the sight she was presented was worth it. The leaves from the trees fell simultaneously and the wind picked most of them up, brushing them along the road that stretched before her. The different colors landed like splatters of paint, creating a sort of art that could never be recreated.

A smile stretched across her face, almost splitting her face in half. Her pace slowed to a simple trot as she looked at the colored wind fly by her and far across the field behind the now-bare trees. The swirling colors painted the field as well, the new art spreading like a fire.

She increased her speed as the leaves stopped falling near her and the racing ponies grew farther away. How was she to keep watching this glorious view if all the leaves fell before she could even get there?

“And they’re off! Thunderlane gets an early lead, only to be cut off by Berry Punch! No wait, it’s Rainbow Dash! Now it’s neck and neck between the Apple siblings, Applejack and Big Macintosh!”

She could still hear the pounding of hooves pounding the ground as the racers picked up their paces, each one trying to outdo the other. She did the same, if only to keep up with the beautiful view of the falling leaves before they all hit the ground.

They all soon reached the small forest that lined the middle of the path. The falling leaves seemed to form walls as they fell, blinding everypony until they had blasted through. An idea struck her as she saw the autumn-colored wall ahead of her. She picked up a little more speed and leapt into the air. She flew headfirst into the leaves, colors exploding around her as she came through and landed without a lost step. She couldn’t help but laugh at how much more fun the changing of seasons was when you were part of it.

However, her laughter was soon cut short when a loud crash echoed ahead of her. She saw a pegasus pony, cyan in hue with a mane that encompassed the entire rainbow, flat on the ground with a hind leg caught awkwardly behind a tree stump. Twilight stopped and offered a hoof to her. The pegasus, either ignoring Twilight or she simply didn’t notice her, groaned as she lifted herself up with her front hooves before flapping her wings once, shooting her body high enough land safely on her hooves. She dusted herself off and brushed back her mane once, letting it fall back in front of her while the rest settled in a mullet down her neck.

“Are you OK?” Twilight asked after deciding she didn’t need help getting back up.

“Oh yeah, totally fine,” the pegasus replied nonchalantly, “Just took a stumble. It’ll take more than that to keep me off the race.” She flashed Twilight a cocky smile before preparing to take off in a gallop. She took off faster than Twilight could imagine, only to fall shortly ahead of her, her launch speed sliding her farther than she actually ran.

Twilight noticed her hind leg spasm and raced over to her again. She applied quick magic to the limb, attempting to discover the problem. She couldn’t get a full analysis done before the pegasus managed to shake off the unicorn’s magic, although she’d done enough to know what’s wrong.

“What are you doing?” She shot an angry glare at Twilight.

“I’m only trying to help. I think you sprained your fetlock.”

“I know what I did!” the pegasus huffed at her, “I told you, it’s going to take more than that to keep me from the race!”

Twilight couldn’t help but huff herself after getting yelled at. “You can’t even run with that leg!”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t fly!”

“You can’t fly in the Running of the Leaves!”

The two looked away from each other with a “hmph!” towards the other. Twilight started a prance past the pegasus.

“Fine, if you think you can run the race anyway, feel free to try!” She said as she passed. She increased her pace to a gallop, waiting any moment for the inevitable sound of a falling mare crashing into the ground.

She was met with surprise as the cyan mare raced past her, keeping her injured leg in the air and galloping while balanced on three legs. She watched as the mare used a flap of her wing to substitute for the missing hoofstep. Despite her previous frustration, she couldn’t help but marvel at her creativity.

The inevitability was still met, however, when the wing flapped just a might too hard, flipping her on her side and on the ground again. Shaking her head, Twilight approached the mare again, this time keeping her injured leg steady as the mare struggled to free herself.

“What’s going on, Twilight?” The unicorn turned around to see Pinkie Pie float down with her hot air balloon next to them, landing softly on the ground.

“She’s hurt and needs to get to a hospital. Do you have any medical supplies in there? And can you get someone over here to take her?”

“Nope! I don’t have any medical supplies in here! I do, however,” Twilight and the pegasus watched as she hopped out of the basket and zoomed over to a nearby tree, reach her hoof into a crevice in the trunk, and reveal a box of basic first-aid, “have some medical supplies stashed all over Ponyville, in case of a medical emergency!”

The other two ponies rolled their eyes, though Twilight graciously accepted the first-aid supplies. She then quickly began sifting through the contents for what she needed to make a splint.

“And don’t worry Dashie, that help is on the way!” She then pulled out a walkie-talkie from the basket and began speaking to whoever was on the other end.

She found what she needed to make a wood splint and applying it to the pegasus’s injured leg, even through the pegasus’s struggling to break free from Twilight’s gripping magic. This time, the unicorn would make sure she couldn’t escape.

“I keep telling you, I don’t need your help!” the cyan mare yelled, “I can keep racing! I just need to get the hang of using that wing!”

“That’s not what I’m worried about!” Twilight finally shot back, “The longer you keep this leg out of a proper cast the worse it’s going to get! So just sit tight and let me help you!”

The two mares continued like this for another fifteen minutes before a couple nurses came with a stretcher. The pegasus mare had given up struggling as soon as she was being taken away, settling with angrily crossing her front hooves and glaring up at the sky. Twilight continued down the path, letting the sound of the dry leaves crunching under her drain away the frustration she suffered around that pony. When she finally reached the finish line, the race had been long over and almost everypony had already left. The ponies that remained were Applejack and Big Macintosh.

“What took ya so long?” asked Applejack when she noticed her, “Couldn’t have taken ya that long ta look at the scenery.”

“I had to help one of the racers after she sprained her fetlock.”

“Well, let’s go! The party’s already started!”

“What party?”

* * *

“Pinkie Pie’s Running of the Leaves Winner’s Congratulations Party!” Pinkie’s shrill voice could be heard shouting all over the Ponyville park, announcing the party’s title as if to greet every new group to arrive. Twilight gazed in awe at the set-up before her. Streamers covered the bare trees, replacing the color they’d lost earlier in the day. Confetti covered the grass, whatever wasn’t already covered by leaves, as well as many of the tables. Pinkie could be seen throwing it around randomly, some of it even covering up the guests. Balloons of all different colors, shapes and animals were tied to chairs. One chair was covered in so many balloons that Twilight thought it might just float up in the sky if a pony, which AJ pointed out was the winner of the race, wasn’t sitting in it.

Loud party music was being played all over the park, each record player playing a different song. Twilight realized after a few minutes walking around that each record player was playing a certain genre of music. One section had rave music, one had slow music for couples to dance to, while somewhere near the food was a section for bad karaoke—which appeared to be the most popular one with plenty of ponies singing horrendously off-key to the latest Pony Gaga song. Twilight could only guess that with Pinkie being the mastermind of the operation it could only be intentional.

After her curious lap around the park—she’d separated from AJ and Big Mac a while ago—she decided to head for the food, hoping to get away from the karaoke quick enough to not go crazy. She turned around to head straight there when her nose met another surprisingly soft one. She focused her eyes on the pony taking up her vision, though she didn’t have to focus all the way to know it was the “Bomb Cake Maker” herself. She jumped and let out a small yelp, blinking several times as her eyes focused to a normal, comfortable level upon the bright pink pony.

“10/10!” Pinkie said with a huge smile.

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked when she’d regained her composure.

“October tenth! That’s going to be your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party!”

“Oh, right!” I’d completely forgotten!

“I’m sooooooo sorry you’ve had to wait sooooooo long for it! I actually had to be completely un-Pinkie to actually make sure this party happened!”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“I had to. . .” Pinkie took a look around her before leaning in close and bringing a hoof to the side of her mouth, “. . . organize.”

Twilight’s face felt like it dropped when she got her anticlimactic answer. “Is that really such a bad thing for you?”

“Are you kidding?” Pinkie asked appalled, “I never plan or organize my parties! Or anything else for that matter! This whole party was put together after the race ended!”

Twilight’s reaction went from anticlimactic to astonished as she took another look around her, at all of the decorations and party supplies and food, the different music sections, the sheer amount of guests. How could she have possibly put together all of this after the end of the race?!

“Oh, there’s another thing I wanted to run by you,” Twilight immediately snapped her attention back to her to distract herself from the impossibility that was surrounding her, “You’re not working for the Apples anymore now that there are no more apples to buck, right?”

“That’s right. I still sometimes help at their cart, but it’s so small that it’s really just a one-pony job.”

“Which means you’re looking for another one now, right?” Pinkie’s smile turned sly as she stared her down.

Actually, the thought didn’t really occur to me until now! “Uhh, I suppose so.”

“Well, why don’t you work with me at Sugarcube Corner? I know you can’t bake, but I know you’re super organized and have those awesome managerorial skills!”

My what skills?!

“Plus, I’m sure Mr. and Mrs. Cake would love to have the extra time off with their foals running around the store. Besides, they’ve already met you and know that you’re super dependable and responsibible! You already have half the interview done!”

“Well, you do make some very good points,” Twilight thought it over another minute before answering, “Alright, I’ll stop by tomorrow, then.”

Pinkie grinned from ear-to-ear as she jumped around happier than usual. “Woohoo! I can’t wait to have you onboard!”

“Yeah, me either, hehe.” Twilight’s laugh was hollow as she shook hooves with her. What did I get myself into?!

“Welcome to the Velvet Room.” Igor greeted Twilight as she woke up in the blue, royal room once again. She noticed him looking at her almost anxiously, as if he was ready to tell her something. “Now that you have grown much stronger, I believe it is time to inform you of all of our services.”

“Well, it’s about time!” Twilight replied sarcastically, “How long has it been since you first called me here?”

She raised an eyebrow as Igor chuckled for a second or two after she said that. “My, you’ve gotten rowdy since we first met,” Twilight huffed and crossed her front hooves, deciding to keep her mouth shut until he was done, “First, I want to explain the growth of your personas. As you forge bonds, personas become unlocked for you to use. However, you must be strong yourself to tame them. When you grow to the appropriate level of strength, your persona alters itself to match your growth.”

Twilight remembered back several weeks ago when she first summoned Empusa. She had meant to summon Fortuna as usual, however the Fortune card next to her felt as if it was overflowing with energy, spreading it and giving it to her. She could feel Fortuna changing form before finally breaking free of the card as she is now.

“The next service we provide, and unquestionably the most important, fusion.” Igor placed down three cards on the table as he spoke: the Emperor, Fortune, and a card she’d never seen before. It had a picture of a sun on it. The sun smiled at her, bringing a feeling of hope and positiveness. “As the name implies, you may fuse together two or more personas to make one more powerful persona. Fused personas are far stronger than other personas of their level; however they do not get stronger as you do,”

He swiped his hoof over the Fortune and Emperor cards, sliding one over the other. When the cards met a bright light shined from under his hoof. He kept it planted on top of the two cards, focusing on the task before him. When he finally lifted his hoof, the light dimmed and another card with a picture of the sun took their place.

“There is one important drawback to this,” he continued, “Once you’ve fused personas, the Arcana used in the fusion will no longer grow stronger as you do, much like the newly fused persona. In the example here, you would not be able to use another persona of either the Fortune or Emperor Arcana until you fuse one. You do, however, get a persona of the Sun Arcana that would far surpass other personas of the same Arcana and level.

“As for the Arcana the new persona is of, that Arcana grows unimpeded. In this example, it would be possible to have two personas of the Sun Arcana. The fused persona would stay at its current strength while the other grows stronger and stronger, likely passing the fused persona eventually.

“There is another important benefit to the fused persona. If you decide to use that persona to fuse for another, that persona would be able to take the spot of any of the Arcana used to fuse it, but only one spot. In this example, the fused persona of the Sun Arcana could take the spot for a persona of the Sun, Emperor, or Fortune Arcana, but only one of those spots. The last thing I want to mention is that all fusions are final. You cannot undo a fusion to increase the power of the Arcana you fused with.”

Igor bowed his head. “I apologize for the long-winded and far overdue explanation.”

Twilight stayed silent in her seat as she absorbed the information. After a few minutes of running through everything again, she looked back satisfied. “Thank you for telling me. Is that all?”

“You now know our services. I wait to see what you use them for,” he chuckled to himself again before waving her off, “Until we meet again, farewell.”

Izanagi rushed forward and swung his sword, cleaving through the shadow charging at him. He then quickly kicked his rear hooves into the shadows chasing him, decimating them as well. When he turned around he noticed several shadows aiming for Twilight instead and sped forward again. He zoomed past them and swept wide with his sword once again, knocking, but not defeating, all of them aside. A boulder for Golem finished the job.

“Is it just me or are there a lot more shadows than usual lately?” Twilight asked the farm pony behind her. They and Spike were stuck together as tightly as they could, letting the personas fight without having to worry about their summoner’s safety so much. With the way tonight’s training was going, it turned out to be a good idea.

“Now that ya mention it,” Applejack replied as Golem crushed several more shadows under its rocks, “Ah think there are.”

“Spike, could you look into this?”

“On it!” said the dragon on her back. He concentrated hard, somehow staying on her despite the blasting winds of harsh blows on both parties. Within a few minutes, he was ready to reveal his findings. “There’s something big over at Sweet Apple Acres again. It feels stronger than what we fought there before. What’s more, it seems to be practically spilling with energy. That may be the source of these other shadows!”

“Do we have to go there again?” the farmer asked grimly.

“We should,” Twilight decided, “I’m sorry, but it would put this sudden overabundance of shadows to rest.”

Applejack sighed. “Alright, if we have to, lead the way.”

Together, the two ponies charged their way through the waves of shadows, letting Izanagi and Golem clear the shadows attempting to stop them. As they grew closer to the farm, they both noticed the shadows start to become steadily stronger, to the point that they were just being brushed aside rather than destroyed. That didn’t matter, though. They couldn’t waste time and would just have to deal with them on the return trip.

The sight of the farm was shocking, to say the least.

Swarms upon swarms of shadows were treading all over the grounds of AJ’s home. They seemed to be surprisingly organized, with weaker shadows patrolling outside the orchard with some stronger ones poking out every now and then between the trees. On top of that, from the direction of the clearing, was a mass of energy that even Twilight could feel. It felt as if it were swirling around and around, acting as a barrier and making her sick to her stomach.

“Well?” AJ asked next to her, “Are we gonna go?”

She choked down her queasiness as best she could and nodded back, “We have to.”

She received a nod of determination and together bolted down the hill. Without a beat lost they charged through the front line of shadows and ran into the thick of the trees, ignoring any other shadows that may have been trying to impede them.

“The trees don’t have those faces anymore,” Spike noted, looking around him, “It must have been AJ who was causing them before. In any case, you don’t have to worry about getting trapped by them anymore.”

Before Twilight could give an understanding nod she was blindsided, pushed in the other direction so far that Applejack lost sight of her. Twilight tumbled over and over again on the ground, Spike bouncing closely behind her. They crashed into a tree, somehow still conscious after all that. When they looked up to see their attacker, fear gripped her.

Standing—no, floating before them, was a metal griffon knight upon an equally-metal stead. The horse was far bigger than they were, making the height of the griffon’s red eyes fill them both with a sense of dread. The griffon held a large shield and a long lance, which was now held high above it and pointed straight at Twilight. She instinctively lit her horn up and a flash of magic engulfed both her and the dragon, making them disappear just before the lance was shot forward. It didn’t just stab the tree that was behind them, it pierced right through it, leaving a gaping hole in the trunk. The sudden loss of support broke the thin edges of the trunk and the tree fell, resounding with a crash next to where they reappeared.

The teleportation, however, left them both dazed for a few seconds. She sat dumbly on the ground, attempting to correct her vision as the large, blurry figure grew bigger. I really need to get used to teleporting more than just myself. She noted to herself.

When her vision finally returned to normal, she realized the knight’s increasing size meant that it was approaching them, its lance ready to strike again. She jumped to her hooves and levitated Spike onto her back. She hopped to the side as the lance came down, keeping her balance as she fought against the force of the impact and the shaking ground. She finally found her opening, knowing that the knight would have to retract its lance before attacking again. With a whim, Izanagi was called from his position after the blindsided attack. He charged in sword-first, aiming right for the back of the knight.

A loud clang was heard, the sound ringing in Twilight’s ears and making the dreaded feeling return. She saw Izanagi’s sword slide off the knight’s armor, tripping him up and landing him to the side. By then, however, the knight had recovered and had its lance readied once more, this time at the downed persona. Before Twilight could call him back, the weapon had pierced through his side. The full width was almost bigger than him, destroying him on impact. The pain coursed through her as well as she let out a sharp scream. Her legs buckled under her, forcing her to kneel. Spike was immediately to her side, but could only regretfully be moral support as he watched Izanagi’s shards scatter everywhere and disappear.

The griffon knight approached the two slowly, looking down on them with its red eyes. The stallion it was riding was letting out quick huffs of air as if it were laughing. Together, they appeared to be relishing the moment, knowing full well that they’ve won. It moved its lance under Twilight’s chin, forcing her to look up at it through her pain. She was forced to watch as the lance retreated and readied for a last strike.

Just before the lance was plunged through her, she felt yet another wave of confidence. What happened next was in a split moment.

The reverberating sound of metal clashing pierced the air like swords, the force strong enough to shake a few trees around them. Spike gasped as he witnessed the spectacle and the revealing of a new persona.

This one was lean and clad in tight red armor. It had a long, black mane and tail, the mane trailing down his back and the tail leaving a smile pile of it on the ground. In his mouth was a sharp sword with two pointed ends, made as if to furiously stab the enemy rather than slice them. His tail began to swish around as if it were another limb, another sword of the same kind gripped tightly around the end of it. The shards of its card were flying around them, the pieces together revealing that this persona was of the Strength Arcana.

Spike looked at the persona as if to analyze it, absentmindedly saying the persona’s name, Rakshasa, under his breath. Rakshasa didn’t lose another moment. He quickly lashed out at the stunned knight with his tail sword, aiming to pierce right through the helm. The knight, however, managed to recover from its stupor and raise its shield to successfully guard against the attack. Rakshasa forced the clash between his mouth sword and the lance to end, shoving the lance aside and leaping up strike again, once again meeting with the shield. He brought his tail sword around him and aimed for the knight’s side. He scored a hit, the attack not doing much but just enough to cause the knight to visibly flinch and release a harsh puff of air like a grunt of pain.

The onslaught continued, Rakshasa attacking constantly with one sword and then the other, finding anywhere it could for the open spot. The blows were forcing the knight backwards with each crash of metal against metal. Sparks appeared to fly between them as the knight’s armor was getting scuffed and scratched everywhere that the persona was able to reach. Once the knight was against a sturdy tree, Rakshasa set up his finisher. He crossed the two swords in front of him and with the force unbelievable to one of his stature against a foe of that size shoved both the lance and shield away, leaving the knight’s torso wide open.

The then began spinning around, faster and faster until he became nothing less of a saw blade, ready to rend his foe. He struck right at the knight’s front, cutting it more times than Twilight would like to think. When he finally slowed down, the knight fell to the ground, his limbs appearing too heavy for him to lift as airs of exhaustion became visible on him. Rakshasa curled himself up into a ball, focusing his energy inside him and letting it build up around him. He stretched his legs out as far as they could as the energy around him exploded and made his swords glow brightly. He poised them up above him and with a speed that was faster than lightning continuously stabbed both swords, one after the other, at the knight. Their power was enough to pierce right through the knight’s armor, doing damage that felt unbelievable even as Twilight watched. The flurry of attacks didn’t end until the energy was finally spent several seconds later. The knight’s body was disintegrating by then, the purple dust flying into the air and shrinking into nothingness, never to be seen again.

He turned around to look at his summoner, his scary eyes actually making Twilight jump a little. She looked longer, though, noticing a difference between his eyes and the display that was before her. His eyes weren’t that of the fury she felt as he attacked, but that of protection. He continued to look at her as he faded into a light and returned to his card form in her crown. The warm light she felt as he returned further convinced her that Rakshasa was nothing to fear.

The summoning, along with the pain she still suffered that whole time from Izanagi’s fall, had tired her out, however, and she decided it best to sit for a while longer until her energy returned. She leaned against a tree, her breathing harsh and her lungs visibly following her breaths. Spike sat next to her, keeping his senses on for signs of danger. She let several minutes pass before finally deciding to get up, not wanting to stay in one place too long in a shadow-infested apple orchard.

“Can you see where Applejack is?” She turned to the dragon.

“I can’t sense her exact location. Either she tried looking for us and got lost or she was chased like we were. She is still here at the farm, though, and she’s alive.”

“I doubt she’s lost. She knows her farm front, back and sideways, which makes me worry . . .” Twilight thought about her friend being chased by a shadow as strong as that knight was, then shook the thoughts out of her head, knowing full well that she could take care of herself, “We may as well continue on to the clearing where that strange energy is. AJ knows that’s where we’re headed, too, so we should rendezvous there.” Spike nodded in agreement and hopped on the unicorn’s back and lead her the way through the trees and towards the clearing.

Several more minutes passed as they ventured onward into the orchard. She’d taken to a steady trot to conserve her remaining energy. She could still feel her weak legs shake under her. If she got in another big fight like that one she may be in trouble.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, she realized just how quiet the area around her was. She kept her nerves steady as she looked around. Not a sound was heard as she walked. The wind never picked up in this world, not a shadow could be heard hovering or crawling around them, not even Twilight’s hooves made a sound as the surreal night sky below them was of nothing but soft dust. She could feel sweat run down her face.

“Spike, do you feel anything nearby? I’m getting an un--” she had turned her head to speak to him when she realized something off. He looked back at her questioningly, like he didn’t know how to respond. She asked again, her eyes widening as she noticed what was wrong. Not a sound was coming out of her mouth. They both gasped, though Spike’s was the only one audible, as Spike whirled around in his seat, not trusting his failed senses.

“What?! When did you get silenced?!” He looked around frantically, his own nerves besting him when he couldn’t see anything. His senses finally kicked into overdrive as a figure burst out of a tree and swiped at them. Spike lunged his body at Twilight’s head and forced her to duck, barely managing to dodge the attack.

The figure hovered before them, its face covered by what could only be long hair. It was a pony’s upper half hanging limply from the side of a pot. Its body was ethereal like a ghost’s and its spine appeared broken as it made no attempt to right itself. Its yellow eyes were clearly visible through its long mane, giving both of them chills that extended through their bodies. The ghost shadow reared back as if it were taking a large breath and shot forward, letting out a scream that surrounded both of them. The sound affected their minds like a mental assault, forcing both of them to cover their ears to no effect.

The shadow swiped at them again, landing a few hits before blasting them away with another scream. Twilight managed to bounce off her hooves and skid safely to a halt and magically catching Spike before he flew past. To her horror, her magic had failed, however. Her horn never lit up and she couldn’t feel her connection with her magic. She saw the dragon hurdling towards her and reacted quick enough to bump him upwards and land on her back, though her stress didn’t lift. She focused her energy to her crown and prepared to bring out a persona, only to look on in horror as that became unavailable as well.

“Twilight, we have to run!” Spike stressed, “Silence wears off eventually, but until then you can’t use any magic or personas! We have to run until that silence wears off!” She nodded in understanding and took off in a gallop through the trees.

She thanked her many days spent learning the farm as she dashed between trees knowing exactly where she was at all times. She bolted left as she noticed the shadow launch at her from the front, then right when it tried again. She headed for the thin section of the orchard, the part where the dirt was less fertile, leaving a fewer number of trees that were also of less size. She knew she had a ways to go, but with a shadow that could phase through the thick trunks of trees she knew she’d be safer there.

“Behind you!”

Twilight caught sight of one of the special apple trees ahead of her, the ones that had lower branches but grew thicker apples. She jumped up as high as she could and chomped down on the lowest branch she could find. She kicked her hind legs forward to increase momentum and swung up and over the branch and letting the shadow pass right by them. The remaining momentum swung her back down the other side of the branch in a full circle. She let go and landed proudly on the ground. Had she more time to think about it, she would have been surprised at how she’d managed to pull off something like that.

She altered her course left a little to avoid running straight into the shadow again. Within a minute she was at the thin layer of trees she was looking for. She stopped up against a tree to catch her breath, waiting for a sign of the shadow. Seconds passed as her breathing evened and the atmosphere around her returned to the silent nature that it was before the ghost shadow attacked. The silence worked on her nerves again as her breathing became harsher and stress built up on her shoulders. Spike kept his head up and alert, though he was starting to feel the pressure on him as well.

He noticed almost too late the danger that was close-by. Without even having to mention it, Twilight reacted perfectly as she spun around, crown glowing, and Rakshasa appeared from the Strength card and cleanly sliced the thin tree trunk. The tree fell backwards, revealing the ghost shadow’s hiding place before he could strike. Rakshasa leapt up and spun his tail around for a follow-up attack, only for the sword to go right through the shadow. It seemed to laugh as its eyes turned white and a blast of freezing cold ice launched and stabbed Rakshasa, knocking it immediately down to the floor. Parts of him was already phasing in and out, telling Twilight that any more would be pressing her luck. Instead, she remained calm as she returned Rakshasa to his card and flipped it around to show the bright light of another brand new card. The light melted off to reveal the lonely king that took up the front of the Emperor card. Twilight cried out the name of her other new persona, ready to take on this foe once and for all.

“King Frost!”

The card shattered and out hopped a large king with a robe that covered all but his head. He carried a staff in his hand that was as tall as him with a small jewel on top. His face was plastered with goofy smile that never changed, as if he were a statue and not in fact living. The shadow fiercely fired another blast of ice at the new persona. The kingly persona seemed to laugh as the ice smashed ineffectively against it. King Frost returned the favor with his own blast of freezing ice, this one even more powerful than the shadow’s. The attack shredded the persona as the cold icicles flew through it, its dust dissipating in the air and finally laying rest the danger it brought.

“Wow, Twilight,” Spike said with amazement, “You just keep getting stronger, don’t ya?”

“Yeah. . .” Twilight said through a hard huff of breath, “but every time I do that I get so tired. . .” She let her legs bend underneath her as she collapsed on the ground, a sense of safety washing over her. King Frost disappeared as she did, further accenting her point, “Two right after the other. . . I’m completely worn out.”

“Aw, c’mon!” he jumped in front of her, ready to give her a pep talk, “You can’t quit now, Applejack’s still out there! She wouldn’t quit!”

Twilight looked at the young dragon’s emerald eyes and saw what could only be described as determination in them. She could see his want to see this extermination mission through to the end. She nodded in understanding and slowly lifted herself up. She struggled to do so, her legs wobbling violently under her.

“You’re right, Spike,” she gasped out, “I can’t let something as trivial as fatigue stop me from proceeding! I’m the one that said we should come here in the first place!”

“Right!”

“So, let’s get going!” She grabbed Spike with her magic, placed him on her back, and forced her legs forward in a run. She recognized the thin trees as the last layer before the clearing they were headed for, and, in that respect, Applejack.

She could see the clearing ahead of her and a strange feeling of happiness, mostly because she knew this would all soon be over, swept over her. She picked up her pace, determined to end this mission once and for all. As she did, though, the strange energy she felt from the entrance picked up around her, making her trip up. She managed to save herself before falling and kept going, all the way through the strange energy until she reached the clearing.

The energy had taken a form here. It swirled around and around the center of the clearing as a purple smoke, acting like a storm to keep out predators. The purple smoke started thin where she was and grew so thick by the center that she couldn’t see what was hiding inside. She looked around the thin part of the smoke and smiled when she found the pony of the day. She made a bolt for Applejack and reached her within a minute, glad that she was OK. She was hanging on, just able to stand against the force of the energy.

“Twilight!” AJ shouted over the wind, “”Yer OK!”

“What’s going on?” the unicorn shouted back.

“Look!”

Applejack pointed around them, where shadows were appearing in groups. When they reached the edge of the clearing they split apart into purple dust as if they were defeated. Instead of disappearing, however, the dust began swirling around with the smoke, adding more and more to it.

“Whatever’s in the center is getting stronger!” Spike yelled to the both of them, “But we can’t. get any closer because of the energy it’s absorbing!”

“So what do we do?” Twilight asked him.

“We just have to wait! I think it’s just about--”

Just as the smoke’s thickness engulfed the entire clearing, the whole storm was suckeed into the center, revealing what was the cause of all this. A tree, larger than even the Apple’s home, glared at them through glowing, angry zigzags for eyes. His mouth of a similar fashion roared at them, a spray of tree sap for saliva splashing the ground around them. Two lumps, one on either side, appeared on his trunk, moving and squirming around, attempting to break free. Two arms finally did, equipped with sharp fingers that acted like claws.

“—done.” Spike finished with a horrified sense of dread.

The tree shook its huge head of leaves, which seemed to awaken several dozens of shadows as they fell out or flew from the mass of leaves. Every shadow immediately homed in on the two ponies with any sort of weapon they had ready to strike.

Twilight quickly brought out Empusa while AJ brought out her persona and readied them both into a defensive stance. When they got close enough, Golem turned himself into a long wall while Empusa readied a strong wind blast. Golem swung himself at the shadows just as the wind was released, slamming the whole group of shadows together with two powerful strikes. Most of them were defeated while a few of them remained, though unmoving.

They both wore confident smiles at their teamwork. They both prepared to focus their attacks on the tree shadow when they were both hit from between them, sent apart once again. They recovered quickly only for Twilight and Spike to gasp as the griffon knight faced them while the ghost shadow faced Applejack. Twilight was ready to cry as her wasted efforts stared her down. She stood her ground, though her confidence was completely gone.

I need something stronger. . .

Then, an idea came to her. She focused whatever energy she had left to her crown. She would need to pull one, just one more trick, out of her hat. A build-up of her energy circled her as her crown glowed with a mysterious blue light. A raspy voice rang in her head asking for confirmation.

“Are you sure you want to fuse these two? You’ll never see them grow to their full potential.” Igor reminded her with his unchanging smile clear in his voice.

“We’ll see.”

“As you wish.”

Two cards appeared from her crown next to each other, the Emperor and Strength Arcana. Their Arcana pictures changed to those of the personas she was fusing, King Frost and Rakshasa respectively. A string of electric energy connected the two together and slowly began pulling them together. When the edge of the cards touched, a blinding light was emitted and stunned everything in the area, including the knight and ghost shadows and the tree shadow. Even Applejack had to cover her eyes to not go blind.

“What the hay is goin’ on?!”

The two cards were finally met as one and the bright light had faded to a glow on the card. The light melted and revealed a depressing picture of a pony hanging upside-down by one hoof in the moonlight.

“Makami!”

The card shattered as soon as the light was completely melted away and a paper-thin, dog-like persona appeared. Its body was long, waving as it moved in place in the air. As soon as it caught sight of the threats before it its mouth opened from below its flat muzzle and shot forth a large stream of blazing fire at both the knight shadow and the ghost shadow at once. The shot was so powerful that it pushed the persona back a ways from recoil. The fire engulfed the two shadows, not even leaving dust once it was finally put out.

When it was satisfied with the small victory it quickly wrapped itself around Twilight and covered her in a warm glow. It took a couple seconds for the spell to fully take effect, but by the end she was completely recovered from fatigue and damage. It then flew over to Applejack and did the same. The group met in the middle and faced the tree that finally recovered from the bright light caused by the fusion. The tree roared once again in pure rage and shot both its arms at the two ponies. Applejack gasped and braced for impact but Twilight stood strong.

Makami rushed forward and stood in the way of the tree’s quick and strong arms. Just as it would have made contact a barrier erected itself in front of it, sending both arms back at the tree and making it claw itself with its own powerful attack. Twilight looked over at AJ and gave her a reassuring nod. The farmer then shared the same confidence she shared and they stood side-by-side, ready to deal the final blow.

“Ya ready pardner?”

“You bet.”

Golem morphed himself into a single, large boulder and shot as high up into the air as he could. Makami followed it up and prepared another fire attack to launch at the right time. It was only a moment later that Golem came falling through the sky at an incredible speed. Makami shot the fire at the rock and turned it into a flaming meteor that was heading directly at the giant boss shadow. When he landed, he hit the tree right at the middle of its trunk, crushing it in half and letting the explosion of fire that followed upon impact take care of the rest.

The smoke eventually settled, a crater taking the place of the tree shadow. Makami faded to a light and returned to Twilight’s crown, but Golem stayed. Instead, he and Applejack’s necklace began to glow, growing brighter in unison. Applejack seemed to understand what was happening as she let the light spread around her in a dome. The dome stretched far and wide, past the trees they could see and over the visible horizon.

“It’s like at the library,” Spike muttered under his breath, “They’re putting up a barrier to stop any more danger from here.”

“Does that mean. . .?” Twilight asked him.

“Yeah. This farm will never be in danger again nor cause it. This place will be just as safe as the library is now.”

“Good,” Twilight said simply as she yawned, “Because I really don’t feel like moving anymore. Goodnight.”

She let her legs give out on her, collapsing to the ground once more. She didn’t realize using a strong persona like Makami would take so much out of her, even after recovering. She let her mind go blank as she lost consciousness.

Chapter 1

*Monday, 8/14*

*Morning*

Twilight Sparkle was pacing outside of the large marble double doors of the Princess's throne room. She had been summoned by the Princess herself and had arrived early from her home at the library. However, she had gotten there quite early due to anxiety at getting the summons. She had already been there ten minutes waiting for the appointed meeting time to finally come around so as not to seem disrespectful of the Princess’s wishes. She noticed the sun in the cloudless sky through one of the windows next to her, telling her it was almost noon.

She took a moment to relive yesterday’s events, to remember Celestia's figure inside the glowing sphere. That image during each Summer Sun Celebration was something Twilight looked forward to every year. She sighed heavily as memories surfaced, bringing a smile to her face. She turned away the next moment, facing the large doors.

The sun's light touched the white marble and made it shine before Twilight's eyes. Each bit of white was sparkling with brilliance, dimmed only by the few small gray streaks running through like veins and allowing anypony looking at it to not go blind. The beauty of it helped Twilight relax a bit, although she still felt nervous despite being used to getting summoned by the Princess. Sometimes it would be just to review what she had learned; sometimes she was invited to just hang out. However, that normally happened in places such as the schoolhouse or one of the recreational facilities, where it was appropriate.

Being summoned to the throne room meant that something big was happening, or has happened. The level could vary depending on the amount of ponies invited and their status, but even the most casual visits to the throne room ended with a heavy burden on anypony involved. Being summoned to the throne room was a big enough deal, but the fact that only Twilight was invited made her all the more tense. Something huge was about to happen to her today and she wasn't sure if she was prepared.

Twilight double checked the time, noticing that it was finally noon. She swallowed her nervousness, finally noticing the lump in her throat, and walked towards the palace guards in front of the doors with her letter from the Princess levitating in front of her. They bowed to her and opened the doors without question. Before her was a short hallway with a wide red rug leading to the throne atop of a dais. The dais was a few inches high atop a small set of steps; it forced the Princess’s audience to look up at her with their undivided attention.

Twilight galloped up to her regal mentor, who was sitting with such grace on her throne, and bowed her head low to her. The Princess returned the bow, her kind smile glowing even brighter at the sight of her faithful student. Twilight looked back up at her mentor and all of her brilliance, the sun shining through the stained glass windows and showering the room with a variety of colors and sparkles that made the princess look like that of a dream. It was only in this room that Celestia's elegance was shown off to its fullest, even though Twilight couldn't believe that the princess could be more elegant than she already was. Her regal appearance alone finally calmed Twilight down enough that she was ready to face the Princess and whatever she was going to tell her.

"Twilight," Celestia's soft yet confident voice echoed through the hall, "my faithful student. There is something important that I must have you do. It involves your studies."

"Yes, Princess," Twilight's eyes showed confidence and anticipation, something the princess always liked to see from her student.

"I want you to go out and study abroad. However, this studying will be mainly on one subject. As it stands now, this is one particular subject you wouldn’t be able to pass if tested." The princess seemed to grow more serious as she spoke, not something Twilight liked to see from her mentor.

"What do you mean I wouldn't be able to test on it?" Twilight asked a little hurt at the shot to her intelligence, "Haven't I been a good student? Haven't I tested perfectly on everything?"

"Yes, Twilight Sparkle," Celestia giggled a little despite Twilight's obviously hurt face, "but that's exactly why it's this subject you wouldn't do too particularly well on."

"What is it, Princess?" Twilight's eyes betrayed her face as she tried to hide her nervousness, "I'll do anything to further my studies. What is it I'm leaving to learn about?"

"Twilight Sparkle," the princess spoke a little louder in declaration, "I hereby send you to Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship!"

There was a bit of a pause as Twilight's face went from intent listening, to surprise, then to confusion and calculation as she put the words together, and then a final, loud, "What?"

"Twilight, I do enjoy the fact that you study so hard for your exams and that you take your lessons seriously, but you can't just live your life holed up inside books.” Celestia stood up from her throne and stepped off her dais as she said this, taking each step down and passing Twilight. The unicorn followed her teacher with her eyes as she looked out one of the windows through one of the clear pieces used as a border for its design. A small smile crept over her lips as she watched her dutiful guards patrol her garden and borders, and then at the bustling city just past them filled with hundreds, if not thousands of ponies going about their daily schedules.

She continued speaking to her student, never turning her head, “You have to go out and experience everything yourself. That is why you are going to live at the place where the Summer Sun Celebration is going to be held next year. It's a small, quaint town where practically everypony knows everypony. I thought it would be a great place for you to start your studying on friendship."

Twilight could only stare at her princess’s back in disbelief, "But Princess, I still don't understand! What possible form of magic could come from simply knowing others?"

Celestia paused for a moment as her smile faded, though it went unnoticed by Twilight, "That is part of your studies, Twilight. I expect to hear about all that you've learned by the next Summer Sun Celebration. Now go pack your things, you leave first thing tomorrow morning. You are dismissed."

Twilight was about to retort, but shut her mouth in defeat. She bowed her head, thanked the princess, and headed out the door with her head held as high as she could manage, the new weight making that hard to accomplish. She turned left and down the hall, back where she came from her library home. The farther away from the princess she got, the heavier her head felt. Her pace slowed to match, and the clip-clopping of her hooves echoed louder and louder around her. Twilight looked upon the marble walls and was disappointed by their suddenly dull appearance, the sun hiding behind the one hanging cloud in all of Canterlot. Confusion weighed on her mind even heavier as questions from every angle entered her mind, distracting her concentration and setting her body on autopilot

*Afternoon*

"Twilight, dear!" Twilight's mother, Moondancer, opened the door to be pleasantly surprised by her daughter's unannounced arrival. Twilight didn’t even remember the walk here, or even deciding to visit her mother. Her mind was still filled with “why” and not a single satisfactory answer arose to calm her down. Her mother immediately noticed her daughter’s unusual behavior and gently pulled her through the front door and to a couch in the living room. A teapot in the kitchen behind them began moving on its own, flying over to the faucet for water and setting itself down on the already hot burner of a stove.

Twilight continued to maintain silence as her mind refused to place her back in the present, her brain gnawing on any sort of hint or clue to enlighten her to the princess’s reasoning. Her eyes noticed a small cup and her mouth automatically responded, opening to let the contents of the cup in. When the hot tea hit her tongue she yelped in pain, and then tasted one of the bitter flavors of her childhood. It was an old remedy in her family for life-changing events: tea filled with some of the bitterest herbs you can find in a grocery store.

Twilight could feel her thoughts scatter from the impact, allowing her to reorganize them in a much more manageable order. When she was ready, she turned to her mom, who was sitting patiently next to her with an intent look on her face, and began telling her of Celestia’s most recent. . . lesson for her. When she was finished, she then went off on what she had been thinking about on the way here.

“It feels like a slap in the face!” She threw her hooves up in the air, “I’ve been studying under her for what feels like my entire life, acing every test she’s come up with and learning every spell and lesson she’s been kind enough to teach! Now, I’m suddenly off going to a strange place I’ve never been to, surrounded by ponies I’ve never seen before, to make friends! This has nothing to do with magic!” She crossed her hooves and slumped on the couch, “If this is a joke, the punch line is terrible.”

Moondancer simply stared at her, not a single word coming out of her mouth. Twilight took another sip of tea, the bitterness working its magic again, and sighed. Her hooves unfolded and hung at her side, “I know, I know. The princess is better than that. She would never set up a lesson just to end it on a joke unless that joke was part of the lesson somehow.”

Her mom smiled sweetly, sipping her own sweet tea, "She does make a valid point. You spend a lot of time in those dusty, old books."

"But what's the point of making friends?" Twilight shouted a little too loudly, "They'll just distract me from my studies!"

Moondancer giggled to herself, knowing full well that it was upsetting her daughter.

“Oh, Princess Celestia, you’ve done it again. Just as I think you’ve done everything impossible, you manage to actually stump my daughter this hard!”

Twilight did her best to hold her frustration at her mother’s outburst, though it was no good.

“You act like I’m the only pony in all of Equestria who’s completely clueless on this!”

Moondancer had stopped her giggling by then, but her smile still never left. She reached out a hoof to Twilight and brushed aside a strand of purple hair that found its way on the other side of her ear. She levitated her cup onto its saucer and finally spoke her voice, “Your teacher is a marvelous pony. Her duties and responsibilities keep her busy all hours of the day and yet she still manages to make the time to teach but one pony herself.”

She paused for a moment to let her words sink in, “You’ve grown into a wonderful mare, Twilight. I can hardly consider you a child anymore. Do as the princess asks, Twilight. Take it from me; it will be one of the best things to ever happen to you.”

Twilight stared at her mother, feeling that same defeat she felt from Celestia earlier, and nodded her head. She slid off the couch, dismissed herself and began walking out of the room before pausing. She turned back to her mother and gave her a hug, the best one she could manage through her still crowded mind. She could practically feel an aura of calm as she held her, spreading all around her until she wore her first smile that day.

Twilight broke the hug after a while and revealed her quiet smile, letting her mother know she was OK now, “Thanks,” Twilight started, “for everything.”

“Don’t think you’re going anywhere without me, young missy!” Moondancer mockingly scolded her, “We have an entire day of planning and preparation to do! I can’t wait! We need to get. . . .”

*Evening*

Twilight practically collapsed on her bed when she arrived at the library. It was just about midnight and she hadn't even packed yet. Never had she been so irresponsible and unorganized, but she didn't care. She had spent the entire day looking for things to bring along with her to Ponyville, including clothing, new china, even her own lavender-themed tea set! Not a single book, however, but even with that it turned out to be a great day. They even caught her dad just as he was getting off of work and spent the rest of the evening with the both of them. It was a perfect goodbye.

Twilight forced herself up and went to pack her things, throwing in her new things along with her favorite books that she bought herself. She also made sure to pack her scientific equipment. She'd only started chemistry recently, but she was always fascinated with how magic could affect certain objects even after being simply levitated between locations. She folded up her telescope from the balcony and placed it in its carrying case, setting it aside her now packed suitcase.

She scanned the room one last time to make sure she had everything. Her eyes came across a raggedy pony doll, one of its button eyes hanging loosely. She brought it over to her and her eyes filled with tears as memories of her foalhood surfaced in her mind; her and her Smarty Pants doll conquering the many monsters of the night and their endless hours of studying together. She'd forgotten how much she really loved this doll. She looked over at her bag and back to the doll, paused, and placed it on her bed just to flop down next to it. Tonight was the last night her old self would be alive. When she arrived at Ponyville, she decided she would be a new mare, friendly and welcome to new eyes. And since this was going to be the last night for Old Twilight, she figured she could indulge herself in her foalhood one last time. She snuggled herself under the covers and held Smarty Pants tightly in her hooves, as if securing the last piece of her old self from any harm.

Twilight started to turn in her sleep; her mind telling her something was amiss. She tried to ignore it but the feeling kept nagging at her. Finally, she opened her eyes, slowly at first, and then shot them open when she realized her strange surroundings. Everything was blue; the sofa, the china cabinet and the china in it, the lamp above her, the chair she sat in, the table in front of her, the floor and rugs, everything was blue. A dim light was coming in from a window on the far right wall, giving everything a little distinction while at the same time putting Twilight on edge at the mysterious shape of the objects around her. This looked like a room she would find in the castle, maybe a guest room or something.

She heard a chuckle and turned her head directly in front of her. A balding, grey stallion with a long nose and white mane was chuckling in a raspy voice into his hooves, keeping them together as if he was plotting something. His eyes opened and Twilight recoiled at how small his pupils were: merely small, black dots in a sea of white and red veins. He stared back at Twilight for another moment before finally speaking.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," the stallion's voice made everything heavy; a sort of gravity filling is words with a sense of foreboding. "My name is Igor," Igor turned to his side and waved a hoof at a grey pegasus mare with a blonde mane, "This is my assistant, Derpy Hooves. She is a resident of this place, much like myself."

"Hello!" Derpy waved energetically to Twilight, a complete opposite to her master and the room.

"It's been a while since we've had a guest," Igor resumed speaking, "Please, tell us your name."

Twilight didn't want to answer this strange pony, even a simple question like that, but she felt compelled to anyway, "Twilight Sparkle."

"I see," Igor paused, then proceeded to describe the room and leaving Twilight to keep a strange feeling in her gut, "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. Only those that have made a contract can enter this place. Such a fate must await you in the near future."

Igor took another pause, "Do you believe in fortune telling?" He waved his hoof over the table and blue cards with black and white masks arranged themselves in a circle with one in the middle, "Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different. Life follows much of the same principles, doesn't it?" Igor took one on the far right and flipped it over, "The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent.

“The card indicating the future beyond that is. . ." Igor flipped over a card on the far left, "The World in the upright position. How interesting. This card represents the world as a whole. It seems that you are about to tap into something only thought of in dreams, and the fate of those around you hang in the balance."

Igor paused again, "In the coming days, you will enter a contract of some sort, after which you will return here. The coming year is a turning point in your destiny. If you are not able to tap into your true power, your future may be forever lost. My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen," Igor swept his hoof over the cards again and they vanished, "We shall tend to the details another time. Until then, farewell."

Twilight tried to talk, but her body was rejecting any movements she made. She felt her vision grow dark, and she lost consciousness.

*Tuesday, 8/15*

*Afternoon*

Twilight's mane flapped against her face and trailed behind her with no shred of grace. But she didn't care. She loved this rush of wind against her face as she rode high above the ground in one of the princess’s flying chariots. She was by no means a sports pony and didn't have any want to participate in any races, but she loved this feeling all the same. It didn't even matter that the dream she had last night was the weirdest thing she had ever experienced. Every time she went out with the princess anywhere in her royal chariot the beating wind filled her body with energy. The pegasi guards pulling the chariot always seemed to be nice, too.

This feeling alone made her forget all about last night. This small chariot wasn't nearly as glamorous as the royal chariot, but it made little difference to Twilight when the feeling was the same. The air slapping her face was cold even though it was the middle of August. They even accidentally ran through a cloud, dousing Twilight in all the moisture inside and giving her the feeling of being an icicle on the hottest summer day of the year. She always loved this feeling and always had.

Twilight looked towards the far mountains to see her destination in sight. The rising sun gave a quaint quality to it. It really was a small town, maybe about half the size of Canterlot, and all the buildings were made of wood and the roofs of straw rather than the metal and stone buildings back at her home. Normally this would disappoint Twilight, making her feel like she had been downgraded in class, but that was the old Twilight. New Twilight loved this small town already and she wasn't even in it yet.

They passed over the small river and bridge separating the town from the road and began to descend, the buildings starting to become more detailed. She could see a tower-like building in the very center of town and some windmills in seemingly random places. The houses really weren't that much smaller than the buildings in Canterlot, though the largest ones stood only two floors. She spotted a building shaped like a carousel, and another one that looked like a gingerbread house. There was an apple orchard to the far west of town and a dark, dense forest looming next to it. To the north was a huge range of mountains, making the bridge over the river the only connection to civilization for the small village. Twilight had to admit, for such a small town there sure was a lot of variety to it. Nothing like what you'd find at Canterlot.

The chariot finally lowered to ground level and stopped in front of what Twilight assumed was the library. It was a tall tree, bigger than the rest of the buildings, though Twilight guessed it was still only two floors. There were several windows around the door and a porch up high right below the leaves. The door was basic with a candle that served as the porch light in the center. Twilight took her stuff, bowed in thanks to her chauffeurs, and walked through the doors of her new home.

The bookshelves stood tall, almost reaching the ceiling, with books taking up any available space the shelves had to offer. She quickly glanced over them to find out they were in the usual alphabetical order, though many books were placed far away from their intended location. Any order the previous librarian intended seemed to have been forgotten over time. In the very middle of the room was a circular table with a large horse head standing tall in the center, providing a sense of privacy for those who would decide to read or study here. Looking left she found a set of ascending stairs with a door at the top while the right side had a door leading to a set of descending stairs.

She quickly chose downstairs on a whim and, after dropping her bags at the front door, explored her new home. Opening the door to her new basement, she could see a huge, bare room with a few shelves void of books being the only decoration. The room looked dusty, probably unused for a while. At the back was a small, narrow hallway leading to the kitchen. As Twilight entered the kitchen the brightness of the fancy marble counter against the light from the light bulb caught her attention immediately. The sudden change in style caught her by surprise, almost feeling like a culture shock after the old-style of carved wood as the décor for the rest of the house. She didn’t mind, though. After all, it was free on her part.

Satisfied with her exploration of the basement, she decided it was finally time to look at the second floor. After hiking back up the stairs to the first floor, Twilight magically carried her bags from the front door up to the second floor with her to prepare her new personal quarters. To her surprise, the second floor was a lot nicer than she thought it would be. A large part of it was used as a recreational space, once again with some book-less shelves covering the walls for personal use, while the other side had a small set of stairs winding upwards and leading to a comfortable-looking bed with plenty of more space for personal belongings. Up there was the balcony that she saw earlier. The sunlight pouring in from the glass windows on the balcony door reminded her that the day was still young and the town had yet to be experienced.

She didn’t even bother setting up her room before bolting back downstairs and preparing her saddlebags to leave. Just as she was about to leave, her stomach rumbled, telling her it was time for lunch. Looking picked up her bag of bits and counted her money. She’d earned money working as the Canterlot librarian when not learning Celestia’s latest lesson, though that still left her with little spending money of her own. At least she wasn’t going to be paying the usual bills as long as living here was still arranged under the princess. She had enough for some local dining and then some grocery shopping, but not much more. With her plan set, she set out the door and into her new setting.

Convenience immediately hit Twilight when she sighted an outdoors diner right at the end of her street, not more than five minutes away if she was slow. Happy at her luck, she trotted up and was quickly lead to a seat and looking through a menu. Just as she ready to order and waiting for her waitress, she picked up a conversation from two passing ponies.

"Oh, Fluttershy, I must thank you for taking care of not only Opalescence, but of Sweetie Belle as well. You have no idea how important that order was and I needed all of the time I could get to make the outfits just right." A white unicorn with a coiled purple mane was talking to a yellow pegasus with a long, flowing pink mane; both of them seemed to dazzle in the sun's light, their coats looking fresh and beautiful.

"Oh, not a problem Rarity," The pegasus responded quietly, almost too quietly for Twilight to even hear her, "We had a lot of fun with the other animals. Even Angel played with Opal."

"Well, as thanks I'm going to treat you to your favorite place."

"Oh, you don't have to"

"Oh, but I must! It's the least I could do for what you've done for me. Oh. . . ." The unicorn trailed off as she looked around the restaurant. Twilight took a look herself, realizing that the place was full and that she had taken the last table. The unicorn ushered over a waiter to ask him something, then frowned at the answer she got, "Oh my. . . . Well, thank you anyway." She turned to her friend, "Well, I suppose that's that. Maybe some other time, Fluttershy."

"Alright then Rarity. See you later.”

Twilight watched as the two ponies began to walk away. Before she could stop herself, an impulse took over her.

"Hey!"

The unicorn and pegasus turned to Twilight, looking surprised at her outburst.

"Do you want to sit with me? There's plenty of room!" Twilight motioned to the rest of the empty table. The two ponies looked at each other, shrugged, and sat down with her.

"Well, that's very kind of you, . . . umm. . . " The unicorn waited for an answer.

"Twilight Sparkle."

"Twilight. What a lovely name. Thank you very much Twilight. My name is Rarity and this is my best friend Fluttershy." Rarity turned her hoof towards her left to see the lack of a yellow pegasus. She looked down at her shaking friend and pulled her back up.

"H-hello. . . ." Fluttershy sounded even quieter to Twilight despite being much closer. Her face was deep inside her mane, almost completely out of sight.

"I don't think I've seen you before., Rarity mentioned as she put a hoof to her chin.

"I'm new here, from Canterlot." Twilight said with as modest a smile as she could. She felt like she had a status symbol placed on her when she said "Canterlot", especially when Rarity gawked at her.

"Canterlot? Oh, I'm envious! The glamour, the sophistication! I've always dreamed of living there! You must tell me all about it!"

"Well," Twilight blushed a little at the attention, but this was exactly what she had to do to understand Celestia’s lesson: talk to other ponies. "it's not all that different from here. . ." Twilight couldn’t even say that with a straight face, “It's so different! The city buildings are made of marvelous stone, each one taking so much care to construct. My parents' house is considered low class there, but here I'd be the fanciest pony around! And the sun shines off of everything so spectacularly! And there's always something going on! There's always a party being held by one of the aristocrats there for some occasion, no matter how small it might have been. Not that I ever went to any of them. . . ." Twilight was suddenly looking down at the table instead of Rarity.

"What's the matter, darling?"

"That's the reason why I'm here instead of there. Pri-- my teacher at the School for Gifted Unicorns was concerned that I was missing something in my life. I always tested 100% on all of my tests, was never late for a homework assignment, and was always diligent in class. But she would always see me inside the Canterlot library, studying away instead of outside with my friends. That was because I don't have any friends. So, she sent me here to learn what it's like to have friends." Twilight recoiled as she realized she had been doing most of the talking, "Oh, I didn't mean to make this my life's story. I'm not begging you or anything to---”

"We'll be your friends."

Twilight, and even Rarity, turned to Fluttershy, who reflexively shrunk at the attention, "That is, if that's okay. . . . "

"Do you mean it?" Twilight felt a little off making friends this way, but at least she was getting what she wanted.

"Of course!" Rarity seemed more than happy about this, "No pony should have to go through life without a friend or two," The waiter brought food for Fluttershy and Rarity. Apparently they had ordered while Twilight was telling her life's story, "And as a testament to our new friendship, I'll hoof the bill."

"Oh, but I--” Twilight went to object.

"Ah! No buts! You're new in town so you need to save all the bits you can get until you get a proper job, and I owe Fluttershy a favor from earlier today. It's only right that I do at least this." Rarity metaphorically put her hoof down on the matter and would have no objections. Twilight decided not to argue the point anymore and just let the kind gesture reach her. Together with her new friends, Twilight enjoyed her lunch, the most delicious meal she ever had.

Lunch had ended and, unfortunately, Twilight had to say goodbye to Rarity and Fluttershy. Twilight headed towards the shopping district after asking them where it was. Rarity insisted on getting her food as well but Twilight wouldn't have it. Rarity had already done enough for her as it was.

Once there Twilight became overwhelmed at the countless carts, stalls, and shops in the shopping district, not to mention the large crowd of ponies moving from place to place getting their merchandise. She decided to just check out the carts one-by-one as a start. But there were so many different carts and each one sold a different thing. One sold all different kinds of vegetables, one sold different fruits. Another sold flowers, one was a lemonade stand, another was a juice vendor, and another sold just apples. Twilight remained focused, however. Turning chaos into organization was her talent besides magic, and she could do this, too.

Twilight dashed over to the closest cart, the vegetable cart. She took a little of everything and threw in a bit for each item as listed. She then hopped over to the hay cart to grab a cube, then the fruits to do the same as the vegetables. Soon, her bags were getting full and her coin purse thinner, but she was doing it.

Finally, she made it to the last cart in line: the apple cart. Twilight pulled herself out of the crowd, tumbling and landing on her front, using her horn to miraculously save her bag from certain doom. She got up to see an orange mare with a yellow mane and tail chuckling a little at her expense. Twilight was about to walk away in a huff when she noticed the mares face go from laughing to sad.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nuthin'." She said in a southern drawl, "Sales have jus' been low this season. Maybe it's 'cause all our cider's already been served and it's so close to zap apple season, but as it is we're goin' to have a hard time come winter."

She paused a second before speaking again, "Sorry 'bout laughin' at ya jus' now. It's been one of the few things Ah've been able to smile about lately. Here," she picked up a shiny, delicious-looking red apple from her bunch in the cart and dropped it in Twilight's bag, "have one fer yer troubles."

Twilight stared at the new lump in her saddlebag for a few moments, contemplating her next move. Eventually, she levitated a few bits out of her purse and put them over in the bit box. "I'll have a few more, please."

The salespony smiled and completed the transaction. "Thank ya kindly fer the sale. Sorry fer getting' ya down wit' mah troubles. Ah'm Applejack." Applejack put a hoof out to Twilight.

"Twilight Sparkle." Twilight returned the gesture.

"If you ever wanna drop by, come by Sweet Apple Acres over thataway," Applejack pointed to her side and at a dark, dirt road a little ways away reaching over a hill, "We'd be happy ta have ya."

"I'll remember that. See you around Applejack!" Twilight turned and bravely ventured through the crowd of ponies again, somehow not losing her bag before reaching the other side. With her shopping done, it was time to head home. The sun was already starting to set, setting everything aglow and telling everypony that it was time to head back home. Twilight yawned, only now realizing how tired she was, and trotted her way back to the library.

*Evening*

Twilight dragged herself up the stairs to her room after putting all of her food away in the kitchen. She barely made it up the stairs and to her bed before collapsing. The feeling was suddenly familiar. She would have to stop staying out late, even though it wasn't that late and most of this tiredness was coming from all of the earlier activity. She remembered about the reorganization of the library and reminded herself to do it in the morning. She was just too tired to do it now. She pulled the covers over her and, sooner than she expected, was out.

Twilight felt herself turning in her sleep for the second night in a row. Her body was telling her something again, but all she wanted to do was sleep. Giving up, Twilight opened her lazy eyes- why were her eyes so lazy if her body wanted her awake?- and came face to face with something she had never seen before.

"Ahh!"

"Ugh!"

Twilight jumped higher than should have been possible out of bed and landed flat on her back on the floor. She slowly raised her head up over the bed to see that thing again. Its purple scales, the green spines on its cheeks and the ones running down its back to its tail from its head, its green, lizard-like eyes, its. . . small stature? It was quite small, probably couldn't even reach the top of Twilight's leg if it stood its tallest. Feeling a little easier about the creature before her, Twilight decided she may as well try to talk to it.

"Uh, . . . hello?"

"Hi." Its voice sounded like a young male's, maybe about the age of ten, at oldest thirteen.

There was a long silence. Twilight thought she heard a clock ticking.

"Who are you?" the thing spoke again.

"Twilight Sparkle," She automatically responded. Something clicked in her head and she almost snapped back at the thing, “Wait a minute, why am I giving my name away? I should be asking what your name is!”

“My name is Spike.” “Spike” crossed his arms and eyed Twilight with annoyance.

They continued their stare-off, both getting more and more annoyed by the other.

"Why are you in my library, in my room?" She asked the lizard sternly.

"Your library?" Spike suddenly got defensive, "Your room? I think you have this backwards. I live here! I've never even seen anything like you before!"

"I think you have this backwards. I was given this place by Princess Celestia and I demand that you leave before I report you for breaking and entering!"

"Okay, first: what are you? Two: why are you here? Three: who is Princess Celestia? Four: get out!"

"Why are you the one that’s confused?" Twilight could feel her face redden in anger, "You're the one who's in my house! Ugh, forget it!” Twilight turned around and walked away, just wanting to think a little before continuing to talk in circles.

It was then she realized her surroundings. Everything was dark; almost pitch black if it weren’t for the light coming from the window and glass patio door. The shadows she could see stretched above her on the ceiling rather than on the floor like the normally would. Cautiously, Twilight looked out the window and gasped.

The world was flipped. The sky was the darkest void she had ever seen, not a single star decorating it. Instead, they, along with the moon, were on the ground, casting shadows from below and giving a very foreboding atmosphere to the outside. The moon was huge and seemed to take up almost half of the ground, the craters forming the shape of a familiar pony of legend, Nightmare Moon, with an intimidating effect. Twilight backed away from the window, her whole body shaking and eventually giving way and forcing her to sit down.

Spike suddenly got all tense and looked around quickly. He ran to the window, gasped, and ran back to Twilight.

"C'mon, we have to get out of here."

Twilight barely heard him through her stupor, "What?"

"We have to go!” Spike grabbed her hoof and pulled up as hard as he could, trying to get her to stand, “They're here!"

"What's here?"

"Look, there's no time! Just follow me if you want to live!" Spike swung open the door to the stairs with unnecessary force and ran down before Twilight could say anything.

Unable to think of a better option, Twilight raced down the stairs herself and saw him making his way to the basement stairs.

"C'mon! We have to get down here! If we're lucky, they won't find us!"

Just as he reached the downstairs door, the front entrance burst open. Three black and white-striped spheres entered and rose to the ceiling. Twilight looked on in horror as they rolled vertically around to reveal red slits almost split them in two. The slits parted and let a large tongue roll out of their mouth, slithering in the air and coiling around their own bodies. Saliva hung in strings from their teeth and dripped all over the floor, some even dripping from their tongues.

They floated and moved with no visible aura, defying everything Twilight knew about basic physics. She noticed some of the saliva landing next to her and emitting steam; a few seconds later there was a hole in the ground. She looked back at them, staring into their mouths, their impossibly large mouths with impossible throats inside. Everything was impossible.

One of the spheres reared back and lunged at the unicorn, aiming to put her out. Its black hole of a throat flew closer and closer to her, ready to consume her before she had a chance to scream.

“Do you want to die? Get moving!”

As if recovering from a trance, Twilight blinked and jumped off of the set of stairs down to the lower floor. The sphere crashed into the stairs, barely missing her. Just as she thought she was safe, she felt a burning pain in her hind leg. The pain caused her to flinch, making her landing rough. She crashed into the table in the center in a heap, though staying relatively unharmed.

Twilight looked up in time to see the horse head statue wobble back and forth, then fall behind her, landing on her burnt leg. The horse’s muzzle made a hard impact with her leg, forcing a scream of pain from the unicorn.

When the pain subsided enough, she looked up to see the second sphere take its turn at her, lunging at her the same way its partner did. Twilight reflexively lit up her horn and put up a purple shield around her and braced for impact. The sphere crashed into her shield, sending the her into the wall while the shield managed to stun the sphere, but not damage it.

Recovering from the attack, Twilight attempted to stand and run until a shot of pain ran through her leg, the same leg the horse head landed on. Though it wasn’t broken, it would make running on it painful and difficult.

After her second attempt at running, Spike finally ran to Twilight’s back and pushed as hard as he could. More pain shot through her as he carelessly put pressure on her leg, but she muscled through it as best she could. Together, they dodged another attack from the spheres and made it through the basement door.

Twilight paused for a short second at the room she was in. This was not the basement of the library. The large rec room was replaced by a long, purple hallway leading to a single door at the very end. Spike continued to push her down the hall, just making it through the door as the door to the first floor bust open behind them.

This room seemed like a storage unit, a lot of boxes and random objects taking up about half the room. She found Spike hiding between a few of them and fit herself next to him. They buried their faces into the other’s and waited, praying that the monsters would just turn around and forget about them.

Those prayers were not answered as the door before them was smashed like the front entrance was. They didn’t even dare to look, focusing only on hiding. They could hear their deep growls, and the hissing of the saliva melting the floor around them. Twilight tried to stay calm, trying to keep her heartbeat down to make as little noise as possible.

Suddenly, there was silence. Twilight and Spike opened their eyes and moved a little in the confines of their hiding space. Spike kept his breathing even and held on to Twilight. She took the hint and copied him.

Moments later, one of the spheres crashed into the pile of boxes, narrowly missing its prey. Twilight let out a scream and brought her face down to her hooves, covering her eyes from her fate. She was going to die here. Here in this mysterious place, where she felt like she didn’t belong. She waited for the inevitable impact of her death.

"I am thou."

The voice rang in Twilight's head, echoing and disrupting any thoughts she had. The strange world she was in, the monsters before her, her death, all of it silenced. Her brain automatically focused on the voice, the only thing that seemed to comfort her since her arrival.

"And thou art I."

Twilight's mind was suddenly clear, calm and serene. The monsters before her didn't scare her anymore. The strange place she found herself in that resembled her library, the voice, nothing made her feel anything anymore. The only thing that she felt now, was her own, overpowering confidence.

Twilight felt herself be engulfed in energy, a bright light shining around the room and stunning everything in it. She felt weight on her head, something that wasn't there before. A gold crown circling her head with a large purple jewel resembling her cutie mark had appeared and was the source of her sudden power and confidence. Her breathing grew heavy, her body feeling so much stronger, and prepared to face the creatures before her. She focused her mind, and the jewel on her crown responded by shining brilliantly.

"Whoa! She's burning up!" Spike gasped in amazement.

"Per . . . so . . ." Twilight felt her energy rise, "Persona!"

Her crown shot forth a bright light in the form of a tall rectangle. The rectangle's light seemed to melt off as a picture was revealed, one of a pony being followed by a dog at the edge of a cliff. Twilight recognized the backside of the rectangle, blue with a black and white mask in the center, as one of the cards Igor used in her dream the other night.

The card shattered and a stallion in a leather jacket leapt out. The remnants of the card dissolved into the air as the stallion made contact with the ground in front of Twilight; his hooves let off a crackle of electricity with each step, his set of claws conducting the currents. He met the monsters with his steely, yellow gaze, the mask on his face narrowing his eyes and making him even more intimidating.

He towered over Twilight defensively against the creatures who would dare hurt his summoner. Twilight could feel his thoughts connect with hers. She knew he was a weapon, one who could easily be rid of these things before them with a swift kick of his sharp, blade-like hind legs, or tear apart their flesh with the claws on his fore hooves. He didn’t even need to draw the sword on his back, the long sword that could devastate anything around him with a swift strike. He had the power to annihilate these things on his own.

The floating spheres finally grew out of their stupor brought on by this new presence and charged forward at Twilight, sensing her sudden threat. The stallion quickly reached back to his sword. The jaw on his mask opened and grabbed the hilt with a powerful grip. He reared back and made a wide sweeping motion, sending the monsters flying across the room in different directions. They all slammed hard into the wall, one of them exploding into a puff of purple dus.

The monsters didn’t even get a chance to recover as the stallion would never give them the time. He stood up on his hind legs and stomped the ground below him. Electricity erupted from his hooves and struck the remaining monsters in the blink of an eye. They too exploded into dust, never to bother their prey again. Once the coast was clear, the stallion faded away and the light on Twilight’s crown dimmed, revealing the purple, six-pointed star once more. Spike started jumping and screaming around Twilight, his excitement more than obvious.

"Ohmygosh you were so amazing! Where did you get that crown? And how do you have that power? Oh, it doesn't matter! You're awesome!" Spike looked at Twilight again and gasped, "You're awful!"

Twilight was lying on the ground, sweat rolling down her face and dripping on the floor. Her breathing was heavy and hot, like she had just run the distance between Ponyville and Canterlot. Whatever she did took all of the energy she had, but she did it.

She did her best to stay focused so she could properly think about her situation, but her brain ached every time she even thought a word. All she could do was catch her breath while being circled by a panicking lizard.

"I'm. . . alright." Twilight panted out between gasps.

"No, you're not. Here, let me take you upstairs. You need to rest." Spike hoisted as much of Twilight's weight as he could on him and began their ascension back to the bedroom.

She suddenly started to lose grip of her senses and felt numb. Her brain was shutting off, telling her to rest. As dangerous as this place was, Twilight was in no position to argue. With no resistance, Twilight allowed her vision to disappear and slipped away from consciousness.

Chapter 4

*Sunday, 9/10

*Evening*

Twilight stood still, frozen in place outside the gates of Sweet Apple Acres as gentle night breezes brushed against her, ignoring the purple locks of hair falling in front of her eyes. Her cheeks flushed, warming her face and protecting her from the first cold night since the beginning of summer and her eyes seemed to grow bigger around her pupils with each passing moment. Once the wind died, everything stopped around her, as if time itself was allowing her to think carefully. No force could ever tell her how to respond, however.

Caramel looked at the ground and avoided her eyes in fear of them, drawing circles in the dirt with his hoof. He shivered, though he made no attempt to shelter himself from the chill night air. Now that he’d gone and told her, he couldn’t just leave her. He cautiously looked up for a moment, staring deeply into her eyes to search for some sort of response.

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, only shut it and avert her eyes from his. Caramel returned his gaze to the dirt, eyeing the center of the deep circle he had made. The dirt only stared back at him, looking more and more like a pony’s gaze the longer he stared at it. There was nowhere he could go without being stared at. The feeling only made it harder to stay standing.

Twilight took a step back, the sound shattering the silence and catching his attention. He managed to get another look at the whites of her eyes before she turned and galloped quickly into town. He let his mouth hang open at the sight. His hind legs suddenly felt weak and he fell, kicking up loose dirt as he watched her shrinking purple figure disappear.

*Monday, 9/4*

*Morning

“Mornin’ everypony!” Applejack said from the front porch of the Apple family’s barn, “Ah would like ta just thank y’all fer helpin’ out this apple buckin’ season. If it weren’t fer each o’ you this farm wouldn’t be here right now.” Twilight, Caramel, Big Macintosh and Granny Smith all stood in front of her with proud smiles on their faces. Twilight looked up at her friend in wonderment. She could remember that same pony crying at her hooves, begging and pleading desperately for help to save her farm.

“Ah suspect the apples will all be picked by the end of the week,” Applejack continued, “Ah know how hard ya’ll have been workin’, and Ah really appreciate it.”

“Don’t get sappy with us now, Jack!” Caramel shouted, “You’ll never buck those trees with that attitude!”

She shot a glare back at him, then lightened up she got a look at his encouraging eyes. “Tha’s right!” she responded with more confidence in her voice, “We still got a lotta work ta do this week, so let’s give it our all!” She stood up on her hind legs and shouted a mighty “Yeehaw!” to her workers, causing a round of “Yeehaws!” back at her.

Everyone rounded the barn house together on their way to their posts-- Granny Smith and Big Macintosh taking stock in the storage shed while the rest finished collecting the apples. Just as she was about to follow suit, Twilight noticed Caramel lagging behind them. He seemed to be staring towards where everyone else was going, though at exactly what Twilight couldn’t tell.

“C’mon, Caramel!” Twilight called to him, effectively bringing him back to earth, “What are you waiting for?”

“O-oh! Sorry, guess I’m still a little tired.” He picked up his pace, quickly passing her. As he did, she could swear she saw the faintest of content smiles on his face. She brushed it off as a trick of the eyes and continued on her way, a few baskets and water bags following her from the shed.

*Afternoon*

“Say, Applejack,” Twilight piped up before she’d left with the newly-picked fruit, “what else will there be for me to do after this?” She turned to the addressed pony in time to see her stopped mid-kick. Applejack lowered her legs, resting them on the ground while she thought.

“Well, after the buckin’s done there’s countin’, bakin’, then sellin’,” She said matter-of-factly, “Granny ‘n Mac always have the countin’ done when the buckin’ is, and sellin’s just a two pony job between me ‘n him.”

“And I can’t bake. . .” Twilight said with her head hanging low, “So after this I’m done working here, huh?”

“Ah’m sorry, Twi,” Applejack apologized, “But there’s just no more work to do ‘round here. Why’re ya so upset ‘bout that, though?”

“I guess. . . I’m just going to miss coming here every day.” Twilight blushed as she said this.

“Well, ain’t t’at sweet,” the farmer hooked her arm around the unicorn in a sort of half-hug. Her eyes then opened wide as realization seemed to strike her. “Ah guess Ah’m gonna miss ya too, Twi. Ah only met ya a couple weeks ago an’ yet it feels like Ah could tell ya anythin’. Speakin’ o’ which. . .” She turned her head to Twilight, “Ah hardly know anythin’ ‘bout ya!”

She shied away from her friend’s statement, “Well, it’s not like there’s much to talk about when it comes to me. . .”

“Pish posh! There’s plenty ta talk about! Why don’t we have a one-to-one sometime?” Applejack looked at her with friendly eyes.

Twilight looked into those eyes, unable to resist their welcome gaze. She gave a soft smile before nodding her head. “Sure, anytime you’re free.”

“After the farmin’s over Ah’d be happy ta sit down wit’ ya sometime when’ Ah’m not workin’. Fer now, let’s get these trees harvested quick as can be!” Applejack got up and stood next to a tree, ready to knock the fruit off.

“Right! See you on my next round!” Twilight happily grabbed the full baskets and ran off to the next section of the farm.

She was already familiar with this new path to Caramel’s section of the farm after having to tread it a few times already. She easily weaved through the maze trees that were now bare of fruit. She noticed that without the apples on the trees the farm was starting to lose its color, slowly turning into a simple house in the middle of a controlled forest. The thought reminded her how much time has already passed since she arrived in Ponyville. She’d already met many wonderful ponies, had done things that she’d previously thought impossible for her.

A strong smell of apples brought her out of her train of thought, bringing her back to the present. She could see the red barn through the gaps in the trees, heading towards the storage shed in the back. Caramel would be around here somewhere, waiting for her to pick them up so he could continue his work.

Before she could get a chance to look around, though, the sound of two talking ponies invited her closer to the barn. One voice was deep, which she recognized as Big Mac’s, while the voice was higher, obviously feminine. She’d just popped out from behind the trees when the mare turned away from him with her head low, her face red as she walked away back to town. Big Mac simply watched her, face deadpan, though a heavy sigh escaped his lungs.

Maybe I shouldn’t disturb him. . . Twilight quickly turned back around. She jumped when Big Mac called to her. “Oh! Uhh, hey, Big Mac!” She nervously chuckled out, “I was just on my way to Caramel.”

“Sorry ya had ta see that,” he said knowingly, though slower than usual, “S’not somethin’ Ah like havin’ ta do.”

Twilight looked back at him, her puzzled look going unnoticed by him. She thought about asking him what exactly she had seen, but she was once again brought attention to her current task at hand when the faint sound of hooves meeting tree echoed from nearby. She excused herself from Big Mac’s look and galloped off to her destination.

She arrived a few moments later, seeing the stallion . . . only now filling his second basket out of five.

Twilight looked at him with a touch of disappointment, “Caramel! You’ve hardly done anything! What have you been doing this whole time?”

“I-I’m sorry, Twilight! Caramel chuckled through an awkward smile, sweat visible on his brow, “I guess I’m just having an off day.”

“You had so much energy this morning! Where did it go?”

He didn’t answer and instead stood for an awkward moment before bucking another tree free of some of its apples. Figuring he wasn’t going to answer her, Twilight picked up the two full baskets and placed her five empty ones next to him. “You really need to speed things up if we’re to finish collecting by Friday.”

“I’ll do my best. I promise I’ll have all eight of these baskets full by the time you come around again!” he replied as he gave a heavy kick, knocking the rest of the apples off the tree. The extra power came with a price, however, as he hit the tree off-center, the force seeming to bounce back at him as he yelped at the pain his hind hooves were now in.

Twilight shook her head before turning back around. When she arrived back at the storage shed, she realized just how close to the barn Caramel had been. He almost had a clear view at the spot where Big Mac was talking to that mare. Was he . . .? Of course not! Twilight thought to herself, Like he said, he was just having an off day. Putting that issue away, she continued her trot to deliver the apples to the stock team.

*Evening*

Twilight walked out of the Apples’ home, full and satisfied from the dinner they served. Even Caramel, who followed closely behind her, was dragged in to eat as a big “thank you” for helping out during the roughest season yet. She stared up at the night sky, its vision taking hold of her once again. The mere presence of it made her uneasy lately.

Recently, she’d only seen this beautiful, serene image in that other world, that world that was upside-down. She could picture herself walking on that enormous moon like she does every night. Everywhere she goes, that moon follows her. . .

“H-hey, Twilight. . .” She jumped out of her thoughts when Caramel’s light voice came up behind her, “I know it’s late and we just had dinner and all. . .” He paused to bite his lip, leaving Twilight anxious to what he was about to say, “would you like to . . . hang out a while longer before going home?”

He looked up with almost pleading eyes. She looked back at him curiously, his head hanging a little low. She nodded her head slightly, replying with a “sure”.

“Yes!” Caramel jumped for joy a good few feet off the ground before grabbing onto Twilight’s hoof. “I know this bar I’ve been wanting to try. C’mon, let’s go!” He dragged her away before she could respond, heading for the farthest edge of town.

* * *

“An’ Ah’m gonna be a Shuper Mario!” Caramel slurred, spinning around in his swivel stool. Apparently he naturally had a southern accent and simply just lost it when he started living in Ponyville at a young age. Unless he was drunk, of course, and right now he was off his rocker. Twilight watched with amusement, her drink pushed aside. She’d ordered water, being still too young to drink, though one sip and magic probing told her that spiking the water was the bartender’s idea of a joke, earning him a glare and a shamefully hung head.

Caramel stopped spinning long enough to look at her with his big, blue eyes, his cheeks flushed from the amount of alcohol he’d already consumed. “Sho, ya shay yer from Canterlot?” he asked, his balance obviously impaired as he swayed in his seat, “Tha’sh a mighty fine placshe ta live, Ah her!” He took another swig from his cup, a foam-stache occupying his upper lip when he finished.

“That’s right!” Twilight nodded with a sober and proud voice, “I attend a school that teaches unicorns like myself how to use all kinds of magic. I’m here in Ponyville to study abroad.”

“Izzat sho?” he responded. He then pointed a hoof as if he were to state a fact, “Ash a matter o’ fact, Ponyville ish a great placshe ta learn new shmarts! Fer eckshample, Ah jush’ learned not ta shpin when drunk!” His face suddenly turned green as he brought a hoof up to his mouth, “Eshcuse me!” He quickly bolted out of his seat and made his way to the restroom.

They walked out of the bar a few minutes later, agreeing that Caramel had enough to drink. His sudden wave of illness sobered him enough so he could speak coherently again.

“Where should we go now?” Twilight asked.

“Ah think Ah know just the place.” Caramel answered, still buzzed, “Ah wanna show you someplace!” He dragged her off again towards the outskirts of the town, away from any of the last few lights left on in the homes of ponies. They sat upon a grassy hill, sitting so close to the stars that Twilight could swear she could reach out and touch them. They sat together on their backs, Twilight pointing out constellation after constellation to him and giving him history lessons on how they came to be and what a few of them represented at the time they were discovered. Caramel listened with great interest, nodding along and asking questions whenever he thought of them.

They were silent for several minutes after Twilight had named a twelfth constellation, simply gazing up at the sky and admiring its amazing wonderment and possibilities. She looked over at Caramel, who didn’t seem to notice. His eyes glistened and sparkled as the light of the stars danced around his eyes, the moon’s dim light giving him an innocent presence with his young, blue eyes. He finally noticed her watching him and looked into her own purple eyes, the stars complimenting them with beauty. He opened his mouth to speak, but waited a moment or two before saying anything.

“Twilight,” he said quietly, looking down to collect his words before looking back at her, “Do ya wanna be my fillyfriend?”

“You what?!” AJ screamed at her friend. They were sitting in the library in the other world, Spike now hiding behind the purple unicorn after the outburst.

“He’s just so sweet!” Twilight couldn’t help but smile, not once wincing at the farmpony’s now deadly glare, “Even when he was drunk off his haunches at the bar he always had the conversation directed at me. And then when he took me to show me the stars. . .” Twilight looked up with love-blinded eyes, remembering the scene, “He stayed and listened to my every word, I just know he took in everything I said!”

“He’s a polite pony, o’ course he did!” Applejack retorted, acid dripping from her words.

“And then we looked at each other, and I could see the entire universe in his eyes.” The love-struck unicorn fell backwards on the bed, sighing loudly with a dopey smile on her face.

“Ah thought Ah told ya not ta git any funny ideas about hittin’ on ‘im!” AJ stamped her hoof on the floor.

“Technically, he hit on me.”

“That ain’t gonna work this time!” The farmer grunted loudly before stomping down the stairs.

“Where are you going?” Twilight called down to her.

“Ah’m gonna bust up some shadows. An’ don’t ya worry yer twitterpated li’l heart none, Ah’ll stay close!” The sound of a door slamming was heard, and then silence.

“You think she’s going to be alright?” Spike asked her.

“She’ll be fine,” Twilight reassured him, “But just in case, go help her out. I think I’ll turn in early. I just can’t wait to see Caramel again tomorrow!” She squealed giddily before rolling over and closing her eyes.

Spike headed for the stairs, and then stopped to turn around. He watched as her breathing evened and her body started to fade. A sudden weight took hold of him, but he forced himself downstairs and out the door to Applejack’s aid.

*Tuesday, 9/5*

*Morning*

Caramel had walked Twilight to the farm, exchanging nuzzles first, and arrived to see Big Macintosh sitting by himself on the porch. Curious, they walked up to him.

“Morning, Big Mac,” They greeted, “Where’s Applejack?”

“She’s still in bed. Hasn’t woke up yet, not even when I try ‘n shake her awake,” He said with a tint of worry in his voice, “She didn’t look too well, either. She was sweatin’ purty hard.”

A sudden wave of dread washed over Twilight, “I wonder if she got sick.”

“Should we check on her?” Caramel asked.

Twilight nodded and they both passed the large stallion and raced through the door, up the stairs, and into AJ’s room. Just as Big Mac said, she was still sleeping, sweat pouring down her face as she tossed and turned. Twilight approached the bed and tried shaking her awake to no avail.

“Applejack. . . Applejack! Are you feeling OK?” Twilight attempted to get a proper response. She got some groans instead, then a hushed, strained voice.

“T-Twi. . .” She sounded like she was in pain.

“What’s going on?” Caramel tried his luck.

“Twi . . . help. . .”

Several alarms went off in her head. She wasn’t sick, her family would be able to take care of that. No, this could only be--

She quickly grabbed Caramel by the shoulders and looked square in his eyes, “Do you trust me?” She demanded to know.

“Huh?”

“Do you trust me?” She repeated sternly.

“O-of course I do!”

“Then, whatever you do, don’t wake me up!” She lit up her horn, sending a wave of sleepiness through her body. In a matter of seconds, she was asleep, limp in Caramel’s arms.

The moment Twilight woke up, her fears had come true. The library bedroom was overrun with shadows, and they were immediately aware of her presence. She had just enough time to bring out Izanagi before they charged at her. Without missing a single beat, Izanagi drew his sword and brushed them all aside with a wide slash, clearing the way for his summoner. Together they charged through the shadows, not looking back or bothering to make sure they were out for good and simply searching for the orange mare and young dragon.

They raced down the stairs, Izanagi skewering the shadows occupying the narrow passage. They jumped off the edge of the stairs, right on top of one sphere shadow. A quick bolt of lightning shocked the entire room, forcing all but one shadow the fall unconscious or defeated. It stood at the doorway to the basement, apparently keeping guard. It stood over her menacingly, ready to strike back if she dared attack.

There was no room in her for fear, however. She called Izanagi back and switched for Fortuna, who quickly turned the shadow to dust with a gust of wind. The door obediently swung open to Twilight’s magic as she raced through the small corridor. As the last room came into view, hope dread hit her like the darkest black. Applejack and Spike were just barely visible underneath a crumbling stone dome, no doubt created from Applejack’s persona. A swarm of shadows were relentlessly attacking the dome, attempting to finally break the now-weak defense.

Twilight watched as the final attack shattered her friends’ last defense and the orange mare let out a scream of anguish as the pain of her broken persona coursed through her. The shadows reared back, and then charged forward at the same time.

The next moment was a blur.

Fortuna raced to get between the shadows and their prey, getting there with only enough time to take the damage for them. The lack of proper defense broke the persona on impact, forcing Twilight on the ground as well and just as weak as her friend. On a stroke of luck, however, a blast of wind ricocheted off of Fortuna before she broke, sending the shadows across the room. One of the shadows must have used a wind-based attack.

After regaining herself, Twilight crawled over to AJ and Spike and noticed the farmer’s barely stable breathing. Her eyes were nearly closed, and her breaths came out heavy.

“Twi. . .” she quietly spoke, “Ah have a bone ta pick wit’ you, leavin’ like that.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” tears flowed freely from Twilight’s eyes, “I thought you’d be safe! The shadows haven’t been able to break in after I got my persona. I don’t know how they got in now!” She met AJ’s hoof with hers, letting AJ feel her touch. “But it’s OK! We’re going to make it through this!”

Applejack reached her hooves around Twilight and brought her closer, which she returned with her own hug. The two laid there as the shadows got back up.

“Twilight, they’re coming at us again!” Spike yelled as he tried drawing her attention to the immediate danger.

As Twilight heard his desperate cries, her gusto returned. She let go of her friend and quickly stood up against the desperate cries of her own body that was still burning from the harsh damage she’d taken. A fire appeared in her eyes as a blue aura emanated around her. She stared at the advancing shadows with new confidence, ready to take them all on by herself. And then another feeling took hold of her: anger.

“You. . .” rage could almost be seen oozing out of her mouth as she spoke, “are not. . .” the aura around her pulsed, coming out of her like a reverse waterfall, “WELCOME HERE!!!”

Spike gasped through his shaking body at the sight before him. A card appeared next to Twilight, one that was easily recognizable. The card of Fortune shared Twilight’s aura, gorging itself on this new power. Once satisfied, the card boomed with pure light, a new radiance overwhelming the dragon’s senses as his readings went haywire.

“Empusa!”

The card shattered and a new persona emerged. She had the back end of a donkey, making her much taller than Twilight, and the soft paws of a lion in the front. Her head was that of a pony, a blue coat of scales shining in the light of the remnants of her card. Her mane was short and golden while her tail was silver and long. She stood with a strange delicacy, her presence stunning the shadows where they were.

She bowed her head as a small wind picked up around them, circling the group of four. It then picked up faster and faster, violently tearing at the shadows already in its path. With a shriek from her lips, the wind blasted outwards, annihilating all of the shadows around them. Though it could not be seen, the wind also spread throughout the library, shredding all of the remaining shadows and locking the front door, giving the library the protection it once held.

When the attack finally died, Empusa returned to her realm and Twilight fell unconscious, the energy drained right out of her. Applejack followed closely behind her with a smile.

*Afternoon*

“Twi! Twilight” the sound of Caramel’s voice rang in her head as she regained consciousness. She opened her eyes to see the poor colt still holding her, tears falling down his cheeks. He smiled when he saw her purple eyes still full of life and squeezed her in a hug. She felt his still-wet cheeks and smiled, a mixture of guilt and happiness swimming in her gut.

She heard a moan behind her and looked up, recalling Applejack’s condition. She and Caramel broke from their hug and turned to the waking work horse as she massaged her throbbing head with a hoof. Before she could properly sit up the couple attack hugged her, receiving a yelp of surprise in return.

“Jack! You’re OK!” Caramel cried through sniffles.

“Yeah, guess Ah am,” she blushed, “Sorry ta worry y’all.” They stayed together for a minute before finally releasing each other, “Say, Mel, think ya could give Twi ‘n me some privacy? Ah gotta tell her somethin’ important.”

He looked back at her with surprise before nodding, “Uh, sure. See you down in the farm. We still got a lot of work to do.” He finished with a smile before walking out.

Applejack turned to the unicorn with sorrowful eyes. “Listen, Ah’m real sorry ‘bout what Ah said before. You ‘n Mel . . . Ah don’t mind none if you two’re together. It’s just that he’s family. Ah admit Ah was o’erprotective o’ him, but that’s just what Apples do. We take care o’ each other. Before you two attacked me jus’ now, I saw how well he takes care o’ you. You look like ya mean a lot ta him an’ Ah shouldn’t stand in the way.”

Twilight sat next to her friend, resting a reassuring hoof on her shoulder and smiling. “Thank you.”

In what seemed like an instant, AJ’s eyes suddenly turned serious, “But if Ah find out that you hurt that poor boy Ah swear ta Celestia that Ah’ll find ya ‘n make ya pay!”

With that, she got off her bed and left her room, aiming to make up for the time they lost with the farm work. Still shocked over the sudden escalation of that conversation, Twilight pushed her friend’s words as far back into her mind as she could and followed suit.

*Saturday, 9/9*

The entire week had been fairly monotonous. Every morning she would head over to the farm with Caramel where they would work all the way till evening. At the dead of night, she and Applejack would do their nightly shadow extermination, honing their skills for the next time they would need them. The one activity she always looked forward to, however, were the nights she would spend with Caramel. Every date was different. One night he’d treat her to dinner, another they’d picnic under the stars. They’d even sat down and read one of her library books together, a short tale about a baby foal stuck on a dark, unknown world being taken care of by a local. In the end they had to be separated once the filly had grown into an adult mare. The ending left Twilight crying and, though she knew he was crying too, Caramel comforted her until he had to return home.

She enjoyed every night with him. Every date made her feel happier than she thought she could be. She loved the feeling of having friends to talk to. Applejack, Rarity, even Fluttershy had helped her and been there for her when she needed them. The thought of knowing that she had somepony she could think of as more, somepony who was more than a friend, a coltfriend made her feel like she could soar.

However, somewhere deep, deep inside, something was nagging at her. She would never admit it, but some part of her knew something her mind wouldn’t let her accept. Something was changing. What it was couldn’t be named. Something was definitely off, though, and very, very slowly, things were changing.

*Afternoon*

“Finally, we can jus’ sit down an’ talk.” Applejack said from the other side of the table. She and Twilight decided that today was a good day to have that one-to-one. They’d gotten the rest of the apple-picking done yesterday and she was off-shift for selling apples until mid-afternoon. They sat down together at the outdoor café near the library and had already placed their orders.

“And we have a lot to talk about.” Twilight agreed.

“Our personal lives--”

“--and I’ve been noticing things about that other world.”

“Ah say we start off loose,” Applejack said nonchalantly, “Ya never told where yer from.”

“I’m from the city of Canterlot, a proud student of the School for Gifted Unicorns. And, while I don’t want to toot my own horn, my teacher is the best there is.” Twilight could’ve glowed from the pride she was showing.

Applejack cocked a skeptic eyebrow, “That’d be a purty big title ta fill ‘less if yer teacher was Celestia herself.”

Twilight remained silent, a coy smile crossing her lips. Applejack’s eyes widened as the message relayed clear to her.

“No kiddin’?” Her jaw nearly fell on the table, “The Princess is teachin’ ya?”

“And me alone.” Another prideful smile.

“Well, Ah guess that explains a thing ‘r two. I’d never seen a unicorn lift such a heavy weight with magic before! Those baskets of apples were nothin’ fer ya!”

“No, but the running was,” The two giggled before Applejack continued.

“So, what’re ya doin’ here?”

“That’s . . . a little embarrassing for me to admit.” Her smile made way for her now-reddening cheeks, “I’d always stay home and study when not in class. I’d read the entire Canterlot Library by the time the Princess sent me here to study abroad. Because of that, I never took the time to meet other ponies. The only ones I’d ever gotten to know where my parents, brother, foalsitter, the Princess, and a few of her personal guards. To be honest, you’re one of the first friends I’ve ever had.” A small smile was left on her lips as she looked up at the farmer.

Applejack tipped her hat. “Ah’m honored, Twi.”

The rest of the conversation, they shared themselves with the other. Twilight told Applejack about her brother and captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor, her foalsitter and Celestia’s niece, Princess Cadance, her magic test, how she earned her cutie mark, everything she could think of. Applejack did the same, sharing about her large family spread all across Equestria and running their own farms, how she tended to the farm each season and used the money from her sales and apple cider to keep food on the table for the winter, and how she earned her own cutie mark.

The two laughed as the food finally reached them, talked as they ate, and stuck around for a little while longer to discuss the other matter at hand.

“That world. . .” Twilight’s face turned serious, “We’re learning more and more about it.”

“Yeah, that day,” Applejack held her head in thought, “Ah was still asleep long past mah usual wake-up call. An’ no matter how much everyone tried Ah wouldn’t wake up. Not until I’d fallen back asleep in that world.”

“You haven’t told me what happened yet.” Twilight’s looked at her with a seriousness in her eyes, a slight fear in the back of her mind of what they had suffered.

“Well, after Ah stormed out Ah did what Ah said and kicked some shadow patooty. Ah got tired after a while and came back in, ready ta hit the hay. When Ah did. . .”

The door of the library was slammed into, the impact making the wood bend slightly. Applejack and Spike turned around at the unusual noise. Normally, the shadows would immediately stop when they took haven in the library. Whatever was going through those shadows’ minds, AJ knew it didn’t matter. They couldn’t get in. She turned back around with a yawn and headed for the stairs to the second floor.

“Ah’m plum tuckered. Sorry ya had ta witness that earlier, Spike,” she said looking back at him, “Ah was jus’ caught by surprise is all. Ah’ll have ta apologize ta Twi in the mornin’. Anyway, see ya tomorrow night.”

“Um, Applejack,” Spike said, still watching the door as it was slammed into again from the other side, “I’ve got a very bad feeling about this.”

“Quit yer worryin’. Ain’t nothin’ comin’ through that door.”

“You don’t understand! Before, there was a kind of barrier that was set up when Twilight first used her persona.”

“So?” the farmer looked back at him with an annoyed look, “That just proves that we’ll be safe.”

“I don’t sense that barrier anymore.”

Applejack froze, eyes shot open in a horrified state. She turned to the door as it was slammed for a third time, a few splinters coming loose this time. Her legs started moving on their own as she leapt back to Spike’s side and threw him on her back, “Stay wit’ me, Spike! Don’t let go!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!”

Applejack’s necklace began to glow a bright orange before letting loose a white light in the form of the Fortune card. She knew one more hit would be all it’d take for the door to give. She shifted her weight into her front hooves and spun around, extending a kick into the back of the card and yelling “Golem!” Just as it shattered the door was busted open, the shadows running in just in time to get pushed right back out by a giant, stone arm. Golem stood tall in front of his summoner, just small enough to fit inside the library’s first floor.

When Golem retracted his arm more shadows poured in like water running through an unplugged drain. Golem split himself apart and hurled individual rocks at each shadow, quickly annihilating them wave by wave. Sweat began to form on her brow, her previous training running her energy thin.

“You can’t fight them all like this!” Spike said anxiously, “You’re way too tired to be fighting as it is!”

“Where’s Twilight? We need her help!” AJ shot back, ignoring the dragon’s warning.

“She left already!”

“What?” she looked back at the dragon, shock and a touch of sadness in her eyes.

“She left when I came down to help you. She said she couldn’t wait to see that guy again.”

Applejack stood speechless, the fight right in front of her now miles away. She opened her mouth, unsure of what to say, only to shut it again.

A shock of pain rushed through her as Golem was hit hard by a shadow, the force bringing her back to the battle present. Tired and frustrated, Golem did as she ordered and transformed himself into a thick rock wall and placed himself in front of the door and running over any shadows still in the library. She lowered her hind legs, causing Spike to slide off, and looked the dragon straight in the eye.

“So, what? We gotta wait till she comes back tomorrow night?!”

“I’m sorry, Applejack, but I have no idea how that barrier was set up! If Twilight were here we might be able to at least hold the shadows off until we could figure it out, but. . .”

“Isn’t there a way to call her back?”

“I can only talk to you when you’re here! It’s not like we can send a letter!”

Whatever hopelessness AJ felt at their situation was soon crushed under more pain as the shadows continued their barrage on Golem. They both knew it would only be a matter of time.

“AJ, go upstairs and get to sleep!” Spike ordered, “If you fall asleep now, you’ll be safe!”

“But then you’ll be stuck here defenseless against all those shadows!”

“Don’t worry about me! I’ve taken care of myself long before Twilight showed up. I’ll be fine!”

The shadows crashed into Golem again, causing Applejack to wince in pain. She stood firm, however, against the dragon’s orders.

“Ah ain’t leavin’ ya!”

“You have to!”

“Listen!” She snapped, “Ah owe mah life to you just as much as Ah owe Twilight. You two risked your lives to save my sorry behind, so Ah’m keepin’ mah promise ta you two ta keep the both of ya safe!”

The final strike shook Golem apart, the impact reaching Applejack full force and knocking her to the ground. When she and Golem recovered, the shadows were already covering the room, both the floor and the air. Applejack grabbed Spike by his spines and rushed down the stairs, Golem following them in parts to fit through the narrow doorway and hall.

They reached the room at the end and stood their ground, waiting to take on each shadow individually as they came through the hall. Golem shot his arm through the door, defeating a few shadows before the next few would take their place, which he would then mow down with his next arm. The attacks never ceased as the shadows never stopped coming. Each three defeated shadows would be replaced by five more, leaving the pony’s efforts futile. No matter what she did, she was merely delaying as long as she could. She needed to hold out. With any luck, Twilight would show up and save them.

The shadows were starting to pass Golem as their numbers became too great for him to deal with. He hurled rocks at them as they entered, but soon even his mighty defenses were nothing to the sheer number or enemies. They were eventually surrounded my dozens of shadows.

They all reared back together, taking aim at their helpless prey. Applejack and Spike held each other, trying to make themselves as small as possible in the hopes of suffering less damage. The shadows charged at them, ready to feast, and the two braced themselves for impact.

But nothing came. Instead, a muffled “Thud!” echoed around them. Applejack looked up to see pitch black darkness around them, though a safe feeling kept her from panicking. She knew what it was that was around them. Golem, in a last-ditch effort, set up a small dome around them. Applejack focused, lending as much of her energy as she could to keep the dome up until Twilight’s return.

Her senses suddenly felt dull. She could barely hear the shadows attack her persona, barely feel Spike’s scaled against her coat as she kept him held close. She gave all that she could, and now could only wait.

Oh, Celestia, she prayed, C’mon, Twilight! We need you in here!

Twilight looked at Applejack, guilt tugging at her heart at what transpired without her. “I’m so sorry, Applejack. I--”

“It’s OK, sugarcube,” AJ replied with a smile, “ya didn’t know. Though, that does bring up a question: why’d the barrier fail?”

“Was it . . . because I wasn’t there?” Twilight was barely audible as she murmured her question, looking down at the table rather than her friend.

“Ah don’t think so. Them shadows tend ta leave quite a bit o’ destruction as they go. If it was because ya were gone, we’d be seein’ a lot more broken library every night.”

Hearing that lifted Twilight’s spirits a bit. “But then, what was it? In fact, how did the barrier even get set up? I don’t ever remember putting it there. . .”

“Sounds like that needs a bit more investigatin’ ta know fer sure.” Applejack pushed the issue aside to make way for the next one, “Another thing that incident brought up: Ah was asleep durin’ the day. Until then, we’d only been in that world at night while we slept.”

“If the key is sleep, then that explains why I was also able to go to that world during the day. That means it doesn’t matter what time of the day it is when we sleep. We could fall asleep right now and wake up there.”

“That means we can’t be goin’ an’ daydreamin’ unless we really hafta.”

Twilight brought a hoof to her chin in thought, mulling over the word “dream.” “For future reference, I propose calling that world the Dream World. I have a feeling that word is very important.” Applejack nodded her head in agreement, letting out an exasperated sigh. All that thinking was making her head hurt.

AJ looked up towards the clock tower, noticing that it was already 3 p.m. “Aww, shoot, it’s time fer mah shift.” She stretched her legs and neck as she stood up.

“I’ll walk you there. A nice walk might bring the friendly mood back.” Twilight followed her friend away from the café. Before they’d even turned around the first corner to the apple cart, a light voice spoke up behind them.

“Jack? Twi?”

The two mares turned around to see a familiar tan stallion walk up to them. Twilight started beaming as she met him in the middle and walked snuggly against him back to Applejack, nuzzling the base of his neck. She noticed a blush come from her coltfriend, which only prompted her to nuzzle him more.

She finally let go of his neck long enough to speak to him, “What brings you here, Caramel?”

“I was just on my way to help Granny Smith and Mac with the baking since his shift was ending. I guess we’re all heading the same way?”

“Come join us!” Applejack affirmed with a nod. The three of them walked down the streets of Ponyville, the couple earning looks as they somehow managed to walk together with eight legs. After a few minutes of obliviousness, Twilight noticed the amount of looks she was getting. She blushed furiously, reflexively distancing herself from him. It was then she realized this was the first time her and Caramel had been in public together during the day. With so many other ponies looking at her, she was afraid to dare even touch Caramel again in fear of exploding somehow.

They all reached the apple cart in time to see a familiar display. A mare, this one pink with a blonde mane and tail, was talking to Big Mac. Unlike last time, however, Twilight could hear them.

“Ah’m sorry, Miss,” Big Mac said as politely as he could, “but Ah just can’t with mah obligations.”

“You,” Twilight didn’t have to see her face to know the mare was mad, “you’d just pass me up, just like that, to run this stupid stand? You won’t even give me the time of day?! Ugh, the nerve!” The mare stomped off, ignoring the many stares she was getting.

Within seconds, Caramel was already rushing over to the stallion. “Mac? Mac! You OK?”

Big Mac looked back at Caramel with his usual stoic expression, though that familiar hint of sadness was in his eyes.

“That mare didn’t say anything nasty, did she? You don’t deserve any of that!” Caramel seemed to be looking deep in his eyes, searching for any sign of wounds she may have left. He didn’t seem to notice the sadness in Mac’s eyes, though, as he breathed a sigh of relief.

Applejack and Twilight finally approached him, Applejack trading places with her brother. “Ah hope you have a good rest o’ the day wit’ Mel. Some bakin’ may take yer mind off it.”

“Maybe.” He simply replied. Caramel and Twilight nuzzled goodbye which, thanks to Twilight, lasted several minutes longer than he intended. He and Mac made their way back to the farm and Twilight said goodbye to Applejack, heading back home to enjoy the rest of the day relaxing in a book.

*Sunday, 9/10*

Caramel took the day off from helping the Apples bake to spend it all with Twilight. He’d arrived that morning with a bag full of ingredients, plus some games for them to play. Before she’d decided what to do first, Caramel took them down to the kitchen to try and teach her to bake an apple pie.

The adventure was messy as flour and two different kinds of sugar-- Twilight didn’t even know there were two kinds! -- piled themselves in many places around the kitchen. Through some miracle, and most likely a lot of Caramel’s handiwork, the pie came out edible. After cleaning up their mess, they headed back upstairs with the confection and brought out the book they’d started together: Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue, the first in the series. They read the book all the way to the end while snacking on their dessert, savoring every moment with each other that they could. Caramel even wiped the crumbs off of Twilight’s snout.

They then began playing games. First Twister, which was only made possible by Twilight’s magic. Caramel ended up being the most flexible of the two, much to Twilight’s surprise, giving him the win in the end. They then played Clue, which Twilight went in fully convinced she was going to win. She was flabbergasted as her guess was completely off, earning Caramel another win. They ended their gaming session with 20 Questions. Twilight took too much joy in her victory.

It was around 5 p.m. when they started a walk around Ponyville. They didn’t have any specific place in mind, just wandered aimlessly through the streets of the town as ponies headed home and stalls were closing and packed up. The setting sun allowed a chillier air to settle in, giving Twilight a slight shiver. Caramel took out a scarf from his bag and wrapped it around Twilight. The colors contrasted with her coat, making her stand out to others who were still heading home. She paid them no mind, though. They let each other’s body keep them warm as the sky slowly began to glow like fire, the oranges making way for reds, which made way for the purples and pinks of twilight before the starry night sky complimented the couple’s love.

They’d gone to the far end of Ponyville before meeting Big Mac on the return trip. He invited them home for dinner, to which their stomachs spoke for them.

The dinner was simple, as it usually is. A feast of delicious fruits that was more than enough to feed the two unexpected but welcomed guests was set on the table just in time for the family to sit down together. It was here that the feeling came back, that tiny, nagging itching in the farthest reaches of Twilight’s mind. She noticed it when Caramel had started fidgeting in his seat. It was subtle, though not subtle enough to avoid her notice. She didn’t to think about it. She was with Caramel, whose mere presence brought her joy. There should be no reason for suspicion.

However, the feeling never left. That tiny disturbance set herself a little on edge. She made sure it wasn’t evident in her posture or appearance, though it wouldn’t go away. She couldn’t help but pay a little more attention to Caramel’s actions. His fidgeting became more frequent, his eyes would dart around randomly, he’d even sweat a little. Twilight recognized it as she knew it only too well. He was nervous.

The dinner finally ended and the couple left, though neither of them were in any hurry home. Their ascent up the hill and to the gates of Sweet Apple Acres was slow, their bodies still glued to each other for warmth. Despite their literal closeness, however, that nagging feeling was making Twilight feel towns apart from her coltfriend. She turned to him with her loving gaze, doing her best to leave that feeling behind.

“I had a great time today, Caramel. Thank you.”

She went to nuzzle him like she usually did, but stopped when his muscles tensed. He looked at her with serious eyes, and then turned his body so they were face to face. “Twilight, I need to tell you something very important.”

Twilight looked back at him with worry, that nagging feeling coming back as strong as ever.

“Twilight, I-, you’re. . .” Caramel stopped and looked at the ground, taking a deep breath before continuing, “You have no idea how hard this is for me to say,” He dared to look into her eyes, only to regret it when the immediately recognizable signs of shock and sadness were in her eyes, “You’re a wonderful mare. You’re smart, beautiful, and you know how to make a guy feel loved.”

“What are you saying, Caramel?” Pools began to form at the corners of her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, but--”

Twilight grabbed his shoulders as he averted his eyes from hers, “Caramel!”

“Twilight, please--”

“Caramel!”

“I’m gay!”