Twilight, Spike and the rest of the Mane 6 were sitting in the crystal castle. There was a knock on the door.
'Spike, could you get that please?' asked Twilight.
'Sure thing,' Spike replied.
Spike ran out into the hallway. Twilight turned back to the rest of the Mane 6.
'I wonder who that is,' remarked Rarity.
'Maybe it's Princess Celestia,' whispered Fluttershy, 'Oh, I hope there isn't anything wrong.'
'Don't worry, I'm sure everything is fine,' Twilight replied.
'Twilight, could you come here!' yelled Spike.
'Coming Spike!' Twilight yelled back.
***
Twilight arrived at the front door. 'What is it?'
'Uhh, somepony's here to see you,' Spike replied.
Twilight turned and looked at the front door. Derpy Hooves was standing there.
'Delivery for Princess Twilight!' announced Derpy.
'Ooh, that's me,' replied Twilight. She grabbed the package. 'Thank you Derpy. Here, have this.' Twilight tossed Derpy a muffin from a small tray she had left on a nearby table.
'Thank you,' replied Derpy, her voice slightly muffled by the muffin. She smiled at Twilight. 'Have a nice day.'
'You too.' Twilight smiled back.
Derpy flew away. Twilight closed the door and brought the package back to the room with the rest of the Mane 6.
'I wonder what it is,' remarked Applejack.
'Maybe the Wonderbolts have realised my awesomeness and want me to be one of their new captains!' Rainbow Dash exclaimed excitedly.
'Or maybe it's some new materials for my dresses!' Rarity replied.
'Now, now, calm down everypony, let's read what the letter says first. Ahem, Spike!' Twilight called her faithful companion.
Spike came running back. 'Yes Twilight, what do you need?'
Twilight handed him the scroll. 'Read this out, please.'
'Sure thing Twilight!' Spike replied. 'Ahem.' Spike cleared his throat and began reading.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
A new invention has came to Equestria, so i have decided to send you it, to see what you think. This invention is called a television. This device somehow allows you to view events that have been recorded by a special type of camera. This camera is special in the way that it can take 'moving pictures'. The most amazing thing about it is that it is not run by magic at all (other than charging it up)! Isn't that unbelievable! Sorry, I got a bit excited there. This innovation could change Equestria itself. Imagine the possibilities. Anyway, i hope you and your friends enjoy this invention.
Yours sincerely,
Princess Celestia
***
'Woah, that is amazing!' yelled Pinkie, who surprisingly hadn't been talking much. 'It sounds like so much fun!'
'That can't be darn' possible!' Applejack exclaimed. 'There ain't no darn' way that can be done without magic!'
'OMIGOSH OMIGOSH OMIGOSH!' Rainbow Dash shouted. 'Maybe they can show the Wonderbolts!'
'Calm down girls,' said Twilight. 'There is no way this is going to work if you are all going crazy on it.'
'Hey, there's a boy here too,' Spike complained.
Applejack folded her forelegs. 'I still do not understand how ya' all can believe this.'
Twilight opened the package. Inside was a box shaped device with some strange antennae-like protrusions made of metal and a glass sort-of window on one side. There was also a little booklet labeled: 'Television instruction manual'. Twilight opened the manual. 'Ok, so it appears we have to charge up the "television" through the back.' Twilight used the spell written in the book to charge the television up. 'Next, we just press the button.' Twilight pressed the button on the front. Suddenly, the window jumped to life, currently showing a race being held somewhere in Fillydelphia. The Mane 6 couldn't do anything but be dumbfounded at how amazing this was.
After a short while, everypony started murmuring amongst each other. Twilight kept reading the manual. 'Ok, so apparently the buttons with the arrows on the front is used to change "channels" which show different things.' Twilight pressed the buttons and they were dumbfounded again as the window started showing different places in Equestria. They stopped on a show about the Wonderbolts, which Rainbow Dash was really excited about. They watched it for a while then continued the meeting that had been cut short by the delivery.
Meanwhile, on Earth...
Around the world, there have been some mysterious disappearances. People have disappeared during the night. Detectives have noticed that in every disappearance there have been mysterious hoof shaped footprints outside each house that lead on for a while then mysteriously come to an end. Some detectives reported that while following the footprints, they believed to see something that looks almost cartoonish ahead of them, but when they blinked, it disappeared.
Author's Note
So, what do you think? Feel free to criticise.
Twilight opened her eyes. There was darkness all around her.
'Hello? Is anyone there?'
A square of light appeared in front of her. Through it she could see Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy. They were pointing at her. Their mouths were moving but she couldn't hear what they were saying.
'Girls? Hello? I can't hear you.'
She tried to go through the square but it was solid. Suddenly she realised she was inside the 'television'. She started screaming.
'Help! I can't get out of here! Hello? Can you hear me? Help! Please, somepony help meeeeeee...'
Twilight sat up straight. She was in her bed in the crystal castle. She wiped the sweat off her brow.
'Phew, it was just a dream.' She looked over at the end of her bed. The television was there.
'I guess that wasn't a dream though,' she sighed. 'What time is it?'
She looked outside. It was still dark. She sighed again. 'Well, after that I definitely am not going to be able to go to sleep. I guess I'll go for a midnight flight.'
She flew out of the window. It was a peaceful night. The leaves rustled from the small breeze she made flapping her wings. She passed Fluttershy's cottage. She was careful to be very quiet so as to not wake any of the animals. She could hear Fluttershy whispering in her sleep. She quietly chuckled to herself. Even in her dreams Fluttershy was quiet. She then passed alongside Applejack's farm. The apple trees swayed in the wind. She could hear the Apple family as well. She could hear Big McIntosh snoring loudly. She could also hear Apple Bloom saying something about cutie marks. She was most likely dreaming about getting her cutie mark. Twilight chuckled again. No doubt Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were having a similar dream. Granny Smith sounded like she was dreaming of when she was young, and Applejack, Twilight couldn't really tell. It was a bit weird. Twilight dismissed it and started heading towards Rarity's boutique when she heard something behind her.
'I didn't know you did midnight flights as well.'
Twilight span around to see where the voice came from. She sighed in relief. It was only Rainbow Dash.
'Careful Rainbow, you gave me quite the fright,' said Twilight.
'Sorry,' Rainbow replied. 'I had the weirdest dream. You know that television thing?'
'Yeah,' Twilight replied.
'Well, I was like inside of it, and you and the other girls were outside watching. You girls were pointing at me and saying something, but I couldn't hear what you were saying,' Rainbow Dash finished.
'Strange,' Twilight replied, 'I had exactly the same dream. Maybe it was just a coincidence.'
'Maybe, I hope it is,' Rainbow Dash replied, 'Hey have you noticed all the new ponies in town?'
'Actually, I have noticed,' Twilight replied.
'I wonder if that has anything to do with it,' Rainbow Dash said.
'Don't be silly, again, it's just pure coincidence,' Twilight replied.
'Yeah, you're probably right,' Rainbow replied. 'Hey have you seen that new store over there, run by, uhh, what's her name again?'
'Midnight Firework?' Twilight asked.
'Yeah that's it. I never heard of her before. You'd think if she made fireworks that we would of heard of her before,' Rainbow said.
'Maybe she just wasn't well known,' Twilight replied. 'After all, making fireworks doesn't necessarily make you famous.'
'But still, you would think we would of at least heard of her before, or something,' Rainbow said.
'Well I think that's enough flying for me,' Twilight said as they passed Rarity's boutique.
'Same, i think it's time to go back to sleep,' Rainbow replied, 'It's still a while before morning.'
'See ya, Rainbow.' Twilight waved.
Rainbow dash waved back. 'Bye Twilight.'
Twilight flew back home. She was tired after that flight. She yawned. 'Lets hope I have better dreams.' She jumped on her bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
Author's Note
Small OC cameo! Again, feel free to criticise.
Twilight woke up in her room. Everything seemed normal. Except for one thing.
'The television is missing.'
Twilight ran out into the main room. She called for Spike.
'Spike, where are you? Helloooo, Spike? Where is everypony?'
She stepped out onto the balcony. There was nopony around. The town was very quiet, even the birds weren't chirping. Twilight galloped out of the crystal castle. There was still nopony to be seen.
'Heh, maybe they just slept in today,' Twilight said to herself.
As Twilight walked past the houses, she noticed something. They looked somewhat fake, like as if they were one of those decoy spells she had heard about, which would start to flicker slightly. She also noticed that the television looked like this sometimes.
Suddenly, the sky appeared to fall off, to reveal that Twilight was inside a giant box. One end revealed a giant square, which Twilight could see a giant version of herself in. Suddenly she realised she was inside the television. And the Twilight up there was moving her hoof towards the 'off' button. Twilight ran towards the other, giant Twilight.
'No stop, please, help me, I'm trapped in here!'
The other Twilight payed no attention to the smaller one. Twilight kept pleading, but it wasn't working. The giant finally pressed the off button. Buildings started collapsing as the giant square disappeared. Blackness closed in on Twilight. Suddenly, there was nothing underneath her hooves. She screamed as she fell into an abyss. She could hear familiar voices.
'I must be dying,' she thought.
She prepared herself, moving into the fetal position as death loomed closer, closer and clo—
'Wake up sleepyhead!'
'Huh?' Twilight opened her eyes. She was in her room in the crystal castle. She heard a voice coming from the right side of her.
'Come on, get up. You need to get ready before they come.' Twilight turned her head to see who the speaker was. Rainbow Dash was next to her bed.
Twilight sat up with a jolt. 'Woah, next time just knock.'
Rainbow Dash grinned. 'I tried that, but you were sleeping too deeply, even I don't sleep that deep. Now come on, get up, you need to be ready.'
'Ready for what?' Twilight asked, confused.
'Really? You don't know?' Rainbow Dash said in surprise. 'You need to catch up, at this rate you'll never make a good princess.'
Twilight sighed when Rainbow said that. 'You still haven't told me what I am supposed to be ready for.'
'Oh right, sorry.' Rainbow Dash smiled innocently. 'Some people have came to interview you, and it is going to be put on that television thingy that you got yesterday.'
'What do you mean by interview?' asked Twilight.
Rainbow Dash replied with, 'It means they are basically going to ask you a few questions about what it is like to be a princess and all that stuff.'
Twilight looked panicked. She grabbed Rainbow Dash by the neck. 'Why didn't you tell me this before? I need to find all my things to show them, oh how am I going to do this?'
She started running around, spewing out all kinds of gibberish. Suddenly she grabbed Rainbow by the neck again. 'How much time do I have till they come?'
'Uhh, about fifteen minutes,' Rainbow replied.
'Uh oh, this is bad, this is very, very bad! How am I going to get ready in time before they get here? I don't want to look like a like a lazy snob!' Twilight started spewing out even more gibberish than before.
Now it was Rainbow's turn to grab Twilight's neck. 'Listen Twilight, you need to calm down. Rushing around frantically won't help solve the problem. It will probably make it even worse. Now stand back and watch as the amazing Rainbow Dash solves all your problems!
Twilight sighed. 'You are probably right about me calming down, but I doubt you will be able to do this by yourself either. We should work together, then we might be able to do this.'
Rainbow Dash sighed reluctantly. 'Fine, but I still think i could do it myself.'
In the end, Twilight, with the help of Rainbow Dash, managed to get ready just a minute before the interviewers arrived.
'Thanks for all the help Rainbow, I really appreciate it,' said Twilight.
'Ah, it was nothing, always willing to help a friend in need,' replied Rainbow Dash.
'Ooh, they're almost here, I better go and meet them. Bye Rainbow!' Twilight waved at Rainbow dash.
Rainbow waved back. 'Don't screw up. Bye Twilight!'
Rainbow Dash flew away. Twilight moved towards the front door. As she reached it she heard a knock. She smiled.
'Right on time,' she thought to herself. She took a deep breath, and opened the door.
'Good morning Princess Twilight, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.' The grey-coated earth pony stallion and his coworkers bowed in front of Twilight. She stepped back, still not quite used to the whole 'being a princess' thing.
'Ah yes, I believe you have come to interview me, that is correct?' asked Twilight.
'Yes, your majesty, we are from the new television channel for news, Equestria Daily. Would you like to start by showing us around this wonderful castle of yours?' the grey-coated stallion asked.
'Yes mister... uhh... what is your name?' asked Twilight.
'My name is Electric Spark, your majesty,' he replied.
'Okay then Mister err... Spark, come right this way.' Twilight ushered them into her house. The crew looked at each other with excited grins on their faces.
'So, your majesty—'
'Just call me Twilight'
Electric looked at the camera mare, who nodded. 'Okay your ma— I mean Twilight, show us around.'
Twilight started getting a little excited. 'Okay so this is my bedroom.' She opened the door to her bedroom, as the others looked around in awe. The room was huge! The whole room was made of crystal. Even the bed was made of crystal. Twilight said that the bed had sheets and pillows partially stuffed with actual cloud. The shelves were filled with many books, and there was another stack of books on the crystal bedside table. Electric noted that Twilight had a television at the end of her bed.
'I see even you have a television, Twilight. Tell me, what do you think about televisions?' asked Electric.
'Oh, they're fine,' Twilight replied. 'Anyway, see all these books? I have books on pretty much everything here, even on some myths like the tale about hu—'
The camera mare rolled her eyes. Electric saw her and frowned at her, but he realised he agreed with her as well.
'Uhh, your majesty, I mean Twilight, maybe you could show us something else?' asked Electric.
'Oh sure thing,' said Twilight. 'What do you want to see next? There's the kitchen, the living room, and of course the...'
As Twilight, Electric and the others walked away, Rainbow Dash snickered from outside the window. Twilight sure did love her books. Rainbow Dash scanned over Ponyville, and when she finally found the spot she was looking for —the hill below her house with the single tree— she raced towards it like a jet plane. As Rainbow Dash thought about herself in her head, she wondered what a jet plane was, and why she said it. 'Nevermind that', she said, dismissing that thought as she raced towards the hill. She was going to meet up with her friends to discuss Twilight's interview.
***
While Rarity was talking to her friends heard a sound behind her. She turned around to be faced with the sight of Rainbow Dash rushing towards her.
'Here she comes!' she cried out.
Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie were sitting on a picnic blanket underneath the tree underneath Rainbow's house. Along with them they had their pets Opal, Angel, Winona, Gummy, and Rainbow's pet Tank. Rainbow Dash had dropped off Tank then taken off to say hello to Twilight before the interview. On the blanket, they had some cakes, sweets and a bowl of fruit punch, courtesy of Pinkie Pie, some apples and apple-based treats, courtesy of Applejack, and some other foods from the market.
Suddenly Fluttershy realised that Rainbow hadn't slowed down. 'Look out!' she screamed. Everypony covered their face.
There was a silence.
'Haha, gotcha!'
Applejack uncovered her face and cautiously opened her eyes. Rainbow Dash was floating right in front of the blanket. 'Well darn', ya sure did get us all with that one, didn't ya.' Applejack winked at Pinkie Pie.
'Well, of course I did, I am the pro at pranking after a— AGH!' Pinkie had tipped the whole bowl of fruit punch on top of Rainbow Dash. Applejack was laughing her head of. Rainbow Dash frowned.
'And what do you think is so funny, hmm?'
Applejack could hardly speak.
'Oh, oh, you just ain't able to *giggle* prevent ya from being *chuckle* pranked back after *snort* pranking somepony else!' Applejack collapsed with laughter.
Rarity rolled her eyes. 'Now that we've got that out of the way, Rainbow Dash, darling, tell us about the interview.'
Applejack wiped a tear from her eye.
Rainbow Dash looked excited again. 'Yeah so I didn't see the whole thing, but so, like, Twilight was asleep. She seemed to be talking in her sleep. She was saying something like "don't do it". Anyway, I woke her up, and it turns out she had no idea about the interview. So she started panicking and saying stuff like "I must get ready!". Then I told her I would do it myself. She insisted that we work together, so in the end we did, and after I left I decided to stay for a bit and then...' Rainbow Dash paused to breath. 'I stayed and watched as she showed them her room. She kept talking about her books, I bet that will be fun for ponies watch.' Rainbow Dash grinned devilishly. 'Anyway, that's all I saw.'
Applejack realised Rainbow Dash had stopped talking. 'It sounds like this television thingy—'
Pinkie butted in, 'Hey, what if we just call it a TV for short?' Everyone nodded in agreement.
'Wow, that's actually a good idea Pinkie,' said Rainbow.
Applejack cleared her throat. 'Anyway, it sounds like this "TV" thingy might soon be a thing lots of ponies will have.' Applejack's eyes lit up as she realised something. 'Maybe if they find out Twilight is in Ponyville and finds out we are her friends, they'll buy more of mah' apples!'
'And my dresses!' exclaimed Rarity.
'And my cakes!' said Pinkie.
Everyone looked at Pinkie. 'But darling, those are Mr. and Mrs. Cake's cakes, not yours.'
Pinkie smiled. 'But I still work there, don't I?'
'I guess you have a point,' replied Rarity.
'Oh, I hope Twilight mentions us in the interview,' Fluttershy remarked.
'I hope so too, darling,' replied Rarity.
'Well, I guess we'll see,' said Applejack.
***
'—and that's how me and my friends met. Well, I think that's all I have got to say. Actually, I think I might have a bit more...'
'NO! I mean, I think that's enough for the viewers, Miss Twilight.' Electric sighed.
'Viewers?' asked Twilight.
'The ponies watching this on the TV, Twilight.'
'Oh, ok, thanks Electric, I guess I might see you again, I don't know.' Twilight waved.
Electric waved back. 'Bye Twilight.' 'Thank Celestia,' He whispered to himself
'What was that?'
'Nothing.'
'Oh ok, bye!'
'Bye!'
Electric and his crew left the house. Twilight sighed. Suddenly her friends came in.
'Hello Twilight!'
'Hows it going!'
Twilight sprung up. 'Girls!' She hugged them.
After that, Rainbow Dash sprung up. 'Did you mention us in the interview?'
'Yes,' Twilight replied.
'YES!' Rainbow Dash flew around in random patterns. 'I mean, cool, that's fine.'
Everypony laughed. They started going outside. Suddenly Twilight froze. Everypony jumped back.
'What the ever is the matter darling?' asked Rarity, concerned.
Twilight snapped out of it. 'Oh nothing I thought I saw something.'
'What did you see?' asked Rainbow.
'Oh, it was nothing really,' Twilight replied.
'TELL US!' her friends shouted in unison.
Twilight sighed. 'I thought I saw a... a place with tons of buildings, and all these strange things I've never seen before.' Twilight struggled for words. 'I saw these strange... things, that looked sort of like enclosed, metal chariots with nopony pulling them. And these strange creatures walking on two legs, they almost looked like... humans,' Twilight finished.
Rarity laughed. 'Darling, it must of been your imagination. I mean, humans? As if.'
'Yeah, you're probably right.' Twilight laughed
Twilight and the rest of the mane 6 left the crystal castle talking and chattering. As their chattering got out of hearing range. A portal materialised in the middle of the main room. A strangely shaped silhouette appeared through the portal, it appeared to be some sort of bipedal creature, but it appeared to be changing to become more pony-like by the second...
Author's Note
More criticism if you will. Also please show me any errors that I may of made.