Part 1
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Between The Seasons

Part 1

Prologue:

It is time for a change. You are Spike, as in legitimately Spike. You are the actual character himself from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. You are literally the cartoon dragon who appears in the show.

When you're not occupied with your role in MLP:FiM, you are free to roam about behind the scenes among the other characters who don't currently have a part to play. This is the case for all of the characters after the season has its finale and the production goes dormant until the next season. From right after the finales to right before the premiers, all of the characters of the show continue to live independently in Equestria and have daily lives of their own.

So far, everything has seemed to settle down after the season 4 finale. The episode really concluded a lot of things, but you still feel far from settled. It has been 4 seasons. You feel as though you've been nothing but a messenger and a servant for too long now; you want a more important role during the next season. You must face it, you're a fire breathing dragon. Why haven't you become stronger after all of the experiences you've had? It doesn't add up. There's no reason for the studio to keep you so weak after such a long run. Because of this, you mind begins spawning questions.

Do they want you to stay small forever?

You must live up to what a dragon is really supposed to be. After all, you have finally started to grow. It's about time you hit another growth spurt. But this one entirely different. It is far more realistic than the last, since nothing has seemed to provoke it. It just spontaneously happened out of the blue. The changes have only been gradual and mild, but you're still interested to see where this goes. It's still better than nothing at all.

Your head is beginning to get longer and develop sharper features. You're also getting noticeably taller. These changes have remained consistent and are bound to be permanent this time. As far as you know, his can only mean one thing.

The time has come.

You are done being Spike the little baby dragon. You want to be Spike, the brave and heroic dragon. You are mature now, and growing into a handsome young adult. You have always wanted wings of your own, and to be a much larger and stronger individual than the one you used to be.

And now that opportunity has finally arrived. What comes next after this is an enigma that only time shall reveal the resolution to. A magnificent revelation shrouded in mystery. As you wait day by day for more changes to happen, you know that your growth spurt either occurred naturally, or was initiated on purpose by the studio. Although, it's very possible that the studio is responsible. They've done it before in previous episodes. You evaluate the possibility. They ultimately control what you look like, what you can do and how you act most of the time. They have started to make changes to characters, such as giving Twilight wings. Could the studio be editing you so you will have the ability to sprout your own wings?

You doubt this; the new growth spurt is clearly more steady and realistic. Could this one be natural? Would the studio get this involved during these times? During a time of hiatus?

You and the mane 6 have already had many adventures together as a group. These adventures have been orchestrated and controlled by superior beings of a far away universe; the studio. Almost every time a character had experienced physical changes in their appearance, it was because the studio was making changes to them.

Editing.

But what the studio likely doesn't know is that the characters can grow on their own as well. Equestria exists as an independent universe when the episodes are not being worked on, but not all the way. During the hiatuses between the TV show's seasons, there is no sound. No sound. You and all of the other characters simply live in Equestria in anticipating silence, curiously awaiting what your next pre-determined adventures will be.

Here's what you know about the studio. All sound that can ever exist in Equestria is entirely provided by the staff of the show. Voice actors and actresses are assigned to specified characters to allow those characters to have the opportunity to speak and/or sing. Animators use tools from computer programs to load you onto screens, and animate you to match what the voices are saying. They can also control your actions. The voices who speak for the characters normally read off of a script, which is written by another section of the studio called the writers. You have a rough idea of how their chain of command works. The script is made by the writers, the voices follow the script, the animators follow the voices, and you and the rest of the characters obey the animators. Not many of the characters get to be animated to match what a voice is saying. Most residents in Equestria are only animated from time to time, and have never had any of the voices assigned to them. But you, the mane 6, the Princesses and a multitude of other characters have.

Meanwhile, sound editors give everything else sound. Water flowing, wind blowing, solid objects hitting against one another, everything that doesn't make sounds through a voice. These studio workers give your universe more of an atmosphere. None of you have ever met any of them. They are your invisible heroes and heroins to you and your inaudible friends and neighbors. You all are merely puppets to a distant universe, waiting during the breaks to be given sound and adventures again.

But this hiatus feels significantly longer than the last few. Aside the use for a few commercials, none of the Equestrians have received any communication with the studios. They did not return during the time they normally do. Something must be wrong. What is going on?

Between the Seasons: Part One.

The studio hasn't seemed to return yet to make new episodes, and you don't know if you'll ever see them again. You remember that you and Twilight had recently discovered a universe with human counterparts of everyone from Equestria inhabiting it. Has the studio who gave you sound started to turn their attention to the next universe and begun to ignore your universe? Would they really just go and abandon you like that? You have been trying to figure this out for a couple of days, now.

Upon asking Twilight for her opinion, she found it to be an interesting topic as well. You are sitting with Twilight at an outside dining table, eating apples and hay burgers while conversing with each other.Since the most recent season has already ended and sound doesn't currently exist, neither of you have voices at the moment. You can only communicate through magical readable captions that appear out of nowhere. It's not a very good method of communication, but it's the best you've got.

Everyone and everything is deaf.

["I don't think that they're late or anything. They really seemed dedicated to us. Do you think something happened?"] You deliver your silent caption to ask.

["It confounds me too, Spike. There's no way they would just stop caring about us like that. Not after all they've done for us."] Twilight replies, beginning to form a slightly distraught look on her face as she silently says this. ["We've been through so much. Far too much to just let it all go. It simply has to be as important to them as it is to us!"]

You want to believe her. You wish the voices would just come back already to make more episodes of the TV show. But you don't know if they'll ever be back. Ever. What are they planning?

["Is anypony else aware of this?"] You desire to know as stomach begins to churn.

["I imagine that this would concern a good amount of the ponies of Ponyville, at least."] Twilight answers. ["Maybe we can ask everypony else how they feel?"]

After hesitating for a brief moment, you figure it's worth getting help from the locals.

["Fine. But what can we actually do about it?"] You suddenly think to ask. ["Is there any hope for us if they really don't care anymore?"]

["They have to still care, Spike. I'm sure of it. I promise."]

As you read Twilight's caption, you notice that the worried look still hasn't left her eyes. This kind of thing hasn't happened so intensely before, and she is clearly aware of it. The last thing that either of you want is to be completely abandoned. Just tossed aside and left to be forgotten by the creators who had once loved you more than anything else in their world. The very possibility of such loneliness is filling you. Eating a hole into your heart to depress you. Will any of you have a voice again? You don't want to lose the sound to silence, you want a voice; something to be heard. An opportunity to speak out and be something more than what you are now. You miss it so much.

["I'm so worried, Twilight. I just want to be sure that nothing's going to happen to us."]

["I know, Spike."] Twilight reassures. ["They'll be back at some point. There's just no real proof yet."]

She smiles warmly, raising the upper part of her cheeks to slightly overlap the bottom of her eyes. Almost a shy look. But she only wants to cheer you up. She wants to convince both you and her that the hiatus won't last forever. Something must happen eventually.

In the meantime, you and all the ponies do what you all normally do during the inter-season periods. You all just hang out with each other, do fun things to pass the time. Occasionally, you all would talk about what you all did during the show. Everypony all would laugh along as you bring up funny and embarrassing moments that each of you had. It's funny to imagine how your voice actors/actresses must have felt when these moments were created and brought to life. Such analysis on so many fond memories you all have created together. You feel very proud of this, and you honestly can't wait to see what comes next. Upon this time of show reflection, the ponies would sometimes re-enact these memorable scenes in silence, as though you had the voices to go along with them. You really respect the creativity and wit of the writers who formulated these incredible moments.

You and the mane 6 are all in an open field, just spending time together. Twilight is re-enacting the scene where she went crazy from trying to get her letter to Celestia in on time. Rarity is re-enacting the scene where she overreacted from forgetting the paper plates. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are re-enacting the scene where they were practicing cheering, and Fluttershy wasn't loud enough to be heard in a crowd. You, Pinkie Pie and Applejack are watching all of this happen, silently laughing the whole time. Pinkie and Applejack are encouraging that all of the re-enactments be improvised and combined into one silly scene where all of those things are happening at once. Needless to say, you all are having a good time. Life between the seasons is such a wonderful group of months if you know how to have fun while spending it with your friends.

The setting of the improvised scene is a picnic during the Equestrian Independence Day festival. Twilight had been put in charge by Celestia of setting up the fireworks, but couldn't get them to work. She had eventually figured that it would take large amounts of magic to ignite fireworks of such a large size and quantity. She decides the best way to accumulate more magic is through the power of Friendship, which is achieved through solving a problem about Friendship.

Twilight pretends to lurk around in the bushes, looking for an opportunity to spark a friendship problem. She turns her attention to a nearby picnic, where Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy are getting ready to eat. She sneaks up behind the three while they pretend not to notice, and levitates the lid of the basket open. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash is showing Fluttershy how to cheer loudly once the fireworks start going off. She explains that the fireworks are really loud and she would have to make her voice project loud enough to match the volume of the booming. Fluttershy expresses how quiet her voice is by making her captions appear really small.

Without anypony noticing, Twilight begins levitating the paper plates one by one out of the basket, and hides them behind a bush next to her. She's determined to get these fireworks started. Rarity is pretending to set the plastic silverware as she gets ready to prepare the plates. Twilight levitates the last of the plates out of sight, and emerges from behind the bushes.

["Hi, girls!"] She says, implying a crazed tone in her currently imaginary voice.

Rainbow Dash, in attempt to encourage Fluttershy, implores that she can't hear Twilight's greeting over Fluttershy's "loud" cheering. Fluttershy continues to cheer silently. Rarity pretends to finally notice that the paper plates are missing from the picnic basket.

["This is the… worst… possible… thing!"] She mouths her line from the show along with a caption, dishing out as much emotion as she can.

Just then, the bear from the crazy Twilight episode walks right by the plates. This was planned. He's pretending to accidentally be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's wearing a sign that says "Yogi" on it. At that instant, Rarity grabs the paper plates from behind the bushes, pretending to have been reaching for her fainting couch. She falls over, landing on the pile of paper plates with a silent thud. Fluttershy notices this, and pretends to assume that the bear stole the paper plates.

["How dare you? How… DARE… you?!"] She silently and playfully scolds.

Meanwhile, Twilight pokes her head out of the bush she was hiding in, almost impaling the bird in a nest with her horn. The light enough impact from Rarity falling onto the paper plates has sent a couple of plates flying into the air like frisbees. One lands on the bird's nest of Twilight's head, making it look like a silly hat. This causes you, Applejack and Pinkie Pie to lose your sides. Fluttershy rushes towards the bear.

The entire scene where Fluttershy wrestles the bear is re-enacted. With a bit of improvisation, of course. Fluttershy flies over the bear's head, causing him to claw upward. She stays just close enough to be out of reach by an arms length. The bear tries to bend backwards, stumbling off balance. Fluttershy flies back over to the front in a giant aerial loop, and bucks Yogi in the gut. The impact causes Yogi to flip forward once and land on all fours. Fluttershy bolts upwards, and then shoots back down to the ground at Yogi with her right leg hoof out. She's doing a barrel roll.

Never forget to do a barrel roll.

You and the others are cheering her on. With the force of a billion butterflies, Fluttershy plants her hoof into Yogi's back, delivering a fatal impact. She then grabs his lower leg, and flies a half of a story into the air. She flings and slams Yogi back and forth onto the ground repeatedly, as if she is The Hulk and he is Loki. Fluttershy zooms up into the air once again. Yogi lies on the ground, awaiting his fate. Finish him.

Fluttershy remits a full blown body slam onto Yogi, knocking all the wind out of his lungs. She then proceeds to engage him into a full headlock. The bear twists and turns to break free, but it is of no use. In one short and deft motion, Fluttershy twists Yogi's head sideways. Yogi falls to the ground pretending to be covered in Boo Boo's, K.O.

Fluttertality.

Everyone silently cheers. Rainbow Dash congratulates Fluttershy while Rarity sets up the paper plates onto the picnic blanket. Twilight begins to shoot up mini fireworks in the background as Fluttershy massages the Yogi's back with her hooves, like in the actual episode.

["Yay!"] Fluttershy cheers while the fireworks go off in the background.

A silent applause.

The re-enactment was successful. Suddenly, a drop of rain can be felt on your nose. You peer up to the sky to find large dark clouds looming overhead. A thunderstorm had snuck up on you and the mane 6. But you never even heard any thunder.

["Race you back to town!"] Challenges Rainbow Dash as she begins to fly away.

["Oh, please! We all know very well that you are going to be able to get there before us! Your not being fair, darling."] Rarity replies.

["Who cares, it'll be fun!"] Rainbow stops in mid flight to face the others.

But without warning, Fluttershy bolts ahead of Rainbow Dash.

["*squee*"] reads her caption.

She then looks over her shoulder back at the rest of you; she has a wide smile on her face, blushing slightly.

["Ohoho! That sure was unexpected!"] exclaims Applejack, delightfully surprised.

["Any room for one more?"] teases Twilight as she quickly follows Fluttershy.

["No fair! You caught me by surprise!"] argues Rainbow Dash as she charges after the two.

You, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity follow, enjoying every second of this.

It suddenly occurs to you that you can't directly follow all of the action because you do not have wings. You begin to wonder why you do not already have wings. Aren't dragons supposed to be born with wings? Did the show creators make a mistake, or was this done on purpose? What if they're taking so long to come back because they're figuring out how to give you wings? The very thought intrigues you.

Dashing through the forest, the three flyers escape your line of sight. Applejack, having the strongest legs, is far ahead of you and Rarity. She soon disappears into the distance. Pinkie Pie has seemed to disappear as well.

["We're losing them!"] you point out, hoping Rarity is able to read your caption.

She's quite ahead of you, and more capable of running too far away from you to notice you.

["Rarity! Wait up!"]

You are falling behind, being that you only have two legs to run with. She can't hear you, and your captions can't seem to catch up to her. You try throwing them further, but they don't travel far or fast enough. A few are hitting trees, completely missing Rarity's line of sight. You are growing exhausted.

Suddenly, you see a figure to the left of you. It is behind a few bushes, so you can't see it very well. It is running at about the same pace as you. It is not Pinkie Pie; this figure is pitch black. You're not sure if it is following you or Rarity, so you start running in the direction away from it, keeping a close eye on it. Rarity has still not noticed any of your captions. You have made a turn off the path everypony was racing on, having no idea where you are now or where you're going. You can't even remember which direction you're facing. But you keep running anyway.

A tree.

Out of nowhere. It isn't Fluttershy. It is a brown, bark covered, solid, cold, hard and unforgiving oak tree. Straight onto your face.

Wham.

A silent wham, but the pain makes up for the lack of sound. You are now lying on your back, not bleeding, due to the nature of the Equestrian realm you reside in. But you have a tic-tac-toe-like mark on the tip of your nose. A small sketch that is commonly used in cartoons to illustrate a bruise or burn or something. There is a slightly larger one on your forehead.

After a couple of seconds of shock, the pain asserts itself into your consciousness, becoming overwhelming.

["Ow!"] you silently cry out.

Tears begin to fill your eyes. You can't help it. You are trying so hard not to cry, but the pain bullies your instincts to no end. Twisting the arms of your ego and your super-ego, using your id as a tool. An effective tool that forces you to silently weep. Everything's blurred.

You can't imagine how you're going to escape the Everfree forest when you can't even see ten feet in front of you. But you suddenly make out a caption through your blurred vision. Through your tears, you can barely read what it says.

["Spike? Are you alright, darling?"]

Oh, thank Celestia, it's Rarity. But you remember the tears all over your face. Don't let her see you cry. If it were almost anypony else, you might not have cared. But not Rarity. You need to dragon up; toughen up.

You do your best to wipe the tears off of your face. Don't let her see you cry.

Too late.

["What happened? Are you okay?"] Rarity asks you.

You look at her, sheepishly. She looks astonishingly worried about you. She seems almost upset that you got hurt, levitating something beside her. It takes your vision a few seconds to adjust. Rarity is levitating a caption. You read it.

It says:[*from distance* "Ow!"]

Your lips quiver. You begin sobbing uncontrollably, but silently, of course. Why did you have to cry?

Continue to cry as you suddenly feel Rarity wrap her arms around you. You see a caption.

["There, there. Everything shall be alright. I'm here, now."]

You begin to calm down.

["I'm sorry. It's not that bad, really."] You try to convince her. ["I'm fine. It doesn't even really hurt."]

You look up at her face to find that she has a bit of a reassuring smile. The kind of smile that says: "I know you're lying to preserve your dignity, but I'll go along with it anyway to make you feel better." But she clearly knows better than to just believe what you just told her. There's no denying it. She knows that you're suffering and she wants to comfort you.

About a minute passes. The crying has stopped. You try to say something to break the awkwardness. Too bad you can't break the silence.

["You… you won't… tell anypony about this, will you?"] You hopefully propose, rubbing your forehead to make the pain go away.

["I shall do no such thing."] Rarity answers. ["This is our secret."]

She then pulls you closer, and kisses you on the forehead where the bruise is. You don't know what you expected. Both of you begin to blush.

["Well what are we waiting for, darling!" Let's go catch up with the others."]

She then turns her side to you.

["Well come on, now. Don't be shy. Hop on. It's clear that we'll be able to go faster this way."]

She's right. You climb onto her back, and she takes off into the forest.

The ride back to Ponyville lasts for about 15 more minutes. How deep into the forest had everyone gone? All you can do is cling to the back of Rarity's neck, hoping she doesn't get lost. Although the thought of you and her being stranded alone in the Everfree forest together doesn't seem like that bad of a scenario to you. But this wasn't even your fault. This whole crush was started by the writers. And brought to life by the voices and the animators. You never had a chance to decide what this would turn into on your own. The studio's decisions have deeply affected your connection with Rarity. And there's nothing else you can really say about it, aside the fact that you don't have a real voice of your own. Look at what these writers, animators and voices have done to you. They can ultimately control how you feel. Even when they're not around.

Are they aware of what they sparked between you two? You're wondering too much.

It has started to rain heavily. Because of this, Rarity told you it's okay to hold on to where her mane is, since it's getting "ruined" anyway. The drops are larger and more concentrated from contact with the trees. It doesn't take long for the rain to start pouring onto you in full blown streams. The streams are everywhere, and cannot be avoided. You both are getting soaked from the rain, so you have to hold on really tight so you don't slip off. This will soon be out of the studio's control.

You both eventually make it back to Ponyville and immediately figure that the others are hanging out back at Twilight's new castle. You hold on as Rarity gallops over to there.

The others are waiting for you inside as you enter the castle. You are walking on your feet at this point.

["Oh, there you two are! We were starting to get worried."] Twilight sighs in relief with a slightly suspicious look on her face.

["We just got a bit lost, is all."] Rarity answers.

You decide you want to join the conversation as well.

["So, who won the race?"]

Pinkie Pie gives you a sly look, then looks at the others.

["Ah don't know how to explain this, but it was Pinkie."] Says Applejack.

["Pinkie?"] You ask, shocked.

["But how?"] Asks Rarity, surprised.

["When I got here, she was already waiting outside the front door of this place! It's not fair!"] Argues Rainbow Dash.

["Who cares? It was fun!"] Pinkie makes a clever comeback, remembering what Rainbow said to Rarity when she started the race.

["But how did she get ahead of you?"] You make sure you're still a major part of the conversation.

["She cheated!"] Accuses Rainbow Dash. ["I don't know how she did, but she cheated."]

["No I didn't, silly!"] Pinkie responds.

["Did too!"]

["Did not!"]

["Did too!"]

["Did not!"]

["Um…"] Fluttershy's caption suddenly appears. ["Did… too."]

If it weren't for the caption, nopony would have noticed her input.

["Ha! It's two against one!"] Rainbow exclaims.

["Pinkie does these type of things all the time. I don't think it counts as cheating."] Twilight interjects.

["That's still not fair! She can only do those things because the writers and animators made it that way."] Rainbow Dash just won't back down.

["That's true."] Adds Applejack.

["Well, I guess you do have a point."] Admits Twilight.

["Actually, earlier today, we were wondering something about them. Have any of you even seen any traces of the studio recently?"] You ask.

You finally brought it up. The question strikes everyone, generating a long pause.

["Ah haven't heard from 'em."] Applejack finally says.

["Me neither."] Adds Pinkie.

The 7 of you look at each other in slight discomfort.

["So, none of you girls have heard from them either?"] Twilight asks.

["No. No, we haven't."] Applejack is starting to look worried.

["Oh, no. I hope they're okay."] Conveys Fluttershy.

["Do you think they left us for another universe they created?"] Asks Rainbow Dash.

Twilight has a forlorn look on her face. This question is all too familiar to her now.

["I… sure hope not."] She manages to point out.

["What if they just haven't got here yet?"] Asks Pinkie.

["I'm pretty sure they would be here by now."] You didn't want to admit this.

["Spike's right. It is about that time, if I'm not mistaken."] Twilight reveals.

Another pause.

["Perhaps they're just simply late. It is entirely possible that they will just arrive a little bit later than last season."] Assures Rarity. ["After all, one can observe that kind of pattern in their arrival times throughout the past seasons. They in fact have been slightly later each time."]

She's right.

["That makes sense."] Answers Twilight. ["I haven't really thought about it that way."]

A reassuring feeling washes over you. Of course! They're just running a bit late for some reason. This actually explains everything. And here you were thinking that there was a reason to panic.

["Ah have to agree with ya on that one, Rarity."] Ensures Applejack.

The others nod. It's unanimous. We wait. A few seconds pass. Rainbow Dash adds one more caption to the open space.

["So… I still won, right?"]

…

Everyone goes home after the storm lets up. It's starting to get late. Twilight has a scheduled meeting with the other Princesses. Just one of the usual meetings regarding Equestrian politics and economics and other boring but important stuff. She invites you to come along, in case there are any papers or scrolls that need sorting or something. You reluctantly accept.

The sun is setting alongside the back end of the thunderstorm that just passed by as you and Twilight head over to Canterlot in a carriage. In the distance, you can barely see Rainbow Dash fly in an arc right at the edge of the storm, painting a rainbow into the beckoning sky. She always does this after a storm passes. She has even been doing this before the studio began to mold her character to fit the show they created. You never figured out why she does this. Perhaps it is out of pure glee. The combination of the evening lighting, the post-storm clouds, the distant lightning and the giant rainbow in the sky formulate an absolutely enthralling scenery. Even through the simplified cartoon art, it is still jaw-droppingly beautiful. It almost makes up for the complete lack of sound, silently roaring with stunning beauty as it dominates the Equestrian landscape.

…

The carriage arrives at the castle. The castle itself and the town of Canterlot appear to be under some kind of renovation.

You ask Twilight what happened.

Her response:

["Oh, you sure missed a spectacular performance. Apparently, some writer on the internet in the sound bearing universe wrote a story about a civil war in Canterlot. I read it, of course. It wasn't as bad as I had expected."] Twilight explains.

["So the studio isn't the only group that can affect what happens to us?"] You ask.

["I'm afraid so."] Twilight responds with a silent laugh ["The ponies of Canterlot actually don't have any problems at all with the royalty. But they felt they were obligated to act out what was written, because the characters in the story had. It's fine, though; it was all in good fun and even the Princesses played along with it. The funny part is, they didn't even have to act the story out; it was never animated. So they caused all this mess for no reason. But it's easy to clean up when we have magic, so we all can go ahead and laugh it off."]

["Wow. That's pretty funny. What about the characters that were actually in the story?"] You say, wanting to know more.

["I imagine that they only exist in someone's imagination. But they're still based on us."]

["Does this usually happen with the stories that non-studio workers write?"]

["Pretty often. But the workers in the studio scarcely have a chance to read them. That's actually confusing, given that they're in the same universe as each other."] Twilight reveals.

["Well, that's odd."]

["It is. But I'm sure they have their reasons."] She concludes with a certain look on her face.

The two of you enter the castle. It takes less than a minute to reach the throne room. Twilight knows her way around the place, now.

["Welcome back, Twilight!"] greets Princess Celestia as she is perched high up on her throne. ["I see you probably noticed the most recent fan-inspired episode."]

["I saw. Looks like summer's still going. It's astonishing how eager they are to act the story out if they like it enough. I always like a good story."] Twilight titters.

["I'm sure they'll calm down once the canon episodes start up again."]

The other princesses are already present. You all head over to the meeting room. The meeting goes exactly as you had expected. The 4 Alicorns talk on and on, discussing varying issues that they chose to address. You, of course, are in charge of sorting out the paperwork. It's a shame that none of them seem to notice that you have hit a growth spurt. In fact, you're not even sure if Rarity had noticed earlier in the day. All the princesses want you to do is organize documents and agree with whatever they're saying when necessary.

You want more than this.

You are a growing dragon with far reaching dreams. If there's anything you really want now, it's more respect. But then you remember your moment back in the Everfree forest. All you did was run into a tree, and you couldn't keep yourself from crying. What kind of fierce dragon would cry after hitting a tree? Is this the kind of character the studio has turned you into? Maybe this is why you will never reach a status above that of a messenger. You're weak. You can't fight, fly or do any other amazing things like the mane 6 can.

But then you remember your growth spurt. You should take into account that the mane 6 are much older than you are. Maybe you'll be bigger and stronger once you reach their age. That does make perfect sense, after all.

You don't realize that you weren't paying attention.

["Would that be alright with you, Spike?"] Twilight's caption finally catches your eye.

["Oh. I'm sorry, I couldn't read it right at that angle. Could you hold it closer?"] You quickly formulate your excuse.

You are sitting next to her, so it is somewhat hard to accurately read her captions at times. Twilight levitates her caption right in front of you.

It reads: ["We are starting to think of ways for you and Derpy to team up in circulating letters to and from the castle. Just in case there are multiple locations that we would need to spread a message to. Would that be alright with you, Spike?"]

["Uhh… yes. Of course!"] You answer.

["Do you have any ideas on how Derpy can learn how to teleport letters like you can? If it's possible, of course."] Twilight asks.

They're actually asking for your opinion.

["Well what do we have as possibilities so far?"] You say to try to feel like you're more involved.

["Well, as I just reiterated a minute ago, you could send letters to here from Ponyville, and then Derpy can distribute them through the mail to all of the destinations necessary. It's a very effective method so far."] Twilight answers as she sighs.

You nod.

["But it would really help if she could find a way to teleport her cargo to all of the destinations as she passes near them. That would actually make the mail system at least 20% more effective."] She predicts.

This is actually a really good idea.

["Is there a way that you can teach her to somehow teleport her letters? I'm not sure if pegasi would be able to gain that ability, but it would really help."] She asks you.

["Well I never really thought about it. I guess it's worth a try. After all, I am willing to do anything I can to help."] You admit.

You feel so excited that the princesses themselves are asking for your help. Maybe they have noticed your growth spurt after all. You sit through the remainder of the meeting in pure confidence; feeling involved and active. For the next hour or so, the five of you wrap up your discussion involving the mail delivery service. It turns out to be a much bigger deal than you had previously imagined. The meeting concludes with you agreeing to join Derpy on her route and teleport the cargo directly to everypony's front doorsteps whenever there is a need to distribute a notice or declaration in a very short time frame. This occupation has been added to your role as a messenger between Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia. After the meeting ends, you and Twilight head back to Ponyville.

It has been a long day. Twilight is sitting in the front of the carriage while you sleep in the back. It's such a nice feeling to fall asleep in the back of a vehicle on the ride home at night. It's almost indescribable. The sensation is a mixture of comfort, nostalgia and adventure. And loneliness, due to the silence. You are nice and warm under your blanket, watching the vibrant and chromatic lights pass by from through the window. It's really one of those moments in which you ponder and reflect on your entire life from your first memory up until that very moment where you lay in the sanctuary of the back seat. It's easy to fall asleep in silence. You close your eyes.

The lights are still hovering past you on all sides. But the carriage appears to be gone. You are floating forward through the light-decorated darkness. But most importantly of all, you can hear sound. It is like a deaf person dreaming, hearing the things that they imagine. But you only hear one thing. A soft guitar riff.

You have never heard this song before. All you're used to is the MLP songs that you heard during the production of episodes. This sounds different; it's a lot more serious and solemn. It really strikes you to hear something like this. From what you can tell, it's talking about something called "the sound of silence".

You look behind you. What you see breaks your train of comfort. The same black figure from earlier is following you. All you hear is the song. You begin to run away from it, moving in slow motion; why do dreams have to do this? The black figure is gaining, almost impossible to see in the darkness. You cry out, but you yourself still can't make a sound. The only thing you hear is still the music and distant singing.

The song continues on as the now pulsating lights begin to warp and contort around you. This makes you rather dizzy. You try to run faster, but you keep traveling slower and slower. Now would be the perfect time for Luna to swoop in and save you from this nightmare. But you're alone. Alone in this mystery realm of twisting colors in the dark. There doesn't even seem to be an up or down. The entire environment is tumbling and spinning in all directions. What is even going on at this point?

The song plays on. Ahead of you, you can make out a figure through the swirling colors. This one is white. The black figure behind you is only inches away, now. You begin to see the white figure more closely.

It's Rarity.

She's calling out to you. You can't hear her or comprehend what words her mouth is forming. What is she saying? She continues to call out to you, staring straight into your eyes. She reaches her arms towards you. The black figure is still right behind you, even closer. You reach out to Rarity, still unable to decipher what she is saying. She seems frightened. But she's too far away for you to be able to reach her.The song is still the only thing that can be heard. You suddenly feel something on your back. Has the black figure gotten you?

You feel two objects on either side of your back, about halfway up the distance of your spine. But they don't feel like foreign objects. They feel like they're part of you.

You glance over your shoulder. A wing.

You glance over your other shoulder. Another wing.

Could it be?

You can feel yourself being lifted off of the invisible ground. Your wings silently flap. The song plays on. The Sound of Silence.

You are suddenly moving fast. Rapid speed. You have taken control of the situation. You take off into the colors at mind-blowing speeds. Zooming through everything, making your surroundings nothing but a blur. Through the blur, you manage to spot Rarity. In the darkness, you barely see the black figure heading straight for her. She is still calling out to you. You can read her lips this time. She is calling for help. Now's your chance. Now's the opportunity to be the hero you've always wanted to be.

The song continues.

You plummet down towards Rarity, who is now silently screaming. She reaches her arms out to you. You lift her up, having no idea where the black figure is at the moment.

But you don't care.

You hold Rarity tight as you plunge upward into the darkness, passing all of the colors. She is holding on for dear life. Your whole world is brightened as you realize that you did it. You saved Rarity. There is no doubt she will love you forever, now. Right?

It is now pitch black; you cannot see. The song fades into silence as you continue to fly upward with Rarity in your arms. So what happens, next?

…

Your eyes slowly open. All you can see now are horizontal blurs from the light of your yet to be discovered surroundings. You still feel arms around you. But they feel thicker and stronger. As your eyes open enough where you are able to see details in things, you can see a caption.

["Um… Spike? We're here."] Twilight is sitting in the front seat, giving you an extremely awkward look from over her shoulder.

Who's arms are around you?

You make out another caption:

["Ah told ya something was happening with him."]

["App-… Applejack?"] you slur in deep confusion.

Applejack releases you.

["You were twistin' n' turnin' over there, sugarcube! Ah thought you were dying or somethin'! Ah just wanted to help, ah swear!"] Applejack explains.

["What happened?"] you ask.

You suddenly realize that you feel something on your back. Immediately, you look to see what it is.

It's your wings. But you can only pray this time that it's permanent.

["Do you want me to take you back to your place, Applejack? You should probably clean yourself up."] Proposes Twilight.

What is she talking about?

["It's fine. Ah don't mind. Working on the farm has made me used to this kinda thing."] Answers Applejack.

What?

You look at your wings. They're covered in some kind of a green goop. Did they really just miraculously pop out of the back of your body?

["It's okay, Spike. That gooey stuff is just what came out of your back along with your wings. It's like when a baby chicken leaves the egg for the first time. It's perfectly normal and happens every time a dragon's wings finally develop."] Reassures Twilight. ["They finally grew out from the inside. I read a book on this, so you can count on what I'm telling you."]

You notice that it is also all over the seat, and some of it got on Applejack, who you look at apologetically.

["It's alright, sugarcube. Ah can assure ya I've been through messier situations than this. Ya have nothin' to be embarrassed about."] Consoles Applejack with a heartwarming smile on her face.

You look back at your wings. You refrain from shaking the goop off, so you don't get anymore all over the inside of the carriage.

["Thanks."] you finally say.

Well, minus the awkward moment, al least you finally grew wings. And that's all you really care about at the moment. You're too tired to care about anything else right now, anyway. You just want sleep.

Eventually, you eventually help Twilight and Applejack clean the inside of the carriage, and then head on off to bed.What a day this has been.

From the best you can remember, the rest of the night was a blur. You vaguely remember practically slithering up the stairs, before miraculously hovering towards your bed. And then everything goes black.

…

And here you are: awake and remembering everything. The warming radiance of morning daylight floods the room. It takes you 10 minutes to get up and spill out of your bed like a liquid. You manage to stumble into the kitchen, where you find Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash eating omelets.

["The fact that you can fly and I can't does make it fair. Even you should know that!"] Proclaims Pinkie Pie.

["Randomly appearing in places doesn't count as transportation! You weren't actually traveling, you were teleporting!"] States Rainbow Dash.

["Teleporting IS traveling, silly! Unicorns can do it, can't they?"]

["But that's with magic! You were doing… whatever it is that you do!"]

They're actually still arguing over this? You decide to interject.

["Oh, come on. Does it really even matter anymore?"] You jut your way into the conversation.

The two stare at you with widened eyes.

["What?"] you can immediately tell there's something different about your appearance.

["You got wings?!"] Exclaims Pinkie.

Oh, right.

["This is so awesome!"] Adds Rainbow, ["Welcome to the club, pal!"]

They've never really said anything like this to you before. This is really turning out to be something great, so far. In response to their response to your new appearance, you try to spread your wings as far to your sides as you can. They're still relatively small, but at least they're there.

["Can I touch them? Can I? Huh? Can I?"] Pleads Pinkie.

["Sure."] You allow.

Pinkie starts rubbing her hooves against the surface of the wings.

["They're so scaly!"] She squeals in silence. ["It's about time the drawing people gave you a couple of these!"]

Rainbow walks toward you, her wings are spread out as well.

["Looks like I just gained a new racing buddy."] She says. ["If you want, I'll show you a couple of tricks. You know, the basics!"]

She wraps her wing over your shoulders.

["Well, I think I would need to learn how to fly at all before I go to that level."] You try to explain.

["That's okay! During the break after season 3 ended, Fluttershy and I both teamed up and taught Twilight how to fly when she got her wings."] Rainbow reassures you as she smiles warmly. ["You'll be flying in no time!"]

["You'd do that for me?"] You ask.

["You better believe it!"]

["Wow, thanks Rainbow Dash!"]

["After all, being able to fly really fast will help you impress Rarity."]

["Wh- what?"] You stop in your tracks.

Pinkie stop feeling your wings and starts chuckling.

["Aw, come on!"] Declares Rainbow. ["We all know you stayed behind with her yesterday on purpose!"]

You blush, trying as hard as you can not to do so. But the redness finds its way to the surface of your scales.

["It's not like we wouldn't find out. It wasn't hard to put it all together."] Rainbow Dash continues.

["B-but that's not what happened at all! I ran-"] You try to explain to her what actually happened.

But then you remember that you cried after running into a tree. That's not exactly something that you'd want them knowing about you. At least that one's a lot further from being blown out in the open than the whole crush thing. You realize that there's nothing you can tell them.

["But what?"] Asks Rainbow Dash, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

Her expression is somewhat bored, yet almost mocking. She's clearly going to stick with what she thinks happened. There's absolutely no hope in convincing her. Whatever, you don't even care anyway. It's a lot easier to just go with it.

["Never mind, you caught me."] You pretend to admit.

["Oh, you two are going to be so cute together!"] Trumpets Pinkie. ["I'm so excited for you! I just hope the writers will be okay with this."]

Upon reading this, you realize she has a pretty good point. What if the writers don't wan't you to have a crush on Rarity anymore? You can't remember any particularly recent scenes in which you were to show very much affection for her. What if they don't really want it to happen, and just wanted it to be in the show? You can't imagine a reason why they would just go and do that to you. Invoke a huge crush between you and Rarity and then just expect you to simply forget about it. How could you possibly forget something that made you feel so complete on the inside? How could anyone? Or anypony?

["I should've known you would try to talk your way out of it."] Gloats Rainbow. ["You just can't fool me. I'm that smart!"]

["Let's not get too ahead of ourselves, Rainbow."] Twilight's caption suddenly appears.

["Well, you know what I meant. I'm street smart. Not an egghead!"]

Twilight smirks slightly.

Seriously, how long has she been standing there?

["None of you are going to tell anyone else that this is still going on, right?"] You try to make sure this doesn't get out of hand.

["You have my word! I swear with every ounce of loyalty in my being that I'll never tell."] Guarantees Rainbow Dash.

["And I Pinkie Promise! Nopony will ever know."] Promises Pinkie Pie.

You three look at Twilight. She smiles back, blushing slightly. You all clearly remember the first time this happened.

["I'll keep it to myself this time. I solemnly swear as a princess."] She declares, raising her right hoof. ["I only caved last time because of the writers. But I can make my own choice, now. I won't tell."]

She nods conclusively.

["Well that makes three of us!"] Announces Rainbow.

["Thanks…"] You express your gratitude and relief.

The four of you finish breakfast, and then head out the door. No one really has a schedule set up. You all really just do whatever you feel like doing each day. It's actually one of the best things you could possibly imagine. No objectives, no real tasks or responsibilities. You hang out everyday, enjoying life. All of you head over to a nearby lake to go swimming. It is still summer, after all. You talk with Twilight as you head over.

["Not to be nosy or anything, but why was Applejack in the carriage last night, anyway?"] You ask.

["Oh, that. It wasn't anything, really. She just needed a quick ride to the center of Ponyville about stocking the store shelves with apple cider."] Twilight explains. ["She normally does this at night when most ponies are asleep, and we happened to be nearby right as she was walking from her ranch in the outskirts of ponyville."]

["Wow, what a coincidence. I really didn't mean to cause her all that… you know… trouble. With my wings and everything."]

["Oh, don't worry about that. That pony's quite okay with… those kind of things. She works on a farm."]

["Yeah. I'm just glad I didn't do that when Rarity was around"]

["Oh, I can already imagine how worked up she'd get."] You can see Twilight laughing a little.

You don't even want to imagine how Rarity would have reacted. Already, you can see the repulsed look on her face. She would never want to come within 10 feet, or about 3 meters, of you again. But a possibility overlaps the other thoughts in your mind, raising an alarming question. Will you ever have a horrific goop episode again? Can you even control it?

["I think her reaction would be almost the exact opposite of Applejack's."] Twilight continues.

She has a hinting expression on her face. It's as though she's trying to convince you something.

["It just might be better that Applejack was there instead of Rarity. That could've made things awkward between you two."]

As if they're not already awkward enough…

["Looks like Rarity's got some competition. At least Applejack can handle the things that happen to Spike."] Rainbow Dash suddenly interrupts.

["Rainbow!"] Twilight scolds.

["What? It's not like either of them know!"]

["Let's please not turn this into one of those types of things. Those two have already feuded over a bunch of other things. It's not good for their friendship if they start fighting over Spike, too!"]

You have to admit, you feel rather delighted reading this. Two mares competing over you.

["I think Rarity would win. She has a lot more history with him. And he likes her more."] Rainbow concludes.

["Can we please stop talking about this?"] You beg, already mildly embarrassed.

["Yeah, Applejack should just move over. No offense to her, though."] Pinkie adds.

["Girls, stop it! The best way to keep this from them is to not talk about it at all. What if they could hear us right now?"] Warns Twilight.

["Fine. Sorry to upset the gossip police."] Silently groans Rainbow.

Twilight gives her an annoyed look.

["What? Fine, fine. Let's just swim already."]

If there were any more discoveries that you made about yourself, it's that you're an excellent swimmer. It is easier for you to do strokes because of your longer arms. You zoom through the water with ease, cutting and slicing a path with your powerful claws. On occasion, you use your wings to push through the water; they prove to be very effective. Twilight and Pinkie are clearly impressed. They had never seen you so active during any of the seasons. Just wait until the voices can see what you can do now. You imagine that your voice provider will be thrilled to voice you once the next season is in production. And what will the writers think? Will they be proud of you now that you've grown? Maybe that's why they're waiting until they return. They want to give you time to grow.

But you know this means you'll have to be patient. If this premise is true, then you should have no problem waiting for them to come back, which is what you've been doing for a whole day, now. But being patient is easy if you're enjoying yourself all the while.

You torpedo out of the water like a jumping fish, landing on your feet. Now all three of the ponies present are cheering for you; Rainbow Dash is sitting in a chair gathering sun rays. In the plight of confidence, you turn back to the water to go for another round. Through the ripples, you can slightly see an outline. It is the outline of Rarity. It looks so real, as though she trapped under the water and trying to get out.

Is that really her? But how did she possibly get down there? There's no time for pondering. No time for thinking twice. You leap in after her. You can't figure out why you did it. The overwhelming notion could not be resisted. You gaze down to see a distant Rarity at the bottom of the lake. She appears to be trapped by something. At this point, you're not sure if this is real, or you're just seeing things.

But then, another thought. What if the studio's doing this? What if they're making images appear in your mind to test you? That would probably explain that shadow looking thing that chased you in the Everfree forest. It's not entirely plausible that it was actually there, since the studio has been known to be able to make it look like something is there when, in reality, nothing is.

Are they planting an image of Rarity in the water? Maybe they really do want you to be closer to her. You partially conclude that this is some kind of test to see what you would do in this kind of situation. The other half of you blindly strives to save Rarity from danger (again). Either way, you're swimming yourself down deeper into the water.

You push downward as hard as you can, feeling your body begin to grow slightly. Your arms are getting thicker with muscle, and your wings feel as though they are increasing in size. There is no way to tell if the studio is causing this or not, but you decide not to focus on that. Further down into the depths of the lake you push. The further you go, the stronger you get.

Adaption.

Swimming downward is significantly more difficult than swimming parallel to the water line. You pump as many strokes as you can towards the bottom. At the bottom, Rarity is pinned to the ground, but you can't see what's causing this. She has a traumatized expression on her face. In fact, you can even somehow see tear drops flowing from her eyes. It is almost as though they are thicker than the water. As you inch closer towards her, you don't know which is more excruciatingly painful: The fiery air in your lungs that must leave and let in new air, or the sight of Rarity crying in such terror. She's not even holding her breath.

As you finally get close enough to reach her, you grab on to one of her arms and pull upwards as hard as you can. You can't hold your breath for much longer. She doesn't budge. You tug and pull with all your might. The air in your lungs feels like it's about to combust into an explosion, but then leaves through your wind pipe. Everything is happening in one instant. The water goes dark.

…

You wake up lying in the grass, opening your eyes to find Twilight, Rainbow and Pinkie surrounding you. They're all looking down at you.

["Spike? You alright?"] You can see Pinkie's caption.

You think of an answer, while trying to comprehend what just occurred.

["Yeah. I just need a minute."] You reply.

["What the hay just happened?!"] Pipes Rainbow Dash, concerned.

["That was so amazing! You made this huge pillar of water and steam shoot out of the lake, like a geyser!"] Pinkie Pie excitedly rambles. ["And then you flew into the air making this super huge fire tornado thingy as you shot up. Did you do a barrel roll? I think you did a barrel roll!"]

["I… did?"]

["I knew it! It sure looked like it! And then you landed here in the grass before waking up a few seconds later!"]

Twilight can only stare in awe at what apparently just happened.

You look at yourself. You have gotten even taller from the experience. Your arms and legs are a lot more built, now. The growth has made progress.

["Did I really just do all of that?"] You ask.

["Yeah! And it was SO AWESOME!"] Rainbow Dash silently shouts, making the face she makes all the other times age says this.

["But…"] Twilight is finally able to add, ["why did you suddenly try to do that? That looked outstandingly dangerous!"]

["I… just thought I saw something in the water."] You admit.

["What was it? You can tell us!"] Pinkie eagerly assures.

["It looked like Rarity was trapped under the water somehow."]

["What?"]

["I swear, it looked so real! I had to do something!"]

The three give you puzzled looks. You look back, abjectly as Rainbow begins to smile.

["Well, I didn't know you like her that much!"] She says.

The cringing begins.

["It's not what you think!"] You, once again, try to convince her.

It's barely been half a day and this subject has been brought up three times already. You see Pinkie Pie's caption next:

["*Laughter*"]

Wow, really?

["I'm sorry, Spike."] Pinkie continues ["I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you!"]

The cringing intensifies.

["I really thought I saw her. Honest!"] You state, absolutely sure of yourself.

Pinkie Pie bounces over to the lake. You follow her. You both look, and neither of you see anything.

["There's no one down there, silly!"] She points out while gesturing towards the water.

["I think Spike's going a little loopy! He's seeing Rarity everywhere he goes!"] Pinkie exclaims.

["Nuh-uh!"] You playfully tune your maturity level to match Pinkie's. You figure it's no use trying to get Pinkie Pie to be serious.

["Yeah-huh!"] She deems back.

You and Pinkie ensue in a playful back and forth last word battle. These arguments are even more brutal when you try to spawn the last caption instead of say the last word. Darn this silence. The captions are piling up between the two of you. They are forming a small mountain. This is so symbolic for such an immature argument. Twilight levitates the mound of captions away and disintegrates them as they generate again.

["Stop it, you two! You'll crowd up the whole forest!"] She vilifies.

["Are you sure you saw something?"] Asks Rainbow Dash, also peering into the lake.

Twilight gives her an "Are you kidding me?" look. A look of ridiculing disbelief.

["Hey, I only promised to not tell anypony. I can still have a sense of humor about this!"] Rainbow explains.

Oh, what use is it? They'll end up making jokes sooner or later. You play along.

["Fine, fine. I guess I am going a little crazy over her."] You try to make the pun as laughable you can.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash continue to look into the lake.

["Maybe this is an enchanted lake."] Pinkie suggests.

["Enchanted? Really?"] Rainbow skeptically berates.

["Of course! Otherwise, how else would I be able to do this?"]

Pinkie Pie then lifts up the edge of the lake, as if it is some sort of a giant cloth. There is grass underneath the now 2 dimensional lake. You and the others are frozen in shock.

["Pinkie! What did I warn about doing that? You could permanently alter the environment! We don't want to upset the studio or anything!"] Explains Twilight.

["If they didn't want me to do that, then why am I able to?"] Pinkie Pie debates.

["Oh… my."] Fluttershy's caption appears just in your line of sight.

Everyone's startled.

["Fluttershy?! How long have you been here?"] Twilight asks her.

["The, um, whole time?"] Fluttershy nervously answers.

She emerges from the bushes. There are twigs and small branches tied to her hooves and one twig is tied to her forehead. You all give her estranged looks.

["What… are you doing with those?"] You ask, trying to be helpful.

["They're my… branches."]

You can't think of any valid way to respond to this.

["Don't tell me you're pretending to be a tree again."] Rainbow Dash finally pleads.

You know there's no way that she didn't hear everything that you all said for the past 20 minutes or so.

["Did you hear everything we were talking about?"] You ask.

Fluttershy hesitates.

["It's not my fault. I didn't know any of you were going to be here. I normally come here from time to time and put these branches on. I only like doing this because the writers made it this way in the past. I just can't quit loving nature after all the wonderful times I've had with it. You know that feeling, right, Spike?"] She claims.

You gulp in slight apprehension as you know exactly what she's talking about.

["Oh, my goodness! Did you grow again, Spike?"] Fluttershy gasps.

You turn your attention to the others, and then back at Fluttershy.

["It happened just now, when I was in the lake."] You explain.

It feels as though that nothing has been happening for the past couple of days but a few growth spurts.

["I was swimming, and my arms and legs started to grow. You should've seen it."] You explain.

["Fluttershy."] Twilight intervenes. ["If you heard what we were saying this whole time, could you please understand that this needs to be kept from Applejack and Rarity?"]

["Of course. I know how those two can bicker over things, and I can see why they would have reasons to compete over Spike. I wouldn't want to see anything bad happen to their friendship."] States Fluttershy.

["I can't believe we're doing this all over again. It's almost like that one episode, but it's actually happening this time!"] Complains Rainbow.

["Well at least we don't have to worry as much about Rarity finding out."] Affirms Twilight.

["How's that?"] Asks Pinkie.

["She's been visiting Canterlot very frequently lately. I think she said it has something to do with her work in fashion design."]

["Wow, that sounds like it's some serious business to her."]

["Spike."] Twilight suddenly has an urgent look on her face. ["You are clearly having complications about your connection with Rarity. You're even seeing her when she's not really there."]

You look down slightly, but nod while doing so.

["I think that the only thing that's going to make these problems go away is to get closure. The studio could be back any day now. How do you think you're going to be able to work with them if you keep having these moments? Plus, it is interrupting our free time. No offense."] She continues.

You realize what she's going to say next.

["Even though they did kind of start this in the first place, you can finish this. And to do that, you need to make it official. Make it clear to them and yourself that you want to be with her."]

["That's probably what the growth spurts were for! The writers and animators finally realized that you're getting older, and they're trying to tell you that by making you grow!"] Asserts Rainbow Dash. ["It's a sign, Spike! It's time to make your move!"]

You gulp and your stomach sinks; you know what this means. The frightening realization engulfs you.

["She's right, you know."] Foreshadows Twilight. ["You must go to her."]

["But… I don't think I'm ready!"] You plead.

You suddenly forgot everything you learned. Lost all of your confidence in less than a few seconds.

["But the studio's counting on you! They've probably been waiting for you to do this all summer!"] Pinkie Pie starts to draw all the points together. ["It all adds up. The wait until their return, you're growth spurts, the return of your crush, everything! They didn't start the next season yet because you're not with Rarity yet."]

["Oh, my Celestia! She's right. That's what they're waiting for, Spike."] Twilight agrees.

Admittedly, you can't really think of a reason why this wouldn't be the case. It's definitely plausible.

["Well it does explain everything."] You admit.

["Umm… I know I'm probably not the one in any position to say this, but it looks like you need to muster up all of your courage and help us get our sound back."] Fluttershy encourages you. ["We're counting on you, Spike. Will you do this? Please?"]

She makes a sad face, obviously trying to convince you by doing so.

But it worked. Why wouldn't it?

["Alright! Alright. I'll go talk to her. Should I go now?"] You try to figure all of this out.

["Might as well. But I'm not sure exactly where in Canterlot she is at the moment. And she's there an awful lot. What you need is an excuse to stay in Canterlot for an extended period of time."] Plans Twilight.

["That's a fine start."] Rainbow Dash supports her. ["But what can we use as an excuse?"]

["Okay, don't tell anypony else this. Yesterday, Princess Celestia had assigned Spike a job delivering mail to and from Canterlot, since he can teleport scrolls."] Twilight reveals.

["What? But he hasn't even learned to fly, yet! But he sure can swim with those wings."]

["I know, that's why the other Princesses and I decided that he teams up with Derpy Hooves to get from one place to another."]

["Oh. That, my friend, is a good idea!"]

["Maybe I can arrange for Spike to meet with Derpy and the other Princesses for a few days of flying lessons. He's bound to run into Rarity at some point. This is actually a better scenario because none of us will be around at the time. And it sets a great impression for Spike."]

["That's perfect!"] You agree ["You won't have to worry for long, I'll get our sound back in no time! I guarantee it!"]

You think internally:

["I hope."]

All of you eventually conclude that you have spent enough time at the lake for now. Maybe you'll come back to it later once there's nothing else to get done first. For the meantime, everyone just goes about their own business. And your business is about to contain important matters.

You, however, decide there is no time to waste. You and Twilight make it back to Ponyville, and you take what you need to set off to canterlot. The established plan is to begin flight training in Canterlot, and to hopefully find a way to start spending time with Rarity over there. You spend about 20 minutes gathering the things that you'll probably need. Once you have everything, you bid Twilight farewell for the next few days.

["Good luck, Spike. You go out there and prove to the studio that you mean business!"] Twilight silently says.

["Thanks. I won't let any of you down. I promise."]

It's a bit corny, but neither of you can think of anything else to say. You decide not to care. Twilight waves you off as she enters her castle. You wave back as she disappears inside, and then turn to face Canterlot.

This is it. You're finally doing it. What you do on this trip will determine whether Equestria will ever have sound in the future. This is what you've been asking for all this time. Your own wings, your own adventure and your own story. The time has come for you to be the hero, instead of someone else doing so while you sit on the sidelines. You spread your wings and try to take off.

Something's wrong.

You can't seem to lift yourself off the ground. You still haven't learned how to fly. Apparently, moving around with wings is a lot more difficult when gravity pulls you with more force. You're not underwater this time. You stand alone in the open air. Against massive odds which tower against you. That's okay; it's one of the reasons why you're doing this. Best just deal with it. You take a deep breath. As you exhale, a long stream of green fire shoots out of your mouth towards the sky. Your silent roar pretends to echo as you walk.

…

After about a half an hour of walking, you arrive at the castle. Canterlot's quite a ways uphill, making traveling on foot a bit tiring. You get ready to speak with the Princesses. You have a small amount of food and a couple of other items with you for your stay. Upon approaching the front doors of the castle, a few guards greet you. They don't say anything, not like they can make a sound anyway. You explain that you have been assigned to work with the delivery service and ask them if you can talk with Princess Celestia. After a pause, they nod. It's apparent that they recognize you. But they gesture you to follow two of them through the doors. You are escorted through the main hallway. The inside of the castle looks like it has been completely redesigned since yesterday. There were scattered objects everywhere, as if they were moving away. Now, everything's completely orderly and sophisticated. The hallways are decorated with cloaks and stained glass windows, you're not sure if looked this way during the season. Twilight wasn't kidding when she said they can clean things up really quickly with magic. It was something you never really payed much attention to.

You enter the throne room. It is there you see Princess Celestia.

["Spike of Ponyville! I'm surprised to see you at this hour."] She addresses you. ["What brings you here?"]

["I'm here because of the occupation you had assigned me yesterday, your majesty."] You address back.

["Okay. What is is you would like to talk about?"]

["Well, since I can't exactly fly yet, I wouldn't be able to travel from place to place as easily as Derpy would."] You explain.

["I see what you mean."] She responds. ["And I have also noticed you have grown a bit, as well."]

You feel internally overjoyed to hear this.

["Thank you, your majesty."] You respond.

["Since you are bigger and heavier now, I suppose our original plan of Derpy lifting you through the air on her back wouldn't be very effective anymore, would it?"] Celestia points out.

You nod and smile.

["That's the reason I came here. I would like to request to receive flying lessons here."]

Celestia slightly widens her eyes. She hasn't expected you to propose something like this so early. She doesn't say anything for a few seconds, then grins a little bit.

["I have to say, I really like this idea."] Celestia finally says back to you as she briefly looks out the window. ["But the only problem is, the guards and I are normally busy. We wouldn't have the time necessary. Have you arranged to have a mentor available in case there was no one else?"]

["Well I was thinking that Derpy could teach me, since I'm going to be working with her anyway. Twilight already said that she supported this. And since nothing is really going on with the studio yet for there to be much important news to go around, I'm sure Derpy would be more than happy to stay in Canterlot for a few days."] You clarify.

["That's perfect! I'm glad you have the ability to plan ahead. If that's who you're sure you'll be sure you will learn from, then let it be done. Would you be ready if I arranged for her to arrive here today? She did once mention that she wanted to deliver mail to and from Canterlot more often. I imagine that she really likes it here."] Celestia begins to plan.

This is perfect.

["I'll be ready as soon as possible, your majesty."] You confirm.

["Excellent. I'll write her a scroll now and you can teleport it to her."]

["Thank you, your majesty. This means a lot."]

Celestia turns to one of the guards.

["Inform the chefs to make all the muffins they possibly can."] She discloses.

It begins. You wait patiently as the castle prepares for Derpy's arrival. It's quite interesting how everyone in the entire castle is participating. I guess this is a big deal to them, hosting visitors from Ponyville. They're probably doing this because Derpy has never really been assigned to do anything major in the castle before. In the kitchen, you observe the chefs mixing unheard-of amounts of batter and other ingredients for muffins. They have at least 3 cook books out, frantically sifting through the pages for helpful resources. How many muffins can one pony want to have?

You meanwhile prepare to begin your lessons. Celestia explains that you will meet Derpy in a courtyard when she gets here. You begin stretching your wings, hoping that you'll be able to fly as soon as you could possibly learn how. After a few more minutes, Celestia approaches you with a scroll and a map of Ponyville beside her.

["If you look closely, it is this exact spot where you should send the letter. You can teleport it from here, sending it directly to Derpy Hooves's front doorstep."] She says, pointing to a small square next to one of the drawn roads on the map.

She turns to you.

["She should notice it right away, and she'll fly to the castle."] Celestia briefs as she levitates the scroll into your palms.

["Okay, here it goes."] You notify.

You take a deep breath, and release fire from your lungs before concentrating on the location on the map, comparing it to where you are at the moment. You have already become adept in doing this. You have teleported countless letters to the castle in the past. This shouldn't be very difficult. The scroll disappears within the flames, having been successfully teleported. Summoning Derpy Hooves to the castle.

About 5 minutes pass as you and Celestia wait in the main hall for Derpy's arrival. Nothing has really happened yet. The anticipation grows inside you. Every second that passes adds to your anxiety. Unnecessary anxiety. You're a growing dragon, now. There is no need to be afraid of a grey, muffin craving pegasus.

Right?

You see a caption.

It reads: ["*From behind door* Helloooo? I'm here, everypony!"]

It's time. All of the workers in the castle race around, preparing everything. They're almost panicking, but still maintaining composure. The doors slowly swing open, letting beams of light through. The doors face west, and the sun is close to setting. You can make out Derpy's outline in the brightness as the massive double doors continue to gradually diverge. You can't help but notice how epic the moment is. How is it that whenever you enter those doors, nothing really happens, but when Derpy does, the doors glide more smoothly and the sun is shining right behind her? It doesn't feel fair. That's one of the things you never really had a chance to have yet. An epic first impression. This kind of thing might come in handy later. She walks through the doors, waves hello to you, then stops. She lets out a silent gasp of joy as she gazes at something behind you. You spin around. Your jaw drops at what you see.

Muffins. Muffins everywhere. About a dozen platters with pyramids made out of muffins. Plates with all different kinds of assorted muffins. They literally have every possible flavor, arrangement, size and other properties available. There's so many of them. You have no idea how they managed to do all of this in less than 30 minutes. Derpy flies over to the muffins in delight. She eats a couple of them. About 1 or 10 of them.

["I had a feeling she would appreciate this."] You see Celestia's caption appear.

You turn to her. She has an assured look of accomplishment on her face.

["That's a lot of muffins! How did they make all this in such a short time?"] You inquire.

["Magic."] Celestia replies.

Derpy finishes eating her desired share of the muffins for the moment. Celestia generates a force field around the muffins, preserving them and keeping them warm.

["Derpy Hooves of Ponyville."] Celestia warmly greets her. ["Welcome to the castle. I'm confident you'll enjoy it here."]

["Thanks, your majesty! So what was it you wanted me to do here with Spike?"] Derpy bows a little bit when she says this.

["I'm glad you asked. You see, Spike here is a Dragon who has just grown his wings. But he has yet to learn to fly."] Celestia summarizes.

You look at them both timidly and kindly.

["He has recently arrived here to receive flying lessons, and we have decided that you would make an adequate mentor for him. In addition to this, he will also be joining you on your delivery route in the near future. Hence, the reason we need you to give him flying lessons."] Celestia finishes explaining.

Derpy looks over at you. She then looks back at Celestia.

["All right!"] Derpy exclaims. ["This is the best assignment I've gotten yet!"]

She turns to you.

["Don't worry. I'll teach you everything I know. Even how to go backwards."] She reveals.

Backwards…

You and Derpy enter the courtyard. You set some of your equipment down as Derpy begins explaining the basics.

["Okay. The first thing about flying backwards is knowing how to fly in place."] She discloses.

["So I need to know how to fly in place first?"] You ask.

["Yes. Now let's start with getting yourself into the air with only your wings."]

Derpy flaps her wings, lifting herself up about 3 feet (~1 meter) off the ground.

["Try to move your wings the same way I'm moving mine."] Derpy instructs you.

You flap your wings. You feel the force push you upward with each movement, but your feet don't leave the ground.

["Am I doing it right?"] You ask.

["Almost. You just need to push the air under your wings down just a little bit harder."] Derpy explains.

["Okay."]

You try again. The air under your wings is your target. The wings push down on it, generating an upward force with each thrust. You are feeling lighter and lighter.

["There you go! You're almost doing it!"] Encourages Derpy.

You flap your wings harder, but still more controlled. You shut your eyes and imagine yourself in Cloudsdale. Flying far above the towns below. You push upward as far as you can go. In your imagination, you are traveling up at an amazing speed. Fast enough to break through a ceiling. You feel a hoof tap your shoulder. You open your eyes to find your feet hovering above the ground by a few feet (or a couple of meters). Instantly drop back to the ground.

["Oh my Celestia! Did you see it? I was flying!"] You exclaim.

["Yes! You're doing good!"] Derpy congratulates. ["Now try to stay in the air a little bit longer this time."]

Confidence washes back over you. You flap your wings to push upward again, knowing how to push the air this time. You rise. Gradually rise into the air. As you're doing this, you spread your arms out. You not 100% sure why you did this, perhaps it was out of excitement.

["You're doing it! You're flying! Keep going."] Derpy cheers you on.

You are now about one story up beginning to control the force in attempt to stay in one place. Then you start to drop down again. You flap your wings a little bit harder to counter this. You're going up again.

This back-and-forth process repeats for about another minute. Eventually, you're in one spot. Hovering two stories worth of height above the floor of the courtyard.

["Wow! I've never seen anyone learn how to do that so fast. You sure are a fast learner, Spike!"] Derpy Applauds you.

["What do I do from here?"] You ask, awaiting her answer.

["Oh, of course."] She replies. ["Now, let me explain to you how to go backwards from here."]

You actively listen as Derpy lays out the basics of flying backwards.

["The key is to turn your wings so the side facing down is facing forward a little bit."] She imparts.

["Okay. Let me try."]

You tilt the tips of your wings up, slightly bringing your strokes to maneuvering in a forward motion, and descend down for a few seconds, before adjusting your wings' positions so you stay in one spot again.

["Don't worry. You're starting to get it!"] She insists.

You continue to do what she told you. Tilt the wings slightly further. You start to feel as though you're shifting backwards. It's working.

["Good, good! You're doing great."] Derpy continues to encourage you.

You continue flapping the wings, unable to believe you're learning how to go backwards before you go forward. You eventually gain speed.

["Keep going. You're doing it."]

You gain a little more speed.

["Watch out!"] Derpy suddenly warns.

You continue to go backwards until you feel a solid object hit your back. A wall. You flew all the way into the wall. You didn't hit very hard, though. So your wings are alright. You let yourself fall back to the ground, landing on one knee. That part hurt.

A lot.

But you don't cry this time. Just deal with it. You rise to your feet, this time without the assistance of your wings. At the same time, you are symbolically rising. Out of your apprehension in into excellence. The rise of Spike the Brave and Heroic Dragon.

…

Your flying lessons with Derpy last for the remainder of the day. You slowly begin to improve in the art of flight. Gaining skill minute by minute, hour by hour. And soon to be, day by day. You can already move fast while going backwards. Derpy, being used to flying like this, has taught you how to navigate and control which directions you are going in. The thing is, you don't even know how to fly forward yet. You're almost like a reversed version of a kangaroo. (Kangaroos can't hop backwards.)

You just hope this can prove to be effective when you start flying from place to place. The lessons eventually end with you experiencing a whole new level of confidence. You feel extensively proud of the progress you've made. Derpy advises you to practice on your own, preferably with one of the other pegasi. She has to make a few trips tomorrow, but she will be available for a whole week starting the day after tomorrow.

You almost literally can't wait.

As you're leaving, you run into Celestia in the hallway.

["Oh there you are. I was wondering when you'd be done."] She says.

["It was really helpful, your majesty. I enjoyed it a lot."] You thank her.

["I'm happy to read that. Hopefully, I'll soon be able to show you two the route I'm currently planning for you. It's just between Ponyville and Canterlot. I'm still trying to decide if you can reach Cloudsdale in a decent amount of time."]

["Well if I practice enough, that'll be no problem for me. I'll go on whichever route you create."] You assure her. ["I mean, that's the reason I'm here, right?"]

["Yes. But it's not the only reason."] She begins to smile, hinting something.

["Other… reason?"]

["I know why you're really here this early. It didn't take me long to figure it out."]

She knows, but you don't cringe. In fact, you can't help but smile. You're used to this now.

["*laughs* Well, what can I say?"] You chuckle.

You eventually leave the castle and proudly fly home.

Backwards, of course.

…

You don't really do much for the rest of the night. When you arrive back at Twilight's castle, you find Twilight already asleep. You decide it would be rude to wake her. You simply go to bed. Even though you are overly excited about your recent accomplishments, you still have the ability to sleep. This surprises you. You imagined that you would be too worked up with utter joy to even have any hope of falling asleep. But that apparently isn't the case. You're eventually snoring. You don't even remember what you dreamt.

The night sweeps by in an instant.

You wake up to Twilight's caption poking you on the nose.

["Spike! Spiiiiiiike! Wakey wakey, Spikey wikey!"] Twilight chimes.

Spikey wikey? Really?

You open your eyes to see her beaming face glaring straight at you. She has a heartfelt smile on her face, a smile of somepony who's happy to see you.

["So, did you see Rarity?"] She frantically asks.

["No. But I did learn to fly backwards."]

["Really? That's amazing!"]

["If I learn fast enough, I'll be going everywhere in Canterlot in no time! I'll be able to hang out with Rarity both there and here. It's perfect!"] You explain.

["Great! The other girls and I didn't really do much after you left. We had a pictionary contest. It's so much more fun when there's no sound! I won, of course."]

["I can imagine. Anyway, I'm actually available today. Maybe we all can go do something that involves flying. That way I can practice even more. The sooner I master the art of flying, the sooner the studio will start the next season."] You conclude.

["Great. I'll go see who's available today. It's most likely going to be everypony, even Rarity this time!"]

["Sounds great. I'll join you downstairs."]

As Twilight leaves you get out of your bed. You barely fit in it, now. After walking towards the door, a grim realization hits you. Your bed is too small for you. You look back at it. It is completely unchanged. The exact same bed you've always been sleeping in. It didn't grow like you had. If your growth spurts were started by the studio that controls pretty much the entire universe, then why is your bed the same size? Wouldn't they have made the bed grow as well? Something's off, here.

Something's wrong.

You and the others decide to go back to the field in which you re-enacted scenes from the seasons. It's clear that you can practice flying some more there. You're overjoyed. You all approach the field in a group. It's all of you this time.

["Okay. Since I'm the best flyer out of all of us, I say that I teach him what I know first."] Declares Rainbow Dash.

["Best? Well I think it's better if Spike is taught by somepony who hasn't had as much experience, like me."] States Twilight.

["Does it really matter who teaches him first?"] Asks Applejack.

["I say we all compromise and teach him at the same time."] Suggests Fluttershy.

You all look at each other, trying to decide who's suggestion is the most reasonable.

["I think it's best that you all teach me at the same time. I don't want to learn thing too much one way, then switch to another."] You conclude.

What did you even mean by that?

["Fine. I guess that's our best option."] Says Rainbow.

The field training begins. You start out learning how to land accurately in specified spots. Everyone is surprised when they see that you know how to fly backwards, but still not forward. They decide that it's best that you learn to learn how to land backwards, and then gradually shift to landing while facing your target. You start off landing with ease.

["You're getting this down really quickly, Spike. Especially for someone who can't see where they're landing."] Compliments Twilight.

["Yeah. But now let's see if you go forward and land."] Challenges Rainbow Dash.

You haven't tried this yet. You hope that you won't make too many mistakes.

["You know how you're flying backwards, right?"] Rainbow asks.

["Right."]

["Well think of how you can go backwards to that backwards. You know, mirror it."]

["Like some kind of a double negative?"]

["Exactly! And while doing that, imagine yourself running forward with your wings."]

["Okay. Here it goes."]

You lift into the air, going backwards slightly, paying attention to your wings and flap them as though you're rowing a canoe backwards. You remember what Derpy had told you. Proceed to do the exact same thing with your wings, but this time focusing on pushing on the air behind you. You can't see what your wings are doing this time, so you have to go with your sense of muscle memory. But you glide forward anyway. But not very fast.

["There you go! I knew you could do it!"] Fluttershy cheers softly with a smaller font caption.

["Well, it's not over yet."] Warns Rainbow. ["He's not going anywhere near fast enough."]

["But he doesn't need to go super speedy like you do, Rainbow. Let him take his time."]

["Why would he want to fly everywhere at that speed? He just needs to push harder!"]

["Stop arguing, girls! Let Spike decide if he wants to go faster or not."] Twilight interjects.

["I can try that!"] You try to solve the disagreement.

["Are you sure you just want to jump to it like that? I don't want you to hurt yourself."] Admonishes Fluttershy.

["Oh, come on! Of course he's ready! Do it, Spike."] Urges Rainbow.

They clearly have conflicting views in what your pace should be; Rainbow Dash being the strict pusher while Fluttershy is advising you to relax and take your time. You have already started to increase forward speed, beginning to feel some kind of rush. You immediately recognize it as the same rush that Rainbow Dash had described whenever she raced. The wind doesn't feel as though it's rushing past you fast enough. You want your speed to increase. The need for speed intensifies. But you also don't want to leave Fluttershy's suggestion out of the equation. You flap your wings in longer, more spread out strokes, the same way Fluttershy does when she fled. You've noticed that she usually does this. Her wing beats are a lot less frequent than those of Rainbow Dash. All of the motion from their wings every time they fly had gained just enough of your attention to realize this. With larger strokes, you are able to push forward with more momentum in each wing beat. It's easier to go faster now. It is within this moment that you realize that Fluttershy's wings could possibly be stronger than Rainbow Dash's wings, since she doesn't need to flap them as much to stay in the air. It is quite impressive what you're learning today. The best part is: you can see where you're going now. By flying forward, you have traded in your visual of your wing activity for a visual of your flightpath. Your speed continues to pick up.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy silently shout to you in captions while you fly.

["Remember! Attack the air behind you with your wings!"] Reminds Rainbow Dash.

["No! Don't attack the air! The air is your friend that keeps you alive! Just gently push it behind you!"] Fluttershy disagrees.

["Really? Just gently push it behind you? It's just air! It doesn't have feelings!"]

["Well, it's not necessary to take such an aggressive approach to something that has never hurt you."]

["Oh, please! Next you'll be telling him to apologize to the air and say excuse me every time his wings flap!"]

["That's not true! He just needs to be gentle with the air and have more control!"]

["No, he needs to push the air harder! How else is he going to go faster?"]

["Well if he goes too fast, he won't be able to turn very easily, would he?"]

["With practice he'll be able to maneuver bearer and dodge objects without losing anymore speed."]

Rainbow turns towards you.

["Make sure you don't crash into anything!"] She delivers the caption to you.

The caption hovers right in front of you. You fly right into it. It hits you right in the stomach.

["Ow!"] You silently cry out as the sharp edges of the letters jam into your sides.

The caption then breaks into pieces; letters are now flying everywhere around you. You land on the ground, letters and parts of words shower onto you seconds later. The word ["crash"] hits you right on the forehead.

Seriously, how ironic was that?

The pain doesn't last long. You eventually manage to bring yourself to your feet. Rainbow Dash flies over to you, with Fluttershy right behind her.

["I'm alright!"] You inform them ahead of time.

You don't want them to worry about you for another second. Rainbow looks at you with a repentant expression.

["Oh, I knew you could have gotten hurt!"] Fluttershy tries to comfort you.

["It's okay. Really. It was just a mistake!"] You assure her.

["Rainbow Dash, I think you owe Spike an apology."] She continues.

Rainbow lowers her head a little.

["I'm… sorry, Spike. I guess I got a little carried away."] She says. ["I guess I shouldn't have thrown off your concentration."]

Fluttershy smiles.

["It's fine. I'm not even mad."] You reply.

Twilight approaches the three of you.

["You two shouldn't have argued when Spike was flying in the air the way he was. Didn't I warn you that these captions could be a safety hazard?"] She indicates to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

["Well he would have stayed focused on where he was going if Fluttershy hadn't convinced him to be careful about hurting the air!"] Complains Rainbow Dash.

["That's not true, Rainbow. He would have had time to stop if he wasn't going so fast."] Fluttershy says back.

["You were letting get distracted because of the air. You don't have to worry about the air getting hurt when you're flying. If anything, you should push it out of the way as hard as you can!"]

["No, you have to control your movements and softly fly past the air, not push it."]

["The air's everywhere. You can't just fly past it."] Rainbow Dash is getting a bored and annoyed look on her face.

Twilight intervenes again.

["Are you two seriously arguing over air? It's air. Just air. That's it."] She articulates.

The two pegasi immediately settle down.

["Okay."] Fluttershy finally says. ["We're sorry our arguing crashed into you in mid air."]

Rainbow Dash silently sighs.

["I'm sorry too. We won't argue anymore."]

You eventually end up compromising between Fluttershy's and Rainbow Dash's methods. You learn to calmly stroke your wings with slow and controlled movements, while gaining a lot of speed at the same time. The two pegasi decide that it is a better idea to fly alongside you as you practice. Rainbow Dash would fly in the front with you right behind her, and Fluttershy right behind you in case you need somepony to catch you. They pick paths between the clouds for you to fly along. Rainbow Dash keeps wanting to try all of the most difficult locations, but then Fluttershy would object and say that you're not ready yet. You all compromise (again) and choose intermediate paths. All the while, Rainbow Dash teaches you how to flips and barrel rolls. You pick up on this rather quickly, being that you've already proven to be a fast learner. At some points, you get a glimpse at the ponies back on the ground. Twilight, Rarity and Applejack are all sitting under a tree on the picnic blanket from last time. All three of them are equally impressed by what you're doing above them. You're just glad that Rarity was here to see this.

You've always wanted her to think that you're cooler tun you used to be. But you just hope that this doesn't appeal to Applejack more than you intend it to. The idea of those two fighting over you still makes you smile internally, but you know the right thing to do is to prevent that from happening. You suddenly see Rainbow Dash's caption beside you, but not in your way.

["Alright, Spike! That's enough easy flying. Time to take it up a level!"] She proclaims.

You gulp, not sure if you're ready for this, but you'll do it anyway. Besides, the studio wills it, right?

The three of you approach a nearby thunderstorm. This is a huge thunderstorm. Like, really huge. It's an absolutely massive, super cell tier, wall-clouded thunderstorm. You feel a slight wave of apprehension wash over you.

No.

You won't allow yourself to be afraid this time. You ignore the feeling and follow Rainbow Dash into the thunderstorm. Fluttershy can be seen fleeing away back toward the ground. That does seem like her. But then she does something completely unexpected.

She lands right in the top of the tree next to Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack. She bends the tree back a little bit, then catapults off of it towards you as the tree rebounds. That is an amazingly flexible tree. Next you see Pinkie Pie run towards the tree. Twilight waves to her as she approaches. Before you know it, Pinkie jumps onto the tree, still flying forwards from her momentum. The tree bends back even more this time, the top pressing against the ground. Just like Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie is catapulted towards the storm by the unusually elastic tree. She zooms past you, following Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash into the monster storm. Fluttershy catches her, like an acrobat. You realize that this is going to be fun as you follow.

You enter the wall of dark clouds, only to be instantly barraged by sheets and sheets of cold, stinging rain. It's actually quite refreshing against your rugged scales.

Lightning. Lightning everywhere.

It pulsates and encircles around you. Illuminating the surrounding clouds in spectacular formations and patters. This is already epic.

["Follow me! My trail will show you where to go to dodge the lightning!"] Instructs Rainbow Dash. ["But you have to be quick, in order to get past before another bolt strikes!"]

Good thing you're reading what she's saying, instead of trying to hear her as thunder drowns out her voice. Thunderstorms don't really seem to live up to their name when you can't hear any thunder. Although the lightning does make up for it. You bob and weave through the clouds, following the zigzagging rainbow trail as lighting bolts flash merely inches from you. Rainbow Dash is clearly used to this. Through the clouds, you see Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie racing by the lightning as well. Fluttershy occasionally flings Pinkie Pie into the air, missing about 3 or 4 lighting bolts. Pinkie Pie would do dozens of flips, twists and turns (and of course, barrel rolls) before Fluttershy catches her again. Pinkie is silently laughing and cheering the entire time, while Fluttershy has a fearless and determined look on her face. The studio doesn't let her show how brave she really is at times during the show production. You imagine if the the show's audience has been able to pick up on this at some point. It's as though she internally builds up every ounce of her fortitude over time just to use it for moments like this. You continue to follow Rainbow's rainbow.

Dodging the lighting actually becomes easy to a point where you can begin to do stunts of your own between turns. You do a few barrel rolls, while at the same time, keeping an eye on the rainbow colored trail you need to follow. The trail suddenly takes a sharp turn straight up. You follow it, staying parallel to it with ease. You notice that one of the lightning bolts are parallel to Rainbow Dash's trail. It doesn't take long to figure out the origin of this bolt. You know who to expect at the top of the thunderstorm as you burst out of the clouds.

There you find two pegasi. Rainbow Dash… and Lightning Dust. You totally knew it. Called it internally. You were only but two seconds behind Rainbow Dash. You look around you. The view of the clouds below you is beyond breathtaking. An widespread sea of fluffy glory, constantly lit up in small areas from the distant lightning beneath the bubbling surface. This would be a perfect place to escape the stress from the society that inhabits the surface of the earth. You turn back to the pegasi.

["Lightning Dust! What are you doing here?"] Rainbow asks, surprised.

["What? You didn't expect me to not show up in a storm like this, did you?"] Lightning replies.

You wonder if their rivalry exists outside of the show's episodes. You can only wait and see.

The two pegasi continue to converse.

["Aren't you supposed to be all the way down there at the back edge of the storm instead of up here?"] Lightning Dust jokes around, pointing diagonally down to the area where the storm moved away from a few minutes ago.

Rainbow Dash chuckles silently.

["Well, maybe I felt like I wanted to be on top this time!"] She responds. ["Nice joke, though."]

Lightning smirks, but in a friendly way.

["Well, even though there's no doubt that there's enough room for both of us up here, how about we… race? Would you like to?"] She challenges.

You know what happens when Rainbow Dash is challenged to a race. You know exactly what happens.

["Would I? Is that even a serious question?"] Rainbow Dash laughs.

You expected an answer like this…

["I'll take that as a yes. It won't be a meaningful race or anything."] Lightning Dust imparts. ["You know, nothing personal. Just for fun. I hope you don't mind."]

["Of course, not!"]

["Then it's settled."]

Lightning Dust then turns to you.

["Who's that?"] She asks.

["That's Spike. He's a fire breathing dragon. We're friends."] Rainbow Dash answers.

You just realized how cool your name sounds.

["Would you like to race with us?"] Lightning asks you.

You nod, coolly. Now's the time to really put your wings to the test.

You all line up side by side, facing the direction in which the storm is moving. The objective is to race from the top of the end of the storm to the bottom of the beginning. You all have to travel diagonally through the entire storm in order to get to this point in the fastest time frame possible. You all calmly wait until the back of the storm is below you.

Calmly.

The storm's edge recedes below the three of you, revealing the ground miles below. You hover, at the ready. Tense, but content. In an instant, a large flash of lightning brightens and highlights the entire dark underside of the supercell. You all immediately decide that this is the starting signal. The three of you take off at the same time, down into the clouds below. The two pegasi easily advance ahead of you. They clearly have more experience than you. Past the lightning you dart, quickly dodging the bolts with each sharp turn. Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust are now quite far ahead of you. It's hard to believe how fast they are. Something starts to happen where they are.

The lightning begins to change colors. Your eyes widen at the sight of this. The clouds around them begin to warp inward and outward Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust pass through them. You try to figure out how you're going to catch up to them. You remember that you can shoot fire out of your mouth. Is it possible that you could use it to boost your speed? That would actually be perfect for your situation. You're not really looking to win or anything, just to catch up so you're close enough to maintain your newly earned reputation as an athletic dragon. But there's one problem.

You can't turn your head all the way around to use the fire blast to adequately provide you with the speed you need. Even if you tried, you couldn't fly at the right angle so the fire wouldn't alter your direction of travel.

Then, you remember it.

You know how to fly backwards. It's perfect. Without giving a second thought, you spin around 180 degrees. Your wings are immediately switched to flying you backwards, you know this by heart now. You inhale as much air as you can, it's harder to do so since the wind is blowing the air away from your face. But you manage. You let out a powerful stream of green fire hundreds of feet (or meters) in front of you, thrusting you backwards with a strong jolt. You are not watching where you are going, so your chances of getting struck by lightning are hilariously high at the moment. Of course, one of the bolts hits you; you didn't think this plan through all the way. But an unexpected result occurs.

The shock combined with the rain on your scales charges you. Supercharges you. Accompanying the stream of fire you're firing, a long bolt of lightning. Assisting your speed with an additional and compelling boost. You're firing your laser, now.

It doesn't take long for you to catch up with the other two. You can't see them because you're not facing them. But you are entering their environment. Around you, you begin to notice multi-colored lightning flashing everywhere around you. The clouds are practically swirling in a giant horizontal spiral, like the inside of the back of a cement truck. Mixed into the clouds is the lightning. How epic can this day get?

Out of the corner of your eye, you can barely see the flight trails of Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust. The lightning and rainbow trails are braiding and intertwining as they weave in countless directions from sharp turns, indicating where the lighting bolts used to be. You're not very far behind them, but you know you won't be able to pass them. The colossal spiral continues to oscillate around you as you fire your laser of fire and lightning backwards.

You briefly turn your head to see where you're going. You manage to get a quick glimpse of one of the most amazing things you've seen yet. At the end of the vortex of spinning clouds and rainbow lightning, a beacon of sunlight. At the center of the sideways whirlpool of epic madness. It's only half of a second, but long enough for you to engrave the image into your memory forever. You turn your head back and resume firing your laser.

You can see your surrounding getting brighter and brighter, knowing you're almost at the edge of the storm.

Closer.

The next thing you know, you're in open air, radiated in sunlight. You halt, automatically being struck by your heated wake a second later. It pushed you forward a little bit. You can see Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust flying right beside you, breathing heavily.

["Wow, Spike. You sure can keep up with us. You almost passed us. Almost."] Lightning Dust emphasizes.

["Yeah, but I was still first, right?"] Rainbow Dash anxiously asks.

Here we go.

["I'm pretty sure I was first."] Lightning Dust says back.

["No way! I was totally ahead of you!"] Rainbow Dash argues.

["No you weren't! You were right behind me. I was first."]

["No, I was first!"]

They eventually both start laughing. It's heartwarming to see that they're friends, even outside the studio's production.

["I'd just say you're both tied. Either way, you were ahead of me, weren't you?"] You compromise.

["All right."] They both say in one collective caption.

You smile.

["You know Spike, you're flying really well for a first-timer. I have to admit that I'm super impressed."] Rainbow Dash compliments.

You blush a little bit.

["He's a first timer?!"] Lightning Dust gasps. ["Oh, my Celestia! Looks like we might have some competition in he starts flying professionally."]

This is exactly the kind of thing you needed to hear. Lightning Dust eventually finishes her conversation with Rainbow Dash and flies back to wherever she lives. The two wing-five and head their separate ways for the day. You figure that it's time to head back to Ponyville, too. After all, the supercell you all were just in is now traveling towards the field you all were hanging out together in. But that is not your primary concern, however.

You have a bad feeling about the sideways vortex that Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust created. The force of the winds felt overwhelming in there. You decide that it would be safest to inch your way around the edge of the storm, being that the conditions within the storm have very likely worsened. You and Rainbow Dash make it back to the field before the storm hits it. You had to travel a considerable distance from the field to reach the storm in the first place. Back in the field, the others are warning you that the storm that's rolling in is going to be severe.

["I say that we head back to Ponyville as soon as we can.This one looks pretty serious. Better not risk going inside of it, Rainbow."] Twilight informs.

["I agree, it's best that we just fly back."] You suggest, in favor of avoiding getting caught in the storm at all costs.

["You can say that again!"] Pinkie Pie's caption intercepts everyone else's.

You look over to where she is. She is covered head to hoof in scorches, and so is Fluttershy. They're both okay and in good spirits, but they could definitely use a break from severe weather conditions. They apparently weren't fast enough to dodge the lightning bolts in the storm. You and the rest of the group begin to head back. Rainbow Dash flies ahead of everyone else, eager to get a little bit of rest.

["Oh, Spike?"] You see Applejack's caption.

["Yes?"] You respond, ready to help her in whatever she asks you.

You see Rarity and Applejack standing in the field. Rarity is frantically trying to pack up the last of the picnic supplies.

["Ah don't think that we can outrun the storm on hooves."] Applejack explains with a concerned look on her face. ["We need y'all to fly us back. It's the only way!"]

["But we know that you'll most likely be able to carry only one of us. Since neither Twilight or Fluttershy have the ability to pick one of us up and fly us somewhere, could you send one of them to fetch Rainbow Dash for us?"] Suggests Rarity. ["And meanwhile, one of us can go back with you to Ponyville."]

You immediately understand what they're talking about.

["Sure. Right away."] You respond.

You walk towards the trees and throw a caption in the direction of Fluttershy. It misses her line of sight. Sound waves would be very useful right about now. You're not sure if anything's going to be able to reach her. But you don't have any other options. This time, you step back, and fly forward as you throw a second caption. Just far enough so she can notice it. Twilight has already flown too far away to even be seen. By some miracle, Fluttershy can briefly notice the caption. In a matter of seconds, she can be seen emerging from the trees.

["What's wrong?"] Fluttershy asks as she lands right in front of you.

["Fluttershy, we need you to catch up to Rainbow Dash and tell her that we need her to come back here to fly one of us over the forest. She's the only other flyer that has enough strength to carry a pony besides Spike."] Applejack explains as she walks closer to Fluttershy. ["Try not to panic, sugarcube. Rainbow must already be tired from all that training. She's definitely flying slow enough for you to catch up with her."]

She assuringly pats her on the shoulder.

["Of course! I'll go get her right away. I'll fly as fast as I can!"] Fluttershy promises.

["And please hurry, darling. The storm's practically right on top of us!"] Urges Rarity from across the field, who's finishing packing up the picnic supplies.

["Right… on top… of us?"] Fluttershy stutters as she looks up to the sky.

The clouds have turned from a grey-blue to a really dark green. It's not exactly a pretty sight. In fact, it's actually menacing to the point where even you are terrified. Fluttershy begins to panic.

["Okay… okay. I'll… go now."] She begins to desperately look in all directions.

She looks disoriented at first, but then takes off over the trees, silently screaming out of fear.

["Don't worry, she'll be fine. Which one of us y'all gonna take?"] Applejack asks.

It's no question that you want to take Rarity back while Applejack waits for Rainbow Dash. But Applejack is standing right in front of you, while Rarity is still in the middle of the field. You envision in your head that flying straight past Applejack and choosing Rarity would make it obvious what's going on between you two. The chances of Applejack catching on are too high. You can't risk it. Applejack's definitely not gullible, and you know this.But Rarity is further away. If anyone starts thinking things you can just use the excuse that Applejack was simply closer. You figure it's your best option. You lift Applejack off the ground and tell Rarity to wait where she is.

Applejack holds onto you as you fly over the trees. The storm clouds seem to be getting lower and lower. t's genuinely frightening how close to you that they have lowered. There's no way that this storm could possibly be the same one you just raced two super fast pegasi inside of. You don't even recognize it, despite seeing it from within the walls of clouds just 30 minutes ago.

It changed.

You look back to where the field is supposed to be. Pitch black. The surface of your scales begins to crawl. You feel a sick feeling boiling inside of you. If it were Applejack back there, she would have at least been able to run away from it faster. You don't see Rainbow Dash yet.

["Spike."] Applejack's caption startles you.

["Is everything alright?"] You respond.

["Ah know you want to go back for her."]

You can't say a word. There's no way she found you out this easily. Applejack continues to break the news to you.

["Ah could tell the minute ya hesitated to take me even though she was further away. Ah can tell by the look on your face, Spike. You care about her."]

You try to think of a response.

["Im… I'm sorry I did that. It's not like I see you as any less of a friend or anything."]

["It's okay, Spike. Ah understand. Ya don't have to apologize."]

["Okay."] You can't think of anything else to say.

["Listen, you can drop me off here. Rainbow Dash should be here any minute. I can run fast enough to have a chance."] Applejack explains.

["Are you sure you'll be alright?"] You ask, still trying to help.

["Ah'll be fine, Spike. Trust me. Go get Rarity. She needs ya."] Applejack gestures you to put her down.

You lower her to the ground. She smiles back at you.

["Well, what are ya waiting for, loverboy? Go save her!"] Applejack orders you.

You promptly fly back to the field under the dark clouds. They're even lower now.

You rush under the foreboding dark green ceiling hovering low enough for you to stick your whole arm into it. You make it back to the field in less than a minute. There, you see Rarity sitting with her back flat up against a tree. She's hugging the picnic basket with a tense look on her face as you fly over to her.

["Rarity! I came back. Applejack said she'll go with Rainbow Dash while I come back to here and get you."] You announce.

["Spike? Oh, thank Celestia you came back! I mean… oh, good you're back."] Rarity seems relieved to see you.

She looks back at the clouds with wide eyes.

["You're not scared are you?"] You ask her.

["Of course not, darling! Now pick me up, please. I would really like to leave here."]

You can tell she's lying, but you smile anyway and pretend to believe her. It's obvious she knows you don't believe her; she's still looking at you with a remorseful expression.

["It's fine."] You tell her. ["I'm a little scared, too."]

["Thanks."] She says, smiling now.

She holds on to you as you hoist her onto your back and take off back towards Ponyville. You notice that there has just been a role reversal. The last time you were here, you ran into a tree and Rarity was the one who ran to your rescue. But you've grown now. You are now the one who has come to her rescue. This is it, Spike. Your dreams are finally being realized.

As you fly over the trees, you see something following you on the ground. It takes you a second to recognize it. It's the black figure that's been following you around for the past couple of days. But this time, you're not the only one to sees it.

["What in Equestria is that?!"] Exclaims Rarity.

Oh, thank goodness you can confirm that you're not just seeing things. You try to figure out what to do now.

["Don't worry. It won't catch us up here, whatever it is."] You affirm.

You pick up your speed, dodging a few tree tops in your path. Flying has become ultimately easy, now. You look back through the trees, losing the black figure with laughable ease. This thing doesn't really seem to be much of a problem to you anymore, now that you can fly. If anything, this should be exactly what the studio wanted to happen. You growing up and becoming the hero. Why haven't they arrived by now? Is there something else they wanted you to do? You imagine that they probably want you to marry Rarity or something, but that would definitely be something that they would want to make happen during the show. Even the proposal. You at least know them well enough to see that they wouldn't miss out on that opportunity. As you begin to see the roofs of Ponyville over the horizon of the forest, you have a sudden absolution. You remember that you were told to wait a couple of days ago, but look at all that's happened in those couple of days. You bet that none of this would have happened the way it did if the studio would just take a little time out of their day to step in and help a little. You had to deal with these problems all on your own, not to mention dealing with them in silence. Sure, you pretty much got through it, now. But it was a lot harder to accomplish since you were pretty much alone, aside the company of your friends.

Applejack made it clear to you that she agreed that you and Rarity belong together, even without the studio's guidance. She's supporting this now. Everypony's supporting this now. Shouldn't this be considered official?

You realize that the reason the studio hasn't come back has nothing to do with you at all. Something really is wrong. But you're strong, now. You decide it's time to pull the strings to your own adventure. If the studio won't come back to Equestria, then you're going to go to their universe and find them.

…

You land onto the ground right in front of Twilight's castle. Everyone's already inside due to the incoming storm. Rarity climbs off of you and you both enter the doors. Rainbow Dash and Applejack are already there as well. Before you can say anything, Twilight speaks her caption for you to see.

["It's okay, Spike. We all already know."] She declares.

You know exactly what she's talking about. Applejack smiles at you warmly, and tips her hat to you.

["Ya'll never had anything to worry about, sugarcube. Ah was never tryin to make any kind of move with ya. It was already clear that Rarity beat me to it a long time ago."] She clarifies.

You can't believe you were going to do all of that subtle hiding for nothing.

["So, no drama?"] You ask, hopefully.

["Nah. This ain't no soap opera, sugarcube."]

A metaphorical weight lifts off of your shoulders.

["Wow. I'm sure glad that's all out of the way!"] You silently sigh in relief.

["You can say that again!"] Rainbow Dash interjects. ["Aside the awesome thunderstorm, these past couple of days have been nothing but a sappy love story between you and Rarity!"]

["Rainbow!"] Scolds Twilight.

Rainbow Dash pouts and sighs.

["But I guess it was worth something in the end. I'm very happy for you and, well you know. All the corny things we're supposed to say if this was an episode or something."] She hesitantly admits, rolling her eyes.

["Yeah, all that stuff. And then Twilight relates what happened to what she learned about friendship and everything."] Applejack adds.

["Hey is the feely part over yet? I want to do something funny!"] Pinkie Pie joins in.

You all collectively laugh in silence.

["So, what happens now?"] Fluttershy asks.

["This is usually the part where those credit thingies appear, and the story ends."] Explains Pinkie Pie. ["I've seen them! They're these little white words that randomly appear out of nowhere, and then float around in darkness until they disappear! Isn't that hilarious?"]

["Heh. That is hilarious!"] Says Applejack.

["Ooh! Tell me more about these credits."] Begs Fluttershy.

["Well, from what I remember, they list names of people that live in their universe. Some of them have funny names!"] Pinkie Pie reveals.

["There's people living there? Like, the kind of people I met at Canterlot High?"] Twilight asks, intrigued.

["I guess so! I only say their names, though. But there was this section where they had a column with some of our names in it."]

["Our names?"] Asks Rainbow Dash

["Yes. There was another column on the other side of the same screen, but the words disappeared too fast for me to read what they said. The only names I remember seeing are our names. None of the others seemed familiar to me."]

["First of all, how did you even get to see these credits?"] Inquires Twilight.

Pinkie Pie shrugs.

["I guess I can just do that!"] She responds.

You realize how this can help.

["Pinkie. If you can remember how you got to go to the credits screen, then you can figure out how to enter the studio's universe!"] You bring out.

["Why would we want to go to their universe, silly?"] Pinkie asks you.

You hesitate for a second.

["Maybe we can meet with them. And possibly find out why they haven't come back here yet!"] You answer.

["That sounds dangerous."] Implores Fluttershy.

["I'm going to have to agree with Fluttershy on that one. We don't know if their environment is safe or not. What if there's dangerous creatures that live with them?"] Imposes Twilight.

["Well do you think that sound sound is worth it?"] You ask.

Twilight pauses for a second or two.

["Well?"] Rainbow Dash is becoming impatient.

["I don't know about this, Rainbow."] Twilight responds.

["Well why not? Why does the story have to end for us once the credits roll somewhere where we're not even anywhere near? Spike grew, now. Are we really going to just stop it at that?"]

["Well, you do have a point."]

["Exactly! This was a huge step forward in Spike's life, but it was kinda boring at parts. No offense, Spike."] Rainbow Dash turns to you.

["None taken."] You reply.

["I, um, want to see what the studio looks like, too."] Fluttershy divulges.

["Yeah. So what are we waiting for? Let's do something awesome!"] Rainbow Dash entreats.

Another pause.

["Okay."] Twilight finally agrees. ["We'll give it a try."]

["Yes!"] Rainbow Dash jumps into the air.

["This is splendid, Twilight!"] Emboldens Rarity. ["I cannot wait to see what we're all going to do next. If I haven't told you before, I might be joining one of Canterlot's major fashion lines, so I might have to be away tomorrow."]

["That's okay, we all can go looking in different places tomorrow for anything else we can find."] Says Fluttershy.

["Sure. Make sure you find anything that could help us."] Informs Twilight.

The 7 of you unanimously agree to start working on a plan to enter the studio's universe. You conclude that you can also go to the castle in Canterlot and figure out how to travel between dimensions to other universes, such as how Twilight had done so once before. The Princesses surely must know something about this concept. And of course, you are in charge of planning how you all are going to do this. Unfortunately, the storm lasts about the rest of the day, so none of you can really go anywhere at the moment. That doesn't really matter; it's late into the day anyway. But if the seven of you are going to figure out how you're going to travel to a universe of your own choice, you'll need all the resources you can get. You start by searching Twilight's castle for anything you can use. You have to admit, the castle's interior is remarkably spacious. Well decorated, too. With there being 7 of you, you are able to find things considerably quickly. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy check the attic. Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie all check the regular floors. You check the basement. It doesn't take long for Twilight to find a couple of books of inter-dimensional travel theory. But as she asks the others what they found, they could only shake their heads. This isn't much of a surprise, because the castle has not been populated by that many objects or belonging yet. It's relatively new. But you decide that you should take what you have and start with the books. You all go back to the first floor and gather in the council chamber.

["Alright, here's what we're going to do."] Twilight plans. ["We're going to first learn how to alter objects in this universe, like how the studio does."]

["If ah remember correctly, they used some kinds of tools to load us into places that displayed us in their dimensions."] States Applejack.

["Exactly."] Agrees Twilight. ["Maybe we can use our magic as tools to alter things here as well."]

["It's definitely worth a try."] You add your input.

It's not a perfect start, but it helps. Since you already have magic, it's not hard at all to change the appearances and functions of objects. But what has yet to be learned is how to send them to other dimensions, using a combination of magic and science. That's where the books come in handy. You sit in the chamber with the mane 6, warping objects with spells. You figure out how to pass surfaces through each other. Some surfaces can disappear into unseen dimensional pockets, but only go into a void. The secrets of the studio are slowly being unveiled. The only next step is the most difficult one. Move the objects through the higher dimensions and into an entirely different universe. Soon, you will not just be able to move objects between universes, but yourselves as well. You all dedicate the rest of the night to practicing this. Lightning strikes outside, accompanied by silent thunder. Hopefully not silent for long.

…

You are up all night with the mane 6. The determination has never been higher for any of you as you work vigorously to discover how to travel to the world of the studio they call Hasbro.

Hasbro.

That's it, that was the name. You can't imagine why you had trouble remembering the name of the studio. You know that if you can remember their name, then they can remember yours with no effort. After all of the times they passed into Equestria, controlled everyone's movements and added their own voices and sounds to make a TV show, you better believe they will remember your name. If they can come here, then you can make it over there. Submission is not an option. There must be success. More success to add onto what has happened so far. The time has come where you have grown into a new Spike. You finally started to mature into a bold, winged dragon. And finally managed to kick things off with Rarity. And finally get to go on an adventure of your own.

In addition to this, you can fly. Little by little, you grow a bit more. Working every ounce of hope and effort into the progress you're currently making. You feel ecstatic, eager to show your creators how much you've changed. How proud they would be to see their little purple dragon growing naturally, without the assistance of their studio tools. You wonder if this studio is populated by cartoons as well. Looks like you'll just have to wait until you reach the other side and find out for yourself.

It's really kind of silly isn't it?

All this time, you all have been speaking silently through captions. Hasbro has not come back for the 5th season of the show yet. Instead, they have been absent. Paying attention elsewhere. Where have they been? Would they just abandon you? And why, if they did? No one simply stops working on a TV show they put so much into. One can only hope they're just late. Behind the curve. But there's no way you or any of the mane 6 can have a way of knowing. Alone in the dark, with no answer from your creators. Can someone come back and verify that the show goes on?

As far as your concerned, The Show must go on.

What could that studio be working on that attracts all the effort away from their most popular project? This couldn't have been intended. They would have come back to size you down again. You just have a gripping sensation that they never wanted you to grow. They wanted to keep you tamed, under their control. They were sure to stay disciplined about that. But they've been gone. Are you only growing rampant because the shepherds have abandoned the flock? Is this the end? Have the new projects taken over? This is why you must chip in to help the mane 6 find the studio. Travel between dimensions. Into new universes.

New worlds.

There are no tasks for you to complete at the moment. Being the only two who can physically use magic, Twilight and Rarity begin testing dimension altering processes on randomly chosen objects that had been found throughout the castle. The other four girls wait in their chairs, watching the experiments taking place. You sit in yours, barely able to fit into it. Each of the chairs are reserved for each carrier of the six Elements of Harmony. It's an amazing setup, thriving within a castle with an amazing layout.

The 7 of you crunch the time in as much as you can, trying to crack the code of the studio. The goal: to independently travel to another dimension or universe. You are now able to make objects disappear. Not disappear as in become invisible, but disappear as in enter an inter-dimensional realm. Sit in your chairs surrounding the star symbol in the middle of the conference room. Twilight or Rarity would levitate each object to the center of the circle and begin to offset it inward from all directions with their magic. They don't push on the object with force, but offset it as to where it exists. It's almost like pushing all the sides of a 2-dimensional object on a flat surface in a 3-Dimensional universe until it bends upwards. Its interior and most surfaces fade from existence, making only fractions of the surface of the object visible.

It's so thin, it's transparent. The object is also smaller. If the magic releases it at this stage, the object bounces back to its original state. But if the pushing is continued during the hollow stage, the object would instantaneously disappear into thin air while just under half its original size. The remaining space leaves the magic force field to finish closing without effort until it bumps into itself and won't continue shrinking. The objects are bent through the 4th dimension, and possibly back into the 3rd dimension, but in another universe.

None of you are able to retrieve them.

You have no idea where they went, so you can't grasp the objects with magic and send them back. A one way ticket to nowhere. You eventually run out of objects to test on. Upon finding nothing else to use, Rainbow Dash makes a suggestion.

["How about you send one of us over?"] She proposes.

["Are you crazy? We don't know what's on the other end!"] Argues Twilight. ["In fact, we don't even know if there is another end! We could have just erased all of those things from existence."]

["Well we can't just quit. Maybe we could find an alternative?"] Suggests Rarity.

Twilight thinks for a moment.

["Well the studio can move us into an image on a screen in their world and edit us with tools, but we're still here while they record our controlled movements."] You point out. ["Doesn't that mean they are viewing this whole wold itself through those screens and have a way to stay in their world? They could do this while somehow reaching over the border and have a connection system in between, so they're not trapped on either end."]

["That makes sense."] Pinkie says.

["So what you're saying is, we should tie a rope or something around whoever goes to the other end so we can pull them back over to here?"] Rainbow Dash asks.

["Actually, yes. That's what I was going at."] You verify.

You all take a few seconds to look at each other, seeing if anyone else has a better idea.

["Okay."] Twilight finally compromises. ["But, we should test this on one of the objects first."]

Everyone agrees.

["But we have nothing else to use. It's all already been used up."] Points out Fluttershy.

Everyone pauses in realization that she's right. But while this happens, Applejack takes off her hat.

["Ah reckon we haven't used this yet."] She declares, holding the hat high into the air.

You all stare at her in shock.

["But Applejack! That's your hat! You can't possibly have such a notion to risk losing something that you've had for so long!"] Rarity protests.

["It's alright, Rarity. Ah know what ah'm doing."] Assures Applejack.

She then gently tosses it into the center of the circle of chairs.

["Do y'all wan't me to go get the rope?"]

["We'll it looks as though the storm isn't over Ponyville anymore. But it is late."] Says Twilight.

["It's fine, Twilight. Ah'll be quick. Ah know exactly where to look at my place to find some rope."]

["Okay."] Twilight answers.

Applejack stands up.

["Ah'll be right back, y'all."] She proclaims.

After Applejack temporarily leaves, the rest of you begin frantically searching for at least one more object. Looking for anything. Your plan is to hide it somewhere, and then once Applejack returns with the rope, you all can pretend spontaneously find it as though you had overlooked it before. Giving up one of your closest belongings for scientific research is a bold move, but none of you want Applejack to lose her hat. She's had it ever since the show itself had started. It would be weird to see her never wear her hat again. And the return of the studio does not hold a higher importance than what makes a character a character. Even if it means being stuck with only captions and their word sound for the rest of eternity.

You and Twilight decided to search the library again. This time you are searching for unneeded books, since you are practically looking for anything. Last time, you only searched for loose objects, not any books. Upon looking through the castle's library, you and Twilight find a book that no one had really noticed.

The cover reads: ["Words can Speak Louder than Actions. By Lord Enessess."]

Twilight opens the book, only to find nothing but blank pages.

["Well, that's odd."] You say to Twilight.

["It is."] Twilight responds. ["I guess we can use this."]

The two of you head back over to the conference room. The others eventually return as well, empty hooved.

["Alright, girls This is what Spike and I were able to find."] Announces Twilight.

["You're sacrificing a book? That's very unlikely of you, Twilight."] Answers Rarity.

["It's okay, the book is blank. See?"] Twilight flips through the wordless pages.

["That's a weird book. But it'll do."] Concludes Rainbow Dash.

Applejack's return is awaited.

…

Eventually a knock on the main door can be heard. Twilight opens it to find Applejack with a coiled rope in her mouth. As she directs her to the conference room, the rest of you point out the strange book that hasn't been used yet. It rests on top of Applejack's hat. Of course, seeing the alternative to an unnecessary sacrifice, Applejack chooses to keep her hat and let the book be used. The rope is tied around the book.

Twilight and Rarity begin offsetting the book just like all of the other objects. The rest of you leave your chairs and hold onto the rope in a line. You, being the strongest and the only one who can establish a really firm grip, take your place in the back of the line as you hold the other end of the rope. The loop of rope is also within the shrinking force field.

Pull.

Magical tug of war.

The entire book eventually disappears, but not the entire rope. The portion of the rope in the force field accompanies the book wherever it went, but the rest is still in Equestria. The seemingly severed end of the rope does not fall to the ground, it is held up in place by an unseen force. An invisible portal. You all have just created an invisible portal through the 4th dimension and into another universe.

["Thank Celestia! It worked!"] Twilight silently cheers.

["Awesome! Now all we have to do is pull it out and it's safe for one of us to go in!"] Exclaims Rainbow Dash.

You all begin to pull out. Will the book remain in good condition?

Since the book doesn't weigh much at all, pulling it out takes little to no effort. You all watch in amazement as the book gradually appears out of thin air. Practically being printed back into existence. Back into Equestria. Not like it has any words, anyway. The book lands onto the floor with a silent thud. It is in perfect condition. The rope is completely intact; it is impossible to visualize the border between the part that stayed in Equestria and the part that went through the portal. The test worked perfectly.

["Yes! The book's okay!"] Twilight comments as she picks up the book and holds it close to her.

["Ah thought ya didn't care fer that thing."] Questions Applejack.

["A book is still a book."] Twilight answers. ["Even if there's nothing to read but the title."]

You feel a bit intrigued by the nature of this book. It's theme is centered around the use of words, yet when you open the book, there are no words to be found. Is the book's theme really about irony? The name of the author catches your attention. Who is Lord Enessess? This so called Lord must be from some far away land. How else would none of you have heard of him? Your train of thought is halted by Twilight's next caption.

["Alright. Now that we know it's safe, one of us has to go through."] She reveals.

You all look at each other, internally deciding who you want to draft for the experiment. Who to step into the unknown.

For science.

["Hasn't Pinkie already done this kind of thing before?"] Asks Rainbow Dash.

You all look over to her.

["Yeah, but I only made it to the credits. I'm always bumped back to here once they finish."] Pinkie Pie answers.

["Ah reckon this is a new thing for all of us. If ya ask me, ah don't think there'll be any floatin' credits on the other side of whatever we just created."] Claims Applejack.

You make your decision.

["I'll go."] You declare.

Everyone appears to gasp.

["You? Are you sure, Spike?"] Asks Twilight.

You feel a cold feeling on the inside. Trying to pull you out of this burning sensation that you are the one who must be the first to explore the unknown. But the strive overpowers the fear. Nod, slowly and boldly. There's no doubt that you looked insanely heroic while doing so. Especially considering how much you've grown in the past three and a half days. You are becoming the hero. But more achievements are needed for this to be officially confirmed. You know what you're doing.

Twilight nods to you in acceptance.

["Okay."] She solemnly projects.

You begin to smile a little. It's a bit forced, but nonetheless, comforting. After a brief moment of inaction, you stand. You have been sitting next to Twilight's chair. Glance over at Rarity.

She is gazing at you with a with an uneasy aspect. She appears to be in a state of shock, nearing tears. Overwhelming concern. She springs up and gallops over to you.

["Be careful, darling!"] She warns as she embraces you.

Hug back, realizing the danger you're about to face. You really don't want to let go. It's as though she'll be the last thing you'll ever feel, if you don't make it back alive. The rest of the ponies look at you two.

["Come on, already. We don't have all day."] Urges Twilight.

Rarity lets go of you. You instantly feel cold. Released into the winter of science. It doesn't take long for you to get the rope around yourself. You tighten it,extra tight to make sure you'll be able to come back. And you tighten it once again for Rarity. There's no way you're taking any chances of slipping free.

You are coming back.

Stand in the center of the 6 chairs in the conference room. Isolated on a round stage, into the spotlight of inter-dimensional exploration. Surrounded by striking emptiness, before a circle of chairs. And then, your friends. Twilight and Rarity wrap their magic around you. It's so electrifying. You can even distinguish the difference between which half is Twilight and which half is Rarity. Twilight's is an aura that firmly wraps around you in a protective manner. Shielding you, like a guardian. A guardian who has been teaching you and watching over you since you had been hatched. Hatched out of an egg from the mystery dragons that are your parents. This guardian takes this protective position much better than any dragon could. Providing affection, not like that of a lover, but that of a guardian. Rarity's magic feels more magnetic. Attracting and clinging to you, as though you are the guardian. An aura of somepony that needs you in their life. Someone who sees an echo of their soul in you, an impact. A different kind of affection than that of a guardian. The affection of a lover. It is at this moment in which you confirm that you have won her feelings; her heart. Despite being a dragon, you made something desirable out of yourself.

The magic offsets you inwards. You don't appear to change at all, but instead, the environment around you stretches outward. Your surroundings warp, somehow opening holes. Out of the holes spawn the same color patterns and shapes of everything outside of them. As though your surroundings had an infinite amount of copies of themselves in tiny pockets. Suddenly the conference room disappears.

…

A completely different environment surrounds you. You see mountains of twisted metal and other strange objects. It appears to be nighttime. It suddenly occurs to you that you can't breathe. Something is wrapped tightly around your neck. Suffocating you.

You see a caption:

["Over here, guys! I swear there's random stuff appearing out of nowhere."]

You have no idea who it is. You try to claw off what is suffocating you.

A leash.

As you try to work your claws under it, you notice something else. They feel pudgier and furrier. You faintly recognize this feeling.

["Oh my gosh! It's another dog!"] You see the caption out of the corner of your eye.

The claws you used to have are now paws. You're a dog. You only have seconds until suffocation. Feel yourself get tackled to the ground.

["He's choking! He's choking!"] Says another caption.

Teeth can be felt gnawing at your collar.

["Hurry, boy! We're gonna lose him!"] Says the first caption.

["*muffled*: I'm trying! I'm trying."] Says the second.

The collar is freed from your neck after a couple more seconds. Immediately breathe and gasp repetitively in silence as you survey your surrounding.

It becomes apparent to you that you're in a junkyard. Like a whip, the chain leash that was connected to the now broken collar that suffocated you is pulled into thin air. Into nothingness. You look to your left. Beside you stands a dark red dog. It's a rather large dog, and probably a full grown golden retriever (minus the gold). You look at your own form. Wouldn't you know it, you are exactly the same size as this dog. A bit furrier, but the same size. You appear to be a siberian husky.

["Wait a minute, I think I recognize you."] Says the red dog.

You look at him, questionably.

["You're… Spike! I do remember you!"]

You immediately recognize him.

["…Garble?"] You silently blurt out.

You can't believe he's a dog.

["Wait, a minute. You know who this is, boy?"] Says another caption.

Spin around. You find a large, pale and gray man with large arms standing in the moonlight. He's wearing a red vest with a white t-shirt and blue jeans. He looks about in his mid 20's. It's clearly Rover.

["Yeah, I know him. He's from that other universe I told you about."] Garble answers.

["The one you came from?"] Asks Rover.

["Yes. I told you it's real! I think there's another version of you there where you're a dog."]

["Me? Ha! That's hilarious."]

["It's true! You, Fido and Spot are all have to be dogs over there! And I get to be a dragon!"]

What on earth is happening here?

["Hey Fido! Are you hearing this? Garble's telling us that there's a parallel universe where we have to be dogs and he's not."] Rover calls to his friend.

Parallel universe. It's already starting to make sense as to where you are. An even larger man appears, this one is slightly more blueish skin and more reddish hair than Rover. It's Fido. You can't believe what you're seeing.

["Ah. Quite an imagination that poochie's got, eh? Did you put something in his dog food again?"] Fido responds.

You decide to interject.

["No, it's true! I just came here from Equestria!"] You point out.

["Equestria?"] Rover turns to Garble. ["Isn't that what you called that so-called parallel universe?"]

Garble nods causing Rover to widen his eyes in shocking realization.

["That must be the place the studio made before we all came along."] Fido interjects.

There is a brief pause.

["You know what this means, right, Fido?"] Rover points out.

Fido nods, barely noticeably. You turn to them.

["What does it mean?"] You ask.

["The mirror."] Fido explains. ["From the movie? You were there, right?"]

They're reading your thoughts like a book.

["For the movie? Yeah, I was here."]

["What was it like? I never got to be a part of it!"] Garble complains.

He has a hopeful look in his eyes.

["Well, I didn't get to do much."] You reveal. ["I wasn't a very important character… yet."]

It dawns on you that you have come a long way.

["Where can I find the mirror?"] You ask.

["It's in the school, just a few blocks from here."] Discloses Rover. ["I'm not exactly sure where, but I am absolutely sure that it can't be anywhere else."]

You squint a little bit, internally analyzing the possible challenge that could be faced.

["Have any of you figured out how to go through the mirror?"] You ask.

["I did once,"] Garble reveals, ["After the end of the production of one of the most recent episodes, I kind of snuck into Canterlot. I just wanted to ask Princess Celestia if she could recommend to the studio for me to start having roles again. I just didn't want to feel left out anymore."]

You raise your eyebrows in subtle surprise, but stinging empathy. This situation alone is all too familiar to you.

["I was just rummaging through some stuff in this big room, and then I tripped. I knocked over a few things, which made all these sparkling lights and stuff start flying everywhere. I then fell into the mirror, and then here I was. I still can't figure out how to get back. But the Studio would end me if they find me here. So I have to lay low anyway."] Garble explains.

Could the mirror still be there?

["Alright."] You sigh. ["I got an Idea. If I can find that mirror and pass through it, I could finally make it back to Equestria. I just came from there."]

["Go on…"] Rover says.

["I can tell the others back there that I came here, and I can come back so you can make it back to Equestria, Garble."]

["Is it worth it? I've noticed that the Studio's been focusing a lot more of their attention over here nowadays. And they didn't even pay much attention to me even when Equestria was the only universe for us to live in."] Garble explains. ["For example, they've left us text to speech mechanisms from some kind of typing program or something. This allows us to be able to speak with sound. It's not here right now, though."]

Raise your eyebrows.

["You mean sound sound?"] You try to correct him.

["What?"]

["Oh, sorry. Back in Equestria, we consider silent captions to be word sound and everything else sound sound."]

["Oh, that's clever… I guess."]

Maybe you can obtain something like this.

["Well I should hurry. My friends still don't know whether I'm alive or not. What's the fastest way to the school?"]

["Right down that road. Just go a few blocks and you should reach the school in no time."] Fido reveals, pointing down a street.

["Thanks. You guys have been a big help. I… um guess I should get going, then."]

Rover nods to you.

["Good luck… friend?"] He says.

["Thanks. And yes, we can be friends if you want. Just because we're against eachother in the eyes of the studio doesn't mean we can't be friends in reality."] You assure him.

Garble turns to you.

["It was… nice meeting you again, Spike."]

["Same back to you, Garble. I promise I'll make it back to Equestria and come back for you."]

["Thanks. I guess I'll see you again soon."]

["Soon."] You conclude before nodding the other dogs off and turning to the street.

With a jolt of your legs, you bolt down the street. Short reunion, but you'll see them again. The street lights become passing blurs as your intense running speed kick in. You never imagined dogs to be this fast. Getting around as one of these things should be no problem in a town like this.

Leap.

Right over a fence. It shocks you how easy it was to get so high and far into the air. Race around the alleyways with striking velocity and agility. This terrain is nothing but a playground for you. Nothing stands in your way. Rush past houses, pushing them behind you with your sleek, but built physique. Your only thought is to make it back to Equestria. There's no way of telling how long it's been. And how long it will be. The distance is nothing.

…

Finally, you make it to the school. The run took less than 5 minutes. That's the good news. But as you approach the school, a wave of bad news hits you upon your cursed arrival.

In front of the school, you see three girls holding onto eachother, crying slightly. Their skin is all the same light blue color. Immediately recognize one. It's Rainbow Dash. But there are two more. One with a darker blue ponytail and another with magenta and purple hair. You've never seen either of them before. But there's no time to question it.

Trot up to them all, hoping at least Rainbow Dash will recognize you. The crying cannot be heard as you approach them. The three of them notice you almost instantly.

["S-spike? I thought you were just in the school? What were you doing out in the streets?"] Rainbow Dash asks you, wiping tears from her face.

["Rainbow! Are you the Equestrian one or from here?"] You interrogate, low on time.

["From here. But you didn't answer me. What were you doing in the streets?"]

["No, no no. I came here from Equestria. Don't you remember me?"]

Her eyes become wide.

["WHAT? But… you've been gone!"]

["That's what I thought!"] Says the one with the magenta and purple hair. ["Didn't you tell us that?"]

["Wait, gone?"] You question.

["Yes. The studio drafted Equestrian Twilight to come back here for the second movie."] Says Rainbow Dash.

["There's a SECOND movie?"]

That's what the other dogs were talking about. They were referring to some second movie, which makes sense since the first one had been so long ago.

["Yes, there is. They made a human twilight, too. And since you disappeared months ago, they had to make two more Spikes! We thought you were gone after we were secretly told what actually happened to you. The studio thinks their computers just glitched."]

["Oh… wha… whoa…"]

So much to take in all at once.

["At least something good happened."] Dash mutters to herself.

But you can see the caption. Something happened over here.

["So, are there any new villains in this new movie?"] You ask, intrigued.

The third light blue girl speaks up.

["Um… yeah. I'm actually one of them."] She answers you.

["One… of?"]

["There's three of them."] Dash explains.

["Yeah. I'm Sonata Dusk. It's, um, nice to meet you. Probably not the best time for this, but why not?"] Sonata greets you.

["Hi, I'm the real Spike."] You turn to the second girl. ["What's your name?"]

["Mystery Mint. I'm kind of a background character with very few lines."] She answers you.

Aside their hair, they're both the same colors as Rainbow Dash. In both the light blue skin and purple eyes.

["So why is this a weird time? What's going on around here?"] You're desperate to figure out.

["It's been horrible, Spike! They're going to delete the mirror! It gets destroyed in the movie and the studio is going to delete it because they no longer have a use for it. And that's not the only thing."]

["Oh my Celestia! What else?"]

["They've been thinking about deleting me and the other two Dazzlings, too!"] Sonata adds.

["The other villains? But why?"]

["We might not ever be used agin! I heard that they were going to do this with every character that isn't going to be used anymore."] Sonata continues.

["So ,with that happening, the three of us decided to try to do something about it. Since we all kind of look alike, we wanted to be like sisters or something. We wanted to convince the studio to make some kind of spin off with us all being related to eachother. This way, Sonata would be able to stay, meaning the other two Dazzlings would need to stay because they're all supposed to be a group."] Dash explains.

["And it didn't work?"]

["Our plan backfired."] Mint joins in. ["Our idea was rejected in a heartbeat, and the studio saw that they made us all look similar without realizing it. They recently said they're going to proceed to delete Sonata, or at least change her colors so she looks different whether she likes it or not. They ignore me since I'm a background character."]

["What? Why? The studio's our saviors and creators! I don't understand why they would do something like this. This isn't like them!"] You declare.

["You did get here from equestria, right?"] Sonata asks you.

["Yes. I'm trying to find the mirror so I can get back. That's why I'm here!"]

["Maybe you can sneak in there and find out if they deleted it yet."] She says.

Please don't let this be true.

["You mean… they might have already deleted it?! It's my only way back!"]

["We don't know yet. You need to talk to Twilight and her new human counterpart for any kind of answer."] Rainbow says to you. ["They're the only two who could know. We three have been hiding from the studio since the whole deletion thing."]

Sigh.

["I don't know what's going on with our creators. They would never delete or change the things they love. We… are the things they love, right?"]

["Oh, I just realized! How am I going to ever see Sunset again! The studio's keeping their eyes on her all the time, now. If they see me, I'm a goner."] Sonata says with a worried look on her face.

She's still silent, but you can tell that if there was sound, her voice (whatever it is supposed to sound like by whoever voices her) would be shaky and contorting. You can match that kind of tone with the look in her eyes.

["Sunset? She's still around?"] You ask.

["Sunset and Sonata have become really close friends since production on the second movie started. But they can't see eachother since all of this started up. Ever since she found out that the studio's planning to delete Sonata and her friends, Sunset has been really distraught. She's taking it pretty hard."] Rainbow Dash reveals.

All of these things you're suddenly hearing are striking you right in the heart. You've been gone for months, there is another Twilight, these new characters are desperately trying to hold their lives together in the face of the studio and the mirror's most likely gone forever. But why? Why do these things happen? The pain and anticipation inside of you amplifies to staggering amounts. You could burst at any second. The mane 6 must have been so heartbroken that you've been gone for so long. It took too long for you to transfer over to here. There's definitely some kind of a time warp involved in traveling through dimensions. Or something like that. All you know is that you need to find the mirror and find it now.

["Where's Twilight?"] You ask, anxious to know.

["She's most likely in the school. She likes to stay there when the studio's not around."] Dash tells you.

["I need to go there. Maybe I can help you all with your problem."]

["Please do."] Sonata begs you, now in tears again. ["I don't want to lose my life! It was so short. I… I just don't want this to happen."]

Look over to the school, the lone symbol of hope. Now is the time to buckle down. Now is the time to be upset. No longer can you let these things spiral out of control. Then, look back to the three sky-blue girls. Reveal to them the plan you are forming as these events are taking place.

["Look, the studio won't know my whereabouts. They don't know I'm still alive. I can just sneak in there with worry of being deleted."] You point out.

["Oh, my gosh… this is perfect. If you can be reunited with Twilight, she'll know that there's a way to make another portal to and from Equestria, whatever it may be."] Dash estimates.

["Please. Go there now. You're the string of hope one can only pray for!"] Mystery Mint conveys as she lets Sonata rest on her shoulder.

You feel a surge of courage within you. This is it; your adventure.

["I shall. You can count on me to help you. I promise I'll be back."] You declare.

["Thank you, Spike. I'm so happy to finally see you again."] Responds Rainbow Dash.

["Goodbye for now… and good luck."]

She smiles. A tear creeps out of her eye and rolls down her face. She wipes it away, probably hoping you didn't notice, and then helps Mint try to comfort Sonata. These are hard times. Slowly turn away from the trio. The three wave to you as you trot away, nodding back to them. Then, you approach the school.

You haven't even been here for 20 minutes, and your adventure has already spawned two tasks. And they will be completed. Whatever the cost. The school looms over you as you walk up to the front doors. They're wide open, due to some event happening in the building. You stand in the shadow of the building for a few seconds, absorbing the tension that floats thick in the air.

It's time to go.

To Be Continued.