Family and Friends

by conTROLLER234

Chapters

Road Trip!
Another New Home
Secrets Don't Stay Hidden Forever
Friends
Return
Trapped
Future Plans
First Day
Losing and Gaining
Getting to Know Each Other

Road Trip!

Family and Friends

Chapter 2

Road Trip!

“I promise, I’ll take good care of you.” She yawned

“Good night.” She whispered as she shut off the lights.

5 Years Later

Twilight galloped through Canterlot on a bright, sunny day with a large brown and yellow book inside her saddle bags. Passing by anypony who waved or even glanced at her, she didn’t return the favour. Running up the stairs towards her room in the Canterlot castle, she finally makes it to the door and quickly opens the door.

“Spike? Spiiiiike!” She looks around the room, then sees who she is looking for. A baby purple and green dragon, who was lying on the ground and rubbing his head. “Spike, there you are.” She didn’t bother to help him up, but instead rushed past him and towards some large bookshelves, where a familiar someone was hiding. “Quick, find me an old copy of Predictions and Prophecies. In the mean time, where’s Andrew?”

Andrew, who was ready to pounce on Twilight, was hiding in the book shelves. “Raarrr!” He leaped out and landed on Twilight’s back.

“Gah!” Twilight gasped as she fell over onto her side.

Andrew giggled and hugged Twilight’s neck. “Hi mommy!”

Twilight smiled and let out a giggle, nuzzling him. “There you are.”

“Huh, thanks for the great welcome…” Spike mumbled as he stood and brushed himself off.

Twilight had still been getting used to Andrew calling her Mommy. Well, getting used to Andrew was a challenge too. For all these years Andrew had been cooped up in her room with Spike.
Which she had never liked doing, but she couldn’t let anypony know about him. But at least he had some company with her assistant.

“So, how did you two get along today?” Twilight slowly stood up, but Andrew clinged to her side. With his arms and legs wrapped around her back, he slowly slid under her chest from gravity. Twilight laughed some more then levitated him up in front of her.

“We had fun. We played hide and seek!” Andrew smiled brighter and looked into Twilight’s eyes. Twilight slowly levitated him onto the ground. Even though Andrew was only six years old, he was almost as tall as her. He was definitely taller than Spike, but only because Andrew walked around like he did. And by the looks of it, Andrew would be taller than Twilight in less than a year.

“Sounds like fun! Now you help Spike, I need to work.” Twilight looked at Spike, who had some crushed thing on his tail. “What’s that for?”

Spike glances at his green scaled tail and frowns, then picks it up. “Well, it was a gift for Moon Dancer..” He frowns as the now un-hidden gift falls out of the box.

“Oh Spike, you know we don’t have time for that sort of thing.” She told as she concentrated on sorting through books.

“But we’re on a break!” Spike whined, and Twilight ignored.

Andrew waddled up to Twilight. “What are you looking for Mommy?”

Twilight sighed in slight irritation, but erased it as she turned to Andrew with a smile. “It’s a certain type of book sweetie.” Twilight then stepped away from Andrew, careful not to hurt him as she suddenly levitated multiple books down from the shelves. “No, no, no no no. Ugh, Spike!” Twilight yelled in annoyment.

“It’s over here!” Spike waved a book from the top of a ladder. Andrew gulped as he saw him that high, though Twilight barely noticed nor cared.

Spike went to look at the cover, but suddenly held onto the ladder tighter as Twilight fought to take the book from him. Spike, who didn’t let go of the book, fell towards Twilight and faceplants on the ground, Twilight again barely noticing or caring. “Ah!”

Andrew looked at Spike and frowned, then walked over to Twilight. “Mommy, that wasn’t very nice. Say you’re sorry.”

Twilight grunted in annoyment, not turning around to face Andrew. “Andrew, I can’t right now I’m busy.”

“But you always make me do it. You say that if you hurt someone then you should-”

“Andrew please!” Twilight dropped the book and turned to Andrew with an angry look. But it subsided into a look of surprise at herself. Andrew fell backwards, eyes and mouth open as he began to tear up slightly.

“A-Andrew I’m sorry..” Twilight tried, reaching out a hoof to him. Andrew quickly got up, turned and ran into an isle, a good distance away from Twilight. Twilight teared up slightly herself as she fell onto her rump and looked down. What kind of pony am I? Putting my work before my own colt… She thought as a tear fell from her face.

Spike walked up to her and patted her on the back. “Don’t be so hard on yourself Twilight. I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Twilight looked up at Spike, then slowly rose and wiped her eyes.

“Thanks Spike. I’ll go check on him, but first I need to find something. I need to know if it’s true.” She quickly lifted up the book with her magic and placed it on a stand, then began flipping through it. “Elements, elements…”

“Uh, I’ll go check on him.” Spike said, walking towards the area where Andrew had escaped to, leaving Twilight alone to her studies.

“Elements… E, e, e.. Aha. Elements of Harmony. See, Mare in the Moon?” Twilight continued to read as Spike wandered through the almost endless-seeming hallways of books, searching for Andrew.

“Uh, Andrew? Where are you?” He turned his head to where he head soft crying, and walked towards it. Sure enough, he finds Andrew hiding between some books on a shelf. He slowly makes his way over to him, careful not to startle him. “Andrew? Are you okay?”

Andrew turned away from him with a sudden and weak; “Hmpf!” then continued sobbing. He walked over to Andrew and sat down beside the shelf he was on, not really knowing what to say.

Twilight was reading a bit more, until she had read enough. “Spike!”

Spike flinched at the sound of Twilight’s voice, and sighed, patting Andrew gently on the back. “Just come out whenever you feel like it. I promise, Twilight isn’t angry with you.” He hurried back to Twilight, who was waiting urgently for him with a scroll and quill.

“Take a note please! To the Princess.” Spike took the paper and quill from her, and quickly began writing as soon as Twilight began talking.

Andrew was slowly recovering from his session, listening to Twilight talk. He quickly snuck towards Twilight and Spike, listening in on whatever they were saying.

“Twi-light...Spar-kle! Got it!” Spike finished.

“Great! Send it.” Twilight responded quickly. Andrew to be honest didn’t understand a thing they were talking about. Not because he didn’t understand Equestrian very well. Actually, being around Twilight, she had taught him a lot. He was homeschooled from the age of 2, so he did have a fairly large vocabulary.

“Uh, I dunno, Twilight, Princess Celestia's a little busy getting ready for the Summer Sun Celebration. And it's like, the day after tomorrow.” Spike explained.

“ That's just it, Spike. The day after tomorrow is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration! It's imperative that the Princess is told right away!” Twilight demanded.

“Impera... impera…” Spike tried once again, irritating Twilight even more.

“Imperative. I-m-p-e-r-a-t-i-v-e.” Andrew spelled out loud, loud enough for Spike and Twilight to hear, and Spike quickly jotted it down.

“Thanks!” Spike waved to Andrew, and Twilight glared at Spike. “What?” Spike shrugged and held out the scroll, then blew fire at it making it disappear out the window is a cloud of green smoke. “There. It’s on its way. But I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

“Oh, I'm not worried, Spike. The Princess trusts me completely. In all the years she's been my mentor she's never once doubted me.” Twilight told.

Spike suddenly burped and out came another scroll and it landed on the floor. Andrew slowly walked up to Twilight and went to speak, but waited until Spike was done talking. But once he did, Twilight gasped and Spike giggled.

Andrew frowned and gently tugged on Twilight’s tail, who then turned around and smiled with a hint of guilt towards him. “Mommy, I’m sorry for bothering you.”

Twilight sighed and looked down. “You weren’t bothering me Andrew, I’m just very busy at the mo-” Twilight was cut off by Andrew grabbing her head and hugging it. Twilight sighed and smiled, then hugged him back, falling onto her side gently.

“I love you mommy.” Andrew said as he looked at her with an innocent face. Twilight couldn’t help but smile brightly back to him.

“I love you too sweetie.”

Spike is standing a few feet away and looking at the scene before him. Unamused, he opens his mouth and points into it making a gag sound.

Twilight and Andrew break up the hug, and Twilight levitates the scroll over to her and reads the whole message top to bottom, then ends with a groan.

“What is it Twilight?” Spike hustled over to Twilight. She sighed and moaned.

“We’re going on a trip you guys.”

Author's Note

Hi again. I'm not sure if some of you notice or not, but the chapters so far are pretty short; in my opinion. So to compare to this chapter, hopefully this will be the shortest my chapters will ever be. I will try to make them longer, but that means more waiting. Tell me what you think. And thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

Another New Home

Author's Note

Hey guys. I was planning on making this chapter longer than the first two, but I thought I should get the third chapter out to you tonight, as I might be busy tomorrow and may not me able to work on it any more. Also, when you guys were very specific that you wanted me to describe what happened after Twilight found Andrew. I did what made most sense, and I'm hoping you will think so too. But again, if there;s anything I missed or I should add more, please tell me so I can edit it or add it in future chapters. Thanks!

Another New Home

Family and Friends

Chapter 3

Another New Home

“A trip? What trip?! Where are we going?!” Andrew hopped up and down in excitement. He could care less at the moment where it was, he hasn’t seen anywhere else but the library and out the window for years.

The second Twilight heard Andrew ask, without thinking her mind immediately said not for him to come. Though when she turned to Andrew, she gasped internally. He had given her the puppy eyes, again. It was probably the hardest thing for her coming from Andrew, well, that and crying, or upsetting him, or saying no… Anything that makes him sad.

Though she thought of some other ideas. “Wait, maybe because the princess knows about him, she have since he came here, maybe she could take care of him while I’m gone. Oh, but she's always very busy and I don’t want to interrupt her by asking her to baby sit Andrew. But maybe my parents can! They were one of the firsts to know, even though it didn’t go well when they found out…”

When Twilight first brought Andrew in that night, they were both fine. That is until Twilight’s parents came in the next morning to find Twilight snuggling an alien baby. Thankfully, Twilight was too stubborn to let them take Andrew away, so the next choice was to call over the Princess Celestia to help sort it out. When Twilight was first invited to be Princess Celestia’s own personal protégé, she was told that she could stay in the Canterlot castle to help her study more. So because nopony would, or rarely, interrupt her in her own room in the castle. After sorting everything out with the Princess, and that she would agree to help take care of Andrew and help keep him hidden, Twilight decided to stay in the castle with Andrew. And now that Twilight was older, Celestia trusted her more with Andrew. She was doing well, but Andrew obviously didn’t make it easy for her.

Twilight blabbed on and on about what she could to, and Spike took the scroll from the ground where Twilight un-noticeably dropped it and read it over again. “Uhh, Twilight?”

“Oh no, what can I do? I can’t find somepony to baby sit him, I can’t let anypony find out!” Twilight groaned.

“Twilight!” Spike finally caught her attention. “It says here at the bottom of the page to bring me, and Andrew.”

Twilight read where he was pointing and gasped, and Andrew cheered in the background. “But how will I be able to be in a whole different town, where I’ve never been to before, and take care of the preparations, AND Andrew?!” Twilight began panicking again, when a sudden flash of light appeared in the middle of the room, catching everyone's attention. When the light disappeared, Twilight and Spike gasped in surprise, when Andrew did in excitement and smiled.

“Princess Celestia?” Twilight bowed at the royal’s presence, and gasped and bit her lip as Andrew ran up to Celestia and hugged her front leg.

“Hi Princess!” Andrew giggled and looked up at her, who then smiled and chuckled back.

“Princess, I’m sorry.” Twilight stood up and levitated Andrew up away from The Princess’s fore leg, giving Andrew a look of disappointment.

“Oh it’s quite alright Twilight. I thought because I haven’t seen you three in such a long time, I thought that I would drop by in person to tell you the details of my message.” She told with a gentle smile as she walked over to Twilight.

“Y-Yes, about that. I was wondering how and why I’m bringing Andrew along with me.”

Celestia held up a hoof politely to begin speaking. “I would like you to bring Andrew with you so he can make some friends and meet new ponies, and as I said in the message, I would like that of you too my subject.”

Spike giggled out of the conversation at Twilight. “You have the same job as a six-year old.”

Celestia looked at Spike and grinned. “That goes for you too Spike.” Spike then grunted and folded his arms.

“Come the Ceremony, I will then announce to the ponies of Ponyville about Andrew. Then he will be able to go outside and have interactions with other ponies. So until the Ceremony, you’ll need to keep him inside and away from ponies. Understood?”

Twilight went to protest, but realized it would be useless. She took a deep breath in then out. “Yes Princess.”

“Thank you. There is a chariot waiting for you outside, and the pegasi guards know about Andrew. They will drop you off right in front of the library you will be staying in, so you wont have to walk across town with Andrew. I will see you later Twilight, goodbye Spike, goodbye Andrew.” And with that, The royal Princess teleported away once again.

Everyone stood there for a while. not sure what to do. Andrew was the first to break the ice as he gazed out the front window to see the golden chariot with two, white pegasi guards hooked up to it. “Look mommy! We get to ride in that?!” He laughed and hopped up and down.

Twilight sighed then walked towards Andrew, looking at the transport. “Yes, I suppose so. Come on Spike.” Spike ran over, just as excited as Andrew but kept most of it inside. Twilight slowly opened the door, then had to quickly bite the back of Andrew’s shirt as he went to run in front of her towards the chariot.

When Twilight had first found him, he was only in what seemed a diaper. After a long time they were able to make some suitable clothes for him, but he had some strange body parts. How ponies usually write, if they’re earth ponies or sometimes pegasi, write with their mouths. But Andrew, he had a completely different body shape. After some time of trying to make him write with his mouth, it didn’t turn out well at all. He probably soaked 3 pencils in saliva and they had teeth marks all over it, and couldn’t draw a straight line. So that was a fail. So eventually he learned to write and draw with his, well, she hasn’t thought of what to call them. So for now she just called them hooves, even though they obviously weren’t.

He also had the some looking front, hooves, what he used to walk and stand on. She had seen some ponies wear shoes, usually for an outfit, but nothing that would fit Andrew. So for now he walked around without anything on his hooves. She had managed to have made a special types of clothing for Andrew. A light blue top with grey bottoms. Another problem that she had, that was the main reason for giving him a bottom pair of clothing, was his… parts. She found out he was a boy through that, and realized he couldn’t exactly, put them away so to speak. She learned this all the hard way.

“Calm down Andrew.” Twilight said through her teeth, then slowly put him down again. The guards looked at Andrew, not knowing what he looked like before he came outside. They were informed about a strange life form traveling with Twilight, but they didn’t know what it looked like, so they tried not to look.

The three of them climbed on the chariot, and it began to move. Then go faster, and faster towards the edge of the balcony. Andrew gulped and held on tightly to Twilight’s hoof. “Why aren’t we going on the road?!”

Twilight smiled and calmly stroked Andrews hair to calm him. “We’re taking a faster route Andrew.”

Andrew gasped as they left the ground. His face suddenly turned a light shade of blue as he leaned over the side of the chariot. Spike, Twilight and Andrew then learned he had Acrophobia and a serious case of motion sickness. Again, the hard way. Twilight just hoped there was nopony beneath them.

Twilight gasped then slowly pulled him back, and used a sleep spell on him. Twilight used this spell often. Often. Usually for when he was tired and said he wasn’t, but mostly when he was very excited or angry. And it was actually very useful.

They flew for a while longer, with Andrew sleeping peacefully in Twilight’s hooves, until a small town came into sight. They landed in front of a tall tree house, which you could see the bookshelves through the windows once they came to a stop. Twilight opened the front door to the library from where they were, then levitated Andrew up close to her front and galloped inside quickly with Spike by her side.

“Thanks!” Twilight shouted to the guards before shutting the door and locking it behind her with a sigh. “Alright, we’re here. Spike, because Andrew can’t go outside I’m going to need you to look after him while I’m gone. Okay?”

Spike groaned. “Aww, but I wanna go outside and do stuff!”

Andrew copied him. “Me too!”

Twilight sighed louder and face hoofed. “Andrew, you’ll be able to go outside after the Ceremony. And so will you Spike, but until then you need to just stay inside. But on the bright side we’re staying somewhere new! Look around and explore, just don’t break anything.”

Spike and Andrew sighed, then cheered as they began running around the house. Twilight giggled. Andrew usually wasn’t the only one who acted like a young child. With Spike around him they acted like a bunch of kids who just got some new candy in their lunch bags at school. It was a strange way to describe it, but it made sense in a way.

“Alright, you two have fun. I’ll be back later. Don’t let anyone in and don’t go outside.”

“Yes mom.” Andrew said for real, though Spike said it sarcastically, making Twilight roll her eyes and leave.

“So, what should we do now?” Spike looked around and asked Andrew.

“Hide and seek?” Andrew smiled, and so did Spike.

Secrets Don't Stay Hidden Forever

Family and Friends

Chapter 4

Twilight walked out of the library, and took her first chance to look at the small town. Though her sudden line of sight was blocked by some light blue eyes and pink. She gasped and fell backwards, though the now figurable pink pony gasped louder, then disappeared. Twilight stood up, rubbing her head to analyze what had just happened but couldn’t come to figure it out. She looked around for the pony but didn’t find what she was looking for.

“Oooookay…” Twilight shook off her coat then continued on her mission.

Twilight stumbled slightly after walking a while, mumbling to herself as she levitated up a piece of paper and pencil. “Thinking about it now, this would’ve been a lot easier with Spike. I wonder if Andrew would be able to stay home alone- no, what am I thinking…”

She read the first thing on the checklist she had as she came close to a farm. “Sweet Apple Acres.” She looked around a bit, not sure where to start with the place, when something grabbed her attention.

“Yee-haw!”

Twilight saw an orange pony with a yellow mane gallop towards an apple tree, then kick it with her hind legs. All the apples in the tree fell into the bushels below.

“Lets get this over with…” Twilight walked over to the pony with a sigh. “Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle-”

She was suddenly cut off by the orange mare shaking her hoof at a rapid speed. “Well howdy doo Miss Twilight. A pleasure makin’ yer acquaintance! I’m Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres, sure do like makin’ new friends!”

“FfRrIiEeNnDdSs?? AaCcTtUuAaLlYy I-I UuUhh” Twilight tried to speak, though the vibrations of the hoof shake made it hard to.

“So, what can I do ya for?” Applejack let go then winked.

Twilight’s hoof was still shaking for a while longer, until she realized then stopped it with a slight blush. “Well, I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And you're in charge of the food?”

“We sure as sugar are! Would you care to sample some?” Applejack said proudly.

“Well, as long as it doesn’t take too long…” Twilight shrugged, and Applejack suddenly ran towards what seemed to be a triangle.

Applejack rang it loudly. “SOUPS ON, EVERYPONY!”

Twilight looked to her left and gasped as she was suddenly trampled by a mob of ponies, who then pushed her to a table to sit down. Applejack stood beside her. “Now, why don’t I introduce y’all to the Apple family.”

Before Twilight and Applejack, stood hundreds of ponies, all in braids and their cutie marks had something to do with apples. “Thanks, but I really need-” Twilight went to leave, when an apple fritter was suddenly shoved in her face.

“This here's Apple Fritter. Apple Bumpkin. Red Gala. Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp,” Applejack suddenly took in a deep breath. “Big Macintosh, Applebloom, aaaand:” Aj shoved an apple into Twilight mouth, then pointed to somepony in a rocking chair. “Granny Smith. Up'n'attem, Granny Smith, we got guests.”

“Oh, wha? Soups on! I’m up, I’m comin…” Granny slowly got up and moved towards the crowd.

“Well, I’d say, she’s already apart of the family!” Aj wrapped an hoof around Twilight’s neck, who then spat out the apple.

“Ahaha, okay well, I can see that the food situation is handled, so I’ll be on my way.” She said nervously.

“Aren’t ya gonna stay for brunch?” Applebloom gave Twilight the puppy eyes, which immediately reminded her of Andrew. Speaking of Andrew, I wonder how him and Spike are doing? I hope they’re okay…

Everypony started at Twilight as she stood there, expressionless, slightly mumbling to herself. “Uh, Twilight? Are you okay?” Applejack inspected her closer, and Twilight suddenly jumped back to reality.

“O-Oh, sorry. Just, things on my mind.” Twilight then remembered the question from the little filly, biting her lip as she thought of an answer, then dropped her head as she thought of one. “Fine, I’ll stay.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Okay Andrew, I give up!” Spike threw his arms up in defeat. Andrew suddenly emerged from a closed closet and grinned at Spike.

“Again? Are you even trying anymore?”

Spike grunted. “Lets just try doing something else. We’ve been doing this for long enough.”

“Okay fine.” Andrew agreed and they both went to walk downstairs. When they got to the top of the stairs, the door suddenly opened. Andrew, who thought it was Twilight, went to run towards the door. Spike suddenly grabbed Andrew and covered his mouth when he was who walked in, or rather hopped inside with a crowd of ponies.

“What the? Who are those ponies?” Spike wondered, and Andrew whimpered.

“W-What if we’re being broken into?” His voice was muffled under Spike’s claw. Spike shook his head and put a finger to his lips to be quiet.

“Why are we here so early Pinkie Pie?”

“We need to set up of course! The rest of the ponies will show up after they’re done their jobs for the Summer Sun Celebration.”

Spike and Andrew both watched down on the crowd of ponies, mainly the pink fluffy pony who was hopping around and setting up party decorations.

“What’s going on Spike?” Andrew whispered. Spike quickly grabbed Andrew and hid behind the wall beside the door as he saw the pink one look up the stairway.

“It, looks like it might be a surprise party.” Spike explained, still whispering.

“A party? I’ve never had one of those before. Lets go come on!” Andrew again went to leave, but Spike kept his grip on him.

“We can’t let anypony see you, remember?” Spike told sternly. “We will just have to wait for Twilight to get back. She’ll help sort things out.”

Later

Twilight entered the library, tired and mumbling to herself. “Finally. I thought that would last forever. I gotta go find Spike and Andrew.” She sighed. “Where’s the lights?”

The lights suddenly flashed on as all the ponies yelled: “SURPRISE!”

Spike and Andrew were sitting upstairs, doing nothing and acting bored. They suddenly sprung up as they heard surprise and Twilight’s voice. Andrew knew now from Spike grabbing him multiple times to not get up and run. Spike got up instead. “Wait here.” He ran downstairs towards Twilight, who was talking to the same pink pony he saw from before.

Twilight sighed in relief as she saw Spike, and was easily drawn away from Pinkie Pie as she continued to blab away in the background. “There you are. Where’s Andrew?”

“He’s upstairs.” Spike replied, though Pinkie had now tuned into their conversation.

“Andrew? Who’s Andrew? Oh! Is he upstairs?” Pinkie started guessing random things, though Twilight denied everything, beginning to sweat. This isn't good
Some of the ponies, well, all of the ones that Twilight had met while doing her check list, had now gathered around to say hello to Twilight once again. Fluttershy, the quiet, yellow and pink pony, had seen Spike and suddenly gasped. “A baby dragon!”

She ran over to Spike and smiled brightly. “I’ve never seen a baby dragon before. He’s so, cute!”

The ponies stopped dancing and looked at Fluttershy, who then blushed and backed away.

“I need to go upstairs for a minute.” Twilight told, going towards the stairs.

“Why? What’s up there? Can I come?” Pinkie ran past Twilight, and so did Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity.

“No! Don’t!” Twilight yelled and ran after them, but when she made it back in the bedroom with Spike, everyone was staring at Andrew.

“Oh no…”

Friends

Family and Friends

Chapter 5

Friends

Everypony stared at Andrew, and Andrew looked back once he sensed this. He suddenly gasped, and so did the rest of the ponies. Andrews eyes grew wide, and no one spoke a word, though Fluttershy’s eyes were wider. Even though she had never seen something like Andrew before, she knew well enough not to scare him. But before she could make a move to calm him, he quickly moved underneath the bed beside him.

The 5 girls went to look under the bed, though Twilight quickly stood in front of them. “Leave him alone!”

Twilight didn’t look in the mood to move any time soon, though that didn’t stop Fluttershy from trying. “T-Twilight, please… I c-can help…”

“She’s right!” Pinkie Pie told, everyone turning to her. “Fluttershy’s great with calming animals!”

“Andrew, is NOT an animal!” Twilight growled, angrily stepping towards them, not noticing Fluttershy sneak by her.

“Then what is it?” Rainbow said back, hovering in the air. Twilight couldn’t answer. He obviously wasn’t a pony, and she had never seen anything like him before. She didn’t know how to answer.

Fluttershy slowly looked under the bed, and Andrew saw her and moved further away from her, scootching under the bed. “Shh shh, it’s okay.” Fluttershy whispered, holding out a hoof to him. “You can come out, I wont hurt you. Nopony is going to hurt you.”

Andrew heard her soft voice, and almost calmed down completely. It reminded him of when he was younger and Twilight would talk to him like that, it always made him feel warm and relaxed inside.

Andrew relaxed more, then slowly reached out towards her hoof. He gently took her soft, yellow hoof and crawled out of his hiding place. The second he was out, Fluttershy couldn’t help but hug him tightly, wrapping her hooves around his body and nuzzling him.

Twilight turned around and gasped as she saw, then went to walk over to the hugging two. Andrew quickly held his hand out to stop her, hugging Fluttershy back. “It’s okay mom.”

“MOM?! Did it just?!-” Rainbow threw her hooves up, but Rarity suddenly covered Rainbow’s mouth with a hoof, so she didn’t ruin the moment.

“I’m Fluttershy. What’s your name?” Fluttershy then slowly pulled away from the hug, though still held Andrew in her hooves. Andrew turned to look at Twilight for permission to answer, and she sighed.

Well, this isn’t really how I thought he would make friends, but it’s a start… Twilight nodded to him.

“M-My name is Andrew.” He smiled. “I like your name.”

Fluttershy blushed lightly. “Oh, thank you. I-I like yours too.”

Twilight’s anger slowly subsided into a smile as she watched this scene unfold before her. The touching moment was suddenly interrupted by Pinkie Pie. “Yay! New party member!” She hopped over to Fluttershy and Andrew, grinning at the boy.

Andrew didn’t run or hide this time, instead smiled back at Pinkie and giggled. Twilight’s shoulder was suddenly tapped on my Applejack’s hoof, who waved over to a corner. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Twilight gulped as she knew what was coming. It was obvious that Andrew wouldn’t stay a secret forever, but the day before he was to be revealed? He was caught. The only thing she can hope for now is for these new girls to keep it a secret until morning. But she barely knew them.

Twilight followed the farm pony into a quieter part in the room, and AJ didn’t hesitate to throw questions in Twilight’s way. “Who is that? What is that? Where did it come from? How long have you had it? Does Princess Celestia know?!”

“Yes! She knows!” Twilight gulped and looked at Andrew, who was still occupied with the rest of the ponies and sighed. “I don’t know where he came from. I’ve had him for about five years. I stayed with him in the Canterlot castle, and yes Princess Celestia knows. During the Summer Sun Celebration she was going to introduce Andrew to the town. So he can make friends and go outside. He hasn’t gone outside for five years!” She whispered and looked down. “Look, he may not be a pony. But he acts like a young colt. He deserves this.”

Applejack listened to her talk, watching Andrew the entire time. When Twilight finished AJ sighed, and looked back at her. “And this is the truth?”

Twilight nodded seriously. “Yes, it is.”

“So, you’ll need us to keep this a secret until the Celebration.” AJ asked.

“It, would really help, yes please.” Twilight looked at Andrew and smiled at him getting along with the ponies. She already had a good feeling that he would have fun with a lot of other ponies, though she was worried that other ponies wouldn’t get along with him. Even with the Princess telling the town that he would be here and he’s not dangerous, it may not change somepony’s minds.

AJ sighed. “Alrighty then. I’ll let the other girls know.” The two mares walked back to the group. “Girls, can I talk to ya’ll for a minute?” Aj called out to the rest of the girls, who then turned back to AJ.

“Aww, come on Applejack!” Pinkie turned away from Andrew, then followed the rest of the group. Fluttershy slowly lifted up Andrew off her lap and stood.

“I’ll be right back Andrew.” Andrew nodded, then Fluttershy headed out the door to downstairs with everyone else. Twilight and Andrew looked at eachother.

“Well that was, strange.” Spike hopped down from the windowsill and walked over to Twilight and Andrew.

“I like them.” Andrew smiled and turned to Twilight. “Do you mommy?”

Twilight ginned to him. “They seem like nice ponies.”

“Barging in like that?” Spike grunted, hopping up on the bed. Andrew suddenly yawned, which caught onto Twilight. Twilight looked over at the clock.

“I think it’s time we got some sleep. I know I could, and Andrew too.” She looked down at Andrew, who suddenly crossed his arms.

“I’m not t...tired…” Andrew yawned again, making Twilight giggle. Spike frowned.

“But there’s a party going on downstairs! Don’t you wanna join them?” Spike headed for the door.

“I think Andrew and I are going to sleep. You can go though.” Twilight smiled gently.

“Yes!” Spike looked as if to punch nothing in front of him, then hurried downstairs. Twilight closed the door behind Spike, then climbed into bed and levitated Andrew up onto it.

“But I wanna go with Spike.” Andrew whined, though once he felt the mattress against his back, he immediately fell asleep. Twilight giggled once more, and nuzzled his head as she curled up beside him.

“Good night Andrew.” Twilight yawned, and went to close her eyes, when the door suddenly opened again.

“Hey Twilight! Pinkie Pie's starting pin the tail on the pony! Wanna play?” Spike ran in the bedroom with a lampshade on his head. Twilight frowned at him.

“Spike, not now. And keep the music down, some ponies are trying to sleep!”

“Everypony has to stay up, or they'll miss the Princess raise the sun!” Spike explained. “You really should lighten up, Twilight. It's a party!” He then left back downstairs.

Twilight grunted and lied back against the bed, but had too many things on her mind she couldn’t fall asleep, or even close her eyes. She looked out the window to see the moon, with a dark unicorn imprinted on it, with 4 stars closing in on it. She got up and gaze at it out the window. “Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night." Twilight said quietly out loud to herself. “I hope the Princess was right... I hope it really is just an old ponytale..." She worried, and suddenly Spike barged into the bedroom again.

“C'mon, Twilight, it's time to watch the sunrise!”

Twilight had managed to get there a bit earlier than the rest of the ponies, so she could get Andrew to the back of the stage where Celestia would be to show him to the ponies. Strangely enough though, she was nowhere to be seen, which made Twilight worry even more, though she was sure that the Princess would show up. The guards didn’t let Twilight stay back there with Andrew, so she had to go into the crowd of ponies. Thankfully Andrew was fine with this, but he was still scared. But nowhere near how scared Twilight was.

Pinkie suddenly rushed to Twilights side, making Twilight frown at her as she began her fast talking. “Isn't this exciting? Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited- well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I went *GASP* but I mean really, who can top that?”

The sudden sound of birds singing took Pinkie and the rest of the crowd’s attention towards the platform, where a spotlight had shone onto the mayor of the town, Mayor Mare. “Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!”

The crowd cheered, though Twilight didn’t as she continued thinking about Nightmare Moon, Andrew, the Princess…

“In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year!” The mayor continued talking, And Twilight turned to look outside and at the moon.

The stars around it suddenly collided with the moon, and the picture of the unicorn disappeared. Twilight gulped and her ears flattened.

“Princess Celestia!” The mayor introduced as the curtains opened and the birds sang, but Princess Celestia was nowhere to be seen. Everypony gasped and started talking to eachother.

“This can’t be good.” Twilight worried.

“Remain calm, everypony, there must be a reasonable explanation!” The mayor tried, and attention was drawn to Pinkie.

“Ooh, ooh, I love guessing games! Is she hiding?” Pinkie started looking around. Rarity came out from behind the curtain.

“She’s gone!” Everypony gasped in fright again, but Pinkie widened her eyes.

“Ooh, she’s good..” She suddenly yelped as some dark, blue smoke appeared on the balcony, then separated, forming a tall, black and navy blue alicorn.

“Nightmare Moon…” Twilight shrunk, and Spike fainted off of her back.

“Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little sun-loving faces.” Nightmare Moon growled with an evil grin.

“What did you do with our Princess?!” Rainbow Dash yelled angrily, about to fly after her, but was stopped by Applejack biting her tail.

“Whoa there, Nelly!” Applejack muffled. Nightmare Moon laughed devilishly.

“Why, am I not royal enough for you?-”

“Who are you?! Where’s Princess Celestia?!” A voice was heard from behind the stage, Taking everypony’s attention including Nightmare Moon. Twilight gasped as she recognized that voice.

“Andrew!” Twilight yelled, and the alicorn laughed as she levitated Andrew up in front of her, showing him to the crowd as she did so.

“I don’t remember you being present when I was here.” Nightmare Moon showed Andrew to Twilight. “Do you know this thing?”

Andrew cried as he couldn’t move in Nightmare Moon’s magical grasp, and the crowd gasped.

“Put him down!” Twilight turned around, and saw Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash glaring at the alicorn, who then guffawed at the group of mares demonically.

“Oh, and what are you going to do about it?”

Author's Note

You're welcome for yet another cliff hanger :3

Return

Family and Friends

Chapter 6

Return

Nightmare moon continued to cackle heartlessly, barely looking down and dodging in time from a large, purple beam that was shot from Twilight’s horn. Her face filled with fake surprise, grinning and laughing a bit more. “Getting a bit frisky are we? Well, I’ll give you some time to burn off that anger while me and this, thing get to know each other a bit more.” With that she let out a final laugh, then vanished with a bright light. Her evil cackling echoing in the silent room filled with surprise.

Twilight didn't dare look at the crowd of ponies, for she already knew they were staring at her in confusion. And making eye contact would only make it worse. She was on the verge of breaking down into tears, but she knew she didn't have a lot of time to get Andrew back. She immediately turned and ran off the stage, past the other girls and away from town hall. The other girls yelled her name and pursued her, including Spike who had some trouble keeping up with them.

By the time Twilight got back to her library she had tears streaming down her face. She ripped through almost every book in her library in panic and worry. “Elements, Elements, ugh! How can I stop Nightmare moon without the elements of harmony!?”

“And just what ARE the Elements of Harmony!?” Twilight was suddenly interrupted by Rainbow Dash who had burst into her library, throwing suspicious questions at the poor pony. “And how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh? Are you a SPY?- whoa!”

Dash was pulled out of her questioning by Applejack who had grabbed ahold of Dash’s tail with her mouth. “Simmer down, Sally. She ain’t no spy..” She walked closer to Twilight, and so did the others who had arrived. “But she sure does know what’s going on, don’t you Twilight?”

Twilight stood quietly and paused as she thought about what she was about to let out.

“I heard all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her.” By this time her tears had dried on her furry cheeks, but her worry remained. “But I don’t know what they are, where to find them. I-I don’t even know what they do!”

“The Elements of Harmony; A reference guide!” Pinkie spoke normally, only to get violently shoved out of the way by Twilight who looked at it.

“How did you find that?!”

“It was under Eeee!” Pinkie cheered and bounced around the room, Twilight glared slightly, angry at herself for not knowing.

“Oh.-” Twilight shook her head in anger at herself for not looking there. The wasted no time in pulling out the book and rapidly flipping through the pages, until she stopped.

“There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known.”

“Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery-”

Twilight was cut off as a heavily panting Spike burst through the door, shutting it and leaning back on it to catch his breath.” W-What just happened!? Can somepony fill me in please!?”

Twilight did nothing but glare at Spike. She quickly shook her head and sighed. She didn’t want to get mad at him, or anypony for that matter except for Nightmare Moon. But she couldn’t help herself. She felt that she was running out of time to save Andrew. She looked back at Spike. “I’ll explain later Spike. Right now there are more important things to be done.”

Applejack stepped forward to look at the book. “Where are these, Element-thingys?”

Twilight cleared her throat and scanned over the book to find where she left off. “..In the ancient castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. It is located in what is now…”

“The Everfree Forest.”

Andrew woke in a panic as he eyelids flew open, his eyes rapidly searching the room as he sat up. He was in complete darkness, and the solid, damp, rock ground beneath him felt to carry negative energy. Without thinking, he stood up, his arms locked tightly to his chest. He shakily and barely took a step forward, a quiet whimper escaped his lips unexpectedly. The silent noise seemed to echo on forever, like he was in a large cave. But felt claustrophobic at the same time.

Every step he took felt as if he was about to step of a cliff. He was so paranoid that almost anything that happened caused him to flinch wildly. Suddenly, in front of him a dark, sky blue cloud of smoke appeared a few feet away from him. Even through the darkness, it was the only thing he could see. It was enough for him to back away shakily, causing him to fall onto his back. He looked up at the cloud in fear, as he could now see a mare’s face in it. Specifically Nightmare Moon’s.

The evil face grinned and chuckled slightly as she stared down at Andrew, drinking in all of his fear like a drop of water in the desert. Her laughter grew more until she finally stopped with a sigh. She moved closer and continued to smirk mercilessly.

“My my, you are a strange little thing aren’t you? Twilight Sparkle definitely cares much about you, would be a shame if something were to… Happen to you.” Her laughter continued up again as a stream of blue cloud caressed Andrews face, in response he swatted it away immediately. Andrew wanted to speak. He wanted to yell and scream at the top of his lungs, but looking into this evil mare’s face; he felt paralyzed.

“Funny how Twilight Sparkle thinks she can gather all the Elements of Harmony and defeat me with her, pathetic little pony friends. I will enjoy erasing them ALL from existence! And you shall watch it all. NEVER shall you see your ponies EVER AGAIN!!” The cloud burst into wicked cackles that echoed everywhere around Andrew, leaving him alone once again. Scared more than ever before. Tears streamed down his face as he curled up and hugged his legs.

“...P-Please...D-Don’t get hurt, mommy...please…”

- - - -Later- - - - -

“There it is! The ruins that holds the Elements of Harmony, we made it!” Twilight relieved as they finally came across the ancient castle, the ponies following suit. Twilight wasted no time in galloping towards it.

“Twilight, wait for us!” AJ chased after her, the others doing the same.

“We’re almost there!-WHOA!” Twilight quickly halted, being stopped by a broken bridge and almost falling off the cliff. Rainbow pulled Twilight’s tail and dragged her back to safety. Dash smirked.

“What’s with you and falling off cliffs today?”

“Not only cliffs, everything we went through has been too much!” Rarity whined, rolling her eyes as she looked at the rotten bridge.

“Now what?” Pinkie sighed, but her attention was grabbed to Rainbow flapping her wings.

“Duh.” She jumped into the air and dove down to grab the bridge ropes, flying back up to the other side to tie the ropes, when she heard faint voices around her calling her name. she dropped the ropes and looked around her. “Huh? Who’s there!?”

”Rainbow...Rainbow…”

“I ain’t scared of you! Show yourself!!” Dash hopped up on her two hind legs, throwing a few punches in the air with her fore legs.

“We’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the fastest flyer in all of Equestria.” The voices replied.

“Who?”

“Why, you of course!”

“Really?- I-I mean, yeah, me!” Dash grinned. “Hey, you wouldn’t mind telling the WonderBolts that would ya? Because I’ve been trying to get into that group for like: ever!”

“No Rainbow Dash, we want you to join us.” Three ponies galloped out of the shadows and into the clear, wearing dark clothing and eerie yellow goggles. “The ShadowBolts. We are the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest. And soon we will be the greatest in all of Equestria. But first, we need a Captain.” The mare that spoke of the three flew near and past Dash, speaking into her ear.

“The most magnificent-”

“Yep,”

“Swiftest-”

“Yes,”

“Bravest flyer in all the land.”

“Yes, it’s all true!”

“We need…” The mare got an inch close to Rainbow’s ear and whispered: “You.”

“Wohoo! Sign me up!”

Over the other side of the bridge, the ponies were becoming impatient. AJ finally groaned loudly, looking over the other side of the bridge. “Whut in tarnation is goin’ on over there!?”

“M-Maybe she needs help tying the rope tight enough.” Fluttershy supposed quietly, then backed down as no one heard her and Twilight spoke up.

“Rainbow! What’s taking so long!?” She yelled across the large ravine, and she gasped as she saw Rainbow with the three ShadowBolts. “Oh no…Rainbow!!” Suddenly, one of the ShadowBolts glared over at the group, their goggles shining bright as the thick fog around them blocked their vision to the group, also muffling their voices. “Don’t listen to them!”

“Well?” The mare ShadowBolt asked once again. Rainbow thought hard, before speaking.

“You.”

The ShadowBolt beamed in victory, until Rainbow corrected herself. “Thank you, for the offer I mean.” She flew over to the bridge and tied the rope. “But I’m afraid I have to say no.” Dash fixed the bridge then flew back to her friends, in which the ShadowBolts burst into the same dark blue cloud and disappeared into the forest.

The group cheered as Rainbow returned from the other side, and they all crossed it together. “See? I’d never leave my friends hangin’.”

Ugh! These arrogant little ponies are so STUBBORN. They will ruin my plans for Equestria if they carry on with this! Nightmare Moon’s cloud of smoke watched the ponies inside with the 5 orbs of the Elements. She smiled and giggled somewhat. But I doubt Twilight Sparkle will know how to reveal the sixth Element of Harmony...What’s this? She watched as Twilight laid by the orbs, her horn glowing and the other ponies leaving the room. She grinned wider. This will be my chance to finally stop Twilight Sparkle…

Twilight focused harder and harder on the spell, until the sound of the rock orbs spinning rapidly caused her to break out of concentration. She opened her eyes to see a dark blue swirling cloud in front of her, spinning the orbs. She let out a yelp, alerting the others outside. The swirling tornado of blue grew taller and span faster. “The Elements!” Twilight yelled as she leaped into the vortex, and it imploded and disappeared just as the ponies entered.

The ponies scattered around the room, searching for her. “Look!” Rarity alerted as the tower outside the window was glowing brightly from the windows.

“Come on!” Applejack ordered as they sped out of the building, towards the other tower.

In the other tower, Twilight appeared from a dark cloud of smoke. When she stopped coughing, she looked up. In front of her stood Nightmare Moon, levitating the orbs around her with an evil laugh. Twilight immediately gave Nightmare Moon a look of anger and disgust.

“Twilight Sparkle, how very nice to see you again.”

“Where. Is. Andrew?!”

“Oh, that thing? you cherish?” Her horn glowed as suddenly beside her sat a curled up Andrew, his eyes flying open as he saw Twilight.

“Andrew!!”

“M-Mommy!”

He stood up and tried to run to her, but was stopped as a spherical orb around him kept him in place. Twilight tried to use magic on the shield, though her horn exploded with navy blue magic, blasting her back.

“No, I don’t think so, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight got back on her hooves, and gave Nightmare Moon the most terrifying death glare as she kicked her fore hoof back, steam coming out of her nose, anger and adrenaline pumping through her veins. Looking ready to charge.

“You’re kidding. You’re kidding right?” Nightmare Moon smirked, amused by the unintimidating look of Twilight. Though Twilight’s horn glowed brightly as she charged full speed at Nightmare Moon. In response Nightmare Moon charged as well, but instead of attacking, Twilight had something else in mind.

Just before they reached each other, Twilight teleported away from Nightmare Moon to behind her, into the circle of Elements. Twilight turned to Andrew, who was standing up and punching the wall of the shield around him. “I’m going to get you out, okay Andrew? Every thing is going to be okay!”

Alright, activate the elements, defeat Nightmare Moon, and that should drop the shield spell so I can get Andrew out. Just one spark…

Nightmare Moon turned and saw What Twilight was doing, and turned into a cloud of smoke, once again spiraling into a tornado and charging at Twilight. Just as she appeared in front of her, it was too late. Twilight was launched back by the spell she had casted on the Elements. A spark jumped from each of the orbs.

“No, No!” Nightmare Moon gasped, and Twilight grinned in victory. Until the spark un expectantly stopped.

“What!? But, where’s the sixth Element?!” Twilight cried. Nightmare Moon took back her triumph and let out a fearful cackle. Her hooves lept up then smashed down on the ground, shattering the orbs around her into tiny shards of meaningless rock.

“You little FOAL! Thinking you could defeat ME!? Now you will never see your Princess or, sun! The night, WILL LAST, FOREVER!! HAHAHAHAAAA!!!” Thunder cracked in effect to the swirling cloud of dark smoke that surrounded the room. During her defeat, Twilight heard the voices of her friends coming up the stairs, and that’s when it finally hit her. Twilight turned back to Nightmare Moon, hope spread across her face.

“You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well you’re wrong.” She stood tall as her friends gathered around her. “Because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony, are right here!” Suddenly, a few of the shards that were previously one of the orbs, levitated up. Nightmare Moon gave out a confused ”What?

“Applejack, Who reassured me when I was in doubt. Represents the spirit of: Honesty!”

As Twilight spoke those words, the shards began to circle around Applejack.

“Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion. Represents the spirit of: Kindness!”

The same happened with Fluttershy, Nightmare Moon was already beginning to feel weaker with every word that Twilight spoke.

“Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger. Represents the spirit of: Laughter!”

“Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift. Represents the spirit of: Generosity!”

Andrew had stopped fighting inside the bubble, and his fear had disappeared, but Nightmare Moon’s grew more and more.

“And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire. Represents the spirit of: Loyalty!”

“The spirits of these ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!” Twilight finished, taking the advantage of seeing Nightmare Moon’s fear.

“You still don’t have the sixth Element! The spark didn’t work!” Nightmare Moon tried.

“But it did. A different type of spark.” Twilight turned around to her friends. “I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you. How much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me. When I realized that you all…”

Twilight turned back to Nightmare Moon. “Are my friends!” Abruptly, above all of them with a flash of light, the orb of the sixth Element appeared.

“You see Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the, the spark. That resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth Element. The Element of, Magic!”

The whole room exploded with magic and light, each of the shards becoming consumed by each of the ponies into elemental necklaces. The last, being a crown upon Twilight’s head. The magic around them grew more and more until a powerful rainbow beam shot out of the group of friends. Both Nightmare Moon and Andrew braced their eyes from the light as it fired into the air, then down on Nightmare moon.

“NOO!!!!” Nightmare Moon screamed as she became engulfed in the beam, wrapping around her until she wasn’t visible anymore. A white light blinded everyone in the room. And when it cleared, all six ponies were lying on the ground.

Once Andrew clarified at the shield was finally gone, he spent no time in running over to Twilight and the rest, even stumbling a bit as he couldn’t run very well. Twilight was still on the ground, but she got up immediately as she felt the hug of someone so familiar that she couldn’t have mistaken who it was. “Andrew!”

Twilight got up and grabbed him, pulling him tightly against her chest as she gently cried tears of joy. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay..”

The other girls around had gotten up and recovered from what just happened. Applejack rubbed her head as she looked at her necklace, then over at Twilight. “Gee Twilight, ah thought you were just spewin’ a bunch of phooey-” She stopped as she looked at Twilight and Andrew, a relieved and relaxed smile grown on her face.

“Awwww!” Pinkie cooed, bouncing near them until Fluttershy held a hoof in front of her.

“Shh, let them have their moment.” She smiled, dropping her hoof back down.

“Mommy...i-is she gone?” Andrew pulled away for a moment to look at Twilight, the fear slowly beginning to show again.

Twilight didn’t know the answer, but she hoped yes like everypony else. Though the question was lost as a bright light grabbed everyone’s attention to the center of the room. The light burst, and there stood a spread-winged Princess Celestia. Twilight and Andrew stood up as the others bowed. Twilight trotted lightly towards the Princess of the Sun. “Princess Celestia!”

“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student.” Celestia replied as they neck hugged. They parted as Andrew followed Twilight and hugged Celestia’s leg.

“Hi Pwincess Cewestia!” He smiled, and she smiled back. Looking down at the small, cute little thing.

“Hello to you too Andrew.” Celestia’s smile suddenly faded as she closed her eyes. “But there is still one other hello. Princess Luna.”

Where Nightmare Moon was previously defeated, lay a smaller, Alicorn Princess. Her eyes quickly opening as she gasped.

“It has been a thousand years since I’ve seen you like this.” Celestia walked towards Luna, with an unreadable expression. “It’s time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together little sister.”

“Sister?” The group of ponies behind them questioned themselves.

“Will you accept my friendship?” Celestia stood over Luna, awaiting her answer.

Luna leaped forward after a brief pause, hugging her sister as tears formed in both of their eyes. “I’m so sorry! I missed you so much big sister!”

“I missed you too.” Celestia held Luna and looked down at her.

In the back with the group of ponies, Pinkie had literally started crying waterfalls in the corners of her eyes, until she unexpectedly stopped and smirked. “Hey, you know what this calls for?”

“A PARTY!!”

Author's Note

I know, I know, I knoooooow I've been gone so long. If anything I'll be surprised if you were still expecting a new chapter to come out. So just to let you know, I never left. And this time, (hopefully) I'm here to stay. Next chapter should be Thief. Thanks, and lots of sorry for the hiatus!

Trapped

Family and Friends

Chapter 8

Trapped

- - - -A Few Days Later- - - - -

Andrew was awoken slightly abruptly by what sounded to be three hyper fillies downstairs. He first didn’t have to open his eyes to know Twilight wasn’t in the bed with him, but he could guess Spike was still asleep. He finally opened his eyes, sitting up and yawning with a stretch. Focused on his relaxing he almost lost balance, causing him to quickly catch himself.

Now that he was really awake, he decided to go downstairs to see what was going on.

He walked to the doorway, the voices of the three fillies becoming clearer. He also heard Twilight talking to them.

“Girls, I know you want to meet him, but he’s sleeping right now. You’ll just have to wait-”

“Can’t we go surprise him or something?” One of the fillies asked, their voice sounding slightly tomboyish. From the doorway he could only see Twilight, and as curiosity took over, he walked down the steps towards the four.

“You can’t just do that, Scootaloo! What if you scare him-!” The filly talking suddenly gasped as he came into her view, she squealed in delight, causing him to look at her in slight surprise. “Awww! He’s so adorable!” She speed-walked over to him. He took a slight step back, Twilight noticed.

“Look girls, if you’re going to play with him just try not to scare him. He’s not used to new ponies yet.” Twilight ordered, stepping in front of Andrew.

“Now why would we do somethin’ like that? AppleJack already told us lots ‘bout ‘im.” The third filly followed up. She wore a big red-pink bow on her red mane, matching her yellow coat.

Twilight felt a bit uneasy about AJ telling other ponies about him. Even though it wasn’t a big problem, because at the party on Summer Sun Celebration, Princess Celestia did what she said she would do. Telling the town and explaining what needed to be told about Andrew so he could stay here with them. Twilight was still used to having to keep him cooped up indoors for days on end. To be honest, there was now a lot to get used to.

“I-It’s okay mom.” Andrew calmed, walking past Twilight, taking her slightly by surprise. Andrew wasn’t the shyest pony on the world, especially compared to Fluttershy. But he wasn’t the most courageous and outgoing either. She smiled as she watched him walk up to the fillies.

“M-My name’s Andrew,” He started, trying his best to relax. One of the ponies smiled, having a swirly pink and very light purple mane and tail. With a white coat.

“I’m SweetieBelle! And this is AppleBloom, and Scootaloo.” She introduced, the other two each let out their separate “hello’s”. Scootaloo suddenly stepped forward. And Andrew replied with one of his own, beginning to already feel more comfortable around them. Suddenly, Scootaloo, who had a bright orange coat and purple mane, jumped up and hovered in place with her pegasus wings buzzing wildly.

“We were planning to go on another adventure!”

“Cutiemark Crusader: Extreme Explorers!” AppleBloom chimed in.

“You should come with us! It’ll be so much fun!” SweetieBelle added, bouncing slightly with glee. But an unsure and concerned look from Twilight silenced them. They turned their attention to her.

“Please, can he come with us?”

“We’ll be careful, we promise!”

“You can trust us!”

“Please please pretty pleeeeease?”

Twilight put a hoof to her head and shut her eyes tightly. “Yes! He can go!” She was concerned about Andrew, no doubt, but she mainly wanted the fillies to leave or at least be quiet. And She remembered back to when she was in the castle and what the Princess told her to do.

“I would like you to bring Andrew with you so he can make some friends and meet new ponies, and as I said in the message, I would like that of you too my subject.”

Twilight sighed and pulled her hoof away, smiling to Andrew as she became relaxed. Causing Andrew to feel the same as her as he grinned back.

“Have fun, Andrew.”

The three fillies and the one Andrew cheered as the three ponies pranced in circles around Andrew, until SweetieBelle stopped with a dramatic gasp. Causing the others behind her to slam into her backside. “Does this mean we have a new member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!?”

“Yeah it does!” Scootaloo hoof-bumped Sweetie.

“Then let’s hurry up ‘n get to the clubhouse!” AppleBloom yelled, already halfway to the door. The others pursued her, leaving through the door with a goodbye to Twilight.

They finally got to the clubhouse a little while later. With it being on Sweet Apple Acre’s land, and with Andrew’s stubby little legs leaving him quite slow, so it wasn’t the quickest trip ever. But that didn’t matter now, as at the moment the four were inside discussing.

“I know if ain’t much, but if’s all we haff right now.” AppleBloom explained through her teeth as she placed a pin onto Andrew’s shirt, that read: Official CMC Member. Making Andrew realize how small these ponies were. Andrew was growing pretty fast, so he was just barely an inch taller than them. But Scootaloo was the same height.

“We were thinking of making a whole ceremony or something like that, but that’ll take a while.” Scoots added, and behind her was an excited SweetieBelle.

“Come on guys, we don’t have all day!”

“Actually, that was sorta the plan…” AB mumbled, earning an adorable glare from Sweetie. Andrew finally joined the conversation.

“So, where are we really going?” He wondered, hoping it wouldn’t be too far from home. He didn’t really get homesick, (although he hadn’t really left the house besides being kidnapped) but he didn’t like the idea of Twilight worrying about him.

“We’re gonna explore the Everfree Forest!” The sound of that name made Andrew and SweetieBelle shiver suddenly. “Pinkie told me about lot’s of cool stuff in there!”

“Didn’t she also say you shouldn’t go in there?” AB frowned, and Scoots replied with an eye roll.

“Please, like she was being serious!” She said sarcastically, and AppleBloom mumbled something under her breath. Though it was probably obvious what it was about.

“A-Anyways, let’s get going. I don’t want to be in there when it gets dark.” Sweetie headed for the door, opening it up as everyone passed by her. They nodded in agreement.

Andrew shivered silently again as he thought about the Everfree Forest. He learned that, that was the place he was trapped in with Nightmare moon all that while. He already had bad memories with that place, and he hadn’t planned to make more. He stood tall and followed the others as they walked across the plains of grass and some forest of apple trees.

By the time they got there, it was just turning noon. And the rumbling of AppleBloom’s stomach was heard by the other three. “Maybe we should’a got lunch first.”

Scootaloo groaned. “Oh come on, we walked all the way out here so we could explore, not turn back and get something to eat!” AppleBloom shook her head in reply, washing away any other thoughts besides what they came for.

“Right.” She said, determined. “Ready everypony?”

The air filled with positive replies for a brief moment before they all walked into the forest.

Scoots, who had brought a small saddlebag with her carried a flashlight, which she then pulled out to shine the way as they walked. Andrew looked behind as he saw the outside light from the entrance disappear. He gulped quietly and turned back to the ponies. “D-Does anypony really know where we’re going?”

Scootaloo nudged his leg with her own. “Don’t worry, just stick close to me kid.” There was suddenly a scoff from behind her.

“Yer definitely startin’ to sound like Rainbow Dash.” AB rolled her eyes, though it wasn’t visible in the dark. But the squee sound that came from Scoots was very heard.

“R-Really!?- I-I mean, um, y-yeah! Of course I do!” SweetieBelle leaned close to Andrew and whispered:

“She does that a lot.” She giggled. Causing him to chuckle back. He almost forgot about being in the forest for those few seconds that they talked. He could already, almost, feel a strong future between the four of them.

After a while longer of walking in silence, AppleBloom finally broke in. “I hope y’all know where we’re goin’. Because I lost track along time ago.” Suddenly, Scootaloo stopped as her flashlight flickered, then shut off.

“S-Speaking of lost…” Scoots now worried herself. An: “Uh oh” escaped Sweetie’s lips as she gripped onto the nearest thing, almost like she would lose track of them at any moment in the darkness. Which happened to be Andrew’s arm.

“I-I can’t see…” Sweetie whined, hugging tighter. And Andrew instinctively hugged her back, both to make her feel safer and for his own sake.

“Just gimmie a sec to adjust, don’t worry SweetieBelle-”

“I can see.”

The ponies turned to the sound of Andrew’s voice. His eyes adjusted to the dark much quicker than the filly’s did. He looked around. “B-But I still don’t know where we are…”

“T-Try looking for our tracks! Maybe we can trace them back to where we started-”

Scootaloo’s speech was suddenly and violently cut off by a loud crack of lightning, and following were the sounds and feeling of rain as it began to pour down.

“Thanks fer the jynx, Scootaloo.” AppleBloom sighed, her eyes beginning to adjust. Now able to see around her and everyone who was huddled close. “Now what? Our tracks’ll be gone in a few minutes.”

“M-Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea…” Andrew added, still hugging onto SweetieBelle, and also Scootaloo who had come closer. They all muffled an agreement.

AppleBloom stood tall. “We can’t just stand around, we gotta hurry up ‘n find a way outta ‘ere!”

Future Plans

Family and Friends

Chapter 9

Future Plans

It had become later in the evening and Twilight was lying on her couch, muzzle in her book. Spike had been making tea for her, and he walked back in with a tray of refreshment. “Twilight, not that I really want you to worry, but shouldn't Andrew been back by now?”

Twilight’s face was blocked by the book she was reading, though it suddenly dropped, revealing her shocked face. Spike took a step back, realizing what he’d done. “D-Don’t worry Twilight, I’m sure they’ll be back in a couple of minutes-”

“How could have I forgotten?! He’s been gone all day, and I haven’t heard back from him!” Twilight hurriedly got off the couch, starting to walk in circles. “And they went exploring! They could be anywhere! Twilight collapsed to the floor, covering her face with her hooves. “Oh, what am I going to tell Princess Celestia…”

Spike just watched his friend beat herself up, though he’s seen it a million times and just rolled his eyes.

“How are we going to find a way out of here before we freeze?” Scootaloo sighed with a shiver. Andrew hugged his arms to stay warmer, though he was losing heat fast.

“M-Maybe this wasn’t a good idea..” Andrew mumbled aloud, and Applebloom stomped her hoof.

“Of course it wasn’t a good idea! Scootaloo, what makes ya think goin’ into the Everfree Forest is a good idea?!”

Scootaloo glared and took a step forward. “It isn’t! That’s why we’re Extreme Explorers!”

Sweetie belle sighed in defeat. “Rarity’s going to be so worried..”

Andrew finally spoke up between the conversing three. “Standing here and arguing Isn’t going to get us anywhere. Either we freeze here, or get out.”

The fillies were quiet for a brief moment, until Sweetie Belle grinned and nodded. “Let’s get out of here then!”

The three fillies nodded to each other, then huddled closer and each put a hoof in the middle, then looked over at Andrew, smiling big.

Andrew walked over to the circle, and put his hand up with the others’ hooves. “Cutie Mark Crusaders, GO!” The four threw their hands and hooves into the air.

“Alright, let’s get out of here-”

“AppleBloom?! Scootaloo?! Where are you fillies?!” Scootaloo was cut off mid sentence by Rainbow Dash, who was seen flying overhead as the fillies all looked up.

All four of them began calling Dash’s name, who soon flew down into the forest, landing in front of them. Her mane was sopping wet, and she sounded out of breath. Making them think she had been looking for quite some time. “Where have you fillies been?! We’ve been looking all over for you, your sisters and I have been worried sick!” Dash looked over to Andrew. “Not to mention Twilight too.”

Andrew gulped. “W-Where is she?”

“She’s out looking for you like the rest of the girls. Now, let’s get you all back to Ponyville.” She began walking in a direction. “This way is back to Ponyville.”

The Crusaders nodded and followed behind her.

A while later, they finally made it back to Ponyville, and thankfully it had mostly stopped raining. Twilight, Rarity, and AppleJack were waiting on the other side of the forest, and their faces lit up in happiness and relief as they ran up to the youngins.

“Sweetie Belle! Oh my goodness don’t ever do that again!” Rarity had Sweetie in a death hug, and Sweetie Belle barely had enough energy to squeeze out her own words.

“I..n-never, planned to..get, l-lost-!!”She coughed.

“Andrew!”

Andrew turned towards the call of his name, spotting Twilight running towards him, already levitating him up before she got to him. “Don’t ever scare me like that again, I don’t know what I’d do without you! I should’ve never let you out to do something like that!”

Instead of agreement, which is what Twilight expected of Andrew, he pulled away from the hug grinning wide. “Are you kidding? It was so exciting!”

Everypony turned to Andrew in puzzlement, even the three fillies.

“...Really?” Twilight asked, unsure of how exactly to react to it.

Andrew nodded wildly. “Yeah! It was a little scary at first, but it was a lot better than being cooped up inside all day.”

“Well, you filles sure picked the right colt to recruit to your club.” Dash chuckled, nudging Scootaloo, who blushed lightly in response.

“Could we all have a sleepover or something?” Andrew wondered. Almost every word that shot out of Andrew’s mouth hit Twilight harder and harder, surprising her more and more. She’s never seen him like this. But come to think of it, she’d never seen herself like this, either. She didn’t have the chance to reply, though, and AppleBloom beat her to it.

“As much fun as that sounds, ah doubt that a sleepover is gonna happen on a school night. And plus what just happened..” She sighed, and AJ smacked her lightly in the back.

“Y’all got that right, missy.” She frowned.

Andrew panicked slightly, but dramatically at the same time as AB ran over that dreadful word that no filly or colt has ever, ever, liked in their childhood.

School.

Twilight tapped her chin for a moment. “Actually, speaking of school, I’ve been thinking about putting Andrew into the school here. It’d be good for him to learn even more past what I’ve taught him, and he’ll meet new friends! What do you think Andrew-”

Twilight giggled along with the other girls as they saw Andrew tightly curled up in a ball on the ground. The three fillies didn’t laugh, however, as they knew the pain of school.

“..n-no, I don’t think that’s a good idea..” Andrew groaned.

“Oh come on, it ain’t that bad. Y’all are gonna learn lots that ya didn’t know before! And you’ll be spendin’ more time with fillies and colts your age.” AppleJack tried to cheer him up, though it didn’t do much, as she just earned another groan. Andrew looked up at the three fillies for mercy, but they all gave him the sorrowful look that read the words of: “It’s too late.”

“Come on Andrew, it’ll be good for you.” She levitated him up onto her back, and he finally relaxed out of his ball.

“..fiiiiine..” He whined. Pinkie, who had been surprisingly quiet throughout most of the conversation, bounced over to Andrew on Twilight’s back.

“Don’t worry, school’s like, super duper fun! And you’ll get to hang out with Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo every day, too!”

That seemed to cheer Andrew up a little bit, as he sat up and looked over at the three little fillies, each of them conversing to each other. He sighed and finally gave in. “Fine, I’ll go.” He shut his eyes, realizing it didn’t matter whether he wanted to go or not, he was going to school.

“So, I dunno about you guys, but I haven’t had lunch yet and it’s going on 4 o'clock. I’m gonna head over to the cafe if any of you want to tag along.” Dash stretched her legs and opened her wings. After a couple of nods and agreements, most of the girls agreed to follow along. Rarity had to go back to the boutique for some fashion business, though let Sweetie Belle stay. Fluttershy had to go home to check up on her animals, and Pinkie did whatever.

When they got to the cafe, the rain had completely stopped, and the restaurant was a bit crowded.

“Looks a bit busy. Nothing a few ponies did to hurt anypony.” Dash pointed out, and although it was a bit busy it wasn’t any work to find a seat. A waiter came by and took their orders, and because Andrew couldn’t eat flowers or hay, he ended up just buying a simple salad.

The waiter returned with the food and after some “thank you’s”, everypony dug into their meal.

It didn’t take very long for Andrew to finish was was on his plate, and when he finished he sat back in his chair with a quiet sigh.

“Hooiee, that colt sure ate a lot for such a little one. And fast too, almost up with Pinkie!” AppleJack said, almost done her meal.

Once everypony had finished their lunch, they all broke into conversation, the mares talking about their own thing, and the youngest talking about their own thing. (Cutie Mark Crusader business).

They had been there talking for quite some time, before they looked at the time and headed home for the day, splitting the ponies and fillies up to head home. By the time Twilight and Andrew got home, it was getting dark and Andrew was getting tired. Twilight took her usual responsibility of putting Andrew to bed. Not needing to do anything with Spike, as he was already fast asleep. The last thing was herself. She made sure everything was done, then hopped into her bed with a long sigh, then turned to Andrew with a soft smile as he was already in dreamland.

“I love you Andrew.” She pulled him closer to her and kissed his forehead, then fell fast asleep.

First Day

Family and Friends

Chapter 10

First Day

Andrew awoke peacefully by a whispering voice in his ear, quietly calling his name.

“Andrew… Andrew, wake up.”

He turned away slowly, mumbling and groaning.

“Andrew, come on! It’s your first day of school!”

Andrew's eyes shot open, and quickly sat up. “W-What?! I thought you said you would think about it!”

“I did!” Twilight smiled happily, stepping away from Andrew. “I talked to her a few days ago, yesterday to be exact while you were gone. Ms. Cheerilee said that she’d love to have you!”

It took Andrew a moment to adjust to what was happening, before groaning and hiding under the blankets. “No! I don’t wanna go!”

Twilight sighed, levitating the blanket up and almost taking him with them. “There’s nothing to be worried about Andrew, you’ll enjoy it! You’ll meet new ponies, learn more about pony history… Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo will be there too!”

All of that didn’t seem to make a crack in Andrew’s wall of disgrace and unhappiness. They were both present there for a moment of silence before Twilight finally sighed with a hint of irritation, levitating Andrew up off the bed and onto her back. “This will be good for you Andrew, trust me.” She trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen, when she suddenly heard the front door open.

The sound of three little fillies walked in, and closed the door behind them.

“Twilight? Are y’all here?” Apple Bloom’s accented voice was heard from the kitchen, causing Twilight to walk out to greet them, Andrew still on her back.

“Hello girls, can I help you?” Twilight questioned, almost seeming to be unaware of the now sleeping figure on her back.

“Our sisters told us that Andrew would be going to school today after you mentioned it to them.” Sweetie Belle explained as she leaned to the side and spotted Andrew, and giggled. “I guess he’s not ready to go, huh?”

“Oh,” Twilight sighed and craned her neck to look at Andrew. “yeah. I guess he’s not ready to go to school yet, but he has to start somewhere.” She earned a long moan from Andrew.

“Well, we’re gonna be late if we don’t start going.” Scootaloo mentioned, bouncing on her hooves nervously. Andrew sighed in defeat, and rolled off of Twilight’s back and landed on his feet.

“Okay, fine..”

“Come on Andrew, it won’t be that bad. Ms. Cheerilee is always easy on the new students, so y’all don’t have to worry about that.” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, and Sweetie Belle took a step forward.

“And you can hang out with us for recess and lunch too!”She smiled wide.

“You’ll have lots of fun Andrew. Just give it a chance.” Twilight gave a calming grin.

“Okay, okay. I just don’t want to get picked on is all.” Andrew confessed, walking over to the CMC.

“Hah, don’t worry about that. If anypony gives you trouble we’ll show ‘em not to mess with the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Scootaloo grinned and patted me on the back, though it ended up being the lower waist as Andrew was much taller than the rest of them besides Twilight.

“And I’m sure everypony is going to love you anyways.” Sweetie Belle smiled gracefully.

Twilight levitated a certain type of saddle bag over to Andrew, in which he then put it on his back. It was like a saddle bag, though it had two straps and wrapped around his shoulders, with one large pack pressing against his back. “There’s a lunch, books, paper, pencils, pens, water-”

“Thanks, mom. I think that’s good.” Andrew smiled lightly holding a hand out to his mother to interrupt her sentence. His face showed that the bag was already heavy as it is.

Twilight smiled and waved as they headed for the door. “Have a good day!”

“Good morning class, I hope you all had a good sleep. Today we will be working on multiplication and division. So, if you may take out your books and-” Ms. Cheerilee was interrupted by the bell ringing from the door as it opened, revealing three late fillies. Causing the teacher to frown.

“You’re late you three.” She spoke in a disappointed voice, and the three young ponies dropped her looks to the floor and walked to their desks.

“Sorry Ms. Cheerilee.” They said all at once. Though once they left the doorway to their desks, they revealed the quiet, different, shy Andrew. Avoiding the looks from the other, confused students.

Ms. Cheerilee gasped. “Oh, right! Class, we have a new student joining us today!” The whole class including the teacher stared at poor little Andrew, who quietly gulped and shrunk down a bit. The teacher waved him into the class, and Andrews body automatically began moving towards her until he was in front of the class.

“Now, would you like to announce your name to the class?”

Andrew gulped as the classroom filled with silence, and some of the other ponies began giggling and whispering to each other. Andrew cleared his throat and shakily opened his mouth.

“...n...n-not really..” He gripped the straps of his backpack, and some of the ponies in the class chuckled. The teacher rolled her eyes unnoticably, then walked up to the nervous human.

“There’s no need to be nervous.” She smiled, looking down at him.

Andrew cleared his throat and stood tall. “..My name is Andrew Sparkle, and, I came from Canterlot to move here.”

The classroom ruptured into conversation about Canterlot, and some of them being about Andrew being Twilight’s colt. The teacher hushed the class until they were finally quiet.

“Why don’t you sit over there by Sweetie Belle?” Ms. Cheerilee pointed to an empty desk in the middle of the room, and he nodded before walking over to it. Passing by some fillies and colts on the way there, he heard lots of whispering and some giggling, mostly coming from two certain fillies, but he didn’t look to identify.

Andrew sat down next to Sweetie Belle, who happily greeted him with a warm smile, which he returned. He felt a little weight of his chest knowing that his three new friends were there. Had they not, he might not have been so easily moved to come to school. The teacher grabbed the class’s attention with a simple clear of the throat.

“Okay. Now, I’ll have to bring another textbook for Andrew because I don’t seem to have one here right now. So could somepony share with him?”

Sweetie Belle took no hesitation and answered the millisecond Ms. Cheerilee stopped talking. “I will!”

The class was suddenly filled with the sound of a desk scraping against the floor, slowly, as Sweetie moved closer to him. Everypony’s ears flopped down against their head that the horrid sound, and gave a sigh of relief when she was finished. Then the chair began moving soon after, creating the ear-deafening sound again.

“S-Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom begged, holding her ears down.

“Sorry!” She replied, now fully moved beside Andrew, confused the entire time as he had no problem dealing with the sound.

The teacher sighed in relief as she had the class’ full attention. “Okay. So, flip to page 23, and you can do the full page and half of the next.”

The class filled with groans as they opened their books. Sweetie Belle beside Andrew made the same sound, and flipped to the page. When she flipped to it, Andrew frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“This is so hard. I don’t know why the teacher makes us do this stuff at our level..” She planted her face in the crevice of the pages. Andrew leaned in and look at a few questions.

“This is hard for you?” Andrew asked, opening up his backpack and pulling out a note pad and pencil.

“Yeah..?” Sweetie looked up curiously at Andrew as he had already begun the page, and was already halfway down the first page! Sweetie Belle’s jaw dropped as she watched him furiously writing down different types of forms and numbers, some of them way too large and confusing for Sweetie to even comprehend. With not even a moment to spare, Andrew was finished before anyone else in the class.

“Done!” Andrew stuck his paper into the air, writing on both sides of the paper. Anypony could’ve looked at the paper and assumed it was written by a mad scientist. Everyone in the class turned to Andrew, including the teacher. Ms. Cheerilee got up hesitantly, and walked over to him, put his sheet on the desk and examined it. Every second her face growing more and more with awe.

“...H-How.. is this possible? This is using some of the most advanced formulas in the math curriculum!”

“Well, my mom spent a lot of time with me in some subjects, including math. And after memorizing the formulas this is possible with my eyes closed.”

Andrew widened his eyes as he realized how much of a scene he was making, and afterwards sunk down in his chair slightly. “...s-sorry..”

Ms. Cheerilee immediately shook her head. “No, don’t be sorry! Because of this you’re way further than the rest of the class. I’ll have to get higher level work for you Andrew. Well done.”

Even the praise from the teacher couldn’t change the fact that a certain filly, pink coat and a diamond tiara on her head, was staring daggers at Andrew. Causing him to sink down more into his chair so only his eyes were visible.

“Nice job Andrew!” Scootaloo cheered, and Applebloom soon followed with her own encouragement. Then Sweetie Belle, and a few more fillies and colts in the class began to cheer him on. Enough until the angry filly turned away with a “hmpf”, and a smile grew on Andrew’s face.

“That was amazin’ Andrew! Where’d ya learn tuh do that?” Apple Bloom asked proudly, looking up at him. The lunch bell had rung and everypony ran outside to enjoy their limited time of freedom.

“Like I said, my mom taught me. Because we had a lot of free time, she decided to teach me a few things. Because I wasn’t going to school at all.”

“Well you’re sounding a bit more comfortable around ponies. I haven’t heard you talk like this.” Sweetie pitched in, and they all stopped at a bench.

“Well we haven’t really known him that long anyways.” Scootaloo said.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the NEW pony!”

The four Cutiemark Crusaders turned to the voice of a familiar bully. The three besides Andrew groaned in annoyance.

“What do YOU want Diamond Tiara?” Scootaloo sighed, stepping in front of her.

She rolled her eyes in response. “Oh, nothing. I just wanted to congratulate, Andrew, on his intelligence.” She walked up to Andrew, and glared at him. Which was little to not intimidating towards him, as he was much taller than her. “But if you take my reputation in this school I will take, you, DOWN!”

“Your reputation for what? Bein’ a big bully?” Apple Bloom stood beside Scootaloo.

“Then he’s definitely not going to take your place. He’s the nicest pony and friend anypony could ever ask for!”

Andrew smiled slightly as Sweetie Belle joined the other two, all three of them standing in front of Andrew like a protective wall of friendship.

“Whatever. I’m watching you..” Diamond Tiara walked away after giving Andrew one more glare, then disappeared into a crowd of children.

“Okay..?” Andrew asked to himself, a bit confused as to what just happened. The three turned around to face Andrew.

“Don’t worry about her Andrew, she’s just a pony that we have to deal with while we’re here.” Scootaloo waved a hoof.

“Yeah, she’s all bark and no bite.” Apple Bloom pitched in.

“Well, shouldn’t we do something about it?” Andrew wondered. “If she’s that much of a problem.”

“Well...There’s not much we can do. As much as we’d like to-”

Sweetie Belle was cut off by the school bell ringing to call everypony back inside. She shrugged, and started to head back inside with the others. “Well, let’s head back in then.”

“I’m home!” Andrew called out as he entered the library, and immediately after he heard Twilight running down the stairs.

“Really? How was it?” She walked up to him, levitating his bag off his back and onto the couch. Which he then followed as sat down on the couch.

“The assignments there are really easy. Thanks to everything you taught me.”

Twilight smiled and leaned down to hug him. “See? You argued about it but it did come in handy.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He smirked.

Twilight and Andrew’s eyes darted to the door when suddenly a wild Pinkie Pie appeared!

“Andrew! I heard it was your first day of school!” Pinkie hopped inside and over to him. “Sooooooooooo, how was it?”

“It was alright, It’s nice having Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo there though.”

Pinkie squeed. “We should have a first day of school party!”

“I, don’t think that’s really necessary Pinkie.” Twilight frowned, and Andrew shrugged with a smile.

“Anything for free food!”

Pinkie winked and clicked her tongue. “You think like me, Andy!” And with that, she zoomed out the door.

Twilight rolled her eyes with a giggle. “Oh Pinkie..”

Author's Note

Hey guys. Not much to say other than we all know I'm horrible with release dates. So, I tried to make it slightly longer for you guys.

Thief coming up next.

Losing and Gaining

Author's Note

Hey guys, I know it has been a LONG time since I've updated my stories. There's to many reasons so I'll spare you on them. I have lost my laptop, which is what I usually use to write my stories. So I will now be using my home computer, which may not happen as often. So I will try my best to stay up to date with you guys, but for now, this will be my third story. After I start this, I wont start anymore until my three stories are finished. So sorry for the long hiatus, but I hope to make it up to you with this. I hope you enjoy! :)

Losing and Gaining

Family and Friends

Chapter 1

Losing and Gaining

“Larry, honey. Can you please hurry up with the cake?”

“It’s almost done! Can you come finish up with it while I go grab the rest of the presents?”

“Alright.”

It was a warm evening in the middle of summer, and a new born child was just brought into the world. Well, a year ago. Today they were celebrating Andrews very first birthday. As Andrews parents, Larry and Samantha, were rushing to get things finished up, Andrew was sitting on his grandfathers lap, Bill, who had opened the first, and smallest gift secretly in front of Andrew.

“Oh my, look what your father bought you Andrew!” As his Bill opened the box, inside lay a normal sized pair of dog tags with Andrews name on it. Andrews father was in the military, and he had just returned from a long trip. Andrew gazed at the shiny silver jewellery as his grandfather slowly laced the dog tags around Andrews neck. Andrew shivered slightly at the cold feeling of the metal on his neck, then smiled brightly as he looked down at them.

Because they were big, they reached all the way down to his feet as he was curled up. He poked at one of the tags and giggled. Samantha leaned into the doorway and saw the actions going on in the living room. “Dad, wait for everyone to be here before you open any gifts!”

“Oh relax. It’s the smallest one. And he just loves them. Don’t you Andrew?” Bill smiled as he wiggled his finger on Andrews bare torso. A grunt was heard in the distance of another room of the house, coming from Larry.

“I can’t find them! Where did you put them Samantha?” Larry sighed as he continued searching through the house.

“I’ll help you look in a minute!” Sam replied.

As the two talked back and forth, Bill slowly cradled Andrew closer and talked in a more hushed tone. “You know, when I was younger, I grew up in this same house you are in. And many times, my father would tell me a story about this house. A very deep secret, that I will only tell you.” Andrew slowly closed his eyes at the soft sound of his grandfather's voice.

“My father would always tell me that beneath, this very house, held a secret magic. A magic that brings you to the safest, happiest, and most loving place. I never knew if it was true, but maybe one day you will find out.”

At this point Andrew was half asleep, feeling the gentle breathing and heartbeat of Bill's chest. Another grunt that is heard from the kitchen made Bill frown, then slowly get up and place Andrew on the couch and wandering into the kitchen.

“What’s with all the fuss?” He asked, and another groan was the reply from Samantha.

“Larry, the stove is acting up again!” Sam yelled, smacking the equipment with her hand. Larry walks out of a room and towards the kitchen.

“Just turn it off, we’ll fix it later!”

Sam reached for the knobs and twisted and turned them, but nothing happened. The smell of smoke began to fill the air. “It’s not turning off!”

“Let me try!” Larry stepped forward and began kicking appliance, then foolishly opened the door to the cake. A large cloud of dark grey smoke poured out of the small opening, making everyone cough in the kitchen. The smoke floated to the ceiling, setting off the smoke alarm.

Andrew had climbed off the couch a bit before the alarm went off, after he had seen a large, purple and pink sparkling bag in a room across from the living room. After he entered the room the alarm went off, startling him. He fell into the bags and some blankets and clothes fell on top of him. Unable to move with everything black, he began to cry.

“Larry do something!” Samantha cried, beginning to panic.

“I can’t its out of control! We need to all the fire department. Grab Andrew and meet me outside!” Larry moved towards the phone as Samantha and Bill hurried back into the living room, only to find that Andrew was missing.

Samantha screamed and began running around the room. “Andrew is gone!”

As Larry went to dial the number, he noticed some of the upper cabinets catch on fire. He swore, then ran for the fire extinguisher. It seemed like within minutes, the whole kitchen was on fire. Larry threw the now empty fire extinguisher on the ground. “Lets get the neighbours to call them! Samantha, Bill! Do you have Andrew?!”

Samantha was now bawling as she ran up to Larry. “I-I can’t find him!!”

Larry gasped and looked at the fire, which was spreading quickly. “Samantha, we need to go. If we get the firefighters over here quick enough they’ll find him. Please, we need to go!”

Andrews crying grew louder, though it was nothing compared to the wood burning and cracking. He suddenly felt warm. And the inner walls of the blankets and clothes began to glow a faint purple. Andrews crying began to simmer as he then felt sleepy as the ground below him made the same colour.

All the sounds of screaming and fire had slowly faded away as he drifted off into a slumber.

“Hnng!” Was the sound that came from the backyard of Twilight’s parents house. It was dark out and Twilight had been practising a certain teleportation spell, a spell that she had been working on for quite a while. Though this spell she was working on was a different type of spell; it contained a special type of Equestrian magic.

Twilight was a very talented unicorn, and right now with her only at the age of 10 years old, it was amazing what she could do. The light around her horn illuminated the entire backyard, and after a while Twilight gave up for the night. “Ugh, why can’t I get this right?!” She sighed in defeat and began to walk towards her house. “I guess I’ll just try again tomorrow…”

She was about to enter the house, but stopped as her ears flinched at a certain sound. It was a baby’s cry.

She had heard this many times before, especially in such a big town like Canterlot. But this was different. It sounded like it was only a few feet away from her. She turned around and saw a bush rustling a few feet away from her. The crying continued, and Twilight curiously and cautiously inched towards the sound.

The crying carried on as Twilight was now standing face to face with the shrubbery. Twilight gulped and slowly parted a few branches with her magic, and gasped at what she saw, her eyes wide as dinner plates. She leaned over the baby closer to identify it, though as much as she looked at it she couldn't recognize it.

“Um, h-hello..?” She leaned down towards the infant.

Andrews crying slowed as he gently opened his eyes to meet Twilights. He whimpered slightly, then continued crying. Twilight knew that her parents had gone to bed, so she didn’t want this baby to wake them up, leading to them finding this baby too.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay.” Twilight every so gently lifted him up with her magic, and that's when she noticed something drop from him. She looked down and lifted up whatever dropped, and looked at them closely. “What kind of necklace is this?” She examined it closer, reading whatever it said.

“Andrew Watkins. Is, that your name?” Twilight asked foolishly to the baby, whose only reply was more whining and crying. As some of the lights in houses began to turn on, Twilight knew she had to stop Andrews crying soon. She rushed through things in her mind about how to take care of babies, and stopped on one.

Twilight slowly sat down and rested Andrew in her fore hooves, slowly swinging him back and forth, holding him close to her chest. “Shh, it’s okay..” She whispered to him over and over again.

Over time, Andrew’s crying became quieter and quieter, until it completely stopped. Twilight had assumed he’d fallen asleep. Twilight carefully levitated him up again and walked through the house and to her bedroom, closing the door behind her. She lied down in the bed and hugged Andrew against her chest.

“I promise, I’ll take good care of you.” She yawned.

“Good night.” She whispered as she shut off the lights.

Getting to Know Each Other

Family and Friends

Chapter 7

Getting to Know Each Other

Later that night, after the party everypony had gone home except for the six girls. Who at the moment were all hanging out in Twilights library, which was now her permanent home. Princess Celestia had decreed that Twilight take on a new task in Ponyville, to study and take on the challenges of friendship. Now that she knew herself and the five girls were the Elements of Harmony, it was more important then ever.

Right now, the six girls, Spike, and Andrew were all conversing about the whole event. Andrew, finally convinced that Nightmare moon was gone for good, was relaxed around the five new girls. Especially after knowing what they did. Still having their Elements of Harmony with them, they finally had the chance to really know what it is they do and what they’re for. But for some, they mostly cared about looks.

Mainly Rainbow and Rarity.

“Did you SEE what we did out there!?” Rainbow continued on, asking question after question but not looking for any answers. Fluttershy was now the only one still trying to answer them, though. Rainbow poked at the necklace with a hoof. “Nightmare Moon didn’t stand a chance against me!”

Rainbow, finally leaving her zone of self complementary, gained frowning and slightly tired looks from the rest of the girls. Which she chuckled nervously. “I-I mean, us.”

“There is no doubt these necklaces are inCREDIBLY breathtaking! I wonder what kind of material was used for these…” Rarity mumbled the last of her sentence, talking to herself.

“Can’t y’all just accept it for what it is? Ah mean really-...RARITY!”

AJ glared as she caught Rarity cautiously and sneakily trying to levitate Twilight’s crown off of her head to examine it. “What!?” She whined. “I don’t see anypony else complimenting their looks!”

“Because that’s not what matters! What matters, is what it really means. It means that it connects us all as strong, true friends. What else matters?” Applejack explained, now at a hushed tone.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity both sighed, letting out both of their understanding and apologies at the same time. AJ nodded and smiled. “Good. Now maybe if it wouldn’t be too much to ask, maybe we should get to know eachother a bit better.” She continued.

“Ooh! I wanna go first!” Pinkie shouted, raising her hoof like an excited school filly.

“Hold on,” Twilight looked around. “Where’s Andrew?”

“Spike’s gone too. They must’ve gone to play or something.” Dash suggested, earning a quiet ‘Aww’ from Fluttershy.

“Actually, while we are on the topic of getting to know each other and,” Rarity cleared her throat. “Andrew, do you think you could tell us a little more about him?”

Twilight let out a sigh, knowing she’d have to explain at some time. “Okay, but it’s sort of a long story."

Twilight chose to give the whole story, or at least as detailed and as much as she could remember. Giving bits here and there about growing up with him, sometimes not to go along with the story itself.

“And so one day in the library, Princess Celestia-”

“E-Excuse m-me..?” Twilight paused to look over at Fluttershy who had cut in, and she quickly shrinked back, then let out a petite smile. “I-I’m so sorry, b-but, I-I wanted to go play with A-Andrew upstairs…”

Twilight’s ear flicked as she heard that Fluttershy wasn’t the only pony who wanted to leave to go to Andrew. She didn’t even have to look to know Pinkie was gone, by the sound of her high pitched voice and giggling as they played what sounded like Patty Cake.

Twilight obviously smiled back and noded gently. “Of course Fluttershy, you don’t have to ask.”

“I-I know, but I didn’t want to rude. I’m sorry…” Fluttershy repeated over and over again, quieter with each one she let out as she moved towards the stairs. When she finally left, somepony gave out a quiet sigh of relief.

“At least she’s polite.” Rarity pointed out, suddenly frowning as Twilight did so too.

“If I’m boring you girls you can leave too.”

“Not at all darling! Your story is...v-very!...um, what’s the word…” Rarity pondered.

“...boring?” Rainbow finished, earning a scowl from Rarity and Applejack. In which she shrugged. “What!?”

“Don’t worry, I understand. It’s not the most interesting story in the world.” Though in Twilights mind, it really was. She stood tall and stretched. “Besides, I should probably go check on him. He didn’t get much sleep last night, and I’m sure he’s kind of tired.”

“Actually, quite the timing. I should be heading back to the boutique to check on things. Sweetie Belle isn’t, the most trustable pony around. it was nice to do this otherwise!” Rarity headed for the door, waving to everypony, in which they did back as she left.

Just as she was leaving, AppleBloom passed by her and entered the library, saying hi as they passed. Then she turned to the small group, spotting AppleJack. She seemed rushed.

“AppleJack, y’all better hurry back to the orchard! Granny’s gonna give ya all of Big Macs chores if ya don’t come back soon!”

AJ’s face was overcome with panic at first, then determination as she rushed past AppleBloom. “Over mah dead body!”

Rainbow’s eyes darted around the room, then she flew after AJ. “H-Hey, I’ll race you!” Earning a confused and distant ‘what?’ from AppleJack.

The sudden departure of everypony left Twilight alone. She let out an exhausted sigh, then couldn’t help but smile as she heard Andrew laugh. With nothing else in mind, she went upstairs to her bedroom to join the others.

“Andrew! Andrew! Andrew!” Twilight entered the room to see Andrew and Pinkie playing Patty Cake, but surprisingly fast… like, really fast. Spike was cheering on Andrew as they continued to go even faster as they went on. Twilight quietly trotted over to Spike.

“How long have they been doing this?” She whispered to him, and he paused his cheering to answer.

“I donno, but Pinkie Pie only just taught him, and he’s doing awesome! At this rate, he’s gonna beat her!”

Andrew grinned as he heard Spike, giving him even more energy to continue on.

Across from him, Pinkie quickly bounced her head up, and what seemed to be a cupcake flew out of her pink forest called a mane, tilted her head up, and caught it in her mouth. Not taking the time to even chew, it slid down her throat and disappeared. She faced her opponent once again, her eyes flaring with excitement as she picked up the speed tremendously.

Her pink hooves practically became a blur they moved so fast, never once moving out of rhythm. Soon Andrew had to stop, but he kept his hands in place as Pinkie continued to softly hit his hands with a quiet pat. The feeling of Pinkies furry hooves hitting his palms caused him to burst into laughter, until he couldn’t sit up straight anymore. He fell to the ground hugging his sides with his hands as he let out uncontrollable laughter, in which Pinkie joined in.

Twilight giggled along at the sight of Andrews happiness. Yep, these ponies will be great for both of us… She thought to herself.

Once Andrew and Pinkie finally calmed down and wiped tears from their eyes, Andrew let out a long yawn. Signaling what Twilight had sort of been waiting for.

“Aww, is widdle Andy tired?” Pinkie smirked, crouching down to his level. Andrew shook his head no, but yawned again otherwise. Twilight smiled and levitated him up onto her back, where he laid loosely along it.

“I think it’s time for him to get to bed. He’s had lots of excitement over the past few days.” Twilight looked at the two ponies.

“Oh, I would think so.” Fluttershy responded, peeking at Andrew. “He’s quite the cute little one, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he sure is.” Twilight looked back to Andrew, who looked like he was barely awake. She turned back to Fluttershy and Pinkie. “Thanks for keeping him, entertained.”

“My pleasure!” Pinkie bounced high. “I hope i get to see him again soon! OH! He should come over to Sugarcube Corner! I’ll teach him how to make cupcakes, muffins, cakes, or my special Cupcake Muffin Cake! I’ll let him try everything and show him everything I know-”

“Um...Pinkie..?” Fluttershy chimed in, nodding towards a now asleep Andrew. Pinkie gasped quietly.

“Soooooorry!” She whispered nervously. “Tell him I said goodbye! And I’ll see ya later! Chao! Sayonara! Au revoir!” She continued in her quiet tone as Fluttershy nudged her towards the door. She quickly poked her head back in. “Adios amigo!” And the door shut.

Spike and Twilight sighed. “What a busy week.” Spike said, walking to his bed and lying down.

“You can say that again…” Twilight rolled her eyes, walking over to her bed and levitating Andrew onto it first, lifting up the covers and nestling him under them. She climbed in beside him and shut off her magic.

Spike yawned and crawled under his own blanket, showing nothing but his short snout. “G’night Twilight.”

“Good night Spike.” Twilight replied, then shut off the lights.

Author's Note

Yeah, I know. This wasn't the most exciting chapter, but I have something planned for the next one. Also, on Thursdays I may not be able to get a chapter out. (I'm really busy on Thursdays) But I'll try.