Therapy with Twilight Sparkle

The flight to Canterlot and back took more out of Twilight than she expected. Landing on her balcony she felt a dull, satisfying pain in her wing muscles. She gave one more flap to rid herself of any leftover dew in the wings and walked it.

Spike was not home and she did not have any extraordinary experiments planned for today, so she took "Spells and incantations for the discerning thespian" and spent the next few hours reading. It was written a century after the whole Nightmare Night debacle, when a bizzare mix of tragedy and Theatre of Cruelty became popular. Ponies were reenacting the darkest times of Equestria in the most sickeningly dark and disgustingly gory ways imaginable. Naturally, conventional theatrical makeup was no longer cutting it and a wide array of showpony spells was created. Thankfully, the macabre form of theatre did not last long and eventually devolved into a highly niche genre, but the spells remained and were quite interesting in their own right.

Feeling her stomach grumble, Twilight closed the book and hid it from prying eyes. Although the spells required the caster to have considerable skill and imagination, they required relatively little magical power. Rarity had skill and imagination in leaps and bounds and the last thing Twilight needed was Rarity's usual histrionics enhanced by the magic of ancient thespians. She glided down from her balcony and started slowly trotting towards Sugarcube Corner.

She entered the building and then left half an hour later, happy and satiated. Pinkie asked if she could deliver a cake to Sweet Apple Acres and Twilight happily obliged. Fastening the cake to her back with magic ropes she began cantering towards the abode of the Apple family.

This day was going just perfect. She would make the delivery without any hiccups, have a spot of tea or maybe cocoa with Fluttershy and then go to sleep early, since tomorrow was going to be a grueling day of flight training with Rainbow Dash which she was definitely NOT looking forward to.

Naturally, the instant she thought that, she jinxed all her plans for the day. The first surprise of the day was a large green and brown projectile heading her way. Flying at a breakneck speed for its size , shooting huge red shrapnel everywhere, it was heading straight for Twilight's happy face. She let out a high pitched scream as her mind assessed the situation, but fortunately her body already reacted to the threat as it had done many times before. The projectile impacted the shield and fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

Before her laid a beautiful apple tree torn cleanly out of the ground with a nice big chunk of earth encompassing its root system. Two large hoofprints clearly indicated the one responsible for this travesty. She levitated the tree and started walking in the direction it came from. Not even a minute passed when she head her friend's annoyed voice.

"Big McIntosh Apple, what in tarnation was that? Oh, ya'll just went and uprooted another one of our appletrees. Again. That's what, fourth one this month?

"Eyup."

"Ah sometimes don't know what ah should do with you, big brother. If ya keep bucking our appletrees into the horizon, it won't be long before Sweet Apple Acres turn into Sweet Apple Acre."

Twilight finally located the source of the voices. Applejack was glowering at Big McIntosh, who was standing innocently in front of a large crater in the ground.

"Hi Applejack, Hi Big Mac. Is this yours?" Said Twilight levitating the offending tree into its proper place.

Big McIntosh flashed a brief smile and nodded, "Eyup!"

Applejack huffed in irritation and spoke, "Hi Twi. This here big galoot keeps bucking our appletrees sky high, breaking household items, overplowing the field, ya get the idea. It's like he lost all self control or something." She brightened up, "Anyway, is that Pinkie's special cake I ordered yesterday?"

"It sure is!" said Twilight levitating it on Applejack's back.

"I better go have it refrigerated then – " she turned towards brother "– and you are getting a smaller slice for nearly ruining another tree and all the trouble you gave Twi today, mkay?"

Big Mac raised a hoof, "But-"

"No "buts or ya won't get any at all! Anyway Twi, want a drink or something?"

"Sorry AJ, I haven't seen Fluttershy in ages and promised her we would catch up today." This was not, strictly speaking, true, but right now all Twilight wanted was a pleasant little conversation with her gentle friend.

"Well attagirl! I better go get this thing nice and cold for the evening. See ya tomorrow!" Applejack trotted off with the cake balanced carefully on her back."

Twilight waved Big Mac goodbye and began trotting in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage. In about a minute she heard the heavy sound of his hooves. She turned towards him raising a quizzical eyebrow.

Skidding to a halt from full gallop he intoned, "Miss Twilight, we need to talk."

A dozen cheesy flirt lines perfect for making any "taken" stallion uncomfortable suddenly died in her brain as she heard the tone of his voice. "Is something wrong, Big Mac?"

"Eyup. Mah sister."

"I have already talked to Applebloo-"

"This is not 'bout Little Bloom. It's about AJ. Y' know, we in Officer Armour's unit 'ave been through a lot, but-"

"Officer Armor? Unit?"

"Eyup, talking about your brother here. Or do y'all think he is Captain and Prince, because of his pretty blue eyes? But enough of that, Miss Twilight. As Ah was saying, our experience in the army holds no candle to what your little group was through. Something's up with AJ, but she ain't tellin' me. I would ask Miss Fluttershy, but she's awfully busy lately. But you, Miss Twilight, your eyes don't look troubled. I know it sounds mighty selfish of me, but could you get mah sister out of whatever she's stewin' in? Ah'll do anything in return," – Big Mac spoke clearly and slowly.

"Will you tell me more about your time in the guard and Officer Armor? Just as an extra?"

"Eyup, Miss Twilight."

"That's so nice of you. Of course I will talk to Applejack and don't even try to do anything in return. Capisci?"

Big Mac gave her a thankful smile, "Eyup!"

"See you around then!" Big Mac went back to his farm and Twilight continued along the path to Fluttershy's cottage. She was mildly annoyed.

First Luna, then Celestia and now Big Mac? Why do ponies keep telling me this stuff? Everypony looks just fine! Gah, at least I can have some peace and quiet with Fluttershy, free of all these cryptic requests.

She finally arrived at her destination. Unfortunately, their get-together wasn't meant to be, since Fluttershy was very busy treating Harry the Bear who had, among other things, a Cragodile's tooth stuck where the sun does not shine. "Ugh, " thought Twilight, "that one must sting." She tried to ask Fluttershy some questions, but the pegasus only answered in "Umm, just a second" and "Would you mind if I removed this Chimera claw first?"

Annoyed at the turn of events, Twilight left the cottage without even saying goodbye. She started galloping towards the Friendship Castle, fuming about having to face Rainbow's training sessions without any kind of emotional relaxation beforehand. Mind you, Rainbow wasn't a bad friend. No, she was still one of the six best friends any pony could hope for, but the instant she learned that Twilight's alicorn properties gave her vastly increased pain tolerance and endurance, her workouts started looking less like beginner's flight training and more like the brutal Pindos warrior-pony agoge of yore.

Tired and sweaty, she finally reached her new home. Flinging the doors open with magic, Twilight barged inside, nearly careening into Rarity, who let out her surprised "wa-ha-ha!" – a vocalization that Twilight still couldn't wrap her head around.

"Hello-o there Rarity, " Twilight mused. "Do you, by chance, need something from me or have any issues you want me to resolve?

Composing herself and sealing the door, Rarity replied, "Why yes, my dear. You see, I wanted to start a business partnership with Mister Rich, but I would like to do a background check on him first. I know a very significant portion of his credit history resides in the Ponyville branch of the Royal Canterlot Bank. Unfortunately, I can not obtain it without being registered as an appropriate organization and this would take me SIMPLY forever."

Twilight was very surprised. This was a most unusual request for Rarity to make, since she preferred to work alone. Besides, was Rarity implying...

"Rarity, what does this have to do with me?"

"Why, darling, you are officially the Princess of Friendship now. Royal Canterlot Bank is a governmental institution. You, as a member of Royalty can request any information under the pretense of "Royal Business" and they are required to comply."

Yep. She wasn't even implying anymore. She wanted Twilight to straight up abuse her privilege as royalty.

"Let me get this straight, you want me to abuse my royal power to obtain sensitive information about Filthy Rich? Rarity, are you sure you are telling me everything?"

Rarity's body tensed up and her brow twitched slightly. Unfortunately, dark vision didn't come with being an alicorn and Twilight didn't see that.

"Of course I am telling you everything, dear. Why would I lie to you?"

Yes, why would she lie to her? They were best friends after all. Still, something rubbed Twilight wrong about the whole situation.

Twilight sighed. "Okay Rarity. I will help you. Just... I want you to know that if you are feeling wrong about something, we are always there to make you feel better.

Rarity's heart dropped. She felt that she should confess right there, but reassured herself. Your plan is too important Rarity. You can't fail it on your first step.

Twilight teleported her crown to her head from the top floor. "I suppose I will need my regalia for this, right?

"It will certainly help."

"Okay, let's go get this over with."

They walked out into the evening Ponyville. Despite all the cryptic nonsense and Twilight's failure to meet up with Fluttershy, her day was still going well enough. They spent the time it took them to reach the bank chatting about Rarity's new line. Finally reaching it, they stepped inside.

In two hours, a tired, but content Twilight Sparkle opened the doors of her castle. This didn't go as bad as she thought it would. In actuality, it was somewhat amusing. The usually friendly bank workers turned into nervous wrecks upon seeing her crown. Every simple question she asked was met with either forced smiles or scared stuttering. It was Luna's first Nightmare Night all over again. She made a mental note to study the effects of regalia on ponies sometime later.

Twilight tended to her hygiene, gave sleeping Spike a light kiss on the forehead and then fell fast asleep soon after hitting the pillows.