Interlude – Meeting his Princess
“How long I’ve been here? Dunno, that could’ve been like forever. Now you’ve come. If I ain’t gonna make it back, I’ll make sure you will. Together, we can do this, I assure you.”

“For the fourth time, breakfast is ready!” Spike’s annoyed yell woke Twilight Sparkle up this time. She got out of the bed, made it with care and went down the stairs. Spike didn’t bother to wait for her, as she found him crunching on a ruby in the library.

“Rose-petal salad again? You’re not very creative of late, Spike.”

“Hey, you know, at least you got some life certainty to hold on in the morning? Huh?” Seeing Twilight’s suspicious frown, he slowly backed off: “Alright, alright, I’ll bring you a daisy sandwich, but could you please tell me what you were doing in Canterlot already?”

She giggled and replied with a wink: “That’s confidential.” Frustrated, Spike left for the kitchen.

Twilight recalled every single detail of it. Three days ago, she was on a hot trail of a foreign friend of Princess, leaving Spike alone for the night. She and the colt made a long trip all the way to the capitol and when they got there, she was so exhausted that she dropped off immediately. The next day, the stranger was gone and Princess refused to speak to her due to lack of time, claiming to be carrying out her royal duties. Twilight knew her teacher was avoiding the topic, pretending to be swamped by letters. Disappointed, but ready to investigate more, Twilight headed back to Ponyville.

Still, she did not encounter the colt and everything appeared to go as usual. Not even hanging around the sold house gave her any clues, as the building would remain empty. At least it looked empty. She wasn’t sure when or how, but the house was definitely visited more than once. ‘Or by several ponies,’ she thought while she compared the muddy hoofprints at the doorstep.

Today, she hoped to pursue the matter further. Rarity has asked her to go shopping together and the market wasn’t that far away from the place she seeked to observe. After finishing the sandwich Spike made her, she gathered the prepared necessities and headed for Carousel Boutique. Morning was warm and the birds were singing, yet she found something was off. The sun looked different, and she had a very uncomfortable feeling sending chills down her spine. She examined her surroundings and searched for anything strange. Street was filled with trotting ponies talking with each other, the regular routine. Nothing seemed to be happening.

“By Equestria, everypony look!” Same as the crowd, Twilight reacted almost instantly to the cry of a passing colt. She ran forward to get the best view on the event. A cloud of dust slowly approached towards the town from Sweet Apple Acres and Twilight caught a glimpse of the cowpony within it. She’s never seen a more horrified expression than the one on Applejack’s face before. Eyes filled with sheer terror, gasping for every breath, Applejack was racing to the crowd as fast as she could. She was bleeding from the left flank, blood running freely from a stabbing wound near her three-apple cutie mark down to her legs. As she got closer to the crowd, a great shape emerged behind her. The vision became clearer and Twilight recognized Big Macintosh rushing after her friend, holding an old rusty knife in his mouth, licking the blood off it and speeding up after his sister. In the moment he caught up with her, he swinged the blade again.

Twilight’s scream was silenced by the sound of police sirens. Everypony dodged the sight, only she was still looking. In the fatal second, what saved her friend was a mere root protruding from the ground. The massive colt tripped, fell forward and on the ground he went. Knife within his mouth wildly spun, readying itself towards the colts head. It pierced through the jaw directly into brain, its opaque tip resurfaced at the back of his head, drowning among the straw-dyed mane. Miracle? Hardly. With silver shivering in the air around it, the root retracted back to the soil it came from.

Panic spread fast throughout the crowd, extending its reach down to each mind, and chaos broke loose. Instead of standing around in shock like some of the others, Twilight acted. ‘Magic! But where’s the source?’ She fiercely turned her head in search of the unicorn that saved Applejack’s life. Black cape up on the hill next to the ravaged road gave her the answer. She wanted more. Still failing to grasp the weight of the entire situation, she focused just on one thing now. Twilight charged to the alley, ready to chase the cloak through the whole forest if she had to.

Then, at its edge, she stopped. Did she really just left one of her best friends behind, stabbed and in dire need of medical help? Once her ears heard the ambulance wailing, however, she shook her head and continued: ‘Not a good time to change my mind now’. It was the first time she felt so… empty.

A peaceful glade opened before her eyes, flowers bending to the cool summer breeze and butterflies floating about. He was waiting by the spring and he wasn’t alone. She couldn’t do anything but stand in amazement after she realized that by the stranger’s left side there laid… an alicorn. The mare’s beauty was comparable to, possibly even greater than Celestia’s, and she also radiated some kind of energy, which not only calmed Twilight’s mind, but all the plants nearby turned their blossoms towards her. She seemed somewhat saddened, her flower-shaped pupils staring blindly off to space. Her coat in color of rose looked soft and perfect combined with her curly light blue mane soaring in the wind with the lightness of a cloud. The cutie mark was elegant, a rose, a sunflower and a daisy gently woven together beyond her folded wings.

“Well I’ll be damned, the Element of Magic herself!” A green, explosive beam cast out the cloak high into the air and the stout stallion finally revealed himself.

Author's Note

Is nobody safe? 'Sweet Apple Massacre' by bigmacintosh20111 happened (hope I don't need to change the tags because of that). What could possibly be going on in Equestria. (hint hint)
Also two new characters. Yes, first crossover, they're from an animu. Maybe you can guess who the Princess is already and therefore who the colt is too.