Left Behind

Chapters

01 - The Visit
02 - Moondancer
04 - Wedding
05 - Dry Cereal
06 - Celestia
08 - Second Encounter
09 - Cider
10 - Reflections
11 - Lying to Myself
12 - Dreams
13 - False Forgiveness
14 - New Party
Prologue
03 - The Reason
07 - Traitors

01 - The Visit

It had been about a month since anypony had seen Twilight Sparkle in Canterlot, so they went to check her library. But to their surprise when they entered the library, it had been abandoned. They went over to the book stand, and it was opened to the page in a book about The Elements Of Harmony.

“So she really was interested in ancient stuff like that,” said Minuette.

“Yeah, that pony can be odd sometimes... but where did she go?” asked Lemon Hearts, worried that she had vanished in thin air.

“I don’t know, but Princess Celestia might know a bit more about what happened to her” responded Lyra Heartstrings confidently.

“Yeah, so we should check there, she knows everything about the castle, let alone who went where that used to live here.”

But when they confronted Celestia about it, their worst fear was put to rest.

“I’m sorry if she didn’t give you girls a proper goodbye, but I sent her to ponyville on a mission. She will continue her studies there, and if she feels the need to, she can come back and visit.” The girls then ran out the door, when Lemon Hearts had a great idea.

“I have a friend in ponyville, maybe we should pay her a visit, what do you gals think?”

The friends nodded in agreement, hoping they could see their precious friend amidst the trip. But when they tried to get Moondancer to come, they had no luck.

“Look you guys, I really don't want come to ponyville, I've never been, and I don't much care to travel. Besides, I have a bunch of studying to catch up on.”

“Okay, suit yourself.” responded Lyra Heartstrings with a giggle.

The 3 mares boarded the train to ponyville, and to their surprise, it wasn’t that long of a trip.

“Okay girls, my friends name is Pinkie Pie, now she loves to throw parties, so I would probably expect a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party when we get there.”

They all acknowledged that she was a big party pony, and as expected, Pinkie threw the biggest party ever in some library in town. They never saw Twilight, but they did have a great time with Pinkie. She did mention another new pony in town, but they were too tired to really comprehend who it was.

“Goodbye everypony, I'll see you guys next time you make a trip to ponyville.” Pinkie said jumping excitedly at the station.

“And next time the party will be bigger!”

02 - Moondancer

Moondancer threw herself on to her couch and sat there. She sighed, and casually fired a beam from her horn into a lightbulb above her. It turned on, and she squinted at the sudden change from total darkness to bright light. She looked around the room and saw the mess all around her - books were chucked all over the floor, there was a toppled desk in a corner, and a few pairs of broken glasses were scattered around the room. Almost every corner of her house had spider webs all over it. The pony was already quite comfortable on her couch, and couldn’t be bothered to get up to grab the book she wanted to read. She used levitation magic to bring it to her, instead - the height of laziness, but she didn’t care. She opened it and began to read. The book was about some old colt called Starswirl the Bearded - she had read it a bunch of times. At this point, she was just re-reading books for something to do. It wasn’t like she was going to go outside at any point.

Moondancer sighed again and dropped the book, swapping it for a small shard of glass in the corner of the room. Once again, she used her levitation spell to bring it up to her, and she looked at her reflection in it.

Moondancer was a faded yellow mare. Her mane was a red with purple and violet highlights. Back when she was a filly, she had styled her mane just like Twilight Sparkle - she had practically worshipped her back then for her amazing magical skills. Now, however, even hearing Twilight’s name made her shudder and scoff. She had changed her mane style to be as different to Twilight’s as possible - instead of the simple, flat style that she used to adopt, she now wore her mane tied up above her hair by two beads.

“Ugh!”

Moondancer threw the shard of glass across the room and it hit the wall, shattering into tiny pieces. She sat there and - for a third time - sighed, a much deeper sigh this time than before. Suddenly she heard a knocking on the door, and the familiar voice of Minuette calling for her.

“Hey, Moondancer? We’re going to the donut place today. Do… do you wanna come out?”

Moondancer hesitated. At first, she didn’t want to say anything, but she knew they wouldn’t go away until they got an answer.

“Go away, Minuette. I don’t like donuts. I never have.”

Moondancer heard Lemon Hearts chime in:

“Oh come on, Moon! You love donuts! You said so the first time we met!”

The yellow pony felt a pang of sadness when she heard that. The first time they met… that was so long ago, wasn’t it? She couldn’t even remember how long ago it was.

“I said go away. All of you. I’m… I’m studying…”

“Yeah right, Moon. I bet you’re reading that Starswish the Bearded book for the billionth time! Come on, come out - we can talk.”

Moondancer hesitated again. She was reading that book, even if they had got the name wrong. They knew her so well…

“No means no, guys. And stop calling me Moon. I don’t like it,” was Moondancer’s reply.

Outside, Twinkleshine closed her eyes and shook her head. Minuette turned to Lemon Hearts and saw that tears were welling up in her eyes. Lemon Hearts closed her eyes hard, and when she opened them, the tears were mostly gone. Minuette sighed.

“Come on, girls. Let’s go,” she said.

04 - Wedding

About two years had passed since Minuette had spoken with Moondancer. She had spoken to her other friends about what Moondancer had told her, and they had gone to her house several times to talk to her about it, but now she just ignored them. Eventually, they had given up. Minuette, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine had travelled to Ponyville to meet up with Lyra Heartstrings - they hadn’t seen her in a while, and with the royal wedding coming up it was the perfect opportunity to catch up. They sat at a table at a cafe that Lyra had recommended. Lyra had also brought along another friend.

“Everypony, I’d like to introduce you to Bonbon!”

Bonbon put on a grin and shrunk a little into her seat. Meeting so many ponies at once was kind of overwhelming.

“Hi, Bonbon!” Lemon Hearts greeted, “How long have you been friends with Lyra?”

“Uh… I don’t remember. Do you know, Lyra?” Bonbon replied.

“Geez, I don’t know either. It’s been so long… Maybe about a year and a half? It was pretty soon after I left canterlot,” Lyra said.

Lyra’s old friends nodded.

“So, do you two always come here?” Twinkleshine asked.

The five ponies continued like this, asking questions back and forth, making small talk until it was time to get ready to leave for Canterlot. The princess of the Crystal Empire, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, more commonly known as Princess Cadance, was being married to Shining Armor, a knight at Canterlot. Only Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lyra knew anything about Princess Cadance or the Crystal Empire, but they all had to go anyway.

“Oh, I forgot to ask! Is it true that you, Lyra, and Twinkleshine are going to be the bridesmaids for Princess Cadance?” Bonbon asked Minuette.

“Yes! I didn’t really want to, but duty calls, I suppose,” Minuette replied.

“That’s so cool! The bridesmaids for royalty…” Lemon Hearts trailed off.

“Well, we’d better go. The wedding starts soon,” Twinkleshine reminded them.

The five ponies went back to Lyra’s house, where they got into their dresses for the wedding.

It wasn’t long before they were in Canterlot and sitting in the chairs at Princess Cadance’s wedding. Bonbon watched as Princess Cadance and Shining Armor said their vows. At one point, there was a lull in the ceremony, and Bonbon took this opportunity to turn to Lyra and ask her something. When she turned, though, there was nopony there. Bonbon frowned and looked to her other side. Lemon Hearts was sitting right next to her, and she was looking to her right at the other empty seats next to her with a confused expression on her face. Out of the five friends, only Bonbon and Lemon Hearts still remained.

“Psst! Lemon Hearts! Where are the others?” Bonbon whispered.

“I don’t know… they were here a second ago, but they just…” Lemon Hearts whispered back.

Bonbon turned around and faced the colt sitting behind her.

“Excuse me, did you see--” she tried. She was interrupted by the colt shushing her.

“They’re about to become husband and wife! Have some respect!” the colt scolded. Bonbon blushed and turned around to watch the ceremony.

“Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you--”

“Stop!” a voice yelled from the back of the hall.

Lemon Hearts wheeled around and suddenly went pale. Standing at the doors of the ceremony was Twilight Sparkle. Lemon Hearts never thought she would see Twilight again! And here she was, breaking up these two ponies marriage?

“Ugh! Why does she have to be so possessive of her…” Princess Cadance said. She was still speaking, but it all faded away and became simply noise. Lemon Hearts watched as Twilight Sparkle stood before what seemed to be a copy of Princess Cadance. She didn’t care about that. She only cared about the fact that she was seeing Twilight again after such a long time. She heard the Cadance that was standing next to Twilight explaining that the one getting married to Shining Armor was a fake, a ‘changeling’, but she didn’t listen. She was simply stunned. Suddenly, there was a bright green light, and Lemon Hearts was blinded for a second. She saw Princess Celestia falling and hitting the ground, and heard Twilight shout her name in shock. Suddenly, ponies were running around everywhere, Lemon Hearts thought she saw more copies of ponies, and suddenly she was being dragged by Bonbon, being pleaded to run. She sprinted towards the doors, and felt the wind on her as Twilight Sparkle bolted past her. She opened her mouth to speak but Twilight was already too far away to hear. She hadn’t even noticed her.

Lemon Hearts and Bonbon collapsed together in a heap just outside of Ponyville, breathless. They had run all the way from Canterlot, and now they were completely exhausted. Panting, Lemon turned to see Lyra Heartstrings running towards them.

“There you are, Lyra! Where were you at the wedding?” Lemon asked.

“I… don’t remember. The last thing I saw was a bright green light, and… anyway, that doesn’t matter. Is… Is Bonbon okay, or...?” Lyra replied, looking to Bonbon, who was still lying on the ground, taking unnaturally deep breaths, and coughing occasionally.

“I’m... fine… Just a little… out of shape, I guess…” Bonbon attempted, with massive breathes in between.

“Lyra, while you were running, did you see…?” Lemon trailed off. She wanted to ask about Twilight, but her disbelief stopped her from being able to finish her sentence.

“Yeah… While I was running, I saw her fighting those weird bug-looking things. I think they were calling them Changelings? She was fighting those, and then some of them turned into direct copies of her, so she was fighting herself… it was all really confusing, honestly.”

The two friends were interrupted by a shrieking voice coming from behind them, accompanied by the loud sound of running from behind them.

“Giiiirrrls!” Minuette called, tripping as she got closer to her friends and diving through them like bowling balls.

“Ouch, Minuette. That hurt…” Lemon mumbled, rubbing her head and squinting.

“Sorry!” Minuette apologised. “Twinkleshine! It was them!” she called. The four ponies turned to see Twinkleshine sprinting towards them.

“Did you see all that? That was crazy! Ponies were fighting each other, and there were horn-lazers, and Twilight was… wait a minute--” Twinkleshine exclaimed, suddenly realising what she had just seen.

“Yeah, that was definitely Twilight. I can’t believe she ruined the royal wedding like that!” Lemon Hearts said.

“Weren’t you listening? Or watching? The Princess Cadance that was getting married wasn’t actually Princess Cadance, she was Queen Chrysalis - a changeling. She had taken Princess Cadance's place without anypony knowing, not even her to-be husband. Twilight had shown up and saved the wedding, rescuing the real Cadance,” Bonbon lectured.

“...Oh.” Lemon replied.

“So… what do we do now?” Minuette asked, calming down.

“Well, we just saw Twilight, and in very… strange circumstances. I imagine that Canterlot won’t be very safe anymore for a while, so until we can go back, we should probably stay in Ponyville for a while. When it’s safe, Twilight will probably come back, and we can ask her what’s going on,” Lyra replied.

“Yeah, that makes sense. Where should we stay?”

“Ooh! You can all… stay at my house, if you… bah… want…” Bonbon offered, still struggling to recover from running all that way.

“Squeee! It’ll be like a sleepover!” Lyra exclaimed, beaming.

“Hey, what are… friends… for, right? Ugh…”

05 - Dry Cereal

When they arrived at the house, the all fell tiredly on the floor. Most of the ponies didn't care where they slept, they just wanted to sleep. After a run like that, anypony would be tired.

“Alright, so you ponies can stay in the living room, I have extra sheets if anypony sleeps on the floor, I can make a nice cozy bed for you” Bon Bon smiled to the exhausted ponies.

But only one slept on the floor that night, and that was Lemon Hearts. She couldn’t sleep that night, all of the activity flowed into her and she couldn’t stop thinking about what could have happened to poor Twilight. Was she okay? She was up against a lot of changelings from what Bon Bon described. She could have been hurt, or imprisoned. These thoughts wouldn’t leave Lemon Hearts alone until the next morning when Bon Bon came in to wake them up.

“Wake up girls, I need to do a few things today, so I am leaving you guys with the house. Help yourself to the fridge if you get hungry,” Bon Bon said with a smile.

As Bon Bon left, Lemon Hearts went to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal, but just her luck, there was no milk. She had a very dry bowl of cereal that day.

From the front of the house, you could hear Bon Bon walking up, calling their names.

“Oh Giiiirls.”

All the ponies rushed to the front, all but Lemon Hearts, who sat in the kitchen staring blankly at her daffodil sandwich. The girls rushed back, Lemon Hearts did not know what Bon Bon wanted, but she knew she was about to find out.

“Bon Bon invited us to a party that Pinkie Pie is throwing, she wants us all to come.” Lyra said without a breath.

“Awh, sorry girls, I’m fine just staying here” said Lemon, with mouth full of sandwich.

“Awh, c’mon Lemon, what’s the matter?” asked Minuette in a worried voice.

“Nothing Minuette, I’m fine, just go on without me” Said Lemon with a fake smile.

“Ookaay, But you will be missing ooout.”

“It’s fine, have a nice time girls.”

When they left, Lemon Hearts kept wondering - what had really gone on at the wedding?

06 - Celestia

“RIIIIIING! RIIIIIING! Am I doing okay? Hey, you aren’t waking up! Ooh, ooh, I know! BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEE-”

“Dammit Pinkie, put a sock in it! We’re trying to sleep!”

“Sorry! Beeeep, beeeep. Beeeep, beeeep…” Pinkie Pie whispered.

“Pinkie!”

“Sorry!” Pinkie Pie flinched. This was so unfair. Bon Bon had asked her to wake her up at precisely 11:30 PM tonight for some reason, and she was waking up everypony but Bon Bon.

“Ugh… Sorry, Pinkie… It’s 11:30 now, right?” Bon Bon said, rising from her sleeping bag, not bothering to open her eyes properly.

“Yay, I did it! Could you guess what I was? Could you?”

“Yeah, you were an alarm clock… or something. Listen, I have to go now, okay? Try not to wake up everypony else, please…” Bon Bon replied.

“Sure! Where are you going?”

“I just have to go to… I don’t know, uh… You don’t need to know, okay? Just go back to sleep. Thanks, Pinkie.”

Pinkie Pie frowned.

“Okay. When will you be coming back?”

“I probably won’t be coming back tonight.”

Bon Bon snuck through Ponyville, struggling to see - it was pitch black out there. She darted from corner to corner, hiding behind barrels and in alleyways whenever she heard the slightest noise. Really, she didn’t even need to be sneaking around - she just didn’t want to wake anyone. She looked back at Sugarcube Corner, where they had been sleeping overnight. The party wasn’t planned to be a sleepover, but Pinkie Pie insisted, so most of them stayed overnight. Lyra Heartstrings, however, said she wasn’t feeling too well, and had decided to go home. That’s where Bon Bon was going now. She was going to go and get Lyra, just like they had both planned.

Lyra Heartstrings was completely out of it. She laid strewn across her bed, sleeping like a log, dreaming about who-knows-what. She was dead to the world, and in her subconscious, she was loving it. That was until she was instantly awakened by a loud banging on the door. It took her a minute or so of muttering to herself and being mad at whoever was knocking on her door before she remembered what time it was and what she was supposed to be doing, and rushed to answer her visitor. Bon Bon stood in the doorway, waiting for her.

“What took you so long? It’s freezing out here! We need to get moving,” Bon Bon lectured.

“Sorry, I forgot about everything.”

“Wait, so you were asleep just then? You were meant to be awake by 11!”

“I know, I know, but I was just so… sleepy…” Lyra yawned, and closed her eyes for a few seconds, saying nothing. Bon Bon simply waited. Suddenly, Lyra’s eyes burst open.

“Aah! Oh, wow. I think I just had a microsleep…” Lyra said.

“You are not fit to be doing this… But I can’t do it alone, so get it together, okay? Maybe the cool air will wake you up a bit, or something.”

“Sure, Bon Bon. Thanks.”

After a long trek out of Ponyville, the two friends finally arrived at their destination - Canterlot.

“Alright, Bon Bon. You remember the plan?” Lyra asked, full of energy again. Bon Bon laughed.

“What plan? Our ‘plan’ was to go in there, get Twilight, and ask her what’s going on.”

“No, there was more than that, I think… Was there? Actually, I have no idea.”

Bon Bon laughed again.

“Quit kidding around, Lyra! C’mon, let’s just go in there and ask Twilight some questions,” Bon Bon joked.

Lyra looked to her friend and smiled.

“Yeah. Let’s go get my friend back…”

Getting past several groups of Royal Guards, avoiding spotlights, and avoiding Princess Luna herself wasn’t easy. For a lot of the guards, Lyra had just used a sleeping spell that Twilight had told her years ago, but it only worked on a few before she didn’t have the energy to do it anymore - so after that, they resorted to sneaking around.

“Hey, Lyra. I never knew Twilight very well, so tell me - what’s she like?” Bon Bon whispered.

“Well, she was pretty nice when we first met. For a while, she came to this really neat café that we all used to go to, but eventually she just stopped hanging out with us. Whenever we would ask her to do something, she’d just kind of brush us off. I think that’s part of the reason I left Canterlot, really. Something just wasn’t right there anymore… But hey, I guess it was a good idea, right? Because then we met! And honestly, Bon Bon, I don’t think I ever thanked you. Without you in Ponyville, I don’t know what I would have done. You’re just so kind, and honest… I don’t think there has ever been a secret that we have kept from each other!” Lyra replied.

Bon Bon managed a weak smile in response.

“Yeah… no secrets…” she said.

Lyra started opening and closing doors as they wandered down a long, nameless hallway. They didn’t know where they were - just that they were in some random hallway in the Canterlot Castle, a hallway just the same as the dozens of other hallways in the castle.

“Twilight isn’t in any of these rooms… I really thought that after what was happening, she might have stayed here or something… you know, to recover. Maybe we were all wrong…” Lyra said.

“Hey Lyra! What about this door? I think you missed it,” Bon Bon called.

“Oh, whoops. Wanna open it?”

“Yeah, let’s do it. Actually, I have a good feeling about this one,” Bon Bon replied.

“Let’s do it together!” Lyra exclaimed. To Bon Bon’s surprise and confusement, Lyra placed her hoof on the other handle of the door, and started counting from one.

“One…”

“Two…”

“Three!”

The two ponies opened the door and rushed into the room, only to stop dead still. Both of them went ghost-white at what they saw standing before them. About as white as the coat of the Alicorn Princess standing before them, on her bed, glaring.

“What in Equestria are you two doing here? I would expect such misconduct from you, Sweetie Dro-- er, Bon Bon, but from one of my old students, Lyra, I… What are you two doing?” Princess Celestia lectured. Both Lyra and Bon Bon flinched.

“W-we were just… we just wanted to look for Tw… Twi… Uhh… Bon Bon, help me out here!” Lyra attempted, before turning to Bon Bon for help. Bon Bon took a step forward and straightened her back and neck, her face turning rigid.

“Secret Age-- Bon Bon, at your duty, M’am! My friend and I were just looking for a certain Twilight Sparkle, when we accidentally stumbled upon your bedroom. We apologise for the inconvenience!” Bon Bon spoke, sounding just like one of the Royal Guards. Lyra looked at her in bewilderment.

“Drop that act, Bon Bon. You resigned from your job a long time ago. Now, you say you two were looking for Twilight Sparkle. Then why, pray-tell, did you come here? And why didn’t you just wait until morning and ask one of the Royal Guards or even myself about her?”

“We… didn’t know if we were allowed, so…” Lyra tried to explain. Princess Celestia shook her head.

“Nevermind all that, then. Well, I unfortunately have bad news for you. Twilight Sparkle is not in Canterlot - rather, she is staying in Ponyville, at the Golden Oak Library. I have no idea why you thought she would be here, but--”

“We just thought she would be here because we saw her fighting those things, and she might be recovering here because she couldn’t get back to Ponyville or something like that, so we just… we just… oh, did I just interrupt you?” Lyra said.

“Yes. You did. Now both of you, please leave. I will have my guards escort you back to Ponyville where you can visit Twilight Sparkle”.

Bon Bon and Lyra were stunned. They had gone through all the trouble of making it to the castle, past the guards, just to see Twilight, and it had been for nothing, except for a rather scary and intimidating encounter with the co-ruler of Equestria herself. Lyra, however, wasn’t really thinking about any of this. She was trying to piece together what Princess Celestia had mentioned, about Bon Bon ‘resigning’ from her job, and what had gotten into Bon Bon when she had talked to the princess… Was her best friend keeping something from her after all? She decided to let that go for now. Maybe she would ask Bon Bon about it later - for now, their only goal was finding Twilight Sparkle.

The two ponies gathered up the rest of their friends - Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and Minuette, much to Pinkie Pie’s dismay. The five friends then made their way to the Golden Oak Library.

08 - Second Encounter

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

CRASH!

Lyra Heartstrings hit the ground, kicking up dust and coughing.

“Agh… That didn’t work…” Lyra moaned, trying to get back up.

“I told you it wouldn’t. Twilight probably put some protection spell on her door or something. You’re not going to be able to barge it down,” Bon Bon said, looking down at her struggling friend.

Minuette looked over at Lyra and Bon Bon.

“Bon Bon’s right. She’s not home, and we’re not getting in. We should just give up…”

Lyra looked over to her old friends, who were all sitting on the grass a few meters away. Minuette was looking straight at the ground, while Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts looked out in random directions, staring into oblivion. Lyra sighed.

“Guys, what’s up? Don’t you care about Twilight anymore? We can’t just--”

“No, we don’t. She obviously doesn’t care about us anymore. Why should we? We tried and tried to catch up to her, but no matter where we go or what we do, she’s always somewhere completely different. That wedding was the closest we’ll probably ever be to seeing her,” Lemon Hearts snapped. Lyra stopped short and looked stunned at her friend.

“Oh…” Lyra breathed.

Twinkleshine slapped the grass with her hoof, sending grass blades flying and revealing the dirt underneath.

“Gah, hay to this! Why are we even here, still? There’s nothing more we can do here. I think we should leave for Canterlot as soon as we can and just give up!”

Lyra sighed again.

“Minuette, you’re kind of a natural leader, right? What do you think we should do?” she asked.

Minuette kept looking at the ground, and didn’t answer. For what felt like a very long time, the five ponies were silent, hearing nothing but the calming sound of the wind. Finally, Minuette spoke.

“I’m not a leader. None of us are ‘leaders’. We’re just friends, trying to find one friend who couldn’t give a damn about us, and for some reason we’re trying as hard as we can to forgive that friend. I’m done doing that. So I agree with Twinkleshine - we should head to Canterlot as soon as we can. It’s probably too late now for us to catch a train, so we should wait until next morning. Bon Bon, do you mind if we stay at your house again?”

None of the five ponies expected to be able to sleep very well, but surprisingly they were all fast asleep before they knew it. As the sun rose the next morning, the light that was being cast over the group of sleeping ponies is what woke most of them up.

“Ugh… somepony close the curtains…”

“Can’t… Princess Celestia… just go one day without raising the sun…? I’m so sleepy…”

“C’mon… we’re gonna miss our train…”

What got them to actually get up, however, was the sound of a loud and obnoxious voice, yelling something from somewhere in town.

“You and I have some unfinished business! My magic’s gotten better since I was here last, and I’m going to prove it! Me and you, a magic duel.”

Lyra Heartstrings jumped up from her side of the bed, and Bon Bon jumped up from the other. The two friends looked at each other, their eyes widening.

“That voice sounds…” Lyra muttered.

“Surely she hasn’t come back… right?” Bon Bon said to herself.

“...Huh? What’s going on?” Twinkleshine asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Everypony get up! We need to see what’s going on outside!” Lyra commanded.

The five ponies ran outside the house to see what all the commotion was about, and it didn’t take them long to find out what it was.

“It is Trixie!” Bon Bon exclaimed.

“Who’s Trixie?” Lemon Hearts asked Bon Bon, yawning.

“A very arrogant and obnoxious mare. She came to Ponyville once before to show off. She said she could defeat an Ursa Major--” - Bon Bon scoffed - “-- as if!”

Minuette squinted and scanned the crowd of ponies that had gathered to see what was happening. She gasped.

“Wait a minute. Girls. Is that…?”

“Trixie, put him down. Why are you doing this?” a familiar voice asked.

Tears suddenly gathered in Twinkleshine’s eyes as she saw what Minuette was pointing out.

“No way…”

Standing in front of Trixie was Twilight Sparkle - and, once again, she seemed to be in the middle of something bad.

“Why? Because you humiliated me! After you showed up with that Ursa Minor, I became a laughing stock! Everywhere I went, I was laughed at and ostracized. I even had to take a job on a rock farm just to earn a living! A rock farm!” Trixie yelled, clearly furious at Twilight.

“What’s… going on?” Twinkleshine asked.

“Hey! You’re lucky a rock farm would take the likes of you!”

“Was that Pinkie Pie?” Minuette asked, stunned by the whole event.

The friends watched as Trixie and Twilight argued, Trixie casting spells and humiliating ponies as they talked. Some pony with a rainbow mane struggled to balance herself with one giant wing and one tiny wing. Pinkie Pie made muffled shouting noises as her muzzle disappeared.

“Alright Trixie, let’s duel!” Twilight said. Trixie stopped what she was doing and wore a smug face.

“Excellent. If I lose, I won’t set hoof in Ponyville again. But if you lose, you’re the one banished from this one-horse town!”

Everyone watching gasped as they tried to make sense of the terms.

“Twilight’ll be banished? We have to help her!” Lemon Hearts said, panicking. Minuette wore a completely straight face and looked at her worried friend.

“Why? She wouldn’t help us. We can’t do anything anyway. We never could. No, let’s just watch and see how this plays out,” Minuette said in clear disgust.

They watched as a cart was lifted from the ground and almost came crashing down on a frightened mare. They watched as pies came flying out of nowhere and were consumed by a parasite, and as snow was created and dumped on Twilight, as two confused ponies were turned into a sobbing foal and a weak old colt.

Then they watched as Twilight was flung far out of Ponyville with a levitation spell, as four ponies and Pinkie Pie chased after her.

“What was Twilight doing this time?” Twinkleshine exclaimed, confused.

“I don’t know, but seeing her is starting to annoy me… It’s like, we’ve all said we’ve given up, but then I see her and I feel this surge of emotions and… it messes with your head, you know?” Lemon Hearts said, trying to explain her problem the best she could.

Bon Bon nodded, and turned to see Minuette sitting at the table, her head in her hooves. The other ponies took notice, looked at each other, and nodded.

“Let’s go someplace else,” Lyra said.

The other place was Lyra’s house. It was a lot smaller than Bon Bon’s, but it had enough space for the four friends to fit comfortably.

“What do you think is wrong with Minuette? She hasn’t seemed herself lately,” Twinkleshine asked.

“I don’t think any of us have. This whole thing with Twilight must be getting to her,” Lemon Hearts replied. Lyra smacked the table they were sitting at with her hoof to get her friends’ attention.

“Never mind that. I think we should be thinking about Twilight at the moment. Do we really not care anymore? Lem, you said yourself that you’re confused about the whole thing. Deep down, have any of you really given up?”

Lemon Hearts looked at the mint-coloured pony in shock. Lyra was right. There was no way Lemon Hearts could just give up on a friend like that. She hadn’t been thinking straight, and she still wasn’t now. She banged the table and held her head in her hooves, clenching her teeth.

“Aargh! I don’t know anymore! I don’t know anything! What am I supposed to think, after what’s been happening? Twilight abandons us without even saying goodbye, Moondancer becomes an unsociable recluse, then we come here to go to this wedding, you guys are all gone, so I’m just left with Bon Bon, some mare I barely even know, to run for my life, not knowing what has happened to my only friends that have actually bothered to stay with me for most of my life, then everyone just gives up! So I think I’ve made my decision, I think ‘Yeah, I’m done with Twilight, I can move on’, and then all this happens!” Tears welled up in Lemon Hearts eyes, and it wasn’t long before her part of the table was covered in them.

“WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO THINK!?” Lemon Hearts screamed, her tears streaming down her face. Just like Minuette had, she rested her head in her hooves, sobbing.

“I’m sorry I’m not good enough for you, Lemon Hearts…” Bon Bon muttered.

“That’s not helping, Bon.” Lyra said, surprised at her friend.

Twinkleshine simply looked at her crying friend in shock.

“Lem…” she tried. But just like her friend, tears trailed down her face and her lip trembled. She shut her eyes as hard as she could and ran out of the room, leaving a sparkling trail of tears behind her.

09 - Cider

Yet another valuable household item met its untimely death against a wall as Moondancer flung it. How many things she had smashed by now, she had no idea. It was amazing that she still had things to throw.

Her house was a complete wreck. It had never been pretty, but at this point it might as well have been called a bomb-site, a place to be quarantined. All across the floor were various scattered items – torn up books, smashed crockery, smashed up vases, the flowers that used to be in them struggling not to wilt and die in the tiny little pool of water they had left, smashed CDs, even a pushed over couch.

And Moondancer hadn’t stopped. She stood in the middle of the wreck, tossing items with her levitation spell. She didn’t make any sounds, but it was obvious that on the inside she was screaming. The one thing she didn’t want to destroy was the dusty record player in the corner of her room, playing beautiful classical music, with happy and calming lyrics. She had turned it on to try and calm her down, but instead, it had ended up as the ‘background music’ for the tantrum she was throwing. In fact, it was oddly fitting. It was as though Moondancer and all her household items were doing a dance to the music – dancing, of course, before most of the items were completely destroyed. Moondancer heard no sound but the happy music as she destroyed everything she owned. It wasn’t fair – none of it was fair. Everything with Twilight had clearly given her depression, sure. It had made her a social recluse. A recluse in general. It had killed her and the life she used to know. For a long time, she had given up, until she finally realised what she was doing to her friends and herself. She couldn’t live the rest of her life like this. So she had decided to give things a go, to venture outside and try to meet up with her friends. And they had left her, abandoned her, to find Twilight Sparkle. Just as Twilight Sparkle herself had done. She laughed to herself. How contradictory everything was! Twilight Sparkle, who had gone to Ponyville to pursue and learn about friendship, had destroyed any chance of friendship that she had back in Canterlot. She probably didn’t even remember her old friends! Of course, her and all her friends were upset by this – they hated the fact that Twilight had just abandoned them like that. But without even knowing, in their pursuit to find a friend that didn’t even care about them anyway, they abandoned another friend. They did the same thing Twilight did. They did the same thing that they all agreed that they hated. They became the person that Moondancer hated.

And yet, didn’t Moondancer do the same thing? She had shut herself out from her friends, not giving them an inch, leaving them all in the dark. Isn’t that the same as abandoning them? Didn’t she do the same thing that Twilight had done, too? If she never came out of her house, then she might as well have been in Ponyville too, right? She might as well have been dead.

In the end, it all just seemed like a never-ending circle of contradiction and hypocrisy. So now, Moondancer had given up again. There was no point in trying. She was worthless. She hated everything and everything did not exclude herself. She levitated a mug of cider that had somehow survived her tantrum and took a long drink from it. She had more of that. She had much more. Moondancer drank more and more cider, trying to forget everything she was forced to remember, trying to wash away… everything.

She stopped, only for a few seconds, to look at one of her mugs, trying to focus on it. In slurred speech, she said to the mug:

“Thanks, Sweet Apple Acres… I guess you guys, some random family, are helping me through this more than my own friends are…”

Without even moving it, she shattered the mug into a million pieces, exploding it from the inside out, while activating a barrier around her to stop any shards of glass.

Moondancer grabbed another full mug and kept on drinking.

10 - Reflections

Lemon Hearts looked outside the train window, her head resting against one of her hooves. It was dusk, and the sun was setting, painting the sky a beautiful purple, with a hint of orange. It cast rays of light into the train, revealing the sparkling dust that floated around. It was a beautiful time of day.

The yellow pony looked back at her friends. It was just a few hours ago that they had seen her break down into tears. It was just a few hours ago that Twinkleshine had cracked under the pressure and ran away. A few hours ago, Lemon Hearts had let out everything that had been troubling her for the past few days. The yellow pony sighed. Lyra and Bonbon, who sat next to her, had seemed to have gotten over everything, and were happily chatting away. Minuette, who sat alone across from her, simply sat, wearing a cold, blank expression, looking out the window with her head resting against a hoof just as Lemon Hearts had been doing. Twinkleshine, who would normally have been sitting next to Minuette right now, was nowhere to be seen. The four remaining friends had looked for her, calling her name, but they had never found her. Eventually, the train had arrived, and they had been forced to leave without her.

If anypony was to catch a glimpse of the mare sprinting aimlessly through the town, all they would be able to see was a flash of white and her pale-pink mane and tail, trailing along behind her.

Twinkleshine knew that what she was doing was immature and childish, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to get away from her friends for a while. She should have helped Lemon Hearts. She should have been there for them, not cracked under the pressure and backed out. Twinkleshine stopped momentarily and looked up at the sky. Almost dusk. The sun was beginning to set. For some reason, the thought that it would be night soon called her slightly. The chilly air, the beautiful stars, the silence… That’s it. That’s what she needed. Silence. Everything had gotten to her, she couldn’t handle it anymore, it was just too much and she was crying and frustrated and upset and her friends were probably mad at her and oh, what an idiot, idiot idiot, she’ll never be able to face her friends again and she’ll never see Twilight again and—

“Stop,” Twinkleshine said to herself, “you’re getting too far ahead of yourself. Everything is going to be just fine. All I need is some time to myself to think about things. That’s all.”

The pony stopped running, and shut her eyes as hard as she could for several seconds, just like she had seen Lemon Hearts do a long time ago to calm herself down. Everything was black, and all the sounds around her faded away. Twinkleshine took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes again, her tears were gone.

“Geez, Lemon Hearts. If I hadn’t seen you do this a while ago, I wouldn’t have known to do it. If only I had had the strength to tell you to do this before…”

Twinkleshine took another deep breath and began to slowly wander off, her only goal now being to find a nice, quiet spot to rest. She pictured an empty field, covered in beautiful and soft, wavy green grass, the grass’ calming pattern only being interrupted by a large oak tree on a slight hill. Ah, if only she could find a place like that. She would be able to rest under the shade of the tree, the only sound being the gentle breeze. She would be able to look up at the perfect blue sky, at the beautiful clouds.

No, maybe not just her. Two new figures appeared in her fantasy paradise – Minuette and Lemon Hearts, sitting by either side of her. She pictured them both with happy faces, laughing at something with their eyes closed. She couldn’t hear them laughing, but that was okay. All she wanted to hear was the breeze… It wasn’t long before some more figures appeared under the tree, all sitting around it now. Lyra Heartstrings, Bonbon, Moondancer, and even Twilight Sparkle. They all wore similar expressions, laughing at something. Even Moondancer. Moondancer… What was she doing right now? Was she okay? Twinkleshine hoped she was.

Maybe she should try and go back tomorrow… she should visit her… Maybe… she…

Twinkleshine woke up, startled. She was curled up, lying in a spot she didn’t recognise.

‘Wha… Was all that tree stuff a dream? I must have kept running and ended up here… I don’t remember though… Huh…’ she thought. The sleepy pony looked up and observed her surroundings. She was lying in a quiet alleyway. The moon was well out, and all was silent. The only reason she could see was because of the dimly lit yellow light coming from the lampposts in the street.

‘Well, I’m don’t seem to be that far from a main street. This spot’s pretty well lit, too. It should be safe to slee…’

The pony didn’t get to finish her thoughts before she fell deep asleep again.

11 - Lying to Myself

The sound of knocking on the door followed by stupid, whiny voices wasn’t unfamiliar to Moondancer.

“Hello? Moon? How have you been holding up all this time?”

That stupid voice was Lemon Hearts.

“C’mon, Moondancer. I even brought my friend, Bonbon. You haven’t met her yet!”

That stupid voice was less familiar, but Moondancer still knew that it was Lyra Hearstrings.

“Lemme try… Uh, Moondancer. Come out. We know you’re hurting, okay? It’s about Twilight, right? I’m—”

“No. Stop it, Minuette. You have no idea what’s going on. None of you do. Just go back to Ponyville, all of you… Celestia knows you’d be happier there,” Moondancer replied.

The three annoying friends noticed the difference in Moondancer’s speech almost immediately.

“Woah, Moon… You sound a little different… Are you feeling okay?” Lemon Hearts asked.

“I’m fine. Now rack off before I call Canterlot’s authorities,” Moondancer said.

Outside the rundown house, Minuette looked at the ground and gritted her teeth. Bonbon didn’t know her very well, but it didn’t take a genius to know that she was pissed.

“Why… do you have to…?” Minuette said, more to herself than anyone. The blue pony looked up at Moondancer’s half-broken door. It was then that she decided to start screaming.

“WHY DO YOU HAVE TO DO THIS TO US?! Don’t you think we’re hurting enough? What in Tartarus makes you think that you’re the only mare that’s feeling a little upset? You’re selfish, Moondancer! You’re a selfish, terrible person. You only think about yourself and how things are making you feel. It’s how I’ve always felt about you! You’re not special. The fact that you’re a unicorn doesn’t mean anything, Moondancer! You’re no better than the rest of us! You’re just another run-of-the-mill selfish mare that loves to wallow in the pits of despair and cynicism! So while you were in here having a sook, WE were in Ponyville, trying to actually change something! You act all depressed, Moondancer, but you have no will to change that! Sure, we were unsuccessful in getting to Twilight! Who cares?! At least we could actually be bothered to TRY! And look where… look where that got us…” Minuette had been shouting as loud as she could, but now she trailed off, her voice quivering slightly. She begun to sob as the rest of her friends looked at her, with wide eyes of shock and bewilderment. They were stunned that she had said those things – but they hadn’t stopped her, because they knew that it was all true.

“You know… Where that got us, Moondancer? Twinkleshine actually ran away. Everything got to her, and she actually ran away to hide somewhere. So if you think that you’re the only one with a problem, Moondancer, if you think you’re the only one feeling a little upset, well guess what? You’re wrong. You’re completely and utterly wrong,” Minuette looked back to the ground, no longer shouting, but still talking loud enough for Moondancer to hear every word.

“Twinkleshine… she ran away? Did… did you look for her?” Moondancer replied.

Lyra Heartstrings was struggling to stay calm around all that drama. She took a few steps back, and shook her head. The mint-coloured pony turned around to see a couple looking at them with perplexed expressions on their faces.

“What are they doing? They’re making so much noise! Why are they just talking to each other through a door?” The colt questioned.

“I don’t know. Maybe something’s wrong with them. Either way, they should really keep it down. They’re disturbing the peace here,” the mare replied. The couple turned their muzzles up and kept walking.

Lyra was about to suggest that they get the door open, but when she turned around she saw that Moondancer was already part-way through opening it. Lyra’s eyes widened when she saw the inside of her friend’s house, and she gasped along with the rest of her friends.

“Moon…” Lemon Hearts breathed.

The faded yellow pony was a mess. Her mane could hardly be called a mane, her glasses had a crack in them, and there were bits of… some kind of black liquid… stuck in her coat. Her eyes were bloodshot and under them were dark bags. The beads she usually wore in her mane were nowhere to be seen, and it was now flat. The contents of her house weren’t much better. All over the floor was trash and broken items. The ceiling was almost completely covered by cobwebs, and on the floor was a tipped over couch, a hole in its side that revealed its yellow stuffing. The house smelled of dust, blood, and cider.

“Y-yes… We tried to find Twinkleshine, but we couldn’t… Moondancer, what have you been doing in here?” Minuette tried to ask. Moondancer ignored the question.

“I’m sorry. Twi… that mare, wasn’t the only reason I holed myself up in here… It was you guys, too. I… I was upset because you had all left without me. But, I guess I was just being selfish… I see now. I get it now.” Moondancer looked up at the sky and smiled. It was clear that she was holding back tears. It wasn’t a happy smile; rather, it was simply a relaxed one.

“All this time, I thought that none of you really cared about me. Of course, you all visited me and asked for me to come out, but… I just thought that you were doing that because you felt obligated to. You had to do it, because I was… I was your friend. But… I wasn’t always thinking like this… Before I had that party, and Tw… Twiligh…” Moondancer shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “Before I had that party, and Twilight didn’t come, I knew you all cared about me. Minuette, everything you just said… It’s true. Deep down, I know it’s true. And that’s exactly what I thought of myself until all you guys showed up. You took me in as your friend, and you helped me when I was feeling down, and… Those few years were the best time of my life. The only good time, really. So then, when Twilight didn’t come… I know, the fact that she didn’t come to the party isn’t really a big deal on its own. Of course it isn’t. It was the thought that she didn’t care anymore. When she didn’t come to the party, my illusion of security, my illusion of happiness, it all disappeared. I guess I woke up to myself. You all know the rest, I think.” Moondancer let out a deep breath.

“Moon, if I had kno—” Lemon Hearts tried, but Moondancer wasn’t done.

“But now… Minuette, you had the power to say all that. If you were able to get that mad at me, if you were able to say all that stuff then… Now, I know that I wasn’t lying to myself all those years. You guys really do care about me. You’re… You’re my friends. I developed this whole complex of worthlessness, and I had started to think about how everyone was a hypocrite, everything was contradictory, there was no point to anything, but… It’s really simpler than that. You’re my friends. We’re friends. It’s that simple.”

Tears suddenly welled up in Moondancers eyes and streamed down her cheeks. The pale yellow pony started breathing erratically, her breaths quivering, her smile not faltering in the slightest – before she passed out in front of her friends.

12 - Dreams

“Come on, Twilight! Hurry up!” calls Twilight’s friend.

“I’m trying! I’m not as fast as you guys—Waagh!” Twilight trips over and falls flat on her face. Being the energetic filly that she is, Twilight gets back up straight away and pouts.

“This is no fun! I can never catch up to you guys!”

“Aw, don’t be such a sook, Twi!” teases one of Twilight’s friend. This friend has a light blue coat, and her mane consists of two colours, a dark blue and white. The friend that called her a second ago has a yellow coat and a sky-blue mane, styled beautifully.

“And out of nowhere comes the SURPRISE LYRA TACKLE! KYAAAAAH!” shouts Twilight’s other friend. Her coat is a lovely mint colour, and her mane is also two-toned – a very light shade of blue, and a sky blue.

“Oof!” Twilight yelps.

“Gotcha!” the mint pony giggles. The yellow filly turns around, and when she sees her friends, she laughs.

“Hey Twilight! I’ll race ya!” the mint-coloured filly says.

“Alright! But I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve, Lyra!” With a stunning flash of purple light, Twilight bolts past the mint filly, leaving a sparkling purple trail behind her. The mint filly’s eyes widen and sparkle and her jaw drops.

“Woah! That was… AWESOME! A speed spell, right?”

Twilight races back to Lyra, running as fast as her little legs can allow her.

“… showed me!” Twilight says. The name of the pony that told her the spell is muffled, caught up in the wind.

“Wow! … is so cool!” the yellow filly says, walking up to her friends. “Hey Twilight! Keep going like that, and I think you’ll get your cutie mark soon!”

A sparkle appears in Twilight’s eyes. It’s easy to see the gears practically turning in her mind.

“Yeah! I probably will! Hey Colgate, what do you think YOUR cutie mark will be?” Twilight asks.

“Woah! First of all, I told you to stop calling me Colgate! My name’s Minuette, Twilight!”

The yellow filly giggles again.

“Your name is ‘Minuette Twilight’? What a strange name!” she says. The blue pony’s face goes red and she pouts angrily, but only for a second, when she remembers what she had been asked.

“I think, my cutie mark will be… uh… an hourglass! Yeah!”

The blue filly’s two friends look at each other, confused.

“Huh? Why an hourglass?” Twilight asks.

“Well, my dad told me that this time of my life is timeless! We’ll all remember it, no matter what! So I want my cutie mark to be an hourglass, so that I always remember you guys!”

“But you can’t DECIDE what your cutie mark is gonna be, Colgate!” The three fillys turn to see their other friend walking up to them. She has a white coat and a light-pink mane.

“I’m just hoping, that’s all. And stop calling me Colgate! I don’t even get the joke!”

“Where were you, Twinkleshine?” the yellow filly asks.

“I was just talking to …” the white filly replies. Twilight squints, trying to think back to what her friend just said. She can’t figure it out.

“Wait, who were you talking to?” she asks.

“…!”

“I can’t hear you…”

“I was talking to …! Can’t you hear, Twilight?”

“Twilight, you’re so silly!”

“What did you say…?”

“It was …! I was talking to …!” The white pony decides to speak up and shout.

“I was talking to …ndancer! Mo…dance…!”

Suddenly, a strange yellow filly in a black sweater and glasses jumps in front of Twilight. She has cold, dead eyes, and says one simple phrase:

“You left us behind.”

“WAAAH!” Twilight woke up in her bed feeling a strange sense of vertigo. The feeling faded as quickly as it had come, and rubbing her eyes, Twilight looked up at her window. The moon was full, and it was bright as ever.

“What is it, Twilight? Were you having a nightmare?” her companion and friend, Spike, asked her.

“No… It was a really nice dream, actually. I was a filly again, before I had my cutie mark, and I was playing with some other fillies… I don’t know who they were, though.”

“That’s weird… Maybe you—”

“Spike! Take a note, please!”

“Sure!”

With levitation magic, Twilight Sparkle floated a piece of paper and quill into Spike’s hands. Spike held the quill and paper, ready to start writing. Twilight cleared her throat.

“Dear Princess Luna! I recently had an interesting dream, and for some reason I feel as though it holds some importance. I am writing to ask if you happened to be watching the dream, and if so, may I request that you offer me insight on what it was about? With kind regards: Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight said.

“Got it! Want me to send it now?” Spike asked.

“Yes please. Now—” –Twilight yawned- “—I’m going to go back to bed. You probably should too, Spike.”

A few days passed, and Twilight finally received a letter from Princess Luna. It simply stated that she had, unfortunately, not been watching Twilight’s dream, and that she couldn’t help. Twilight sighed.

“I wonder what it was about then… Who were those fillies I was playing with? They all seemed so nice… I haven’t ‘left anyone behind’, right?”

13 - False Forgiveness

It had been a little over two years since Moondancer had come back out of her shell and talked to her friends. After she passed out, she had been taken to Minuette’s house. When she woke back up, she had told them that everything was fine, but that she still wanted to be alone for a while. They reluctantly agreed, and Moondancer had returned to her house. She had cleaned everything up, bought new furniture and items, and had improved her living style in general. Since then, her and her friends had drifted apart once again. This time, though, she didn’t mind. Her memories with them all were fond ones and she could never thank them enough for what they did, but now that she was in a good place (or at least, what she would consider a good place), she didn’t really care for them anymore. She was happy being a recluse once again. Now, she sat on her couch, relaxing with a book. A new book, this time.

Minuette sat in her kitchen, eating a pizza that had gone cold. It wasn’t exactly a satisfying meal, but it was enough to fill Minuette up. As she chewed, she thought about her past. She thought about the little adventure she had gone on with her friends, when they tried to find Twilight a long time ago. She remembered what it had done to Moondancer, and what it had done to Twinkleshine. Of course, they had both recovered. Moondancer still hadn’t forgiven Twilight, but at least she was in a better state. Twinkleshine had come back to Canterlot a few days after she had ran away, saying that it was a good thing she had ran because it gave her time to think about things. Bonbon and Lyra had long since returned to Ponyville, and Lemon Hearts was doing just fine, too. Minuette smiled. All her friends…

All her friends, and Twilight Sparkle. She had given up on Twilight long before the rest of her friends had, and she had still given up now. She was with Moondancer, but for a different reason.

Minuette had always pictured herself as a strong pony. Not physically, but mentally. Judging by what she saw two years ago, she was probably stronger than her friends, too. Therefore, she saw it as her job to protect her friends and shield them from despair. She had failed two years ago, and it was all Twilight’s fault. That’s why Minuette could never forgive Twilight – because of what Twilight had put her and all her friends through. That’s why, if Twilight ever was to return – not that she would – that Minuette would turn her nose up and tell her to rack off. She wouldn’t give in. She wouldn’t collapse into a pool of tears. She wouldn’t—

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Curiously, Minuette walked up to her door, and overheard the end of a sentence. The voice sounded oddly familiar.

“…dering why their supposed friend would treat them so badly!”

Minuette’s eyes widened, and she gingerly opened her door.

“…Minuette?”

Minuette had just been thinking to herself that she wouldn’t ever forgive Twilight. She had said to herself that she wouldn’t listen to a word of apology. Of course, when she saw Twilight herself, that all faded to nothing. That’s what friendship does to you, she supposed.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Minuette laughed, “You old so-and-so! What are you doing here?! Hey, Spike! Look at these wings, huh? Hey, grab a picture of me and the princess, will ya? I tried to tell my co-workers we used to be friends back when. But they’ve never believed me!” After taking photos and making several bad jokes, Minuette asked Twilight if she wanted to see Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine.

“This is perfect! I can apologise to all three of them at once!” Twilight said to Spike.

“Let’s hope they’re not as traumatized as Minuette,” Spike replied. The two friends didn’t know it, but Minuette heard Spike’s comment. A frown flashed across her face. That joke made more sense than they thought…

“She did! Twinkleshine literally spit out her oats when she heard you were the Princess of Friendship!” Minuette exclaimed.

“We saw you at the coronation. That was some shindig!” Twinkleshine said.

“You did?” Twilight asked.

“Sure! We see you all the time!” Twinkleshine replied. Minuette looked towards the ground.

“Yeah, we see you all the time. Not like YOU ever notice US…” Minuette muttered to herself, before she noticed that Twilight was looking at her. She hadn’t heard her, luckily. Thinking fast, Minuette came up with something to say to stop Twilight from asking what she had just muttered.

“You remember our old friend Lyra, right? She lives in Ponyville, too. We’re always over there visiting her. Or she’s coming over here! We’ve thought about asking you to join us from time to time, but we just sort of figured you’d moved on,” Minuette spouted.

“Oh,” was Twilight’s reply.

Silence.

‘Damn. Messed that one up,’ Minuette thought to herself. Twilight’s three old friends looked at each other, all thinking the same thing, all remembering what had happened those two years ago. Remembering what they had gone through…

Lemon Hearts, who had always been conflicted about whether or not she wanted to forgive Twilight, decided that now wasn’t the time for awkward silences or lectures. She cleared her throat.

“So what brings you by anyway? All those times you’ve come back to Canterlot, you never had donuts with us before,” she asked.

“Well, uh, you see…” Twilight sighed, “I came here to apologise.”

“For what?”

“Before I left Canterlot, I didn’t really appreciate my friends. And that’s because I didn’t know how important friendship was. But I’ve learned so much since I moved to Ponyville. I learned what it means to be a good friend and that I certainly wasn’t one to the three of you. So for all the pain I’ve caused you, I’m truly sorry,” Twilight said.

Minuette stood up from the table, her eye twitching with anger like in cartoons.

“Seriously? THAT’S your apology?! You have NO IDEA what pain you caused us! You have no idea what we went through, what Moondancer went through, what Twinkleshine did! How DARE you leave us in the dark like this? You put us through YEARS of pain, and torment, and you think a little apology like that will be enough?! It’s not!” Minuette shouted.

“Minuette, I—” Twilight tried.

“Shut up, Twilight! Go to Tartarus! I never want to see you again and quite frankly, I don’t care what you do anymore! I don’t care if you’re sorry and I’m sure Twinkleshine and Lem don’t care either! So rack off and die!”

Tears welled up in Twilight’s eyes. She had never been shouted at like that before. She couldn’t handle it.

Her voice quivering, she tried one last time to apologise.

“B-but… But I… I’m so sorry…” she tried, her voice trailing off with those last few words. Twilight closed her eyes as hard as she could, turned around, and sprinted in the other direction, Spike reluctantly chasing after her.

At least, that’s what Minuette wanted to say. That’s what she thought. But no, she couldn’t say all that. It was socially unacceptable, for a start, and she had no idea what her friends would think. So instead, she continued with the little façade of happiness she had been using for a long time now.

“Oh come on, Twilight! Sure, it might’ve stung a little bit when you ran off into Ponyville without saying goodbye, but it’s not like we weren’t used to that from you!” she opted to say instead.

‘Good one, Minuette. You even added a nice, subtle little burn in there. I wonder if Twilight will pick it up,’ Minuette thought.

After a little while of messing around and reminiscing of the past, Twilight remembered that somepony was missing.

“Whatever happened to Moondancer?”

Of course, Twilight and the rest of her friends were denied entry to Moondancer’s house.

“Nopony looks at her or says hello or even gives her a smile. It’s like she doesn’t even exist. Was she always like this?” Twilight asked.

“Well, she always was a little shy. But for a while there, she was really starting to come out of her shell. Remember when she threw that party? Oh, right. I think you might have been busy that day,” Minuette said sourly, “Thought she finally might be letting her guard down a little with that party. We invited her out a few times after that, but she was always too busy studying. So, eventually, we just stopped asking.”

“I had no idea that party was so important to her. I’ve gotta find a way to make it up to her!” Twilight said.

Almost scaring Moondancer to death, Twilight appeared on the page that Moondancer happened to be turning to.

“I’m sorry I skipped your party,” Twilight whispered. Moondancer screamed and slammed the book closed. Once again, she was shushed by her fellow library-goers.

“Why won’t you leave me alone? I’m trying to study! You’ve got the wrong pony! I don’t have parties!” Moondancer whispered angrily.

“You did once. And I was so caught up in my own studying that I didn’t take your feelings into account,” Twilight replied.

“Look, Twilight. I just need to be alone so I can study without some crazy pony trying to make friends, alright?”

“Fine!” Twilight said, frustrated and giving up.

“Wait. How did you get into my book like that?” Moondancer asked.

The conversation went on from there. Moondancer soon discovered that Twilight followed the methods of Hayscartes, and even had a copy of his Treatise on Ponies. Somehow, and Moondancer could not recall how, but Twilight had dragged her back to her old house, and offered the entire block of land to her for free, so that Moondancer could read as much as she wanted. Then, an even crazier thing happened, and that was that Moondancer had actually agreed to come to a dinner with Twilight and the rest of her friends.

After a long and awkward dinner, Moondancer had teleported away, growing sick of the social event (and her lack of social skills).

“Moondancer! You’ve gotta give friendship a chance!”

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t know, Spike. I really messed this one up. That party was everything to her. I can only imagine what it must’ve felt like when I didn’t show up.”

14 - New Party

“Do you really think this’ll work, Twilight? I mean, I know you think Moondancer is mad at you because you skipped out on her party all those years ago, but what if she’s mad about something else? Then throwing a party to make up for her other one would be pretty pointless, don’t ‘ya think?” Spike asked, struggling to reach to hang up a stream of crepe paper.

Twilight turned and used a levitation spell to hang up the crepe paper.

“No, Spike. I’m sure this is it. It’s like Minuette, said; that party meant a lot to her.”

“She’s right. The party did mean a lot to her. Trust me, Twilight’s right on the money,” Minuette said, overhearing the conversation. Twilight and Spike looked at her and frowned.

“Uh, Minuette, are you feeling alright? You haven’t seemed yourself for the past hour.”

“Oh, uh, I mean, ‘Yup, she sure is right! That party meant a whole lot to her! Twilight broke her heart, that so-and-so! Yay!’” Minuette mocked, with an obviously fake giggle. Twilight and Spike looked at each other. Spike shrugged and Twilight turned to continue setting up the party. The party they were going to throw was going to be as big as the party Moondancer had thrown years ago. The one Twilight had missed. Twilight was almost certain that this would bring Moondancer around.

“That’s our last book. Here she comes!” Twinkleshine said, watching Moondancer as she cluelessly followed the trail of books her friends had left. Moondancer looked up from the book she was about to pick up and gasped, dropping all her other books on the ground.

“What is this?” she asked.

Twilight walked up to her friend and stood by her side.

“It’s a party. For you.”

“Surprise!” Pinkie Pie said, leaping out from inside a massive cake and jamming a party whistle in Moondancer’s mouth. The yellow mare angrily spat the whistle out.

“Come on in,” Twilight said.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t do parties,” Moondancer replied, scrunching up a party hat and dumping it as she turned to walk away.

‘You’re kidding me,’ Twilight thought, ‘I can’t let her do this. She isn’t getting away this easily!’

Moondancer was almost stunned by the sudden flash of purple that appeared in front of her. Suddenly, Twilight stood before her, still wearing her party hat.

‘She’s trying so hard…’ Moondancer thought.

“I know. And I think it’s my fault. Back when we were in school together, you invited me to a party… I was so focused on my studies that I didn’t show up.”

“Big deal!” Moondancer tried. Twilight wasn’t giving up.

“It was a big deal. And now that I realize how important friendship is, I’d like to make up for my mistake with a new party. A party in honor of my friend Moondancer! Please, you’ve got to let me make this up to you.”

Moondancer scoffed.

“And you think this is gonna do it, huh?”

“Uh… yes?” Twilight replied, unsure of what to say. Moondancer took a stick from Twilight and walked over to the piñata that was hanging up, whacking it out of anger.

“Well, sure, why wouldn’t it? That was only the first time I put myself out there, and then you didn’t even bother to show up! Then you left town without saying goodbye even though we were supposed to be friends! I was humiliated! I felt like I wasn’t important! I never wanted to let myself be hurt like that again! Those three finally convinced me that I had value, that other ponies might like me and want to be my friend.” Minuette, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine looked at Moondancer in shock.

“Please, please, please tell me this isn’t going to happen again! Please, please…” Lemon Hearts whispered to herself, tearing up.

“…And you! Didn’t! Show! Up!” Moondancer screamed, flinging the stick away and running away from Twilight. She didn’t get far before she collapsed in a heap on the ground, sobbing loudly and burying her face in her hooves.

Twilight was shocked. Usually these things worked. Usually this was all it took and everything was all better. It was clear to her now just how much she had hurt Moondancer. She had thought she understood, but really she had no idea. Twilight turned to her three old friends. Twinkleshine looked away, and Lemon Hearts was resting her head on Minuette’s shoulder, sobbing quietly while Minuette tried to calm her down. Suddenly, Twilight realised what she had done. Moondancer wasn’t the only pony that she should have been focusing on. By hurting Moondancer like she had, she had also indirectly caused her other friends so much more pain. Maybe she couldn’t fix her relationship with Moondancer – but the way this was going, she had to at the very least do something to fix Moondancer’s broken relationship with her friends. The purple alicorn quietly approached Moondancer.

“You’re right. This party can’t make up for the way I hurt you. But please, don’t let my mistake be the reason you can’t be friends with anypony else.”

Moondancer looked up to see Minuette approaching her, with Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts by her side.

“We were your friends then and we’d be honored to be your friends now.”

Night had fallen and some of the party-goers had already left. The party was ending.

“I think it’s time for us to go, Moondancer,” Twilight suggested, walking up to Moondancer.

“Thank you for helping me make some new friends, even if they are my old friends,” Moondancer said.

“We’ll come back and visit soon,” Twilight replied.

Moondancer leaned in to hug Twilight.

“That would be great. You’ve still gotta teach me that Hayscartes technique!”

“Deal,” Twilight said.

Prologue

“There you are, Twilight!”

Twilight Sparkle was stopped in her rush by Twinkleshine, one of her childhood ‘friends’. On either side of Twinkleshine were Twilight’s other friends - Minuette and Lemon Hearts.

“Moondancer is having a little get together in the west castle courtyard. Wanna come?” Twinkleshine asked. The three ponies leaned in with big grins, waiting for the certain ‘yes’ that was to come.

Twilight politely denied. In her mind, it was a straight no, but she knew she had to at least try to be a little more polite than that. As soon as she was done turning down their offer, she sprinted off, giving the excuse that she had to ‘study’. She always studied. Twilight was a hard working pony, and she was always in her books. She rarely spent much time with her friends.

“Ugh. Does that pony do anything except study?” Twinkleshine asked, watching Twilight go. “I think she’s more interested in her books than her friends.”

Moondancer was more excited now than ever before - she was having a party, her first party. For years, she had lived in a shell, barely interacting with anypony - most of the time refusing to even talk to them. This was the case up until recently, when she had bumped into Twilight Sparkle and her friends. She had already met Twilight before from a few Science classes, and Twilight had introduced her to the rest of her friends. Things had simply kicked off from there, and eventually Moondancer had told her new friends all her problems - her low self-esteem, her feeling of being useless, and all the rest. They had quickly tried to cheer her up, but their efforts didn’t do much. What meant most to her, however, was the fact that they had tried. She was worth enough to have somepony care about her and try to make her feel better when she was down. That was what boosted her confidence, and that was what had allowed her to even consider a party. She finally felt like she was worth something.

And if it hadn’t have been for Twilight Sparkle, her friends would probably have never had that talk to her. They would never have cared for her. She was finally feeling some self-worth, and she had realised that she had never even thanked Twilight Sparkle. That was the main point of the party - for Moondancer to thank Twilight and give her the gift that she had created.

Moondancer sat there, a massive grin on her face, waiting for her four best friends to show up. This was going to be the best day of her life - she knew it.

Moondancer looked to her right just in time to see Lemon Hearts, Minuette, and Twinkleshine walking towards her.

Twilight never showed up.

03 - The Reason

Minuette was heart-broken when her invite for donuts was denied due to ‘studying’ She didn’t know what had gotten into Moondancer. It was like ever since Twilight left, she was never the same, but why? Did she miss Twi? Was she heartbroken? Nobody knew, and they couldn’t get her out of her shell. One day, however, they made a little progress.

“Hey Moondancer, what you up to?” asked a curious Minuette.

“Reading, Minuette. Can you leave me alone now?”

“Aw, come on, what’s the matter?”

“I dont wanna talk about it.”

“C’mon, can’t you confide in your friend?”

“I said, I don't wanna talk about it!”

“Okay, fine... be that way.” Minuette started to leave, tears filling in her eyes.

“Wait… Minuette, come back… please?”

“Yes?”

“You really want to know, fine. When Twilight left, she never said any proper goodbye. She was my friend… my mentor, and she just leaves like that? What a friend she is, no guts to come and say goodbye before leaving her friends.”

“Moon, you know Twilight better than that, she may have... maybe she thought she was coming back... I don't know Moondancer, but we both know Twilight wouldn't abandon us like that.”

“Who knows anymore. That pony cared nothing for her friends, only studies… how do I know if she cared or not?”

Part of Minuette believed what Moondancer had said, but she still didn’t think Twilight would dream of such a thing… would she?

07 - Traitors

Moondancer had finally decided to give things a go.

She going about her day, going to the donut shop, when she had the greatest idea.

“Maybe I should pay the girls a surprise visit, I hope they aren’t busy.”

As she approached Lemon Hearts’ house, she noticed that it was empty, and wondered where they could possibly be. She checked the other’s houses, and it was the same thing, empty. She was to curious to let this go, so she went to Princess Celestia, to see if she knew anything, and she got what she came for.

“They went where!?”

“Ponyville. They came to me one day asking about Twilight Sparkle, and I sent them on their way to Ponyville.”

“Those little… ”

With anger, she stepped out of the room and slammed the door with great force using her magic.

“I’ll show those guys that I don’t really need them either. Why would they leave without asking if I would want to go too? They aren’t the only ones who miss her! I’ll show them.”

She went back to her house and started to throw things around, then she noticed a picture of her and Twilight, which she threw with even greater force than ever, then realized what she just did. With tears in her eyes, she started to clean up the picture and put it in a drawer.

Then she remembered what Twilight did when she got angry or stressed. She decided to take out her copy of her ‘Starswirl The Bearded’ book, and read where she left off last time before she was interrupted by her friends. Ex-Friends… That sounded about right to her. Who needs friends like them anyways…

She started to do more than just that, she got out her old school books and started to study the old spells she never got when she was in school. She studied harder than she ever has in her life, then just as she finished the chapter, she realized the mess she made. She decided to use her new spell that fixed most broken items. She caught some broken glass in her magic, and hoped this spell worked, and to her surprise, it fixed back into the glass vase it used to be.

With this knowledge, she instantly went to where the glass from the picture was, and started to bring up the spell, but it wouldn't work.

“What, it just did it a moment ago,” she said to herself.

She reviewed the spell and tried it again, but it still didn’t work. She tried and tried and got more frustrated every fail she got. She tried until she finally just gave up and went to cry on the couch.

“What have I done?” She wept.

But then she stood up straight.

“No, they’re not my friends… they’re just… traitors.”