*Poof!*

"Really, Sunburst..." said Twilight to the shaky, cloaked stallion next to her, her eyes half-lidded.

"That genuinely scared you?" asked Rainbow Dash, sprawling out unfazed on the luxurious Crystal Palace couch.

"But, but of course, dear mares!" answered Sunburst, still recovering. "How was I to know that knife-carrying bandit would emerge suddenly from the closet? Or that claws would materialize through the floor and swallow up that poor mare?"

"You... haven't had as much experience with these movies as we have, have you?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Thing is, Sunburst, jump scares aren't scary."

"Th...they aren't?" said the magician, surprised (but not in the way that made him jump behind the couch in terror).

"It's just a staple of horror movies by unimaginative producers," explained Twilight. "Because of all the films Rainbow and Pinkie make me watch, I've become pretty desensitized to sudden-"

"I AM THE GIVER OF ALL THINGS CUPCAKE!" announced Pinkie, jumping from behind the TV where she'd been hiding and up onto it, holding a platter of cupcakes.

"See? That's not scary. I didn't scream once," Rainbow stated, folding her forelegs. "Those of us who've known Pinkie as long as we have are used to sudden things like that she pulls."

"A good movie attempting to be scary should build up its creepiness factor gradually," Twilight went on. "That makes all the difference between something that might startle you just for a moment, and something that stays with you for a-"

She stopped when she felt a hoof tap her. "Uh, Twi?" said Dash, gesturing at Sunburst quivering and hiding his face in one of the cushions.

"Ohhhhh..." said Pinkie in realization. "I... shouldn't have done that."

"No, Pinkie, you probably shouldn't h-"

"I knew he wouldn't like sarsaparilla cupcakes." Pinkie threw the platter away, without regard for wherever it would land. "Back to the drawing board, then."

"Shining Armor and Cadance should be home tonight," Twilight told her friends, putting the royal telephone back.

Rainbow started to clear up the mess of chip packets she had left while watching the movie. "Sure has been nice staying in the Crystal Palace. Eating Royal food, watching the Royal TV, sleeping in the Royal beds-"

"And looking after the place for them?" added Twilight pointedly.

"Oh, uh, yeah... of course," her friend said promptly, rubbing a hoof behind her head.

"Oh guuuuuuuyys!" came Pinkie's voice as she waved an envelope.

"Hey, what's that?" asked Rainbow. "Did they die and leave the palace to us?"

Twilight had the most intimidating glare fixated on Rainbow as she levitated the envelope over to her. She opened it and read it out:

Dear Twilight

May we please seek out your assistance? Fluttershy's cutie mark has glowed, along with mine. We are arguing over where the map is telling us to go and would be ever so thankful, as we know how skilled you are at reading them.

"Ooh, who's that from?" asked Pinkie.

"Really, Pinks?" questioned Rainbow. "I'd have thought it was pretty obvi-" She noticed the bottom of the letter:

Yours sincerely

Applejack

Well, now Rainbow was at a loss for words. "But - how -"

"Ponies don't typically use their accents in written form," Twilight reminded her. "In any case, I suppose I'd better go over and help them."

"Good luck with that, Twi," Rainbow told her, getting back onto the couch. "You can count on me to l-"

"And you are coming with me," Twilight stated, in no uncertain terms. "If I hadn't been with you and Pinkie this past week, the place would be in disarray by now."

She turned to Sunburst. "Sunburst, I know I made the right choice in inviting you, like Shining and Cadance said I could. Are you okay looking after the place until tonight? And I think Flurry will be awake by now."

"Why, sure, Princess," answered Sunburst proudly. "T'would be an honor."

"Now, Sunburst, Flurry might get a bit... spontaneous, with her magic," Twilight warned him, putting together a note for Cadance and Shining.

"I'm sure I'll be able to have it all under control, your Highness," said Sunburst, at which Twilight gave a small breathe through her nose at such formalities.

"Really? The way you coped with all those jump scares suggests otherwise," put in Rainbow.

"What? Nothing of the sort," Sunburst replied indignantly. "How can we compare such an adooorrrable little filly with the sheer monstrosity found in that abomination you call a movie?"

"They are two very different creatures," Pinkie chimed in. "I mean, one of them is something that causes loooaaads of ponies to panic and fear for their lives."

"Why, thank you, Pinkie, that's very-"

"The other is a horror movie creature."

She got a few confused expressions, which then turned to ones of (albeit still slightly doubtful) understanding.

"Well, let's get going, girls. If we hurry, we can catch the next train out," Twilight told her companions, as she fastened her suitcase closed. "We're counting on you, Sunburst!"

"Tell Starlight I wish her well!" Sunburst requested. After more farewells, the three mares had departed the area, and Sunburst was there alone, the imposing walls surrounding him like a snake about to coil its prey.

"Whew..." he sighed. "Now then, how's Flurry, I wonder?" So he followed the guest map he had been given to get to Flurry's bedroom.

After some brief greetings between him and a few guards on the way, Sunburst reached where he had been looking for. He opened it up and the center of the room had a crystally crib, above it dangled a mobile. He went through the room, decorated with various foal-related stuff, arriving at the center to see Flurry with her eyes half-open (or half-closed for the pessimists of you. Or is that optimists...?), before she opened then fully and smiled, gurgling a bit as she saw Sunburst. He lifted her out, unable to hide his heart beginning to melt at the adorable sight, and it only intensified as she nuzzled him.

Flurry began to wiggle in Sunburst's hooves before she escaped them, flapping her wings, before she hovered through the air over to the door.

"Ah ah ah," Sunburst told Flurry, getting there before her and locking the door. "We'd not want anything bad to happen, now, would we, little princess?" He got her back in his hooves, and she returned to nuzzling him. "Shall we go ge-"

Sunburst had received no kind of foreshadowing as to what happened next. One might consider it a "jump scare". A blue light had flooded the room near-instantaneously, seemingly from Flurry. It temporarily blinded Sunburst, the wizard only being able to see white before the surroundings faded back in.

Where Flurry had been, there was now a pink adult mare with a purple and blue mane, but it certainly wasn't Cadance.

And where Sunburst had been, there was now an amber baby foal with a white streak on his muzzle.