Twilight was pacing anxiously in her library. Her magic flared ripping a book out of place, and slamming it into a new home. Her faithful assistant Spike winced seeing the bookshelf shudder with the impact of her vicious reorganization.
He offered a half hearted smile. “Nervous?”
Twilight laughed and threw back her head. “Nervous? Why would I possibly be nervous?”
Spike shrugged. “Could it possibly have something to do with the fact that Sunset is finally taking some time away from college to visit you?”
Twilight nodded. “It might have something to do with that.”
Spike smiled. “And this just happens to line up with Trixie coming back to town after a successful cross Equestrian tour?”
Twilight nodded again. “Yeah, yeah, and of course.”
Spike cut her off, saying, “and of course Starlight is always in the castle which means….”
Twilight sighed and ended her levitation spell. The book she was holding plopped down on a small table. A table which flanked the portal heading to Sunset’s parallel dimension.
“Which means that all three mares that I am currently in a relationship with are going to be in town at the same time.”
“You have a plan for this don’t you? I mean some type of checklist?”
“Oh of course I do, but still this is going to be the first time they’ve all been in the same building together.”
“I think you only have yourself to blame for having a harem.”
“You know I hate when you call them that.”
“What should I call them then? Your concubine?”
“How about my marefriends?”
He shrugged and offered her a coy smile, “I guess that works. So why is Sunset coming again, I thought she was in the middle of exams.”
Twilight shook her head, “No those ended a while ago. She’s been working her summer job, and finally got sometime off because of Memorial Day.”
“What’s that?”
“I have absolutely no idea.”
“I guess we can ask her ourselves.” Spike said pointing towards the portal.
The mirror was glowing, its intense illumination easily overpowering every other light source in the room. It was brief, like an explosion, and when it finally subsided a unicorn stood before Twilight.
Twilight approached her smiling, Sunset was one of the most beautiful mares she had ever seen. Her mane was sleek with streaks of red and yellow coursing through it. Her eyes were a piercing aqua in colour, and when Twilight felt their gaze, her knees went weak.
She embraced Sunset, pulling her close. She kissed her on the cheek and laughed nervously. Sunset returned the embrace, her own hooves gently stroking the back of Twilight’s neck.
Sunset whispered into Twilight’s ear. “Miss me?”
Twilight smiled and nodded before adding. “More than you’ll ever know.”
“You’re getting taller,” Sunset added.
Twilight smirked, “No, you’re just short.”
The two of them drew back, before connecting at the snout in a kiss. Spike faked a gag, but couldn’t help but smile, it was obvious in the way they kissed and embraced that there was genuine love between the two. The kiss lasted for a few tender moments before Sunset drew back, her horn glowing.
“I brought you a couple of presents,” she said, pulling a small box out of her saddle bag.
Sunset placed the box upon the nearby table, resting it precariously on top of the book.
Twilight approached it with curiosity, her gaze studying it.
“What is it?”
Sunset walked past her and looked at Spike, offering him a small smile. He returned it politely. “Uh nothing super important. I got a couple of those Frappuccino drinks you like. Also some rock candy for Spike here.”
Twilight’s magic gripped the edge of the tape and tore it away, allowing the folds of the box to spill open. The inside was filled with ripped paper, and cradled among it were four glass bottles with the words “Starbucks” printed upon them.
“Four?” She asked curiously.
“Yeah one for each of us,” Sunset said, looking around the library. “Speaking of which, where are Starlight and Trixie?”
Twilight smiled and turned away from the box, her magic to casually levitating the four bottles. She replied, “I’m sure they’ll love them. Well, Starlight went to the train station to pick up Trixie who should be arriving in approximately 23 minutes.”
Spike had himself buried in the box, but still managed to turn and raise an eyebrow at Twilight comment.
“Approximately?”
“Ok maybe exactly 23 minutes,” she said, smiling at Sunset. “I thought it could give us a bit of time to catch up. How is college going?”
Twilight headed for the exit of the library, with Sunset in tow.
Sunset replied, “It’s pretty good I guess. A lot of the classes are really different from those I would have taken in Canterlot?”
“Like?”
“Well Twilight, uh other Twilight talked me into taking programming.”
“Is that a computer thing?”
Twilight and Sunset carried on their conversation for the half an hour, they shared alone. Over the course of their conversation they had migrated from the library to the kitchen where Twilight deposited the coffee drinks into an ice chest. Finally, the two of them made their way to the map room where they sat beside each other. The topic had changed from that of college, to the status of their identical yet separate groups of friends.
Twilight smiled. “So all of you stayed together into college?”
Sunset nodded. “Yeah it turned out that the college in town offered programs that we all wanted.”
“That’s fantastic news, you’ll have to send them my regards when you get back.”
The door to the map chamber opened again, cutting off Twilight’s conversation with Sunset. Spike walked forward rolling a big fat piece of rock candle between his lips. Trailing behind him were two unicorns. They looked engrossed in their own conversation. The first was Starlight Glimmer, Twilight’s pupil. Next to her was Trixie, a former rival of Twilight who had turned into a friend a little more than a year ago.
Sunset smiled warmly as she saw the other two approach. Trixie was a complete stranger to her, and though she and Starlight got along well enough the two of them had never really developed a romantic bond.
“Hey Starlight,” Sunset said with a wave.
Starlight looked away from her conversation and returned the same gesture.
“Oh hey Sunset, how have you been?”
“Pretty good,” Sunset responded. “So who is your friend?”
Trixie approached, giving off a mocking smile.
“Me? You are in the presence of the Great and Powerful Trixie,” Trixie said before rephrasing herself in a gentler attitude. “Twilight and Starlight speak fondly of you.”
Sunset blinked, a little thrown off by the over the top voice Trixie had used to introduce herself. Twilight hadn’t been lying when she had said that the pony might have had a slightly inflated ego. Before the conversation could go any further Twilight gestured for them to take their seats around the map.
They did so and with that Twilight pulled out a scroll. She opened it, spilling the paper across the floor.
“Now, I have created a simple checklist to make sure our date night goes off without a hitch.”
She looked from left to right, seeing the audience of horrified faces look at her. She stared them all down before breaking into a giggling fit.
“You guys should have seen your faces.”
Trixie sighed in relief. “So there is no checklist?”
Twilight gave her a look. “No checklist? What, no that’s ridiculous.”
She pulled out a separate scroll. When this one opened it was far shorter, simply reaching the floor before ending. This seemed a bit more digestible to her marefriends.
She clicked her tongue against her cheek, reading down the list. “Alright, step one, make sure everypony is properly introduced.” She looked up from her scroll. “Check. Alright step two, talk about the night I have planned.” She smiled and looked at Starlight. “As some of you may know the Bucking Brothers Carnival is coming to town this weekend.”
Starlight looked back at her. “Yeah but its Thursday night, they don’t open till Friday.”
Twilight smirked coyly. “Well it just so happens that you three are dating an alicorn princess. An alicorn princess who convinced the carnival to open tonight, exclusively for the four of us.”
Sunset smirked and exchanged a look with Starlight before speaking. “Twilight are you telling us that you abused your considerable power as a princess to get a carnival to open a day early?”
Starlight faked a gasp and placed her hoof on her chest, looking absolutely horrified.
“Twilight, I think you might actually be a villain,” Starlight quipped.
Trixie smirked and added in, “Trixie thinks that Twilight has been spending far too much time around you two. Clearly you’re rubbing off on her.”
Starlight nodded in agreement. “First its abusing carnies, then you’re sticking your future marefriend in infinite time loops. That’s how these things escalate hun.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Alright that’s it, I’m taking Spike and my friends to the carnival and you can all stay in the castle.”
Sunset placed a hoof on her forehead and looked like she was about to faint. “oh no, she’s going to lock us away in a dungeon for speaking out against her tyranny.”
Trixie snorted, “Princess Twilight the Carnie Abuser.”
Twilight smirked and shook her head. “One more word and you’ll all be sleeping on the couch.”
Sunset reached over and placed her hoof a top Twilight’s. “No but really that sounds like a fantastic idea.”
The other two nodded along as Trixie pitched in, “Trixie is fine with this, as long as we can ride the teacups.”
Twilight snorted. “Well obviously, that’s step thirteen on the list.”
Starlight rolled her eyes and grabbed the list with her magic. “How about you just let things flow naturally for once?” She rolled up the list and with a poof it was teleported to some distant part of the castle, probably to be lost for years.
Twilight blinked looking at the empty space where her scroll used to be.
“Did you just vapourize my checklist?” Twilight stammered.
Starlight waved her hoof. “Pfft. I didn’t vapourize it, I just moved it somewhere else in the castle.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. Somewhere west of this room?”
“We are in the eastern most room.”
“Alright so it can be anywhere in the castle then.”
Sunset shot Starlight a slight glare before looking at Twilight.
“Twilight, hun, I’m sure its going to be fine. How badly can an unscripted trip to the carnival really go?” Sunset said reassuringly.
Twilight nodded and chuckled nervously. “You’re right. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Just fine.” She was silent for a moment, her brow furrowed in deep concentration. Trixie picked up on that rather easily.
“You’re trying to remember step three aren’t you?” Trixie said.
“NO!” Twilight replied. “I am trying to remember step six.”
All three of the unicorns groaned in harmony.
By the time night finally came around, the four unicorns were leaving the castle. They formed up on Twilight with Sunset the left, and Starlight and Trixie on the right. The four of them were deep in discussion, this time focusing on Sunset and her home in a completely different realm of existence.
They were pretty engrossed in conversation, the oddly alien bottle hovering in front before them. It had been an ordeal to open them without the tight grip of fingers, but eventually each of them were sipping from the fat opening on the bottle.
As they trotted over a hill, the grand sight of the carnival spread out beneath them, and their conversation halted. It was a beacon of light which lit up the horizon. A rainbow of colours sparkled as every ride was lit, every booth glowing, and a large sign reading carnival stood in all its glory above the entrance.
It was a grand sight which drew Twilight back to her childhood. Her brother used to take her to these things as a kid before he left for the royal guard. Now here she was with some of the most important ponies in her life, eager to recreate the memories with them.
Twilight pranced ahead, picking up speed. Starlight exchanged a look with Sunset and Trixie, smiling softly at the frantic nature of Twilight.
However, the mare was picking up speed and had broken into a full gallop which the other three playfully kept up with.
The four of them reached the gate in a frantic fashion. Standing before them was a stallion wearing a grand looking robe, but a silly looking top hat upon his head. He threw them a crocked smile and knelt before the princess of friendship.
He spoke in a deep rumble of a voice, “I am so glad you could come to our carnival tonight, Princess Twilight. It is an honour to entertain royalty.”
Twilight returned the bow. “No, no thank you for agreeing to do this for me. I am eternally grateful.”
He stood up and nodded to the other mares. “You will have free reign of the facilities for the evening. If you need any help just let me or any of the other staff know.”
The mares nodded, and with that the gate to the carnival was now opened. They pranced inside, all of them beaming with energy and laughter, especially Twilight who seemed to have taken over the role traditionally reserved for Pinkie Pie.
She bounced around looking at all the things to do. It was a small town event so the selection was far more limited compared to that back in Canterlot but still there was a plethora of rides, games, and foods to occupy their evening with.
She smiled and looked at her marefriends. “What should we do first?”
Sunset pointed to the bumper cars. “Bumper cars?”
Starlight shook her head. “No let’s do the Ferris wheel.”
Trixie blew air into her cheek. “That’s more of an end of the night thing, how about we do the teacups. Best to get them done before we eat anything.”
The three mares looked at Trixie and nodded.
“Alright, teacups it is,” Twilight said as she cantered towards the ride.
The teacups were stationed near the rear of the park. This gave Twilight plenty of time to eye up all of the different activities the carnival had to offer. Sunset felt a pang in her heart seeing how happy it made Twilight to share something this important with her, and the other mares.
They piled into a single teacup, their forelegs resting against one and other on the steering wheel in the middle. The carnie closed the door and locked them up nice and tight. A moment later the ride starter and they began to move side ways at a steady rate.
The mares exchanged a look and nodded. They all began to turn the wheel to the right as quickly as they could manage, sending the teacup spinning rapidly. They all to screamed in joy, giggling and cheering, as they pushed themselves faster and faster.
Around and around they went, spinning at a rate which made the colour palate of the carnival a blur to the mares. Their screams pierced the air, producing the ambient sound of thrill and excitement that any good carnival needed.
The ride’s breaks eventually kicked in and they began to slow. When they finally came to a stop all of them were giggling. Trixie was the first off the ride and her first couple of steps ended with her stumbling and nearly cracking her head on the ground.
They wobbled away from the ride, taking a good few moments to regain their balance. Once Twilight managed to see straight her eyes were focused onto a nearby stand. Starlight turned to face it, smirking at the display. It was a small wooden wagon, with a giant fake apple sprouting out of the top. The apple was half covered in faux brown caramel.
The two mares met each others eyes, before Twilight spoke, “who’s up for getting caramel apples?”
Sunset wasn’t the biggest fan of them, but she nodded, not wanting to be a buzz kill. Twilight and Starlight rushed off towards the stand. Trixie and Sunset walked along at a more leisurely pace.
Sunset looked over at Trixie and smiled. “It’s nice to see Twilight so happy.”
Trixie nodded. “Trixie agrees. Twilight’s been so stressed lately.”
“Has she?”
“Well of course, she’s a princess after all. Trixie and Starlight have been doing what we can to help her, but we aren’t gods,” she said, smiling crookedly at the comment.
Sunset looked at her hooves, slowing for a moment. “I had no idea.”
“Twilight isn’t vocal about her problems.”
“I should have been there for her.”
“Yes you should have.”
With that Trixie moved ahead of Sunset and made her way over to the apple stand. When Sunset finally reached them, Twilight was holding an apple out to her.
Sunset took it, though she looked absolutely crestfallen. Twilight looked concerned for a moment, placing a hoof on Sunset’s cheek.
“Are you alright?” Twilight asked.
Sunset nodded and then put on a smile. “Yeah, yeah, of course, just a little nauseous from the ride is all.”
Twilight looked her in the eye, trying to discover the lie, but when she couldn’t she drew back. Sunset kept her smile going before taking a massive chomp out of the apple. She could see Trixie looking at her through the corner of her eye and the apple instantly tasted vile in her mouth.
Trixie smiled softly. “So what do you want to do now?”
Twilight grinned, talking with a mouth partially full of her own apple. “How about we go on the flipper?”
Sunset nodded. “Yeah that sounds good to me.”
“The Flipper?” Starlight asked before following Trixie’s hoof with her eyes, to a massive ride near the edge of the park.
The ride in question was a tower which stood about fifteen metres tall. On the top of the tower was a hinge and connected to it were two arms. Each of the arms dropped back down to just above the ground, and ended in a pod.
When the girls made their way over, they could see that each of the pods were large enough to hold two mares.
Twilight did an about face, turning to face Sunset.
“Alright so me and Sunset will go in one, and Starlight and Trixie can take the other,” Twilight stated before turning back around.
She then galloped towards the ride with Sunset at her side, chasing after her. The two of them had massive smiles on and were giggling like little fillies. Starlight picked up the pace, but refrained from going at a full gallop. Trixie simply trailed behind, muttering something under her breath.
The carnie was already opening each of the sleek metal pods by the time the mares arrived. The mares were bouncing on their hooves, waiting for the velvet rope barrier to be opened. The carnie did his quick inspection before his magic unclipped the rope and drew it back.
The mares rushed over and piled into their corresponding pods. The interior was cramped with the chairs wedged close together. The chairs were hardly more than soft padding that Twilight and the others had to lay upon. They were then strapped in place by a dozen different harnesses. The door to the shuttle closed, reducing their view to that of the glass panel in front of their snouts.
They were lifted off the ground, moving a solid three metres up before a loud whirling graced Twilight’s ears. She reached over with a hoof and grabbed Sunset’s holding it firmly.
“Did I mention I hate these types of rides?” Twilight said with a nervous grin.
“Then why are we on this?” Sunset whined.
“I thought you’d like it.”
“No this is literally the WORST,” she said, hollering the last word as they began to swing forward.
The two mares screamed loudly as the arm reach its peak, paused, and then threw them back. As it halted on the backswing Sunset and Twilight were greeted with a gut-wrenching view of the ground. They were then launched so far forwards that their position in gravity began to change. Their manes were now pointing towards the roof, only to fall back down to their heads as the arm swung them back, again.
The swinging grew more and more powerful until finally they swung so far forward that they completed a full circle and came flying back towards the ground. That wasn’t the worst that the ride had to offer however, no instead it waited until they reached the very top of an arc for the fourth time. Once at the peak, a click was heard inside the cabin.
As they came zooming back down towards the Earth, the capsule itself began to violently rotate along with the arm, doubling the amount of spin upon them. The two mare screamed at the top of their lungs, the world rushing around them.
The worst moment came when the window was pointing directly towards the ground as they were heading right for it. It looked like they were going to impact only for the arm to reach the bottom of its arc and instead launch them skywards.
The ride from that point slowed. First the actually pod stopped spinning, then the arm stopped completing full circles, finally the ride began to lazily swing back and forth until the mechanism petered out and released them. Twilight had never been so thankful for something in all of her life.
As the pod doors opened, Twilight struggled feebly to reach the exit. Of course she had to wait for the carnie to come over and unlock each of the straps with his magic. Only then was she able to tumble out, the ground stable beneath her hooves.
Twilight looked over and offered a half-hearted smile to her marefriend.
“That was nice,” Twilight said with a new weakness in her voice.
“That’s, definitely a word you could use,” Sunset said, blinking rapidly.
As the two of them got reoriented the carnie released the other two mares. Starlight crashed to the ground in a similar fashion, dry heaving as she got readjusted. Trixie, on the other hand, gently sauntered out of the capsule, walking calmly over to Twilight.
“How?” Twilight exclaimed.
“Trixie’s been shot out of a cannon before. This was foal’s play next to that,” Trixie replied with a chuckle.
Starlight came stumbling over, nearly falling onto her rump several times.
“Ok so I had a rough foalhood,” she stated in an almost slurred voice. “So maybe I am missing something, but how exactly was that suppose to be fun?”
Twilight chuckled. “fine, fine, I will admit bad choice, so what do you want to do now?”
Sunset tapped her chin before holding up a hoof. “How about we do some games?”
Starlight shrugged “Sounds about twenty times better than being a crash test doll.”
Trixie rolled her eyes. “You three are overreacting, that wasn’t even that bad.”
The game they ended up choosing was simple. There was a series of four pyramids, each of which was constructed with ten metallic looking bottles. The four mares were then given three balls each. The goal was to knock over as many of the bottles and win the biggest prize. The
only catch, they were only allowed to use their hooves.
Twilight was the first to go. she picked up her ball and drew back. With a flick of her foreleg the ball went flying, though it went so far left that it missed the pyramid completely. She blushed and looked at her marefriends.
“There uh must have been a draft,” Twilight stated nervously.
“No there wasn’t,” Starlight said with a smirk.
“How would you know?”
“I asked Rainbow about the weather this morning.”
“Oh and when did you start talking to Rainbow so regularly?”
“For like a year and a half now. You’re the one who helped me become friends with all them. Stop stalling and throw the next ball.”
Twilight picked up the next ball and flung it towards the pyramid. This one hit causing the top bottle to go flying back. She squealed in triumph as it clattered to the ground. The third ball was lobbed haphazardly and bounced off of the table supporting the bottles, rolling harmlessly
onto the ground.
This didn’t seem to deter Twilight, who had a massive smile on her muzzle. The carnie levitated over a stuffed worm, offering it to the princess. Twilight’s magic eagerly accepted it, placing it behind her ear like a flower.
Starlight looked over and giggled at that before giving her marefriend a peck on the cheek. She then tossed her own three balls. The first missed, along with the second, before the third collided with the centre of the tower. A few of the pins tumbled to the ground, but the tower held firm.
For her effort she was given a stuffed Manticore that was ever so slightly miscoloured. Starlight collected it with her magic and rested it on her back, before leaning in a bit closer to Twilight.
It was now Trixie’s turn at pitching. She held the ball in her frog, wound back and threw it with all her might. The ball missed, followed by a second, and finally the third, leaving Trixie’s tower unscathed.
All parties present blinked repeatedly at the sight of the untarnished tower before Sunset started giggling.
Trixie’s face heated up and she turned to face the mare.
“What’s do you find so funny Shimmer.” She asked placing a hoof on Sunset’s chest.
Sunset tried to put on a serious face, though it cracked under pressure.
“I’m sorry Trixie, that was just bad,” Sunset muttered between her uncontrolled giggles.
“Trixie would like to see you do better,” Trixie exclaimed as she gestured towards the set of balls in front of Sunset.
Sunset let out a low amused noise as she placed her hoof on a ball. She tenderly picked it up with her frog, testing the weight, the shape, the stitching, absorbing every little detail of the object she was holding. She pulled back, steadied her breathing and threw the ball. It went
streaking through the air colliding with the bottles and knocking every last one of them to the ground.
Everyone looked surprised, even the carnie. Sunset was rewarded with the biggest stuffed animal they had at the stand, which turned out to be a dragon. It was so large in fact that she had to hold onto it with her magic rather then lay it down on her back.
Sunset smiled nervously before explaining. “Me and the girls joined a softball club at the college.”
Trixie’s cheeks continued to brighten though a low growl soon erupted from her throat. “You mean the friends you have in another dimension?”
Sunset blinked. “Well yeah, but what’s your point?”
Trixie stomped over, getting right into Sunset’s personal space.
“Trixie’s point is that you have a Twilight all to yourself and yet you come here and rob her of time with our Twilight,” Trixie explained.
“What are you talking about Trixie?” Twilight said with a quiver in her voice.
“What Trixie is saying Twilight is that it isn’t good enough that Sunset should get a Twilight back home, but she also has to come here and steal you from her,” Trixie said with acid in her voice.
“Steal me?” Twilight repeated, the quiver continuing to grow.
“I didn’t steal anyone. You are clearly right here on this date,” Sunset said, acid building in her own voice.
“And that’s the problem Sunset, this wasn’t suppose to be our date. I was supposed to have this weekend with Twilight ALONE, but then you come along with your memory day,” Trixie growled, the acid now bubbling into her speech.
“Memorial Day,” Sunset retorted.
“Oh Trixie’s so sorry that she didn’t remember your alien holidays. But here is what she does know. Twilight drops everything for you. If she knows you are coming she’ll rearrange plans to be with you. Yet when she needs you, you are busy in some other word. Trixie is tired of seeing you use her like this,” Trixie shouted at the other mare.
The carnie ducked behind his stand and the staff of the carnival were now all now staring at the scene unfolding before them.
Sunset growled, pressing even closer to Trixie, her eyes staring deep into Trixie’s own.
“And how do you think I feel? Back when I met Twilight we were just an item, me and her. Sure it was long distance, but then I get a note one day. Hearing of this awesome mare she met named Starlight,” Sunset said, waving her hoof towards the mare in question, who nervously smiled in return.
“Girls?” Twilight said feebly, tears now stinging her eyes.
“We talked it over and yeah I could understand how Starlight might help with the distance issue. You know give Twilight an outlet. I even met her, she is a great mare, we had a lot in common. I want to know how you fit in Trixie. You are a showmare, not an actual magical unicorn. Why does she love you?” Sunset said with a hiss.
The argument was interrupted by the sound of galloping hooves. Both Trixie and Sunset turned to see Twilight Sparkle fleeing from the duo.
She was wailing like a filly as she ran. Both of them instantly looked ashamed.
Starlight looked at them here vision narrowing into an icy glare.
“You two are idiots,” Starlight shouted, taking a step towards them. “You are the biggest idiots I have ever met. Do you even know why we are here?”
Sunset raised a hoof to try and defend herself, but it didn’t even give Starlight pause.
“This place is a cherished memory of our marefriend, and she wanted to share it with us. Do you know why?”
This time Trixie tried to intervene, but she had no such luck.
“Because she loves us. She loves you,” she pointed at Trixie, “she loves you”, at Sunset, “and she loves me. Do you want to know something about love you two? Love is like friendship, its not some resource that you have to divide. It’s something that you can share with people you truly care about. Sunset I am sorry to hear that you feel like we have replaced you, but we haven’t. Twilight talks about you all the time, and she has been planning furiously to do something with you ever since you announced you were coming over. Trixie, I know you are hurt that Sunset’s arrival caused Twilight to cancel your one-on-one date, but the same goes for you. She hasn’t shut up about you all week. She loves you two so much, and you repay her by spitting in the face of her good intentions.”
The two of them were flabbergasted into silence before they jointly muttered an apology. This only seemed to get Starlight angrier as she grabbed their ears with her magic, tugging upon them like they were unruly foals.
She began to lecture them in a cool crisp voice. “You better be sorry, but you should be apologizing to Twilight, not me. So here is what is going to happen. You two are going to march your flanks right over to her, and you are going to apologize. If I see one ounce of sadness out of her after this is done I am going to take your cutie marks and feed them to a starving cave troll.”
Twilight was sitting by a cotton candy booth when the other three mares finally found her. She was breaking off a piece of the pink cloud and popping it into her mouth. Tears still stained her eyes, and every once in a while she would sniffle or sob.
It was an absolutely heart breaking scene to witness, and it only made Starlight pinch the ears of the other mares harder. With Starlight’s grip upon them firm she marched them over to Twilight. They smiled awkwardly, trying to figure out how to start their apology.
Sunset went first. “Twilight, I-I am sorry.”
“We are sorry,” Trixie added.
Twilight turned to face them, meeting their gaze for just a moment. She then turned away.
Starlight walked over and sat beside Twilight, draping a hoof over her shoulder.
She kissed Twilight gently on the cheek, before tenderly nuzzling the side of her neck. Her magic wrapped around the cotton candy, pulling it away from Twilight.
“Twilight, you mean the world to us,” Starlight began.
Twilight raised a hoof and looked at them, her voice still quivering as she spoke. “Do you really feel like I don’t love you all equally?”
They all stayed silent for a moment, the few seconds dragging on for a painful period of time.
Then Sunset interjected, “Yes, I thought that. But.”
The silence hung for a moment before Trixie picked it up. “But it’s obvious that isn’t true. When we all first met you, we were all messes in our own unique way. Even Trixie was,” she paused and then corrected herself, “even I was.”
Sunset and Trixie walked over to Twilight, embracing her from behind and on the side opposite Starlight.
Starlight took over the discussion. “But you took the three of us in. Gave us friendship, gave us affection, and finally you gave us love. Do you know what that did Twi? It turned us into better mares. I love you for that.”
Sunset nodded, “WE love you for that. You are the greatest marefriend anypony could ask for, and you managed to share that greatness with three mares who don’t really deserve it.”
Twilight began to smile, clearing up the cloud of depression that had formed over her. She closed her eyes for a moment, before leaning in and giving each of them a tender kiss upon the muzzle starting with Starlight, then moving onto Sunset, before finally giving one to Trixie.
Twilight spoke softly, the quiver now completely gone from her voice. “That’s not true, I am the luckiest mare in the world. I don’t have one great marefriend, I have three.”
“So are you ready to continue this date?” Sunset asked.
Twilight nodded and stood up, turning to face all of her marefriends. She looked each of them over and then smirked coyly.
“You know,” she said, “this would never have happened if you let me keep my list.”
They all groaned once again.
She looked hurt, though this one was clearly an act as she smiled brightly at their reaction.
“It’s true, I had a whole section centred around how to deal with Trixie losing at a game,” She said much to Trixie’s dismay.
Trixie rolled her eyes. “Har Har.”
The night went by smoothly afterwards. The four mares went on a few more of the rides, though they made sure to dismiss any involving spinning, flipping, or numbers above 3000. They loaded up on snacks, played a few more games, and genuinely bonded.
The night, however, was beginning to come to a close, and that’s when they found themselves at the foot of the Ferris wheel.
Twilight broke off to go speak with one of the carnies, leaving the other three mares alone. When she returned she was smiling from ear to ear.
“You girls better get on. I’ll meet you up top,” she said before turning away.
“Meet us up top?” Trixie asked.
Sunset smirked. “She does have wings.”
Trixie nodded. “Good point.”
With that the three mares pilled into one of the cars. It was pretty generous in size, being built for a group probably about double theirs. As the gate closed, they looked over the edge. The ride began to gently move upwards, the cart swaying in the cool nighttime air.
It took a few minutes but eventually they reached the peak, where the ride stopped. With their movement locked in place the remaining inertia caused them to rock gently back and forth.
The view from the top was absolutely stunning. The town of Ponyville was nestled to the south, hugging the banks of the river that ran through it. Then there was the forest beyond the town, its trees moving under their own chaotic winds. Fields and hills rolled across the remaining landscape which ended in the mountains that Canterlot castle and the city that surrounded it rested upon.
The ride rocked once more as the mares looked over the edge at all the various scenery.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Twilight asked as she took a seat alongside her marefriends.
They all looked back and smiled. Twilight had not only landed but she had done so with a saddle bag which she let rest on the floor.
“I hope you guys don’t mind, but I kind of asked the carnie to leave us up here for the night. I know how beautiful the view is from up here, and well I thought maybe you guys would like to enjoy it with me.”
Starlight slid beside her, hugging her from the side.
“I would love nothing more.” Starlight said
Sunset came over next, embracing Twilight from the other side.
“I never took you for such a romantic.” Sunset said, closing her eyes, as Twilight draped a hoof over her.
“I might have read a few books on it.” Twilight quipped with a small chuckle.
Last was Trixie who instead of embracing Twilight, cuddled up beside Sunset. Sunset was surprised, looking over at the mare who she had just so recently fought with. Instead of pushing her back however Sunset extended her hoof pulling Trixie into the group hug.
Starlight smiled before letting out a small chuckle. “I don’t mean to be a buzzkill, but I’m freezing.”
The other three agreed with her, and with that Twilight began to unpack her bag. Inside was a big thick blanket which she draped over herself and the girls. Then she pulled out four thermoses, each of them labelled with a white strip of tape. Each was labelled with a different name.
That’s where they spent the night. Watching the sun rise over Equestria from the top of a Ferris Wheel. Cuddled together, and drinking their favourite teas.
Author's Note
I am really happy with how this turned out. Like I am so surprised. I really hope you guys like this. Please comment, like, follow, all of it means so much to me.
