Our heroine is a beautiful alicorn princess by the name of Twilight Sparkle. Princess Twilight Sparkle is the princess of friendship. Twilight Sparkle lives with her assistant Spike and her new apprentice of friendship Starlight Glimmer in her crystalline castle in the town of Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle has many friends, and very few of them were inducted as such merely due to her newfound political position.
Twilight is very good at making new friends.
Twilight Sparkle is by all accounts the chosen one of fate.
One morning as she sat down to eat a breakfast of pancakes that her assistant Spike had painstakingly put together, a thought came to mind that she had run entirely out of syrup. Well, clearly nopony could eat pancakes dry. Twilight arose from her throne at the dining table and traversed a hallway into the kitchen where her faithful assistant was making his own breakfast.
"Spike?" Twilight spoke up upon seeing her baby dragon friend licking pancake batter off of a wisk with his forked tongue. "Didn't I ask you to get syrup when you went to market last Tuesday?" Twilight knew the answer to her question and that he had clearly forgotten; however, she couldn't hold it against him because when he had returned home that day he had a bit of a story to tell about an encounter with their friend Rarity to which all of pony kind knew he had a crush on.
"Oh, hehe, oops. Sorry Twilight." Spike said bashfully while rubbing his back spines in embarrassment.
"That's quite alright Spike, but what will I have on these delicious looking pancakes you made?" Everything Twilight said since becoming a princess had an air of graciousness; so, when she reassured Spike just then, despite the amount of shame he felt in his heart for letting his friend down he felt much better.
"I'll go get some syrup later today, but for now, we have molasses, but its a little old, we also have powdered sugar, but that'd probably make the pancakes dryer, we have some berries, but I already baked some in." Spike was quick to rattle off the other options because he didn't want Twilight to be disappointed in him again.
"Spike you don't have to make up for anything," Twilight had always been able to see through Spike to how he was feeling, and ever since her coronation he'd been acting like she would replace him if he were to make a simple mistake. "We've been through way more than some dry pancakes."
Spike was visibly relieved at Twilight's second reassurance as he reminded himself that she was still his friend before she was a princess.
Twilight returned to the dining room and ate the pancakes as they were served, and although technically not as tasty as they could've been with syrup, Twilight was forced to think about the dragon that had prepared them with every bite, which made them taste much better.
Twilight had nothing on the agenda besides helping her friend Applejack fix a few things at Sweet Apple Acres, clearly work that demands a princess's attention.
As Twilight cantered through town, ponies waved and grinned at their princess and friend. There were few ponies left in Ponyville that didn't know Twilight directly, and even among them, they had a connection through some pony else. Twilight was the most well-received pony in all of Ponyville, she's like a nice rug that really ties the room together.
Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight saw her friend Pinkie Pie who didn't seem to be doing much other than trotting and grinning. Twilight waved a hoof at her friend who immediately came over and gave her a big bear hug and shook her around a bit. Twilight wondered for a moment how Pinkie manages to work at a bakery while she's always outside away from her job, and the thought stuck to her mind like bubblegum in her mane, rather ironically considering she was conversing with the living ball of bubblegum, Pinkie Pie.
"Hi, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie seemed to be acting brief, perhaps in an attempt to get back to work?
"Why good morning Pinkie Pie! What're you up to today?" Twilight wanted her suspicion that Pinkie had work to do to be true because as a pony of science it would lead her to conclude that her friend actually was, in some way, limited.
"I've got to get back to Sugar Cube Corner," Twilight was almost salivating at the thought of Pinkie actually making sense for once, but she knew it was too good to be true. "to take Gummy for a walk! He gets a bit cranky when he hasn't been out every few hours!" Twilight was relieved that she was definitely still talking to her friend; however, she was a little disappointed that she hadn't been right about her friend having work to do.
"Okay Pinkie, I'll see you later then!" Twilight gave a cheerful grin at Pinkie before she reciprocated and bounced away.
Twilight continued her walking through town until she saw yet another of her friends high in the sky. Twilight began to ascend into the air calling out to her friend. "Ahoy Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow had seen Twilight when she was on the ground, but Twilight seemed busy so she decided to continue her work clearing the sky unless Twilight decided to get her attention.
"Ahoy to you too Twilight!" Rainbow was now closing the distance between herself and her friend. "Wassup?"
"You are Rainbow!" Twilight felt great shame in her joke but couldn't help blurting it out.
Rainbow received the joke well and chuckled a bit "Not much can be more up than me!"
"So what're you up to?" Twilight asked.
"Just clearing the skies for the big performance tonight." Rainbow seemed excited about the event while simultaneously confused as to why Twilight didn't know about it.
"What performance?" Twilight was dumbfounded that some pony would have a large event without her receiving so much as a notice.
Rainbow's jaw dropped exaggeratedly. "You mean you don't know that Princess Celestia is coming to town to have a magic thing? I thought she was coming just for you!"
"Princess Celestia is doing a show?!" Twilight was shocked at this revelation; a performance being highly uncharacteristic of her mentor.
"You didn't know? There were posters all around town for a whole week!" Rainbow showed no remorse in mocking Twilight for not seeing the posters.
"Do I need to do anything?" Twilight knew she was bad with noticing things that in hindsight should've been obvious to anypony that isn't blind.
"Everything's all set up as far as I know, well, except the sky being clear. Speaking of which, I need to get back to work, see you later Twilight!" Without another word the speed demon raced off to break up a very thick cloud cover that had formed over Ponyville.
Twilight resumed her route to Applejack's orchard, this time, she noticed every single poster as she walked, muttering to herself about how unobservant she had been.
Suddenly Twilight saw Starlight Glimmer knocking a hoof against somepony's door. As the pony inside opened the door Starlight Glimmer leaned in.
"I love you." Starlight said to the pony inside who promptly slammed the door in her face.
"Starlight, what are you doing?!" Twilight was shocked by what her friend had just done; however, what she did seemed oddly familiar.
Starlight turned to face Twilight with a look of disappointment. "I was trying to make friends like the book said!"
"What book told you to do that?!" Twilight had a slight recollection but still couldn't quite place what the book was.
"Um, I think it was-" Starlight was cut off by Twilight.
"I know which book! It was Knocking on Doors: Pat Star's Guide to Selling Chocolate Bars wasn't it?!" Twilight recalled the exact location of the book in her library and then realized it was sorted under "friendship lesson material" instead of "comedic sarcastic self-help"
Twilight face hoofed.
"That particular book was written by a pony with the brain of a starfish, and published as a joke. It contains no information pertinent to you making friends other than in-jokes that would only be funny amongst those who've read the book before." Twilight hadn't let Starlight have a chance to say anything, which was appropriate given their student-teacher relationship.
Starlight looked disappointed further having taken notes from the book. "Okay, Twilight. I'll just go home and find a different book to draw from.." Starlight seemed a bit crushed.
"Wait, Starlight, before you go, go apologize to the pony you just spooked. When I get back to the castle I'll reorganize the library and assign you a reputable reading list."
Starlight was slightly cheered up by her mentor promising to use some time to help her along. She stood for a moment and shot Twilight a cheerful grin before rushing off to apologize.
Twilight started back trotting with a little pride in her chest believing that what she had just done had been the most effective way a mentor could react.
Twilight continued ever farther down the path to Sweet Apple Acres only stopping for a moment to wave at yet another of her friends who's name was Fluttershy.
Fluttershy was leading some ducks across the dirt road to relocate them to a slightly larger pond, she seemed to be deep in conversation with the waterfowl.
Fluttershy was never much for conversation among ponies, and even though her and Twilight were close friends, they still didn't speak so much. Twilight decided not to bother her that particular moment.
Twilight arrived at Sweet Apple Acres around noon. Before trotting up to the front door of the Apple family homestead she was greeted by her friend's big brother Big McIntosh. He generally spoke less than Fluttershy so the greeting was extraordinarily brief. But Twilight was yet again thankful for yet another of her many friends.
Upon knocking a hoof against the door Twilight was met by Applejack's grandmother, Granny Smith.
"Well howdy, there Princess Twilight!" Granny seemed a little weakened by the presence of royalty before her. "Applejack's out in the orchard workin' on them ol' water pipes."
"Oh, why thank you, Granny Smith! How are you doing today?" Twilight spoke trying to be polite with her elder.
"Oh, well I'm still kickin'! Now you hurry along! AJ's a-waitin'! Good luck young'un!"
Twilight gave a wide toothy grin of politeness before wandering off to the fields where her friend was working.
Twilight saw Applejack from a distance. She seemed to be bucking her hooves at a valve trying to get the water to start flowing.
As Twilight approached Applejack noticed her and stopped being upset at the valve to regain her composure. "Howdy Twilight, I gotta tell ya ah'm straight outta luck. I can't fer the life a me fix this gosh darned thing." Applejack seemed entirely disheveled.
"I think I might be able to help you with that Applejack!" Twilight was concerned that the issue was above the effort the two could put forth in a single day because the flaw had so deeply confounded her friend.
After a long time of analyzing from the back to the front, the mares had figured out that the problem was a massive sticky disgusting blockage that traversed a large number of the pipes. Many pipes would have to be replaced if the system was to work again, so straight away Twilight and Applejack got to ordering replacement parts.
When they were totally finished it was late in the afternoon.
Twilight had noticed Applejack acting a bit strangely, she had been checking the time very frequently as if she would be late for something if she lost track of time at all.
"Are you late for something Applejack?" Twilight felt concerned that she was taking her friends time despite her having volunteered for most of her day to helping her.
"Uh aren't you goin' to Princess Celestia's performance too Twilight?" Applejack looked confused.
"Oh that! I had totally forgotten about it. Actually, I only heard about it this morning!" Twilight hadn't remembered to check the posters for what time the event was going to take place because she felt obligated to help her friend as quickly as possible.
"Well, we'd better hurry up if we're gonna make it to town hall in time!" Applejack pulled her friend along back to town leaving the orchard behind without another word.
As the two approached the event they saw everypony in town congregating in a massive crowd.
On her way into the crowd, Twilight saw her friend Rarity galloping frantically into the crowd with a fancy dress on and another one in tow, presumably for Celestia based on the size.
Twilight thought to herself that Rarity would never be late for delivering an order to Celestia; however, she knew her friend would easily get caught up in making sure the dress was absolutely perfect knowing the princess would wear it.
Bumps and shoves were flying every which way, Twilight and Applejack were thrown to and fro by their friends and neighbors while they tried to make their way to a friendly area which they had identified by the illumination of Pinkie Pie's vibrant pink coat.
As they made their way past pony after pony more and more strain and eventually distance came between Twilight and Applejack.
A mere moment later and Twilight had totally lost Applejack to the crowd; Twilight couldn't even see Pinkie anymore.
Twilight cried out in frustration as suddenly, immediately to her left a tall pony had been illuminated by a spotlight, as Twilight turned it was revealed that she was standing before her mentor, Princess Celestia.
"My faithful student Twilight!" Celestia spoke now in a loud booming voice that could be heard over the screaming ponies all around her.
Twilight tried to speak but nopony around could possibly hear her with all this noise.
"Come with me onto the stage!" Celestia was very demanding. Twilight was almost afraid of her in that moment, but more than scared, Twilight just felt... Obedient.
Twilight drifted onto the stage, as Twilight thought about when she had trotted by this area earlier that day there was no stage set up.
Twilight felt confused as she looked at her teacher dressed regally in the dress Rarity had been carrying moments before.
"Fillies and gentlecolts," Celestia yelled to the crowd. "You've all come here to witness a display of awesome magic, and a display of awesome magic you shall see!"
Twilight questioned the current situation more than just about anything else in her entire life.
"For too long you ponies of Ponyville have suffered without a professional magic show, well tonight you shall receive one of truly majestic splendor!" Celestia was acting a lot like Trixie in Twilight's eyes, she had never even seen a glimmer of this show pony in her mentor's personality before.
"For my first trick, I shall saw my faithful student in half!" The crowd went absolutely wild with excitement at the thought of their princess being dismembered.
"Well gee, thanks guys." Twilight was speaking in a normal voice of frustration to the crowd that could not possibly hear her.
"Into the box of mystery you go Twilight!" Without another word Princess Celestia began to lift Twilight into the air with the magic from her horn and gently place her inside of a roughly Twilight-shaped box.
Twilight tried to scream cries for release, but to no avail, even the closest pony to her, that was Princess Celestia, couldn't hear her.
Twilight tried to resist as the box she was lowered into latched her in and held her so that nothing she did would have any effect on her present situation.
Suddenly Celestia lifted up a terrifying hacksaw with her magic and began to saw through a solid log to the horror of Twilight.
Twilight screamed and begged her not to come near her with that implement, but her screams went unnoticed.
It was at that moment that Twilight saw her closest friends laughing and making merry at her expense.
Princess Celestia lifted the hacksaw from the now split piece of lumber and moved it eerily over to the box enclosing Twilight.
Princess Celestia slid the saw front to back on the box tracing the spot where Twilight would be split on the box itself.
Twilight tried to fight back with her magic but it was no use against the might of her far superior executioner.
As she slowly made her way closer to where Twilight's stomach was, Twilight shrieked with terror.
Celestia laughed maniacally leaving no doubt in Twilight's mind that she would carry out the deed.
So Twilight closed her eyes and awaited her fate
"Twilight it's time!" Spike screamed.
Groggily Twilight discovered she was no longer bound by Celestia's murder box.
"Spike?" Twilight asked. "Is that you?"
"Yes!" Spike responded with a sense of urgency. "You've got to get up!"
Twilight feeling that perhaps her life was still in mortal danger lifted herself off of her bed and onto the floor, which seemed a bit closer to the ground than she had expected. "Where's Celestia, Spike?!" Twilight felt something in her eyes and feared the worst.
"She's in class right now! If you go now you can still make it and not be counted tardy!" Spike stated and was met with extreme confusion.
Twilight rubbed her eyes trying to get whatever was blinding her out to prevent any permanent damage. "What do you mean 'She's in class'?! What's going on!?"
"Twilight you overslept! You've got to move or else you'll be late!" Spike was pushing Twilight out the door accepting that she was groggy and trying to move her past that. "Mooooove Twilight!! I can't push you all the way there!"
Twilight was beyond confused at this point, so she decided that she needed some answers.
Twilight stood up straight and planted her hooves on the wooden floor to stop her momentum, but this only caused Spike to push her over entirely.
The wooden floor was not particularly comfortable to fall onto face first.
Twilight did a double take and triple take of where she was after she finished clearing the eye crust and newfound splinters from her eyes and face.
There were no buts about it, Twilight recognized this room. This was her old lodging in Canterlot from before she went to Ponyville.
Some memories and thoughts came to mind that were a bit more firm in her mind than her experiences with her friends in Ponyville, and those were of school and when she needed to be in class each day.
Twilight realized at that very moment that she was quite a bit shorter and her back was entirely barren of wings.
Twilight screamed.
"Twilight are you okay? Was it something I said? Was it something I did? I just woke you up." Spike was trying very hard to control the escalation of the situation and calm the nerves of his friend, but he couldn't help but protect himself from Twilight's seemingly entirely unreasonable state.
"You woke me up?" Twilight said inquisitively.
"Y-yeah?" Spike responded with a bit of fear in his voice.
"You woke me up..." Twilight said taking in the idea that she had somehow been brought back to reality out of the world of her wildest dreams.
"You woke me up."
Author's Note
This chapter is kinda a prologue to the real meat of the story (To be released later), but that doesn't mean it's not good. :D
