Chapters Trotting into bad territory
The Sun was glowing brighter over Golden Oaks Library once again, Celestia's signal for a great day ahead of her student, Twilight. She slowly opened her eyes and adjusted to the sunlight that had entered her room while she was sleeping and saw that Spike was still asleep. Poor Spike, his crush, as well as one of Twilight's best friends, Rarity, was out of town for the week due to commitments with a fashion show in Canterlot. Thankfully, she was the only one of her little group of friends, the Mane 6, to be out of town at that point.
As she was getting out of bed, she decided to take advantage of this and visit all of her friends for the rest of the morning. After all, it was her job/assignment to help them out with any friendship problems. Before she exited the library however, she quickly wrote a note for Spike saying that she'd be out of the library for a while, and placed it next to his bedside. She knew that it would be much to Spike's chargin, but she didn't want to have to wait for the lazy dragon to wake up and come with her. She didn't have the patience.
Twilight headed out the door and greeted the new day with a feeling of determination. Nothing could ruin her mood as she trotted her way towards Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie Pie lived. To her misfortune, this determination was replaced with confusion as she heard the sound of laughter behind her. She tried to find where it was coming from, and finally found her answer tucked away in an alleyway between two cottages.
She found three earth ponies who were laughing hysterically. Two of them wore pearl necklaces and had white highlights in their otherwise purple manes, while the one closest to Twilight had those features, as well as some particuarly odd-looking bright yellow horseshoes on her hooves and a large red beanie worn forwards. Something rather irritating to Twilight is that they seemed to be laughing at her. Twilight didn't have time to mess around, but at the same time, their bizzare fashion sense intrigued her. She walked up to them and politely struck up a conversation.
"Hello there. What are you girls laughing about?", Twilight asked nicely.
They stopped laughing and the one in front walked up to her.
"Oh you see, we couldn't help but lose ourselves over your appearance", she replied.
Twilight was somewhat baffled. She was the one that looked wierd?
The mare continued, "I mean, who goes walking around the streets naked ?", and they burst into laughter again.
Twilight couldn't help but blush with embarrasment. It was generally customary for ponies to only wear clothing on special occasions. Then again, Twilight didn't even know these ponies' names.
"Who are you?", she replied with a noticeably stern voice.
"Oh my name is Filly Billy, and these two mares are my friends, Sal and Lee", she said as she pointed to the red and orange ponies respectively. Filly Billy herself was bright blue and they all had yellow eyes.
"Well my name is Twili-", Twilight was cut off as Sal spoke up.
"You honestly can't head into town without those babies", she said as she pointed to Filly Billy's hooves, "those babies" referring to the horseshoes she was wearing.
Twilight, without much thinking, was quick to succumb to peer pressure. She really wanted to wear those horseshoes, no matter what the cost, which reminded her-
"Uh, how much to they cost? And what store can I get them from?", she eagerly asked.
"Oh they're custom-made", Filly Billy replied, "but do you want this pair? I can easily get myself another."
"Sure thing!", Twilight said as Filly Billy popped out of her pair of horseshoes and let Twilight into them. Unfortunately for Twilight, she wasn't thinking about horseshoe size for a split second, and found them to not be as roomy as she imagined them to be. In fact, they were kinda tight on her, but she didn't want to dissapoint Filly Billy and pretended they were good.
"Gee thanks", she said and walked back out of the alleyway. Each new step she made was rather agonising, but for some odd reason, she didn't regret buying the horseshoes for one second. No no, Filly Billy was a friend of her's, and friends do things for one another. She reminded herself that as she trudged onwards to Sugarcube Corner.
When she went inside, she saw Pinkie Pie busy at the kitchen counting small dots.
"353, 354, 355…", Pinkie Pie counted to herself. Twilight found this typical of Pinkie Pie, finding something foolish to do and sticking with it. She went inside to ask her about it.
"Hey Pinkie, watch'a doing?", she asked.
Pinkie Pie responded, "Oh hey Twilight. Major Sugarcube Corner emergency!"
Twilight immediately felt shocked. "Really? What happened?", she asked.
"Well, just this morning we were shipped this new ingredient called a "Hundreds and Thousands". Unfortunately, these dots, which I guess are supposed to be the hundreds and thousands of "Hundreds and Thousands", don't have individual labels on them for me to tell if they're really hundreds and thousands of "Hundreds and Thousands" or not! Thankfully, the Cakes let me tip the packet out so I can truly determine if there are hundreds and thousands of these "Hundreds and Thousands"!", Pinkie blurted out rapidly.
Twilight was shocked, but at the same time dissapointed that it wasn't a legitimate emergency.
"You're getting worked up over sprinkles?", she asked with a hint of agitation in her voice.
"Well yeah!", Pinkie Pie rebutted. "Would I ever want to lie to my customers!? I don't want anything Sugarcube Corner sells to be a big, fat, stinky lie".
Twilight knew that Pinkie Pie was passionate about her work at Sugarcube Corner, much like she was passionate about her duties with Princess Celestia. She knew that she could at least do something with her friend before she headed out. After all, that's why she even woke up in the first place. She thought that she could help Pinkie Pie out by counting the "Hundreds and Thousands" with her, so she put her hooves on the table an-
"Wow, those are some nice horseshoes!", Pinkie Pie exclaimed, startling Twilight and even sending a few of the sprinkles onto the ground. "Though they seem a little small on you".
Twilight wasn't happy hearing a criticism about her fashion.
"It doesn't matter, they fit me fine", she replied. "Now tell me, how many do we have to count?"
"2,200", Pinkie Pie answered, meaning that there would be at least two sets of 100 sprinkles and two sets of 1,000 sprinkles. Twilight knew that it was going to be a long morning.
Author's Note
I don't exactly know how many chapters there's gonna be, but I've got the whole story planned out and ready to post bit by bit. Generally a pity on this site is getting into a story, only for an author's note in the last chapter to say that they couldn't complete it because they hadn't planned it all through. I don't want this to happen to any of my stories, which is why I write them the way I do. I will only write a story with a good idea if I can think of an ending to wrap everything up.
By the time they had finished counting the "Hundreds and Thousands", they found that there were 2,352 (2,345 now because Pinkie Pie ate a couple of them in celebration). With that, Twilight headed out of Sugarcube Corner and decided to walk to Sweet Apple Acres to meet up with Applejack. Although it was a painful walk, her horseshoes continuing to be a nuisance for her, she was focusing her attention on going over to see a good friend. When she reaches Sweet Apple Acres, she found Applejack feeding the pigs.
"Hey Applejack!", Twilight called to Applejack while raising a hoof.
"Oh hey there, Sugarcube", Applejack responded, though her happiness turned into surprise when she saw Twilight's shoes. She walked over and assessed them. It didn't take a genius to see that they were way too small for her.
"What's wrong? Don't you like my shoes?", Twilight asked, uncomfrtable with one of her friends looking at her hooves for such a long time, even if they were raised in a barn.
"Oh nothing", Applejack replied, "I'm just a little concerned that these shoes of your's are a mite too tight".
Twilight was rather shocked, Applejack made the same comment as Pinkie Pie. Perhaps it was just an earth pony thing to wear big shoes. Nevertheless, she responded sharply,
"Listen AJ, these are the shoes that're in this season, I will not have anypony tell me otherwise".
Applejack was a little concerned, Twilight would never be this uptight over what she wore. Even more confusing was that Rarity was out of town, so Twilight must've bought these shoes from another source.
"Um, alright. Say do want to help me with some farm work?", Applejack asked trying to change the subject.
"No thanks, I just want to go home and study", Twilight replied, clearly bummed out by Applejack's criticism, and then headed back home. Applejack swore that she could hear an "oof" and "ouch" occasionally as she walked off. She had little sense of what was "in" in any season, but Twilight wasn't the kind of pony who would develop a taste for "young mares' fashion" so quickly. Either way, Applejack wanted to make a better pair of shoes for her, even without Rarity's help.
One very long walk later, Twilight had made it back to Golden Oaks Library, and decided to take her shoes off at the door. Though there was relief in her hooves, she didn't let it bother her that much. Spike had woken up and had left a counter-note saying that he'd left to go to Rarity's boutique to play with Sweetie Belle, Rarity's younger sister, to keep her company. Seeing as she was alone, she decided to get back to her books and read on about the History of Equestria.
A couple hours later, as the Sun was setting, Spike came back home and noticed Twilight's shoes at the door.
"Hey Twilight, are those your shoes?", Spike asked, getting Twilight's attention.
"Oh hi Spike, and yes they are. Don't they look great?", she replied. Spike hadn't seen them on her hooves, so he had no idea how small they were on her.
"Uh yeah, they look okay", Spike answered, making Twilight happy. They both started preparing for bed shortly after; it was a tough day for both of them.
Meanwhile back outside, Billy's gang was laughing themselves silly. They had gotten Twilight good…shoes. Suddenly, they saw Pinkie Pie pronking over to the library to see where the laughter was coming from (she was drawn to laughter after all, especially when it concerned her friends). There, she came face-to-face with Billy's gang and bursted into laughter. They were easily the silliest mares she'd ever laid eyes on.
"Hello there, my name is Pinkie Pie! What are your names!?", Pinkie Pie asked once she regained herself.
"Go away", Billy said calmly, almost like a master talking down to his pet. She and her gang didn't want to be disturbed.
"Okay", Pinkie Pie said and walked back home. Something funny had overcome her when she was making eye contact with that silly-looking mare. She didn't feel like she was in control of going away. If anything, she would usually pester them for their names, and once she did that, she'd do something random in hopes that she would make a new friend. She didn't think all this through once she had gone to bed, but she was too tired to do anything about it by that point.
The following morning, after a well-earned sleep, Twilight got up and noticed that Spike was walking out of his bed and down the stairs. She couldn't help but ask,
"Hey Spike, where are you going?"
"Oh hey Twilight, I'm just heading over to the boutique to clean it up, Rarity's coming back tomorrow", Spike replied.
Tomorrow? Already? Well she had been out for the week which was drawing to a close. Something inside her felt it was great to see Rarity again, but on the other hoof, she'd just be the same old Rarity she always knew. Not that new, not that interesting, and simply not as "darling" as before. Billy's gang seemed like the right place for Twilight deep down. It's almost as if the longer she thought about her friends, the more she wanted to see Filly Billy, Sal and Lee again.
Nevertheless, she decided to head out and see Rainbow Dash. She had no idea why she only had time to see 2 of her friends the previous day, but she supposed that it was because of her extensive studying later in the day. She told Spike that she was heading off to see Rainbow Dash, put her shoes on and headed out the door. Spike didn't have enough time to see how painful it was for Twilight in those shoes, but did notice her heading out.
When she was almost at Cloudsdale, Twilight stumbled into Billy and her gang again.
"Oh hey girls, what's up?", Twilight asked, willing to strike up a conversation.
"Oh nothing. Say do you notice our manestyles?", Billy replied with.
Twilight noticed those pigtails and felt like she needed them immediately.
"Oh I do", Twilight answered, "I really really do. Say, do you mind if I-"
"-get a maneover?", Billy finished Twilight's sentence. "Sure, why not?"
Sal and Lee quickly got to work pulling at Twilight's hair and spray painting her notable pink streak of hair white, but Twilight didn't really feel any pain. Quite a shock, considering how fidgety she usually was with Rarity's clothing. She also felt a sharp pain around her legs, which didn't last long, but it did force out a little wipe. Once they were done, she turned back at her hind and saw that her tail not only had its pink streak replaced with a white one, but was standing all on its own.
"What did you do to my tail?", Twilight asked.
"Oh, we're just utilising a tail-straightener", Sal replied.
Lee continued with, "Yeah, we don't have it yet but we're sure it'll be the new big hit, so we're accessorising you with it first!"
Twilight couldn't help but question this, but stopped herself. After all, a tail-straightener, whatever it looked like, hadn't been tested yet. Maybe this would become a massive hit with the colts. She thanked Billy's gang, ignored their laughter once more and headed onwards to Cloudsdale to get Rainbow Dash's attention. When she parked her hooves down below Rainbow Dash's house, she called out her name.
"Hey Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow Dash got out of bed ready to seize the day with her old pal…with a surprisingly new look, Twilight Sparkle. Seeing (one of) her best friend(s) change herself so drastically rather confused Rainbow Dash. I mean, she really only knew a couple ways of styling one's mane, but pigtails? Not only were they not aerodynamic, but they just didn't appeal to her. The closer she got flying down to Twilight's level, the more she saw just how bizzare it looked.
"Ugh", Twilight grunted, "Let me guess, you don't like this either, do you?"
"He heh, no", Rainbow Dash replied, not wanting to upset her friend, "After all, what would I ever know about style?"
"How did you know this was intentional?", Twilight asked. Something sparked inside her as she remembered that Rainbow Dash would usually make a snarky comment about her mane at this point, but due to Filly Billy and her gang messing it up…no…making look much better, Rainbow Dash couldn't spit out anything rude to say about Twilight's manedo.
"Oh don't worry", Twilight said, "I already formulated the answer in my head. I think…"
"Forumla schmormula", Rainbow Dash said, hoping to start a new conversation, "the only formula you should be thinking about is my new "Formula 1 Dash Ribbon!"
With that, she shot up into the air and did various möbius strips in the sky with her rainbow trail, gradually building up in speed until exploding and eradicating all the clouds from the area.
Though gazing at the wonderful rainbow in awe, Twilight simply couldn't take her mind off Billy's gang. She really wanted to pay attention to her rainbow-coloured pal in the sky, but as she sat there marvelling at Rainbow Dash's impressive light-bending tricks throughout the morning, she just felt that Rainbow Dash was…boring and tasteless.
By lunchtime, various other ponies had gathered and some even started giving Twilight funny looks. Imagine that, she was the spectacle to a few select ponies under a technicolour wonderland hundreds of hooves above them. She didn't feel this comfortable being this close to ponies that didn't appreciate her style.
"Now honey, don't stare at that one", said by a middle-aged mare taking her son over to town, was the last straw for Twilight, and she headed into the forest whimpering.
Don't just blow your cover like that!
What was her mind doing to her? She never had to make a decision this difficult in her life! It felt like more than a decision, more like a battle! She wanted Filly Billy in her life, but didn't care for what she needed. Suddenly, Billy's gang appeared behind her. The battle was over for now.
"Hey you guys", Twilight said with a tear in her eye, "why are all those ponies laughing at me? I wanted these updates to make myself look-"
"-Cool?", Filly Billy finished her sentence again. "Oh those ponies don't know what "cool" really is".
"Yeah!", Sal and Lee agreed in unison and laughed out loud in a way that made Twilight feel happy, but would've made any other pony cringe.
"Well what have you got for me this time?" Twilight asked.
Filly Billy hadn't really planned another scrap of junk for Twilight to wear. She wasn't expecting Twilight to get this into it.
"Uh Twilight, we don't have anything!", she calmly tried to say, but that was the wrong answer. Twilight fired back with,
"No! You have to have something for me, and you have to have it NOW!"
At this point, Billy's gang was actually rather frightened of Twilight. They didn't want to upset her lest they get pummelled in an E-rated way.
"Well uh, we've got…"
She looked for anything she could, up, down, and found some mud. She plastered it across Twilight's back and face.
"…a nice cape and facepaint for you", Filly Billy quietly said quivering.
"Thank you", Twilight said peacefully, briefly sounding a bit like her old self, though not smiling. She then walked off to Fluttershy's.
At that same time, Applejack was walking around Ponyville calling "Twilight!" over and over again. She had made a new pair of yellow horseshoes for Twilight made out of fine kowhai leather. They fit her so she was sure they'd fit Twilight, as they and all the rest of the Mane 6 had the same hoof size- 11.
She had made her way into the woodland area by now and still no sign of Twilight, though she did spot some rather strange-looking Valley Girls. What in Equestria would they be doing so far from the town? She wished she wouldn't have thought of that question soon after.
Filly Billy took off her large beanie to reveal a horn, meaning that she was a unicorn all along. She began talking, and Applejack hid herself from them behind a tree.
"Real talk girls, do you think my little mind control spell has gone a bit overboard?"
"Yeah" "definitely", Sal and Lee replied respectively. Lee spoke again,
"Besides, being all magical herself, it may have gotten Twilight a lot worse than we expected".
What in tarnation? Mind control? Twilight? The way they'd been talking seems as though they've been doing this for a while. Applejack came out from behind the tree and confronted them.
"What are y'all doing to my friend Twilight? Is this why she's been actin' funny?"
Filly Billy couldn't risk having her cover blown still so close to Twilight, so she tackled Applejack to the ground, covered her mouth and stared into her eyes. Her horn glowed as she stared deeper into Applejack's fear-ridden, lime green abysses. The further she stared the more she saw past the physical marbles and into her mind. Simple as an earth pony's usually was. She could see everything that Applejack had seen in recent memory. With a little more power coming from her horn, she blurred those thoughts until Applejack's mind was still. There was much more information further back, but she didn't want to take any risks. Her horn flickered off and Applejack fainted.
"What did you do?", Sal asked, clearly confused. From her angle, there wasn't a lot to see.
"I erased her memories of both her encounter with us and of Twilight's "fashion sense"", Filly Billy answered. This was a rather advanced spell, amnesia.
"Come on, let's take her back to her farm and go do something about Twilight"
"Why don't you use erase Twilight's memories of the fashion stuff?", Lee asked. "After all, it would be of more use on her than that farm girl".
"Her name is Applejack", Filly Billy replied, while carrying Applejack on her back (that was enough magic for today), "and no, doing that to Twilight would be too risky. The amnesia spell isn't that strong, it merely deeply represses a pony's memories. She's seen too many ponies now, and if they mention it to her, it would unearth the same trauma and be disastrous".
Filly Billy was only now just realising how serious all this mindplay was getting for Twilight and her friends. Staring into Applejack's mind and memories, she found just how important these 6 particular ponies were and how much they meant to each other. Her mind manipulation was driving a fork through their relationship by making Twilight, who Applejack looked up to as "the leader", a disgusting wreck. Sal and Lee didn't share Filly Billy's internal stress, they just found her to be getting tired carrying Applejack.
They returned the unconcious Applejack to Sweet Apple Acres without a soul noticing and headed back off to see where Twilight would've gotten to now. Applejack slowly woke up and noticed that the Sun was shining. Though she felt much more beat than she usually would, plus there was a pair of horseshoes that she stared at suspiciously for more than a while, she had no idea that today was tomorrow and that yesterday was today. She couldn't remember the past 24 hours, so she just assumed that she got a little dried up in the Summer heat.
"Maybe I should get Apple Bloom to do a little more work around here", she thought to herself before going inside for some recuperation.
The day was going so well at Fluttershy's cottage. All the animals Fluttershy had taken care of behaved excpetionally well, even Angel Bunny. They all ate their lunch softly and calmly, almost as if things were too peaceful. Fluttershy didn't mind however, as the more peaceful her little abode was, the happier and safer she felt.
Just then, Twilight knocked her fist against the door several times so loudly, that each and every single critter jumped and hid away in some part of Fluttershy's cottage, whether it be a drawer, a cupboard or a jar. Fluttershy, feeling a bit uneasy but at the same time rather intrigued, opened the door and saw something completely horrifying. The mare that stood before her had mud all over her body, a mane and tail that were stiff and practically ruined and hooves that had gone red due to the tightness of her shoes. Had it not been for the familiar shade of purple, Fluttershy would've never assumed that she was,
"Twilight?", Fluttershy asked.
"Go ahead, tell me i look horrible! ", Twilight yelled at her.
"Uhh…you look horrible", Fluttershy answered, admittedly speaking her mind.
"I can't think straight anymore! I just can't, and it's because… because…"
"Because of what?", Fluttershy asked, curious as to what could've happened to Twilight to have transformed herself so much within a few days. Unfortunately, her answer was a little louder than she needed it to be.
"Because I'm a complete and utter fashionless, ugly WRECK who DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE NOTICED!", Twilight screamed as loud as she could and threw herself onto Fluttershy's fromt hooves crying. Fluttershy tried to reason to get her off and out of the house without upsetting her even more.
"Twilight, could you please get off me and go outside?", Fluttershy asked politely.
"Why should I listen to you!?", Twilight asked and continued to let her tears express the emotion for her. Fluttershy took offense to this.
"Twilight Sparkle, get out of my house", she said with a stern voice.
"Okay fine, I don't deserve your company!", Twilight yelled at the poor pegasus and shut the door on her. Slowly the animals got out of their hiding places and gathered around Fluttershy, except for Angel Bunny who stayed in the cookie jar out of fear, I assure you.
Fluttershy was confused and devastated. Was this how Pinkie Pie and Rarity felt when she expressed her disdain towards their lives, or was this how she herself felt after reawakening from Discord's control? She had no idea whether to be offended or confused, but she knew that something awful had happened to Twilight. Noticing that it was starting to rain, she put her blue raincoat on, said good-bye to her pets and headed out into the rain.
Though Rainbow Dash had cleares the skies just hours ago, the clouds slowly started to roll back in and carried a watery vengeance. The rain shot down at Twilight, who was running back to the library, the only place she could call home at the moment, making her look worse every second. Ponies stared at her once she got within Ponyville limits and couldn't stop staring. She looked like a complete freak, and she didn't need anypony to tell her that.
She eventually came to a stop outside Golden Oaks Library, took her shoes off and ran upstairs and into her bed sobbing. Spike took notice of just how horrible Twilight looked and headed up to see her. Unfortunately, before he could say anything, he was lifted by Twilight's magic down the stairs and out into the rain. Okay, he knew not to disturb her at this point.
He wanted to get back inside, but Twilight shut and locked the door on him, leaving him in the rain to soak and possibly get a cold. He tried running to find a shelter and eventually decided to go to Sugarcube Corner. After all, it was the closest building that belonged to one of his other friends. There, he saw Pinkie Pie putting the finishing touches on one of her newest creations.
"Hey there Pinkie", Spike wanted to greet Pinkie Pie with a smile, but Twilight was still his top priority.
"Oh hi Spike. Check it out, my newest, most tastiest treat ever! ", she replied excitedly, and held up a bright orange cupcake covered in circular multicoloured sprinkles.
"What is that?", Spike asked.
"It's a cupcake, silly", Pinkie Pie replied giggling.
"No, I mean what flavour is it?", Spike added.
"Well it's a-"
"Actually, that isn't important at the moment, Pinkie", Spike took his mind off the cupcake for a second to talk about Twilight. "Have you noticed Twilight going around looking odd and crying?"
Pinkie Pie explained that she saw Twilight's new horseshoes, which Spike already knew about. Just then, Fluttershy came into the building.
"Is Twilight here?", she asked them, her and her raincoat dripping from the rain.
"No, but she seems horrible", Spike answered while Fluttershy hanged her raincoat on a candy cane-looking coat hanger.
"Oh this is my fault", Fluttershy said glumly, "I shouldn't have kicked her out of my house like that"
"Woah, what did you do?", Pinkie Pie asked, concerned. Fluttershy recited what she saw, heard and said with exactly the same tone of voice throughout it all.
"That wouldn't get Twilight so sad", Spike commented, "There must be a better reason for Twilight being like this"
"Well it's getting late, we might as well go to bed", Pinkie Pie said slightly excited, "Which can mean only one thing…"
She ran up into her bedroom but Fluttershy and Spike didn't follow.
"A SLEEPOVER! ", she shouted, but Mr and Mrs Cake, who were upstairs, were less than happy about Pinkie Pie's sudden plan.
"Pinkie Pie, you can't just invite friends over for a party, let alone after dark", Mrs Cake grumpily told her.
"Aw, but guys, I can easily-"
"No buts", Mr Cake chimed in, "We simply can't make an arragement this late"
"That's okay, Mr and Mrs Cake", Spike called out to whatever room they were in, having only climbed the stairs, "I was just gonna sleep at Fluttershy's place anyway", he added knowing that Twilight still wouldn't let him inside.
With that, he went back downstairs and hopped on Fluttershy's back, who then put on her raincoat and went back to her cottage. There weren't any ponies out at that time of night and in such nasty rain, so there was nopony around to question why Fluttershy would have a huge dragon-shaped hump on her back.
Author's Note
The story really has gotten a bit more intense at this point, but I hope that's not enough for this to become T-rated, not just because I put in a joke about this being E-rated, but because I want to appeal to a broad audience.
What a rough week it had been. The fashion show was more than successful and had brought more attention to Rarity's dresses, perhaps even to a more global scale, but she didn't want to overcompensate its success. The train ride home was peaceful enough to soothe her mind. She really needed a rest, perhaps even a trip to the spa. However, these plans were shut off when she walked out of the train and saw Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Spike, all of which had worried looks on their faces. Spike wasn't even being all lubby-dubby like he'd usually be around Rarity.
"I wasn't expecting you to miss me this much", Rarity said.
"Well it turns out Twilight does", Rainbow Dash responded.
"Where is she?", Rarity asked.
"We'll explain on the way", Spike replied. They then started walking off and Rarity followed suit. She didn't care where exactly they were going, she really wanted to know what was going on with Twilight, and possible Applejack. Fluttershy explained how Twilight had been coming up to them over the past few days with ridiculous looks and an upset demeanour. The way Fluttershy worded it only made Rarity feel even more bad for Twilight. Just then, Applejack ran up to them looking anxious.
"It's Friday, isn't it?", Applejack asked them.
The ponies looked at each other confused, as all of them knew it was Saturday. Pinkie Pie breathed in a bit so she could reply to Applejack, but Applejack kept talking.
"Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh have told me that it's Saturday, but I don't recall there bein' a Friday. At first it seemed like they were just teasin' me so Apple Bloom could get off school, but they seemed serious 'bout it. I mean, I'll give you three good guesses as to what Big Macintosh said to me"
"Uh, if it's Friday", Pinkie Pie contradicted, "then why else would Rairty be here?"
Applejack only just took in that Rarity had been with them.
"This is scary", Applejack said worried, "it's like a whole day just disappeared from my life"
"I'm sure there's a valid explanation", Fluttershy said, putting her hoof on Applejack's shoulder to comfort her.
"Yeah, like aliens abducting you and scanning you, conducting tests on you, then erasing your memory and putting you back in Equestria", Rainbow Dash thought up on the spot. All her friends stared at her as Rainbow Dash hung her head embarrassed. She felt as though she'd been reading too many science fiction novels.
"Well whatever the reasoning is, I've just missed out on a whole day of my life!"
"Oh I'm sure it's better than missing out on a week", Pinkie Pie said, nodding her head towards Rarity, who took great offense.
"I'll have you know that I- ", Rarity began to snap at Pinkie Pie.
"I was just kidding", Pinkie Pie replied in self-defense, though Rarity was still offended.
All of a sudden, they heard hoofsteps coming their way, and before long, they were greeted by Filly Billy and her gang. Rarity instantly recognised them, but Applejack, like the other ponies and Spike, didn't.
"Well well well, if it isn't Rarity Rarityson", Sal said.
"Oh yes, it is me, in the fur", Rarity answered.
"You know these ponies", Applejack asked Rarity, a question which Filly Billy shrugged to.
"Do I know these ponies? How could I forget them?", Rarity asked back, then told her friends how she came to know them.
"Back around October of 2000 ET*, before I got my cutie mark, I came across these three strange-looking thugs. We talked together, it was fine and all, I ignored my mother's advice not to talk to strangers, because they were around my age range, but that only made it worse. I had little taste in fashion at the time, so they made me do horrible things to convince me that I was "in style""
"What kind of things?", Spike asked.
"Eat mud, wear a jug around my head, break diamonds, all these horribe things! ", Rarity began to cry. It wasn't unlike her to break into tears at the thought of valuables breaking.
"And then what did you do?", Rarity turned her attention to Filly Billy.
"Rarity, those days are-"
"You ditched me! Just like that! ", Rarity angrily screamed at her, "You are one of the most despicable unicorns I've ever met in my life!"
Unicorns. Wait, Applejack knew she was a unicorn! How did she know that? Almost instantly, Applejack's mind burst with new information. The forgotten day. The 24 hours in which she noticed Twilight's hoofwear, made new horseshoes for her, accidentally discovered Filly Billy and her secret identity and fell victim to one of her spells, particularly a memory-erasing one.
"By apples!", Applejack shouted, remembering everything.
"Oh I already do that for yo-", Pinkie Pie said.
"You mind controlled Twilight and made her into a wreck!", Applejack snapped at Filly Billy, who appeared embarrassed. She had been trying to change her mindset and these constant reminders of her mind manipulation weren't helping.
Rarity gasped. "Twilight is getting bullied by them now!?"
"Was!", Lee tried to tell her.
"I think she's still at the library", Spike pointed out.
"Well come on then, come on!", Applejack called out to all of the ponies there and headed off, and the Mane 6 followed suit. "That includes you rascals, too!", Applejack called back to Billy's gang, and they had no choice but to run after them.
Author's Note
*by 2000 ET, I mean a parallel to the real-word year, 2000 AD. Let me break it down like this. If this were set around 2012, near the end of the Season 2, and going by my headcanon that the Mane 6 are most 20 (save for either Fluttershy being 21 or Pinkie Pie being 19), that would mean that Rarity would've been an 8 year old filly during these events if the series uses a floating timeline ala The Simpsons, and Rarity's year of birth was moved from 1990 to 1992.
When they got to the Golden Oaks Library, Applejack bucked the door open and all 8 ponies searched everywhere for her (Pinkie Pie even tried looking inside books). However, Spike knew where Twilight was, and went upstairs to their bedroom where she had her face inside her pillow sobbing. Her mane and tail were back to normal and her horseshoes were off, but she still had mud all over her. Spike slowly went up to her, quiet enough to not scare her, but loud enough to let her know that she was there.
"Hey Twilight", he said to her. Twilight stopped sobbing and turned to face him. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying and her face was muddy, but at least she didn't look any worse than that.
"What is it, Spike", she asked.
"Those street ponies are back and they want to apologise to you", Spike gleefully said, hoping to lift her spirits a bit. "Let me repeat that, they want to apologise to her", Spike called out downstairs, only to find everypony at the top. Filly Billy, Sal and Lee all came closer to Twilight.
"Why did you control me like this?", Twilight asked them, "What sick thrill did you get from it?"
"I have no idea", Filly Billy answered honestly. She knew that Twilight was no longer under their command because intense trauma was enough to break her spells, and it seemed as though Twilight had undergone some intense trauma indeed.
"We're so sorry", Sal added.
"And if there's anything we can do to repay you…", Lee continued.
"We'll do it", all 3 gang members finished in unison.
It was in Twilight's nature to be quick to forgive anyone that did her wrong, for better or for worse, and their apology seemed genuine and sincere enough for her. She wiped the tears from her face, smiled a bit and looked to Spike.
"I think you know what do you", she said to him.
"Do the same thing to them?", Spike asked enthusiatically. Everypony stared at him with an annoyed glare expect for Pinkie Pie, as it was in her nature to be cheerful about everything, and Twilight, who wanted to savour this moment of joy for as long as possible. Then Spike realised what Twilight meant is that she learnt a Friendship Lesson and wanted Spike to write it down.
"Oh, heh heh, right", Spike sheepishly replied and reached for a parchment and quill and began writing what Twilight said.
Dear Princess Celestia, accepting a new gift is a real honour, and in the best of situations can further your friendship exponentially, but you have to be careful who you're accepting that gift from, if it's safe to use, and most importantly, if you really want it. If you don't want it, don't force yourself to like it, as that would be dishonest to the person who's giving you the gift.
Spike sent it away, but which time Twilight had cleaned herself up a bit, but Rarity knew that such a dirty pony would be in need of some shower time.
"Boy, that's a relief", Rainbow Dash exhaled.
"Yeah!", Pinkie Pie agreed, "Why don't we all go to Sugarcube Corner and celebrate with Hundreds and Thousands-covered cupcakes!?"
Everypony agreed and headed off, but right as Billy's gang was about to go downstairs…
"Where do you think you're going", Twilight called out to them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sometime later, Billy's gang was writing on seperate chalkboards "I will not cast spells on strangers" multiple times. Twilight, now cleaned up, was watching them to monitor them.
"How many more times do we have to write this same line?", Sal asked.
"Hundreds and thousands of times more", Twilight replied, which made all of them moan. What they didn't know was that Twilight actually meant just 2,200 (two sets of 100 lines and two sets of 1,000 lines). Whatever the case, Billy's gang knew it was going to be a long afternoon.
