True Wisdomby The Narrator MEChaptersThe LetterWelcome to S.M.A.R.T.I.E.SPotion PanicThe Epaloge partThe LetterTwlight Sparkles woke up blurry eyed. She felt like she had slept on a rock. Rubbing her eyes she saw her guess was close, she had slept on the books she had been reading the night before. Twlight gave a yawn as she got up off the floor. She quickly brushed her mane, then turned to wake spike. "HEY SPIKE!" she yelled. The dragon simply tossed a bit. Twlight gave a groan in annoyance. Spike would probably sleep longer than Pon Van Twinkle. She sighed but then she had an idea. "Hey Spike, Rarity asked if she could give you a kiss." The baby woke with a start, looked around, then realized the trick. "Ha ha, very funny. Can't you just use an alarm clock?" he asked as they went downstairs. "No, you would just sleep through it and then I, would have to turn it off. Anyway, I have some spells to work on." Spike rolled his eyes. "Come on Twlight, can't we take a break? We've been at this nonstop for a week." Twlight was about to ignore the remark when she thought a moment. They had been at this for awhile and she hadn't really "hanged out" with her friends lately. In fact, she hadn't done much with them since Cadence's wedding and fighting changlings didn't really count. She could use a break. "Okay,Spike" "I know being Celestria's student is a big responsability but..........wait, what did you say?" "I said you're right, we should take a break. I need to run some errands anyway." she said as she opened the door. Spike eager for a break hurried after the lavender unicorn. Ponyville was covered in activity. Ponies all over town were busy talking, shopping. flying, playing, running, and all sorts of other things. Twlight and Spike quickly hurried through the town. "Hey Twlight, What errands did you say we need to do?" "I do have a few. First stop, is Sugercube corner for some blueberry muffins." Spike climbed onto Twlight's back and they hurried off. When they arrived they greeted Pinkie Pie with a smile. "Hello Pinkie." Twlight said as she walked through the door. The bouncy pink pony waived from the counter. "Well hiya, hiya,hiya to you Twlight. It's super duper to see you again. I haven't seen you for a good long time now. Of course it's not a good thing for me not to see you. I should of said a bad long time shouldn't I have? Anyway, what brings you to Sugercube Corner, huh, huh ,huh?" Twlight at this point was laying on the floor with Pinkie Pie hovering over her. " Came to pick up some blueberry muffins. Do you have any?" Pinky hopped over to a shelf and pulled out a box of muffins. "You're in luck Twlight, we just so happen to have one more box. Sorry it's not more, Derpy Hooves keeps coming in and buying them all but don't worry, that funny pony spooked her off." "What funny ponny?" "Well I was working and suddenly, the Super Silly Surprise bags flew down from the shelf and landed here. Then five bits flew in through the door and landed on the counter and the bags flew away! The Derpy Hooves thought it was a ghost! Silly huh?" Twlight sighed at her friends silly story. It's not that she didn't believe her, it's just that she was a few cookies short of a dozen sometimes. "Well, at least it got bought. I have to go now. I'll see you later." she said as she went out the door. Then she realized she was missing something. "Spike!!!!" He hurried through the door with cake on his face. "Sorry Twlight." he said " Pinky said I could have some free cake. So what's next?" "I need to drop off this book somepony wanted........what was her name again? The one with the lyre?" Spike scratched his head." Oh! You meen Lyra Heartstrings? The pony from the last concert?" "Yep that's her. Come on. Her house isn't too far away." They hurried down the street toward Lyra's house. True to her word, they soon reached her house. It was easy to find due to her house having a giant bowl on the roof. Lyra did have a knack for finding the strangest things, from time telling bracelets to boxes with weird creatures on it. In fact, Lyra herself sat in a strangeway. In simple she was kind of weird . Twlight knocked on the door. Nopony answered. She knocked again. No answer. " Hello! Lyra! Are you home!" Then the door finally opened a crack. "Who is it?" she said. Twlight couldn't help but note a hint of worry in her voice. "Hi. Remember me from the concert? You asked me to bring you a book?" The minty green pony reached out and grabbed the book. "Thanks." she said as she closed the door. Twlight couldn't help wondering if anything was wrong. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you ok?" she said. Lyra open the door. "No and I'm sorry if it looked that way. I'm just a little freaked out by some mail I just got. It's nothing." "Okay, but let me know if you need anything." Lyra nodded and shut the door. "Well that was kinda odd, huh Spike ? Hey are you okay?" Spike was laying on the ground. He was holding his claws over his mouth and his face was changing colors. His eyes were half shut and looked like he was going to barf. He said nothing in reply to Twlight. "Oh my goodness!" she said putting him on her back. "You look awful. Let's get you home." She started walking as slowly as possible (as not to hurt him) as she went back home. As soon as she got home, she layed him in his bed. He looked even worse now. Then he started shaking hard. Twlight stepped back. If he was having a seizure, then this was the strangest one ever. Then, all of the sudden, Spike burped dark blue fire twenty feet into the air! Twlight took cover under her bed while Spike burped for two minutes. Then he passed out. Twlight came out from her hiding place under the bed and walked over to Spike. Close up she saw that he was really asleep, smiling, as if he was having a nice dream. Next to him on the floor was a piece of paper that caught her eye. Curious she picked it up and saw it was an envelope with her name in fancy cursive on the front. As she opened she noticed a message in silver ink. Dear Twlight Sparkles, We have watched you for a long time. We believe you are very skilled in magic. As so, you are cordially invited to join S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S. a secret organization for truly skilled Unicorns. The meeting will be held tonight at the Crystal Cave. If you do not accept, your memory will be wiped of this. Signed, Mooncatcher. Welcome to S.M.A.R.T.I.E.SSpike woke up a few minutes later. He rubbed his head, which ached badly. It hadn’t hurt so bad since Twlight had teleported him to the library when they got chased by a mob of ticket-wanting ponies. “Hey Twilight, could you do that pain remover spell? I could really use………Hey, is something wrong?” The young Unicorn was sitting on the floor staring, dumbfounded at a piece of paper. Spike walked up to her, Twlight gave no response. Nothing, not Queen Chrysalis, not chocolate milk rain, not even the fact that Pinkie Pie had been reading her private diary for the last three months, had shocked her this much. Spike waved his claw in front of her face. “Hellooooooooooooo? Anypony home? Can you hear me or are you ignoring me again?” Nothing helped. Then a mischievous smile came over his face. He grabbed a bucket and ran outside. Twlight still sat on the floor thinking. “Oh my goodness! Somepony’s been watching me? What on earth is S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S supposed to be? How do they know where I live? I don’t get it!” Nothing annoyed Twlight more then not understanding something. Then suddenly SPLASH! She was soaking wet. She turned to see Spike laughing near a once full bucket. “SPIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Spike looked up to see an angry Twlight staring down at him with an icy glare. He cowered. “Ssssss…orrry Twlight. I just… I just…I..I..I..I.” The Unicorn saw she had scared the poor dragon and pulled him close. “It’s okay Spike, I just got some mail that rather distresses me.” Spike thought that sounded like something Lyra had said but said nothing of it. ‘What does it say?” he asked After reading the letter, he said proudly. “I think it’s a great thing that someone else sees your talent. I think you should go.” “I’m not so sure. I just have a funny feeling about it.” “Oh come on, Twlight. You have amazing talent; why not let the world know it? Stop being so…..what’s the word?” “Paranoid?” “Yeah, that’s it. You need to live a little.” Twlight thought about it for a minute, Spike was right. What could possibly go wrong? “Ok. I’ll do it.” “Yes!” said Spike She smiled and said “But first I better go dry off.” That night, Twlight and Spike stood outside Crystal Cave. “Well……..let’s go.” She said The cave was cold and dark. Twlight quickly lit her horn. The light shone through the cave and made the crystals around them glimmer. They walked onward, but soon came to a halt. They were at the end of the cave. “What now?” asked Spike “We can’t go any further.” “Appearances can be deceiving, Spike.” She replied and began to feel the wall. She didn’t have to look hard for as soon as she placed a hoof on it went straight through. “The Level 4 unsolid spell. Very clever. Well let’s get going.” Together they stepped through the wall. They found themselves in a different part of the cave. There were drawings all over the wall showing unicorns battling monsters or creating advanced spells. The crystals were carved into shapes such as stars and moons. “Kinda creepy huh?” Spike said. Twlight said nothing but was fascinated by the art. She could recognize many of the great unicorns from before her time. “Twlight? Is that you?” said a voice from behind them. They turned and saw…… “Lyra?” The minty green pony raced over. Oh, Twlight I’m so glad to see someone I know here too. I was worried I’d be alone. Do you get an invitation too?” “You got one?” “Yep. I was a little freeked out when I found it in my TV. It was blocking all the channels and I got so annoyed and punched the screen and out came the letter. That’s why I wanted to be alone when you dropped the book off.” Twlight had no idea what a TV, a channel, or a screen was. Nevertheless, she was glad to see she would not be alone. She was so happy to see Lyra she hardly notice another pony come (or fall is more like it) through the cave wall. “Ugg! Trixie does not want to be dirtied by this filthy dirt!” They both turned to see Trixie (the great and powerful) laying on the grown with her cape and hat tangled around her. Twlight walked over and giggled as she undid the Unicorn. “Hi Trixie. Haven’t seen you for a while.” Trixie got up and upon seeing Twlight, gasped. “What are you doing here? This place is for talented unicorns such as Trixie, not for lowly, untalented, life-ruining unicorn like you.” “Still as much as a boast as you were before.” She mumbled. “Excuse me! Trixie is not a boast. Trixie is simply showing her greatness TO THE WORLD!” She said this last bit with a large flourish. “Stop speaking in the third person! It's very annoying!” Twlight replied. Trixie gave a hmph. Then she noticed Lyra. “Who are you? Are you a friend of hers or The great and powerful Trixie?” Lyra ignored her as she was telling Spike about an MP3 player. “So you put these tiny things in your ears, and press a song and you hear it without anypony else hearing it.” “Cool. Have a spare one I could use?” Spike was fascinated. “Pardon me, are you Lyra Heartstrings, Spike the dragon, The Great and Powerful Trixie, and Twlight Sparkles?” They all they all turned. They had not noticed the pony that had come in. He was brown and his velvet cloak covered his face. Twlight replied first. “Yes, we are. And you are?” “Meteor burst, Member of the High Council. Follow me.” He walked down a corridor. “Trixie does not take orders from anyone and……… hey! Wait for me!” As they followed Meteor burst, Twlight saw more unicorns from pony history. Clover the Cleaver creating the fire of friendship, Starswirl the Bearded practicing the amniomorphic spell, and many others. They would have walked in silence if Trixie would have stopped wining. “Blech! Don’t you ever clean up this place?! Trixie does not deserve to walk in such filthy conditions. Trixie is also thirsty, Trixie wants a hay smoothie right now or Trixie is going to scream!” It was annoying everyone. Eventually Twlight stepped on her hoof just to keep her quiet. After a while they came to a large cavern. Inside there were twelve other ponies, all wearing cloaks like Meteor burst. He motioned them to stay as he took his place with the others. “Ummm, Spike could you please let go of my leg?” Twlight whispered. “Oh, sorry. This is just kinda creepy.” “Well try and contain yourself, it looks like that pony in the middle is about to speak.” The pony in the middle stood up. “Greetings, young unicorns. I am Mooncatcher, founder and leader of S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S. It’s a delight to meet you all.” “Um, hi. I’m Twilight. This is Lyra, Trixie, and my assistant Spike. Nice to meet you.” She said although she didn’t really mean it. Truth be told she was a bit creeped. “I know” said Mooncatcher . “We’ve been keeping an eye on you all and believe you each have skills beyond that of an ordinary unicorn. S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S stands for Strongly Magical And Rightly Talented in Experienced Spells. We teach unicorns spells that most have forgotten and how to enhance magic ability in ways you would never think possible.” There was a short pause after this. “So……are you in?” Twlight turned to see her friends (and Trixie). Lyra looked freaked out, Trixie seemed insulted at the idea that there were spells she didn’t already know, and Spike nodded at her, wanting her give it a shot. Then she herself thought about it. She still didn’t trust all this but the offer of learning hard spells was tempting. Celestria would want her to try. “I’m in.” “Well…I guess I will.” “Trixie will accept too. Trixie can do want ever Twlight can do and Trixie isn’t afraid to show it.” “All right then.” said Mooncatcher “No going back now. First I want to see what you can do.” She lifted her cloak. She was Midnight blue with a sparkling moon-silver mane and dark grey eyes. She closed her eyes and her horn glowed deep black. Suddenly in front of them was a manticore, growling loudly. “Magic is only limited by two things, your Capability and your Confidence. One at a time, try to defeat this monster. Lyra, you’re up first.” Twlight and Trixie were teleported to the side of the rooms and Lyra stayed in front of the large monster. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and focused on her horn. It started to glow. Her lyre appeared near her. She opened her eyes and grabbed it. She gently strummed a gentle song on it. The manticore appeared to like the song and sat down. Twlight smiled at her. Trixie thought she was doing well, almost as good as her and she wouldn’t allow that. “Silly pony. You really think a song will stop a monster? You’re almost as dumb as Twilight here.” Lyra showed signs of fear at the hurtful words. Then she struck a sour note. The mantacore was infuriated at the mess up and prepared to pounce her. Lyra yelped and ducked down. Mooncatcher stopped the monster. “You have lots of ability but not much confidence in yourself. You must stop caring so much of what others think.” Lyra sighed and walked over to the others. “Don’t let it get to you.” Twilight said “It’s not your fault. It was Trixie’s”. She glared at Trixie. “What? Trixie would never lie so badly as to say that was good.” She replied. Mooncatcher motioned for quiet. “Trixie, you are next.” Trixie strolled onto the field. As she took Lyra’s old place, Mooncatcher restarted the monster. It pounced down as Trixie jumped out of the way. “Ha, foolish beast. Prepare to feel the wrath of The Great and Powerful Trixie!” She looked up at her horn as it began to glow. A piece of rope flew to her side. It wrapped itself around the monster until it was laying on the ground all tied up, roaring in anger. Trixie walked up to it and kicked it. “I told you that you were no match for Trixie!” The mantacore broke a paw out and slapped Trixie so hard she flew against the wall. The two others hurried to help her up. She had several bruises on her back and one black eye. “Uuuuuhh. The sun was in my eye.” She moaned. Mooncatcher once again stopped the monster who had completely broken free. “Trixie, you are very confident but have less power than you think. You can’t do everything. Let that run through your head.” Trixie frowned and mumbled something about not taking orders. “ Twlight, you’re last up. Let’s see what you can do.” Twlight got up from next to Trixie. Spike started cheering even before she got there. “Go Twlight! You’re the BEST PONY EVER! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!” Twlight gulped. The last time she had met a manticore, Fluttershy had stopped it with her kindness. She didn’t do anything. Once again Mooncatcher started the monster. It turned to where Twlight was. She quickly thought of what she should do. As it charged toward her, she did the first thing she could think of, she ran. She ran like the wind until she could think of something she could do. She ran for three minutes straight, and now she was getting tired. She looked back and the mantacore was also getting tired. “Getting Tired!” She now knew what to do. She turned straight toward it, hoping she had enough power to do this. She pushed hard in her horn. It began to glow purple. The monster was lifted up into the air, too tired to fight. She pushed even harder. It flew out of the cave and out into the open. Then when Twilght thought it was far enough away, she let go. It had dropped into the Everfree forest and slinked off into the wood. Twlight smiled and walked over toward the others. She was greeted with cheers. “Nice job Twlight!” “I knew you could do it!!!” “Show off.” Mooncatcher nodded at Twlight with approval. “You must learn to think faster and not doubt yourself but that was wonderful.” Twlight smiled. She was able to do it. “You had all best be getting home.” Mooncatcher continued, “Meet here tomorrow, through the third corridor.” Then they were all outside. “Well, that was fun,” said Twlight “I wonder what we’ll do tomorrow. Back inside the cave the high council was speaking. “I knew she’d do it.” Said Meteor burst “She is very good.” Moondancer nodded. “Yes. She does need more help but I believe she shall suit me just fine.” “What about the other two, and the dragon?” “We’ll let them think they’re fine for now. I’ll deal with them soon enough. Now come, we too must rest.” And that was all for the night. Potion PanicThat was how it started. Twlight, Lyra, Spike, and Trixie came every night to learn new spells. They were taught by members of the high counsel. Twlight especially liked to learn new spells. She had pushed the nagging thought, that something was wrong with all this to the back of her head and enjoyed it to the fullest. One night however, something brought her annoying feelings back to the surface. It was one week after they had joined. Twlight was told to go through the third corridor. She walked with Spike through dim hall. “Oh Spike, isn’t this so much fun?! I haven’t learned so much since I was a filly!” Spike shrugged “I just enjoy seeing you so loose and carefree. I’ve brought this MP3 thing Lyra told me about . She let me use it while she practices. It makes the time go faster.” Twlight rolled her eyes at her dragon’s impatience. Well, he is still a baby after all. They soon arrived in the room. Lyra was already there and she greeted them as they came. “Hi Twlight! Hi Spike! Nice to see you both.” Twlight smiled. “Nice to see you too, Lyra.” “What do you think we’re going to learn tonight?” “I don’t know but whatever it is I’m sure it’ll be fun.” Lyra looked at Spike and giggled. “It looks like he really likes my MP3 player.” Twlight turned toward Spike. He was doing a ridiculous little dance and quietly singing. She too giggled at his antics. Her smile soon faded as Trixie came in. “Hmph. Hello pathetic pony. You enjoying your silly friends?” Twlight groaned. “What? Trixie was just saying, hello.” She then saw Spike dancing and laughed. “Oh Twlight, you have the weirdest friends. Guess they make you feel special.” “Oh knock it off.” “Make Trixie.” Lyra broke into the conversation. “Umm girls? You might want to look over there.” Mooncatcher was standing right next to them, frowning hard. The two ponies looked ashamed but Mooncatcher said nothing of it. “Greetings, I’m going to teach you how to make a special potion. It is quite complicated so please don’t touch anything unless I tell you to.” She pointed her horn in the center of the room. It glowed black and in a moment there was a cauldron and many bottles of different shapes and sizes. The cauldron was filled with water that oddly glowed a deep purple. “Pardon me.” Said Twlight “I’ve made some potions with my friend Zecora. Which one are we making?” Mooncatcher was looking at a large book and did not take her eyes off it. “This one, your friend most likely does not know. It came from before Equestria, when Pegasus, Earth Ponies, and Unicorns were still at war with each other. It is not only a potion, but a spell in liquid form.” Lyra became fascinated in the conversation. “So, it’s like a spell that you use on yourself?” “Yes, It is sucked it through the horn and enhances magic beyond the normal skill. It was used by ancient Unicorns to give themselves the power to do things such as, throw ponies across a field or predict where they were hiding.” “I’ve never heard of it before. If it’s so good, wouldn’t it be used more often?” Twlight asked. “The potion would only enhance one’s ability by their cutie mark. A gardener would have stronger gardening magic for example. Many cutie marks then weren’t very useful in war. It was also difficult to make and very hard to find the special ingredient, toad spit. I was fortunate to find some.” She lifted up a pink bag covered with streamers and pulled out a toad. Twlight remembered seeing them before. Those were Pinkie’s goody bags! “And I thought she was crazy. I’ll have to apologize to her tomorrow.” She thought. Mooncatcher asked Spike to stir as she added the ingredients. She told the unicorns each one as she added them. Some Twilight had seen from Zacora’s hut but others were new with strange names, such as Starshkamallow, Peroxide, Menerxie and Fluoride. She watched with wonder as a rainbow of color swirled in the cauldron. Mooncatcher lit a fire under the cauldron and the mix bubbled and foamed furiously. As Mooncatcher reached for something, it spilled on the floor. She looked at the spill and looked furious with herself. “That was the last of the spring water.” She said as she put down the book “There is a spring close by. I’ll go get some more.” She picked up the bottle and began to leave, then she stopped and said. “Don’t touch the potion until I return.” The other ponies and Spike nodded as she left. “Hey Twlight.” Spike said as he removed the MP3 from his head “Do you think stuff this is safe?” “I think so. The stuff looks safe. Maybe I should look in that book she was reading.” “But she said not to touch anything.” “She said only not to touch the potion so I’ll be fine.” Spike frowned. Twlight was the best loophole finder he knew. Just yesterday Spike had a signed paper saying he could have ice cream for breakfast and she said that the word breakfast was separated into two words. Break and Fast meaning he could only have ice cream during his five minute break. He had gone upstairs and slapped himself silly. Twlight picked up the book. It was strangely light for how it looked. The title had been scrapped off the cover and it looked very old, as if it had been around for hundreds of years. She opened the book; the pages yellowed with age and saw that the pages were blank. Not a word or drawing on them. She was slightly perplexed as she turned the pages. When she reached the end she at last found three words in blue lettering. Turn Around Twlight Confused she turned around . She saw Trixie about to put a bottle of orange snake snot in the cauldron! She rushed over. “TRIXIE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” she said Trixie looked pleased to have bothered her “Trixie is just trying to fix it. It’s such an ugly shade of green. This should help. “Trixie, you might mess it up or worse, if you put that in!” She started pulling on Trixie’s cloak. Lyra and Spike, now realizing the danger of what she was doing, also started pulling. Trixie pulled against them trying to pour the bottle into the cauldron. She wasn’t as strong as the three others and she was slowly being brought to the other end of the room. Trixie was not about to be beaten by some lowly unicorns and a dragon. She lessened her struggle slowly. It was so gradual, Twlight and company didn’t notice. Then, as they pulled their hardest, Trixie took her cloak off, the unexpected lack of force flinging the others against the wall. Trixie jumped up and poured the entire bottle of snake skin into the cauldron. As soon as she did the potion started to fizz and bubble furiously. It turned a dark black, similar to tar. Twlight got up fast. “TRIXIE! WHAT DID YOU DO!?” Trixie was a bit frightened at how her concoction looked, but she was not about to show that she had done something wrong. “Well…………Trixie thinks it looks better this way.” They started fighting then. Across the room, Lyra was helping Spike up. Spike had a black eye and was slowly rubbing his head. He looked up and shouted. “Twlight! Forget Trixie. Look at potion!” Twlight and Trixie looked and saw the black goo start leaking out of the pot. “Ummm. Trixie thinks it supposed to do that.” She said hopefully. Just then a large puddle of it landed on the floor…..and it ate right through it! Lyra shook like a leaf. “It’s not supposed to do that, though!” “Quick everyone, get on top of something!” Twlight shouted Trixie didn’t even bother to fight Twlight as they all climbed up onto tables, shelves and held on to the roof. The black blob quickly filled the room, dissolving everything in sight. It moved as fast as Rainbow Dash. What were they going to do? “Twlight! Help!” Twlight looked and saw Lyra’s table sinking. She grabbed her hoof and lifted her onto a higher shelf. “Thank you.” “No problem. But what are we going to do about the goop.” Spike was jumping from thing to thing. “I don’t know. Oh fireballs, this sucks.” “Sucks. SUCKS! That’s it!” “Everyone hold on tight to something. I have an idea.” Twlight focused on her horn. It glowed bright purple and slightly sparked. Slowly the black goo sunk down into the floor. It swirled downward until it was completely gone to reveal a giant drain in the floor. The room was a disaster with books half melted and a funny smell like wet dog filled the room, but they were all safe. “Number 21, drain spell. Nice job Twlight!” said Spike. Just then Mooncatcher walked in. “What is this mess?” she asked They all pointed to Trixie. “Trixie, did you touch my potion?” “Um uh eh err um ere e oo uh. Would you believe that it’s not Trixie’s fault?” “No. I’m very disappointed in you. You can stay and help me clean up this mess.” As Mooncatcher scolded Trixie, some remaining goop was dripping and dissolving her cloak near the bottom. “Pardon me, your cloak is coming off near the back.’ Said Twlight. Mooncatcher looked at her cloak and quickly covered her flank with more of the cloak. Twlight must have been seeing things because Mooncatcher looked…….panicked? “Hey, I’m a pretty good at sewing.” Said Lyra “I could take your cloak back home and sew it up if you wanted.” She reached out toward the cloak. “NO!” Lyra was spooked by the ferocity of the reply and scooted back near the others. Mooncatcher turned and left the room without another word. “What was that all about?” Lyra asked “I wish I knew.” Twlight replied. Her old feeling of S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S was coming back up again. As she headed home with Spike she tried to figure out why Mooncatcher had reacted the way she had. “Hey Twlight, is something bugging you?” Spike asked as they walked through the empty streets of Ponyville. “I’m trying to figure out why Mooncatcher talked to Lyra that way. She’s been pretty nice to me.” “I’m trying to figure that out too. Lyra’s a super cool unicorn. Did you know she has this tiny flat box that has moving pictures on it? It has music, games, and even funny cat videos. She calls it a computer. She’s going to show me it tomorrow.” “Spike, you’re getting off topic.” “Sorry. Hey, did you notice how Mooncatcher was really quick to cover up her flank? Like she was trying to hide her cutie mark or something.” “Spike, why on earth would somepony want to hide their cutie mark?” “Well, maybe her special talent is embarrassing or really bad?” “Maybe.” Twlight replied as they walked into the library. Spike hopped into bed and was asleep faster than you could say rubber baby buggy bumpers. Twlight however, didn’t go to sleep so fast. Her mind had been so full of the black goo and Moondancer she hadn’t really had the time to think about something else. The book. It had her name on it and told her to turn around just in time to see Trixie. It was really old; she knew that, but not much more. Maybe it was from ancient pony history as the potion had been. As she sat there, her pet Owlowiscious flew over and perched near her. “Who.” “Hi Owlowiscious, hey do we have any books on books?” “Who?” “I’m looking for this book I found, the title was scratched off.” “Who who who who.” “Sounds kinda silly, yes, but do we have any?” “Who.” She flew over to a shelf and held out a wing, pointed toward a large pile of thick books. Twlight smiled as she walked over and picked up top book. It was titled “Honey for a filly’s heart: Well known books for young ones.” Twlight smiled. “Owlowiscious, light a lantern. We’ve got a long night.” The Epaloge partIt was a cool summer night in ponyville. Everypony was dreaming sweet dreams without a care in the world. Some ponies dreamed about flying at super speed, some of baking the world's best cupcakes. One little dragon even dreamed of a certain white unicorn. Everypony was sleeping peacefully. Well, ALMOST eveypony. In a secreat area, a group of Unicorns were having a meeting. "Well? What did you want to tell us Mooncatcher?" one pony asked "I found someone." "You don't really mean it? You mean actually found somepony?" Mooncatcher nodded. "But we haven't had a member in fifty years." another pony said "Well I did find somepony, believe it or not." Are you sure?" said the first pony "Have I ever been wrong?" The room was quiet for a moment. " Who is it?" Mooncatcher pointed down in the cauldron that was in front of her. "Take a look." The other Unicorns looked and saw the image. It was a lavender pony with a dark purple mane that had a strand of pink. The Unicorn began to speak. "Spike! Were is that book?!" "Right here. It got reshelved." ""Super Advanced Spells for Smarter Ponies'. Thanks Spike. I can't wait to try these." "I wouldn't be surprised if you already knew them by heart." The unicorn blushed. As the other Unicorns watched, they slowly began to nod their heads. Moondancer started to speak. "She is still young, but skilled. She will be perfect for our cause. I even found some other ponies she knows to keep her from getting suspicious." The other ponies waited. "Send the invitation."
The LetterTwlight Sparkles woke up blurry eyed. She felt like she had slept on a rock. Rubbing her eyes she saw her guess was close, she had slept on the books she had been reading the night before. Twlight gave a yawn as she got up off the floor. She quickly brushed her mane, then turned to wake spike. "HEY SPIKE!" she yelled. The dragon simply tossed a bit. Twlight gave a groan in annoyance. Spike would probably sleep longer than Pon Van Twinkle. She sighed but then she had an idea. "Hey Spike, Rarity asked if she could give you a kiss." The baby woke with a start, looked around, then realized the trick. "Ha ha, very funny. Can't you just use an alarm clock?" he asked as they went downstairs. "No, you would just sleep through it and then I, would have to turn it off. Anyway, I have some spells to work on." Spike rolled his eyes. "Come on Twlight, can't we take a break? We've been at this nonstop for a week." Twlight was about to ignore the remark when she thought a moment. They had been at this for awhile and she hadn't really "hanged out" with her friends lately. In fact, she hadn't done much with them since Cadence's wedding and fighting changlings didn't really count. She could use a break. "Okay,Spike" "I know being Celestria's student is a big responsability but..........wait, what did you say?" "I said you're right, we should take a break. I need to run some errands anyway." she said as she opened the door. Spike eager for a break hurried after the lavender unicorn. Ponyville was covered in activity. Ponies all over town were busy talking, shopping. flying, playing, running, and all sorts of other things. Twlight and Spike quickly hurried through the town. "Hey Twlight, What errands did you say we need to do?" "I do have a few. First stop, is Sugercube corner for some blueberry muffins." Spike climbed onto Twlight's back and they hurried off. When they arrived they greeted Pinkie Pie with a smile. "Hello Pinkie." Twlight said as she walked through the door. The bouncy pink pony waived from the counter. "Well hiya, hiya,hiya to you Twlight. It's super duper to see you again. I haven't seen you for a good long time now. Of course it's not a good thing for me not to see you. I should of said a bad long time shouldn't I have? Anyway, what brings you to Sugercube Corner, huh, huh ,huh?" Twlight at this point was laying on the floor with Pinkie Pie hovering over her. " Came to pick up some blueberry muffins. Do you have any?" Pinky hopped over to a shelf and pulled out a box of muffins. "You're in luck Twlight, we just so happen to have one more box. Sorry it's not more, Derpy Hooves keeps coming in and buying them all but don't worry, that funny pony spooked her off." "What funny ponny?" "Well I was working and suddenly, the Super Silly Surprise bags flew down from the shelf and landed here. Then five bits flew in through the door and landed on the counter and the bags flew away! The Derpy Hooves thought it was a ghost! Silly huh?" Twlight sighed at her friends silly story. It's not that she didn't believe her, it's just that she was a few cookies short of a dozen sometimes. "Well, at least it got bought. I have to go now. I'll see you later." she said as she went out the door. Then she realized she was missing something. "Spike!!!!" He hurried through the door with cake on his face. "Sorry Twlight." he said " Pinky said I could have some free cake. So what's next?" "I need to drop off this book somepony wanted........what was her name again? The one with the lyre?" Spike scratched his head." Oh! You meen Lyra Heartstrings? The pony from the last concert?" "Yep that's her. Come on. Her house isn't too far away." They hurried down the street toward Lyra's house. True to her word, they soon reached her house. It was easy to find due to her house having a giant bowl on the roof. Lyra did have a knack for finding the strangest things, from time telling bracelets to boxes with weird creatures on it. In fact, Lyra herself sat in a strangeway. In simple she was kind of weird . Twlight knocked on the door. Nopony answered. She knocked again. No answer. " Hello! Lyra! Are you home!" Then the door finally opened a crack. "Who is it?" she said. Twlight couldn't help but note a hint of worry in her voice. "Hi. Remember me from the concert? You asked me to bring you a book?" The minty green pony reached out and grabbed the book. "Thanks." she said as she closed the door. Twlight couldn't help wondering if anything was wrong. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you ok?" she said. Lyra open the door. "No and I'm sorry if it looked that way. I'm just a little freaked out by some mail I just got. It's nothing." "Okay, but let me know if you need anything." Lyra nodded and shut the door. "Well that was kinda odd, huh Spike ? Hey are you okay?" Spike was laying on the ground. He was holding his claws over his mouth and his face was changing colors. His eyes were half shut and looked like he was going to barf. He said nothing in reply to Twlight. "Oh my goodness!" she said putting him on her back. "You look awful. Let's get you home." She started walking as slowly as possible (as not to hurt him) as she went back home. As soon as she got home, she layed him in his bed. He looked even worse now. Then he started shaking hard. Twlight stepped back. If he was having a seizure, then this was the strangest one ever. Then, all of the sudden, Spike burped dark blue fire twenty feet into the air! Twlight took cover under her bed while Spike burped for two minutes. Then he passed out. Twlight came out from her hiding place under the bed and walked over to Spike. Close up she saw that he was really asleep, smiling, as if he was having a nice dream. Next to him on the floor was a piece of paper that caught her eye. Curious she picked it up and saw it was an envelope with her name in fancy cursive on the front. As she opened she noticed a message in silver ink. Dear Twlight Sparkles, We have watched you for a long time. We believe you are very skilled in magic. As so, you are cordially invited to join S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S. a secret organization for truly skilled Unicorns. The meeting will be held tonight at the Crystal Cave. If you do not accept, your memory will be wiped of this. Signed, Mooncatcher.
Welcome to S.M.A.R.T.I.E.SSpike woke up a few minutes later. He rubbed his head, which ached badly. It hadn’t hurt so bad since Twlight had teleported him to the library when they got chased by a mob of ticket-wanting ponies. “Hey Twilight, could you do that pain remover spell? I could really use………Hey, is something wrong?” The young Unicorn was sitting on the floor staring, dumbfounded at a piece of paper. Spike walked up to her, Twlight gave no response. Nothing, not Queen Chrysalis, not chocolate milk rain, not even the fact that Pinkie Pie had been reading her private diary for the last three months, had shocked her this much. Spike waved his claw in front of her face. “Hellooooooooooooo? Anypony home? Can you hear me or are you ignoring me again?” Nothing helped. Then a mischievous smile came over his face. He grabbed a bucket and ran outside. Twlight still sat on the floor thinking. “Oh my goodness! Somepony’s been watching me? What on earth is S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S supposed to be? How do they know where I live? I don’t get it!” Nothing annoyed Twlight more then not understanding something. Then suddenly SPLASH! She was soaking wet. She turned to see Spike laughing near a once full bucket. “SPIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Spike looked up to see an angry Twlight staring down at him with an icy glare. He cowered. “Ssssss…orrry Twlight. I just… I just…I..I..I..I.” The Unicorn saw she had scared the poor dragon and pulled him close. “It’s okay Spike, I just got some mail that rather distresses me.” Spike thought that sounded like something Lyra had said but said nothing of it. ‘What does it say?” he asked After reading the letter, he said proudly. “I think it’s a great thing that someone else sees your talent. I think you should go.” “I’m not so sure. I just have a funny feeling about it.” “Oh come on, Twlight. You have amazing talent; why not let the world know it? Stop being so…..what’s the word?” “Paranoid?” “Yeah, that’s it. You need to live a little.” Twlight thought about it for a minute, Spike was right. What could possibly go wrong? “Ok. I’ll do it.” “Yes!” said Spike She smiled and said “But first I better go dry off.” That night, Twlight and Spike stood outside Crystal Cave. “Well……..let’s go.” She said The cave was cold and dark. Twlight quickly lit her horn. The light shone through the cave and made the crystals around them glimmer. They walked onward, but soon came to a halt. They were at the end of the cave. “What now?” asked Spike “We can’t go any further.” “Appearances can be deceiving, Spike.” She replied and began to feel the wall. She didn’t have to look hard for as soon as she placed a hoof on it went straight through. “The Level 4 unsolid spell. Very clever. Well let’s get going.” Together they stepped through the wall. They found themselves in a different part of the cave. There were drawings all over the wall showing unicorns battling monsters or creating advanced spells. The crystals were carved into shapes such as stars and moons. “Kinda creepy huh?” Spike said. Twlight said nothing but was fascinated by the art. She could recognize many of the great unicorns from before her time. “Twlight? Is that you?” said a voice from behind them. They turned and saw…… “Lyra?” The minty green pony raced over. Oh, Twlight I’m so glad to see someone I know here too. I was worried I’d be alone. Do you get an invitation too?” “You got one?” “Yep. I was a little freeked out when I found it in my TV. It was blocking all the channels and I got so annoyed and punched the screen and out came the letter. That’s why I wanted to be alone when you dropped the book off.” Twlight had no idea what a TV, a channel, or a screen was. Nevertheless, she was glad to see she would not be alone. She was so happy to see Lyra she hardly notice another pony come (or fall is more like it) through the cave wall. “Ugg! Trixie does not want to be dirtied by this filthy dirt!” They both turned to see Trixie (the great and powerful) laying on the grown with her cape and hat tangled around her. Twlight walked over and giggled as she undid the Unicorn. “Hi Trixie. Haven’t seen you for a while.” Trixie got up and upon seeing Twlight, gasped. “What are you doing here? This place is for talented unicorns such as Trixie, not for lowly, untalented, life-ruining unicorn like you.” “Still as much as a boast as you were before.” She mumbled. “Excuse me! Trixie is not a boast. Trixie is simply showing her greatness TO THE WORLD!” She said this last bit with a large flourish. “Stop speaking in the third person! It's very annoying!” Twlight replied. Trixie gave a hmph. Then she noticed Lyra. “Who are you? Are you a friend of hers or The great and powerful Trixie?” Lyra ignored her as she was telling Spike about an MP3 player. “So you put these tiny things in your ears, and press a song and you hear it without anypony else hearing it.” “Cool. Have a spare one I could use?” Spike was fascinated. “Pardon me, are you Lyra Heartstrings, Spike the dragon, The Great and Powerful Trixie, and Twlight Sparkles?” They all they all turned. They had not noticed the pony that had come in. He was brown and his velvet cloak covered his face. Twlight replied first. “Yes, we are. And you are?” “Meteor burst, Member of the High Council. Follow me.” He walked down a corridor. “Trixie does not take orders from anyone and……… hey! Wait for me!” As they followed Meteor burst, Twlight saw more unicorns from pony history. Clover the Cleaver creating the fire of friendship, Starswirl the Bearded practicing the amniomorphic spell, and many others. They would have walked in silence if Trixie would have stopped wining. “Blech! Don’t you ever clean up this place?! Trixie does not deserve to walk in such filthy conditions. Trixie is also thirsty, Trixie wants a hay smoothie right now or Trixie is going to scream!” It was annoying everyone. Eventually Twlight stepped on her hoof just to keep her quiet. After a while they came to a large cavern. Inside there were twelve other ponies, all wearing cloaks like Meteor burst. He motioned them to stay as he took his place with the others. “Ummm, Spike could you please let go of my leg?” Twlight whispered. “Oh, sorry. This is just kinda creepy.” “Well try and contain yourself, it looks like that pony in the middle is about to speak.” The pony in the middle stood up. “Greetings, young unicorns. I am Mooncatcher, founder and leader of S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S. It’s a delight to meet you all.” “Um, hi. I’m Twilight. This is Lyra, Trixie, and my assistant Spike. Nice to meet you.” She said although she didn’t really mean it. Truth be told she was a bit creeped. “I know” said Mooncatcher . “We’ve been keeping an eye on you all and believe you each have skills beyond that of an ordinary unicorn. S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S stands for Strongly Magical And Rightly Talented in Experienced Spells. We teach unicorns spells that most have forgotten and how to enhance magic ability in ways you would never think possible.” There was a short pause after this. “So……are you in?” Twlight turned to see her friends (and Trixie). Lyra looked freaked out, Trixie seemed insulted at the idea that there were spells she didn’t already know, and Spike nodded at her, wanting her give it a shot. Then she herself thought about it. She still didn’t trust all this but the offer of learning hard spells was tempting. Celestria would want her to try. “I’m in.” “Well…I guess I will.” “Trixie will accept too. Trixie can do want ever Twlight can do and Trixie isn’t afraid to show it.” “All right then.” said Mooncatcher “No going back now. First I want to see what you can do.” She lifted her cloak. She was Midnight blue with a sparkling moon-silver mane and dark grey eyes. She closed her eyes and her horn glowed deep black. Suddenly in front of them was a manticore, growling loudly. “Magic is only limited by two things, your Capability and your Confidence. One at a time, try to defeat this monster. Lyra, you’re up first.” Twlight and Trixie were teleported to the side of the rooms and Lyra stayed in front of the large monster. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and focused on her horn. It started to glow. Her lyre appeared near her. She opened her eyes and grabbed it. She gently strummed a gentle song on it. The manticore appeared to like the song and sat down. Twlight smiled at her. Trixie thought she was doing well, almost as good as her and she wouldn’t allow that. “Silly pony. You really think a song will stop a monster? You’re almost as dumb as Twilight here.” Lyra showed signs of fear at the hurtful words. Then she struck a sour note. The mantacore was infuriated at the mess up and prepared to pounce her. Lyra yelped and ducked down. Mooncatcher stopped the monster. “You have lots of ability but not much confidence in yourself. You must stop caring so much of what others think.” Lyra sighed and walked over to the others. “Don’t let it get to you.” Twilight said “It’s not your fault. It was Trixie’s”. She glared at Trixie. “What? Trixie would never lie so badly as to say that was good.” She replied. Mooncatcher motioned for quiet. “Trixie, you are next.” Trixie strolled onto the field. As she took Lyra’s old place, Mooncatcher restarted the monster. It pounced down as Trixie jumped out of the way. “Ha, foolish beast. Prepare to feel the wrath of The Great and Powerful Trixie!” She looked up at her horn as it began to glow. A piece of rope flew to her side. It wrapped itself around the monster until it was laying on the ground all tied up, roaring in anger. Trixie walked up to it and kicked it. “I told you that you were no match for Trixie!” The mantacore broke a paw out and slapped Trixie so hard she flew against the wall. The two others hurried to help her up. She had several bruises on her back and one black eye. “Uuuuuhh. The sun was in my eye.” She moaned. Mooncatcher once again stopped the monster who had completely broken free. “Trixie, you are very confident but have less power than you think. You can’t do everything. Let that run through your head.” Trixie frowned and mumbled something about not taking orders. “ Twlight, you’re last up. Let’s see what you can do.” Twlight got up from next to Trixie. Spike started cheering even before she got there. “Go Twlight! You’re the BEST PONY EVER! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!” Twlight gulped. The last time she had met a manticore, Fluttershy had stopped it with her kindness. She didn’t do anything. Once again Mooncatcher started the monster. It turned to where Twlight was. She quickly thought of what she should do. As it charged toward her, she did the first thing she could think of, she ran. She ran like the wind until she could think of something she could do. She ran for three minutes straight, and now she was getting tired. She looked back and the mantacore was also getting tired. “Getting Tired!” She now knew what to do. She turned straight toward it, hoping she had enough power to do this. She pushed hard in her horn. It began to glow purple. The monster was lifted up into the air, too tired to fight. She pushed even harder. It flew out of the cave and out into the open. Then when Twilght thought it was far enough away, she let go. It had dropped into the Everfree forest and slinked off into the wood. Twlight smiled and walked over toward the others. She was greeted with cheers. “Nice job Twlight!” “I knew you could do it!!!” “Show off.” Mooncatcher nodded at Twlight with approval. “You must learn to think faster and not doubt yourself but that was wonderful.” Twlight smiled. She was able to do it. “You had all best be getting home.” Mooncatcher continued, “Meet here tomorrow, through the third corridor.” Then they were all outside. “Well, that was fun,” said Twlight “I wonder what we’ll do tomorrow. Back inside the cave the high council was speaking. “I knew she’d do it.” Said Meteor burst “She is very good.” Moondancer nodded. “Yes. She does need more help but I believe she shall suit me just fine.” “What about the other two, and the dragon?” “We’ll let them think they’re fine for now. I’ll deal with them soon enough. Now come, we too must rest.” And that was all for the night.
Potion PanicThat was how it started. Twlight, Lyra, Spike, and Trixie came every night to learn new spells. They were taught by members of the high counsel. Twlight especially liked to learn new spells. She had pushed the nagging thought, that something was wrong with all this to the back of her head and enjoyed it to the fullest. One night however, something brought her annoying feelings back to the surface. It was one week after they had joined. Twlight was told to go through the third corridor. She walked with Spike through dim hall. “Oh Spike, isn’t this so much fun?! I haven’t learned so much since I was a filly!” Spike shrugged “I just enjoy seeing you so loose and carefree. I’ve brought this MP3 thing Lyra told me about . She let me use it while she practices. It makes the time go faster.” Twlight rolled her eyes at her dragon’s impatience. Well, he is still a baby after all. They soon arrived in the room. Lyra was already there and she greeted them as they came. “Hi Twlight! Hi Spike! Nice to see you both.” Twlight smiled. “Nice to see you too, Lyra.” “What do you think we’re going to learn tonight?” “I don’t know but whatever it is I’m sure it’ll be fun.” Lyra looked at Spike and giggled. “It looks like he really likes my MP3 player.” Twlight turned toward Spike. He was doing a ridiculous little dance and quietly singing. She too giggled at his antics. Her smile soon faded as Trixie came in. “Hmph. Hello pathetic pony. You enjoying your silly friends?” Twlight groaned. “What? Trixie was just saying, hello.” She then saw Spike dancing and laughed. “Oh Twlight, you have the weirdest friends. Guess they make you feel special.” “Oh knock it off.” “Make Trixie.” Lyra broke into the conversation. “Umm girls? You might want to look over there.” Mooncatcher was standing right next to them, frowning hard. The two ponies looked ashamed but Mooncatcher said nothing of it. “Greetings, I’m going to teach you how to make a special potion. It is quite complicated so please don’t touch anything unless I tell you to.” She pointed her horn in the center of the room. It glowed black and in a moment there was a cauldron and many bottles of different shapes and sizes. The cauldron was filled with water that oddly glowed a deep purple. “Pardon me.” Said Twlight “I’ve made some potions with my friend Zecora. Which one are we making?” Mooncatcher was looking at a large book and did not take her eyes off it. “This one, your friend most likely does not know. It came from before Equestria, when Pegasus, Earth Ponies, and Unicorns were still at war with each other. It is not only a potion, but a spell in liquid form.” Lyra became fascinated in the conversation. “So, it’s like a spell that you use on yourself?” “Yes, It is sucked it through the horn and enhances magic beyond the normal skill. It was used by ancient Unicorns to give themselves the power to do things such as, throw ponies across a field or predict where they were hiding.” “I’ve never heard of it before. If it’s so good, wouldn’t it be used more often?” Twlight asked. “The potion would only enhance one’s ability by their cutie mark. A gardener would have stronger gardening magic for example. Many cutie marks then weren’t very useful in war. It was also difficult to make and very hard to find the special ingredient, toad spit. I was fortunate to find some.” She lifted up a pink bag covered with streamers and pulled out a toad. Twlight remembered seeing them before. Those were Pinkie’s goody bags! “And I thought she was crazy. I’ll have to apologize to her tomorrow.” She thought. Mooncatcher asked Spike to stir as she added the ingredients. She told the unicorns each one as she added them. Some Twilight had seen from Zacora’s hut but others were new with strange names, such as Starshkamallow, Peroxide, Menerxie and Fluoride. She watched with wonder as a rainbow of color swirled in the cauldron. Mooncatcher lit a fire under the cauldron and the mix bubbled and foamed furiously. As Mooncatcher reached for something, it spilled on the floor. She looked at the spill and looked furious with herself. “That was the last of the spring water.” She said as she put down the book “There is a spring close by. I’ll go get some more.” She picked up the bottle and began to leave, then she stopped and said. “Don’t touch the potion until I return.” The other ponies and Spike nodded as she left. “Hey Twlight.” Spike said as he removed the MP3 from his head “Do you think stuff this is safe?” “I think so. The stuff looks safe. Maybe I should look in that book she was reading.” “But she said not to touch anything.” “She said only not to touch the potion so I’ll be fine.” Spike frowned. Twlight was the best loophole finder he knew. Just yesterday Spike had a signed paper saying he could have ice cream for breakfast and she said that the word breakfast was separated into two words. Break and Fast meaning he could only have ice cream during his five minute break. He had gone upstairs and slapped himself silly. Twlight picked up the book. It was strangely light for how it looked. The title had been scrapped off the cover and it looked very old, as if it had been around for hundreds of years. She opened the book; the pages yellowed with age and saw that the pages were blank. Not a word or drawing on them. She was slightly perplexed as she turned the pages. When she reached the end she at last found three words in blue lettering. Turn Around Twlight Confused she turned around . She saw Trixie about to put a bottle of orange snake snot in the cauldron! She rushed over. “TRIXIE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” she said Trixie looked pleased to have bothered her “Trixie is just trying to fix it. It’s such an ugly shade of green. This should help. “Trixie, you might mess it up or worse, if you put that in!” She started pulling on Trixie’s cloak. Lyra and Spike, now realizing the danger of what she was doing, also started pulling. Trixie pulled against them trying to pour the bottle into the cauldron. She wasn’t as strong as the three others and she was slowly being brought to the other end of the room. Trixie was not about to be beaten by some lowly unicorns and a dragon. She lessened her struggle slowly. It was so gradual, Twlight and company didn’t notice. Then, as they pulled their hardest, Trixie took her cloak off, the unexpected lack of force flinging the others against the wall. Trixie jumped up and poured the entire bottle of snake skin into the cauldron. As soon as she did the potion started to fizz and bubble furiously. It turned a dark black, similar to tar. Twlight got up fast. “TRIXIE! WHAT DID YOU DO!?” Trixie was a bit frightened at how her concoction looked, but she was not about to show that she had done something wrong. “Well…………Trixie thinks it looks better this way.” They started fighting then. Across the room, Lyra was helping Spike up. Spike had a black eye and was slowly rubbing his head. He looked up and shouted. “Twlight! Forget Trixie. Look at potion!” Twlight and Trixie looked and saw the black goo start leaking out of the pot. “Ummm. Trixie thinks it supposed to do that.” She said hopefully. Just then a large puddle of it landed on the floor…..and it ate right through it! Lyra shook like a leaf. “It’s not supposed to do that, though!” “Quick everyone, get on top of something!” Twlight shouted Trixie didn’t even bother to fight Twlight as they all climbed up onto tables, shelves and held on to the roof. The black blob quickly filled the room, dissolving everything in sight. It moved as fast as Rainbow Dash. What were they going to do? “Twlight! Help!” Twlight looked and saw Lyra’s table sinking. She grabbed her hoof and lifted her onto a higher shelf. “Thank you.” “No problem. But what are we going to do about the goop.” Spike was jumping from thing to thing. “I don’t know. Oh fireballs, this sucks.” “Sucks. SUCKS! That’s it!” “Everyone hold on tight to something. I have an idea.” Twlight focused on her horn. It glowed bright purple and slightly sparked. Slowly the black goo sunk down into the floor. It swirled downward until it was completely gone to reveal a giant drain in the floor. The room was a disaster with books half melted and a funny smell like wet dog filled the room, but they were all safe. “Number 21, drain spell. Nice job Twlight!” said Spike. Just then Mooncatcher walked in. “What is this mess?” she asked They all pointed to Trixie. “Trixie, did you touch my potion?” “Um uh eh err um ere e oo uh. Would you believe that it’s not Trixie’s fault?” “No. I’m very disappointed in you. You can stay and help me clean up this mess.” As Mooncatcher scolded Trixie, some remaining goop was dripping and dissolving her cloak near the bottom. “Pardon me, your cloak is coming off near the back.’ Said Twlight. Mooncatcher looked at her cloak and quickly covered her flank with more of the cloak. Twlight must have been seeing things because Mooncatcher looked…….panicked? “Hey, I’m a pretty good at sewing.” Said Lyra “I could take your cloak back home and sew it up if you wanted.” She reached out toward the cloak. “NO!” Lyra was spooked by the ferocity of the reply and scooted back near the others. Mooncatcher turned and left the room without another word. “What was that all about?” Lyra asked “I wish I knew.” Twlight replied. Her old feeling of S.M.A.R.T.I.E.S was coming back up again. As she headed home with Spike she tried to figure out why Mooncatcher had reacted the way she had. “Hey Twlight, is something bugging you?” Spike asked as they walked through the empty streets of Ponyville. “I’m trying to figure out why Mooncatcher talked to Lyra that way. She’s been pretty nice to me.” “I’m trying to figure that out too. Lyra’s a super cool unicorn. Did you know she has this tiny flat box that has moving pictures on it? It has music, games, and even funny cat videos. She calls it a computer. She’s going to show me it tomorrow.” “Spike, you’re getting off topic.” “Sorry. Hey, did you notice how Mooncatcher was really quick to cover up her flank? Like she was trying to hide her cutie mark or something.” “Spike, why on earth would somepony want to hide their cutie mark?” “Well, maybe her special talent is embarrassing or really bad?” “Maybe.” Twlight replied as they walked into the library. Spike hopped into bed and was asleep faster than you could say rubber baby buggy bumpers. Twlight however, didn’t go to sleep so fast. Her mind had been so full of the black goo and Moondancer she hadn’t really had the time to think about something else. The book. It had her name on it and told her to turn around just in time to see Trixie. It was really old; she knew that, but not much more. Maybe it was from ancient pony history as the potion had been. As she sat there, her pet Owlowiscious flew over and perched near her. “Who.” “Hi Owlowiscious, hey do we have any books on books?” “Who?” “I’m looking for this book I found, the title was scratched off.” “Who who who who.” “Sounds kinda silly, yes, but do we have any?” “Who.” She flew over to a shelf and held out a wing, pointed toward a large pile of thick books. Twlight smiled as she walked over and picked up top book. It was titled “Honey for a filly’s heart: Well known books for young ones.” Twlight smiled. “Owlowiscious, light a lantern. We’ve got a long night.”
The Epaloge partIt was a cool summer night in ponyville. Everypony was dreaming sweet dreams without a care in the world. Some ponies dreamed about flying at super speed, some of baking the world's best cupcakes. One little dragon even dreamed of a certain white unicorn. Everypony was sleeping peacefully. Well, ALMOST eveypony. In a secreat area, a group of Unicorns were having a meeting. "Well? What did you want to tell us Mooncatcher?" one pony asked "I found someone." "You don't really mean it? You mean actually found somepony?" Mooncatcher nodded. "But we haven't had a member in fifty years." another pony said "Well I did find somepony, believe it or not." Are you sure?" said the first pony "Have I ever been wrong?" The room was quiet for a moment. " Who is it?" Mooncatcher pointed down in the cauldron that was in front of her. "Take a look." The other Unicorns looked and saw the image. It was a lavender pony with a dark purple mane that had a strand of pink. The Unicorn began to speak. "Spike! Were is that book?!" "Right here. It got reshelved." ""Super Advanced Spells for Smarter Ponies'. Thanks Spike. I can't wait to try these." "I wouldn't be surprised if you already knew them by heart." The unicorn blushed. As the other Unicorns watched, they slowly began to nod their heads. Moondancer started to speak. "She is still young, but skilled. She will be perfect for our cause. I even found some other ponies she knows to keep her from getting suspicious." The other ponies waited. "Send the invitation."
