"Bullcrap!" Applejack yelled with glee as Rainbow Dash placed two supposed aces down upon a stack of cards.
Rainbow Dash grunted in annoyance at this, flipping her cards over to reveal a two and a five and shuffling a pile of two more into her deck. "Oh come on!" she groaned. "Every single time. What is it with you? Are you some sort of walking lie detector?!"
"She is the Element of Honesty after all," Twilight pointed out, noticing a prideful smile stretching across the farm pony's face as she did so.
"Heh, shucks," she said, blushing slightly. "I will say this though; it's easy to pick out a liar when you know an honest voice."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at that. "Yeah yeah." She then smirked evilly at her apple-bucking friend, her eyes narrowing in anticipation for a bit of revenge. "Go ahead and place your cards then, Ms. Honest. I know for a fact there's no twos left."
A grin came upon the farm pony's face at that as she gazed at her friend's cards. "Hehe, you only have four left. Sure ya wanna gamble a victory for a bit of payback?"
"Hah! It's not payback. With you out of the way I'll have this game in the bag," she said, before thinking for a second. "Alright, and it might be a liiiittle for revenge."
The farm pony sat her cards down at that, a victorious smile on her face, now only having two remaining. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, staring intently at Applejack as she did so. The tension in the room became insurmountable.
"Oh my," Fluttershy squeaked. "I forgot how competitive these games could get." She paused for a second before adding, "Well, not that I mind."
Applejack returned Rainbow Dash's scrutinizing gaze before switching her smile to a smirk. "Well, go on then. Call me out."
A beat.
The two ponies continued to stare down each other down intensely, the other four ponies in the room gazing at the epic battle of minds with awe. A bit of sweat began to form on Rainbow Dash's head as Applejack's smirk grew wider.
"Bullcrap!" Rainbow Dash finally gasped.
Applejack flipped her cards over, a victorious smile overtaking her face before she returned it to a smirk and gazed at Rainbow Dash.
There were two twos.
The rainbow maned mare's eye twitched.
"BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"
The room erupted into laughter. There in the commons of Twilight's library sat six soul mates, enjoying the time together they had. Twilight had grown used to this the past two years, her actually being able to enjoy life a bit more. Sure, she had been somewhat happy under the tutelage of Princess Celestia, but with her it was usually only when the princess gave her praise or whenever she accomplished something spectacular, or at the rare times when the princess treated her like a daughter and they would simply enjoy each other's company. However, those times were few and far between thanks to her mentor's busy schedule.
It was something she truly had to work for usually, happiness that is, stressing for hours in order to gain it. However, now she had six friends, and for the first time in her life she felt she didn't need to work for it. Well, that was sort of a lie, as friendship did take work, something she was eagerly learning about, but it always felt like she was gaining more then she was giving. She never needed their praise, never needed to do anything special, just having them in her company was enough. She didn't even need to trade anything from her old life of obsessive book studies to achieve this either. It was simply an addition. The best addition she could ever hope for.
"I give up," Rainbow Dash groaned. "There's no way I'm going to win this now!"
That was truth. She'd have to wait an entire cycle through the card numbers in order to get rid of those twos and not easily be called out.
Applejack chuckled. "That's a first, you not going down with a sinking ship that is."
"Just not going to waste time when I could be kicking your sorry flank the next round!" Rainbow Dash said with a determined grin.
Rainbow Dash was truly a special pony. She was cocky, headstrong, and arrogant, traits sometimes associated with someone dislikable. However, there was just something about Twilight's friend that made her endearing, and dare she add, charming. Perhaps it was the fact that underneath her braggart ways and somewhat callous demeanor lay a heart of pure loyalty and good, a heart pumping courageous blood through the pegasus' body. Like a sword, she wielded this courage in defense of those who deserved it around her, the pegasus already wearing armor that could deflect any attack upon herself.
Besides, her egotism at many a time was more amusing then annoying.
"We'll see," Applejack said. "How about the rest of you?"
"Ugh! I have like a bajillion cards! I give up," Pinkie groaned before throwing her multitude of them into the middle of the six hexagonally sitting friends.
Twilight chuckled before doing the same. "Yeah, I'm done too."
"Alright then!" Applejack cheered before picking up the pile of cards, stacking them, and shuffling. "Fluttershy, you wanna go first this time?" she asked, beginning to divide the pile among the six players.
Fluttershy blushed shyly at that. "Oh no, you won. You deserve to go first," she said.
"Me n' Rainbow Dash have been goin' first this entire time. I think it might be helpin' in determining who wins, time to give somepony else a go."
"Well," Fluttershy said softly. "Alright then, if it's alright with the rest of you."
"Oh no, go ahead dear," Rarity said.
"Yeah! Come on Fluttershy, time to get this game started!" Rainbow Dash said, her cocky grin not fading.
Fluttershy sighed before gazing at her cards intently for a moment. After a second she pulled out two of them and placed them in the middle. "Two sixes!"
If there ever could be kindness personified, it was Fluttershy. She was without a doubt the sweetest thing Twilight had ever come across of, and she had to confess, every time the shy pony spoke it made her heart that much warmer. However, she had other traits besides that which made her a great companion. While Rainbow Dash may have been the epitome of bravery, Fluttershy was the epitome of courage. The very definition of it was to face danger or challenges in the face of overwhelming fear, something she had seen the yellow pony do time and time again when properly motivated. She never thought she would be thinking this after seeing the poor thing cower at her own shadow, but Fluttershy was somepony who would always have her back in a time of crisis.
"Three sevens," Rarity said, placing a few cards down. Rainbow Dash glared at her suspiciously, which Rarity returned with an innocent smile.
"Two eights," Twilight said.
"Three nines!" Pinkie beamed.
"Bullcrap!" Rarity called, giving Pinkie an apologetic gaze. "You hesitated slightly before placing."
"Awwwwwww..." Pinkie sighed, reluctantly collecting the pile. "I hate this game! I'm just not good at it, and usually I rock at party games!"
"You just need to get the hang of it, dear," Rarity said sympathetically.
Rainbow Dash folded her arms, gazing at Rarity. "Or have your supernatural sense of detail...." she muttered.
Rarity was literally a trotting oxymoron. She was a perfectionist (to the point where she'd sometimes give others hell over trivial matters), somewhat blunt, sometimes selfish, and sometimes snooty. However, at the same time she was the most generous pony Twilight knew. It was as if there was a never-ending conflict in her mind, her vanity and avarice versus her element, and Twilight had a feeling that deep down she was on the side of the latter. Being a naturally good pony was one thing, but wanting and trying to fight against your nature in an effort to become good was another. It was something to be admired for, if at the very least respected.
Pinkie on the other hand was a bouncing ball of happiness to the core, no conflict on who she was going on in it whatsoever. There was little to say about her other then the fact that she was so overflowing with happiness that she had enough to give to everypony else, and simplicity was never a bad thing. While she could be annoying at times, her relentless spirit being just that, relentless, it was worth it for a decent smile now and then again.
"Yall aren't going to believe this but...." Applejack paused, laying down four cards. "Four tens!"
"Bullcrap!" Rainbow Dash said, a victorious smirk coming across her face.
Applejack merely smiled, and to the rainbow maned mare's horror she flipped over the four cards to reveal just that, four tens.
"Oh, damnit! I should have known," Rainbow Dash groaned, collecting the pile.
Good ole honest Applejack. She was the core of the group, without doubt, and probably the most stable and down-to-earth Earth pony she knew. She could be somewhat a workaholic at times (though lately she had shown improvements in that regard) and she also had a tendency to be a little headstrong like Rainbow Dash. Deep down though, Applejack was just a simple, sweet, country pony who could make a priest envious with her complete and utter good and truthful nature.
The day went on, and so did various card games, simple time consumers for a complex group of friends. However, they didn't need to be too fancy, they had each other around for entertainment, and that was worth more than anything, even ten good books. However, all good things must eventually to come to an end, and so they did around three in the afternoon. First left Applejack.
"Sorry yall, but it's time for me to head out. I've gotta help Big Mac with the south fields today," Applejack said apologetically.
Then Rarity.
"Hoity Toity wants yet another ten dresses done by the end of the week. I don't know how I'm going to make it through with my sanity!" the fashionista said dramatically.
Then Pinkie Pie, and finally Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Twilight was satisfied though, she had had her fun for the day. Now it was time for study, though today it wouldn't be about any miscellaneous topic of interest or friendship. At that, she put away her cards and made the way to her balcony. In the distant expanses of the Everfree forest raged a terrible storm, occasionally sending down fierce bolts of lightning into her canopy and distant but audible thunder her way. This wasn't any ordinary storm, however, even for Everfree. It had been raging for days, and no pegasi could be seen responsible for it (not that they could, their weather control magic didn't work in the vicinity of Everfree.) It wasn't intent on moving either, it having grazed in one particular spot for days, growing and diminishing at times but not doing much else.
Twilight was at a loss as to what could be causing this. Weather manipulating unicorn magic was mythical, taking a great amount of skill to perform. The only current user of it was Princess Luna by all accounts, and Twilight couldn't think of one good reason why she would be cooking up the storm to end all storms over the woodlands. She had also looked up mythical creatures that could possibly cause it, perhaps spirits of Spring (the current season) like the Windigo, though she only found one that could cause such a thing, and they were not it.
"Why not just ask the Princess?" Spike had said.
Twilight had grunted at that. "I don't want to disturb her with questions when I can figure it out on my own."
No, she'd handle this alone. It wasn't as if it was life threatening to anypony, the storm being a bit far out, and Zecora's hut was located a bit away from it. At that thought, she made her way back down to the commons and then into the kitchen, where Spike was busy munching through a bowl of gems at the room's lone table.
"Hey Twilight!" Spike called. "Are you finally done with your card games?"
Twilight nodded at that, making her way over to her small ice-fed fridge to retrieve a pitcher of lemonade, briefly glancing at the headline of the Canterlot Times paper on the table, Changeling Capture Count Rising. "Mmmhmm. Sorry Spike, I know I said I'd take you out to lunch."
Spike shrugged. "Eh, it's alright. So have you found out what's up with that storm yet?"
The bookworm pony shook her head at that, disgruntled. "No," she sighed, pouring herself a glass of bright yellow deliciousness. "I've gone through every book I can find about Everfree, elemental magic, and mythological creatures and I've found next to nothing. As it turns out, there is little information on that forest despite its proximity to Canterlot, and the only thing in the creature department that could cause it would be storm elementals, but those don't usually stick to one area for too long and even at that, they're legendary. They might not even be real at all."
"That's what people said about Nightmare Moon," Spike pointed out, munching on another gem. "People who totally weren't me, by the way." He swallowed as Twilight threw him an annoyed look. "Maybe they do exist and decided to set up camp in Everfree for some reason?"
"They aren't sentient," Twilight said, taking a sip from her glass.
"I didn't mean it that way. Maybe they are attracted to something there?"
"Mmmm, I'm not sure," Twilight said, shrugging at that. It was possible that a bunch of them were congregating within the woods, though that was nothing but conjecture. "The only way we'll be able to find out what's causing it is if we-" she paused, smiling deviously.
"Heeeey Spiiiikkkeeee," she cooed.
Spike threw her a confused glance before the realization of what she wanted hit him. He sighed at that. "No way Twilight! I'm not going to go on some crazy trek through Everfree with you. Every time somepony goes in there something horrible happens."
Alright then, if he wasn't going to budge on his own then it was time for the normal plan of attack. First, she gave Spike puppy-dog eyes. "Come on! Where's your sense of adventure?" she probed.
The young dragon shook his head. “Nice try, but it’s still not happening! The only thing adventurous I'm doing today is trying Zebrican fire rubies. I'm not going to go walking into some giant lightning storm in the middle of those woods, or any woods actually." He paused before lifting an eyebrow, his voice growing slightly exasperated. "Remember when you used to read for fun?"
Twilight grunted inwardly in annoyance. He wasn't going to get out of it that easily. While Spike seemed to have become resistant to her puppy-dog eyes through trials of fire, she still knew the way to get to his mind, and that was through his stomach. "I'll buy you a tub of Dragon's Delight gem icecream from the Cake's if you do."
Spike's eyes went wide at that. He dropped the ruby he was holding before scooting out of the room as quick as lightning. The sound of rummaging could be heard from Twilight's loft before the young dragon hopped down towards the kitchen wearing a dashing safari hat.
"So, how about a trip to Everfree?" he said with a smile, Twilight doing the same on the inside.
It always worked.
Always.
"We really should be careful though, that storm seems pretty intense. Can that magic bubble shield thingy of yours deflect lightning?"
Twilight nodded at that, discarding her cup and exiting the kitchen. She then set her sight on the front door. "We should be safe as long as it's not struck enough times to weaken me, and what are the chances of that happening?"
"You know, that sounds a lot like tempting fate," Spike said worriedly. "Besides, what if there are storm elementals in there? Could you defend us against them?"
"Nope," Twilight shook her head. "That's when we teleport away," she said, winking, though Spike still didn't seem convinced they'd be alright. "We'll be fine, oh ye of little faith," she groaned, making her way outside with him in tow.
It was a surprisingly beautiful day despite the ominous black storm clouds in the distance. Most ponies liked a sunny day, and that's just what the local pegasi have provided, the sky being devoid of any clouds other than the allotted mentioned. It was around three-thirty now, and despite that the midday rush was over the town was still filled with activity as the two walked along. She saw Lyra and Bon Bon taking out the trash from their two story home, Vinyl Scratch blasting jams from a magic guitar on the balcony of her apartment, an irritated Octavia practicing cello a distance away, Ditzy being told she had delivered mail to the wrong pony again, and Rainbow Dash napping on a cloud ahead.
She thought the poor mare looked a bit tired when she was playing cards early. She had probably gotten up more early then her liking for cloud patrol. She debated waking her up to invite her on her trek, but decided against that. She didn't need more than her and Spike to do a little scouting. So busy was she gazing about she didn't notice that the strangest pony in town was on an intercept path with her before it was too late.
"Twilight, watch out!"
"Wah-? Ack!" the lavender mare cried as she ran into him, him spilling a box of multi-colored, glowing gems he carried in a saddlebag all over the grassy ground. They seemed familiar to the young mare... but she could question him about that later. It was time to go into apology mode.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry Time Turner!" Twilight said, her face flushing red in embarrassment.
"I tried to warn you..." Spike muttered.
Time Turner shook his head in a daze before smiling. "Oh, it's perfectly fine my dear!" he said, dusting off his suit.
That was only one of the first few oddities of the strange stallion, his suit. Ponies typically wore them for special occasions, but Time Turner seemed content to wear it at all times, complete with an out of style piece of fashion called a bow-tie. Good Celestia, she sounded like Rarity thinking that, but it was true. Aside from that was his strange accent, which was nothing like she had ever heard of, and then there was his odd habit of randomly laughing, something usually associated with slight bit of insanity, though he didn't seem that nuts aside from it. Finally, there was his mysterious past that nopony knew about, and the fact that he was consistently sighted moving to and from Everfree, always there save for when he was performing his job of clock repair and synchronization.
Twilight scolded herself for those thoughts; she shouldn't misjudge him like that. Perhaps if she took the time to actually get to know him he would turn out to be a slightly quirky but none-the-less good guy. The same could be said for the rest of the ponies in town. Aside from her friends she hardly even knew anypony. Perhaps it was time to start socializing just a little bit more. At that, Twilight used her magic to place the gems that had fallen back into their holder, sensing an opportunity to start a quick conversation.
Time Turner smiled at the gesture and closed the lid to his bag. "Thank you, miss." He chuckled at something slightly before putting on a straight face.
"Oh, it's no problem. Again, I'm so sorry for that."
Time Turner waved a hoof dismissively. "It's no big deal, it was my fault too. I get... easily distracted."
"That makes two of us," Twilight said with a slight smirk. She then glanced at his saddlebag curiously. "Those gems, are they for a special somepony?" she asked.
Time Turner paused for a second before saying, "In a way.” A nostalgic smile then came across his lips. "They're for my oldest friend."
"If your friend's a dragon, he or she's the luckiest friend in the world," Spike said, practically drooling as he did so. "Are those mana batteries?!"
Time Turner chuckled slightly, a more bemused, quizzical expression crossing his face then appropriate for the situation, "I'm afraid it's not for a... dragon." He chuckled again slightly at that. "And yes, they are indeed mana batteries. Quite peculiar objects really. They aren't made, they're just found like any other mineral. It's as if this entire world is so saturated in magic it occasionally has to spit it out to keep from becoming too full.”
So many questions raced through Twilight's mind at this. The stallion had only arrived in town a month ago and she had never seen him around anypony save for Ditzy. Was he planning on mailing them or something? Why mana batteries when regular gems were so much cheaper? They were carriers of magic, able to provide energy to the best mages in order to allow them to supercharge spells. Was Time Turner's friend a battle mage? Finally, why did he look at her world and them from such an odd outward perspective? Twilight sighed inwardly, shrugging it off as Time Turner turned and gazed at the storm in the distance
"Quite a sight stirring up over those woods isn't it?" he asked rhetorically. "Shame it's not heading this way. A good storm always breaks up an otherwise boring afternoon." He then turned back towards Twilight. "Say, aren't you Twilight Sparkler? Element of Magic?"
"It's uh... Sparkle," Twilight said defensively, though with a slightly bemused smile on her face.
"Oh, my apologies. I'm still getting used to these names," he said.
Twilight cocked an eyebrow at that, though she quickly lowered it. "We're actually about to go check it out," she said, gazing towards it.
"Oh, really?" Time Turner said. "Tell me, have you heard of anything that could produce such a storm, any sort of magic?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, but I intend to find out what's causing it. Failing that, I'll just send a letter to the princess and maybe she can tell us what's what..."
"If we're not fried by lightning, that is," Spike groaned, earning him a look from Twilight.
Time Turner threw her an odd look with a smirk. "So let me get this straight, you intend to walk right into a lightning storm just to solve a mystery on your own? Likely because the alternative would be too boring, 'not necessary', and wouldn't appease your curiosity as much as this would?"
Twilight shot him an embarrassed look.
"I told her it as a bad idea," Spike grumbled.
To her surprise, Time Turner then put on an approving look, a slight grin crossing his face. "I think that's brilliant, actually."
Twilight's eyes widened in surprise at that. While Time Turner likely didn't know about her shield magic and how relatively safe this trip would be, he still pinned her motivations for it dead on.
Time Turner paused for a second, turning back to the storm and bringing a hoof up to his chin in thought. "I find it to be very curious myself. Storms like that aren't common around here from what I've gathered, so it must be that something peculiar is causing it, a curiosity causing a curiosity as they always tend to do."
Twilight nodded that. "That's what I'm thinking. We do need to get going while we still have sunlight, however. Everfree is dark enough during the day. I'll uh... see you I suppose?"
A beat.
Time Turner gazed at her quizzically before smiling. "Oh, probably sooner or later," he said in an odd, whimsical manner. "Good day, Twilight... Sparkle. Be careful in those woods." He then turned slightly and began to trot away, Twilight and Spike doing the same in the opposite direction in relative silence.
After a moment or so, the tiny dragon broke it.
"Strange guy," Spike said. "I kind of like his bow-tie, though."
Twilight glanced at him oddly, though the strange stallion did look pretty good in it, and so did Spike now that she thought about it. Heh, maybe they didn't deserve to be out of fashion.
"Yeah, he seemed a little off, but he seems like a nice stallion," Twilight admitted.
"Maybe we should try to talk to him again later?" Spike said.
"We'll see," Twilight said.
By the end of their conversation they had reached the edge of Everfree. Mustering her courage, Twilight then made her way inside, Spike in tow. The outskirts of the deep woods were their normal, spooky selves. Trees as ancient as Equestria itself loomed over the duo, their thick canopies blocking out most of Celestia's light. Animal activity seemed to be somewhat higher than usual, the noises of various creatures echoing about in a surreal chorus that was quite loud. Twilight mused the storm must have been driving them away from the deeper portions of the woods. She caught herself and Spike glancing about nervously every few minutes after hearing particularly loud shrieks of them, though she reassured herself most things in the forest were more afraid of her than she was of them... most of them.
"I really hate this place," Spike gulped. "I feel like I'm being watched constantly."
"We probably are," Twilight said, Spike throwing her a worried glance at that. "Don't worry though; the two of us should be able to at the very least escape anything these woods throw at us."
"I hope you're right," Spike said.
About an hour in, the woods began to darken even more as the cackle of thunder began to grow louder. Twilight looked up to see the edges of the storm looming over them. At that, she performed a quick spell and brought a pink force field around both her and Spike. The woods were the last place to stride through during a storm unprotected. A few minutes later came the rain, it splashing against her shield and making visibility even more difficult than it was before.
"Spike, go ahead and light your torch," she said a little louder than usual, the rain doing all it could to drown her out.
Spike nodded before belching out a wisp of green flames and igniting the light giver he carried. Immediately, visibility became a lot better. They were in the midst of thick foliage, and every so often the purple mare had to drop her shield in order to cut through some blocking the path. She really wished they had brought a knife to use.
"I'm really not liking this, Twilight," Spike said as the wind began to kick at them, throwing leaves and branches against Twilight's shield.
"Yeah, me neither," Twilight admitted. "Let's go another few paces and then head home."
"Now that sounds like a plan," the young dragon said.
Immediately following that, a loud bang could be heard a short distance away that most certainly wasn't thunder followed by a horrible shriek, one that sounded very familiar to the young mare, though she couldn't place her hoof on what it was.
"What the heck was that?!" Spike yelped.
Twilight smiled down at him, "Wanna find out?"
Spike deadpanned at that. "You hear a loud bang and shriek in the middle of the storm of the century in the creepiest woods ever and you want to check out what it is?"
"Well, I'm not feeling very tired so I should be able to maintain my shield pretty easily, I think we'll be safe unless it's a hydra or something, and we can always teleport away if that's the case."
"Fine," Spike sighed.
With that, the duo made their way through a bit more thick brush, the rain and wind roaring around them. Twilight was feeling a bit nervous at this point. That shriek sounded so familiar, a feeling of dread hitting her when she heard it. As if the world wanted to give her a heart attack, after that thought she saw rustling ahead. An obscure figure poked a silhouetted head around a tree and gazed upon them before retreating into the deep. Twilight became paralyzed in fright at this while Spike let out a startled gasp.
"Who was that?" he yelped.
Twilight shook her head, bewildered and regaining her composure. "I'm not sure. It looked like a pony's head but.... who else would be out here and why wouldn't they try to identify themselves?"
"With these woods, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a zombie or vampire or something," Spike said.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "If it was a zombie, wouldn't it try to come and eat us?"
Spike shrugged. "Maybe it was a cowardly zombie? I don't know. All I do know is that that gem icecream is sounding really nice right about now."
"Come on; let's just go an inch further. I think we're getting close to wherever that scream came from."
Spike groaned at that, and the two kept moving. Finally, they came to a small clearing. Twilight gazed about for a second, though she couldn't see much. However, as if to make up for her constant barrage of wind and rain mother nature decided to provide them with a bolt of lightning. The purple mare barely caught a glimpse of a body laying on the far edge of the clearing, pony like but stark black.
"Oh my!" Twilight gasped. "Was that-?"
"Yeah, it definitely looked like a body," Spike said grimly.
"Come on! Whoever that is may still be alive." Twilight said, pointing a hoof towards her back. Spike got the message and he quickly leaped on before Twilight entered a gallop. Another bolt of lightning streaked over head as the rain continued to pour and pour. That's when she saw just what it was, her eyes widening in realization.
Insect wings.
Legs filled with holes.
Out of the sky during the Changeling Invasion of Canterlot fell one of their many numbers. It landing right in front of Twilight as she galloped, forcing her to halt in her steps and actually forming a small crater before her. Despite this, it was immediately mobile, rising upon its tattered legs and hissing at her. Twilight gasped before reeling her frontal legs and planting two hooves down upon it. At that, it let out a hideous shriek, one she would never forget.
That shriek..... The body belonged to a Changeling?
