Forever Lasting Bonds

Chapters

The Magic of Friendship Part one
The Magic of Friendship Part two
Two Tickets, Five Whiners
Dark Dragon Magic
Lazy Dragon
An Evil Enchantress
Winter Wrap Up Shenanigans
Cutie Marks
The Spring Leaves Falling
Ryu Arrives in Ponyville
Dresses for the Gala
The Sonic Rainboom
Learning the Darkness
A Pegasus and an Earth Pony
CMC Showstoppers
Spike's Mother
Bad Owl Pun
The Grand Galloping Gala Part One
The Grand Galloping Gala Part Two
When Friends Turn Bad

The Magic of Friendship Part one

Author's Note

Disclaimer: Okay, so this story isn't going to be a flawless replica of the show, clearly. If you were expecting this to be a shot by shot story, please don't be disappointed. I expect people to actually read this, and to be fair with it. If you think you can make unfair criticisms or treat this story like it's garbage just for being different, then please leave. I only accept maturity when people look at my stories.

The Magic of Friendship Part one

Forever Lasting Bonds

Season one Episode one: The Magic of Friendship Part one

A female narrator's voice was heard as pages of a book were shown describing what was happening in them with the voice explaining what it ws all about. "Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon."

A lightning crack was heard as the narrator continued. "She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both..."

A young female voice was heard speaking alongside the narrator as it eventually changed to her, eventually revealing it to be a lavender unicorn. "Sun and moon...and harmony as maintained in Equestria for Generations since. Hmm...Elements of Harmony. I know I've heard of those before...but where?" The unicorn closed the book she was reading and ran off, hoping to find what she was looking for.

Inside a tower of sorts, a young dragon was just waking up, stretching his arms and yawning as he looked out the window. He saw Twilight turning down an offer to hang out with three fellow unicorns, leaving the dragon to sigh as he showed his disappointment. "Sis." The dragon looked at the Tv and saw a Pegasus in a blue costume throwing some kind of bomb at something, turning it off before he left his room. "At least she's not getting involved in those."

The dragon ran up to the stairs and jumped onto the handrail, sliding down it and doing a skid stop next to a table with a present on it. As he picked said present up, the door slammed open on his face with the unicorn walking in. "Spike! Spi-ike!" The unicorn saw Spike on the ground rubbing his head, helping him up with her magic. "Sorry about that. I was in a rush after I heard something I feel like I read before."

"Something world saving?" The unicorn nodded her head yes with a smile, despite Spike's playful snark, and he then got a look at the gift box as a teddy bear fell out, along with a picture of Twilight with a few unicorns. "Ya know, looking back, I think Moondancer would be more into a book on Equestrian spells." Twilight rolled her eyes as she went upstairs with Spike asking about it. "What do you think Twilight? Book on spells, or book on mythological creatures?"

"Spike, you know we don't have time for that. I have to find my book on Predictions and Prophecies." Twilight replied as she started tossing books around, but still took the time to answer his question. "But regardless, she prefers books on spells. Last time I showed her a mythological creature she freaked!" A slightly burnt book was shown with Spike rubbing his head with a chuckle as Twilight gave him a blunt look. "You're flawless at your job."

Spike walked over to a ladder and slid around on it, cheering with excitement as he found the book Twilight wanted, while Twilight was getting rather impatient. "Spike!"

"Hold yourself, I got it here." Spike replied, and then Twilight pulled the book while he was holding onto it with him thankfully stopping himself from hitting the ground. He then pulled out a quill and scroll with Twilight taking notice. "You're gonna tell Celestia about this, aren't you."

"And just how did you know that?" Twilight replied with a smile on her face, appreciating Spike's efficiency.

"Because I know you." Spike responded while playfully booping his older sister's muzzle, making her giggle as she looked at the book.

Twilight was looking through the book as she found exactly what she was looking for: Information on the Elements of Harmony. "Yes! This is what I need! The Mare in the Moon, myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal!"

Spike found this to be quite interesting, getting a look at it and finding it intriguing. "Want me to write how awesome it'd sound to live in that time?"

"Yes, because living in the time where one of the royal sisters got banished is the best thing that could happen to us all." Twilight replied with sarcasm, giving Spike instructions on what to write. "Here's what you SHOULD tell her. (Spike starts writing) My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster!

Spike had trouble spelling one of the words, or pronouncing it for that matter. "Preci...preci..."

"Pice." Twilight finished, much to Spike's gratitude as he finished that part of the letter. "For you see, the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact Nightmare Moon, and she's about to return to Equestria, and bring with her eternal night! Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

Spike had to admit he was a bit hesitant about sending it now. He knew what day it was tomorrow, and that Celestia was probably busy. "You sure you wanna send it now? She might be busy with the Summer Sun Celebration. Which is in like, two days."

"But that's just IT Spike." Twilight responded with confidence that the timing would be perfect. "The day after tomorrow is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration! It's imperative that the Queen is told right away!"

Spike shrugged and sent the letter, feeling like this was a bad idea. "I wouldn't hold your breath Twilight. Especially since I don't know what imperative means."

Spike suddenly burped out a letter, grabbing it and opening it up with Twilight telling him what imperative meant. "It means important."

"Thank you." Spike started reading the letter, clearly not taking it seriously. "My dearest, most faithful student Twilight, blah blah, blah, you know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely, yadda yadda yadda." Twilight rolled her eyes while smiling at her brother's incompetence, knowing he was always excited to get to the 'good stuff' in his notes. "But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books! (Twilight flinches) Ooh, I like that one. I gotta send her a reply later today."

Spike and Twilight were in a chariot with Spike looking at the letter with a smile on his face. "Face it Twilight. Now you have to make friends." Twilight sighed, not being up for making friends now, or ever. "Don't worry, I'll help you. If I was attending the school in Canterlot I would be the most popular with little to no effort."

Twilight snorted as she and Spike landed, calling him out on his ego as they got off. "I doubt it. (To the chariot Pegasi) Thank you sirs. (Back to Spike) Loving video games, Tv, and skateboarding doesn't make you cool, it's just stuff you do."

"Cmon, there's more to me than that." Spike defended himself, and they saw a pink earth pony hopping over to them. "Just give it a shot with this one. She seems friendly."

Twilight shrugged and walked up to the pink earth pony to greet her. "Hello." The pink earth pony gasped and dashed off with Spike hopping onto Twilight's back with a joke in mind. "Guess she had cynicism repellent." Twilight rolled her eyes and walked off to check on the first of the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration.

Spike and Twilight were walking up to some kind of farm with Spike taking a liking to the country style scenery. "Ya know Twilight, we should consider moving out to the country sometime. There wouldn't be a lot of ponies around to disrupt your studies, and even then the residents that WOULD be around would be really friendly." Twilight found the opportunity intriguing with Spike announcing where they were. "Sweet Apple Acres. Also known as my buffet."

Just then, an orange earth pony ran past Spike and Twilight at high speeds, kicking a tree with her back hooves and making the apples from it fall into the baskets. Spike took a liking to this and was more than happy to ask Twilight about it. "Can I kick the trees here too?"

"No."

"No means yes."

"Not MY no."

"It does now."

Just then, the orange earth pony started shaking Spike's claw, much to his delight. "Well howdy do partners! A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Spike started laughing as Applejack stopped shaking with Twilight speaking up. "Yes, well thank you for giving my brother nausua. I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Spike. We're here to-"

Applejack started shaking Twilight's hoof, much to her surprise. "I'm Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do love makin' new friends!"

Spike snickered a bit at that last part, knowing this would be a fun one. "Good luck becoming Twilight's friend. She hates friends."

"I see." Applejack responded with skepticism, but then she put on a smile. "Well maybe I can change your mind." Twilight shrugged, seeing as they had business here anyway, and then Applejack went over to a bell and started ringing it. "Come on everypony!"

Just then, a bunch of ponies brought Spike and Twilight over to a big table with Spike taking quite a liking to it, especially after he saw the family. "I like this town already!"

Twilight smiled upon seeing Spike having a good time, feeling it wouldn't hurt to stay for a bit longer than intended. "We came from Canterlot to check on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. With all of these hooves helping out, I think it's safe to assume you're ready

"We sure as sugar are!" Applejack replied with proudness. "Care to sample some?" Spike nodded with excitement and Applejack started introducing everyone. "Great! Before that though, I think it's best you get to know everyone. (Multiple ponies are shown after the name is called, one at a time) This here's Apple Fritter. Apple Bumpkin. Red Gala. Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp... [deep breath] Big McIntosh, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. Granny Smith, we got guests."

Granny Smith smiled and got up, walking over to them as best she could with Spike finding all the names to be hard to keep track of. "Not that I don't appreciate the warm welcome, but I'm not exactly familiar with some of these apple dishes."

"No problem. I'd be happy to tell you all about them." Applejack replied, leaving Twilight nervous about how long this will take.

Applebloom sat down next to Twilight, taking a sip out of some kind of apple beverage. "I know how ya feel. I barely got through the whole thing."

Spike and Twilight were walking through Ponyville with Twilight shown go have a big belly from all the food she ate. "Ugh...I ate too much pie."

"I can NEVER eat too much pie." Spike bragged as he patted his stomach, making Twilight roll her eyes with Spike looking at who's next on the list. "Ah, Rainbow Dash, I've met her before. She's cool. Funny she'd have a job as boring as weather patrol."

Twilight looked around and saw that the sky wasn't as clear as it should be. "Probably because she's too incompetent for anything else."

Just then, a cyan Pegasus landed right into Twilight, making her fall in the mud with the Pegasus getting up and noticing her. She chuckled a bit and helped her up. "Scuse me. Trying to show my brother some sick flight tricks." Rainbow Dash noticed Spike and walked up to him with a fist bump. "Great to see you again short stuff. How's life going?"

"Pretty well, thanks." Spike replied, still remembering when he first met Rainbow Dash. "You still have those goggles Spitfire autographed?"

"You know it." Rainbow dash answered with delight as Twilight walked up to them and wiped the mud off of her face. "Oh, right, sorry. Should probably wash you off." Rainbow Dash flew over to a cloud and put it over Twilight, kicking it and having it wash her off, with quite a bit of water in fact. "Whoops. Guess I overdid it."

"Yes. The intention certainly wasn't to splash me with water." Twilight responded with sarcasm as Rainbow Dash then started swirling around in a circle. While this was happening, a cyan Pegasus that was Spike's age walked flew right next to him. When the two noticed each other, they both smiled with the Pegasus rubbing his arm and Spike waving nervously.

When the mini tornado was done, Rainbow Dash landed and exclaimed what that was. "I call it the Rain-Blow Dry! No no, don't thank me. You're quite welcome."

"Thank you anyway. I've always wanted to look like a poofy haired party maniac." Twilight snarked, leading to Rainbow Dash laughing at how poofy she looked, leading to Spike doing the same with the other Pegasus snickering a bit. Twilight noticed the Pegasus standing next to Spike and addressed him. "You must be Rainbow Dash's brother."

"Yep." The Pegasus responded, and then he introduced himself. "My name's Lightspeed. Though, I don't exactly live up to that name yet."

"That's why I decided to train him." Rainbow Dash chimed in. "To help him realize his full potential."

Twilight giggled a bit, to Rainbow Dash's confusion as the Unicorn then brought up her actual occupation. "Sorry. But if you can't keep the sky clear for one messily day, which keep in mind is how you earn your living, then how can you expect to be the best teacher for Lightspeed over here?"

Rainbow dash took a liking to that and decided to make it into a challenge. "Hey now; I can clear this sky in ten seconds flat!" Lightspeed took out a stopwatch and started it, having Rainbow Dash kick all the clouds, except for the one she landed on in the end, after ten seconds. "Told ya. Ten. Seconds. Flat. I'd never leave Ponyville hanging." Twilight was astonished with Rainbow Dash chuckling a bit. "You should see the look on your face. You're a laugh whatever your name is."

Spike gestured Rainbow Dash with an impressed look with Lightspeed nodding in agreement as Twilight then introduced herself. "Twilight Sparkle. And you've already met my brother Spike."

"Your brothers with a dragon!? That's awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, knowing Twilight would be a blast to hang around. "I can't wait to hang out some more Twilight. (Twilight flinches) But for now, I gotta train Lightspeed."

"Any chance I can join you after getting my wings?" Spike asked, and Lightspeed was more than happy to accept.

"Of course! You'd love my sister's training. And hopefully part of that is because I'm there." Lightspeed whispered the last part so Spike couldn't hear it, flying off with Rainbow Dash as the two waved goodbye. "See ya later!"

"Okay, bye; love you!" Spike realized what he finished with and did a face palm. "What did I say that for!?"

Twilight giggled at seeing Spike finding his first crush, walking with him as she commented on it. "I support whatever relationship you enter regardless of gender." Spike smiled upon hearing that, even though he already knew Twilight was okay with whatever gender he dated."

Spike and Twilight arrived at a gorgeous looking boutique with Spike sitting on Twilight's back and poking her poofy mane. "I think you look good with a poofy mane. It makes you look like a clown only you don't have the stupid costume."

"Why thank you Spike. I love being compared to circus freaks." Twilight deadpanned, and then she and Spike entered the boutique and looked around. "

Spike got a good look at something he liked with a white Unicorn shown to be looking over the ribbons for the Summer Sun Celebration. "No, no, no, oh! Goodness no."

Spike dashed up to the Unicorn and spoke with a flirtatious voice as he sat on the table next to the ribbons. "Hey baby. (The Unicorn looks with a bit of surprise) You free tonight?"

The Unicorn giggled a bit as Twilight walked up to the two of them. "Aren't you a charmer. But I'm looking for someone around the age of an adult."

"Fair enough." Spike replied as he stepped down, having had the thought he wasn't gonna win the Unicorn over. "I'll settle for snagging a soda from your fridge"

"Spike, what have I told you about asking strangers for soda?" Twilight asked, and Spike shrugged, indicating that he forgot with the Unicorn being shocked by her mane being all poofy. "You must be Rarity. We're just here to check on the decorations, and then I'll be out of your hair!"

"Out of MY hair? What about YOUR hair?!" Rarity started bringing Twilight with her to another room, much to her dismay.

"Wait! Where are we going?! Help!" Spike didn't hear Twilight's cry for help as he was pulling a cherry soda out of Rarity's fridge. When he saw that they were gone, he ran off to find them.

Spike was drinking his soda as Rarity was trying to make the perfect design for Twilight's mane. "No, no, uh-uh. Too green. Too yellow. Too poofy. Not poofy enough. Too frilly. Too... shiny." Rarity noticed that Spike was drinking a soda and giggled a bit. "So you actually got the soda."

"I never turn a soda down." Spike informed Rarity, and she took note of that as Spike started talking about where he and Twilight were from. "We can't stay forever though. We just came from Canterlot to check on the Summer Sun Celebration stuff."

Rarity was amazed to hear that, finding the thought of living in Canterlot to be amazing. "Canterlot?! Oh, I am so envious! The glamour, the sophistication! I have always dreamed of living there! I can't wait to hear all about it! We are gonna be the best of friends, you and I... Emeralds?! What was I thinking? Let me get you some rubies!"

When Rarity left, Twilight lifted Spike up and put him on her back before running off. "Hurry! Before she decides to dye my main a new color!"

Spike and Twilight were heading to the last stop with Spike shown to be writing a sketch of Lightspeed. Twilight took note of this with Spike explaining his sketch. "I was able to picture him in my mind well enough to justify making a decent sketch. Just in case it's a while before we come back, I wanna make sure I can look at him."

"Just be sure to focus Casanova Da Vinci." Twilight responded, taking a shot at both of the beings Spike was similar to at the moment. "We only have one last stop to do, and that's to check on the music."

"Ha! And next thing ya know, ponies will say you don't need me."

"Little do they know that couldn't be any farther from the truth."

Spike and Twilight arrived to find a yellow Pegasus orchestrating a flock of birds with Spike nodding to Twilight. While the Pegasus was orchestrating the birds, she saw one of them was a bit off and spoke with pure kindness when speaking to him. "Oh my. Um, stop please, everyone, umm. Excuse me, sir? I mean no offense, but your rhythm is just a teeny-tiny bit off. (The bird nods in understanding) Now, follow me, please. A-one, a-two, a-one two three-"

"Hello!" Twilight chimed in, surprising the Pegasus with the birds flying off. "Oh my, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to frighten your birds. I'm just here to check up on the music and it's sounding beautiful."

The Pegasus smiled softly at Twilight's compliment, flying down to her as she spoke to her. "Um...thank you."

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. What's your name?" Twilight asked, and the Pegasus didn't exactly know how to respond.

"Um...I'm Fluttershy." Fluttershy spoke quietly, and Twilight missed what she said.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Um...my name is Fluttershy."

"Didn't quite catch that."

Fluttershy started squeaking with Spike popping up and resting his elbow on her head. "Her name's Fluttershy."

Fluttershy saw Spike and became amazed with Spike jumping over her head. "A baby dragon!" Fluttershy was amazed to see that Twilight had a baby dragon with her. "Oh, I've never seen a baby dragon before. He's sooo cute!"

"This is my brother Spike." Twilight introduced, putting Spike on his back and walking off as the birds returned. "Anyway, it looks like your birds are back. We'll leave you to your work."

Fluttershy signaled the birds to meet her later and they flew off, leaving her to walk up to Spike and Twilight. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get to know you two more. Just in case you come back."

"Sure thing." Spike replied instantly, making Twilight flinch with concern. "Let's talk about me first since I'm awesomer."

"That's not a word." Twilight snarked, not having the time for Spike to explain everything about himself.

"It is now." Spike insisted, and then he started telling Fluttershy about himself. "Okay. So I started out as a cute little purple and green egg. At least I THINK it was purple and green. I didn't get a good look at it after I was born..."

Spike was still telling Fluttershy about himself, having told her about everything he did up until today. "And that's the story of my whole life. Well, until today that is. And I'm lovin it here so far, so today's also awesome."

"Ooh, please tell." Fluttershy requested, and then Twilight lifted Spike off of her back and put him in front of a door of a library that looked like a tree.

Twilight really wasn't in the mood for more storytelling so she decided to get away without hurting Fluttershy's feelings. "I am so sorry, how did we get here so fast? This is where I'm staying while in Ponyville and my poor baby dragon needs his sleep."

"Twilight, I'm thirteen." Spike revealed, much to Fluttershy's surprise as Spike crossed his arms. "True I've got at least three years before I go into my true teenage body, but I still don't need sleep right now."

Twilight gave a blunt look and turned to Fluttershy, hoping she'd understand. "Sorry, I'm really not in the mood to hang out right now."

"Fair enough. I hope we can-" Twilight dashed inside with Spike, leaving Fluttershy with a blank expression. "Talk more later."

Spike and Twilight were in the library with the room shown to be pitch black. "Rude much? Not everyone has a baby dragon in their life."

Twilight sighed, knowing she had to focus on convincing Celestia that Nightmare Moon was coming "Sorry, Spike, but I have to convince the Queen that Nightmare Moon is coming, and we're running out of time! I just need to be alone so I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time."

"You mean like what everyone who's normal does?" Spike snarked, and then when he turned the light on, pretty much everyone in Ponyville was there and they shouted 'Surprise!' with Spike dashing over to Twilight. "Even with the break in they're more socially advanced than you."

Twilight rolled her eyes as she walked over to the snack table with the pink pony from earlier popping up and jumping up and down as she walked with her. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya? Huh huh huh?"

"Very surprised." Twilight replied, and then she deadpanned a bit. "Libraries are supposed to be quiet."

"Pardon my sister." Spike chimed in with a sly grin. "She's such a mood."

"Oh, I know my fair share of those." Pinkie pie assured Spike, jumping near Twilight as she continued talking. "Well quiet thing is silly! What kind of welcome party would this be if it were quiet? I mean, duh, bo-ring! Y'see, I saw you when you first got here, remember? You were all "hello" and I was all [deep gasp], remember? Y'see I've never saw you before and if I've never saw you before that means you're new, 'cause I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville!"

Twilight groaned in annoyance as Pinkie Pie kept talking. "And if you're new, that meant you haven't met anyone yet, and if you haven't met anyone yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, then I had an idea, and that's why I went [deep gasp]! I must throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in Ponyville! See? And now you have lots and lots of friends!"

Twilight squirt something on a cupcake and ended up burning her mouth, much to the concern of Applejack. "Are you all right sugarcube?"

Twilight dashed upstairs after a train whistle sound blew from her ears with Pinkie pie smiling. "Aww, she's so happy she's crying!"

Spike grabbed the hot sauce bottle and opened it up, pouring the whole thing in his mouth and everyone started cheering for him. "Heck yeah baby! (Smashes the bottle on the ground) Let's kick this party into high gear!"

Twilight was in her room with Spike opening the door while chugging down an extra large soda bottle. "Hey Twilight! Party's just getting started down here! (Loud belch) You gotta see Rarity's singing, it's sick!"

Twilight was quite annoyed by the party in her house, especially considering the circumstances. "All the ponies in this town are crazy! Do you know what time it is?!"

"Time for you to grow out of kindergarten and learn how to socialize?" Spike snarked with a smug grin as he then explained why everyone was here. "It's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Everypony has to stay up, or they'll miss the chance to see Queen Celestia raise the sun! You really should lighten up, Twilight. It's a party! For us!" Twilight mocked Spike's words with Spike taking notice to how much focus she was putting on the moon. "Does this have something to do with the Nightmare Moon thing?"

Twilight was already annoyed at the thought of making friends, and this party wasn't helping, which Spike caught onto quickly. "Ugh, here I thought I'd have time to learn about the Elements of Harmony but, silly me, all this ridiculous friend-making has kept me from it! "Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night." I hope the Queen was right... I hope it really is just an old pony tale..."

Spike put a palm on Twilight's shoulder, making her smile as she looked back at him. "Look Twilight. I'm no therapist, but blocking yourself from everyone out there outside of your duties isn't healthy for you. This'll be a good change for you." Twilight scoffed with Spike shrugging as he jumped off of the bed. "Would it make you feel any better if we went to watch the sun rise?" Twilight smiled and nodded, liking the sound of that. "Heh. Sometimes it's like I'M the older sibling."

"Dream on lizard breath." Twilight shot as she hopped off the bed with Spike getting up on her back as she walked off.

Spike was chugging down a whole bowl of punch as he then heard Lightspeed laughing from behind. He found Spike's antics to be quite hilarious as Spike set the bowl down and let out a burp as he looked at Lightspeed. "That's me alright. Total party animal."

"I'm assuming you wanna upstage Celestia in a bit." Lightspeed responded with a chuckle, leading to Spike nodding proudly. "Well good luck. It's a rare chance anyone can do something more impressive than raising the sun."

Spike tossed a chocolate cupcake to Lightspeed, grabbing one for himself as well with Lightspeed biting into his. "Well okay, maybe I won't be able to do it THIS year, but one of these years I'll be able to do it." Lightspeed nodded with excitement, which Spike instantly caught onto. "I can tell I'm already getting myself an audience."

Just then, Pinkie pie popped up through the scene, walking up completely after she started talking. "Isn't this exciting? Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited— well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I went [deep gasp] but I mean really, who can top that?"

Just then, the mayor came onto a stand and spoke into the microphone to announce the Summer Sun Celebration. "Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" Ponies were cheering as Spike took a step closer to Lightspeed and wrapped an arm around him, which he didn't mind at all. " In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..."

Suddenly, a dark coated Alicorn burst through the curtains, leading to everyone questioning who she was as she spoke with high authority. "Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces."

"What did you do with our queen!?" Rainbow Dash demanded to know, and Applejack held her back from flying up there.

"Take it easy girl." Applejack warned Rainbow Dash, feeling this was a threat that they couldn't handle so easily.

The Alicorn chuckled a bit as she then began talking. "Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?"

"Ooh, ooh, guessing games!" Pinkie pie dashed up to the Alicorn's position with excitement. "Um, Hokey Smokes! How about... Queen Meanie! No! Black Snooty, Black Snooty-"

The Alicorn pushed Pinkie pie off of the balcony and demanded some answers. "Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"

"I did." Twilight spoke up from the crowd, facing the Alicorn without an ounce of fear. "And I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon – Nightmare Moon!"

Everyone was shocked to hear that Nightmare Moon had returned with the Alicorn being delighted to know that someone remembered her. "Well well well, somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here."

"You're here to force the world into eternal night." Spike spoke up from the crowd, catching Nightmare Moon's attention in an instant. "Is that right? Ha! Well your plan's already in the sight of failure, as without the day, we'll all eventually die. You might as well just give up now, and since of a plan that shows some competence." Some of the ponies started laughing as Nightmare Moon blasted Spike with some sort of energy beam that made him levitate up to her, making him show concern. "Okay, not what I had in mind, but at least you're putting some effort into making yourself a threat."

Nightmare Moon started sending some sort of dark energy, causing Twilight to zap her. "Put my brother down!" Twilight blasted Nightmare Moon with her strongest magic beam, surprising her as she managed to damage her a bit. "I won't let you hurt him."

Nightmare Moon finished forcing the energy into Spike, throwing him to the ground with Lightspeed catching him. In a miracle's sense however, Spike wasn't hurt. This surprised Nightmare Moon as well. "Impressive. Your sister was able to harm me a little, and you're seeming to show a resistance to what that energy is supposed to do."

Spike got up, feeling a little wobbly as he smirked to Nightmare Moon. "Guess you're not so high and mighty after all. No wonder Celestia banished you to the moon. Your try-hard edgy plan is only going to hurt YOU in the end."

"We'll just see about that." Nightmare Moon declared with a cold voice, blasting the sky with a dark beam as Spike looked in horror, not wanting to see the day be banned for all eternity.

To be continued.

The Magic of Friendship Part two

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Two Tickets, Five Whiners

Twilight and Applejack were walking around Sweet Apple Acres while bringing along apple carts with Spike on Twilight's back. Applejack was grateful for the help, since Big Mac was currently too hurt to provide it for her. "Thanks again for helpin me out Twilight. And, Spike too, since you're here." Spike gave a thumbs up with Twilight rolling her eyes while smiling as he went through the apples. "Big Mac worked himself out and he's gotta stay off it for about a week."

"Considering that he lives on a farm, he'd have to do that at least once." Spike pointed out, and he picked up the perfect apple as Twilight's stomach growled, looking at it with delight as he then saw that Twilight was hungry. Looking at the apple, he divided it in half and handed it to Twilight, who smiled as she started eating it. "Don't expect me to do this every time you skip breakfast."

Twilight finished her half quickly and was grateful to Spike for giving it to her. "Thanks Spike. You really knew the right one to eat." Spike shrugged and then burped out a letter, jumping up and taking it after eating his half of the apple. "Our first letter from Celestia in Ponyville!"

Spike opened up the letter and started reading it, doing so in his usual snarky, not caring manner. "Here yee here yee, blah blah blah, a bunch of boring words, (Twilight nods her head no while snickering) getting to the point." Spike grabbed two tickets that were attatched to the letter, getting excited as he heard what they were. "Twilight, we got party tickets!" Spike waved the tickets in front of Twilight, making her squee with a giant smile.

All kinds of moments from season one were shown as Twilight was heard singing the main theme of the show, My Little Pony Friends. "For every day, I look around me, for every time I see you near. I thank the stars, whose light surrounds me, I thank the earth that keeps you here. Cause I will only follow, my true heart. And I can see it clear now, right from the start. You were my little pony. I used to wonder what friendship could be; my little pony. Until you shared it's magic with me. My little pony. I used to wonder what friendship could be. My little pony. Until you shared it's magic, with me.

Twilight was getting a good look at the tickets with Applejack showing her amazement regarding the situation. "You got two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala!? That's the biggest party in all of Equestria!"

Twilight was just as excited with it showing quite well indeed. "You're telling me! I went once when I was a filly and was still taking care of Spike in his early years, but this is my first time going as an adult! It's going to be amazing!"

Applejack saw an opportunity and grabbed Twilight's shoulders with a big smile. "Twilight, you have to let me go to that party. I could make so much money selling Apple Family products!" Fantasies of everything Applejack had in mind were shown one by one. "I could fix Granny Smith's him...I could get better tools for the farm...I could pay off the rest of Applebloom's school tuition!"

The fantasies ended with Spike pushing the screen aside as he pointed something out. "You know you can just sell all that apple stuff here, right? There isn't exactly a law in Ponyville that prevents you from doing stuff for business."

"I know that Spike, but if people invited to the Gala buy our stuff then we'll get more business than ever before! It's a win-win!" Applejack explained, and Spike felt he couldn't argue with that, since Gala invitees buying her stuff could be a good help with that point of view.

Twilight was about to invite Applejack to the Gala, only for Rainbow Dash to land on both of them. She got up instantly and spoke up about what she heard. "I heard every bit of your conversation, and I want in. How many tickets are there?"

Twilight and Applejack got up with Applejack confronting Rainbow Dash on something. "Just two. And you said you were too busy to help me with the farm today. What were you busy doing?"

Rainbow dash pointed upward to a tree branch as she stated what she was doing. "Napping."

A blanket was shown on the tree branch as Applejack gave a blunt look. "Of course you were."

Rainbow Dash zipped over to Twilight and got a good look at the tickets. "You have to take me Twilight! If I went there, I could finally meet the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow Dash fantasized about meeting the Wonderbolts and shaking the leader's hoof. "They may not seem like much, but they're more than just a flight show. They're the military force of Equestria! I could help them fight all kinds of evil while doing so right alongside them!"

Rainbow Dash's fantasy ended with Spike popping it with his claw as he explained what just happened. "That sounds like a pretty stupid reason to go to the party if you ask me Rainbow. (Rainbow Dash flinches) They hold auditions for new members every year. You can just meet them then and try to convince them with your actual skills."

"That's the thing though. The tryouts aren't for eight whole months, and I missed the deadline for the last one, so this could help me get a head start." Rainbow Dash explained, and then she looked back at Applejack with a smirk. "Sorry AJ. Guess I got the ticket now."

Applejack dashed up to Rainbow Dash as she made a retort to her bold statement. "Now hold on a minute Rainbow Dash. I stated my reasons for wanting to attend the gala first."

"That doesn't automatically mean she'll give YOU the ticket."

"That doesn't mean she'll give it to you either."

"You're right. It means both of you are stupid, and you should think about what Twilight wants to do." Spike snarked as he sat on Twilight's head with Rainbow Dash and Applejack raising an eyebrow each at him as he explained his words. "Look, Twilight has five new friends she has to consider the reasons for wanting to attend the Gala. And while I'd like to have BOTH tickets so I could take someone special with me, I'm gonna play it smart, and not stoop to your levels of arrogance."

Twilight chuckled nervously as she put Spike on her back and decided to leave before Rainbow Dash and Applejack got violent. "I think it's best we head to lunch Spike. (Looks at Rainbow Dash and Applejack) I'll let you two know what my decision is as soon as I get it. (Gives stern look) So don't think I'll give it to you if you peer pressure me with your low income or lifelong dreams."

Twilight walked off with Rainbow Dash and Applejack nodding to each other, zipping over to a tree stump and putting their hooves down. They started hoof wrestling and were getting deep into it for about five seconds, only for Rainbow Dash to suddenly cut a loud fart that reeked of apples and let out a green cloud (PHHT). Rainbow Dash chuckled a bit with Applejack smirking as she wafted the fart away. "Sorry. Those apples you grow here make for a good snack, but aren't the best smelling when making the aftermath."

Spike and Twilight were walking around Ponyville as they discussed who was going to get the extra ticket. "So Twilight, who do you think you're most likely to give the extra ticket to?"

"I'm not sure Spike." Twilight admitted, feeling that everyone would have their reasons for wanting to go. "Applejack wants to help out her family, and Rainbow Dash wants to meet her idols. And the way they worded their reasons made them sound like logical reasons to attend a party as big as the Grand Galloping Gala."

Spike got an idea, feeilng that it would help Twilight with her problem. "Hey Twilight, why don't you just ask Celestia for six more tickets? That way I can ask Lightspeed, and you can bring all of our new friends. Everyone's happy, and you don't have to take a quarter of a year deciding it all."

Twilight considered the option, but then reached a conclusion regarding it. "I don't think it'll be that easy Spike. The Grand Galloping Gala is extremely hard to get invited to if you don't know Celestia personally. It's not like Celestia can just spawn tickets at random and give them to me." Twilight noticed that Spike was gone, and so were the tickets, leaving her to give a blunt look as she realized the reason.

Spike was walking with Lightspeed as he showed him the tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. "And they're technically Twilight's tickets, but I figured she'd eventually get over us using them to attend the Gala together. Just think of how awesome it'll be."

"And just think of how (Snaps the tickets out of Spike's claw) grounded YOU would be if he agreed." Twilight replied with a smirk, leading to Spike trying to reach for the tickets with Twilight stopping him. "Sorry Lightspeed. The gala's a huge deal in Equestria."

Lightspeed laughed at the sight of Spike failing to get the tickets back as he made his response. "No problem. Rainbow Dash told me about the Gala the last time it happened and it sounds really cool. Too bad you only have two tickets."

Spike moved Twilight's hoof as she continued to give him a smug grin. "Look Twilight, our friends are gonna dogpile you for hte tickets anyway. Just think of it as me stopping their attack for you."

"That's one interpretation." Lightspeed admitted, and then he saw a bunny running over to them. "Hey, who's bunny is that?"

The bunny tried to snatch the tickets, only for Spike to stop him by grabbing him and pinning him to the ground, making sure he was unharmed. "Back off little dude. Stealing Twilight's stuff is MY job."

"Angel!" Spike let the rabbit up upon hearing Fluttershy's voice and allowed him to hop over to her. "Good, he's not hurt. Sorry about that. Angel has a knack for taking stuff that-" Fluttershy noticed the gala tickets and gasped upon sight of them. "Tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala!?"

"Of course she notices." Spike snarked, and then Fluttershy dashed past him and made him spin around a bit, having Lightspeed stop him from falling. "Thanks. (Looks at Fluttershy) Spill Fluttershy. Why do YOU want to go to that party?"

Fluttershy was about to start speaking as Spike pulled down a screen that showed what she was describing. "The most rare animals in all of Equastria can be seen in the Canterlot Garden! It would be amazing to get to add all of that knowledge to my animal library, and maybe I could even bring an animal home for Angel to play with."

Spike pulled on the screen and sent it into the air as he commented on how dumb he thought Fluttershy's idea was. "And there we have it, the dumbest idea I've ever heard to attend a party. Twilight's the star pupil of Queen Celestia herself Fluttershy; we can just ASK to see the animals."

Fluttershy considered Spike's words as Lightspeed then asked with curiosity as to why Spike wanted to go. "Why do YOU wanna go Spike?"

Spike flinched, not wanting to reveal his feelings for Lightspeed just yet. "Me? Um...no reason. (Scratches the back of his head) I just wanna have a blast I guess."

Lightspeed was suspicious, but he didn't want to force the answer out on Spike. "You don't have to tell me yet. I just know you're not into acting all super fancy."

Spike sighed of relief with Rarity then heard to be walking up to them from afar. "You'll nail that interview Sweetjaw! I just know it!" An earth pony was waving to Rarity and catching the interest of everyone else as she explained what it was. "I got a homeless pony spiffied up and ready for a job interview. Cupcake stand's don't make much, but we both agreed she had to start somewhere."

Rarity then caught sight of the tickets with Twilight putting them away as soon as she opened her mouth. "No."

"At least let me explain why I want to go." Rarity asked, and Twilight sighed with Spike snapping his fingers and bringing the screen down. "Prince Blueblood himself is attending the Gala this year, and I'm on the top of his list for ponies to attend the gala with." Spike moved the screen to the side as Rarity finished her words. "Only problem is that I don't have a ticket yet. I guess he never informed Queen Celestia on this matter."

Spike snickered a bit at something with Twilight catching onto what it was as she spoke up. "As much as I want for all of my friends to find that special somepony Rarity, assuming this is talking about the friends of mine that are into romance, I can't just give you the ticket. I haven't even heard Pinkie's reason yet."

Spike's stomach started growling, indicating that he was getting hungry. "Twilight. The dump truck's calling."

Twilight giggled a bit as she put Spike on his back and headed off as the two waved goodbye to the others. "I'll see you guys later."

Lightspeed could see that Fluttershy and Rarity wanted to go to that gala badly as Pinkie Pie popped out of his sack and whispered to him. "No special reason for me. I just wanna party." Lightspeed gave Pinkie Pie a sly grin, feeling like she had the best idea out of the ones he's heard so far.

Spike and Twilight were at some kind of restaurant as Spike explained the reason he wanted to attend the gala. "Alright. So we both know that the reason I wanna go to the gala is so I can start dating Lightspeed, right?"

"Right." Twilight replied, and then he saw a poster Rainbow Dash was holding while in the air saying 'I won; give me that ticket!' and then one Applejack was holding that said 'She's lying; I won!' and then the two started fighting with Twilight rolling her eyes and sighing in annoyance, which Spike thankfully knew wasn't directed at him. "You could just ask him out on a date. You know that, right?"

"I want our dating start time to be as memorable as it can be." Spike explained, feeling that the gala was the best chance he had at convincing Lightspeed that they were the best match. "I just hope we end up together in the future."

Twilight nodded in understanding as a waiter came up to their table and spoke in a phony male voice. "Why hello there madam. May I take the orders of you and your brother?"

Twilight wasn't buying this disguise and instantly took the mask off, revealing it to be Pinkie Pie as Spike happily snarked towards her. "I'd like a plate of cancelled parties with a side order of get lost on the side, thanks."

"Coming right up!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in her normal voice, and then she dashed off before dashing back over with a suspicious look. "Hey, wait a minute."

Pinkie Pie dashed off again with the real waiter, a white stallion, coming over to their table with confusion. "Was that a friend of yours?"

"Yes, and she's currently being a nuisance." Spike stated, and he got a good look at the menu and instantly found what he wanted. "Don't flip, but I want (Points to what he wants) this one."

The waiter was a bit shocked by what Spike ordered, but decided not to say anything yet. "A rare dish to be ordered here. Although, we did prepare for when dragons would come to visit." Spike nodded his head yes with approval as the waiter looked at Twilight. "And what would you like madam?"

"I'll have the hayburger, thank you. Extra everything." Twilight stated, and then she said the drinks she and Spike wanted. "And my brother's favorite drink is cherry soda, and I'll have a lemonade. (Waiter opens his mouth) Pink."

The waiter nodded in response with Spike pointing out the concern he showed over his order. "And don't take my order personally either. Dragons eat meat all the time; it's just a part of my heritage."

"Fair enough." The waiter replied as he set the menus on his back before walking off. "At least you're not eating a pony."

Spike and Twilight continued talking about what Spike was feeling about asking out Lightspeed. "It can't be easy just asking someone out on a simple date for the first time Twilight. The introduction has to be something worth remembering for one reason or another, and the Gala is the perfect place for that to happen."

"I guess true love is the best reason to have these tickets." Twilight admitted, and Spike became surprised when he heard that. "Just don't get your hopes up. If I give you both tickets then they others will be on my case for weeks. Maybe months."

"Is that why Rainbow Dash is moving those clouds over the restaurant?" Spike asked as he pointed up to the sky, leading to Twilight looking up and seeing the clouds with the sunlight going right over her. Spike was more than willing to call Rainbow Dash out on her little stunt. "We know it's you Rainbow Dash! You're literally the leader of the weather ponies; it couldn't be anyone else! Other than some punk kid, but you're both, so whatever!"

Rainbow Dash peeked out of the hole as she explained her reasons for doing this. "Okay, so it's not actually a good deed, but look around you. I'm not doing this for anyone else right now."

A bunch of ponies were shown to be running around as the waiter brought Spike and Twilight their food as Spike snarked to Rainbow Dash. "That so makes this better. Bravo Dashie."

Twilight sighed, starting to get tired of the childish behavior her friends were showing. "You can't make me promise you the ticket Rainbow Dash. You might as well just give up."

Rainbow Dash scoffed, knowing she was gonna have to try something else. "Fine." Rainbow Dash vanished with the waiter setting down an umbrella as soon as the hole closed, rushing back inside to get back to work right after and allowing Spike and Twilight to enjoy their food.

Spike and Twilight were headed home as they passed by the Boutique with Rarity noticing them. She dashed outside with a beautiful dress that she had Twilight put on. "Perfect timing Twilight! I made you this dress for the gala. It matches the one I made for myself perfectly."

Twilight raised an eyebrow with a blunt expression, making Rarity chuckle nervously as Twilight spoke up. "I was gonna ask you to make this after choosing who to take with me anyway Rarity. All you did was help me prepare."

Rarity was about to tear the dress up, only for Spike to stop her and push her back. "Sorry sweetheart. You can destroy this thing AFTER it's been used, and has no purpose being in our possession."

Rarity growled with Applejack zipping up to Spike and Twilight with a wheelbarrow full of deserts. "Howdy do Twilight; Spike." Spike and Twilight saw the tray of deserts with Applejack explaining what it was all about. "I figured you might still be hungry, so I made you a bunch of apple baked goods. (Grabs an apple brown betty) Even the family's famous apple brown betty, freshly made with the most refined ingredients. (Leans in closer) The food, not my nanny."

Eating sounds were heard with Applejack seeing Spike and raising an eyebrow to him, and he got in her face with a blunt look. "Oh, sorry. Was I supposed to eat before, or after your bribe to Twilight totally bombed? I forget."

Spike walked off with Twilight clarifying that he was right in saying that the bribe bombed. "Word of advice Applejack. (Looks at Rarity) Listen up Rarity, this is for you too. (Looks at Applejack) I don't give in to bribes." Twilight walked off with Spike as the latter took the wheelbarrow with them, indicating that he was still hungry as Twilight brought it up. "Well, at least you stopped trying to get the tickets. For now anyway." Spike shrugged, implying that he might try again later.

Spike and Twilight were walking around town with the wheelbarrow as Twilight commented on the fact that they still had it. "You know we're gonna have to return the wheelbarrow to Applejack, right?"

"I don't care about that." Spike revealed, and then he saw a pink hair in the wheelbarrow, pulling it up and revealing Pinkie Pie. "Oh, hey Pinkie. You got a bribe too?"

"No, I just felt like riding in here." Pinkie Pie replied with a smile, and then she sat on the edge as she spoke up. "So I heard you two got some Gala tickets in a letter from Celestia earlier. Seems like the others are putting you on edge about it."

Twilight groaned in annoyance, knowing that the others were going to keep at it for a while now. "I've been trying so hard to keep my cool about the whole thing. These nice gestures would actually be acceptable to me if it weren't for the scummy reason of trying to get the second ticket off of me."

"Can I still talk about why I wanna go to the party?" Pinkie Pie asked, and Twilight shrugged, feeling it'd be better than boring silence. "Thanks. So it's not for any real reason, I just wanna have a good time."

Spike and Twilight were heading home with Pinkie Pie sitting on the wheelbarrow as she talked about why she wanted to go to the party. "So really, I just wanna help liven the place up if things start to feel stale."

"Luckily for you Pinkie, out of all of our friends, I'd say you're the closest to getting the ticket, since you haven't done anything childish to get it yet." Twilight entered the house with Spike and Pinkie pie as Twilight offered Pinkie Pie something. "Wanna try out this new potion I recently learned about?"

Spike, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie saw Fluttershy cleaning the inside of the library with a bunch of animals, making Spike snicker as he joked about it. "Finally Twilight, you got the funds we needed to get a maid."

Fluttershy saw Spike, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie before flying down to them and clarifying her reason for doing this. "Since it's obvious enough as it is, yes, I'm doing this to increase my chances of getting the ticket."

"Yeah, because breaking and entering will definitely help with that." Spike snarked, walking over to the fridge to get a drink. "I'm gonna get a soda."

Rainbow Dash was outside the library as she popped out of a bush with a mask on as Twilight spoke up. "What's ironic is that you're being more honest than the actual Element of Honesty."

Rainbow Dash suddenly pinned Twilight to the wall at supersonic speeds and held a fake knife to her neck. "Gimme the tickets or I'll-"

Twilight slammed Rainbow Dash to the ground with her powers, leaving Spike to look down at her while drinking his soda. "Hey Rainbow."

Twilight used her unicorn powers and sensed Applejack and Rarity in her basement. "I know you're there!" Applejack and Rarity came out with a sign that said 'Choose now!', leaving Twilight to speak up. "Look, I get it. The gala is a huge deal and you're all desperate to get the extra ticket; I'd be desperate too. But these bribes and childish actions aren't going to get you anywhere, and I'm honestly astonished that I haven't flipped out from all of the stuff you've been pulling yet. And now you're breaking into my house and pretending to mug me!? Show some restraint!"

Everyone started to show some regret, except for Pinkie since she hadn't actually done anything, and then Pinkie spoke up. "Ya know what surprises me? The fact that you haven't given the ticket to Spike yet."

"Oh, I tried to take both of them at one point to get Lightspeed to go with me." Spike explained, leaving Pinkie Pie to nod with intrigue. "Didn't work out as planned."

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up as Spike took out a scroll and started writing something. "I guess now that you actually had it hammered into my skull. I could add a couple moves into my showcase for the Wonderbolts to see."

"And Spike did have a good point about me doing business for the Apple family here in town." Applejack pointed out, leaving Spike to smile as he continued writing.

"And I should probably get to know Blueblood first before we start dating." Rarity chimed in, revealing that she didn't know a thing about Blueblood yet. "I still have quite a bit of mystery in him due to not knowing what I'm up against.

"And I suppose I'd have to learn about the animals in the Canterlot royal garden to know what makes them feel safe." Fluttershy finished off, leaving Twilight relieved that all of them learned their lesson.

Pinkie Pie then popped out of Twilight's mane as she spoke up. "So, does that mean I get the ticket, or what do you plan on doing?"

Twilight shrugged with Spike putting the tickets in the letter here as he wrote the final words 'P.S. Can you send an extra one for Rainbow's brother Lightspeed? Thanks.' before sending them off. "I'll tell you what I plan on doing once the plan's in full effect." Spike was glad to see that everyone was over the ticket, especially since his plan was now about to go into full swing. "Just you wait. In the next half minute, you're all gonna look so dumb over how you didn't think of this sooner."

Spike laughed a bit before feeling the need to burp, punching his stomach to do so and letting the letter out. He grabbed it instantly and read it aloud, very proud of what he said. "Dear Spike. Thank you for notifying me of this event. Here's six extra tickets." Spike proudly showed everyone the tickets, leaving Twilight amazed that he thought of that before she did. "When someone has you for a sister, they're bound to have the ability to think ahead."

Twilight giggled a bit with everyone else cheering at the thought of going to the gala, and even having Twilight rub Spike's head. "Thanks Spike. Here's to the gala being a night to remember."

Spike gave a thumbs up to Twilight with Lightspeed heading inside, much to Spike's joy. "Oh, Lightspeed. (Runs over to Lightspeed) Perfect timing." Lightspeed gave Spike his full attention with Spike showing him the tickets. "I was able to get some more tickets for the gala, and I was wondering if maybe (Scratches the back of his head) you'd like to be my date."

Lightspeed smiled and happily accepted his ticket, making Spike smile upon seeing it. "Yeah, I'd love to. I'm glad you asked me out first too. I'm not good with this stuff."

Spike laughed a bit at that statement, looking back at Twilight to find that she was giving him a magical thumbs up. He gave a thumbs up to her as well before turning back to Lightspeed and speaking up. "What made you come over here by the way? I don't think any of us were expecting you to drop by."

"Well I got bored, so I decided to see if Rainbow Dash could give me a flying lesson."

"I think she'd be more than happy to with the ticket barrage we faced not even a minute ago."

Rainbow Dash zipped over to Twilight, smiling at how their brothers were getting a long so well. She was also glad to see that their first date was finally going to happen. "They'd definitely make a cute couple." Twilight nodded her head yes in agreement, being fully on board with Spike and Lightspeed dating.

Twilight was shown to be writing a letter to Celestia as she thought to herself about her day. 'Dear Queen Celestia. Today I learned that sometimes, friends can get pushy when they really want something, and that it's okay to speak up if it's annoying you, and to tell them to stop. And I think my friends learned that bribing and peer pressuring isn't the best way to get what you want. Oh, and thanks for the tickets. I know we'll have a blast at the Gala."

Spike was downstairs as he opened the freezer and spotted a tub of chocolate ice cream. "Hey Twilight; can I have some ice cream!?" Spike didn't get a response and grinned happily as he took the tub out, closing the freezer before walking off. "Silence is the best yes." Spike got ready to start eating the ice cream as the screen faded to black, ending the episode off.

A title card that said 'FLB Public Service Announcement: Don't Steal!' came up after the episode ended.

Two male fillies, one yellow and one green, about Spike and Lightspeed's age saw a carriage nearby. The yellow one was quite mischievous and spoke up when he and his friend walked up to it. "Nice carriage. Should we 'borrow' it?"

"Nah. That's stealing." The green filly pointed out, knowing what his friend was getting at.

"Pssh. Cmon; I'll ask for permission later." The yellow filly stated, taking out some kind of stick to fiddle with the lock.

Just as the carriage opened, Spike was shown standing inside with his arms crossed and giving a stern look. "Looks more like you're asking for trouble now."

"Spike!" The yellow filly spoke up with shock. "I figured I wouldn't get caught."

"That still wouldn't make it right." Spike pointed out, knowing a thing or two about what happens if you steal. "How would YOU feel if someone took something of yours that was this valuable?"

The yellow filly chuckled a bit, having an idea as to how bummed out he would be. "Pretty lousy."

"That's right." Spike stated, and then he got to the main reason he stopped the fillies. "And if you get caught with a stolen item, you'd get punished big time. Especially for taking someone else's mode of transportation."

The green filly spoke up, knowing a good chunk about what would happen as well. "And some crimes are so bad that they could ruin your reputation if you get caught."

"If the place you live in arrests children, then yes." Spike chimed in, and then he spoke to the yellow filly with a smile. "Remember. Just because something looks fun to use,"

"Doesn't mean we should take it without asking first." The yellow filly finished, and then he smiled as he looked at Spike. "Now I know."

"And knowing is half the battle." Spike finished as he winked to the camera and snapped his fingers when pointing to the audience, and then a screen came up that said 'Forever Lasting bonds!' while also singing the words, ending the public service announcement right there.

An instrumental version of the main theme played during the credits.

Dark Dragon Magic

Author's Note

Just a heads up that after this chapter, the story might be getting slower uploads due to me also working on the stories I write on Fanfiction.net. I hope you understand and don't ditch the story because of it.

Feel free to leave a comment regarding your thoughts on this chapter. Enjoy!

Dark Dragon Magic

Spike was in his bed sleeping as he heard an alarm clock blaring, turning to the right and punching it off of his nightstand. When he opened his eyes, he realized what today was and got up, hoping that it wouldn't be as boring as he felt it would. "Don't worry Spike. (Walks over to a mirror) If what Lightspeed said was true, this school won't be a borefest." Spike yawned and rubbed his eye with his right claw, only to feel a slight pain as he did so. "Ow." Spike looked at his claw and saw the same mark from before, only it was even bigger.

Twilight was downstairs preparing breakfast as she heard a blast of energy coming from upstairs, rushing up after turning the stove off to see what was wrong. "Spike! (Goes upstairs) Are you alright!?" Twilight saw that Spike was holding his claw down, rushing over to him and having him reveal it. "Let me see your claw."

Spike suddenly unleashed a beam at the ceiling, breaking through it and leaving a hole into it. Spike and Twilight looked through it with Spike seeing a positive to what just happened. "Well on the bright side, we don't need to pay as much as someone normally would to make a sunroof."

Twilight saw the mark on Spike's claw and recognized it from when they were collecting the Elements of Harmony. "This is the same mark from when we were looking for the Elements of Harmony. I had a feeling it'd come back soon."

Spike felt another blast coming on, clenching his claw and barely managing to suppress the blast. "Did your thought include it happening right before my first day of attending the school in Ponyville? Cause if so, don't do the same with your kids." Twilight rolled her eyes while smiling at Spike's snark, knowing full well that her thinking it wasn't what caused the mark to come back.

Spike and Twilight were in Canterlot as Queen Celestia and Queen Luna got a good look at the mark on Spike's claw. They weren't sure of what to make of it, but they knew where it came from, and Celestia spoke up on the matter. "It could've come from that time Nightmare Moon blasted you and you managed to absorb the magic somehow. The only question is why it came back now."

"That's what I wanna know." Spike admitted, trying to conceal another blast but failing, leading to Celestia bringing the blast to a halt and crushing it without any effort. "Now that I think about it, when I jumped in front of Nightmare Moon's blast to save my friends, this giant shield popped up right in front of it. And I had no control of that either."

Twilight got an idea of what the power was about and was proud to present it. "Maybe it's a sign that you inherited the powers of Nightmare Moon." Spike looked at his claw with indifference to the idea as Twilight explained why she took a liking to it. "If you learn to control this power, and also learn to control when it comes up, you could end up using it for good. "

Spike took a liking to the idea, rubbing his paws together as he thought about how awesome having these powers would be. "Seems like a good enough trade when you think about how you're an Element of Harmony." Spike noticed Luna showing a hint of remorse, not wanting her to feel bad about what happened. "Something wrong Luna?"

Luna sighed, knowing she couldn't keep her emotions hidden from someone like Spike, who deep down, was as pure as could be. "I'm just sorry to have placed this burden on you. I wish I'd never turned into Nightmare Moon."

"Pssh. Don't be sorry Luna. This is awesome!" Spike exclaimed, and then he suddenly launched a beam at the ground, going right by Luna's feet and sending her back a bit. "It will be anyway."

Spike and Twilight teleported right in front of the Ponyville Middle School with Spike being worried about what could happen. "Are you sure I should still go to school today Twilight? I'm worried I'll end up hurting someone."

"That's why I got (Takes out a glove) this from the magic items room from the Canterlot school." Twilight put the glove on Spike's claw, assuring him that it'll be okay. "Don't worry Spike. We'll figure this power out together. One way, or another."

Spike hugged Twilight before pulling her away and smiling. "Thanks Twilight. Just as a heads up though, you might wanna check what your insurance covers." Twilight laughed a bit before teleporting off, leaving Spike to walk into the school and get a good look as he checked around the place. The school was full of students and lockers, while having all kinds of stuff like a drinking fountain, and even a second floor. Spike breathed in through his nose and out from his mouth, ready for whatever came his way.

Spike was walking down the hallway as he heard Lightspeed's voice coming from the right end of the hallway. "Hey Spike!" Spike saw Lightspeed walking up to him and smiled upon seeing him. "You're finally having your first day of the Middle School here, aren't you. You're gonna love it here, trust me."

"Well I'll give ya this much, the school looks packed." Spike responded, and then he walked off with Lightspeed so he could show him around the school.

Lightspeed got to the first room of the highlights he had in mind for Spike, knowing he'd love the ones he picked out. "So this right here is the cafeteria. This is where most of the students hang out, and obviously, where we eat lunch." Lightspeed opened the doors to the cafeteria with Spike taking a liking to what he saw. "Seeing as you loved food so much, I figured you'd wanna see this place first."

"You were right about that!" Spike dashed into the kitchen, instantly forgetting about his claw for a bit and speaking to the lunch lady. "Hey baby. Whatya say you give me all the food I can eat later for free?"

"Yeah. I think we both know how well this is gonna go." The lunch lady stated with a smug grin, making Lightspeed snicker a bit at the sight of it.

The second highlight Lightspeed had in mind for Spike was a room he figured he'd get a kick out of. "You mentioned you like skateboarding, right? Well here's the room just for that."

Lightspeed opened the door to what looked like a skate park, much to the amazement of Spike. He looked around in awe as he saw all of the other students having a blast with what they were doing. He then saw an orange pegasus about his and Lightspeed's age doing sick scooter tricks, and she looked quite familiar to him, leaving Spike to walk up to her when she stopped scooting. "Scootaloo?"

Scootaloo saw Spike and instantly smiled upon seeing him, running up to him and hugging him tightly. "Spike!"

Spike and Scootaloo started laughing with Lightspeed walking up to the two of them. "You two know each other?"

"We dated for a bit about two years before I moved here to Ponyville." Spike explained, and then he explained why they didn't stay together. "After about two months, we realized we were better as friends, so we decided to break up."

Lightspeed nodded in understanding with Scootaloo smirking as she brought something up. "Hey, what gives? You never wrote to me after the move."

"I thought you were gonna send the first letter." Spike answered, leaving Scootaloo to nod in understanding as he then expressed his joy to see Scootaloo again. "Regardless, you have no idea how glad I am to see you." Lightspeed took an instant notice to something glowing under Spike's claw, making him worried that Spike was hiding something.

Spike, Lightspeed, and Scootaloo arrived in class with Spike feeling an itch on his claw. Lightspeed got worried for him with Scootaloo also taking notice as Spike covered it up. "It's probably nothing. Just an itch."

Lightspeed felt something was off with Scootaloo not thinking much of it, since Spike had that glove on. "It's probably the glove. (Heads over to her seat) Anyway, it was great seeing you again Spike. See ya Lightspeed."

Lightspeed was worried about Spike, but decided to leave him be for now as the two of them went to their seats. Spike found that he was sitting next to Lightspeed, making him even more excited. "Dude, we're desk mates. This is gonna be so super awesome."

Lightspeed nodded his head yes in agreement as the teacher then came in. The teacher was a dark magenta earth pony who noticed Spike instantly. "Oh, you must be our new student; Spike Sparkle." Spike gave a thumbs up with the teacher speaking up again. "My name's Cheerilee, and I'm more than happy to welcome you to our classroom. Would you like to tell us a few things about yourself?"

"Why not? (Walks up to the front of the class) The class should knew the best before they know the worst." Lightspeed checked Spike out a bit, getting a good view of his butt with a smile on his face before Spike turned around and spoke up. "As you all heard Cheerilee state, I'm Spike Sparkle, and I'm your new student, who's ready to pawn all those who prove that they're stuck up, or just flat out suck."

Scootaloo snickered a bit, instantly seeing that Spike hasn't changed a bit as the dragon spoke up about himself. "I love video games, skateboarding, eating, and flexing on the crowd. I'm also bisexual, so if you have any questions for me involving straight or gay romance, let me know and I should be able to help, and expect me to not be afraid of farting in class."

"I'll take note of that last one." Cheerilee informed Spike, and then he went back to his seat as Cheerilee started the lesson. "Now then, let's start off today's math lesson."

Spike got into his seat as he whispered to Lightspeed about how boring the start of class was. "Seems more like a ten year long bath lesson." Lightspeed snickered a bit with Spike feeling his stomach growl, making him snicker a bit as he thought about what could be causing it. "Guess my breakfast was a little too big for my stomach's liking."

"It seems like your entire posture is to your body's DISliking." Spike looked behind him to find a light blue earth point wearing a tiara and looking as snobby and stuck up as could be as she spoke to Spike. "You may be the new kid here, but I know a loser when I see one, and you're a total loser."

Spike's butt was shown as he lifted it up, grunting and ripping a loud and bassy fart right onto the earth pony (BRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUP). He hit the earth pony with a dark red flame that reeked of rotten eggs, burning the earth pony's mane with Spike rubbing his butt a bit as he sat down, ignoring the fact that the rest of the class was watching him. "A little rougher than I intended, but my butt seemed to like it at least."

Cheerilee felt it would be best to advise Spike to get that checked. "I suggest you get that checked Spike. We have a nurse's office next to the cafeteria. I trust you know where that is?"

"Yep. Thanks to Lightspeed." Spike got up with Lightspeed smiling as Spike winked to him, heading out of the classroom after turning back and saying this. "Don't worry everyone. I'll make my grand return." Spike headed off to the nurse's office, wondering what was going to happen after he got there.

Spike was lying down on the bed as he saw his claw glowing again, continuing to try and avoid worrying about it as he started talking to the nurse. "If I was in the mood for anal play during class, the timing for that fart burn would've been perfect."

The nurse burst out into laughter after hearing Spike say that with Twilight coming in and running over to him. "Spike!" Twilight showed a heavy amount of concern for Spike and hoped he wasn't seriously hurt. "That fart didn't hurt, did it?"

"A little, but I pretty much command fire, so it's nothing I can't handle." Spike saw that the nurse was still laughing and showed Twilight his claw to see if she could help with it. "Something I actually can't handle though is my claw glowing even harder. I feel like the glove's gonna stop working soon."

Twilight looked at the glove and saw that a bit of it was already gone. It was as small of a piece as could be, but it was still enough to keep her alerted. "Well I don't know if I can take you out of school for this, since I don't see any signs of an injury. I'll ask the Queens if there's anything else we can try."

"You do that." Spike replied with a nod, and he got up as soon as Twilight teleported off and saw that the nurse calmed down. She handed him some burning cream for his butt to make sure it wouldn't keep hurting later on. "Thanks."

Spike put the burning cream away as the nurse told him what to do. "Make sure you apply that stuff every time you feel a burn there." Spike nodded in understanding with the nurse laughing again after he left, still unable to believe that a kid his age would think of something like that. "Anal play. Did that kid grow up in a strip club?"

Spike walked down the hallway as he looked at his claw, noticing that the glowing had gotten a bit worse. "It's almost as if a part of me WANTS me to use these powers. For what purpose though?" Spike hoped he would be able to control these powers soon, not wanting to hurt anyone he cared about.

Spike was in the gym with everyone else, joining Lightspeed and Scootaloo, who were both glad to see him all better. Lightspeed saw Spike's hand glowing and decided to wait before he commented on it, wanting to show that he was glad Spike was okay. "I'm glad it wasn't anything too serious. Makes sense too since you're a dragon and all."

"Tell me about it." Everyone overheard the whistle as a bright red Pegasus in blue flying gear signaled Spike to head over to him. When he did, he instantly recognized her. "No way. You're Spitfire, leader of the Wonderbolts! You teach here?"

"That's right." Spitfire then got serious, instructing Spike on what she wanted her to do. "Now sit tight kid. You're gonna go through this obstacle course, and I wanna see you do the best job you can. I'd better not find you slacking off."

Spike looked at the obstacle course and found that it was a bit much for someone like him. "Not really my forte."

"You don't have to finish, you just have to get as far as you can." Spitfire assured Spike, and then she stated something else. "This time anyway." Spike gave a thumbs up, running through the course and climbing up the beginning ladder. Spitfire noticed that his claw was causing sizzles on the ladder, making her suspicious, but she decided to wait until he was done to comment on it. Spike arrived at the top, going down the slide and clenching his claw, which started to rumble a bit. He grabbed onto a rope with one of his claws and arrived on the other side.

Spike continued running, and then as soon as a shark came up, he randomly launched a dark beam right at it. This sent the shark straight into the wall, making Spike look at his claw in awe at what he just did. "No way."

Spitfire ran over to Spike, calling up to him to tell him he could hop down. "Alright kid, you can stop now! Let me get a look at your claw!"

Spike did as Spitfire instructed and then she got a good look at his claw, making him cautious as she looked into it. "You may not wanna take that glove off."

"Seems like it's already being damaged enough by that mark; but I'll take your word for it." Spitfire told Spike, and then she asked him how he got the seal. "How'd you get that mark though? Doesn't look like anything I've ever seen."

"I think I got it after I found the Elements of Harmony with my friends and sister." Spike explained, and then he stated how that relates to his mark. "I got blasted by Nightmare Moon's magic (Spitfire flinches with amazement) right before we started searching, and then when I jumped in front of another beam to protect my friends after we found the elements, I spawned this giant shield that was the exact same color as Nightmare Moon. But the mark vanished after that. I don't know why it came back, but it did, and now my sister and I are trying to learn how I can control it."

Spitfire didn't get what Spike was saying, but decided to roll with it while chuckling lightly. "Whatever you say kid." Spike was glad Spitfire believed him, since he obviously didn't lie about what happened.

Spike was at lunch with Lightspeed and Scootaloo with Scootaloo getting a good look at the mark on his claw. "I wish I had a cool mark like that. Minus the dark beams shooting out of my hoof for no reason."

Spike wondered why the mark was on his claw to begin with, knowing that it had to have something to do with that shield. "I don't think it's for no reason Scootaloo. Like I said, I spawned a shield at random when I jumped in front of that other Nightmare Moon blast. I think the mark is showing off another power I gained from the first one."

"There's a thought." Lightspeed chimed in, getting a good look at the glove and finding that Spike's claw started vibrating from under it, making all three of them worried. "That doesn't look good."

Spike held his arm tightly, only for another blast to come out of it and break the glove, striking through the roof right after. Everyone saw this and looked at Spike, who looked around before making his comment. "For the record, I did NOT have any control in doing that."

"Oh great, another reason to hate you." The earth pony from before walked up to Spike with a gray earth pony wearing glasses walking beside her. "You have a lot of nerve farting fire on me you spoiled brat! (Spike gives a blunt look) I'm suing you for everything you own, and you'll live on the streets and have to eat your own sh-"

Spike aimed his claw at Diamond Tiara after letting go of his arm, blasting her across the room and making her friend chase after her. He then looked back at Lightspeed and Scootaloo to confirm what just happened there. "Okay, that one was kind of in my control." Spike suddenly blasted the table, going right to the floor, leaving him to face palm himself and then blast his forehead, sending him onto the ground.

Spike was being bandaged up by the nurse, looking quite annoyed at how his claw was treating him today. "This, sucks."

Lightspeed and Scootaloo came into the room with Lightspeed coming in and pulling up his phone. "I just texted Twilight the news. She's looking for an answer on how to control this."

"Well that's good." Spike then realized something about his mark that he never did. "Hey, I just realized I never apologized to you guys for lying about this."

"Nah, you were just looking out for us. We get it; I would've lied too." Scootaloo assured Spike, and then she got another look at the claw. "Right now we should worry about whether or not this can be dealt with. And also if Diamond Tiara plans on making you and Twilight pay her medical bills."

Spike looked at his claw and got concerned, hoping that this wouldn't be something out of his control. He didn't want to hurt anyone with this new power of his, especially since he just got it this morning. "Well if I can't, she'll hopefully have a new way to supress this power.

Spike was walking home with Lightspeed and Scootaloo as Spike was revealed to have his claw inside of a steel glove. "Well this thing is working better than I expected. Not as well as the glove from earlier (Blasts an energy beam inside the glove)...but still pretty well."

Spike arrived home with Lightspeed and Scootaloo hoping he would be able to figure this out sometime soon. Lightspeed gave him this knowledge before he went inside. "Good luck Spike. We're rooting for you."

Spike nodded and went inside as he waved goodbye to Lightspeed and Scootaloo, seeing Twilight reading a book on the couch as he closed the door. He got a closer look and saw that it was a book on mythical powers, walking over to Twilight and sitting down next to her. "You trying to find out which power my claw keeps forcing out of me?"

"Sure am." Twilight assured Spike, and as she kept turning the pages while speed reading, she spoke about how hard it was to keep everything in check. "I can't seem to find out which power yours happens to be. There's no data on here regarding Nightmare Moon's power, or anything relating to it."

Spike was confused as to why that was, knowing that there had to be at least some kind of intel on what his power meant. "That doesn't make any sense. Queen Luna was trapped on the moon as Nightmare Moon for centuries. Didn't anyone take the time to describe her power as a warning sign or something?"

Twilight turned to a page that seemed to describe a bit of Spike's power. "Actually it looks like something WAS explained about this power. (Turns the book to Spike) Read the third paragraph right here."

Spike did as Twilight requested, reading the line aloud and becoming intrigued as he did. "Apparently this power can also be attained from others if Nightmare Moon blasts them, and also has a habit of coming out at random to cause havoc unless the one who bares this power works to control it."

Spike was feeling hopeful as he continued to read the paragraph, smiling as he got further and further. "It's been said that the first who inherited this power from one of Nightmare Moon's darkness blasts ended up mastering this power, and was able to protect the world form the horrible beings known as the sirens. The method he used for controlling this power that worked the most out of all of them seemed to be listening to the power, and what it wanted from him."

Spike wasn't so sure about being able to listen to his power with Twilight speaking up about it. "I know it might sound crazy, but think about it. Nightmare Moon was able to use HER powers without going haywire, right? It just might work." Spike thought for a moment and saw Twilight's point, even if said point involved the one who gave birth to the power being able to control it.

Spike was in his room as he sat down on his bed and waited quietly to make sure his claw wasn't making any beam blasts. He didn't exactly know what to do, so he decided to just speak to his claw, looking at the mark so he could do so. "So. I didn't expect you to come to me today. I don't know WHY you came to me today. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. But I'll do everything I can to stay positive and make sure this works out. I know I can use you for good, and I wanna know what you think of the situation."

Spike looked at the mark and saw it glow a bit, showing that it understood what he was saying. "Okay, good. I also want you to know that we're lucky I didn't get expelled from school on the first day. That would've been the worst." Suddenly, the mark made some kind of telepathic speaking portal, showing Spike what seemed to be a dark, shadowy place. This confused him, and he didn't know exactly what to make of it. "Is this a cave or your uncle's attic?"

The black dragon child from the end credits scene of the second part of the season premiere was shown to be looking over a cliff while clenching one of his claws. He felt it glowing a bit and opened it up, seeing Spike and being alerted by his presence. "Who are you?"

Spike was also alerted by the presence of the black dragon child, hoping he wasn't being called by him for evil purposes. "I'm Spike Sparkle. Who the heck are you?"

The black dragon child felt there wasn't much reason to hide his identity from Spike, especially since the mark specifically led to their meeting. "My name is Ryu. I see you're also home to the mark of Nightmare Moon's powers. Question is, how did you get it?"

"Nightmare Moon came back after a bunch of centuries and blasted me with a beam that I ended up absorbing." Ryu raised an eyebrow at that explanation with Spike laughing a bit as he made his continuing statement. "I know, right? And to think I'd end up meeting a dragon who looked almost exactly like me because of it. But why are you in the desert?"

Ryu didn't feel that he had to explain to Spike why he was on his own yet, feeling that he could hide it for now without much shame. "It's complicated."

Spike nodded in understanding with Ryu looking conflicted on something, leaving Spike to change the subject to avoid things getting awkward. "You've had this mark for a lot longer than I have, right? Do you know how I can keep it from making me go haywire with this power?"

"Well it's definitely not you can prevent 24/7 right after you first get it." Ryu informed Spike, leaving him to know that this would happen sometimes. "Once you've had it for a while though, you'll be able to adapt to these new powers and keep them from exploding. One method I used for suppressing it after I first acquired it is thinking calm thoughts. Don't think about too many things that make you mad though. That'll set it off."

"That should help. Hopefully we can meet in person sometime too so we can see how well it pays off." Ryu took a liking to that with Spike deciding to end the call. "Well, see ya later dude."

"You too." Ryu replied, and then he said something that made Spike even more glad. "Maybe I'll stop by where you live by some chance."

Spike smiled and hung up the call with a wave goodbye before taking out a quill and paper to write to Celestia. He thought to himself as he wrote, hoping he was okay with this power of his. 'Dear Queen Celestia. This is Spike. I just talked to this dude named Ryu who looked a lot like me, but his skin was black. Apparently he's a holder of the same mark as me, and he's off in the desert, I guess traveling the world or something. He gave me some advice on how I could suppress my power, and I hope it works. Just wanted to update you on the situation. Yours truly, Spike. P.S. Tell Luna there's no hard feelings. For now anyway."

Spike sent the letter to Celestia before looking at his claw and showing a highly conflicted look on the situation. He clenched his claw and sighed, knowing he would have to find a way to protect his friends with this mark on his claw now stuck with him. He lied down on his bed and looked back on when he got blasted by that beam, and also when he spawned that shield. He knew that he had the chance to control those powers one day, but he looked up to the ceiling with his conflicted look regardless, hoping that the worst wouldn't come as the screen faded to black, ending the episode off.

A title card that said 'FLB Public Service Announcement: Don't Lie!' came up after the episode ended.

One gray earth pony and one orange unicorn, both Spike's age, were playing a game that involved them tossing a ball back and forth. The gray one was about to send it back, doing so and sending it straight into someone's house, making them both concerned with the gray one speaking up as he saw a somewhat skinny earth pony and getting an idea. "Let's tell mom it was Pipsqueak's mistake."

"You're making the mistake."

Both ponies looked behind them to see Applejack looking quite stern about the situation as the orange unicorn spoke up. "Applejack! You weren't even in this episode."

"That's besides the point." Applejack then insisted that the two boys were doing the wrong thing. "Doing something that breaks someone's property is bad, but lyin about it will only make it worse."

"But our mom will be upset." The gray pony pointed out, not wanting to get in trouble.

"She'll be even more upset if ya lie." Applejack stated, and then she brought up how unfair it'd be to Pisqueak. "Plus, how'd you feel if Pipsqueak got punished for something he wasn't involved in?"

The gray pony spoke up again, seeing the mistake he and his brother almost made. "Pretty bad now that I think about it."

"Exactly. And it'd be even worse for ya if you got caught." Applejack reminded the boys. telling them what the right decision would be. "Remember. Always tell the truth whenever you make a mistake. Don't take the easy way out, cause it'll never work in your favor."

"We'll tell her we did it." The orange pony chimed in. "Cause lying won't get us anywhere."

"Now we know." The gray pony added, leaving Applejack to smile as she looked at the camera.

"And knowin is half the (Tilts hat upward a bit) battle." A screen came up that said 'Forever Lasting bonds!' while also singing the words, ending the public service announcement right there.

An instrumental version of the main theme played during the credits.

Ryu was walking over the desert horizon as he saw a group of dragon soldiers charging at him. He spawned a sword from his claw with the mark on it and blocked the first one's slash before kicking him back, jumping back from the second soldier and slicing at his leg, sending him to the ground. He then low swept the third soldier after dodging his double slash attack and kicked him to the side before knocking the sword out of the fourth guard's claws and deflecting the strike from it. Ryu jumped up and smashed the fourth dragon soldier with his tail, walking off and putting the sword away. Ryu was shown to be walking off with the defeated soldiers lying on the ground in utter defeat.

Lazy Dragon

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait on this one. Let's hope I get the next chapter out faster. Enjoy!

Lazy Dragon

Fluttershy was walking in front of her cottage home with a carrot basket, walking up to Angel, who was playing by himself. "Alright Angel. Time for your lunch." Fluttershy set down a basket of carrots for Angel to chow down on with Angel being indifferent as Fluttershy remembered something. "Oh, right." Fluttershy then pulled out some lettuce for Angel to eat, much to his joy. "Sorry, I had to help Rainbow Dash today and I almost forgot."

Angel started eating with Fluttershy taking notice to a big black cloud of smoke in the sky. She became cautious when she saw it, hoping it wasn't anything too serious. "Oh boy." Angel saw Fluttershy looking up and looked up as well to find the same cloud she saw. "Do you know what that means Angel? There's a chance that there's a dragon living near Ponyville!"

Angel liked the sound of that with Fluttershy picking him up, as well as his food, as she rushed inside. "If Ponyville gets engulfed in that smoke cloud there's no telling how fast it'll be before we all suffocate." Fluttershy set Angel down with his food and got ready to head into town. "I have to warn the town residents Angel. Be good, and I MIGHT have something for you when I get back." Fluttershy rushed off to warn everyone in Ponyville about the smoke cloud, leaving Angel to continue eating his food while looking for the tv remote.

Twilight was walking around town as she took notice to the flowers that a yellow earth pony was watering. "Looking great Bon Bon. These will really lighten up the town."

"Thanks Twilight." Bon Bon responded, and then she saw Fluttershy struggling to get everyone's attention. "Hey, isn't that your friend Fluttershy?"

Twilight saw Fluttershy and nodded to Bon Bon, who nodded back as Twilight walked up to the struggling pegasus. "You okay Fluttershy? You look scared about something." Fluttershy pointed up to the smoke cloud with Twilight taking charge when Fluttershy tried again but failed to speak up. "Everypony, stop what you're doing and listen!" Everyone put their eyes on Twilight with Fluttershy being glad that Twilight was speaking up. "There's a dragon smoke cloud up in the sky at this very moment. If it reaches Ponyville then we could all be suffocated by it!"

Everyone nearby ran past Twilight and Fluttershy with the latter being grateful for the former's support. "Thanks Twilight."

"Anytime. Now let's get the others and investigate this cloud of black smoke." Twilight suggested, leaving Fluttershy frightened at the thought of what could happen up in that cave.

Twilight was telling the others about the situation with every one of them paying attention to what she had to say. "And so, I think it'd be best if we all went up there to investigate and see if we can get the dragon to make a compromise on how to deal with his smoke. Or convince him to move. Whichever one works."

Spike saw the chance for adventure and immediately stood up, being ready for whatever came his way. "Sounds like a blast. You're taking me with you."

"Whoa, the dragon kid decided to grow some balls." Rainbow Dash joked, though she didn't mind Spike's company at all. "I like that. (Looks at Twilight) Let him come Twilight; he could prove useful, especially if that mark thing helps us out again."

Twilight looked down to see Spike giving a thumbs up and confident smile, smiling as she obliged to his request. "Fine. But I'm teleporting you home as soon as you get too badly hurt."

"That's barely a restriction; you're just using common sense." Spike noticed Fluttershy hiding in a tree outside when everyone headed out, running over to it and peeking inside. Everyone else stayed behind to make sure she was doing okay. "Fluttershy, if you have to fart then I doubt half of us will care."

Rainbow Dash sighed, flying over to Spike and Fluttershy as she clarified the situation. "It's not gas Spike. She's been scared of pretty much everything since we met, and I've always had to drag her into whatever she wanted to try out but couldn't. Or stuff like this."

Spike caught onto what Rainbow Dash was saying as he spoke to Fluttershy himself. "Cmon Fluttershy, we'll all have your back."

Fluttershy started to come out, but was still scared with Rainbow Dash speaking up. "I'll get you closer to making that animal sanctuary." Fluttershy squeed and dashed over to the others with Spike being impressed. "We've been friends for way too long for me not to know that one."

Spike and the others arrived at the mountain with Fluttershy trembling with each step she took. Rainbow Dash made sure she stayed stable, knowing she would need help to get up there. "Take it easy Flutters. It's gonna be okay in the end."

Rarity looked up at the smoke cloud and found it quite annoying that it was headed right for Ponyville. "Honestly. Does this dragon have to have manners so bad that he gets an entire town poisoned? What's he doing anyway to cause that smoke anyway?"

"Masturbating?" Spike chimed in, leaving Rarity unamused as Spike stated an actual possible cause of the smoke. "Kidding. He could be sleeping. I don't know if that makes smoke, but dragons are as capable of breathing out of their nostrils as ponies are."

"Well the least he could do is close his windows so he doesn't cover any major areas in the world." Rarity pointed out, not being fond of the dragon's lifestyle. "I know some caves in this world have windows too. I looked it up when researching what dragons like to wear so I could get your preferred fashion choices for the gala."

Spike took appreciation to what Rarity just revealed as a loud thump was heard from the inside of the cave from above. "Let's hope your research goes beyond that, cause it looks like this dude hates visitors." Just then, a rockslide went down to the others, leaving Spike to view it as not far from what his best was, jumping off of Rarity and onto the first rock. As he jumped on them, Rainbow Dash and Lightspeed flew over the rockslide with Twilight blasting the rocks she could get past, making sure not to hit the others with the debre.

Applejack slid under the rocks she could evade and kicked the ones she could break, leaving Rarity and Pinkie Pie to defend Fluttershy, which they did as Pinkie Pie took out a massive shield and blocked the rocks with it as Rarity comforted Fluttershy the best she could. Once everyone was at the top, Spike jumped off of the last rock and landed safely on the ground while also insulting the rockslide. "Ha! Eat that rockslide! I don't even have my wings yet and you're nothing more than a bucket of pebbles to me."

"Save it Shara Croft." Twilight joked around as Spike walked over to them. "We still have to save Ponyville from this dragon's smoke, so let's take our comebacks to said dragon if you don't mind." Spike was cool with that as everyone took notice to how terrified Fluttershy was about the situation. "Fluttershy, if you need to-"

"I'm scared of dragons!" Fluttershy blurted out, leaving Spike to snicker a bit as Fluttershy continued. "And I know, I'm friends with Spike and all that, but this dragon is way bigger, way nastier, and way more likely to eat us alive! (Spike walks up to Fluttershy) I can't-"

Spike slapped Fluttershy across the face twice and snapped her out of her panic attack. "Get it together Fluttershy! This is for Ponyville, remember that. Use it as your motivator to get this done." Fluttershy understood what Spike meant and nodded, doing her best to calm down as Spike and the others walked on ahead.

Lightspeed had to admit he was indifferent to Spike's method, but he was glad to see that it worked. "That was...less than ideal. But it worked."

"I try." Spike responded, and the others continued climbing to get to where the dragon was sleeping.

Spike and the others had arrived at the top of the mountain with Spike looking inside and seeing a big gray dragon in there. He could barely see past the smoke however, and he'd hoped that he and the others would be able to convince this dragon to get lost. Feeling that he should go first since he's also a dragon, he looked at the others as he explained his plan. "Alright. I'm gonna go in there and talk to this dude, dragon to dragon, and I'll see what he's like so we can decide how to get him to leave and not endanger Ponyville."

Twilight handed Spike some kind of energy capsule, and he put it away to make sure he meant peace. As he went into the cave, the dragon was right there, and he woke him up by knocking gently on his jaw. "Alright buddy. Let's talk dragon to dragon for a bit."

The dragon looked down at Spike, who wasn't scared by his structure, since he'd faced worse before. The dragon laughed as he tuanted Spike for his size. "You're a dragon!? You look like an anthropamorphic turtle!"

"I'm thirteen dude. Dragon puberty isn't exactly an easy process." The dragon had to agree with that, but he still attempted to crush Spike, who dodged his finger slam and started shouting. "Hey, watch it dude! You're breathing smoke over Ponyville and I'm only here to convince you to move somewhere you won't cause us any damage!"

"And why should I listen to a teenage brat like you?"

"If you want an adult my sister's twenty two."

"Don't get smart with me!"

The dragon attempted to smash the ground with the dragon breathing fire at him, only for an energy blast to deflect the fire. This was Twilight, who aimed her horn right at the dragon. "I don't care who you are, or what level of importance you have to Equestria! Attack my brother again and I'll blow your brain out of your head!"

The dragon looked at Spike with confusion as he then explained the story. "She hatched me from my egg as her first lesson at Canterlot's magic school. I didn't exactly say I lived with other dragons, and the fact that I live in Ponyville should've clarified that."

The dragon was indifferent to this and slammed both of his claws on the ground as he let out a massive roar that threw Spike and Twilight out of the cave. Spike took the energy capsule out and threw it at the dragon just before he and Twilight got sent out, hitting him with some firecrackers that blinded him for a bit. "Hey! Who attacks someone with firecrackers!?"

Spike and Twilight got sent out with Spike skidding on the landing, but managing to make it, and Twilight using her powers to land safely. Spike walked over to the others as he expressed how badly the plan failed. "Well. That was a bust."

Lightspeed got an idea himself, and he looked at Pinkie Pie to see if he could have her help with it. "Pinkie Pie. How would you like to help me out with MY idea on getting the dragon to leave?"

"I say you've got the right pony for the job! Assuming it involves baked goods." Lightspeed chuckled a bit before he decided to work with Pinkie Pie on what the plan was really about.

Lightspeed had just finished making a sound making machine with Pinkie Pie that he was sure would work. "I don't have a name for this thing, but that won't matter in a few seconds to a few minutes. Once the dragon starts hearing all of this noise, he'll leave the cave and go somewhere else. Preferably a cave that's not near any towns or cities."

"Sounds like it'll work to me Lightspeed." Pinkie Pie assured Lightspeed, being completely on board with his plan, and excited to execute it. "It's a good thing I had my instruments with me."

"From what I've seen from you so far, you have EVERYTHING with you at all times." Lightspeed turned on the device with the drums banging and Pinkie Pie blowing into it, causing the trumpets and trombones to start blowing as she walked into the cave. When she did, the dragon immediately smashed her out of the cave, leading to her dragging on the ground as the device broke down as Lightspeed expressed concern about the situation. "Maybe I should've considered whether or not the dragon was no nonsense."

Everyone was thinking long and hard about this one as Rainbow Dash then remembered something about Fluttershy. "Hey Flutters. You have that stare thing, right? Why not try that out on him?"

Fluttershy looked into the cave and didn't think she could pull it off, deciding to go against it for now. "I think we should save it for a last resort."

Rainbow Dash shrugged with a grin as Rarity then got an idea, pulling out her laptop and opening a tab of the best dragon caves. "I think it's time I go for MY method. Wish me luck." Rarity went into the cave and showed the dragon her laptop as she started talking about the caves she had on it. "Excuse me Mr. dragon." The dragon gave Rarity his full attention as she started talking about how she could move him to a better cave. "I'd like to show you what could prove to be much more suitable caves than this dump of a cavern you call home."

Just then, the dragon breathed fire on Rarity, and when she walked out, she brought up the flaw she'd just realized in her planning. "Perhaps insulting his current home wasn't the best way to convince him to move out."

"Ya think?" Spike snarked, and then he looked back into the cave and called over to the dragon. "The sooner you move out buddy, the sooner we'll get out of your life! Just sayin!" The dragon roared with Spike scoffing as he then turned to Fluttershy, who was stunned with fear. "You know we're not gonna let him eat you, right?"

"That doesn't change the fact that he COULD eat me." Fluttershy replied, and then she started breathing heavily before Rainbow Dash flew over to her and calmly stroked her mane, calming her down a bit, although she was still worried about the dragon. "Thanks." Rainbow Dash nodded in response with Fluttershy then turning to Applejack to see what she had in store. "You're good at dealing with vicious animals Applejack. (Looks at Spike) No offense Spike. (Spike shrugged with Fluttershy turning back to Applejack) Maybe you could get him to leave."

Applejack tried to think of something from her experiences of dealing with dangerous animals that could help with the dragon. "Well it's not Timberwolves, but it shouldn't be too hard for me to handle." Applejack rushed into the cave and faced the dragon head on without fear, dodging his flame blasts and tail smacks before launching a rope at his mouth. She managed to get it around his mouth, only for the rope to snap as soon as he opened it. He then breathed fire at Applejack and used his tail to smack her out of the room.

Applejack skidded across the ground with Spike and Lightspeed helping her up as Rainbow Dash then got fed up. "Alright, I've had it with this guy! I'm goin in!" Rainbow Dash flew into the cave and without hesitation, kicked the dragon right on the snout, flying against his roar and shouting at him right after he was done. "Get, lost!"

The dragon looked into Rainbow Dash's eyes as she then stood on top of his snout with him beginning to talk. "Why should I listen to you runts!?"

"Because if you don't, I can personally assure you that you're gonna get a major butt kicking from me!" Rainbow Dash promised the dragon, pointing to the outside of the cave as she spoke up. "So either beat it, or answer to my hoof, in your face!"

"How about my tail in YOUR face!?" The dragon tried to slam Rainbow Dash into the top of the cave, only to hit his head as Rainbow Dash then taunted the dragon, who then breathed fire at her, which she dodged before immediately getting hit with the dragon's tail.

Rainbow Dash was able to regain her balance and land solidly on the ground with the dragon walking over to Spike and the others as Fluttershy felt an urge of bravery coming from within her and glared at the dragon. Spike took notice to this and got Lightspeed's attention before bringing it up. "It's gonna happen dude! Fluttershy's about to go ditch mode!"

Fluttershy flew up to the dragon and yelled at him to stop whatever he was planning to do. "STOP!" Fluttershy's shout echoed through the sky with Twilight wearing ear muffs to read her book while watching Fluttershy do her thing. "I'm sorry we disturbed your nap, and making someone leave their home is the last thing I want to do! But you've shown absolutely no care in the world about what your nap smoke is doing to our town, and I'm now tired of it!"

The dragon started to point fingers, pointing at Rainbow Dash as he spoke up. "But that rainbow one kicked me."

Rainbow Dash was sitting on a high up rock as she made a gesture to the dragon that indicated flipping him off. Fluttershy continued her words, showing barely any sympathy towards the dragon. "Well maybe if you didn't start attacking us, she wouldn't have tried to hurt YOU herself. Did you ever think about that? I will happily help you find a new cave, and I'll make sure you're left alone since it'll be away from any nearby towns that could disturb you. But I will NOT allow you to get away with attacking all of my friends! Especially, not, Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow Dash flew down to Applejack to fill her in on why Fluttershy said what she said. "We dated for a bit back in Cloudsdale before deciding to be best friends again."

"No one was doin the math, but I'm glad Cloudsdale understands being into your own gender is normal too."

The dragon saw that Fluttershy was serious and decided to do what she wanted him to do. "Well...I guess you have a point. If I'd just left when your dragon friend asked me to we could've avoided all of this."

Fluttershy smiled, glad to see that the dragon stopped putting up such resistance. "That's what I like to hear. Now come with me, and let's go cave hunting." The dragon allowed Fluttershy to sit on his head with Spike giving her a thumbs up of respect. This made Fluttershy proud of herself for managing to overcome her anxiety a bit.

Fluttershy was flying on the dragons head as he commented on the fact that she was a Pegasus. "Ya know, you don't HAVE to ride on my back. You have wings."

"I know. I'm just doing it to show that I'm not scared of you. I mean, I'm still scared of dragons, but standing up to you is helping me get over it." Fluttershy explained, making the dragon smile as the two of them landed by the cave they were flying over to. "Here's the cave Rarity mentioned. And not a town in sight, so you won't be able to cause any harm."

"Well that's good." The dragon responded, being glad that he would be able to sleep peacefully with his horde of stuff now. "Now I can guard my gems with every town and city being safe. Why didn't I do this sooner?"

Fluttershy wasn't sure how to answer that, and as the two were looking around the castle, she thought about how they would get the dragon's treasure horde here. "I know most dragons have treasure hordes. Do you want Twilight to bring yours her with her magic?"

The dragon took a liking to the cave and found that it'd be perfect for him to stay in. "That would be just perfect. I'm moving in!"

Fluttershy was glad to hear that and flew up to the dragon as she let him know that she would get what he needed soon. "I'll let Twilight know right away. Sit tight." The dragon nodded in understanding with Fluttershy flying off to find Twilight and have her teleport the gem horde into the cave.

The dragon was happily making himself at home in his new cave with the gem horde surrounding him like it did in the previous cave. He was taking quite a liking to his new home as he had everything arranged the way he wanted it to be while also making sure that he was comfortable when he was sleeping. He did hope that he would be able to see Fluttershy again though. He wouldn't mind seeing her friends again, but he had a special liking to her now. As a friend anyway. He wasn't really into romance and all that.

Spike and the others were at Sugarcube Corner with Twilight writing out her friendship letter as she told Fluttershy about what she taught her. "I still can't believe we didn't consider if he had another place to go. You really thought ahead of us today Fluttershy. Even me believe it or not."

Flutterhsy giggled a bit as she brought up why she offered to help the dragon. "I just got tired of his nonsense and couldn't hold back my anger anymore. I'm glad I was still able to consider what his circumstances were."

"Eh, I would've called him out for the fact that he held back on telling us why he wouldn't leave." Spike pointed out as he was lying down on Twilight's back, feeling that he could've fixed the problem a lot faster with some context. "I could've fixed the issue if he decided to think for forty five seconds."

Twilight rolled her eyes while smiling as she brought up Spike's words. "Not everyone is as willing to explain their issues as we are Spike. You're right, but it's pretty clear that dragon is an introvert."

Spike saw Twilight's point, taking her letter and sending it to Celestia before making his reply. "That's true. Still, I would've at least considered it before breathing fire on us and smacking us with his body. (Looks at Fluttershy) Good on ya though Fluttershy. Your method certainly worked the best." Fluttershy was glad to hear that, knowing that she did a great thing for herself and her friends today.

Fluttershy was trying to get Angel to eat his vegetables again when dinnertime hit, and as always, he wasn't really up for it. "Cmon Angel, I know you wanna get to your desert, but I can't just give it to you. You have to earn it." Angel turned his head away from the vegetables with Fluttershy deciding to use the same tactic she used on the dragon to get him to move out of his cave. "Angel, if you just try it then you'll see if you actually like it or not. And if you end up not liking it, I'll find something that'll help you like it without ruining your health."

Angel found Fluttershy's argument to be compelling and grabbed some lettuce, biting into it and taking quite a liking to it. When he shoved his face into it and continued eating it, Fluttershy sat down in front of Angel and smiled as she told him an important life lesson. "You should always try something before deciding you don't like it Angel. It's smarter, and helps you balance out what you eat." Angel gave a thumbs up to Fluttershy as he continued eating with Fluttershy then getting a phone call. "One sec Angel."

Fluttershy answered the call with the dragon being shown on the other end, surprising Fluttershy a bit as he spoke up. "The unicorn that helped us find this place managed to find a phone that I could hold without breaking. I wonder why I didn't start using one of these things sooner."

Fluttershy was glad to see that the dragon was enjoying his live at the cave, which she could tell from his cheerful voice. "I'm glad things are working out for you. And that we can keep in touch. What's your name anyway?"

"Limestone." The dragon answered, and then he asked Fluttershy if he remembered her name correctly. "You're Fluttershy, right?"

"That's right." Fluttershy stated happily, and then when Angel started gagging, she giggled a bit before correcting his thought. "He's a friend Angel, don't worry."

Spike and Twilight were at the Golden Oak Library as Twilight was explaining to Spike what she learned from Fluttershy about friendship. "So basically I learned that not everyone is willing to ask for help, and that you have to offer it to them in the hopes that they accept."

Spike shrugged, feeling like the lesson Twilight learned could use some work. "I mean, I guess that works for some, but others might just keep resisting. I'd personally accept the help eventually, but some may just not want it."

Twilight saw Spike's point and then brought up his mark thing, noticing that it wasn't acting up yet. "So...if I asked if you needed help dealing with your mark, what would you do?"

Spike looked at his mark and smiled as he looked at Twilight, knowing that she would like what he had to say in response. "I'd happily accept and see what you had in mind. My point though is that it's not the choice everyone will go for. I like the message; it shows that you shouldn't instantly abandon people who have trouble asking, but you also have to take into account whether or not they want it, or they just can't ask." Twilight saw what Spike was getting at as he then ran off into the kitchen. "Example, I'm about to help myself to some ice cream!"

Spike ran over to the fridge with Twilight rolling her eyes while smiling as she took the ice cream from Spike as he got it from the freezer. "Nice try." Spike jumped at the ice cream, grabbing it and causing the freezer door to close as the screen went to black due to the door closing, ending the episode off.

A title card that said 'FLB Public Service Announcement: Accepting Help Is Okay!' came up after the episode ended.

Rainbow Dash was hanging out with Applejack, who was clearly tired from bucking apples out of Sweet Apple Acres' trees. She was clearly worried about the Earth pony, not wanting her to take another kick at these trees. "Cmon AJ, you're exhausted. And you would've been done by now if you'd just take the help and move on."

"I already told you Rainbow Dash, this is an Apple Family responsibility." Applejack was getting tired of being offered help she didn't need, or didn't want I should say, as she clearly needed assistance with this apple bucking thing. "I told Big Mac I'd cover his fields since he was injured, and I plan to do that myself."

Applejack went to buck another tree, sending down only one apple, which Rainbow Dash caught in her hoof and took a bite out of before talking to Applejack. "AJ, you've clearly forgotten what Fluttershy did for the dragon last week. He kept throwing us out of his cave because he didn't wanna ask for help in finding one where he wouldn't hurt anyone, and he got it." Applejack remembered that day with Rainbow Dash pulling out her cellphone to give her the impression that she was about to call the others. "It'll be worth it."

Applejack didn't see that she had any options left, looking around and seeing that there were still hundreds of trees to buck. She looked at Rainbow Dash with a sigh of defeat, knowing that she was just doing what she thought was best. "If you say so."

Rainbow Dash happily called the others in a group chat and spoke up when they came online. "Guys, she's on board!"

Everyone was helping Applejack with the apple trees with Twilight levitating them out of the trees, Fluttershy having the critters bring them out of them, Rarity holding the buckets in place, and Pinkie Pie shaking them out of the trees to have them fall into the buckets. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were taking a break as they saw Spike eating what looked like worm filled cupcakes, catching Applejack's attention as she asked about it. "Where'd you get those cupcakes Spike, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Pinkie Pie's trash can." Rainbow Dash and Applejack gave shocked looks of disgust with Spike defending why he was eating them. "Hey, dragons eat gross things compared to ponies. At least I think they do. Let's hope I don't have to wait until season two this time to figure it out."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack brushed off what Spike was doing as he walked off, leaving Rainbow Dash to speak up. "See Applejack? Accepting help from others isn't gonna ruin your reputation or anything dangerous."

"You're right Rainbow Dash. Even though I had to learn that lesson again." Applejack chuckled a bit before admitting that she learned her lesson. "But now I know."

"And knowing is (Whips mane stylishly) half the battle." A screen came up that said 'Forever Lasting bonds!' while also singing the words, ending the public service announcement right there.

An instrumental version of the main theme played during the credits.

An Evil Enchantress

Spike was riding his skateboard through Ponyville as he made a grind on one of the house roof railings and jumped off to grab a lamppost. As he slid down it while spinning on it, he let go when he reached the bottom and continued to skate on. He saw two ponies carrying a long tray of food up ahead and ducked under it, snagging himself a cupcake and eating it. After taking the wrapper off of course. He saw some weird wagon outside of his school and walked up to it with curiosity. "This better not be a horror movie wagon."

Just then, a light blue unicorn in a magician's outfit resembling stars jumped out and greeted the dragon. "Not at all my dragon friend." The unicorn moved her mane upward a bit before announcing who she was. "The great, and powerful, (Raises hoof) Trixie! (Puts hoof down) Wants to get a peanut butter shake before getting ready for her show."

Spike could tell that Trixie saw highly of herself, walking up to her and asking a question. "So you're a traveling magician pony? My sister told me about travelers. What's it like making money off of your performances?"

"I am indeed, I bet she did, and it's a lot of fun." Trixie responded, answering all three of Spike's questions as she then gave him two tickets to her show. "If you have a special someone, feel free to take them to my show."

Spike looked at the tickets and shrugged, putting them away as he spoke up. "I guess it'd be fun for us to laugh at how bad you are compared to Twilight." Spike laughed a bit with Trixie giving a blunt look, leaving Spike to further discuss his statement. "Seriously though. Twilight could totally flex on you."

"Very few can flex on Trixie herself." Trixie stated, brushing off Spike's words as she walked off to get her shake. "She might need to get training from Zecora. Talk to me after my show if you want more details." Spike was intrigued by this mention for some reason, wanting to know if Zecora was worth knowing about.

Applejack was with Applebloom at Sugarcube Corner after school as she got a good look at a piece of paper she gave her. "Vandalizing the lunch room!? Applebloom, we've talked about this. If you keep tagging stuff then you'll go down the wrong path. And you could get expelled if you started beating up students."

"That's why I wait until AFTER school to floor Diamond Tiara and her slave." Applebloom snarked, making Applejack flinch as Applebloom then clarified what she meant. "Relax, I only do it if they taunt me by calling me 'blank flank' or whatever. It's not like I'm doing this unprovoked Applejack. I have SOME common sense."

Applejack sighed and put the paper away, hoping Applebloom would stop acting so rebellious soon. "I just don't want you turning into a thug Applebloom. And don't forget that-"

"Diamond Tiara's daddy is the reason our farm is able to stay afloat, and he's only helping us because he hasn't found out it's me yet." Applebloom was starting to get annoyed, as seen by her interruption of Applejack. "I get it Applejack, I'm a wreck and bullying is better than responding to it. What're you gonna do now, reference that movie everyone's so obsessed with that they memorized every single lyric in the most iconic song FROM said movie?"

Applejack was about to retort as Spike and Twilight then entered Sugarcube Corner as Spike spoke up. "And she said she'd tell me more if I met her after the show."

"I guess it couldn't hurt." Twilight admitted, seeing as she was always ready to improve upon her magic skills. "This Zecora sure does sound interesting."

Pinkie Pie suddenly dashed up to Spike and Twilight after hearing the name 'Zecora' being said. "Zecora!?" The shouting of Zecora's name is what shook Applejack, making Applebloom roll her eyes as she saw what was coming. "You mean the witch from the Everfree Forest who's seriously peeved off at Ponyville Zecora!?"

Spike and Twilight were confused as Applejack ran up to them and grabbed Twilight's chest. "You can't learn her magic Twilight! She's too dangerous!"

Applebloom walked up to her sister and saw that Pinkie Pie was about to sing before she put her hoof up. "Save it Candy Queen. Why's this chick such a big deal?"

"I'm just about to tell you." Pinkie Pie responded happily, and then she stood on her hind legs as she started singing. "She's an evil enchantress, (Jumps in front of Spike and Twilight) who does evil dances, (Pinkie Pie's eyes move forward a bit and then move back, repeating a couple times before stopping) She'll trap you in the forest and hit you with her trances!"

Applejack was shivering when holding Applebloom as she gave a blunt look to the audience. "You'll never forget the fear, she brought up from your rear, (Spike and Twilight look at each other and nod) and she'll turn your confidence into something you'll never go near! (Pinkie Pie jumps onto the table on all fours) So, watch out!"

Applebloom made her sister let go of her as Spike then expressed how interested he was now. "Well that Trixie girl said she'd give me more info after her performance tonight, so that might decide whether or not I go."

"Can I come with?" Applebloom asked, being excited to see if this Zecora was for real. "I love mythological things, and any sort of rumor that could relate to them! If Applejack wasn't hugging me like a five year old, I'd be squeeing like a baby."

Spike took his tickets out and handed the other one to Applebloom, much to Applejack's fear as Spike spoke up. "I was gonna go with Lightspeed, but Rainbow Dash said he's sick, so I don't see why not. You seem cool."

Twilight saw Applejack hyperventalating as she then comforted her in regards to this mission. "Don't worry too hard on this Applejack. Spike managed to defend all of us from a giant laser once. If he goes through with this mission then I think he'll be capable of protecting Applebloom. (Whispers to Applejack with a sly grin) Plus I can spy on them and teleport us to them whenever you like."

Applejack was put at ease with that as she then looked at Applebloom with concern. "Just be careful, okay sis?"

"That should be easy with dark dragon over here as my bodyguard." Spike took a liking to that nickname, fist bumping Applebloom as the two thought about how tonight would go.

Spike and Applebloom were currently watching Trixie's show as the two of them found what she was doing to be fun to watch. Spike had to admit though, he felt that Twilight could easily flex on Trixie if she wanted to. "We gotta put this chick up against Twilight sometime. It'd be fun to see the two of them have a magic duel."

Applebloom liked the sound of that, but she was still unable to resist her excitement about what would be happening after the show. "I still can't believe we're going after the Zecora myth. It's gonna be so cool!" Some of the audience members were alerted by Applebloom's mention of Zecora, making her and Spike nervous as Applebloom whispered to Spike. "For the sake of everyone's sanity, let's make extra sure Trixie's the only one in earshell when we talk to her."

"Good call." Spike whispered back, and the two of them continued to watch the show, enjoying what they saw and glad they were able to check it out.

Ten minutes after Trixie's performance, Spike and Applebloom were behind her wagon as she went out the back door to see them. She wasn't surprised that Spike decided to come, since she knew he was the type who suck out danger. "So you came."

Spike gave a thumbs up with a confident smile as Trixie gave him a letter stating that she sent them on this mission. "So Zecora's in the Everfree forest, huh? So she's not actually an evil enchantress like Pinkie Pie said?"

"Nah, she's pretty cool." Trixie assured Spike and Applebloom, much to Applebloom's disappointment as Trixie then said something that could raise her spirits. "Oh, don't worry. She IS an enchantress, she's just not as sadistic and dictator-like as the ponies here think she is."

Applebloom got excited again as she asked about how the letter was going to find her, being curious as to how words on a piece of paper could do that. "How's this letter gonna help us track her down though? It's not exactly a map." Trixie signaled Spike to turn the paper over, which he did, revealing a map to Zecora's place from Ponyville. "Oh yeah, that makes sense."

Spike put the letter away so he and Applebloom wouldn't get caught by anyone passing by. "Thanks Trixie. And I'll be sure to check in with my sister to see if she's okay with a magic duel."

"If she is, let her know I'm not one to underestimate, if my show said anything about it." Trixie informed Spike, who nodded as she started to feel a bit parched. "Ugh, I'd kill for a smoothie. Where's that Sugarcube corner place I heard about?"

Applebloom signaled Spike to hurry up, being way more into this mythological stuff compared to him and starting to get annoyed as Spike gave quick directions to Sugarcube corner. "Keep going right from the entrance of your wagon, and it's the building with a big cupcake on it. Ya can't miss it."

"Thanks. (Runs off) Good luck with your quest!" Spike nodded to Applebloom another with the latter squeeing with excitement as she ran off with Spike.

Spike and Applebloom were at the entrance of the Everfree Forest with Applebloom being so excited to meet Zecora herself. "This is gonna be so cool! Applejack would NEVER let me do something like this on my own."

"Do you have any magical powers that could save your life?" Spike asked with a smug grin, leaving Applebloom to nod her head no as Spike then made his reply. "That's probably why." Spike and Applebloom entered the Everfree forest with Spike expressing his indifference to mythological creatures. "I can't say this mythological srap interests me, but a creature rivaling Twilight's magic is cool in my book."

Applebloom already knew Spike was here for the thrill seeking, figuring it wouldn't hurt to comment on it with a smirk as Spike took the map out. "You're mostly coming because of how insanely dangerous it's gonna be, aren't you."

"What can I say; I'm a thrill seeker." Spike replied, being ready for whatever came their way as the two of them noticed the trees making faces. "Don't worry, just think happy thoughts and they'll buck off." Applebloom did as Spike said and the tree faces started to vanish, leaving Applebloom impressed as the two continued onward.

Spike and Applebloom were going in the direction of the map as Applebloom remembered what Spike did when he started going to the Ponyville middle school. "So. Regarding that flame fart you did on Diamond Tiara the first day you came to school. Can you...fart, on cue?"

Spike was quite proud of this little talent of his that Applebloom asked about, being more than ready to confirm it for her. He handed her the map as he then got ready to demonstrate his talent of on cue farting. "You're about to wish you didn't ask." Applebloom gave Spike a look that was practically daring him to try her, leading Spike to lean forward casually a bit while clenching his fists and cutting a loud and bassy thirty second fart, letting out a yellow cloud of rotten eggs that made at least a dozen of the trees behind his butt wither and die, stunning Applebloom with just how powerful his farts were (PHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHT).

Applebloom was stunned by how toxic Spike's fart was as he then whiffed it a bit before responding to her expression. "And I doubt that's even a hundred thousandth of a percentage of how long I can fart for."

Applebloom laughed at Spike's flatulence as the two of them continued onward with Spike taking the map. "Applejack could learn a thing or two from you." Spike and Applebloom laughed about how good he was at farting with Spike being more than glad to have shown it off.

Twilight and Applejack were watching Spike and Applebloom through a crystal ball as Twilight commented on Spike's toxic fart. "Still no sign of danger that they can't handle Applejack. (Applejack is shown to be drinking cider nervously) I'll let you know if they get into a situation that looks like they won't be able to handle."

Applejack looked at the crystal ball with Spike and Applebloom coming across a vulture, only for Spike to punch it as it came down. Applebloom fist bumped him upon seeing this with Applejack calming down a bit from the vision. "Well...I guess as long as it's not anything Spike can't face off against that stops them." Applejack saw a bunch of wolves that looked like trees and started to panic. "Are those timberwolves!? Spike is NOT gonna be able to punch those without any effort!"

"I take it this is where you want us to go into spy on them and wait to do something while looking cool mode." Applejack nodded her head yes desperately with Twilight starting to cast the spell. "This should give us a chance to see Spike's powers in person again if they activate."

Spike was telling Applebloom about the mark on his claw that caused him to use his Nightmare Moon esc powers. "Yeah, I don't know much about it. All I know is that it can spawn giant shields if I jump in front of a death beam ray to protect my friends and also give calls to this dude who has a similar mark. I forgot what he said, but I think he's coming over to Ponyville."

Spike and Applebloom saw Twilight and Applejack appear before them with Applebloom giving a blunt look with pure sarcasm dripping from her tone of voice. "I'd adore it if he was an overprotective nut like my sister."

"Be as indifferent to us coming as you want Applebloom, but I'm not letting you go through the Everfree forest without me, with or without protection." Applejack stated sternly, making Applebloom roll her eyes as Applejack spoke up. "And as far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't be seeing Zecora at all. Do you know how dangerous she is?"

Applebloom was about to speak up as Spike chimed in with his own words to say to Applejack. "Do you have any evidence to justify thinking that besides rumors and Pinkie Pie's dumb song?" Applejack paused for a bit as Spike finished his retort. "Stick to farm work Applejack. You're more of a peasant than a witch."

Applebloom started laughing with Applejack starting to get mad before Twilight stepped up and scolded Spike. "Spike, what have I told you about roasting people?"

"I forgot." Spike admitted, and then he walked on after Applebloom finished laughing as he spoke up when looking behind him. "You can come if you want, but I doubt it'll be an easy ride."

Applejack was anxious with Twilight letting her know about the kinds of magic practice she's been doing. "I've been practicing my magic strength and durability for at least a week. I'll stop anything that looks like too much of a threat." Applejack trusted Twilight, walking with her to catch up with Spike and Applebloom.

Spike and the others were walking through the Everfree Forest as they came upon a field of some suspicious looking flowers. They had thorns on their stems, and there were seven petals on them, one red, one orange, one yellow, one green, one blue, one purple, and one pink. Twilight and Applejack stepped forward to make sure Spike and Applebloom didn't get hurt, seeing the flowers up close with Twilight explaining what they were. "These look like Flowers of Randomization. If they spray you, pretty much anything can happen."

Spike and the others tried to look for a way around the flowers as Twilight got an idea. "I think our best bet is for me to levitate is over the flowers."

"Sounds good to me." Applebloom stated, looking at the flowers and getting a sinister plan in mind. "Hopefully none of us get sprayed when landing." Spike nodded to Twilight, who levitated the others over the flowers first, making sure they were all over safely before her. First Spike, then Applebloom, and then Applejack, and then she got herself over there. "Ya know, Spike's right. You could totally flex on Trixie in a Magic Duel."

Twilight giggled a bit, being flattered that Applebloom felt that way. "Thanks Applebloom, but I'm not interested in using my magic for competitive sport."

Spike hopped onto Twilight's back as he commented on what he thought her reasons were. "Probably because you'd flex on the entire competition."

Twilight rolled her eyes while smiling with Applebloom sitting in front of the flowers, leading to Applejack freaking out and dashing in front of her. "Applebloom, careful!" Applejack unwittingly sat on a flower without noticing, being more concerned with keeping Applebloom safe. Twilight was about to alert Applejack, but she'd already started talking before she could. "Twilight said these flowers could do-" Applejack suddenly started shrinking, making her give a blunt look as she finished her sentence "...anything to us."

Applejack ended up growing down to the size of a bee, making her concerned as Applebloom playfully taunted her as Spike started snickering. "Look who needs to be careful now. It's one thing for a kid to sit on a flower knowing it's dangerous, but it's even more hilarious for an adult to do it."

Applebloom laughed a bit more as she turned around, leaving Applejack to jump onto her tail. "This isn't funny Applebloom. (Applebloom turns her butt in an upward right position away from the flowers) We gotta find out how to reverse this and hope-" Applebloom ended up cutting a five second fart in Applejack's face, letting out a green apple cloud that made her fall off her tail and onto the ground, where she coughed from the scent and compared to her current size, giant cloud (phhhhhhhhhht). "Never, do that again!"

"You're not the boss of me." Applebloom stated bluntly as she sat down on Applejack, making her scream in horror as Applebloom grunted, ripping a loud and bassy ten second fart onto her sister, hitting her with a big green cloud of rotten apples (BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP). Spike was laughing at the scenario with Twilight covering her nose as Applebloom continued to let out rancid farts onto her sister (phhhhht) (pfffft) (brat) (blllllaaaaarrrrrp).

Applebloom started laughing as the green fart gas surrounded her, only for Applejack to bite her butt as hard as she could. "Ow!" Applebloom got up and saw Applejack biting her butt, jumping and landing on her butt to get back at her. She then released a loud and bassy fifteen minute fart, making her butt vibrate as she let out a fifteen second cloud of rotten eggs that got so close to Spike and Twilight, that the latter ended up using her magic to push the fart gas back (PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT).

Applebloom smiled proudly, wafting the fart downward towards her older sister's muzzle, unaware that she'd passed out until she picked her up. She laughed a bit as she walked off with Twilight and Spike, putting her sister onto her mane as she spoke up. "At least she's not nagging me to get a bath." Spike fist bumped Applebloom, being proud of her for how good she was at farting.

Spike and Applebloom were currently farting up a trail with Twilight wearing a nose plug to ignore the smell the best she could. (PHHHHHT) (PFFFFFT) (BLLLLLAAAAARRRRRP) (BRRRRRAAAAAT) (PFFFFFT) (PHHHHHT). Twilight was starting to get annoyed as she called out her younger brother and his friend on their gas. "Do you two mind? You're making the Everfree forest even more nasty than it already is."

Spike and Applebloom looked at each other and then back at Twilight with Spike speaking up. "Isn't that why you're wearing the nose plug?"

"Yeah, but when Applejack wakes up, she's gonna start complaining about it too." Twilight pointed out, and she was only met with shrugs from Spike and Applebloom, leading to Spike cutting a massive fifteen second fart, giving a look of relief as his butt was shown vibrating while letting out the yellow eggy cloud, much to Applebloom's laughter and Twilight's annoyance (PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT).

Applejack woke up, only to smell the nasty farts Spike and Applebloom had been letting out as the four friends continued onward. "What's going on? And why are we surrounded by green smoke that smells real bad?"

"You can figure it out." Applebloom replied, leaving Applejack to groan in annoyance as she realized what Spike and Applejack were doing the whole time. "Honestly, you should smell your own from my body. What do you et every day, an egg factory?"

Spike got a good look at the map as Applejack and Applebloom were bickering, finding that they were close to Zecora's house. "Looks like we're close Twilight. Try not to let Applejack have a heart attack when we're right at the door."

Twilight looked back to find Applebloom singing poorly on purpose to drown out Applejack's scolding, being well aware of how unlikely that'd be. "I don't think that'll be an issue."

Spike and the others stopped when they saw they were a few feet away from a small house. Spike got a good look at the map and saw that the house was right ahead, indicating that they were in front of the right place. "Yep. This is the place." Spike and the others walked up to the house with Applejack quivering in fear, much to Applebloom's annoyance as she rolled her eyes. When Zecora opened the door, she was revealed to be a zebra. Just a normal zebra. No mysterious danger or anything. "You Zecora?"

Zecora smiled in response, glad to see that she wasn't being feared by those who came to her doorstep. For the most part anyway. "You search for Zecora, that is me, to which I answer your question with glee." Spike and Applebloom weren't exactly on board with Zecora's talking methods as she allowed them to come in. "I don't get many visitors in my home. It is a rather lonely dome."

Spike got a good look at the place and decided to play along with Zecora's way of speaking. "The legends we've heard about you make you sound scary, but I don't really see any reason for me to be wary."

Zecora caught onto Spike's sense of humor and responded to it happily. "It must be fun to have a friend to joke with. As you can tell, I lack them due to that horrendous myth."

Applejack stood on top of Applebloom's head as she asked Zecora about fixing her current state. "Um...excuse me Zecora. (Zecora gives Applejack her full attention) If it's not too much trouble, could you please reverse this state I'm in? My sister tricked me into sitting on one of those Flowers of Randomization, and I-"

"Oh, I'm sorry; since when did I make you sit on those flowers?" Applebloom interrupted, demanding to know what Applejack was getting at here. "You're right, but you SITTING on the flower was your move. I just wanted to get you sprayed by it."

Zecora intervened before the banter between Applejack and Applebloom could escalate too far. "Regardless of who this situation was caused by, I shall send you back to your normal size on the fly." Zecora went over to one of her shelves and took one of the potions off of it, taking it to Applejack and she started growing back to her normal size, leading to her sitting on Applebloom's head as she looked down and smirked.

Applebloom grunted, struggling to get Applejack off of her, since behind Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, she had the biggest and most weight on her butt out of everyone in the mane six. "Get your butt off of me!"

"Sure. (Stomach growls a bit) Oh. (Smirks) You guys may wanna take cover." Applebloom flinched with Applejack's butt shown over her horrified face as she grunted, ripping a loud and bassy twenty minute fart that made her butt vibrate as she unleashed a massive green cloud that reeked of moldy apples, making Applebloom gag and go close to puking. (BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP).

Applejack got off of her younger sister as she gagged and glared at Applejack with seething rage. "If you weren't big again, I would sit on you over and over again until you passed out again."

Applejack smiled proudly with Twilight wafting the fart away as Spike explained to Zecora what Applejack beef stewing Applebloom was about. "Applebloom beef stewed Applejack like crazy right after she turned small and that was her method of getting her back. Honestly though, Applebloom and I were really gassy during this mission."

Zecora nodded in understanding as she opened up a window to allow the fart cloud to go out of her house. "Regardless of your flatulence inside of my cottage, I hope your visiting time isn't facing a shortage."

"Ah. Loneliness from being alone for a long time, right?" Spike asked, and Zecora nodded her head yes with Spike seeing how excited Zecora was to have visitors in so long. "I can feel that. Tell ya what. Applebloom was all about that whole visiting you thing, so maybe I can have her come over to visit from time to time, and maybe sometimes I can join her."

Applebloom looked at Applejack with excitement, leaving Applejack to think for a moment and eventually decide that it was fine. "Oh alright. My butt gave you enough punishment anyway."

"Don't remind me." Applebloom snarked, and then she dashed over to Zecora, hoping she would say yes. "So do we have a deal?"

Zecora took a liking to this, knowing that it would benefit both her and Applebloom by a great deal. "I don't see how I could decline the company, as I see us growing a bond involving harmony."

Applebloom was happy to hear that as she dashed up to Zecora's face and grabbed her chest. "I don't know what you said but I'm gonna say that's yes!"

Applebloom started jumping around excitedly, making sure not to break the potions as Twilight walked up to Zecora with a statement in mind. "And just so you know, I'm not interested in a magic duel. Not yet anyway." Zecora nodded in understanding, not wanting to force Twilight to participate in something she didn't want to partake in.

Spike and the others were heading home as Zecora noticed the mark on Spike's claw, grabbing it just before he could leave the house. "This mark on your claw to me is quite new. It holds quite a massive power, is that true?"

Spike saw that Zecora was catching onto what his mark was all about, feeling comfortable with confirming her belief. "Yeah, it's got a lot of power inside. I can't find out how to control it though. Sometimes it goes berserk and sometimes it doesn't really do anything at all."

Zecora found this fact quite interesting with Twilight, Applejack, and Applebloom taking notice to the conversation as Zecora spoke up. "I hope you manage to control this mark someday, as the last thing I want is for all life to decay."

Spike shrugged, not really sure how powerful the mark itself would be. "Well I don't think it's that powerful, but yeah, I hope I can gain full control over it myself one day. I met this one dude who has the same mark as me when it spawned something that let us communicate and see each other. I think his name was Ryu."

Zecora was concerned from this fact, but decided to wait before she made her move on Spike's claw mark. "Perhaps you should let me see this when you return. I feel we both look at this mark with immense concern."

"Well you're not wrong." Spike admitted, feeling that it wouldn't hurt to at least give it a shot. "I'll think about it. (Walks off) Catch ya later Zecora." Spin walked off with the others as Spike looked at his claw mark again, but then stated that he liked Zecora so far. "She's cool from what I've seen so far."

Applebloom was still rubbing her muzzle from Applejack's beef stew as she stated something on Zecora of her own. "She's way cooler than my spiteful, overprotective sister." Applejack rolled her eyes as Applebloom leaned in towards Spike to whisper her own two cents on sibling-hood. "You're SO lucky your sister lets you do whatever you want."

"With SOME restrictions." Spike whispered back, knowing that Twilight wasn't the type to just let a kid do whatever they wanted.

Spike was at Sugarcube Corner with Applebloom the next day as the two of them were waiting for their orders to come. As the two of them were sitting at their booth, Pinkie Pie came over to them with some chocolate milkshakes, setting them down as she asked about last night. "So what was Zecora like? Was she as evil as the legends told?"

Spike and Applebloom looked at each other and nodded with Spike giving the response. "She was actually pretty cool. Only thing about her that was creepy was how lonely she was, but she managed to restrain herself when we arrived."

"Apparently those bogus rumors led to no one visiting her." Applebloom added, wondering who started the rumors to begin with. "Now I wanna know who made them up so I can pound them into the floor."

Pinkie Pie didn't seem entirely on board with this revelation, but she was also accepting to it, and glad that Zecora wasn't evil. "Sounds sketchy, but I'll take your word for it. If I'm lucky she can give me ideas for a cake recipe. (Skates off) Enjoy your shakes!"

Spike and Applebloom started drinking their shakes as Applebloom asked about what Twilight was like. "So what's Twilight like? Ya know, how does she treat you and is she fun?"

"Twilight can be fun, yeah." Spike answered, glad he had as good of a relationship with Twilight as he did. "She's a total nerd, and before she moved to Ponyville she was a friend atheist. She just abstained from it out of complete disinterest."

"Heh. Sounds like a code 101 introvert to me." Applebloom responded, and then she brought up how close Spike was with Twilight. "You seem to be a lot closer with Twilight than I am with Applejack. Ever since our parents died it's been hard to bond over much at all. Big Mac spent most of the past ten years responding with 'yep' and 'nope' to pretty much everything."

Spike started to think about who his parents were, and then he brushed it off to express sympathy over Applebloom's loss. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. I can't imagine what it's like to lose a loved one, let alone two. (Smirks) Though I'm interested to know how they died."

"Maybe in the future edge lord." Applebloom responded with a surprised laugh, and then the two of them went back to drinking their milkshakes as the screen faded to black, ending the episode off.

An instrumental version of the main theme played during the credits.

Winter Wrap Up Shenanigans

Twilight was sleeping in her room at the Golden Oak Library as the morning sun shone in her bedroom window. When she woke up, she realized what day it was and got out of bed, putting on a winter coat and walking out of her room. She then went into Spike's room with a cheerful smile, "Morning Spike!" only to realize that her younger brother was still sleeping. She went over to him to wake him up, hoping he would participate in today's event. "You awake sleepyhead?"

Spike woke up and rubbed his eyes, being irritated that Twilight stopped him from sleeping. "If it makes you leave me alone the fastest."

"It's Winter Wrap up." Twilight revealed, making Spike give a look of realization, but then he gave a look of indifference as he got off of his bed and left the room with Twilight. "This is going to be different from how we do it in Canterlot. The residents of Ponyville do everything without magic."

"Sounds thrilling enough to kill me." Spike stated sarcastically, opening the fridge and pulling out a bottle of cherry, chocolate soda. "Can we talk about this later Twilight? You know I hate everyone until I've had my favorite drink. At least on days where I wake up earlier than seven A.M."

Spike started drinking his soda as Twilight pointed out just how unhealthy that was for him. "Spike, you know that stuff isn't a healthy morning drink. You've gotta stop drinking it as soon as you wake up."

Spike finished his first bottle as he then let out a loud burp and also farted at the same time, letting out two green clouds that let out a chocolaty, cherry flavored scent (PHHHHHT). Twilight rolled her eyes as Spike give his usual smug grin that came with his farts. "Do, not, care."

Twilight sighed, knowing that this was going to be a rough morning. "I should also point out how gassy it makes you."

"That's why I love it." Spike reminded Twilight as she levitated him onto her back, and the two left the house with Spike pulling out another bottle of his soda before the door closed.

Spike was drinking his soda as he continued to let out quick farts that annoyed Twilight, since he was still on her back at the time (pfft) (brat) (blarp) (phht). "Spike, can you please stop farting? I don't wanna smell like chocolate when I'm helping with Winter Wrap up."

Spike finished his bottle and put it in the recycling bin before letting out a big burp that knocked out a few birds with how big the noxious cloud was, giving a smug grin when he was done. "Why do you think I usually let this all out in the library? If you didn't forget that then we wouldn't have this problem."

Twilight sighed with Spike lying down on her back as she looked around to see how everyone was contributing to Winter Wrap up. She saw that Pinkie Pie was just having fun ice skating, and that Rainbow Dash and Lightspeed were on the whether team. Twilight decided to troll Spike for a bit, since he had feelings for the latter of the Pegasi siblings, gaining a smirk as she did. "Ya know, Lightspeed probably won't like it if you fart in front of him too often."

Spike flinched, wondering if he'd be able to get away with doing it silently. "Do Pegasi have hyper hearing?" Twilight giggled as she nodded her head no, much to Spike's relief as he wiped his head. "Good. I'll just hold in the burps and do the farts SBD."

Twilight nodded in response as she went over to the others with Spike as Lightspeed noticed him while he and Rainbow Dash were arranging the clouds and got excited. "Spike!" Lightspeed rushed down to Spike and Twilight since he and Rainbow Dash had just finished up the cloud, leading to Spike jumping off of Twilight's back and being happy to see him. "I was wondering when you and Twilight were gonna arrive. What are you guys gonna do for Winter Wrap up?"

"Hate to break it to ya Lightspeed, but I'm not really in the helpful mood right now." Spike explained as he then went into detail on it. "Twilight woke me up early today and I had to drink my favorite soda to get me going."

Spike's stomach suddenly growled loudly with Lightspeed instantly catching onto it and laughing a bit. "You know I live with Rainbow Dash, right? Let it out." Spike was relieved to hear that and released a loud and bassy ten second fart into the air, causing a bunch of birds to pass out from the yellow rotten egg cloud (PHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHT).

Rainbow Dash saw Spike and Lightspeed laughing together, smiling as she flew down to them and wafted the cloud away with her wings before landing next to Lightspeed. "You go ahead and take some time off Lightspeed. I'll take whether patrol from here."

"You sure?" Lightspeed asked, wanting to make sure Rainbow Dash was confident about this.

"Yeah, I won't be too bombarded with chores today." Rainbow Dash assured Lightspeed, making him happy as he walked off with Spike.

"Thanks Rainbow Dash! I'll be back as soon as I can!" Spike and Lightspeed walked off with Lightspeed wondering how Spike's gas could be put to use."

Twilight walked over to a lake of ice and watched Pinkie Pie ice skating before the earth pony noticed her and skated over to her with a wide smile. "Hi Twilight! Welcome to your first ever Winter Wrap Up in Ponyville!"

"Thanks Pinkie." Twilight responded, seeing that Pinkie Pie was having a blast showing off her skating skills. "I'm glad to see you're having as much fun as ever, but I don't see how this helps with he wrap up."

"Oh, it doesn't." Pinkie Pie confirmed, and thens he explained why she was out here. "See, I was baking the sweets and making all the sugary drinks for the ponies to have at Sugarcube Corner, and I made so many that Mrs. Cake let me go out and have some fun while she finished with the decorations."

Twilight appreciated good work ethic, even if not as much as Applejack, and she was open to trying out figure skating. "You have an extra set of skates? Figure skating looks like fun." Pinkie Pie pulled out an extra pair of figure skates for Twilight and she put them on, making sure not to use her magic to keep up with tradition. She struggled a little, but she was eventually able to put them on. "Thanks."

"No problem. It may take you some time to get the hang of things, but I think you should be able to get it down." Pinkie Pie helped Twilight onto the ice rink, and although Twilight was struggling to stay up, Pinkie Pie was able to stop her from landing on her private area as she cracked a joke about it. "Good thing we're both girls."

After a few more seconds, Pinkie Pie allowed Twilight to try and skate on her own. However, she ended up falling flat on her face, leading to her rubbing her head as Pinkie Pie helped her up. "You made it look so easy."

"That's because I've been doing it for years. Just stay calm and collected. That should help." Twilight did as Pinkie Pie said, and although she wasn't going that fast, she was glad to be getting the hang of it. Pinkie Pie was glad to see this herself, knowing that Twilight could become a figure skating master yet.

Spike and Lightspeed were walking around Ponyville while looking around and seeing how beautiful the snow made everything. Lightspeed loved every inch that the snow had to offer, at least when it wasn't causing anyone harm. There was just something about the beauty and softness that it had to offer for him, and everyone else in the world. He was admittedly bummed out that winter was ending. "Sometimes I wish Winter could last forever."

Spike knew how Lightspeed felt, even if he preferred Summer over Winter himself. "I know the feeling. Every time Summer ends I feel like the best part of the year is over. (Smiles as he looks at Lightspeed) I can see why some people don't like it though. (Snickers a bit) Sometimes it feels like the sun's throwing a tantrum for three months."

Lightspeed laughed a bit at Spike's joke towards the sun as he then spoke up about the four seasons. "When you think about it, every season has at least one disaster going against them. For Summer it's the drought, for Winter it's the blizzards, for Fall it's the wind, and for Spring it's the risk of bees when the flowers start to bloom."

Spike saw where Lightspeed was coming from there, knowing that every season had it's pros and cons. He had to admit though, that the Summer disaster was least annoying for him. "The problems with each season really depend on who you're talking to. (Looks ahead) Since dragons are cold blooded, it makes me a lot easier to handle the droughts. And event hen, we still have cold drinks and umbrellas to hold the ponies over. When the world doesn't feel like a volcano that is."

Lightspeed saw a snow pile just outside of town and looked at Spike with a hopeful smile. "Can dragons still play in the snow?"

"I've been out here without any winter attire for at least an hour!" Spike exclaimed as he ran towards the snow pile, and he jumped in right before Lightspeed, leading to the two of them laughing as this happened, along with the two of them just relaxing in the snow before Spike shuddered a bit, catching Lightspeed's attention as Spike then chuckled a bit. "Though I probably should at least put a scarf on at least."

Twilight was looking around to see how she could help with Winter Wrap up as Pinkie Pie walked with her, since she was done with her break. "You did great Twilight! We'll have a lot more time to practice next winter, and you'll have the chance to become as good as me."

Twilight giggled a little, glad to see that Pinkie Pie was willing to help her become a figure skating pro. "Thanks Pinkie. Also, do you know if anyone else could use my help for Winter Wrap up? I wanna know if there's a way I can contribute to the end of winter."

Pinkie Pie thought for a moment and came up with something that could work for Twilight. "Well now that you mention it, one of Fluttershy's helper ponies got sick with the flu the other day. Maybe you could help her with the animals."

Twilight felt that helping Fluttershy could be something she's capable of doing. "Yeah, I could see myself helping with the animals. (Gives a smug grin) I kept Spike after all." Pinkie Pie ended up bursting with laughter at what Twilight just said with the unicorn walking off to find Fluttershy when Pinkie Pie pointed in the direction she was in. "Thanks Pinkie."

"No problem. (Snickers) Kept Spike." Pinkie Pie continued to laugh as she made her way back to Sugarcube Corner.

Twilight was looking for Fluttershy and eventually found her in the part of the forest near town making some sweaters for the animals. She went over to her and made sure not to startle her, waiting until she noticed her to say anything. "Hi Fluttershy."

"Hi Twilight." Fluttershy walked over to Twilight and brought her a sweater that perfectly matched her color, albeit, sounding a bit muffled when saying the first few words. "It's your first Winter Wrap up in ponyville, right? (Twilight puts on the sweater) I knitted this for you when I first realized that a week ago. It's not perfect, but I think it gets the job done."

Twilight loved how warm the sweater felt, unable to believe she didn't have this on until now. "Thanks Fluttershy. It feels like I'm hugging a thousand bunnies."

Fluttershy smiled upon hearing that, glad to see that Twilight was enjoying her gift for her. "I know Pinkie Pie's usually the one who gives gifts at random, but I figured it'd be fitting for your first Winter Wrap up here. Plus I noticed you didn't have any winter attire on."

Twilight realized that too and giggled a bit, wondering why that was at first. "Yeah, I don't know why I came out without any protective wear for me or Spike. (A snake is shown to be slithering) I'm usually as prepared as can be. Maybe I'm just excited because-" Just then, the snake hissed, startling Twilight and making her fall back and land on a skunk with her butt landing on his face. "Well, as you said, it's my first Winter Wrap Up in Ponyville."

Twilight giggled a bit with Fluttershy showing concern for the skunk as Twilight's butt was then shown as she cut a loud and bassy ten second fart, hitting the skunk with a yellow cloud of rotten eggs that made Twilight's butt vibrate, as well as making Twilight flinch and look down as she saw the gas cloud leave her rear end (PHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHT). Twilight looked back at Fluttershy, blushing as the latter covered her muzzle. "Sorry about that. Spike's gassiness from earlier must've rubbed off on me."

Fluttershy noticed that the animals were walking away from Twilight due to her fart, wondering what else she could do as she then smiled and remembered that Rarity was with her. "I think it'd be best if you helped Rarity with the Winter Wrap up baskets. She's nearby, and the animals might not come back for a while."

"Good call. (Walks over to Rarity) Thanks Fluttershy." Twilight went over to where Rarity was as Fluttershy then noticed the skunk Twilight farted on had been knocked out, making Fluttershy surprised by how powerful Twilight's gas was as she started tending to the skunk.

Spike and Lightspeed were making a snowman with Spike pushing up the snow ball they were using for the head. When it was finished, Spike put it on top and Lightspeed put the carrot in the middle, and then put the top hat on top. When the two were done, they backed up a bit and got a good look at the snowman with Lightspeed asking Spike about Canterlot. "Did you do this a lot in Canterlot too?"

"Eh, not really." Spike answered, feeling that life in Canterlot could be kind of boring at times. "Believe it or not, Canterlot wasn't the type of place where anyone was expected to play. It wasn't a prison, but most of the time it felt like you made an impact, or died trying."

Lightspeed didn't know what to say when he heard that. He couldn't imagine himself living in a place that didn't know how to have fun. "It couldn't have been THAT bad, right? I know you dated Scootaloo when you both lived there."

Spike suddenly realized what he was unintentionally implying and quickly corrected himself. "Oh-no, don't get me wrong; it wasn't a prison or anything like that. I had loving parents, Twilight, and our older brother, and we all got along great. It's just that...success seemed to be the top priority for most people in Canterlot. Not like Manehattan, where the ponies were already making their names mean something. It was more like them starting to make their lives matter, and at least eighty percent of ponies were focused on that."

Lightspeed already knew that there was more to Spike than being upbeat and confident in his skills, but he was starting to see something deeper inside of him. "Is that why you tried to convince Twilight to have friends?"

"Yep. And that's actually kinda why I like Ponyville now that I think about it. They know there's more to life than having your name known." Lightspeed smiled at Spike's response with Spike taking notice and laughing a bit as he started talking. "What're you so flattered about? You and Rainbow Dash were born in Cloudsdale." Lightspeed saw Spike's point, and then the two of them looked at the snowman again, glad that the two of them could just enjoy the day together. "Speaking of Rainbow Dash, we should probably head back before we go over your break limit."

"Good call. Want me to fly you back?"

"Okay. But fair warning, I might randomly get soda gas on the way back."

"Noted. That could actually make this a little easier." Lightspeed let Spike get on his back anyway, and although he struggled a bit, he was able to fly him over Ponyville just fine, leaving the two of them to smile at the sight of it.

Twilight was walking over to Rarity as she inspected that she was making the baskets with her magic rather than her hooves like she expected. She walked over to her and greeted her as she finished up a small basket. "Hi Rarity. If you don't mind me asking, why're you using your hooves to make the baskets? I thought Ponyville didn't use magic for Winter Wrap up."

"We used to neglect using magic ourselves, but some of the unicorns struggled so much a few years back that we decided to let them use it when needed." Rarity explained, and then she noticed Twilight's odor and pulled out some perfume, sounding more disgusted and worried than enraged and distant as she spoke. "Oh heavens, that smell! It's almost as if you took a bath in rotten eggs this morning."

Twilight blushed a bit, but didn't put her head down in shame as she bluntly stated what the smell was from. "I farted while talking to Fluttershy."

Rarity wasn't one to be the biggest fan of natural gas, but she also couldn't deny that it was something that was hard to control at times. "Well it's better than letting it build up inside of you and then come out like scorching fire." Rarity sprayed Twilight up, leaving her to smell good as new, with a scent of roses added in on it, and then Rarity demonstrated to her how to make the proper basket. "I assume you're here to help me. One demonstration, and you'll be ready to dazzle everyone with your raw talent."

Rarity was estatic to show off her craftsmanship when it came to baskets, having plenty of experience alongside making clothes. She instantly started demonstrating her grace to Twilight, perfectly crafting a small basket and allowing her to see how much detail she puts into the pattern, which is green, then yellow, then red. "The green of the grass, the yellow of the sun, and the red of roses. The perfect pattern for Springtime in my opinion. Feel free to make any pattern you like."

Twilight decided to give it a whirl, deciding to start off simple with red, pink, and yellow, catching Rarity's eye. "Ooh, nice touch. Pink also does a good job at showing what flowers can do." Twilight was happy to hear that, and appeared to be struggling with her design, having not been used to using her powers for crafting before. Rarity decided to give her some advice when she saw this, smiling patiently as she did. "Try calming yourself of any nerves you might have. A calm designer is always the best at their job. Unless they work well under pressure that is."

Twilight took Rarity's words into account and calmed herself down completely, breathing in through her nose, and out from her mouth. She found that she was able to craft much easier that way, and went at a slower pace just to make sure of it. When she finished the basket, Rarity smiled proudly along with her, leaving the two of them to do a hoof bump as they continued to make baskets for everyone in Ponyville as Twilight spoke up. "At this rate I just might be able to get to the big baskets."

"Good luck keeping up with me." Rarity replied jokingly with a sly grin before giggling, leaving the two of them to continue crafting their baskets as Twilight did her best to catch up to Rarity. Rarity usually wasn't one for competition, but if Twilight felt she could catch up to her, she was more than willing to see it happen.

Spike and Lightspeed arrived back to where Rainbow Dash was as Lightspeed landed on a cloud she was guiding to rest. Rainbow Dash was surprised by how tired Lightspeed was, giving a smirk to Spike as she spoke up. "Geez Spike. Did you eat a whole grown up dragon before getting on Lightspeed?"

"Beats me, I don't know any other dragons." Spike jokingly replied as he went to step off Lightspeed. "Well except for the one Fluttershy helped-" Just then, Spike fell off the cloud and continued talking as Rainbow Dash flew down to him. "find a new home!" After Rainbow Dash caught Spike, he laughed a bit and thanked her for the save. "Thanks. Totally forgot cloud walking was exclusive to Pegasi."

Rainbow Dash flew Spike back up to Lightspeed as she commented on his lack of winter clothes. "I'd also recommend putting on a scarf or something. As far as I know you dragons are supposed to be cold blooded."

"Oh, right!" Lightspeed grabbed another scarf from his bag and gave it to Spike. It was red, just like his, and when Spike put it on, he felt all kinds of warm, fuzzy feelings surrounding him as Lightspeed chuckled a bit. "Believe it or not, I took knitting class back in Elementary school. (Blushes a bit) Turns out I'm crazy good at it for a Pegasus."

Spike was glad to be wearing something that Lightspeed himself made, and the two looked at each other with smiles that showed just how the two felt about one another. "Well I'd say it paid off." Rainbow Dash winked to the audience as she allowed Spike and Lightspeed to gawk it up.

Twilight had mastered the basket crafting, having made at least ten baskets after finishing the first one with style. Rarity was impressed, but she had to admit that she might've been a little TOO impressed, since she was well aware of how skilled Twilight was with her magic. "I must say Twilight, you've more than shown me how good you are with your magic. It's no wonder you used to be Celestia's pupil."

"Well I still have a lot to learn if I wanna be a magic teacher, but I think I can make it to the top as long as I keep learning more spells." Twilight stated proudly, and then she went into detail on what she meant. "To think I used to abstain from friendship. If it wasn't for Spike's support and also the pilot, I would've never discovered that I was so good at basket making."

Rarity was glad to see that Twilight was accepting to friendship now, and that she could participate in Winter Wrap Up with her. "It would admittedly be interesting to see what you would be like if Celestia never sent you and Spike to Ponyville."

"Pssh. I'd still be buried in my books thinking that everything else lacks purpose." Twilight snarked, and then she started to think about Applejack after realizing that she never saw what she does for Winter Wrap Up. "Hey. Do you know what Applejack does for Winter Wrap Up? She's the only one I haven't seen today."

"I could show you where she is. I could use a break. And one of Pinkie Pie's vanilla milkshakes." Twilight happily agreed to that and walked off with Rarity, organizing the baskets by color combinations before they headed off so they looked just right for their station.

Rainbow Dash and Lightspeed were guiding clouds as Spike sat on Rainbow Dash's back and watched. Lightspeed didn't mind this too much since he still got to hang out with Spike, but Rainbow Dash felt he could at least try to help out. "It's not that I don't like your company Spike, but you could at least go down there and see if there's anything you can do to help with Winter Wrap Up."

Spike sat up and looked down at everyone in Ponyville, finding that there wasn't really much he could do by this point. "Looks like the town's almost done with the cleanup where I'm looking. Same with you two. I think this is your last cloud."

Rainbow Dash looked at the clouds and saw Spike's point, finding that just about everything looked perfect for Springtime to come in. "Hey, you're right. Heh. Guess I was working so hard I forgot how little we had left to do." Rainbow Dash and Lightspeed put the last cloud into place with Rainbow Dash cracking a joke about when Spike and Lightpeed were hanging out together. "So. Did you to get...close, while you were gone?"

Spike and Lightspeed instantly caught onto what Twilight meant and instantly started blushing with Spike speaking up as they looked at each other. "I mean..."

As Spike started scratching his head, Lightspeed said what he could to finish his comment. "We DID lie down in the snow for a bit."

Rainbow Dash could tell that Spike and Lightspeed were still struggling to express their feelings for one another, deciding that it'd probably be best if she talked to Twilight about it. "Hey Spike, let's go find your sister. She can't be too far from here."

"Yeah, I have been wondering what Twilight's been up to." Spike admitted, hopping onto Rainbow Dash's back as she and Lightspeed flew off to find out where Twilight was.

Twilight and Rarity were heading over to the snow plowing field where Applejack had just finished plowing the last of the snow in her assigned area. Twilight took notice to all the hard work Applejack did and found her job to be quite fitting for someone with her work ethic. "Sure looks like a fitting job for Applejack. And just look at how big this field is."

Applejack unhooked herself from the snow plowing machine and walked over to Twilight and Rarity when see them. "Howdy Twilight, howdy Rarity. How're ya'll doin' today?"

"We're doing pretty good, thanks." Twilight answered, being glad that she was as good as she was at basket crafting, and that Rarity had a good time as well. "I can see you put a lot of work into your station. Plowing all the snow out of an area must be a lot of hard work."

Applejack couldn't argue with that, but she was proud of herself for putting in as much work as she did. "The way I see it, the ways I help the town are just as important as helping the farm. I always give it a hundred and ten percent."

"And that's why the town loves ya!" Rainbow Dash and Lightspeed landed with Spike getting off of Rainbow Dash and walking over to Twilight with Rainbow Dash whipping her mane. "Of course, thanks to yours truly and the coolest little brother in the world, the sun will be shining as bright as can be tomorrow for the first day of Spring."

Applejack got a good look at the sky had to admit that she could see what Rainbow Dash was getting at there. "And I know we'll all love the feeling of the sun on our skins with that perfect Springtime heat."

Just then, Spike's stomach growled and he asked Twilight if he had any plans for food. "Hey Twilight, you know if you have any lunch plans today? Cause I don't want my stomach to start eating itself."

"I think I can get us a thing or two at Hayburger." Twilight responded, and then she looked at the others to see if they wanted to join. "You guys wanna come? You'll be buying your own food, but we could all use the treat I bet." Everyone was in agreement on that plan and they all headed off to Hayburger to see what they could chow down on.

Spike and the others were at Hayburger while talking about life as Rainbow Dash got a little flirtatious with Applejack at the booth. "Ya know Applejack, you must've broken a sweat today when you were plowing that snow. As hard working as you are, (Scoots a little closer to Applejack) that must've been nothing compared to what you do on the farm. Just imagine how much energy one would have to be able to put that much work in every day of their life."

Applejack decided to get flirty with Rainbow Dash too, even though she wasn't as good at it. "Well there's no denying the hard work you do yourself. I'm surprised your not tired of clouds already with how high your work ethic is when on the job."

Rarity could see what was going on and looked at Twilight when speaking quietly about it. "I think it's quite obvious those two will be a thing in the future."

"Oh yeah, definitely." Twilight responded before noticing that Spike and Lightspeed were sitting quite close to each other, leading to a smirk from his older sister. "Seems like there's plenty of room there for you two to relax." Spike and Lightspeed caught onto what Twilight was saying and blushed lightly before sitting up and going back to their food, leaving Twilight to speak to Rarity telepathically with her unicorn magic. "I think Spike and Lightspeed would be even cuter though." Rarity squeed telepathically at the idea, wanting to see what Spike and Lightspeed would be like as a couple.

The next day, Spike was writing the letter to Celestia as Twilight told him what to write down. "And so, our first Spring in Ponyville is looking like it'll be a great start. Sincerily, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

Spike decided to add in a little something extra when giving a smug grin. "P.S. Give Spike and Lightspeed special privladges when the Gala comes around next month." Spike sent the letter with Twilight giving him a blunt look about that last line, which he ignored. "So. Two month time skip. How's it feel that the Gala's coming closer because of it?"

Twilight smiled after hearing that, having to admit she was excited for the Gala. "Believe it or not, I'm still really excited for it. And now that it's Spring, it'll finally be an appropriate time to ask Rarity about all our dresses. And (Playfully boops Spike's snout) your tux."

"In one of the few occasions I'll actually bother to wear one." Spike informed Twilight, and then he started to think about how he and Lightspeed would interact with one another at the Gala. "I'm so glad Lightspeed can come with us. Hopefully Celestia will let the two of us swim in the chocolate fountain, and if she does, I swear I won't fart in it." Twilight rubbed her younger brother's head, which he liked the feeling of as the screen faded to black, ending the episode off.

Celestia was reading in her room as she got the message Spike and Twilight sent, reading it and being impressed with it, before she got to Spike's little message where she scoffed and grinned upon seeing it. "Sorry Spike. (Sets the letter down) I'm not getting involved in your little romance story." Celestia continued to read with the screen fading to black and ending the episode off again.

An instrumental version of the main theme plays during the credits.

Cutie Marks

Cheerilee was teaching her class as Applebloom expressed boredom, wanting something fun to happen before it was too late. She was never very fond of whenever Cheerilee, or any of her teachers, went into 'boring lecture about useless garbage we'll probably never use in the future' mode. Though, the mention of one thing did catch her attention. "Anyway, now on to Cutie Marks." Applebloom perked up with Cheerliee continuing her lecture. "Some of you may think Cutie Marks define your future. But in reality, they show what you're talented in, and something you could find yourself enjoying."

Applebloom was actually enjoying the lecture for once as Cheerilee went into more detail on it. "The thought of Cutie Marks defining your future isn't completely irrelevant, but it's not one hundred percent accurate. You could be talented in sewing but have a career in cooking. The only difference is that you'd have to practice a lot in the cooking, where as your talent in sewing is natural. Think of it as...you being a prodigy in something, but you're still normal like everyone else. We all have our skills we excel in after all."

Applebloom was still listening to the lecture Diamond Tiara, who sat by her left, coughed and held a note over to her as Applebloom whispered to her. "What? I'm actually interested in class for once." Diamond Tiara waved the note around, leaving Applebloom annoyed before she took it. "Fine."

Applebloom accepted the note and then heard Cheerilee's voice from the front of the class right as she did. "Applebloom." Applebloom set the note down with Cheerilee walking up to her desk. "Are you passing notes again?"

"Pssh, yeah. Because be taking the note out of someone else's mouth indicates that I'M the one who wrote it." Applebloom deadpanned, with Cheerilee not appreciating the sarcasm. "Brilliant deduction Ms. Cheerilee; you really earned your GED or your degree in boring your students or whatever it takes to become a teacher."

"And I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't be sarcastic when speaking to me." Cheerilee requested, and then Applebloom scoffed.

"Fine. I'll put it in stupid pony terms for you." Applebloom then pretended to be stupid, which made some of the other kids laugh. "Duh! I'm stupid, duh! I can't speak properly, duh!" Applebloom was unfazed by Cheerilee's stern look as she opened up the letter and was surprised by the fact that it was empty, and then gave a deadpan look to her teacher. "And even if I WAS passing this note, I'm pretty sure that unlike Diamond Tiara, I wouldn't lack the mental capacity to bother writing something in said note before passing it to someone."

Diamond Tiara was shocked by Applebloom's roast with the students who were laughing earlier laughing even harder. This led to Diamond Tiara growling at Applebloom, who gave her a smug grin as she ignored Cheerilee's lecture.

Spike and Applebloom were talking outside of the school as they talked about the punishment Applebloom got. "Three days of detention for backsass. The things teachers will do to make themselves seem dominant."

Applebloom was currently texting Applejack with her phone, which was shown to have a hoof pad on the back so it'd stick to her hoof. As she sent the text regarding her punishment, she complained about what happened. "And obviously I'm just gonna lie to Applejack and say I don't have to go. How was I supposed to know refusing to suck up to the school bully was illegal?"

"Applebloom!" Spike and Applebloom looked to see Diamond Tiara and her best friend/sidekick/slave Silver Spoon walking up to her with anger in their eyes. "You're lucky I didn't sock you in front of the teacher for roasting me like that! Spike might've gotten away with farting fire on me, but I will NOT let a blank flank like you get away with what you pulled today!"

Applebloom punched Diamond Tiara in the face, walking off as she put her phone in her backpack and said goodbye to Spike. "I'm gonna go do whatever now. Later Spike. Later try-hard tough girls."

Silver Spoon helped Diamond Tiara up with Spike commenting on her behavior as the bell rang. "Maybe you should consider going to an anti-ditch class." Spike walked off with Diamond Tiara being appalled, shouting out profanity as Spike called Twilight. "Hey Twilight, you'll never guess what happened today."

Applebloom was walking into town as she noticed a white furred unicorn with a light blue and white mane trying to balance on a unicycle. This made Applebloom giggle as she walked up to her and started a conversation. "Hey, you're Rarity's sister Sweetie Belle, right? That weirdo who's always doing weird things? Scootaloo but without the danger? (Looks at the audience) Don't worry, we'll show it eventually."

"Yeah, you could say that." Sweetie Belle fell off the unicycle with Applebloom helping her up after she fell flat on her face. "Thanks. And if you're wondering why I do all of those weird things, I'm trying to figure out what my talent is so I can have a cutie mark. (Gasps lightly) Maybe my talent is skydiving!"

Applebloom was baffled at what Sweetie Bell was doing, being indifferent to her quest to find her talent. "Well good luck with that weirdo. (Walks off) Maybe there's a talent for being weird and you haven't discovered it yet." Sweetie Belle got to thinking about that as Applebloom then started to wonder about Sweetie Belle's method, finding that it could have some potential now that she gave it deeper thought.

Applebloom was on the farm as she talked to Applejack about what happened in school today, since Applejack found out about her assigned detention. Applebloom was doing her best not to groan in annoyance as Applejack scolded her for what happened. "And then you go out of your way and lie to me about getting detention? For Celestia's sake Applebloom, you're not gonna get anywhere if you keep acting like this."

"Well I didn't know it was illegal to make people laugh." Applebloom replied sarcastically, finding her reason for getting detention to be stupid. "All I did wrong was explain to Cheerilee that she needed to lighten up and that me grabbing a note from someone else couldn't possibly mean I'm the one who passed it."

"And you skipped detention." Applejack reminded Applebloom, who rolled her eyes as Applejack spoke up about her punishment. "And you can help me with my chores on the farm until dinner."

Applebloom instantly found a loophole to the scenario, leaning down by a tree and pulling out her phone and headphones as Applejack started smashing the apples in a bucket, giving a smug grin as she spoke up. "If I were you, I wouldn't have made ignoring your request an option."

Applejack sighed with annoyance as Applebloom was looking for a good song to listen to, taking her younger sister's headphones off as she asked her something. "Don't you wanna find out what you'll do with your life?"

"Everyone does." Applebloom answered, and then she brought up the encounter she made earlier today. "Now that you mention it though, that weirdo Sweetie Belle was trying to see if unicycling was her talent. Tch, as if a unicorn could master it without cheating. Yeah, she's always doing weird stuff to get her cutie mark."

Applejack felt that scolding Applebloom from this point onward wouldn't work, so she decided to try encouraging her to try new things as she smiled and sat down in front of her. "Maybe you could try that yourself. It couldn't hurt to find something else you really like."

Applebloom thought for a moment and tried to think of a good start, thinking about the cutie marks of her family as she then looked at Applejack's. "Apple pie for Granny Smith, Apple half for Big Mac, three apples for you..." Applejack liked where this was going as Applebloom gave her what looked like a positive vibing expression. "You're selling apples in town later, right? Consider your pathetic attempt at authority accepted."

Applejack was a little put off by how Applebloom worded that, but was glad that she was on board. "I don't like the way you worded that, (Smiles) but I'm glad to have some help in my sales. We've been really slow lately." Applebloom gave Applejack a hoof bump, feeling that this could be an interesting experience.

Applejack and Applebloom were in town as Applebloom was starting to get bored due to the lack of sales as Applejack occasionally called out to the ponies in town to find anyone who might want some. She yawned a bit before complaining to Applejack about how low sales were. "I can see what you meant by us being slow lately. The only person who bought any apples so far was some green unicorn."

Applejack sighed, knowing she couldn't argue with Applebloom in that regard. "Yeah, it can get pretty boring doing this. But it's worth it if it's to help Sweet Apple Acres."

"Well we've only had one sale so far, so I doubt we're gonna make much progress today." Applebloom saw a male, orange earth pony who was looking around all confused, getting an idea as she walked over to him to get his attention. "Unless..." Applejack observed what Applebloom was doing as she then spoke up to the earth pony. "Ya lose someone bub?"

The earth pony looked at Applebloom, seeing her sly grin and hoping she could help. "I'm just looking for my girlfriend. She said she'd meet me in town but I can't find her."

"Maybe an apple can help you calm down and actually look for her." Applebloom stated bluntly, bringing the earth pony over to the apple stand as she gave him an apple and he gave her a bit after seeing the one bit sign. "These things make doctors buck off for a reason."

The earth pony walked off with gratitude as Applejack called out Applebloom's foul language, but praised her sale's ability. "Language Applebloom. (Gives a sly grin) But that was impressive."

Applebloom grinned as she then walked over to another male, white unicorn who's mouth was open from yawning and slingshot it into his mouth, forcing him to swallow it as she then dashed up to him and pulled him down to her level. "No free eats buddy. Pay up."

The unicorn paid up with one bit as Applejack looked around, surprised that no one was staying wary of them. She was about to scold Applebloom for her treachery before seeing her do something else. "Applebloom! You can't just-"

Applebloom shushed Applejack as she finished dumping an entire barrel of apples into a female, yellow earth pony's bag, which she noticed as soon as Applebloom held her hoof out. "Forty apples means forty bits!"

The earth pony wasn't very happy with that one, sternly looking at Applebloom as she spoke up. "I didn't put those in my bag!"

"So pay up anyway." Applebloom suggested, and the earth pony raised her eyebrow as she continued. "See, my grandma's hip is busted and could really-"

Applejack pulled Applebloom to the side and helped the earth pony put her apples back as she apologized. "Sorry about my sister. She can be pretty...cunning."

"Believe me, I've heard of her. (Walks off) I hope she learns to behave."

Applejack turned to Applebloom, who gave a deadpan look as the two of them went back to the apple stand. "Force-selling people to buy our products is not the way to do things. Not with us anyway."

Applejack took Applebloom's apron off as Applebloom questioned Applejack's way of business. "Well how else are you supposed to do it? No one's buying them fairly right now, so extortion just sounds like the go-to option right now."

"Who do you think we are, Filthy Rich?" Applejack asked, and Applebloom shrugged as the former then tried to help her in her Cutie Mark quest. "I don't think this is for you Applebloom. Maybe something else will be your prized talent."

Applebloom thought for a moment and felt that selling apples was kinda boring anyway. "As long as it's more fun than this, I guess I can live with that." Applebloom walked off with Applejack setting her apron down before Applebloom dashed back up to it and grabbed it. "I'm taking this though. It looks cool." Applebloom dashed off with Applejack sighing as she tried to get some more sales with her apples. She also hoped that Applebloom's attempts at getting bits off of people wouldn't ruin her sales. "Come and get some juicy Apples! Fresh apples from Sweet Apple Acres."

Applebloom was trying to think of what else she could do, not really having many ideas for her second attempt. She didn't have too many hobbies outside of making potions with Zecora and getting lost in her phone, so she didn't feel she had a lot of options to work with. She then started to hear music nearby and ran over to where it was coming from, finding Sweetie Belle jumping onto a trampoline while playing the flute. Applebloom got a good look at this and saw that Sweetie Belle was trying to play the flute and trampoline at the same time.

Applebloom watched Sweetie Belle do her thing as the latter then lost her focus with a bounce that was a little to hard, causing her to jump off and shout as she fell towards Applebloom, who stepped out of the way with Sweetie Belle landing smack on her face. As Sweetie Belle got up and shook her head to get the dirt off, she saw Applebloom and smiled as she greeted her. "Hi Applebloom!"

"Hi to you as well Sweetie Belle." Applebloom replied, finding Sweetie Belle's attempt at finding her Cutie Mark talent to be even more ridiculous than the last. "Playing music while trampolining? Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't acrobatic ponies need all four hooves in over to successfully and consistently pull off every skill in the book?"

"Maybe, but if I can pull this off then my talent could be acrobatics or music." Sweetie Belle explained, and then she realized how badly she did with both of them combined. "Or...maybe not. I'm pretty sure face-planting isn't part of the picture." Applebloom snickered a bit with Sweetie Belle brushing off how she found her screw up funny. "Hey. Pinkie Pie's having a party at Sugarcube Corner for the students and the second semester of school. You wanna come?"

Applebloom did find a party tempting, but then she heard the obnoxious voice of Diamond Tiara from behind. "Two lame blank flanks, sitting in a tree;"

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon then started speaking in sync as they continued to mock Applebloom. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Applebloom was starting to get annoyed with Sweetie Belle being confused by this taunt. "But I'm straight."

"It's meant to be mocking." Applebloom explained, and then she walked up to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, starting to find their presence even more annoying. "Since the party is for students, I guess it wouldn't hurt for me to attend. Applejack forgot to ground me anyway."

"Tch. Obviously an orphan like yourself would be able to avoid a grounding." Applebloom gave a blunt look as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon laughed in response to the former's taunt. They were about to get it. And they did. Applebloom shoved them both into trash cans and then walked off with Sweetie Belle shouting out to her. "You're gonna get it Applebloom!"

"Yeah, put your ego into it!" Applebloom shouted back, sighing as Sweetie Belle joined her and she spoke up. "Wanna get a milkshake?"

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were at Sugarcube Corner as the two of them discussed Cutie Marks. "So this whole Cutie Mark thing. Do you think what Cheerilee said about them being linked to our talents rather than our careers was true, or that it was total dog phit?"

"I could see it going either way." Sweetie Belle admitted, having put a bunch of attempts in today already and having had none of them succeed. "But if we're lucky, our talents will just be something we find out about at random."

"Isn't that how they're supposed to be found out?" Applebloom asked, and that got Sweetie Belle thinking as Applebloom started venting about the world. "Thing is, I don't wanna just sit around and wait all the time. I know I'm usually zoned into my phone and falling asleep in class, but if I could, I'd leave Ponyville right now and go on an adventure. I wanna travel, see places I've never seen before, maybe discover a new species I could grow an attachment to. But instead I'm (Pounds hoof on table) stuck here for four and a half more years."

Applebloom sighed as she put her elbows on the table and continued to vent about the world. "And even if the road was hard, it'd be a lot better than getting a high estate job only to get jicked over by some scumbag who scams you out of everything you own."

Sweetie Belle was listening to what Applebloom had to say, but then she brought up something from her point of view. "Well when you think about it, getting scammed is something that you can come back from if you have the right mindset."

Applebloom saw what Sweetie Belle was getting at, finding her short, but valid point to be uplifting. "How come we've never had a conversation until now? You're actually...cool today." Sweetie Belle smiled as she took a sip of her strawberry shake with Applebloom realizing a setback to traveling. "Now that I think about it though, I'd have to learn how to cook in order to survive if I travel." Applebloom saw Pinkie Pie baking in the kitchen and got an idea that gave her joy.

As Pinkie Pie cooked in the kitchen, Applebloom went back there and saw that Pinkie Pie had quite the big derriere on her. It was the size of at least two normal pony butts, and as she moved it around, Applebloom couldn't help but get caught up in it. She naturally had a thing for butts and stuff, being that she was in her early teens. Pinkie Pie turned around and saw her, closing the oven with her butt as she did. "Hi Applebloom! You need something?"

Applebloom snapped out of her trance and decided to ask Pinkie Pie the question she had for her. "Okay, here's the deal Pinkie Pie. I wanna travel one day, maybe the whole world, and I'll need to know how to cook in order to get by. How are you at training people to make sweets?"

Pinkie Pie was glad to see that Applebloom required her services, knowing that she could help her with her problem. Assuming you could call it one anyway. "I'm glad you asked! I taught myself everything I know, but with a little help from Mrs. Cake, I perfected my baking skill and I think I can teach you a thing or two."

"You THINK, or you know? Baking is pretty straightforward." Applebloom asked, and Pinkie Pie brought her over to the oven, making sure she didn't get burned and she gave her a look at the book of baking recipes she had in mind. Applebloom was thankful that Pinkie Pie offered to help her, and she didn't wanna go overboard right away, so she found a chocolate chip cookie recipe that should work like a charm. "Have you made any cookies yet? They look like you'd have to TRY to mess them up."

Pinkie Pie felt that Applebloom made the best choice, getting the ingredients out so the two could get to work. "Let's do it! I'll make a baker out of you yet!" Applebloom always did like Pinkie Pie's enthusiasm, even if she found it kind of annoying with those who didn't earn it.

Applebloom and Pinkie Pie were waiting for the cookies to be done with Applebloom sitting by Pinkie's already made snacks and snagging herself a chocolate cupcake. As she was waiting for the cookies to get done, she felt that she and Pinkie Pie could use some humor to lighten up the mood. "Waiting. Definitely the most fun game in the world. I never feel like dying when I'm forced into it." Pinkie Pie's giggle showed that Applebloom's sarcastic words did the trick.

Just then, the timer dinged, indicating that the cookies were done as Pinkie Pie dashed up to the oven. "Cookies are done!" Applebloom opened up the oven and Pinkie Pie pulled the cookies out, making sure she had a hoof shaped oven mitt on to get them out with. She set them on the counter and got a good look with Applebloom as they admired their work. "These sure do look good."

"Dang straight. Thanks for helping me make them Pinkie." Applebloom responded, even though she was technically at Pinkie Pie's. "I know it's your bakery, but I'm glad you let me do most of the work."

"It was no problem." Pinkie Pie assured Applebloom, and then she rubbed her head as she finished what she was saying. "Maybe next time we can get to cake." Just then, a bunch of chattering was heard outside with Pinkie Pie remembering what was going on. "Oh-no, the party! (Runs outside with the snacks) I'll bring our cookies out when they're done cooling off!"

Applebloom wasn't too worried about attending the party, going into the dining area as Pinkie Pie was shown putting on her roller skates. Applebloom had to admit that she was curious as to why Pinkie Pie wore them while on the clock. "Why do you serve people in roller skates anyway?"

"It adds the fun factor to the waitress part of this job." Pinkie Pie explained, putting her roller skates into walk mode as she got ready to serve whoever needed her food.

Applebloom went over to Sweetie Belle, finding that she was sipping her milkshake as she tried to get the cherry through the straw. Applebloom quickly took notice of this and gave a deadpan look as she sat down next to Sweetie Belle. "Sweetie, stop that; it won't any further into the straw." Sweetie Belle took the straw out of her mouth and ate the cherry from the bottom, making sure to spit the stem back into the cup. "Yo Pinkie, we got a cleanup job over here!"

Pinkie Pie retrieved the milkshake glasses from Applebloom as Spike and Scootaloo entered Sugarcube Corner. They seemed to be discussing a show that the two of them were currently watching as Scootaloo expressed her feelings on one scene. "I'm just saying Spike. I think it could've been really interesting to see what would've happened if Orion actually left."

"Maybe, but there's no guarantee he and Andy would've survived out there. They're strong, yeah, but they'd have to resort to wild dog methods to survive." Just then, Spike and Scootaloo heard nasty giggling, leaving them to look to their right and spot Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. "Oh great, it's Princess Spoiled and her royal suck up."

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon arrived at Applebloom and Sweetie Bell's booth with Diamond Tiara speaking up. "So farm blank flank. You actually bothered to show up. (Gets enraged) You're lucky my maid knows how to speed wash me, or you'd be sued for everything you own."

Applebloom was indifferent to Diamond Tiara's taunt as she then made one of her own after getting a good look at the matching dresses of bright blue and white lines with diamonds on them. "Am I supposed to be threatened by a spoiled brat who emphasizes on her clothes just to show off how rich she is?"

"Oh, now you're gonna get it!" Diamond Tiara demanded, and then she turned to Silver Spoon. "Silver spoon, pull out my knife collection."

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were stunned as Silver Spoon took out a knife box and showed it to Diamond Tiara. "You wanna use the swift kill?"

Diamond Tiara liked the sound of that and figured it'd be best for this situation. "I would like this to end quickly."

Just then, a claw slammed down on the box, leaving Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stunned before they looked and saw Spike and Scootaloo glaring at them. She already knew not to mess with Spike, but that didn't stop her from targeting Scootaloo. "Really? The only kid in the school who flexed on me, with a fart no less, is teaming up with THIS loser blank flank? (Scootaloo starts to get mad as Spike puts a claw on her shoulder for support) I thought you'd be with your stupid adult friends or something."

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon snickered as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle saw that they were being stood up for by Spike and Scootaloo, deciding to do the same, despite knowing they could hold their own. Applebloom was the first to speak up as she turned Diamond Tiara over to her. "Um, yeah. one of those 'stupid adult friends', is my sister. And yeah she's boring, but at least she has common sense." Diamond Tiara gave a nervous grin, one that Applebloom gave a sly grin towards.

Just then, Applebloom threw Diamond Tiara out of the window, leaving Spike to give a deadpan look to Silver Spoon. This instantly told Silver Spoon to run, which she did, leaving some of the other kids to cheer, as they overheard what'd just happened. Spike then saw that Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle all lacked cutie marks, feeling that they could bond over that. "You three have two things in common. You lack cutie marks, for now anyway, and you're also targets for Diamond Tiara. Maybe you could make that work."

The three fillies looked at each other with Scootaloo liking the sight of Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, Applebloom looking intrigued, and Sweetie Belle being excited as Spike then rubbed his claws together before walking off. "I should probably be leaving the group for a bit anyway. (Walks off) Lightspeed and I might get closer if I play my cards right."

The three fillies sat down together with Sweetie Belle being confused about something. "I thought Spike and Lightspeed were a thing already."

"Apparently he's waiting until the gala to ask him out." Scootaloo explained in reference to Spike's wording of the scenario. "I mean, he already did, but they're gonna become a couple if Lightspeed says yes."

Sweetie Belle understood the scenario better now with Applebloom taking a better liking to being friends with her and Scootaloo. "Spike's right though. Maybe the three of us COULD be a group. And we could all find our Cutie Marks together and learn what our talents are."

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle liked the idea, leaving Scootaloo to be on board as she gave a smile to the idea. "That could be great!"

"And maybe we'll find some other things we have in common too." Sweetie Belle pointed out, hoping that this friend group could last. "What should we call ourselves? Our group has to have a cool name to stand out."

The three thought for a moment with Scootaloo coming up with a name quickly. "The Cutie Three?"

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle didn't like that one, leaving Sweetie Belle to come up with one of her own. "Maybe...The Cutie Markers?"

Scootaloo didn't like that one either, and Applebloom outright hated it, even making a buzzing sound to indicate how bad she thought it was. The three continued to think with Applebloom coming up with a name that she felt would work great with all three of them. "I got it! How about, the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"

All three of the fillies really liked that one, so they stuck with it, putting their hooves over the table as they all spoke up. "Cutie Mark Crusaders, (Raise their hooves) formed!"

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were surprised with their fast friendship, but were also glad that they had other blank flanks to talk to. This led to Applebloom getting a thought in mind about where they could hang out. "First order of business, meet me at my place after the party."

Applebloom was explaining what was going on to Applejack, hoping she would happily oblige with her request without any hesitation. "So, yeah. Long story short, I have two new friends now and I plan to hang out with them as much as possible, so we need you to build us a treehouse so we have somewhere to hang out."

Applejack did like the idea of making the CMC a treehouse, feeling that it wouldn't hurt to help. "That's not a bad idea Applebloom. I'll see if I have the supplies in the barn and you three can decide what you want your treehouse to look like."

Applejack headed into the farm with the CMC nodding to each other, walking into the house as they started discussing it as Applebloom spoke up first. "Obviously we have to make sure it's big, but not too big. What do you guys say to a one story tree house that has all kinds of cool stuff for us to try out?"

"Why not a two story house with a slide on the second floor?" Scootaloo suggested, leaving Applebloom impressed by her unique idea as the Pegasus then went into daredevil mode. "Then I can slide down it at max speed with my scooter and (Eyes start flaming with intensity) totally shred through the air!"

Applebloom liked this feisty attitude with Sweetie Belle being a bit surprised by it before she had a thought of her own. "Maybe I could have Rarity make some streamers for us to put around the treehouse for decorations."

"That would make it look more lively." Applebloom thought out loud, and then she had another idea herself. "And maybe we can have a mini-fridge in case we get hungry and we don't wanna go all the way home to get some food." The CMC continued talking about their ideas with Applejack then shown to be gathering the supplies to make the treehouse, hoping that it wouldn't be anything too complex.

One week later, Applejack had just finished building the treehouse with the CMC admiring what she'd done with it. It had everything they were talking about yesterday from the second floor with a slide shooting out the window, the streamers Sweetie Belle asked Rarity to make, and even the mini-fridge to keep them from getting hungry without leaving the treehouse. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were impressed with Applebloom giving a proud smile as the Pegasus spoke up. "This is so wicked!"

Sweetie Belle squeed with excitement, only being able to imagine what kinds of cutie mark quests she and her friends could do. "We're gonna have so much fun in here!"

"I think we can all agree on that." Applebloom confidently replied, and then she got a look at the streamers, all of them being pink, and gained a deadpan look to Sweetie Belle. "I have to ask though. Did you have to make ALL the streamers pink?" Sweetie Belle giggled while rubbing her the back of her head, and Applebloom quickly smiled and spoke happily about the future. "Whatever. This is gonna work out just fine." The CMC's Treehouse was shown in all it's glory as the screen faded to black, ending the chapter off.

An instrumental version of the main theme played during the credits.

The Spring Leaves Falling

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Ryu Arrives in Ponyville

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Dresses for the Gala

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

The Sonic Rainboom

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Learning the Darkness

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

A Pegasus and an Earth Pony

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

CMC Showstoppers

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Spike's Mother

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Bad Owl Pun

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

The Grand Galloping Gala Part One

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

The Grand Galloping Gala Part Two

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

When Friends Turn Bad

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait on this one. Thanks to my part time job and my Fanfiction stories, I won't be doing chapters weekly anymore, but I'll try to do at least two a month. Enjoy!

When Friends Turn Bad

Rainbow Dash was chilling on a cloud while wearing shades with Pinkie Pie randomly jumping up to her from very far down. "Hi Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash didn't move in the slightest as Pinkie Pie jumped up once again to speak to her. "You wanna go on a-" Pinkie Pie fell down once again, jumping back up as Rainbow Dash took a sip of her soda before she came back up. "Pranking spree with me!?"

Rainbow Dash set her soda down and waited for Pinkie Pie to come back up before she spoke again. "You're the pranking master Pinkie." Pinkie Pie fell down again with Rainbow Dash speaking up again while adjusting her mane once she came back up. "Do you really need me to come with?" Rainbow Dash grabbed Pinkie by her hoof before she fell down again. "That was getting annoying."

Pinkie Pie giggled a bit about what Rainbow Dash said before catching her. "Silly Rainbow Dash. It's not that I NEED you to come with me. It's that I WANT you to come with me. I've done a pranking spree with all of our friends, except for you."

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment and felt she could use a break from her relaxation time. "Why the buck not? I was getting bored up here anyway, not having work today and all that. Plus we haven't hung out much since we first became friends."

Pinkie Pie squeed, knowing that Rainbow Dash's answer was a yes. "This is going to be so fun!" Rainbow Dash had an intrigued look on her face, curious to see what Pinkie Pie had in store.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were currently at Sweet Apple Acres, painting all of the apples on the farm. When Applejack came out and noticed what was going on, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie started laughing after she started chucking apples at them. She then realized that they were still normal apples after some of them fell into a bucket of water, and this lead to her laughing as well, realizing that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were just having fun.

The next stop was Rarity's Boutique, and Rarity was sneezing like crazy as Rainbow Dash put some kind of powder on her doorstep. It floated up in the air a bit and hit Rarity in the face when she went out the door, making her sneeze again as she then noticed Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie holding in their laughter. She then saw a container of sneezing powder, making her start laughing as well while also being relieved that it wasn't some kind of allergy making her sneeze.

For the third stop, Twilight was in the library writing some kind of letter, only for the ink to fade out when she wrote something down. She tried again and again, but it continued to vanish, up until she heard a knock on her window. When she looked, she saw Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie laughing as they revealed a bottle of vanishing ink to her, making her roll her eyes while smiling as she pulled out a bottle of real ink.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had set up something by the pond with Fluttershy shown to be feeding ducks on the other side. Pinkie Pie was excited and couldn't help but ask Rainbow dash, who was looking into the telescope. "Is someone there? Who're we gonna squirt, who're we gonna squirt?"

Rainbow Dash snickered a bit before she confirmed who the victim was gonna be. "Fluttershy. This is gonna be good."

"Fluttershy?" Pinkie Pie started acting as if she wasn't on board with this prank. "I'm not so sure about that Rainbow Dash. You know how sensitive Fluttershy is. We might hurt her feelings."

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment and figured that Pinkie Pie was right. "Yeah, good point. Last thing I want is for my best friend to start crying." Rainbow Dash backed up from the telescope as she thought of who to replace her with. "Who should we prank instead?"

Pinkie Pie started giggling, pointing to Rainbow Dash as she spoke up. "Oh, I have someone in mind."

Rainbow Dash saw Pinkie Pie pointing to her and got confused, looking into the pond and seeing that there was a black circle around her eye. This made Pinkie Pie start laughing as Rainbow Dash looked at her with a proud grin. "Well played." Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie walked off with Fluttershy poking their decoy duck, wondering if it was real or not.

Pinkie Pie was heading on over to Rainbow Dash's house as she saw someone in front of it that surprised her. She saw before her a female griffin, who looked like an extremely cool gal to be around. Pinkie Pie dashed up to said griffin and greeted her. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie. What's your name?"

The griffin didn't care much for Pinkie Pie but decided to introduce herself anyway. "Name's Gilda. Does Rainbow Dash live here?"

"She sure does." Pinkie Pie then started explaining what she was planning on doing with Rainbow Dash. "We had a great time pranking our friends yesterday, so we decided to take it to the next level today by-"

Gilda started to get annoyed with Rainbow Dash coming out and yawning, catching the Griffin's attention and making Rainbow Dash surprised. "Gilda?"

"Yep." Gilda responded, and Rainbow Dash got excited and flew down to her as fast as she could.

Rainbow Dash made sure she had a safe landing as to not risk blowing Gilda and Pinkie Pie away from the house. "It's really you!" Rainbow Dash and Gilda fist bumped and then hi fixed and low fived, leaving Pinkie Pie to understand what was going on as Rainbow Dash then introduced Gilda. "Pinkie Pie, this is my old griffin friend Gilda. We went to the same flight school together before I dropped out, so about fifteen years ago."

"Nice to meet you Gilda." Pinkie Pie shook Gilda's claw, which Gilda then used to crush her hoof, which she didn't show any sort of pain towards. "Wait. Why did Rainbow Dash drop out of flight school? Was her instructor homophobic!?"

Rainbow Dash laughed a bit, being well aware of how some people still weren't okay with gay ponies like her. "Well that was before I came out to my parents, so I doubt that was it. I just got bored of it and decided to move onto the next big thing in my life."

Gilda started to get bored and felt it wouldn't hurt to have a little race with Rainbow Dash. "Hey Dash. How about a race to the clouds for old time's sake?"

"You're on." Rainbow Dash and Gilda flew up as fast as they could with Rainbow Dash being the clear victor, which Gilda pretty much saw coming. "Still the champ baby."

Pinkie Pie then came up in some crazy contraption that weirded out Gilda and made Rainbow Dash laugh. "Hey guys. Where to now?"

Rainbow Dash failed to see that Gilda was annoyed and hoped Pinkie Pie would understand what she wanted. "Actually, if it's alright with you Pinkie, I'd like to spend some time to catch up with Gilda. It's been at least a decade and a half since we last saw each other so I'm hoping we can make up for lost time."

"No problem. I'd wanna do that too." Pinkie Pie replied with an understanding tone, much to Rainbow Dash's relief.

"Thanks for understanding. Not that I thought you wouldn't." Rainbow Dash flew up into the air and signaled Gilda to follow her. "Cmon Gilda! I know you couldn't have gotten over parkour just yet!"

"You go on ahead! I'll catch up!" Rainbow Dash flew off with Gilda turning to Pinkie Pie and grabbing the propellor with her claw. "Look whatever your name is. Rainbow Dash is MY friend, and if you try to take her from me, I'll turn you into scrap!" Gilda threw Pinkie Pie's contraption to the ground, flying off as Pinkie Pie jumped out of said contraption and landed in a bush. She seemed puzzled as to why Gilda was so hostile towards her and hoped she could get some confirmation.

Pinkie Pie was at the Golden Oak Library, lying down on the couch as she explained the situation to Twilight. "And then she just threw my contraption onto the ground! It wasn't exactly easy teleporting it out of thin air and then using it to fly up to them. Why do you think she did that?"

Twilight thought for a moment and figured that Pinkie Pie was experiencing something she'd seen before. "Maybe she's jealous. Old friends tend to act hostile whenever the one they're friends with is revealed to have new friends."

Pinkie Pie took Twilight's words into consideration, hoping Gilda didn't see her as a threat. "Do you think Gilda sees me as a threat?"

"It's a possibility." Twilight then explained what she thought she could have Pinkie Pie do with Gilda. "I suggest showing an interest in Gilda's tastes. After that, you can safely confirm that you're not a threat to her friendship with Rainbow Dash, and you could even become a friend to her as well."

Pinkie Pie felt that would work, but knew she would have to wait for now. "I'll do it tomorrow if Gilda's still in town. Rainbow Dash wanted to spend some alone time with her and I wanna respect her wishes."

"Good call. It's important to keep both friends feelings into account." Twilight assured Pinkie Pie, who was happy to hear that.

Pinkie Pie was walking around Ponyville with Spike riding on his board next to her as they talked about the Gilda thing. "Gilda could also have feelings for Rainbow Dash, and maybe that's where the jealousy comes from. You know my friend Scootaloo?"

"Is she the pegasus that's having trouble flying?" Pinkie Pie asked, trying not to be offensive to Scootaloo's condition.

Spike nodded his head yes for confirmation as he then explained his own case of jealousy. "Well we used to date when we lived in Canterlot, and before we found out we weren't meant to be, I always got anxious whenever she was talking to some dude who seemed out of my league. And when we broke up, she also admitted that she was worried every time I talked to a girl who seemed out of her league."

Pinkie Pie understood what Spike was saying as she set up five bits and ordered them their milkshakes. "One chocolate and one birthday cake please." The pony in the stand got onto the milkshakes as Pinkie Pie responded to Spike's words. "I'm glad you and Scootaloo are still friends after that. Most friendships find it hard to survive after a break up."

"That actually almost happened after we stopped keeping in touch." Spike revealed as he grabbed their milkshakes and kicked up his board when Pinkie grabbed her change. "Thanks for the milkshake btw." Pinkie Pie nodded as she and Spike sat down with Spike sipping his chocolate milkshake happily before continuing his statement. "I'm not surprised we were both so excited to reunite though. We're both awesome. Especially me."

Pinkie Pie took a sip of her milkshake and saw Gilda walking around Ponyville by herself, not seeming to lonely about it. "There she is." Spike looked and saw Gilda with Pinkie Pie bringing up something else. "I hope she doesn't think I'm a racist. It's just so rare to see a griffin in Ponyville."

"I doubt she cares about that." Spike assured Pinkie Pie, and then he had a clear opinion of her after seeing her squeezing a tomato and sending that it was out of date. She threw it at the vendor's face with Spike not hesitating to comment on it. "Wow, what a ditch."

Pinkie Pie gasped so hard at Spike's language that she fell out of her chair, warning him about it as soon as she got back up. "Don't use that language about her Spike. She might hear you."

"She DIDN'T hear me." Spike stated bluntly, and then he observed Gilda further and saw her walking in the same direction as Fluttershy, who was guiding a family of ducks. "Looks like Fluttershy's about to get a taste of the Gilda wrath. (Takes phone out with a smug grin) I'll just get this ready."

Fluttershy was backing up while guiding the baby ducks so they knew where to guide her, not seeing Gilda as she was looking around. She ended up backing into Gilda by accident, turning around with a friendly smile as she spoke up. "Oh, sorry about that."

"Yeah, maybe you wanna watch where you're goin short stuff?" Gilda asked, being heavily annoyed by the fact that she was just bumped into.

Fluttershy could see the intimidation in Gilda's look, backing up a bit as she tried to speak up. 'I-I'm sorry, I-"

Gilda mocked Fluttershy's fear and showed how annoyed she was with her next line. "Hey, if you're gonna stand up for yourself then at least put some effort into it. A baby could throw you off guard with one touch. Case in point." Gilda roared at Fluttershy at the top of her lungs, making her start sobbing as she started running off, eventually flying away with Gilda walking past Spike and Pinkie Pie with the latter being shocked. "Ugh, these softie ponies are lame. I'm bailing."

Spike intentionally spilled his milkshake on the ground, making Gilda slip on it and fall on her back. He then poured the rest on Gilda, dropping the glass on her and hitting her head with it. This made Gilda furious, leading to her standing up and shouting at Spike at the top of her lungs. "YOU WANNA RUMBLE YA SNOT NOSED BRAT!?"

"No, not really." Spike admitted while he started reading his comic book, unfazed by Gilda's enormous shout. "Fighting psychotic flock rejects doesn't interest me."

Gilda started turning red, flying off after shouting at the top of her lungs again. Spike remained unfazed with Pinkie Pie still thinking about what happened with Fluttershy. "Can you believe it Spike?" Spike shrugged, being indifferent to Gilda's mood now that he got to flex on her. "She's a grump, and a thief, and a bully! The meanest kind of mean meanie-pants there is! I can take it, but no one treats Fluttershy like that. No. One."

Spike closed his comic and put it away as he offered a suggestion. "Maybe we should do something about it. I'm down for whatever you have in mind."

"I'm glad to hear that Spike." Pinkie Pie then gave a look of determination, which Spike took a liking to. "This calls for extreme measures, Pinkie Pie style!"

Pinkie Pie was standing at the entrance of Sugarcube Corner, allowing everyone from Ponyville to enter as Spike snuck himself some of the sweets at the party table. As Pinkie Pie was allowing everyone inside, Applejack and Rarity were discussing Gilda, since they haven't met her yet. "Who's this Gilda feller Pinkie Pie's goin on about now?"

"I heard she's an old friend of Rainbow Dash." Rarity explained, indicating that she'd heard a bit about Gilda already while showing her fascination for her species. "She's also a griffon; so rare."

Twilight could tell that Fluttershy was anxious about going to Gilda's party, hoping that she was okay. "You okay Fluttershy? You look a little anxious. More than usual anyway."

Fluttershy knew how understanding Twilight was, feeling that it wouldn't hurt to be honest with her. "It's just that I met Gilda earlier today. She's not exactly the nicest person."

"She was probably just in a bad mood earlier. "Twilight assured Fluttershy, knowing that Rainbow Dash would never be friends with a bad person, at least not with the knowledge of them being a bad person. "You should've seen how snappy Spike was the first time I confiscated his game console."

Fluttershy saw Spike talking to Applejack about something, showing his clear snark as Fluttershy giggled in response. "I think I have an idea."

Rainbow Dash arrived with Gilda to Sugarcube Corner as the latter was blindfolded with the former talking about the party. "You're seriously gonna love this party Gilda. Pinkie Pie throws the best parties in all of Equestria!"

"Is Pinkie Pie the one with ADHD?"

"No, she's pretty good at listening."

Rainbow Dash took Gilda's blindfold off, with Pinkie Pie jumping in front of Gilda with immense excitement. "Surprise!" Gilda had to admit that she was impressed with how far Pinkie Pie went with this bash. Pinkie Pie took notice to this and immediately took action. "Alright Gilda. What do you wanna do first?"

Gilda was feeling a little parched so she walked over to the party table to get some punch. "I could go for a drink right about now." Gilda went for the punch and poured herself a cup, only for the cup to dribble as she tried pouring said punch into her mouth. This made everyone start laughing with Gilda being confused. "What the heck is this thing?"

"Dribble cup dude." Spike explained, getting a real cup and pouring some punch into it as he spoke up about the dribble cup before drinking his punch portion. "It's basically the cup's annoying younger cousin that's always pulling pranks to stand out."

Gilda got a bit of what Spike said as Pinkie Pie expressed her intrigue about the prank. "Now I wonder who could've planned that one."

"Yeah. I wonder." Gilda responded as she glared at Pinkie Pie, who was oblivious to how angry Gilda was getting with her.

Gilda decided to drop the whole party for now with Pinkie Pie deciding to show her the cake she made. "You know what you need to go with that punch? Cake. And I made you one!"

Gilda liked the sound of cake with everyone gathering around to see it, leaving Spike to look at it with extreme delight. "Twilight, if you love me, let me blow out those candles and eat the cake in one bite!"

"Spike, you know that trick isn't gonna work on me." Twilight had Spike back up so Gilda could do her thing with the cake. "Besides, it's Gilda's party so she should get to blow out the candles."

Gilda elbowed Spike to the side, much to his annoyance as Gilda spoke up and Twilight started counting down the numbers to the audience with her magic. "Step aside kid. I've got some-" Spike blew fire right into Gilda's face just as the timer hit zero, enraging Gilda as she gritted her teeth and whispered to Spike. "Are you just ASKING for a beating today?"

"Tch. Please. You couldn't give me anything satisfying." Spike shot back, leaving Twilight to snicker and ignore Gilda's glare.

Gilda sighed, knowing that this wasn't worth fighting about, at least not yet. "Whatever kid. Just remember the rule of three."

Gilda walked over to the cake and blew out the candles, only for them to light back up almost immediately after. This confused her, and she kept doing it over and over again to try and blow them out, to no avail, leaving everyone to start laughing as Spike stated his love for the prank they all saw. "Relighting birthday candles; I love that prank! What a classic!"

Pinkie Pie started to act intrigued as she commented on who could've done the prank. "Now I wonder who could've done that."

"Yeah. I wonder." Gilda growled, and then she heard eating and looked at the cake to find Spike climbing inside.

"Who cares?" Spike climbed up to the top of the cake while eating the inside of it, loving every last bite, which was to be expected from one of Pinkie Pie's dishes. "This cake is amazing! If I were a critic Pinkie, you'd get a perfect score for this alone."

Pinkie Pie smiled with Twilight being slightly annoyed by what Spike was doing with the cake. "Spike."

"What? It's good; try some." Spike ate some more of the cake with Gilda getting infuriated, only for Spike to take notice. "Come on, it's not like I farted on it."

Spike tossed some of the cake to Gilda, who caught it in her mouth as Rainbow Dash brought up the relighting candles. "You're not gonna let some silly candles get you down, are you Gilda?"

"Pssh. No way." Gilda stated, but when Pinkie Pie was at the cake, she pulled her behind it and glared into her eyes. "Listen up Pink. I'm watching you, like a hawk."

"Why? Can't you watch me like a griffin?" Pinkie Pie asked obliviously, making Gilda give a blunt look in response.

Just then, Applejack called over from the other side of the room to get everyone else over to where she was. "Hey every pony! It's pin the tail on the pony time! Let's play."

Everyone went over to where Applejack was with Rarity being excited for this one. "Oh, my sister loves this one. Can I go first? I wanna get a picture for her?"

"Well I'M the guest of honor, so I'll do the honor of giving you her picture." Gilda snatched the tail from Rarity and signaled someone to get their phone out, which they did out of fear.

Pinkie Pie suddenly blindfolded Gilda and spoke up as she gave her the instructions. "Alright, now I'm gonna make you super dizzy." Pinkie Pie spun Gilda around three times super quickly, making her dizzy as she then looked forward in the direction of the poster, unable to see it that is. "Now walk forward and you'll see the pony."

"I know how to play the game you idiot, I've had birthdays before." Gilda walked forward and scoffed, feeling that this was another prank. 'Hang on. This could be another prank. Maybe I should go in the other direction to shoe Pinkie Pie that she lacks all common sense.'

Gilda turned around, confusing everyone as Spike gladly pointed out how dumb she was being when eating some more of the cake. "You're an idiot."

"Shut up kid." Gilda then tripped on a piece of cake someone else dropped, slipping over to the table and crashing into it while making the all the presents and food on it fly everywhere. Twilight was able to keep them from scattering with her magic and set them down gently on a different table.

Pinkie Pie walked up to Gilda, who took her blindfold off as Pinkie Pie spoke up. "Um, Gilda? You pinned the tail on the wrong end."

Everyone started laughing with Gilda getting furious, deciding to lash out as she soared up and roared at everyone in the room. "This is your idea of a good time!? I've never met a more uncool bunch of dweebs in all my life!" Gilda then turned her attention to Pinkie Pie, being especially furious with her. "And Pinkie Pie, you! You are queen lame-o with your weak little party pranks!" Pinkie Pie was surprised to hear Gilda accusing her like this with Gilda continuing her tantrum. "Did you really think you could make me lose my cool? Well, Dash and I have ten times as much cool as the rest of you put together!"

Rainbow Dash was stunned by this with Gilda walking up to her and declaring their departure. "Cmon Dash. We're outta this trash heap." Rainbow Dash stayed behind with Gilda turning around as her anger continued to flare. "RD, what did I just say?"

Rainbow Dash stepped forward, refusing to let anyone push around her friends like that, even old friends. "Ya wanna know some hilarious irony Gilda? I'M the one who pulled all those pranks." Gilda was shocked to hear this with Pinkie Pie being impressed as Rainbow Dash continued. "So I guess that means I'M queen lame-o, which by the way, is a terrible insult."

Gilda tried to catch Rainbow Dash bluffing, not seeing her as the type to pull all these pranks. "Cmon Dash. You're joshing me, right?"

Rainbow Dash nodded her head no, much to Gilda's surprise as Rainbow Dash lamented a bit about her reaction. "They weren't all meant for you specifically. It was just dumb luck that you set them all off. Except for the pony tail thing. That was mainly on you."

"I should've known." Pinkie Pie looked at Spike as she expressed her amazement. "That dribble cup had Rainbow Dash written all over it."

"Did it really?" Spike asked, not knowing as much about Rainbow Dash's pranking hobbies as Pinkie Pie did. "I mean, we've only known each other for like, a month or two, but I don't remember her mentioning anything about a dribble cup."

Gilda wasn't buying this and kept trying to blame Pinkie Pie for the whole fiasco. "No way! I-it was Pinkie Pie! She set up this party to trip me up, to make a fool of me."

"Me? I threw this party to improve your attitude." Pinkie Pie explained, finding Gilda's accusations to be a bit hurtful, but not to where they made her sad. "I thought this would help turn that sad face into a smiley face."

"And you sure didn't need any help making a fool of yourself." Rainbow Dash then declared her friendship with Gilda over without a second thought, seeing that she became a toxic influence in her life, and someone she didn't need to come back into it. "Ya know Gilda, this is not how I thought my old friends would treat my new friends. And if being cool is all you care about, maybe you should go find some new cool friends, someplace else."

Gilda scoffed, now seeing Rainbow Dash as a total loser and not wanting anything to do with her. Luckily for her, Rainbow Dash didn't want anything to do with her anymore either. "Fine. You wanna support these prissy wannabe wimps then do as you wish." Gilda turned around, looking back at Rainbow Dash right before she left. "And if you change your mind, give me a call. You know my digits." As Gilda left the building, she summered something that Rainbow Dash caught full ear shot of, confirming to her that Gilda wasn't worth her time at all. "Lesbians."

"I heard that!" Rainbow Dash shouted, catching clear signs of Gilda's homophobic slur and seeing that she probably should've ditched her a lot sooner. "Not, cool."

Spike walked up to Rainbow Dash and hi fixed her, proud of her for saying what she said and doing what she did. "Tell me about it. And that slur wasn't needed. I take it you didn't know she was a homophobe?"

"Not at all. Hence why I didn't ditch her sooner. Or notice sooner for that matter." Rainbow Dash scoffed, turning to everyone else as she expressed her regret over Gilda's behavior. "I'm sorry for all the drap Gilda pulled everyone. I just wish I noticed sooner how much of a ditch. (Walks up to Pinkie Pie) Especially to you Pinkie. I should've known something was off a lot sooner."

Pinkie Pie didn't feel an resentment towards Rainbow Dash about the situation, knowing that it wasn't entirely in her control. "You don't have to apologize to me Rainbow Dash. You're not Gilda. Plus, she WAS a childhood friend of yours. I would've missed the signs too." Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie shook hooves, only for both of them to be shocked. The two of them then started laughing and revealed that they were both wearing joy buzzers.

Spike then dashed onto Pinkie Pie's back, feeling that he could make some use out of her pranking skills. "If it's not a bad time Pinkie, you think you could give me some pranking tips in time for April Fools?"

"It's never a bad time to ask for pranking tips Spike." Pinkie Pie assured him, always being ready to give a friend help with their jokester side. "And I sort of expected you to ask that." Spike shrugged with Rainbow Dash being glad that she realized how nasty Gilda was, glad that she left before she caused any major damage.

Rainbow Dash was lying down in her bed as she thought about what happened earlier with Gilda as someone knocked on her door. "It's open!" Lightspeed entered the room with Rainbow Dash looking at him and seeing that he came in with some dinner. "Oh, hey Lightspeed. (Sits up) Just set it down next to me." Lightspeed did as Rainbow Dash asked, and her dinner was shown to be a spinach and mushroom pizza. "Good thing they make kinds for ponies, am I right?"

"Heh heh. Yeah." Lightspeed could tell that Rainbow Dash was conflicted about her falling out with Gilda, sitting down with her as he had the same kind of pizza in hoof, and wanted to comfort his sister. "Hey, you did the right thing telling Gilda to get lost like that. She was way out of line in her outburst. I mean, I'd be upset too if I kept getting pranked over and again for little reason, but I wouldn't just lash out at an entire room."

Rainbow Dash agreed with what Lightspeed said, but still felt it could've been different. "I know Lightspeed, but I wish things were different. I wish she wasn't such a huge jerk and we could stay friends for as long as we wanted."

Lightspeed put a hoof on his sister's shoulder, glad that she didn't regret doing what she did. "Well you still have the friends you made here in Ponyville. And if you ask me, our friends are the best we could ask for." Rainbow Dash smiled, glad she had such a supportive brother on her side.

Spike was writing down a letter to Queen Celestia, finding what he was writing to be nothing different from the truth. Though, he did have to question why Rainbow Dash couldn't be the one to tell the story. After all, it was a personal event that she had to deal with, so Spike thought it was only fair for the letter to be from her rather than from a friend. "I'm glad we got to tell Celestia about this Twilight, but why couldn't Rainbow Dash just do it?"

"Because Spike, these letters are about what I learned, not about what the others learned." Twilight explained, and then she went into a little more detail. "And thanks to Rainbow Dash, I learned that some friends are outright toxic. So in a way, we have the same moral down." Spike saw Twilight's point, seeing that the message would get through regardless of who sent it.

Celestia was currently in her castle as she read the letter from Twilight, being quite glad to see that she was learning lots of valuable lessons in Ponyville. "There's the third letter down." Celestia took out a quill that was in some ink and began to write something, only for it to vanish as soon as she got done with the first sentence. This confused her, so she looked at the ink and tore off the label on it, revealing that it was in fact vanishing ink. This made her laugh as she got the real ink, knowing exactly who did this prank. "Luna." Celestia wrote the real letter with a smile as the screen faded to black, ending the episode off.

An instrumental version of the main theme played during the credits.