Random woke up in a cold sweat. Funny thing was he didn't remember going to bed, or unpacking it for that matter. He slowly dragged himself out of bed or at least that was the plan. Something heavy and warm was holding him down. Reaching down to remove it, he felt the very unmistakable texture of...feathers? Uh-oh. Who's in bed with him?! He slowly rolled over and got a face full of striped mane. Oh please tell me he and Twilight didn't...oh wait, the colors are wrong. Breathing a sigh of relief, he took a closer look and found Blossomforth was the owner of the offending wing. Well, he wasn't sure how that happened, but maybe if he just rolled off the other side he could...he bumped into another body. A body that upon bumping into shifts around and he find another pair of wings and legs locked around him in a death grip and his face buried in a blonde mane. This is Cloudkicker isn't it.

"So," a soft voice chirped from overhead. "How was your night?"

Out of the corner of his vision he could spot Whisper hanging off a shelf. "Was this your doing?" he answered as quietly as he could. Maybe not quietly enough cause it caused Cloudkicker to shift in her sleep.

"What would I have to do with you wooing over two mares, you Casanova?" She started giggling to herself.

Random glared at her but then he noticed the aftertaste of bitter lemon his mouth. Eyes going wide he snapped back, "you spiked the punch, didn't you?"

"Oh please, Spike didn't have anything to do with the punch. He's been down in the comic books section since you started catching up on history yesterday." She rubbed her chin and stared off into space. "In fact, I think he's still there."

"You know what I mean," he hissed at her. "And how am I supposed to get out of this mess?" He wriggled a bit, noticing he couldn't move."

"He probably even fell asleep down there," she pondered aloud, ignoring his distress. "I should go check on him." And with that, she flew off and left Random to his fate.

"Great, just great" he grumbled to himself, only to notice he now had a pair of bright violet eyes looking right at him. "Um...Morning?"

"Morning," said Cloudkicker. "Great party last night, although I don't remember it going this well." Looking at him with a starry look in her eyes while she traces a hoof around his chest.

"I'm sure a certain somepony thought hooking me up with two mares was a great idea." He said while he felt a little red rising to his cheeks.

"Oh, who else is here?" Cloudkicker leaned up off the bed, trying to see over him. As she looked over him, a pair of glazed blue eyes peaked back at her from the other side of the bed.

"Cloudy! There you are!" Cried Blossomforth as she leapt over the unfortunate stallion, crushing him under her weight as she hugged her friend. "I...hic...woke up and...sniff...didn't know where you were."

"Blossom?!" Muffled out Cloudkicker. "How are you tipsy the morning after a party?!"

Blossom nuzzled the side of her neck. "I don't know what you mean, I...zzzz"

"Did she just...gasp...fall back asleep?" Wheezed out Random through the small amount of air he could muster with a full grown mare sitting on his chest.

"Seems like it," said the other pegasus as she rolled out of bed. All while gracefully slipping the now sleeping mare onto her back in a graceful show of wing dexterity.

Random sat up, finally being able to get off his back since he woke up and catching his breath since he was almost smothered. Turning to Cloudkicker he said, "you gonna be ok getting her h..." was all he got out before Cloudkicker lifted her head and gave him a little peck on the cheek. Bringing a blush on both their faces.

"Next time, my place." Was the last thing she said before racing out the room with her charge, seemingly having no difficulty carrying her charge.

He sat there for a moment, processing all that had happened this morning before he even had a chance to get out of bed. "Ugh...Mares." He sighed before stepping out of his bedchambers and into his office.

BA-THUMP

He staggered, suddenly feeling a throb of pain brake out across his chest, his vision going all blurry. "That's right," he coughed out. "Luna had to go and rile him up last night."

BA-THUMP

He looked down at his legs, he was shaking all over. His blurry vision making his legs look like they were all black and covered in smoke.

BA-THUMP

He looked at his chest, a large red spike was jutting out of his chest, light pouring off the edges of it. He reached up to grab it but doing so caused pain to shoot through his entire being just from touching it and making him collapse to the ground. "It's getting worse," he wheezed out.

BA-THUMP

He crawled on his belly towards a nearby cabinet with pain being his only reward for every movement. He forced himself to open the cabinet and, not trusting his magic, he grasped a large flask in his hooves and pried the cork off with his teeth. He forced a single mouthful of it down. It felt like a hot coal was worming its way down his throat, burning his stomach upon landing. He took another chug of the brew and while it still hurt going down, he stopped shaking. After the third swallow, the pain dulled to a small ache and he chugged down the rest of the potion. Looking down his front, he saw his forelegs were back to their normal grey color and he was short one chest spike.

He laid on his side forcing in ragged breaths as Whisper floated back into the room, "Yep, Spike fell asleep with his face in a copy of 'Powerpon...'" Her train of thought was cut off as she saw him laying on his side and struggling to breathe. She zipped over to him and floated in from of his face with a concerned look. "Are you ok?! I didn't mean for my joke to go that far."

His breathing slowed as he looked down to her, sweat pouring off his body. "I don't think you did this. I think I'm running out of time. I won't last a week at this rate...cough...and I may have to accelerate my plans."

"What do you need? Anything I can do to help?" Whisper asked while hovering in place.

Random levitated a small red gemstone over to Whisper, placing it in her hooves. "I tracked it as far as everfree...wheeze...but I lost the signal before I got closer."

Whisper held the gem close to her chest, determination lighting her eyes. "I'll make it happen Random. Will you be alright?"

"I'll live," he said while climbing back upright. "As long as Luna doesn't try that stunt again."

Twilight awoke with a numb sensation climbing up her side. She tried to get up but the feeling of pins and needles running through the wing she was sleeping on caused her to collapse back onto her bed, and into something that quickly shifted when she bumped into it.

"Ow! Hey, what gives." Snapped a voice right next to her.

Turning her head to get a better look in to early morning light she found a certain prismatic mare right next to her. "Rainbow Dash?! What are you doing in my bed?!"

Rainbow grumpily sat up and lazily took in her surroundings. "Actually Twilight, I have no idea. Crazy party though," she rubbed the side of her head with her hoof. "Um...how much of it do you actually remember?

Twilight sat on her haunches and was stretching out her wing, cringing as she tried to wake the limb back up. "I don't seem to remember a whole lot. AHHH!" She collapsed on her belly as a grinning Dashie poked the sleeping limb in a particularly sore spot.

"Ya know Twilight, you've really gotta get used to having wings. Only foals get wing cramps from sleeping on them. I bet you haven't been preening either." Rainbow climbed onto her back and stretched out one of her wings. She poked her muzzle at a few of the feathers. "Huh that's odd," she poked at a few more. "Uh Twilight?"

"Yeah...?" groaned Twilight into a pillow.

"Have you actually been preening? Cause this all looks better than I'd think." She poked at a few more feathers, finding nothing wrong with them.

"I don't think so, unless I'm doing it in my sleep."

"Or maybe you had a special friend help you out after you asked her really nicely." Came a small voice from the foot of the bed.

Rainbow rolled off her back and they both shot up, eyes snapping to a small yellow and pink form laying down on the bedpost and supporting her head in her forelegs. "Uh Twilight, is it just me or did Fluttershy get really small?"

"Oh, are you two done already? And here I was thinking I'd get another round of feather play, eh there Dashie?" Whisper took to the air on gossamer wings with a mischievous look on her face. "I suppose another time then." And without another word, she flew out the open window and out of sight.

"Who was that and what was that all about?" Said Rainbow.

"That was Whisper, a fairy who's been living under the library all this time. I only met her yesterday." Twilight jumped off the bed and felt an unusual texture under her hooves. Looking around, she found small feathers scattered around her room. There were a few blue ones but most of them were...purple. "Oh dear," she said remembering some old text she read. "I read once that fairies like to play pranks and if I had to guess, I think she trapped us into a preening frenzy."

"Pfff...that's her idea of a prank? Remind me to thank her. Now you have no excuse to get out of flying practice." She began to nudge her towards the stairs.

"But Rainbow Dash, my studies...All the new books to organize"

"It can wait. Your wings are in the best shape possible for flying and last I checked, we can't get you to stay airborne for more than a few seconds right now." Rainbow started to push her to the stairs a bit harder. "Besides, the summer sun celebration is in a few weeks and Princess Celestia wants you sky worthy by then."

"OK fine! We'll go flying! I can see I'm not getting out of this." Twilight snapped and finally made her way down the stairs under her own power.

They both made their way down the stairs, finding both Random and Spike cleaning the main floor. It was a bit of a mess from the party. The cake had been left out, the punch had been spilled, and balloons were found lazily bobbing on the floor.

"What happened here?" asked Twilight, "Pinkie's parties are usually this messy but it's usually cleaned up by morning. Has anypony seen her?"

"I've seen her," Random sighed as he mopped up the spilled punch. "Girl went and broke my stairs too. Found her sleeping on the crash pad curled up with that pegasus that looks like Whisper."

"What do you mean by "broke your stairs"?" Asked Twilight as she walked over to the open doorway an looked down the middle of the stairwell.

"The looping enchantment is broken. I don't know how. It would take something moving at a speed that defies understanding to overload the logic circuit. So they're just normal stairs now...sigh...pity." He looked a bit dejected as he shoveled some cake off the floor into the trash.

"I didn't follow any of that," said Rainbow as she nudged Twilight. "But I do know one thing."

"You can't make sense out of Pinkie Pie." The girls said together.

He looked back and forth between them, "right...I'll just take your word for it then." He picked up the can of trash with his magic as he looked over to Spike. "They always like this?" Spike just made a defeated gesture with his claws and went back to work. He carried the trash over to the front door to go throw it away. But as opened the door...

Trumpeting fanfare roared through the open doorway as the the light revealed a tall handsome white unicorn stallion. His blond mane bouncing lightly in the morning breeze. "Good day peasant. I am Prince Blueblood. I have come to..."

Random slammed the door in his face, it was too early for this. He turned to find Twilight pinning her back up against a wall and holding her breath. "What's he doing here?!" She panickily wheezed out.

"Oh friend of yours?" Inquired Random. "I kinda figured he was one of those rich snob types, hoping to marry into royalty and targeting the newly ascended alicorn princess."

"Oh it's nothing," Twilight rubbed her hooves together with a manic look on her face. "Just some pony who CAN'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!"

Rainbow walked over to Twilight, wrapping a wing around the shaking alicorn. "He's been after Twilight since day one of her coronation. He's the main reason she came back to ponyville." She sighed, "and now he's chased her all the way here from Canterlot."

"So..." Random gestured his hoof in a I-think-I-get-it manner, "NOT her friend and just some rich snob that needs to get taken down a peg?"

"Yeah pretty much," Rainbow was stroking Twilight's mane. She had calmed down a bit but was still looking a bit out of sorts.

"Oh in that case you'll have no problem if I do this..." Without another word or slightest hesitation, he threw the door open and dumped the entire trash can over Blueblood's head. "AND STAY OUT!!!" He concluded slamming the door in his face. "I hate it when Rich snobs overstep themselves." He grumbled.

"OH NO! MY MANE! MY COAT! I JUST GOT MYSELF GROOMED!" Could be heard from the other side of the door. "Quick! To the baths. Tell them its an emergency!" Hooves pounding the ground could be heard making a hasty retreat.

Twilight and Rainbow just stared slack jawed at Random. Random looked back at them casually, "What?"

"I can't believe you just did that!" Twilight shouted at him.

"I can, that was so awesome." Rainbow squealed next to her.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight snapped her attention to her. "That's not the point. The point is that ponies like that can make your life all kinds of difficult if you get on their bad side."

"I'm not too worried." Said Random as he cleaned off the rest of the table. "What's the worst he could do?"

"Why are you being so relaxed about this?!" Twilight spazzed, one of her eyes twitching a bit.

"Relax Twilight," Said Rainbow as she wrapped her in a wing hug. "Now we can go work on your flying without any distractions."

"Oh? She hasn't gotten the hang of flying yet? Well you girls have fun." He said in a dismissive tone. "I got a couple things to take care of myself once we're done cleaning here."

Rainbow started herding Twilight towards the door, "you heard him. The day isn't getting any younger."

"Ok fine, I'm going. I'm going." They both ran out the door, dodging around the pile of trash where a very obnoxious suitor once stood.

Random watched them run down the street as he picked up the trash he 'accidentally' spilled in the front yard. "So young, so innocent," he reflected under his breath.

"Did you say something?!" Spike shouted to him from inside the treehouse.

"Just talking to myself!" He shouted back as he walked back in. "Now where does Twilight keep the good cleaning supplies?"

"It's down in the basement, she keeps it with all of her lab equipment."

"She's got a lab?" He perked up. "This I gotta see."

He made his way down the basement stairs, curious to see what kind of lab Equestria's newest princess keeps. He was a bit disappointed as he pushed open the door. There was pretty standard stuff in here. A couple of beakers with various chemicals, clear pipes, valves, and some haphazardly discarded flask with a pink residue inside it.

Wait a minute...That was one of his! He looked at it closely. "Oh aren't you the curious filly." His horn glowed, wrapping the green glow of his magic around the mostly empty flask of his potion. After a moment, small little purple threads hung off of it and traced a line straight into the wall and in the direction of the Archive.

"Well that was sneaky of you, teleporting it from my office in that one moment my back was turned." He reached up to one of the threads and strummed it with his hoof like you would a lyre. In a pop and a puff of purple smoke, the flask vanished into thin air, having been transported back to where it started.

"HURGFF!" came a voice from behind him. "What in tarnation was that?...What the?...Rarity?!"

Random turned to see the two figures he now spotted in the corner scrambling to get up and untangle themselves from each other...Oh Whisper, you went all out didn't you.

"Good heavens, Applejack?!" Came the other voice that Applejack helpfully identified as Rarity. "What in the name of Celestia?"

Not wanting to get wrapped up in whatever drama was about to unfold, he quickly located the cleaning supplies and beat a hasty retreat before he was dragged into it.

They made it out to a clearing outside of town where Rainbow wasted no time coaxing her friend up into the air. Compared to the last time they tried this, it barely took a flap of her wings before she found herself in the air...and then immediately dove into a faceplant when she tried to catch the ground with her hooves.

Rainbow only had to take a few steps over to where Twilight was currently pulling her face out of the dirt. "C'mon Twilight, we've been over this. You can't get in the air if you're trying to stay on the ground at the same time."

The rookie flyer got back to her feet, coughing and sputtering. "I remember Rainbow...cough...I just wasn't expecting to take off so easily. It feels so different from last time"

"Well duh. That's the difference proper preening makes. When your feathers are all in proper shape, they'll just grab the air like they're meant to be together. Cause they are." She poked at her with her hoof with that last statement. "Break time's over. Now get back up there and keep your head up this time."

Twilight shifted her shoulders as she got back to her hooves. Keeping her head up and trying not to look at the ground this time, she gave her wings a small flap and that was it. She was in the air! She looked up at the sky and felt herself moving up and up and why is the ground above her? *Splat* She felt the ground collide with her back, her hooves now in air as she laid back on the ground.

This was going to be a long day.

It hadn't taken Random and Spike much longer to finish cleaning up. Granted they did have a few interruptions as Applejack and Rarity both stormed up from the lab in a bit of a mood. One was complaining about being late for her morning chores and the other saying she needed an emergency spa day as both of them barreled out the door. A little bit later a pink blur rushed up the Archive stairs with a look of panic on her face when she saw the two boys cleaning up the mess she started. Pinkie rushed both of them, quickly taking the mops and rags they were using to clean away from them. She then tore through the remainder of the mess like a little pink tornado, leaving everything spotless in her wake. Impressed at how efficient she was, he left her to her own devices. Random made his way down the stairs to the Archive and passed a madly blushing Fluttershy as he reached the bottom.

He swung by the Archive's index and poured a little magic into it, commanding it to put all the scattered books in the study area back on their shelves. Little white lights surrounded all the books stacked on the floor and pillows, as well as the ones spread out on the tables. The lights carried them into the air and flew over the tops of all the bookcases laid before him, finding their spots in the shelves and floating down between them till they found the perfect resting spot on the shelves.

Satisfied with having everything in order, he made his way back over to office to take care of an issue he needed to take care of this morning. Closing the door behind him he picked up his spatial bag and the flask that Twilight had pilfered from him last night. Making his way over to an open spot in the wall and placing a hoof on it, he willed the space behind it to open up. A seam traced a doorway into the wall and the new door swung inward. Once he was through he pulled out a full flask of his potion and began to sip it slowly. Letting the magic within flow through his body and out his horn and eyes he widened the space and simultaneously formed shelves and counters into the solid rock. Reaching a tendril of magic into his bag, he pulled out all sorts of lab and distillery equipment and laid it out on all the surfaces. Some of the tools were set on top of various runic circles that formed along with the shelves. Finally he pulled a bright pink crystal out of the bag that pulsed with an otherworldly light and he placed it above a large open bowl. As soon as it was in place, it began to form dew on the outer surface of it that slowly coalesced at the bottom of the crystal and dripped a bright pink substance into the bowl that now seemed to generate its own light.

Content with putting his own lab back in order, he made his way back out to the main part of his office to look over the other project he set up the day before. He looked over the three gemstone in the wall, their bluish hue had darkened quite a bit overnight. One of them, however, had taken on a midnight blue and little facets of light could be seen reflecting deep within them. This one was ready and the other two wouldn't be far behind.

Levitating the dark gem in front of him, a green tendril of magic spiraled off his horn and began to wrap itself around and through the crystal. The stars inside began to swirl and condense until finally they formed an eye that looked right back a him. His eyes blazing a bright green as he looked down at the crystal. Dark purple tears ran down his face and vanished into smoke as they left his fur.

"Go!" He bellowed at the gemstone, his voice taking on a deep cadence. "Fulfill your purpose."

The crystal then began to spin, light refracting off its surfaces as it spun faster and faster. When its facets were nothing but a blur, it shattered into a million pieces and those pieces scattered into dust. Random collapsed to the floor in a heap, his features returning to normal. Gasping for breath he uttered. "When one must traverse the path of fools, is it the fool that lays it or the one that follows it?" He stared at the remaining gems in the wall. "Either way, I shall see this journey to its end."

Author's Note

Huzzah, I have a chapter 2 up. This was originally gonna be much longer but when I saw how much more I still had to cover, I decided to split it into 2 chapters. Chapter 3 still has 2 major scenes to iron out before the final edit.

On a fun note, I rather enjoyed turning Blueblood into a trash heap.