Arc 1-Chapter 1: Friendship is Magic
Early in the morning on the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration, two guards patrolled the halls of Canterlot Castle, spears in hand. Just going about their daily routine, passing by dozens of nearly identical mares and stallions on their own patrols, as well as servants and the occasional noble mare or stallion, occasionally exchanging hellos and good morning as they passed. All that was on their minds was what they were going to do with their families once their shift was done, as they and most of Equestria were preparing for the joyous celebration soon to befall them.
Suddenly, rapidly approaching footsteps grabbed their attention and before they knew it a purple blur whizzed by them, followed by gusts of wind, almost knocking them down as rapid footsteps passed as quickly as they came.
"Why did all this have to happen today? Why did she have to come back in my lifetime? Why won't the princess believe me!?" It was a purple unicorn mare dressed in a dark blue sorceress robe that dipped down to just above her ankles with golden etchings of star formations on the ends of her sleeves and over the center of her chest, that was whizzing through the halls and stairs of Canterlot Castle, passing by countless guards, servants, and other castle staff either doing their regular routine only to be momentarily thrown off by purple blur speeding through the castle or trying to get the preparations done for the upcoming celebration, in which case they were too busy to even notice her. "Why doesn't anyone believe me?! Don't they all see that even if I'm wrong, the stakes are too high to take any chances?!" She whipped around a corner, almost crashing into a maid carrying a case of silverware and causing the poor mare to drop the case's contents around her feet, while the robed unicorn kept on going, paying her no mind as she continued to zip around hallway after hallway, meeting with several very similar incidents along the way. "But no, miss terror and darkness has to make her grand return on today, one of the busiest days of the year!" This mare was Twilight Sparkle, apprentice of Princess Celestia, sister of one of the Captains of the guard, top graduate of one of the most prestigious schools in all of Equestria, and professional bookworm. "I just hope Spike has those scrolls and books I asked for ready or I don't know what I'll do!" She said to herself as she made it to the base of a huge spiraling marble stairway six ponies wide with bronze guard rails that created the illusion of a golden trail spiraling four stories high.
Twilight quickly grabbed the guard rail and hurriedly but carefully scaled the stairway, keeping her body as close to the rail as possible as to not run into any of the many servants and guards coming up and down the stairs. As she was about to reach the summit, she threw caution to the wind and started galloping forward.
But unfortunately for her, there was a row of guards as wide as the stairway just about to step down while Twilight was half a second away clearing the last couple steps. As soon as they spotted each other, the guards immediately jumped back while the mare tried to stop her accent, causing her to undershoot the last step and land chin first on the top of the stairway.
"Ughh..." Twilight groaned, lifting up her head only high enough to put her hand under her aching chin in an attempt to sooth it. She heard the clanking sound coming from the row of guards trying to move in the tight entrance-way, while a stallion to the back pushed his way in front and offered his hand to the pained unicorn. Twilight looked up to see a tall blue-haired white stallion in purple "captain's" armor with the shape of a shield carved into his breastplate and a sword and revolver strapped to his hip. "Hi big brother," Twilight said, still in a bit of a daze after her fall.
"Hello Twilight," Shining Armor responded as he picked his little sister up, before walking through the row of guards, her in-tow, gesturing to them to move on before sitting Twilight down on a chair a little further down the hall.
“Thanks Shining," Twilight said while rubbing away the lingering pain and panting. Now that she was sitting still, she realized that she had pretty much been going completely on adrenaline and was now left gasping for air and her legs felt like they would give out the second she dared stand up.
"You know it's barley past breakfast and we've already gotten nearly two dozen reports of a certain unicorn sprinting through the hallways, nearly crashing into ponies all over the place," Shining gave her a knowing glare, while his sister let out a nervous chuckle. "Speaking of which, have you actually had breakfast yet."
"Of course I have!"
"A few cups of coffee doesn't count Twily."
"You're one to talk!" Twilight tried to get up, but Shining placed his hand on her shoulder.
"In any case, you really need to slow down Twilight. You've been staying in that library and working your flank off more than usual (and that's saying something). You've been rushing through your duties and rushing back just to cram in more of studying, and Spike says you've been surviving on almost nothing but coffee for nearly a week!" That last part came out louder than Shining expected it to, causing Twilight to flinch and some nearby servants to back away. Nonetheless, he continued. "What's been going on Twily?" He said, trying to put on the most calming look he could muster.
"You know what's wrong, I've been trying to tell everypony all week."
"Huh, this again? Twilight, I've told you a thousand times, if Nightmare Moon was coming back, the princess would be ready."
Twilight looked blankly down towards the ground, not sure how to convince him at this point. She had been trying to convince everypony with no luck. “Shining, I know Princess Celestia says she can’t come back, but I can’t get the feeling that she is going to my head!” She threw her hands into the air, before they sank back down to her sides. “No matter how many anti-nightmare spells I cast, no matter what I tell myself, I keep having these dreams, ah nightmares! Visions! I don’t know!!!” She shouted, now having to fight back drops of liquid threatening to burst through her eyes while pacing back and forth erratically, only stopping after she felt two muscular arms constricting around her waist. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw Shining Armor giving her a look of abject worry with water droplets starting to form around his eyes, as if just seeing those forming in her eyes caused his to mirror hers.
“Twilight. I know you’re worried about this. I’m worried about you worrying about this.” He said while looking at Twilight eye-to-eye, as she wordlessly did the same. “But Princess Celestia says everything will be okay, and you of all ponies should know how wise she is. If she says everything will be ok, I’ll trust her. Will you?”
Twilight looked at him silently for a moment, unsure of herself, before she finally responded with a smile. “Of course.”
Her brother smiled back. “Good.” Shining let go of his sister, who was about to take off when she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder. “Wait just one more moment, I have something to show you.” Shining reached into a hidden pocket obscured by his belt and pulled out a tiny crystal pink box, sitting closed in the palm of his hand.
“Ah huh, nice box Shining, but I really do need to go get some work done, Twilight spun around on her heel and tried to walk away again, only to once again feel the stallion’s hand on her, this time tugging lightly at the mare’s arm, causing her to turn her head back to see a mild glare, like a filly might get from their parent when the latter was frustrated with the former, but still calm enough not to scold.
“Actually look at it Twilight.” Shining calmly ordered, as he flipped open the little box to reveal a golden ring with a light pinkish diamond on it that seemed to glow, catching Twilight’s intrigue. Upon closer examination, Twilight realized that the diamond was somewhat transparent and if one were to look closely enough they could see a smaller heart shaped, white diamond that was emitting a weaker golden aura that overtook the pink aura, only when someone looked deeply at the inner diamond. Suddenly, Twilight’s mind was struck by a revelation that knocked her jaw down to the floor and pulled away her eyelids as far as they would stretch, before a wide smile overtook her face and she looked up to a smug grin that had broken out over her brother’s face.
“You’re going to ask her to marry you,” Twilight said plainly, before jumping up and throwing her arms over her brother’s head and around his neck as tightly as she could, temporarily shutting off his airways, too overtaken by excitement to notice that he was subtly trying to nudge her arms away from his throat. “My brother’s getting married!!!!”
"Twily! please calm down!"
Minutes later, after Shining Armor was finally able to get Twilight to calm down, they went their separate ways. Twilight at first walking calmly to her destination, until she was sure her brother was too far away to notice her presence anymore, before flinging herself back into her sprint as she raced down the rest of the way through the main castle, exiting out to one of several elegant little parks Celestia had built around the castle walls and towers that Twilight was too busy with her sprint to even notice. There, three unicorn mares stood on the middle of the cobbled trail leading through the park with their hands raised to greet Twilight, only for the latter to run right by them without the slightest consideration, almost knocking two of them down as she finally reached the steps winding up a tower to her final destination: her personal library and the living quarters she and her little dragon assistant/brother resided in, or the “Twilight Zone” as Shining had dubbed it.
Upon reaching the entrance, she ran in so fast, she barely had enough time to throw open to door which hit the poor nearby wall with so much force and seemed to shake the room, causing a certain little drake who was busy on ladder at the moment to lose his balance and fall onto the floor, followed by a stack of books he had been trying to return to their proper place.
Without even noticing Spike or his misfortune, Twilight pulled half a dozen books from six different directions towards her, as well as a small desk before the desk fell to the floor in front of her, followed by the books which land on the desk perfectly on their backside and flipped open, as Twilight called even more to her.
“Uh, Twilight?” Spike said, while rubbing his head, trying to shake off the daze he was currently in.
“Spike! I need you to run down to the lower levels of the archives and grab those pre-Equestria scrolls I told you about!” Twilight ordered without even bothering to turn her head from the dozens of books and scrolls that already orbited around her. “And after that, go grab the personal memoirs of Snowdrop regarding the times during and following Princess Luna’s fall! Then grab Star Swirls…” Twilight continued to list off what seemed like dozens of different historical accounts, arcane texts, and other such things scattered around The Canterlot Archives to the young dragon currently staring at her with a raised eye, not even bothering to listen after the first dozen works or so.
After Twilight was done rambling off things for him to grab, Spike casually walked into the kitchen of their home and came back a moment later with a bucket of cold water. “Hay Twi, remember when Princess Celestia told me to throw a bucket of ice water on you if you let your studying get out of hand, again?”
“ Aha, Great Spike. Did you grab all the… ahhh!” Twilight yelled as she was hit by the sudden chill of the ice cold water that was rapidly soaking into her robe, as several dozen texts that had been hovering in the air fell to the floor. Twilight glared at the little dragon, the first acknowledgment to his presence he had received that wasn’t an order, since Twilight arrived. “Did you have to put ice in it?” Twilight said through chattering teeth, while shivering as she wrapped her arms around her chest in a desperate bid to retain body heat.
This caused Spike to chuckle a little, as he walked over to her with a scroll in hand. “Princess’s orders.” The little dragon stood only about to Twilight’s stomach and wore a dark navy blue shirt with a black vest and matching pants.
Twilight removed her soaking wet robe to reveal a simple white button up shirt and purple skirt combo that had previously been hidden under her robe, before picking up her robe in her pinkish-purple aura and levitating it over to the guard rail of the staircase leading to the upper level of her home/library. She then turned to Spike, who offered her a scroll. “What’s this?”
“It’s a letter from Celestia. I think…” Before Spike could utter another syllable, Twilight snatched the scroll in her magic and pulled it towards herself, pulling Spike with it, until he let go and flopped belly first on the ground.
Twilight quickly ripped off the seal holding the scroll together and opened it up, praying to Celestia that Princess Celestia had finally realized that she was right and not doing anything about the potential return of Nightmare Moon was too much of a risk and they needed to take immediate action. But this spark of hope was quickly dashed when her eyes finally made contact with text.
Dear Twilight Sparkle, my faithful young apprentice.
I know that you were probably hoping that this letter was sent to announce that I had changed my mind about not allowing you to devote all of your time towards more research about how to prevent the return of Nightmare Moon, as Spike has informed me that this has been your hopes for every message I have sent you this past week, but that is not the case.
I know you are just worried Twilight and I do not blame you. After the rather vivid nightmares you have described having to me, I would not blame anyone for being afraid. But alas, I believe these nightmares you have been having are just that, nightmares. And I cannot allow you to continue to work yourself into nothing over simple nightmares, especially with all the extra duties you and the rest of the staff have had to undertake in preparation for the upcoming celebration.
I assure you, my most faithful student, that I have taken every precaution to prepare for the night these nightmares may come to pass and even if that time does come sooner than later, I can assure you that I have a plan.
In other words Twilight, take a chill pill! You already have more than enough things to worry about with Summer Sun Celebration without having to worry about nothing.
Speaking of which, as you are undoubtedly already aware, this year my personal appearance at the Summer Sun Celebration is scheduled to be in the relatively small town of Ponyville. I know, I know, a rather odd choice to have the appearance of your nations ruler at one of the most beloved festivals in all of Equestria in what some among the Canterlot Elite have derogatorily labeled a “backwater mudpony village" when they think I can’t hear them. But I can assure you, there is more to Ponyville than meets the eye.
P.S If you see Prince Blueblood around, ask him how the cleanup of his penthouse is going. He’ll know what it means.
But in any case, I have been informed that the pre-preoperational work went well and the early preparations are going according to plan, but I want you to go there and personally inspect a few things for me, before the festival begins. I’ll have more details for you after you inevitably run across the entire castle again to find me. See you then.
Love your personal mentor, ruling princess, and secret fillyhood crush, Princess Celestia.
Twilight’s face briefly turned red at the last part, before she shook it off and prepared to leave. “Spike! I’m going to see the princess, dry off my robe while I’m gone, ok!? Meanwhile Spike had returned from the kitchen without Twilight even noticing he had left her side with a bagel in one claw and a glass of ice water in the other.
“You need to eat first,” Spike said plainly, as he lifted up the bagel.
“Spike, I don’t have time to (splash)” She was interrupted by a bit of water hitting her shoe, as she turned to see Spike was now holding up the glass of ice water. Without another word, Twilight grabbed the bagel from her assistant and threw it in her mouth, as she took off.
“Nice seeing you too, Twi.” The dragon said before getting back to work
Contrary to what Celestia had predicted, Twilight decided to simply teleport to her next location, knowing that unlike the rest of the castle where the vast majority of the place was swarming with ponies moving all around making it difficult to find a safe place to teleport, the princess would likely be surrounded by only a few ponies that would almost certainly be moving less erratically. In a flash of purple-pink light she was in a waiting area, just outside the princess’s personnel chambers. Before her stood four burly pegasi guards with Halberds in hand and a unicorn guard standing behind them standing in front of a double door ten ponies high and 12 ponies wide with Princess Celestia’s cutie mark adorning both doors. This was the door to the princess’s private quarters. Only a very select few royal officials, guards, and royals were allowed to enter here. The mere thought of herself being one of them brought a look of satisfaction and pride to the unicorn mare’s face.
They all barley gave each other a glance of acknowledgement, before the guards parted enough to let the unicorn mare through and the sole unicorn cast a quick spell followed by the sound of multiple locks clicking at once as the doors opened, revealing the personnel living quarters of her teacher and ruler, that seemed to have a golden shine beaming from everything from the six pearly white columns covered by a yellow spiral snaking around that stood at the center of the room, to the golden outline of the princess's personnel bath/spa/pool on the left side of the room, to the golden outline of her bed, large enough for half dozen of her to comfortably sleep. To the very back of the room stood another double door with the Princess's cutie mark on it, though only about half as big as the door before it. The door to Princess Celestia's private study.
After giving the guards a quick thank you, Twilight walked across the large room as fast she could, while still technically walking towards the door. The larger door closed behind her, its locks clicking as it did. Reaching her destination, Twilight took in a quick breath, before slowly exhaling it as she lifted arm and gave the door three light knocks that seemed to echo through the large chamber.
"Come in." Twilight heard a gentle voice, followed by a faint but audible unlocking sound, as the doors parted way, revealing a large library, similar to her own, only not quite as large and covered with the same bright gold and pearly white aesthetic that filled the princess's living quarters. This was Princess Celestia's personal study.
Across the room stood the image of her ruler and teacher behind them, slumped over a giant desk looking through dozens of paper, while flanked by two unicorn mares in business suits scribbling down notes a thousand words a minute. She was wearing her golden tiara, necklace, and her gold outlined white, high-heeled boots, as well as an elegant but simple white flowing dress that seemed to be in the midst of the same nonexistent wind that lightly blew against Celestia’s multicolored mane and tail, very lightly ruffling the bottom of the garment.
“Greetings Twilight,” the princess said without even turning to see Twilight before looking to one of the unicorn mares. “Would you two kindly give me and my apprentice a moment to ourselves?” Without a word, they took their bows to leave, passing by Twilight as they left and the latter entered, while Celestia turned to face her student.
Even after all these years, Twilight was still amazed every time she stood face-to-face with her teacher. Princess Celestia towered above all other ponies, standing about seven and a-half feet tall with long and thin, but muscular arms and legs. But instead of being intimidating, her very demeanor and smile had a natural calming effect.
“Some might say it’s rude to stare at ponies Twilight.”
Twilight jumped back a bit as her face was splashed with a red glow, electing a chuckle from her teacher. “My apologies your highness, I… I... uh...” Before she could continue to fumble her words, she felt the Princess’ gentle hand press lightly against the top of her head.
“Twilight don’t worry about it. You already do that enough as is,” Celestia said while bending down to look her student in the eye with a bright smile, as Twilight regained her composure under Celestia’s almost maternal gaze.
“Uh, yes princess. I believe there was something you wished to speak with me about, involving the Summer Sun festival?” Twilight said, instinctively pulling out her pencil and notebook.
“Yes Twilight I was wanting you to personally check up on a few ponies that have been put in charge of the various parts that go into the festival in Ponyville,” the princess levitated a piece paper from her desk, rolled it up and tied it together while keeping her eyes on her purple student, who was curiously eyeing the piece of paper. “The ponies I would like you to check on include: Pinky Pie who’s in charge of the party games for the foals and less uptight mares and stallions, Applejack who’s in charge of pastries, Captain Rainbow Dash who’s in charge of the pegasi team clearing the skies, Rarity who’s in charge of decorations, and Fluttershy who will be leading the bird chorus,” Celestia finished listing and handed her student the piece of paper, who hungrily snatched it out the air. “This is a note of a few details about the area you’ll need to know to complete this task Twilight. Now I have already sent a message to inform Spike of the situation, so he should be ready to go and there should be a pegasus chariot already prepared and ready to go when you're ready.”
“Okay your majesty, I won’t let you down!” Twilight saluted her excitedly and turned away to leave, for a brief moment, reminding Celestia of the innocent and wide-eyed filly she had first met fourteen years ago. But before Twilight could leave, she felt the grasp of her teacher’s hand on her shoulder, to which she cautiously looked back to find that Celestia now looked… almost sad.
“Twilight, I know there was something else you wanted to ask me about. I know that you were still not convinced the last time I told you that my sister wasn’t coming back.” Suddenly the room went silent. So silent that the sound a pin could practically pass for an explosion, as Twilight stared silently at her mentor, her brief boost of excitement over being given a new task to occupy her time vanishing the moment Celestia had said those words.
A very long moment of silence and lack of movement passed, before Twilight finally mustered the courage to respond. “I’m sorry your majesty, but… I just can’t get those dreams out of my head. I.... I… I want to believe you! But… But…” Twilight’s hands clasped around her forehead, as tears started to form around her eyes which were soon slammed shut and her legs began to feel like jelly. “But it just felt so real! The dream! Every time I go to sleep I see her standing over me! Looking at me with that evil smile filled shark like teeth! While you… you… and my family... You…” Twilight’s feet slipped under her legs as her body fell head first to the floor, only to be caught by soft and gentle, but strong arms wrapping around her body, followed by a pair of angelic wings doing the same. Twilight’s eyes slowly opened and looked up to see the eyes of Princess Celestia and her finger reaching down to wipe the tears from them.
“There, there Twilight, I’m here for you,” Celestia said while stroking the top of Twilight’s head. Twilight looked up at her, once again speechless, before working up to courage to continue.
“You were standing beside her with… with your horn snapped off near the base and your wings were...they were torn off. I... I could see, uh, nerves sticking out from the base of your horn, and, and you were bleeding everywhere… your eyes... They, they looked empty! Past the two you, I could see Canterlot Castle… it was on fire! Then when I tried to look away, I saw... I saw my parents, and my brother, and uh, Princess Cadence, and Spike, on the ground! They weren't moving...” Princess Celestia hugged her student tighter, while more tears formed and fell on both their bodies. “Then everything started to go dark, and got darker and darker, and darker until all I could see was… was her smiling at me and slowly walking closer! I tried to run! I tried to look away! I tried to close my eyes! But nothing would work. No matter what I did, all I saw was her! Then… everything went black. I… I screamed for help and tried to look around, but all there was blackness, until out of nowhere, I saw them. The silhouettes of six ponies surrounded by a bright white aura. Then I woke up and... (sniff)” Twilight sniffled and cried away the last of her tears, as Celestia continued to hold her and rub her head, until she was ready to stand on her own again.
Twilight looked up at her mentor. Her eyes still wet, but her lips turned upward, as her teacher bent down to look at her at eye level with what Twilight could’ve sworn for a brief moment, was… remorse. “Twilight, do you trust me.” The words ranged through Twilight’s head, before she managed a faint nod.
“Of course Cele.. Your highness, I’ll always trust you.” This brought a smile to the princess’s face, before she stood back up and allowed Twilight to move freely.
“Then trust me when I say, everything will be okay.”
Twilight nodded happily and turned to be on her way, only to turn around again after only making it a few steps. “Uh, thank you princess. I needed to get that off my chest.” Twilight said nervously to which Celestia happily nodded, before shooing her apprentice away to get back to her task.
“Oh and remember to try making some friends! Friendship is Magic after all!” Celestia hollered at the mare whose only response was a quick “Aha, sure thing princess”, as she headed back to fulfill her task.
Author's Note
This is I story that I had published on my previous account a couple years back, that I ended up regrettably abandoning due to complicated stuff that was happening in my life. But now that I'm getting back into reading and writing fanfiction and watching My Little Pony, I figured I may as well get back to working on this story, instead of just letting it go to waste.
I know it probably isn't the most original idea, but I think it's going to be a fun ride and I hope some of you would join me.
Arc 1-Chapter 2: Meeting Ponies
Author's Note
Ok, sorry about the wait, I've had a lot on my plate lately. I'll explain at the bottom of the next chapter. But to help make up for it, I'll be posting two chapters at once.
Arc 1-Chapter 2: Meeting Ponies
Arc-1 Chapter-2: Meeting Ponies
After exiting Celestia's study, Twilight teleported back into her home and quickly unrolled the scroll to examine it. After checking, double-checking, and triple-checking the information on the scroll, she rolled it back up and ran to find her things.
"Spike! Spike!" Twilight yelled for her assistant, only to get no response. She shrugged it off, assuming he was already at the chariot waiting for her.
Twilight ran through the library, finding her half-dried robe hanging over a now lukewarm oven, that Spike presumably had simering until it was time for him to go. She grabbed the garment and threw it on, taking only a second to get used to chill of the still somewhat cool fabric, before teleporting into her bedroom to grab a belt with a large pouch on its right side and several smaller pouches on its left, as well as a dagger behind the right pouch in a brown scabbard with her cutie mark embezzled in gold on its black hilt. After securing the scroll in a strap on the back of the belt, Twilight pulled out the dagger and eyed its bright silvery blade. She raised an eyebrow as she examined it. 'Why does the princess want me and Spike to carry these things around anyway?' She wondered to herself while using her magic to secure her belt around her hips, before shaking the thought from her mind. 'I'm sure the princess has her reasons.' She told herself, as she put the blade away.
Twilight levitated a small book bag from her closet, as well as some of her personal books she had for when she traveled, before swinging it over her shoulder. Competent that Spike had taken care of the rest of the packing, Twilight teleported out of her room and appeared in front of an arched entrance-way with two guard towers on either side of it, leading to an open field in the center of a circular stone enclosure with three more towers spread along the outside of the wall on the opposite end overlooking the lower levels of the mountain.
Four lines of about a dozen pegasus chariots each give or take, laid on the grass with pegasus guards flying away with one of them every few moments with passengers and luggage securely in them, followed by another couple pegasus guards flying in with another chariot to fill one the empty spaces almost as soon as they were opened, while various other guards patrolled the perimeter. Twilight spotted her little dragon standing to the side of the second row, as a guard took their luggage from him and loaded it into the small two-pony chariot. It was marked with Princess Celestia's cutie mark on both its sides to distinguish it as a personal transport for ponies on official government business, as opposed to the other chariots that were either marked with the flag of one of Equestria military branches or their owner's personal cutie marks. Twilight jogged towards him, swerving to avoid knocking into one of the patrolling guards on her way. "Hay Twi!" She could hear him say, as he lifted up an arm to wave at her.
"Hay Spike, are you ready to go?" Twilight asked, as she hurriedly climbed into the chariot, ready to go as soon as possible. The dragon simply nodded his head, while following her up the steps on the side of the chariot. Twilight sat her bag down on the seat in the center of the transport and prepared to flop down onto it.
"Trying to run off without saying goodbye, are we Twily?" She quickly turned her head back with a smile on her face to be greeted by her brother and Princess Cadence, her soon to be sister-in-law strolling to the side of their transport. Princess Cadence stood very slightly taller than her soon to be husband, but her horn was about thirty to fifty percent longer and she was clad in a very light pink dress with golden outlines to match her coat and mane, that went all the way down to her ankles and had a neckline low enough that ponies would be able to see the top of her bust, if it was not for the large diamond, heart shaped necklace obscuring her upper chest to match her cutie mark.
"Shining!" Twilight practically skipped to and down the steps, before throwing her arms around her brother's chest. A sentiment he soon returned.
After breaking from their embrace, Twilight turned to the pink Alicorn beside them and they immediately started their traditional greeting dance.
"Sunshine, Sunshine..." Shining smiled at seeing the two of the most important mares in his life act like a couple of school fillies, while the little dragon who had just made it down the steps made a faux gagging motion. "And do a little shake!" The two finished while shaking there rears at each other, before erupting into a burst of high pitched giggles.
"Hmmm-Hmmm", Shining interrupted this exchange while gesturing towards some of the guards on one side of the chariot yard, who had been staring at the two. Twilight and Candace soon turned red at the realization that everypony in the area was staring at them; while Shining tried to hide his smirk and thick cloud of silence took over.
"So... I'm sure Shining's told you about the big news!" Candace said excitedly, while breaking through the silence as all the other ponies got back to what they were doing. Her response was a rapid nod, followed by Twilight grabbing hold of her midsection so hard, the smaller mare almost knocked her down.
"I can't believe my brother's marrying the greatest foal-sitter in all of Equestria! Well actually I can believe it, because you two have been dating for years, but steal!" Twilight babbled on as she squeezed the princess even tighter, who responded by returning the gesture, albeit less forcefully and patting her on the back. Meanwhile, Shining Armor and Spike stood beside each other and smiled at the two, though the latter tried to hide his after realizing he was doing it.
"So, the princess is sending you on some important mission in Ponyville?" Shinning asked, as the mares finally broke their embrace.
"I wish. It's just a routine inspection to make sure the ponies she put in charge of setting things up are doing their jobs right. If I'm lucky, I'll just need to have a quick talk with the town's ponies and I'll be free to continue my research." Twilight said, smiling at the thought that at least after getting her assignment over with, she'll finally have time to sit down with her books and study in peace.
"Twilight, what did we talk about?" Shining said sternly.
"Yeah I know, I should just take the time to relax after I'm done with my duties and all that. But I really need to do this Shining! I just know it!" She said defensibly as her brother walked closer to her.
"Twilight! You can't just keep..." Shining was suddenly cut off by a long pink hand, perching itself onto his shoulder.
"What your brother is trying to say Twilight is that we all know you're very worried about these.... dreams you've been having. But, you can't keep working yourself to death over something that might happen." Princess Candace said, as her hand moved from her fiancé’s shoulder to Twilight's. "Especially when the wisest pony in all the land says it will be ok." Candace smiled brightly at the purple mare, before turning her head towards the white stallion. Both of who, returned it.
"Yeah, I really should trust Princess Celestia on this."
"Who said anything about Celestia?" Candace asked playfully, earning a chuckle from Twilight.
After a moment and another exchange of hugs, Twilight and Spike got back into the chariot. "Aren't you two coming to the celebrations too?" Twilight asked, while leaning against the edge of the chariot with Spike beside her.
"Yeah, but I still have some business to take care of here, so me and Candy will be arriving with the guards at the ceremony tonight." Shining said as two pegasus guards grabbed the front of the chariot in their hands and tied a rope around it, before tying the other end of the rope around small loops sticking out the back of their armor, while another guard grabbed hold of the back to balance it out.
"See you there BBBFF!" The four quickly waved each other good bye, as Twilight and Spike jumped into a padded bench in the center, just before the pegasy pulled up hard, causing their passengers to jerk back lightly in their seats as they positioned themselves at the right altitude, the guard in the back releasing his hold as a crystal in the back lit up to tell him the innate magic in the vehicle was kicking in to keep it balanced for the flight. This was followed by a small squadron of four other pegasi taking positions around the transport to escort it to its destination. Above their heads, the duo could see a massive zeppelin taking off and several smaller air ships flying around the air above them, as well as a few more pegasus chariots breezing by at around their altitude.
After everything was in position the pegasi took off, quickly leaving the chariot yard and castle behind them, while their passenger looked down below, then behind them to see pristine image of Canterlot Castle hanging by the mountain side leaving them. But they soon broke their gaze, with Twilight turning to her book bag and levitating out a travel sized copy of a book called 'Legend of The Elements of Harmony', before grabbing it in her hand and flipping it open to reread it for what seemed like the thousandth time to her. Meanwhile Spike pulled out a sack filled with some jerky that Princess Celestia had ordered for him from one of the Griffin kingdoms and dug out some pieces, before looking over the railing to gaze down at the sprawling city beneath Canterlot Castle's mountain rapidly leaving them as he snacked on the bits of meat.
They sat like this in silence, feeling the wind pushing against their bodies as they passed two layers of stone fortifications that separated Equestria's Capital from the surrounding countryside side that was rabbeted by train tracks and dotted by farms, manors belonging to lesser Canterlot Nobles and serving vacation homes for other nobles, and small communities. As they moved further out of Canterlot and the busier air traffic above it, the chariot and its escort gradually picked up speed, while Twilight continued to flip from one end of her book to the other, already having read through it for one- thousandth-and-first and one-thousandth-and-second times.
"Hay, Twilight?" Spike asked while still cramming jerky into his food hole.
"Swallow then speak Spike", Twilight offhandedly said, still continuing to look through her book and casually using her magic to tie her mane, to keep the wind from blowing it into disarray.
(Gulp) "Do you ever wonder what it would be like if you had wings?" He asked, before throwing another stick of jerky into his mouth.
Twilight turned her head to him with a raised eyebrow, while finally shutting her book. "I don't know, sometimes I guess.", she said after a moment of silence, before levitating her book back into her bag, as they were now less than a couple miles from Ponyville. "Why?"
"I was just thinking, it’s really nice riding through the air and I was wondering if this is what it will be like when I have wings." Spike finished off the last of the jerky and turned back towards Twilight.
"I don't know, maybe, but this seems like the question you should ask somepony that actually does have wings.", Twilight stated after a moment's pause, while levitating her book bag up and slipping her arm through the band to carry it as the chariot entered the sky just over Ponyville. Twilight spared a brief glance around the sky, making note that they had not been cleared yet. "You know, I actually had a dream where I had wings once"
"Really?" Spike asked, while putting the now empty bag away. Meanwhile three members of their escort broke away and flew down to make sure there was a clear landing area beneath them.
"Yeah, the night after the princess made me her student, I had this very vivid dream where I had wings and was leading an army into battle." As she was saying this, one of the guards that had broken off flew back up to inform the others that they had a clear landing area and the chariot stopped when it was positioned over said area.
"That sounds awesome Twi! What were you fighting!?" Spike exclaimed as he removed his restraints to get up, only for Twilight to casually pull him back into his seat by the tail with her magic, before throwing her arm around his midsection to act as a new restraint. This caused him to scowl at the unicorn, who smiled in response, before answering his question while the chariot began its gradual decent.
"Oh, I don't really remember anything other than they had this ominous dark cloud over them. I don't even really remember what the ponies beside me looked like, just that we were charging straight at whoever we were fighting", she said with a shrug, before the chariot touched down in-between the guards that hadn't flown back up, to the far end of the town's center, where many of its residents had flocked to do their jobs in helping prepare for the upcoming event, many of them stopping to give the robed unicorn mare and her little dragon a curious glance, before quickly averting their eyes and going about their day. "You know, it actually sounds like some cliché climatic battle I used to read in books all the time when I was around that age." Twilight allowed Spike to get up as she did herself, while levitating their luggage over to them.
"And still do", Spike said with a smirk. To which Twilight responded to by tossing one of the bags into his arms hard enough to send him staggering back for a couple steps. The dragon once again scowled at her, as she began climbing out of the chariot with her part of their luggage in hand, before following her.
After thanking the guard ponies, Twilight tossed her assistant the scroll and ordered him read over it real fast so he knows what they're doing, as the chariot took off for its next destination. Twilight meanwhile, looked around the area they had landed at to familiarize herself with her new surroundings.
"Hello!!!"
"Ah!!!" Twilight yelled as she was almost knocked off her feet by surprise, while Spike jumped back at the sudden appearance of a pink earth pony mare.
"My name's Pinkie Pie! Are you the new friends Princess Celestia sent over to meet us?" The mare said, while the unicorn and dragon's chest heaved as they recovered from the shock.
"What? Ah... yeah the princess sent us, but-"
"Great!!!" The pink mare yelled while jumping slightly in the air while clapping her hands together, before cartwheeling off to the side and seemingly disappearing just as soon as she came.
"Uhmm, what just happened?" Spike asked while Twilight swerved her head around, trying to see where the pink mare disappeared to.
After recovering from their surprise, Twilight brushed herself and motioned Spike to follow her, while he skimmed over the parchment. "The first pony on the list is an earth pony named Applejack who has apparently been put in charge of the food, right Spike?" Twilight asked the dragon, who nodded in response. "Good, let's hurry up, we need to get this over with as soon as possible, so I can get back to my research."
"Twi, I'm not sure the princess wants you to just breeze through this, so you could get back to studying", Spike responded before eyeing the scroll again. "In-fact, there's like half-a-dozen different reminders in here to try socializing with the ponies you meet. In bold letters. I’m… pretty ones even written in blood or at least blood red ink."
"Yeah, I know Spike but it's really important that I get back to my research. The very fate of Equestria could be at stake. I can't just drop all that to start trying making friends with ponies I'm probably never going to see again after tonight", Twilight said as they left town square and trekked down the road leading out of town.
"Come on Twi, you need to relax and learn how to make friends. You know what Celestia always says?"
"Yeah yeah, "Friendship is Magic" and all that, but right now this is more important."
"I was going to say, hmm-hmm 'Twilight Sparkle, my dearest and most faithful student, chill out before you give yourself a heart attack!'" Spike said with a brief chuckle, while Twilight groaned and tried to push his little impression out of her mind.
As they continued to walk down the road and further into the countryside, Twilight quickly started to sweat from the summer heat. "Those feather brains could've dropped us off closer to the farm", Twilight grumbled under her breath, as they approached a sign saying “Sweet Apple Acres” and could now hear the faint sounds of music and loud chatter off in the distance.
"You know, you'd probably be cooler if you took off the robe", Spike said offhandedly as they walked.
"Spike, this robe is an important piece of professional attire that must be worn at all times while doing official business", she said while stopping to take a fast breather and wipe away the sweat forming on her forehead.
"Come on Twi, like anyone here's going to care if you dress casually."
"Huh" Twilight exhaled, before begrudgingly pulling off her belt with her magic and slipping her robe over her head. The immediate difference in temperature almost made her shiver, despite it still being around ninety degrees or so, though perhaps that was just sweat that was starting to soak her shirt combined with a light summer breeze.
"Better?" Spike asked with a smug grin.
"Yeah, fine. It feels a lot better without this thing on", Twilight reluctantly admitted as she used her magic to secure her belt around her waist again while resting her robe over her shoulder. As they continued walking, they were able to take advantage of a forest of apple trees to shield themselves from the sun's heat with their shade. Meanwhile, the faint sounds of music they had been hearing gradually became louder to the point that they could now identify the sounds as coming from several fiddles, guitars, harmonicas, and at least one piano. They also heard the sound of fillies giggling to their side. Causing them to turn around just in time to catch a glimpse of three children running through the orchard with what looked like shovels and a pickaxe.
After a few more moments of walking, they spotted a large gathering of ponies out in the distance, near a couple large barns and an old farm house that seemed to be in the middle of some kind of celebration. As they approached they were able to make out the group better and noticed that it was mostly earthponies with fittingly earthly colored coats, almost like a sea of yellows, browns, oranges, and reds broken up by a few dabs of green here and there. There may have been one or two pegasi and the odd unicorn among the group, but the group that looked like it could be around a hundred or so large, was almost all earth ponies. After reaching the group, they were intercepted by a couple ponies, a mare and a stallion, that had circled their way around the crowd, probably having spotted them as they were coming.
"Hiya there, ya must be the ones the princess sent ta check on us." One of the ponies, the mare, said, while extending a hand out to Twilight, who quickly grabbed it and shook.
The pony that was greeting her was an orange furred, green eyed, and blond maned earthpony, about half a head taller than Twilight herself, not counting the horn, with a much more muscular and bustier physique, and a slight gut that stuck out just enough to be noticeable. She wore a brown Stetson hat, a short sleeved, green flannel shirt with its bottom tucked under her belt, a blue jean skirt that went down to her knees, and brown cowpony boots. Both her mane and tail were tied in... a ponytail oddly enough. And just under the sleeve of her shirt, Twilight could make out three apples adorning her arm.
"Ah, yes. I am Twilight Sparkle, personnel apprentice and emissary of Princess Celestia.", She said trying to look as dignified as she could, with her head turned up and her eyes closed, in the best posh voice she could muster and audible pride in her words, as she felt being a personal representative of her ruler and teacher, deserved. "And this is my faithful assistant and adopted brother, Spike."
"Hello", Spike greeted simply while waving at the two earth ponies, who eyed him curiously, like so many of the ponies in Canterlot had done upon meeting a dragon for the first time.
"Well it’s mighty fine ta make your acquaintance. I'm Applejack and this over hear behind me is my big brother Big Macintosh or Big Mac if you'd like," Applejack said while gesturing towards the large red stallion that was at least two heads taller than his sister and even more muscular, wearing a blue and white flannel shirt, tight jeans that emphasized the thick muscles of his legs, and brown worker's boots.
"Howdy." He said with a calm smile while sticking out his large and rough hands to shake Twilight's slender hand and Spike's claw, before letting the mares proceed with their conversation.
"Yes, nice to meet you both too. Now if we can get down to business, that would be most appreciated."
"Sure thing sugar cube, why don't ya come sit at the table and we can talk while we eat?" Applejack asked while very lightly (at least for her) grabbing the unicorn by the back of her arm and pulling her into the crowd with the guys following right behind them.
"Well actually, I really need to get going." Twilight responded, trying to yank her arm away from the earth pony that didn't even seem to notice the unicorn pulling against her.
"Oh, nonsense sugar cube! What kind of ponies would we be if we didn't give somepony that traveled all the way from Canterlot to check up on us a proper welcome?" Applejack stated as they reached a very long table at what could roughly be called the center of the gathering.
"I appreciate the gesture, but we really need to get through this as soon as-" Suddenly the aroma from the food on the table hit her nostrils, causing her to quickly turn her head to row after row fresh-baked goods spread across the wooden plane. Twilight forced herself to turn away and regain her composure, but she was pretty sure this Applejack pony could hear her stomach growling and betraying her air of disinterest in these festivities.
"Come on and sit down, and we can get ta talken. I bet you're probably starving by the way you were looking at our food", Applejack said while taking her seat.
"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to have a little bite to eat."
Two Hours Later
"Ughhhh!" Twilight moaned as she stumbled down the road leading out of Sweet Apple Acres, trying not to puke, while Spike tried to help keep her on her feet. The duo's clothing now soaked in cranberry-apple juice and to a lesser extent, grape juice.
"You know Twi, you probably shouldn't have tried eating two pies in one sitting," Spike said, while trying to help her walk while sticking to the back just in case she did start throwing-up.
"Oh don't even start that with me! You and that farm pony ate like twice what I did! Each!" Twilight said bitterly, while reaching to fish out some pills, out of one of the little pouches on her belt to ease her stomach.
"You know, Applejack said she could whip you up an old family remedy for this, in like a couple minutes." Spike walked to Twilight's side to help her pull out a vile with a few tiny peels in it.
"Spike, I'm the personal apprentice to Princess Celestia and one of the very few ponies in Equestria with magic itself as her talent! I don't think I need a farm pony to tell me how- Ughm" Twilight was cut off by remnants of apple pies and other pastries being pushed up her throat and out of her mouth, as she doubled over.
Spike calmly patted her on the back, until she was done spilling her guts out on the road, before removing a couple of pills from the vile and handing them to Twilight who hungrily scooped them out of the little dragon's claw, before he put the vile back in its pouch. "You know, I actually kind of liked hanging out with them; they seemed nicer than the ponies back in Canterlot," the dragon said after Twilight had recovered.
"Yeah, I guess it was okay. But did she have to introduce us to
of her relatives. Especially when I said a hundred times that we were on a schedule,” Twilight grumbled that last sentence under her breath, while stepping over a puddle of her vomit, already recovered from her stomach issues thanks to the magically enhanced medicine.
"Hey, some of them were pretty cool. Like that one filly with a bow in her hair and her friends, uh, Applebloom I think her name was."
"You mean those little gremlins that caused the juice explosion?" Twilight asked bitterly, still trying in bane to ring the juice out from her cloak's sleeves.
"Yeah, they were a lot of fun," Spike responded, not noticing or caring about the bitterness in his companion's voice.
"Huh. Just remind me who's next on our list. Wasn’t it that pegasus in charge of clearing the skies, Rainbow Dash I think?"
"Uh-huh" Spike answered, while looking over the scroll. "Applejack said she lives in a cloud house around the south bridge just down this road. Uh, I think I can see it!" He said, as they reached the summit of a slope in the road and spotted the wooden bridge with cobblestone supports that arched over a shallow creek.
"Good, I would really like to have a word with this pony for slacking on her job. I mean for Celestia's sake, what kind of pony waits till the very last moment to-"
Twilight was cut off as they were approaching the bridge by a rainbow colored blur flying by followed by a gust of wind strong enough to blow the back of her mane into her face and knock the scroll from her assistant's claws, before he scrambled to catch it before it was blown away. Brushing her mane away to clear her vision, Twilight could see the blue blur with rainbow highlights flying loop-dollops the took her from just a foot above the ground, then back up above the clouds so fast, it didn't look so much like something flying around in circles as it did a giant blue circle spinning around in the air. Until it suddenly stopped at lowest point of the circle it was flying in just long enough for Twilight to make out the shape of a pony, before just as abruptly shooting back up in the air and right through one of the clouds, disappearing for several seconds before free-falling back to the ground while casually laying with her back facing down towards the ground and her eyes closed.
Acting instinctively upon seeing a pony rapidly falling to the ground, Twilight’s magical aura burst around her horn to catch the pegasus who's eyes shot open as she instantly began to struggle against Twilight's magic.
"Hay! What's the big idea here!?", The pegasus yelled upon spotting the unicorn that had her in a magical hold.
"What's the big idea?! The big idea is saving you from turning into a blue, red, and rainbow colored puddle on the ground!" Twilight yelled back as they exchanged angry glares. "What were you even doing?!" Twilight walked closer to the blue, rainbow-maned pegasus.
"I was practicing for a stunt I was going to show off to the princess; until you ruined it.", She said with a furious glare directed towards the unicorn, before crossing her arms. "Now can you please let me go already?"
"Fine."
Without any further warning, Twilight released her magical grip around the pegasus and allowed her to fall to the ground on her rear. "Ouh!" The pegasus rubbed her now slightly sore behind as she got up and continued to glare at the unicorn who glared back, as she began to walk towards the purple mare, only for a little dragon to jump in-between them.
"Come on girls, it was just a misunderstanding. There's no need to make a big deal", the little dragon spoke with a nervous smile.
The dragon's words took Twilight out of her anger long enough to take a breath and calm herself down, while the rainbow-maned mare's attention turned towards the unusual sight of a dragon in Ponyville. Now that they were calmed down a little they were able to take the new sight of each other in, though the blue mare seemed to be sizing the two up more than anything.
After another second, Twilight had managed to fully regain her composure and offered a hand to the pegasus. "Rainbow Dash I presume?" The mare in question was slightly shorter than Twilight, but with a more athletic and muscular build, though with an over-all leaner build than Applejack and a chest about as large as Twilight. Her eyes were a vibrant pinkish/reddish color, and she wore a T-shirt with the same colors as The Wonder Bolt's uniforms, a purple and white skirt over a pair of black track pants with a white stripe going down each side of them, a small golden Wonder Bolt's cadet emblem over the mid-thigh area, and a pair of black sneakers with white strings. A Cutie Mark that looked like a lightning bolt shaped rainbow coming down from a cloud was adorned on her arm.
"Yeah," Rainbow responded while averting her eyes from the dragon and took the other mare's hand. "I take it your Celestia's apprentice? I've heard you had a little dragon." Twilight replied with a nod while said little dragon assistant breathed a sigh of relief.
With her anger no longer clouding her mind, Twilight was able to focus on what she actually came to talk to this pony about, while said pony laid against the cobblestone end of the bridge with her arms folded, still clearly peeved that Twilight had interrupted her practice. "Anyway, I have come on behalf of the princess to see how the preparations were going and I was concerned by the fact that the skies have not been cleared yet, despite the fact that the princess will be here in just a few hours. May I ask why?", Twilight asked in the most professional voice she could muster to try to hide her ire at this pony’s laziness.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll get to it in a bit", she said placing her arms behind her head while turning her line of sight to the cloud filled sky. "We've still got plenty of time till Celestia gets here."
"Plen... Plenty of time?! It'll take hours to clear these skies! And it doesn't look like you've even gotten started! Don't you ponies in this town realize this is going to be a personal appearance from Princess Celestia! The ruler of Equestria! One of only three living Alicorns known to exist! You're ruler!" Twilight took a couple more steps closer to Rainbow Dash, while Spike tried to console her.
"Eh, I could clear every cloud in a hundred miles in like a minute", Rainbow said while waving her hand dismissively at Twilight's concerns.
"Yeah, I'm sure you could", Twilight said sarcastically with her own arms crossed. "Now would you kindly start taking this seriously?"
"Hey! I could clear every cloud in the sky in like, ten seconds flat! If that!"
"Yeah, I'd like to see that."
"Fine!" In a blue flash, Rainbow Dash was gone and Spike and Twilight were hit by upwards gust of wind that blew the latter's mane and skirt straight up, causing her quickly duck and pull down her skirt, before looking upwards to see Rainbow Dash blowing away and smashing swarms clouds, until about ten seconds later, there was not a cloud in sight, before seemingly disappearing herself while Twilight and Spike stared upwards with wide eyes and open jaws.
"So!" The duo jumped back at sound, before turning around to its source only to be hit by another burst of wind. This one strong enough to knock them both down. "What I tell ya?" They turned back to the bridge to see the rainbow-maned pegasus now laying sideways on the bridge's wooden railing with her head rested on the palm of her hand and a smug grin plastered on her face.
"Ok maybe you do have everything handled here," Twilight said in a daze after having picked her jaw up off the ground.
After making sure the cloud situation was under control, the unicorn and her dragon continued to the next pony on their little journey, a unicorn mare named Rarity who was put in charge of decorating the town's amphitheater. But by the time they arrived at said building, they were met with a job already done (a sight Twilight very much appreciated, after her last encounter) and were told that she would be at her home and business. A place apparently called Carousel Boutique. Though this mare's job was already completed, Twilight was still obligated to meet with this Rarity, if nothing else, just for the sake of marking her name off their list before they move on to the next pony.
Finding their way to a tall building that fittingly enough looked like a carousel, Twilight knocked on the door. "Come in", they heard an elegant voice say before they headed inside and began to look for the pony that had said that. Immediately past the entrance was a small waiting area with about half-a-dozen chairs and a table halfway between them with a stack of magazines on one side of it, while the opposite side had a couple chairs with a much smaller table between them and crammed in the corner was a mat with a box labeled Toys on it, for mares or stallions that brought foals with them. In front of them sat what looked like a reception counter with a cash register on it between two different paths that looked like both probably lead to the same area behind the counter.
Twilight took a brief moment to wonder how much business such an establishment could get in a backwater town where most ponies probably hand stitched their own clothing or made do with hand me downs, before shrugging it off and walking around the counter with Spike following close behind.
As they rounded the corner and entered a large open room filled the smell of the kind of high end perfume many Canterlot ponies wore and ponyquins either covered in various outfits and accessories or standing naked on both sides that seemingly made up the rest of the building's ground floor, where they could hear a mare humming to herself.
In the far corner of the room, they spotted the source of the sound: a white unicorn mare, presumably Rarity, that was getting up from what looked like a sewing station and setting down a pair of red glasses, before turning towards them. She had a long, curly, purple mane that went down to her hindquarters and a similarly styled tale reached down to less than an inch above the floor. She was noticeably leaner than the last couple of ponies she met, though she was still noticeably more muscular than Twilight and was even bustier than Applejack. She was adorned in a dark purple skirt that went down to her knees, a white long sleeved button up shirt with a plunging neckline that showed off her cleavage, gold, gem encrusted bracelets, dark purple high-heeled shoes which combined with her horn, made her appear taller than Applejack, even though she in truth, she was probably only slightly taller than Twilight, and a pendant made up of three diamonds strung together, presumably representing her cutie mark. And unlike the other mares Twilight had seen in Ponyville, that didn't seem to wear makeup, this mare wore bright rose-red lipstick, as well as eyeshadow.
"I'm sorry if you came to make an order, but we're closed for the Summer S-un-" She suddenly stopped, seemingly frozen in place. After a moment of silence, Twilight started to wonder if this mare was okay, but before she could say anything, the other unicorn mare appeared in front of her so quickly she wasn’t sure if she had teleported or just sprinted, causing Twilight and Spike to once again jumped back in surprise. "You're Twilight Sparkle!!! The personnel apprentice to Princess Celestia!!! And you're her little dragon assistant, Spike right?" She asked the duo who was at first, too surprised to respond to the unicorn whose ice blue eyes seemed to sparkle in anticipation for their response. "Uh, what brings a pony of your prestige to Carousel Boutique?!"
"Uh, Rarity I presume?" Twilight asked, to which Rarity hurriedly nodded, so Twilight continued. "I've come as an envoy of Princess Celestia to inspect how the preparations for the coming celebration are proceeding and since you have been put in charge of the decorations for the local amphitheater, I have come to see how that was going, but since you seemed to already have that covered, I'll be on my way", Twilight finished as she started to back away.
"No wait! You can't just go so! We've haven't had the opportunity to talk properly!", Rarity exclaimed before lightly putting her hand on the other unicorns arm only to fill a cool and wet sensation when her fingers touched Twilight's sleeve along with a light squishing sound. She quickly pulled her hand away. "Is this... Cran-apple juice?" Rarity asked while sniffing her hand to confirm the substance was indeed what she thought it was, before looking over the purple unicorn and realizing just how messy her appearance was. "Oh no! This simply can not do!" Rarity exclaimed while grabbing onto the purple mare's arm, this time firmly and pulling her away, as she struggled to get free.
“Uh, no, we really must be going.”, Twilight said nervously as she tried to pull her arm away to no avail.
“Looking like THAT?! Oh, nonsense darling!” Rarity responded as she dragged Twilight into towards a nearby changing area. “We cannot have you going around looking like that on such a special occasion and what kind of pony would I be if I didn’t step in to save somepony in a situation like this.”
“I really appreciate the offer, but I really do need to get going.”, Twilight said, trying not to sound frantic as she desperately tried to pull her hand away from the other unicorn’s grip.
“Come now Darling, you can’t really expect me to let you go outside looking like that.” Rarity suddenly spun them around so she was facing Twilight and pulled her in so closely, their snots were nearly pressed together and their horns were interlocked. “I would never DARE letting a fellow unicorn mare walk out in public while in such a state on a regular day, let alone such a grand occasion as this!” Rarity spoke melodramatically as Twilight’s fake grin became increasingly nervous and beads of sweat began to form on her forehead. “Now come now, we really must get started if we are to make you look presentable in time for the celebration!” Rarity cheerfully ordered.
Twilight turned her attention to Spike, knowing that her ever loyal companion was about to jump in and help her somehow, someway… only to see he was staring at Rarity with hearts practically forming in his eyes. ‘Oh! For the love of Celestia’ Twilight screamed in her head.
“Spike, I believe it is?” Rarity asked, as the little dragon practically jumped at the sound of her sweat voice. “Would you mind giving me a hand here or in this case, a claw here, darling? There is simply so much to do here, I wonder if even a mare such as myself can do it on her own.”
Spike nervously looked back and forth between the mares, as butterflied formed in his stomach and Twilight mouthed ‘Save me’ to him.
Later
On a dirt road just outside of town, there was a bright purple flash, as a purple unicorn mare appeared on the road in the middle of a sprint, in a blue puffy dress over her casual clothes and pink high-heel shoes, while a large pink hat with a big blue feather sticking out of its side adored her head. As her feet hit road, the sudden change from tile to dirt and gravel, combined with her current foot wear caused her feet to slip out from underneath her, sending the unicorn plume thing down as she instinctively threw her arms in front of herself to take the brunt of the impact, so she at least didn't fall face first into the hard dirt road.
"Urrhhh..." Twilight moaned pitifully, as she pushed herself up and looked around, while rubbing her aching forearms and wrist. She was glad she at least teleported far enough out of town so as nopony had seen her second slip and fall of the day. She looked up towards the sky, grimacing at how far west Celestia's sun had already traveled as she pushed herself up and tossed the hat off. "Great, just great. At this rate, I'll be lucky to finish my duty, before tonight, let alone find any time to study." Twilight grunted to herself while she pulled the dress over her head, stumbling backwards a couple steps as the dress got caught on her horn and she had to struggle to pull it off, until her horn ripped through part of the dress. Twilight quickly threw the garment to the side the road, before she started walking, kicking a couple rocks as she did so.
'At least I was able to get a little payback on that little traitor back there before I made my escape.' Twilight thought to herself as an evil smirk spread across her face at thought of all fashion related torture her friend will have to adore at the hands of Rarity, because of his betrayal. 'Let's see how he likes being turned into a living ponyquin by his little crush back there.' She chuckled a little for the first time all day while pulling out her instructions as she reached a fork in the road with a sign between the branching trails to double check on the remaining objectives on her mission in case she forgot something and to make sure she had teleported onto the right road. The unicorn glanced to the sign to confirm that she was sure on which path to take to reach the next pony on her list while she walked towards the right trail leading to a small hill with a tall oak tree in the distance, before putting the scroll back away.
As Twilight traveled towards the hill, she could hear the faint sound of birds chirping in an unnaturally orderly fashion that could only come from a pony leading a bird chorus. Hearing the birds, Twilight increased her pace towards the hill. She was so excited to get this task over and done with, that she had to consciously slow her pace down, before she ended up tripping over her own feet for the third time today. As she reached the foot of the slope, she could see the vague outline of a pony beside the tree directing her little avian orchestra in the branches of the tree.
Deciding to throw caution to wind and just get this over with, Twilight teleported to the top of the hill saying, “Hello, I’m…” just behind the mare, where she just barley caught a glance of a yellow, pink-maned pegasus jumping in the air, accompanied by a deafening shriek, before the mare flew into the tree, scaring off the birds in the process.
After gaining back the use of her ears, Twilight look up into the tree’s branches, where she caught another glance of the pegasus looking down, mostly of her trembling, aqua green/blue eyes looking down on her before retreating further into the tree’s green covering. “Uh… sorry about that I didn’t mean to scare you, I was just trying to get a hold of the pony in charge of the bird chorus, a pegasus named Flutters Shydale. I presume that’s you.” Twilight said nervously, not sure how to exactly approach this pony. After a long moment of silence, she spoke up again. “Ah, don’t worry not hear to hurt, I just want to talk.”, Twilight said trying to coax to pegasus out, which seemed to be working somewhat, as she once again spotter her nervous eyes peeking out of the blanket of greenery.
But just as Twilight was about to breathe a sigh of relief that she was at least making something resembling progress, she heard a noise that reminded her of some of the experimental new engines she had heard on some of the more advanced and recent air craft in Equestria coming from her side and rapidly getting louder. Turning to her side, she was just able to spot the rainbow colored blur, before being knocked away with enough force to send her rolling towards the edge of the hill on the opposite side. Before she knew it, she was on her back, being pinned to the ground by her wrists and the familiar and furious face Rainbow Dash was looking down on her own.
“What the hell did you do to her!?” The pegasus yelled at Twilight, who was just now processing what just happened. The unicorn instinctively struggled to pull her hands free, but Rainbow Dash’s grip only increased to point of being painful until the unicorn stooped. “Well!”
Twilight quickly vanished in a flash of light, briefly blinding the pegasus, as her palms and knees hit the ground. “Hold up a second here, I didn’t do anything to her!” Hearing the purple mare’s voice behind her, Rainbow Dash jumped back to her feet and spun around so fast, she almost appeared to teleport herself, before marching within half a centimeter from the unicorn’s snout and staring in the eye.
“Oh yeah! Than why in the name of Celestia could I here Flutters shrieking from across town!?”, Rainbow fumed as she shoved the unicorn in the shoulders hard enough to almost knock her on her rear.
“I was just trying to talk to her, you featherbrain!” Twilight shoved her back, but the pegasus barley nudged. As the tension grew, Rainbow clinched her fist, as if she was ready to deck the unicorn in front of her. Seeing this, Twilight readied a spell that would knock the wind out her if she tried.
“Stop!”
Both mares jumped a little at the sudden interruption and turned to see the timid pegasus hovering downward from the tree. “Fluttershy! Are you ok!” Rainbow Dash called out, as she half ran, half flew in Fluttershy’s direction. “She didn’t hurt you did she?” Rainbow asked her friend, who after a moments pause simply shook her head in response.
“Please Rainbow, it was just a misunderstanding, she… she wasn’t trying to scare me. She was just trying to talk... and… and she caught me by surprise. That’s all.”, She spoke hesitantly, while trying to keep her neck low and brushing her bangs over one of her aqua eye , as if she was trying to use her hair to hide cloak herself while under the gaze of the other two mares. While Fluttershy defused the situation, Twilight finally got a good look at this mare; Fluttershy was a very pretty mare with a pink mane that stretched far enough down that it blended with her tale, which reached the ground. She was also she was about as buxom as Applejack, even though she only stood slightly taller than the other two mares present. She was wearing a light green dress that covered everything from her neck, to the palms of her hands and feet, as well as a pair of sandals, a couple white and yellow flowers in her hair, and pendent around her neck depicting three pink and blue butterflies, that Twilight assumed was her cutie mark.
“Sorry”, Rainbow Dash spoke while turning towards Twilight with her head hung low and anger still in her voice, though it may have been directed at herself as much as it was towards Twilight. “I shouldn’t have… you know.”, she reluctantly apologized.
Still wanting to get a move on, Twilight accepted the apology and turned her attention towards the other mare present. “Flutters Shydale?”, the unicorn asked trying to break the ice.
“Uh, please call me Fluttershy.” She responded meekly while trying to look away, but quickly turning back to not look rude.
Now that she was finally able to talk to this “Fluttershy”, Twilight quickly got started. “Fluttershy, I am Twilight Sparkle, personnel apprentice of Princess Celestia. I’m here to check on how preparations are going for the Summer Sun celebration tonight.” Twilight said professionally with her hand over her heart, only to get no response other than the pegasi staring at her and an awkward silence. “Is your bird chorus ready for the celebration tonight or not?” She blurted out the question, no longer even trying to hind her frustration at this point.
“Uh, yes.”, Fluttershy said plainly, before the awkward silence resumed.
“Ok. Good then.”, Twilight responded as she prepared to back away.
“Twilight!” The unicorn heard a familiar voice call out, followed by the sounds of gasps for air and large a bag being dragged across the ground. Soon enough the three ponies found a little dragon in fancy and frilly looking suit, pulling a bag up the hill. Just as he reached the summit. Done with his climb, Spike fell to his knees and letting go of the large bag, (which Twilight presumed was filled with the large number of clothes Rarity had insisted they needed) only for the bag to start sliding down the slope. Something the now exhausted dragon brushed off, as Twilight came to help him to his feet. As she looked down upon her faithful little dragon companion, she noticed that on his sweaty cheek was a bit of red lipstick that was starting run off do to the aforementioned sweat.
“Twilight! (gasp) Are you (gasp) alright?” Spike asked as he was just starting to catch his breath. “I was just reaching the hill when I saw her attacking you!” Spike said with a glare and finger pointed at Rainbow Dash, only to immediately point it away and pull himself behind Twilight, when she responded with her own death glare. Meanwhile, unnoticed to the other two mares present, Fluttershy’s eyes burst open and her jaw had dropped.
After hiding an amused little giggle, Twilight turned towards and looked down at her assistant. “I’m okay Spike, it was just…”, before she could continue, she was hit by a sudden and powerful gust of wind that rivaled the ones Rainbow Dash had kicked up earlier that morning. In front of her, she saw Fluttershy hunched down and looking down at Spike, who was now sitting on his rear, having likely fallen on it do to Fluttershy’s sudden appearance.
“Are… are… you… a… a… baby dragon?!” The yellow pony said with sparkles in her eyes and a huge smile plastered across her face.
After a long pause, in which Spike didn’t know how to react to this display, Twilight seemed didn’t know how to react either, and Rainbow Dash seemed oddly amused, the little dragon gave her a very slow and very nervous nod.
“OH I KNEW IT!!! I KNEW IT!!!! I KNEW IT!!!!”, with this outburst, Fluttershy scooped the Spike up in a bone crushing hug and pulled him in tightly against her body with his face ending up pressed right against her chest, as she rested the side of her head against the top of his. “A BABY DRAGON!!!!! HERE!!! IN PONYVILLE!!!!”, she exclaimed while rocking him a little bit in her arm, not realizing that in her moment of excitement that her powerful hug, combined with Spike’s unfortunate position relative to her bosom, had completely cut off his supply of valuable oxygen. He tried to push her back, but the sheer might of Fluttershy’s hug was too much for him to overcome. “I’VE NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD MEET ONE BEFORE IN MY LIFE!!! I….”
Fluttershy was cut off as Twilight and Rainbow Dash roughly pulled her off of the little dragon, who was now gasping for air, while Twilight jumped in to make sure her dear companion was ok. As Fluttershy laid there on the ground, it donned on her what she just did and her yellow cheeks turned a bright shade of red.
“I don’t think you want to smother the little guy, Flutters.”, Rainbow said nonchalantly, as she reached down to help up her friend, who was once again trying to hide behind her own mane.
