Filly Twilight's merry and crazy adventure

by Nikolas

Rating: mature
Tags: Dark, Spike, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure, Violence, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 30354

As a consequence of a magical accident, Twilight was reduced back into a filly. This is the story of her merry and crazy misadventures.

After one of Twilight's experiments backfired spectacularly, Twilight was turned back into a filly. Now without her memories as an adult, how will she fare? The other Element Bearers and Spike will be able to get help? And what will happen when a particular group of Crusaders are added to the mix?
Well what's the worst that could happen?:unsuresweetie::scootangel::applecry::twilightoops:

Special gratitude goes to Justice3442's story: CUTIE MARK CRUSADER NECROMANCERS, YAY!, which inspired me to write this story.

This story's proofreading was done by myself, with the help of Grammarly.
To be on the safe side, upon submitting the third chapter of the story, I raise the rating of it to Mature.

Published 2021-01-30 20:10:00 UTC
Last updated 2021-03-13 12:36:42 UTC

Chapter 1

Filly Twilight's merry and crazy adventure

It was just like any other day in the town of Ponyville, everywhere ponies were enjoying this peaceful day, absent-mindedly going with their lives. Either enjoying a quick snack at Sugarcube Corner, purchasing something at the store or just minding their own business. They had no idea that soon the piece would come to an end.

In the middle of Ponyville stood the Golden Oaks Library, home of Twilight Sparkle, the personal student of Princess Celestia and the bearer of the Element of Magic. Inside, in the bedroom on the upper floor was Twilight, who at the moment was studying a bunch of books from a worn, yet strong-looking chest, while at the same time talked to her number one dragon assistant, Spike.

"Thank you, Spike, we made good progress with these books!" Said the lavender unicorn, while she held one of the books with her telekinesis in front of herself, carefully studying it both with her eyes and an analyzing spell.

"No problem Twilight! But since the Princess sent them here you practically did nothing, but studying them! What's so important about them?" Asked the green and purple baby dragon with worry in his eyes.

"Oh Spike, it's very kind of you!" Said Twilight gratefully with a smile, then her expression became serious. "But it's something that I'd rather not delay. The books and everything else in that chest could cause a lot of problems if it gets into the wrong hooves. They once were in the possession of King Sombra."

"What! But then why did the Princess sent them to you? What if there is a trap in them?" Exclaimed Spike now almost panicking, the encounter with the shadowy tyrant still fresh in his head.

"This is exactly why the Princess sent them in the first place. She wanted to know if there is any kind of hidden surprise left behind by Sombra and to have a good idea of what kind of knowledge is in these books. Those which contain information about dark magic or some dangerous magical trap must be identified so they could be safely hidden, while the rest could give us for example a deeper insight into the history of the Crystal Empire and things like that. She is right now too busy with her duties to do it and she felt that she could trust me with something so important like this. This is why I have to do it, I can't let her down!" Explained Twilight, shuddering even from the thought of disappointing the Princess.

Spike however was not entirely convinced: "But what if one of the books explode if you open it, or what if it unleashes a monster which tries to eat us, or what if a ghost from a book possess you to drain out all your life energy to live once again to free a giant snake to eat everypony!" Said Spike becoming more and more worried.

"Spike don't be silly! Something like this will not happen." Said Twilight, then seeing that it didn't calm him down she continued: "Spike I know that you are just worried for me, but everything will be okay. I tread everything in that chest with the utmost caution, running several magical analyses on them and always keep myself ready to cast a quick protective spell if something would happen. So you don't have to worry about it, okay?" Asked Twilight with an encouraging smile.

"Okay, Twilight." Said Spike with a smile of his own. Then some of the concern returned and he said: "Yet I think you should take a break. You look like you really could use some rest."

The unicorn wanted to protest, but then she looked into a nearby mirror and saw that her mane was messed up, strands of her mane stood out in different directions. Then suddenly came a rumbling noise and she realized that she didn't eat for more than a few hours. With her now slightly rosy cheeks she sighed, silently accepting that she can't win this argument.

"Alright Spike, you have won." Said Twilight, with a tired smile. "Just let me put everything away and then we can go to Sugarcube Corner for a snack. I'll pay, what do you say?" Asked Twilight slyly, while she put everything back into the chest, then levitating the mentioned item into a safe which was built into the wall of her room. After closing the safe, she turned back to her dragon assistant, only to find him quickly putting away the last pieces of paper to their place, the prospect of the sweet goodness clearly gave him a great deal of motivation. Giggling a bit at his antics, she grabbed her saddlebags with her magic, and soon the two were on their way.

Several hours later, we can see Twilight in her bedroom, silently examining some papers. After the tour to Sugarcube Corner, she took a pleasant bath and went into her room for a well-needed sleep. Right at that moment, Spike was at the floor level of the library, reading some comics.

So after waking up and taking a look at Spike, she decided to look into her notes about the content of the books from the chest. There was one particular piece of information that gained her attention. The Age Spell. She still remembered when Trixie, possessed by the Alicorn Amulet used the very same spell. She knew a few things about the spell, but it required so much magic and control, that it was back then beyond her abilities.

Now, however, she knew more details about the working of the spell, how it affects the body, mind, and every aspect of the subject. The reason why this spell so difficult to cast was that the caster has to focus his/her magic on the subject, then using it to reverse the natural aging of the cells. The spell makes the new cells become like they were at a younger age (at the targeted age of the subject), then programming them to keep reproducing the same younger cells, thus the pony's body will function as it did back then. This is the greatest obstacle, to effectively cast the spell the caster has to rewrite the working of the functioning of the body at the cellular level! Every! Single! Cell! It would require a tremendous amount of focus and skill with transmutation magic, not to mention the necessary magical energy to do it. If you can't cast the spell properly, the energy structure of the spell will fall apart and the magic will disappear, luckily at least it will returning the target to its original state, not causing any damage.

She now realized, that Trixie just used her magic, boosted to the level of an alicorn to skip the necessary focus, and just sent enough energy to cover the missing parts. Back then she lacked the knowledge to properly cast the spell and lacked the sheer power to force it to happen.

But now, after all this research and study, she knew every step for the spell. She had everything necessary to cast properly the spell.

With all that in mind, she placed on a table a potted plant, while making one final check, to ensure that she doesn't miss anything. After that she turned her full attention towards the plant, ready to start.

Her horn lit up, as she closed her eyes in concentration, focusing with all her might and skill, weaving the magical energy in preparation. Sweat started to appear on her head as she poured more power into the spell, as the glow around her horn became more intense as the spell took shape.

"Yes!" Cried Twilight mentally, as she could feel the spell, getting ready to cast. "Almost there! Just a little more!"

And it was at this moment when the chaos began. All of a sudden a bird collided with the balcony door with a loud thud. With eyes wide open, a startled Twilight Sparkle frantically turned around towards the source of the noise. At the same time, the magic around her horn started to deform and twist. A fearful expression appeared on her face as she desperately tried to regain control over the spell.

But she was already too late, with a tremendous clap of thunder a bolt of chaotic magic shot out of her horn which completely missed the plant. The spell zig-zagged all around in the room, as it bounced off from the various reflective objects in the room. Still somewhat dizzy from the disturbed casting Twilight only was able to scream in horror as the spell hit her with a blinding flash of light and a resounding crash, as she unconsciously fell onto the ground.

At the streets of Ponyville, five ponies could be seen. As they approached the Golden Oaks Library, they were in the middle of a conversation

"Oh! I can't wait to see what is this about! Maybe a surprise party! Or some other unexpected adventure, oh my gosh that would be so great!" Shouted merrily Pinkie Pie, who seemed to vibrate from excitement.

"Ah don't know, may you know something about it, sugarcube?" Asked Applejack, looking towards her white-coated friend.

"I am afraid I know just as much as you do. Spike not too long ago came to my boutique, asking me to come to the library. However, I am sure we will see it when we get there." Said Rarity with optimism in her voice.

"Yeah, yeah! let's hurry, so we could find it out!" said impatiently Rainbow Dash, barely containing her curiosity. The other ponies nodded and soon they reached the library.

There they saw Spike, who waved towards them invitingly as he noticed them. Rainbow didn't waste time, immediately flew to the young dragon.

"Yo Spike! What's up?" Asked the pegasus rather bluntly. Before he could answer the others too caught up. After mutual greetings (and a scold of Rainbow Dash for her impatience), the mares turned towards Spike.

"Now then Spike, could ya tell us why'd ya needed us so suddenly?" Asked Applejack curiously. To that Spike sighed, then with slight worry started: "Well you see, recently Twilight spent almost all her time inside, barely paying any attention to just anything else besides her studies on those books."

"Isn't it what Twilight does every time?" Asked a slightly annoyed Rainbow Dash.

Seeing the still worried dragon, she quickly continued: "But don't worry, I am sure that soon it will be okay. It's just her usual eggheadness."Said she, trying to be reassuring. The others soon did as well.

Their attempt to cheer him up soon brought a smile to his face. After taking a breath to further calm himself he started: "Thank you, everypony! It really helped." Then Rarity with her own smile replied: "Oh it's nothing Spike! That is what friends are for."

"No problem partner." said Applejack reassuringly, then she turned towards the others questioningly: "Then what should we do?" Immediately Pinkie Pie with a big smile announced: "Oh! I know! We could throw a party for Twilight! There would be cupcakes, punch, and a lot of fun!" Exclaimed the excited party pony.

"You say this always Pinkie!" Shouted a slightly exasperated Rainbow Dash. But before anypony could answer her, Spike voiced his opinion: "In fact, this is not too far from what I thought." At the other's looks, he quickly elaborated: "You see I hoped that with your help we together could coax Twilight out of her room for tonight and make sure that she relax and don't lock herself up with more work."

The mares looked to each other, milling over what he said. Then they creased a smile and Rarity decided to say what they all thought: "Oh Spike! We gladly help you! All of this work is just unhealthy to Twilight, so she will come with us to take a break, she likes it or not!" The other ponies just smiled, showing their agreement on the matter.

Now Spike felt much better. However as he was about to start to enter the library, a loud thunderclap spooked all of them, quickly followed by a familiar scream. For a second all of them were frozen in place. Spike then quickly shook off the confusion and as worry and fear welled up in him, he shouted: "Twilight!" It had its effect and the others too snapped out of their stupor as one they started to run (in the case of the Rainbow Dash fly) towards the stairs, lead by the baby dragon. However, the door was locked. They couldn't hear anything from the room, which made them more scared.

"Get outta the way! I'll take care of this!" Yelled Applejack, then not waiting for an answer reared her hind hooves up - seeing this the others quickly moved out of the way - and with a "Yehaa!" gave a strong buck to the door. The door stood no chance, it was forcefully opened, part of the wall at the lock was torn out and the door itself had cracks where the hooves crashed into it. Quickly, the ponies and the dragon entered the room, seeking their lavender-colored friend, but the unicorn in question was nowhere to be seen.

"Twilight!" Shouted Spike, the worry clear in his voice. However, there was no answer. Seeing the distress of the baby dragon, Fluttershy went to comfort him: "Don't worry Spike, I am sure that we will find Twilight very soon." Said she kindly, doing her best to put up a brave face, while trying to suppress her own fears. The young drake gave a weak smile and resumed to search for her friend. As they fanned out in the room, they couldn't help, but in mind, all compare the usually tidy and well-organized room with its current state. Pieces of parchments and other papers lay all around accompanied by glass shards, the rug, and the pillows also were scattered, as if a tornado would've gone through the room, while some surfaces had burn marks on them.

"Where she could have gone?" Asked Rainbow, while inspecting some of the burn marks.

"Why don't we ask this sleeping filly, who looks like Twilight?" Asked Pinkie unexpectedly. At that, they all looked toward their pink friend, dumbstruck by her strange query, but then their eyes widened incredulously. Because before their eyes Pinkie raised the rug from the ground at the other side of the bed, only to reveal an unconscious filly with a lavender coat, a mainly blue mane with a pink and a purple streak in it, and a very familiar star-shaped cutie mark on her flank.

As they stood there, watching the sleeping filly, their eyes were fixed on her, unable to move or speak from sheer confusion. But in the end, Spike mustered his brain to restart and asked: "Twilight?"

His voice shook them up from their stupor, Rainbow quickly gave voice to her thoughts: "What the hay!" shouted she incredulously.

"Twilight became a filly?" Asked Applejack, even as the words came out of her mouth, she still can't believe it. However, they don't have the chance to further ponder on the matter, because...

(groan)

Everypony's gaze turned towards the slowly waking filly. With another groan, she sat up, with one hoof on her head. The young unicorn opened her purple eyes, while tried to rub off the remains of her sleepiness. As she took in her surroundings, suddenly her eyes widened as she finally noticed the rest of the Mane Six, who still kept looking at her and did what any filly would do if they would wake up to see a bunch of grown-up ponies looking at them in a somewhat creepy way.

"Ahh!" Her fearful scream made the gathered ponies wince. The filly bolted up, attempting to rush the farthest direction from the others. However, she didn't get too far, because she tripped on some of the scattered papers. Looking up she saw the girls moving towards her, scaring her even further. She started to back away from the "strangers", stumbling a few times while doing it, just for her to realize that she backed into a corner.

"Who are you!? Leave me alone?" She screamed, her body trembled from fear. The others ceased their movements and looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

"We won't harm you Twilight, you can trust us" Spoke Rarity, trying to sound reassuring. However, it didn't work.

"How do you know my name? Why have you brought me here?" Said she cautiously, she couldn't recall ever been in this room before. "They probably are some ponynappers trying to gain my trust! Only such ponies would live in a messy place like this, with papers littering the ground and ("Gasp") books as well, some of them seemed to have been damaged! Only bad ponies could commit such atrocious deed against books!" Thought she angrily. The mares took a step backward, cringing from her distrustful attitude, then formed a circle trying to decide what to do.

"What do you think, girls? How could we tell her what happens here, when not even we have any idea?" Asked the fashionist pony with concern.

"She doesn't seem to remember any of us. The poor thing looks so scared." Whispered Fluttershy, no less worried than her friend.

"Maybe whatever spell that she tried to use, when it backfired may hit her head and she got amnesia from it!" Said Spike, voicing his thoughts on the matter.

"That may be the case, but it doesn't change the fact, that Twi became a filly and we have not a single idea how to get her to listen to us!" Added her own two bits AJ.

"It doesn't matter how we do it, but she is our friend and she needs us, even if she doesn't know it! So we must do something!" Declared Rainbow, with determination in her eyes.

Rarity raised one of her hooves to her chin while in thought, then turned her head towards Fluttershy as she started: "Hm, maybe you could give to it another try, darling. Your kindness may help you to calm her down, so she would listen to us."

As the others looked at her, the shy pony quietly spoke: "For our friend, I will do what I can to help." After that, she quickly retreated to the safety behind her mane.

"Okay, now that we have a plan let start it away!" Said Spike with enthusiasm.

As they turned their heads towards the corner, they quickly realized that the filly was not anymore there. While they stood there dumbstruck, Pinkie decided to speak up: "While you were talking, Twilight has sneaked out!" Said she cheerfully.

"Why didn't you stopped her?!" Exclaimed Applejack incredulously.

"Because I haven't wanted to interrupt your inspiring speeches, silly!" Was the party pony's response. The others couldn't help, but groaned and facehooved, then with haste rushed out from the room in search of their rejuvenated friend.

Said unicorn at the time cautiously looked around, trying to move as stealthily as possible. While those mares were distracted by their conversation, she quietly sneaked out of the room. For a few moments, she paused, when she saw what appeared to be a cross between a living room and a library. She was tempted to stop to read one or two books but gathering all of her willpower she overcame her short inner struggle and walked towards the door and only took ONE book with herself while doing so.

With her loot in her hoof, she hastily went out and found out that she was in some town, which she couldn't recognize. She did her best to avoid being noticed, unsure who she could trust in this, to her "unknown" settlement. As she saw some ponies walking towards her she quickly hid behind a corner. Slowly panic started to overcome her, raising her head and looking upward her heart almost jumped from joy, when built on the side of a mountain was the unmistakable form of Canterlot. "There is it! Canterlot!" Thought she happily.

After that, she shook off her panic and went to make a plan. Canterlot was too far to reach on hoof and she wanted to avoid being found. Soon she decided to head towards the outskirts of the town to wait until later when less pony is out to reach the train station. There she may find somepony who can help her.

So here was she, after sneakily (at least in her mind, in fact, some ponies noticed her, but they couldn't get a good glimpse to recognize her and thought that she was just a filly playing hide and seek) moved through the town, she soon reached a dirt road. Out of curiosity, she decided to follow it, which lead her to a farm. Her eyes widened with amazement from the sheer number of apple trees. She cautiously approached the farm, driven by her curiosity. When she heard voices closing she quickly hid behind a tree.

After a moment to slow down her breathing, she gathered her courage and looked out from behind her hiding spot. She saw three fillies around her age, a yellow coated earth pony, an orange-colored pegasus pony, and a white unicorn. They were walking not far from her, while happily chatting amongst each other, obvious of her presence. At least they were because as she leaned forward to see better, she accidentally stepped on a stick with a loud crack. It got the trio's attention and before she could've done anything, they came to find the source of the sound.

She contemplated running away, but she didn't have the chance to do so, because the fillies suddenly appeared before her. As the three skidded to a halt, their eyes widened upon noticing Twilight. For moments they just stood there, taking in her appearance. As the seconds silently passed, her panic slowly subsided and cautious curiosity took over. Finally, the trio overcame their stupor and Apple Bloom asked the question, momentarily running through their heads: "Twilight?"

This caught her attention and with suspicion asked back: "How do you know my name?" This however only made the crusaders more confused. After looking at each other with puzzled expressions, still unsure about the situation Scootaloo spoke: "What do you mean, we knew it since when you moved into Ponyville after you and the others defeated Nightmare Moon."

"What you're talking about! I don't remember such a thing!" Said Twilight, her doubt concerning their claims clear in her voice.

"But it's true!" Squeaked Sweetie Belle with a whine. Visibly, or rather audibly Rarity's talents about the power of whining were strong within her. Before they could've continued, they heard a gurgling sound coming from Twilight's stomach. A blush slowly appeared on her face, as she realized how hungry she felt. But to her luck Apple Bloom soon came to her rescue, giving her an apple. At first, our heroine looked at it with a bit of hesitance, but after her stomach once again gave a sign of its need for food, still blushing she took the offered fruit and with gusto started to eat. Not too much later the apple (the fruit, not the pony!) was no more and she sighed with satisfaction.

"Thank you for the apple!" Said she, still a little embarrassed.

"No problem, partner!" Said Apple Bloom with a smile. After a few moments of awkward silence, Twilight decided to be the first to speak: "Soo... who are you?" Asked her with curiosity, while trying to be polite.

Seeing that she was calmer, Scootaloo decided, that at the moment their best option is to stay with her and see if they could help her remember or if that doesn't work, then to keep her safe until they find somepony who can. With that in mind, she spoke: "I am Scootaloo!"

"I am Sweetie Belle!" Said she, glad that at least they made some progress.

"And I am Apple Bloom!" Said the Apple filly with a smile. Then in ,they shouted: "And we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

"Cutie Mark Crusaders?" Asked Twilight with confusion.

"We decided to unite, so one day we could acquire our Cutie Marks!" Declared Scootaloo with pride and determination.

Twilight watched with awe towards the three fillies before her, as they stood together, remembering how little time she spent with other ponies at her age, being so engrossed in her studies and how did the princess times to times mentioned to make some friends.

"That's amazing!" Said she, truly meaning it. Then pushing all the strange things which happened on this day into the back of her mind, she decided to take the princess' advice and after gathering her courage she somewhat shyly asked: "Do you think, that I may join you? I know that I already have my Cutie Mark, but maybe I can help you in some way!" said she, then with a worried face quickly looked away, deeply afraid that they would refuse.

The Crusaders with surprised expressions looked at each other, but then seeing Twilight's worry, Apple Bloom gave an encouraging smile and kindly spoke: "I don't see a reason to why not."

Looking back with a slight shock, Twilight was greeted with agreement from the other Crusaders.

Overflowed with joy from their acceptance, she soon found herself following her new friends towards their clubhouse. On all the way, the big smile never had left her face.

Hours later, we can find the three Crusaders and one filly Twilight, sitting under one of the apple trees. All of them looked exhausted and were covered in sap, the marks of a long day of crusading. Twilight's help with her magic won't lessen the destructiveness, which usually accompanied their misadventures (maybe it did in fact its opposite). But not even that could've removed the smiles from their faces.

"It was so much fun! But I have no idea, from where all this sap has come from?" Said she, then became confused at the latter part.

"This is what always happens. It's not that bad, once you got used to it." Sighed Scootaloo. The others nodded in agreement. But before they could've continued, suddenly familiar voices reached them.

"Twilight!" Twilight and the Crusaders turned their heads and saw, that the rest of the Mane Six approached with worried and frustrated expressions. Twilight immediately tensed and jumped onto her hooves, ready to run.

"Twilight! Please, don't run away again!" Shouted Applejack, not intending to start the search again.

"What do you want from me?!" Demanded the filly.

"We don't mean bad to you, darling! We just want to help, because we are your friends!" Pleaded Rarity. Twilight was still suspicious of them, but then another person stepped forward to speak and she was shocked by who it was.

"They say the truth, Twilight! Please, believe me!" Said Spike, pleadingly. Twilight's eyes were wide from surprise, barely able to form any words: "S-Spike? What happened to you? You look... taller." Finished she, squinting and still confused.

"I was this high for years, Twilight." said he, then after taking a breath continued: "But what matters is, that we don't lie, just let us explain it! Please!" Pleaded the dragon with puppy eyes. Then after the Crusaders too joined, within seconds she caved in and agreed to hear them out.

Soon they have returned to the library (and Twilight put back the book which she borrowed). Then, once they got comfortable the girls and Spike told her everything since she moved into Ponyville and what they theorized about her current state. First Twilight was quite doubtful, but after she saw all the proof, like pictures and other mementos from their various adventures, it convinced her that they were right.

"Sorry for all the trouble I caused to you and that I accused you." Said she sheepishly.

"No problem darling. I am sure, that in your position we too would have been just as confused as you." Stated Rarity reassuringly, soon followed by the others.

"So, you still don't remember anything, about what we told to you?" Asked Spike unsurely. It made Twilight frown and after some moments of silent thinking, she frustratedly let out an indignant huff and sighed: "It seems to be the case. The last thing which I can recall is that I went to sleep after another day of study with the Princess, but it was just like every other day and nothing big or really important has happened." Finished she detachedly.

"I am sure, that soon everything will return to normal." Said Sweetie, giving her a reassuring smile with the others in close tow.

"Why don't we just ask the Princesses to turn Twi back! They surely could do that!" Declared Rainbow Dash, completely confident in her opinion.

"Hmm, Rainbow may is right. We should tell them about it and then work with whatever answer we get." Added her own two bits Applejack.

"No! Don't tell to Princess Celestia! It was me who botched the spell, I have to make it right." Shouted Twilight, all of a sudden getting very worried.

The others knew well, that Twilight tended to over-worry things, so Spike quickly came to the rescue: "I am sure, that they will understand it and besides the Princesses may are the only ponies who can help you with this!" Pleaded Spike, hoping that she would listen.

She sighed in defeat, seeing the reason in his words. Then looking towards the Crusaders, she wasn't sure what to do or what she wanted. As the others started to discuss the letter, she hesitantly spoke: "Couldn't I..., stay like this just a little longer?" The others were shocked.

"Twilight! But why?" Asked Applejack confusedly.

For a moment Twilight hesitated, but after a look at the filly trio (what don't elude the others), she turned back and continued: "You see, I really enjoyed crusading with the girls. Couldn't it wait for just a little. Just one more day, please." pleaded she, giving her best puppy eyes look she could muster.

Looking into those big, teary eyes froze the older mares and one dragon, unable to turn away, and after overcoming their momentary shock, the crusaders also joined in, which proved too much to bear and after a short discussion they gave in. This made the four fillies cheer and soon everypony had a smile.

As the fillies kept cheering the Mane Five and Spike pondered if it was the right decision. But then they cast the notion aside those thoughts. Just one day!

What could possibly go wrong?!

Author's Note

I hope you will like this new story. Next chapter will be up soon enough!

Chapter 2

Filly Twilight's merry and crazy adventure Chapter 2

As the morning came, the Mane Six, the Crusaders, and Spike once again gathered in the library. They came to work out the last details of what they will exactly do about Twilight's condition. There was also the fillies' request to have one last day to play together before she had to turn back.

After much thinking, they came to a decision and Spike spoke up: "Okay girls, listen well!" Which immediately got the fillies' attention. "We decided how will we proceed to get help to reverse the spell."

After giving them a minute to his words to sink in he continued: "I will go with the girls to Canterlot via the train, to tell the princesses what's going on, until then you can stay here to have fun. Once we have a solution we will come back to tell you." The fillies were nodding and smirking, at least this would give them plenty of time of crusading. Yay!

But it haven't lasted too long, when Rarity added: "But, while we go to Canterlot, one of us will stay here to keep an eye on you." Said she firmly.

"What?!"

"But why?!"

"This is so not fair?!"

These and more questions came from the fillies, clearly showing their disagreement with the idea. Luckily Applejack quickly came to rescue the situation.

"Now listen 'ere you there! We do this to make sure that you won't go overboard with yer "crusading" while none of us is around!" When she saw that they were about to keep arguing she resumed her speech: "It's either this or no deal!" Said she, then seeing the sad expressions on their faces she gave them a soft smile and more gently continued: "It would really ease up our worries, that there is somepony to look after you and keep you away from trouble."

After thinking for a few seconds Apple Bloom cautiously asked: "Who would stay with us?"

"We agreed, that Fluttershy would be the best for the job." Said Rarity. Said mare gave a timid nod, then gave a gentle smile.

After looking at each other and some whispering the four fillies turned towards them and simultaneously said: "Okay."

After this issue was settled the group of mares and a single dragon prepared to go to the station, but before that Pinkie offered to the fillies some cookies.

"Are you sure?" Asked Twilight hesitantly from the party pony, as she eyed the cookie still unsurely.

"Of course silly! There is no better way to begin a day full of fun, like a cookie, well maybe a muffin, or a cupcake. Hmm... cupcake." Said she, at the end dreamily. After that Twilight accepted the offered treat (at least it may satisfy the slightly creepy pony, who seemingly can defy the laws of physics with ease.).

After a good breakfast, the group headed to the train station. After they got their tickets, the four mares and Spike got onto the train heading to Canterlot, while the fillies and Fluttershy waved after them. Once the train became a small dot on the horizon the five decided to head back to the library.

The fillies sat around a table, exchanging ideas about how they could gain their cutie marks, said ideas getting more crazy and ridiculous as they kept brainstorming, Twilight sometimes adding her own advice (not less absurd than the rest). However, while Fluttershy was cleaning around the library, she kept her ears on their conversations and quickly told them, that all of them were very dangerous and that they shouldn't do them.

But as they kept thinking about new plans, the lavender filly, who in the past few minutes was silent stood up and spoke up: "Uhm, Fluttershy?" Which quickly gained said mare's attention.

"Yes, Twilight?" Asked the pegasus curiously. The trio as well turned towards her, curious about what she had in mind.

"I was thinking if you would let the four of us go up into my room to read some books, and maybe playing with one of those games which I saw yesterday?" Said Twilight, giving her best puppy eyes to the yellow pegasus.

After a few seconds of thinking Fluttershy smiled and kindly said: "Well, I don't see why not, so have fun and if you need something just say it, I will be down here."

After that, the young unicorn has directed the three confused fillies into her room and when all of them were inside she closed the door. It was Scootaloo who spoke first: " Twilight, while I don't have a problem with reading books like Daring Do and such, but I doubt that would be our special talent. So why did you suggested to come up here?" The other two nodded in agreement, just as confused as the orange filly.

Twilight, already expecting the question, gave them a mischievous smirk. "Don't worry this is part of the plan." said she, then seeing their still confused expressions she quickly elaborated: "I realized, that we won't be able to do anything with Fluttershy forbidding all of our ideas. Now after we are ready we can make our escape through the balcony and begin crusading." She could barely hold back her enthusiasm. However, the others were hesitant.

"I don't know, it really doesn't feel right to deceive Fluttershy like this." Said Apple Bloom uncomfortably.

"Yeah! The last time when we did that we almost were turned into stone by that cockatrice! It actually turned YOU into stone!" Exclaimed Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo nodded in agreement with them. Twilight visibly cringed from their doubtful expressions, but quickly shrugged it off and spoke again: "I know what you mean. I know that Fluttershy is kind and only means good... " Said she a bit solemnly, then pressed on: "But I can't see another way and don't worry, because I already have ideas how to minimalize the potential risks." Claimed she confidently.

As their expressions turned from doubtful to contemplative she swiftly elaborated: "First off, we don't have to go into the Everfree or even too far from Ponyville, to begin with, we just have to stay out of sight. That way we would have enough room to work with, while avoid being detected and as a bonus, that way we don't have to worry about running into something dangerous." Explained she eagerly. The trio before her nodded, seeing her point.

"After that, we have to properly plan out our ideas, to work out any possible mistake. Making checklists could help with that." Continued she, after all, what could go wrong, if they have checklists?

"And finally, wouldn't a little trouble worth it, if this would help you get your marks? Because I really want to help you!" Declared she with passion. Upon her words, the three crusaders looked at each other and after some meaningful glances, their eyes shone with determination. "Okay, let do this!" Exclaimed the fillies, then quickly covered their mouths with their hooves.

Hearing their agreement she gave them a grateful smile, then swiftly moved towards a wall in the room. The others looked at her quizzically and Scootaloo asked: "Uh, what are you doing?" Twilight gave another smile to them while kept inspecting the wall, then spoke: "Before we go I just wanted to grab some books for inspiration and if I know well enough older me, she must have some hidden place, where she keeps her most interesting books!" Said she giddily.

"But that isn't stealing?" Asked Sweetie unsurely.

"Don't worry, since those are my books I hereby allow you to use them." Said she, then her face turned a bit stern: "Given that you won't damage them." The fillies smiled rubbing their necks awkwardly. After getting a nod from them she once again became cheery: "See? Everything will be alright!" As if supporting her words, a secret door opened on the wall, revealing a safe which she soon opened and with her levitation pulled out a big chest. For a moment her brows furrowed and commented: "Hmm, it seems older me still using the same code. I am not sure if I should be smug or being annoyed about how easy it was?" Then she shrugged and began inspecting the content of the chest with the CMC soon joined behind her.

After studying the books and other strange stuff in the chest a wide smile spread across her face: "Oh, these books look very interesting! I am sure they will be very helpful!" She almost squealed. "I can't wait to begin!" The others weren't so sure, but after a moment just shrugged, deciding if she was so excited about it, then it must be something good and as their imagination started to wonder about the possibilities they could not hold back their own excited smirks from appearing.

As this was happening, a collective shiver runs up and down on the spines of the ponies of Ponyville as if something terrible would be about to happen. Oh, colt! They had no idea.

The escape from the library was not an easy nut to crack in itself since they can't just walk out through the door. Climbing down on the tree was an arduous task, at times it was only Twilight's fast reaction with her telekinesis, that saved them when their hooves slipped. But in the end, their efforts paid off (they barely felt that last three-meter fall!) and quickly ran to find a secluded place to get to work in peace.

Soon they found themselves at a field, a little bit away from Sweet Apple Acres. The Cutie Mark Crusaders watched their temporary partner in crime as she placed several open books on the ground (all on clean spots!), curious about what she would come up with. From the way she almost devoured the content of the books, like a dragon in a jewelry store, and from her excited shaking, it had to be something good.

"Okay Twi, how do these books will help us to get our marks?" Asked Scootaloo impatiently. The others, while not as vocal as their daredevil friend, also wanted to begin crusading.

"Do not worry my friends! Come here and we can begin." And they did so. As they sat down before her, surrounded by the many books she began: "After you told me about your past attempts to get your marks," at that she raised a scroll with her magic, which was, in fact, a list about their many failed crusades: "I combined it with what I found in those books, I realized that to increase your chance of success, we have to expand your horizons and with these books, we will just do that!" Explained she vigorously.

"How would we do that?" Asked Apple Bloom.

She gave them a large grin and spoke: "Magic! From what I gathered, you never tried to get any magic-related cutie mark! But now we will rectify that!" Said she confidently, stomping with her little hoof to emphasize her point.

"Are you sure? My telekinesis is not that strong or as good as my sister's." Admitted Sweetie with a slightly depressed expression.

"And even then it would not help the two of us since we can't do magic." Said Scootaloo disappointedly, and just when she started to get excited! Apple Bloom nodded in agreement.

"Don't be so sure about that." Assured she, giving them a wink, then seeing their confused faces the purple filly elaborated: "While it's true that you can't use unicorn magic, it doesn't mean that you couldn't use others."

"Everypony has magic and while unicorn magic is the most malleable, it doesn't mean that you could not try out other, exotic forms of magic."

She brought one of the books before their wide eyes as she explained: "One good example is potion-making, " here she paused and looked at Apple Bloom, "From what you told me, the three of you once made a love potion and then later you made one which gave you Cutie Pox." The three blushed, remembering the mess they caused back then. Something that Sweetie quickly voiced: "But those things at the end turned out disastrously!" Said she, then rubbed her neck sheepishly at the looks that she got from them. While it was true, she didn't have to be so blunt about it!

After a few moments of awkward silence, she continued: "Sorry, but despite those... "mistakes" the fact that you were able to make them is impressive." Seeing their hopeful expressions she pressed: "If we give it a few tries, maybe it turns out that one of you have a talent with potions."

The fillies looked with excitement, but then Scootaloo's smile turned into a frown and asked: "But none of us got a cutie mark after those... "incidents". Said she, air-quoting the word incident.

However Twilight's smile didn't falter and continued her explanation: "Just because you tried something once and didn't get a positive result, it doesn't mean that it's a dead end. For example, after I saw the princess rise the sun I wanted to learn as much about magic as possible and did a lot of practice. Yet I only got my cutie mark at my entrance exam after I hatched Spike!" Said the purple unicorn. "You don't get usually your mark on the first try. The trick is to find what you not only are good at but also something that you truly like to do! Something that makes you feel complete, like a part of yourself that you aren't entirely aware of until it happens, and when you succeed it gives you a feeling of fulfillment. It's a little hard to explain, but this is what I felt. I hope it helped."Said she passionately, then ended a bit awkwardly, slightly blushing.

The Crusaders looked at each other for a moment, then after a series of confident nods they shouted at the same time: "Cutie Mark Crusader Potion Makers, yay!" Then they looked at Twilight expectantly.

"Okay, first off we have to gather the necessary ingredients, then..." Said she, showing them a recipe in one of the books, as the others listened attentively.

Back in the library, Fluttershy climbed up on the stair into her friend's bedroom. After being finished with the cleaning, she decided to check on the girls, and if they wanted a few snacks.

Slowly opening the door she took a look inside and heard the sound of light snores coming from a heap of blankets and pillows, covering small forms. She couldn't help but smile at the scene, then she quietly closed the door and went back to the ground floor humming a light tune. She headed towards the kitchen to make some sandwiches, so the fillies would have something to eat when they wake up.

Back in the room under the blankets were tape-recorders, the sources of the snores, right beside some stuffed dolls to make the illusion even more realistic.

The four fillies after a small detour in the town got all the ingredients they needed and returned to the chosen clearing and set out to begin their work. Each one of them had bowls, glass containers, a mobile burning platform (with their reputation it was not easy to get THAT particular thing), all kinds of herbs and liquids, with tools necessary to grind the materials.

They kept shifting between reading the book, to check their progress and if something isn't right, so they could stop if they mess up something (why didn't they thought about that sooner?).

As she waited for her potion to reach the right temperature Twilight looked up to see, how were the others faring.

Sweetie Belle was calmly working, humming a light tune. She seemed to be just fine. The smoke rising from her bottle, the violent bubbling of the liquid and it swirling wildly as if it would be wrestling with itself was surely a positive sign. Right?

Scootaloo on the other hoof was sweating and looked nervous. She kept glancing at the book and every time after that she looked more and more worried, sporting a very strained, and very fake smile.

Apple Bloom was in deep focus at the moment, as she slowly poured the liquid from a bowl into a glass jar. After moments of intense concentration she put down the bowl and looked at her work, then after a quick glance at the book she smiled. After a sigh of contentedness, she returned her attention to her potion.

After that, the purple filly as well returned her focus on her project and after a few more minutes she was done and put a cork on the bottle of purple liquid. Then seeing that the others too finished it she called out: "Okay! It's time to see the end results!"

They complied and walked up to her. She then with her magic raised her bottle to eye level and began: "All right! One by one we will tell the others what kind of potions we made, then testing them. I will go first!" After she got a series of nods she continued: "I decided to do something simple. This!" - said she, as she brought her potion closer- " upon consumption will turn a pony's fur to a chosen color and it will glow slightly, giving anypony a rather radiant appearance." As she finished she pulled out the cork and quickly downed its content with a grimace. A few seconds later her coat promptly began to glow in a bright purple color, almost the same as normal, but with the radiance.

As she saw their surprised and confused faces, she could guess what they were thinking and swiftly began to explain: "For simplicity, I decided that I won't change the color of my fur and don't worry, I made sure so that the potion's effect only lasts for only a few minutes." They nodded with amazement and she raised her hoof to point towards Scootaloo: "You are the next."

She nodded and nervously stepped forward. Her potion was in a glass cup, which was orange and bubbling profusely. She put it down where everypony could see it and began: "So this potion will... " and she got that long before the potion promptly exploded, leaving a small smoldering crater and one very embarrassed and very soot-covered filly.

A few awkward seconds passed, all heads turned towards the young pegasus. Even with all the soot on her, they could see the major blush on her face. As the surprise passed over the others found themselves trying (in vain) to control their facial muscles, Sweetie opened her mouth, but before she could speak, a deeply scowling Scootaloo beat her: "Don't say a WORD!" She practically growled. The others then moved to help their friend to get clean and to comfort her. They had only giggled just a little bit. But soon they were able to clean up and were ready to continue the tests, now Scootaloo only sported a MINOR scowl.

Sweetie Belle stepped forward, raising her bowl to show them her work and as they looked at it they were dumbfounded. It was clear that Sweetie has messed up something, the first sign being its jelly-like consistency, another is its green and purple color and rotten egg smell. Or it was the fact that IT trembled and swirled on its own and soon found it's way out of the bowl onto the ground. Then it started to slowly move/wobble away from them, leaving behind a path of sick looking grass and its horrendous smell.

Until a magenta blast of magic struck it and it exploded, its remains sizzling then disappearing. Turning their heads from where the small blob was seconds ago, they saw Twilight, her horn still glowing with magic, while looking around to make sure that it was gone for good.

"What?" Asked Twilight.

"Uh, nothing! I guess it's better if we don't let that... thing, to roam freely." Said Apple Bloom, still confused about what she just saw.

"What was that supposed to be?!" Asked Scootaloo, turning towards the white unicorn, who made it.

"I don't know what I did wrong? It should've been a simple flavor-enhancer potion." Answered she uncertainly.

"You are really bad at cooking!" Said the orange filly, while snickering. The others too joined in, so it was Sweetie's turn to scowl and pout.

After they all calmed down, all eyes fell on Apple Bloom, who gulped and took a quick breath to calm her sudden nervousness from being in the center of attention. Then she showed them her vial, filled with a healthy green colored liquid.

"Well, after giving it some thinking, I decided to make something that could help at the farm, so I made this potion, which supposed to be a fertilizer and help the plants to grow faster." Explained she.

"It will make other things also grow, unleashing a swarm of humongous bugs upon Ponyville?" Asked Scootaloo hesitantly, she was cautious after the last two potions ending up as failures.

"From what I have read in the book, it only affects plants. I guess there is only one way to find out, isn't it?" Concluded Apple Bloom, then dug a little hole in the ground and put into it a seed. After covering the hole she then pulled out the cork and proceeded to pour a few drops of the potion. Then she stepped back and watched nervously.

As the minutes have passed without any visible reaction she hung her head in defeat. But as she was about turn away the earth started to shift and a few seconds later, before their widened eyes a sprout rose from the dirt, growing at a constant, but not too rapid pace. Once it stopped, in the place of one seed, now stood a small, but strong and healthy-looking apple tree, three times the height of the filly.

"Whoa!" Whispered Scootaloo in awe, the others giving similar expressions of wonder. The most amazed, however, was Apple Bloom, who looked up to her creation with wide eyes, she could see many blossoms on the tree.

"I think we can call it a success!" Said Twilight, after she regained her bearings, giving a wide smile to the red-maned filly. This broke the others out from their stupor and they too began to cheer the apple filly (the pun fully intended), smiling and congratulating their friend.

Once they calmed down they looked at Apple Bloom's flank (which sounds more naughty, than it really is) only to groan and grumble, when they saw no cutie mark. This of course quickly dampened their mood.

"Oh come on!" Exclaimed Sweetie Belle, annoyedly.

Slowly Twilight walked up to the depressed earth pony filly and gently spoke: "I know that you feel disappointed, but it doesn't mean that it was for naught." Seeing their now confused faces she elaborated: "What did you felt, while you were working on your potion?" Asked she calmly.

Apple Bloom thought about the question for a bit, then she said: "I am not sure, but it felt kind of..., right. I felt as if the world around me would've disappeared, my attention solely focused on the task before me. I also had this feeling within me, a sense of peace and joy. As if everything would be right in the world." Said she slowly, having a distant look in her eyes.

Hearing her answer, Twilight gave her a little smile, then spoke: "I think we definitely found the good path." Then seeing that they don't get it, she began to explain: "Your special talent is not something, that you are forcing upon yourself, but something that you feel being natural for you to do it. From what you just said, it sounds that potion making really "clicks" for you. Keep trying and I am confident, that soon you will get your mark." Finished she reassuringly.

That helped to raise her spirits and they returned to the chest to try out something else.

After some rummaging in the chest, they found another book. To save time they agreed to let Twilight read into the books beforehoof, then she will give them a summary about the stuff in the book. Everypony wins!

The Crusaders tried to occupy themselves while their friend kept reading, when suddenly she spoke up excitedly: "Hey girls! This looks interesting."

"What is it?! What is it?!" Asked Sweetie Belle curiously, barely containing her excitement.

The purple unicorn had a big smile on her face, she visibly trembled from her own giddiness. "This book is about the mysterious magical runes!" She then went into full lecture mode: "The runes are an ancient collection of symbols, believed that it was once the written form of an old language from the pre-Equestrian age."

The filly trio was a bit taken aback, voicing their confusion: "But what is so special about this language?" Asked Apple Bloom.

"Oh! Maybe our special talent is to figure out and learning old, forgotten languages!" Exclaimed Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo quickly thinking through her friend's words soon added: "And maybe one day we will discover some old ruins of a long-forgotten civilization and unearth its secrets like Daring Do! That would be so awesome!" Shouted Scootaloo excitedly, as she daydreamed about such an adventure, accompanied by her idol Rainbow Dash, as they were avoiding traps and finding ancient treasures.

"While that definitely sounds like a fun idea, I am afraid one day wouldn't be enough for us to learn an entire language." Said Twilight, then seeing their dejected expressions she quickly continued: "But don't worry, that is not necessary for us."

"The runes are the base of an incredibly powerful form of magic known as Rune Magic. At first, we will only work with some basic runes, nothing too dangerous or overcomplicated."

"But Apple Bloom and I can't use magic, so what is the point for us to try it?" Asked Scootaloo. Twilight gave her pegasus friend a warm smile and began to explain: "This is the beauty of it! You don't have to be a unicorn to use this magic!" Seeing their shock she continued: "The first step is to draw up the intended rune until you make sure that there is no flaw to the design, you can use any method you feel comfortable to the drawing. The next step is the powering of the runes. While it is true, that it is easier for a unicorn to do it, I have read in the book that there are alternative ways to charge the runes, like using potions or other reagents that already have magical properties.

The three were happy that none of them would be left out and after a little detour into a shop to get the necessary tools they returned and set out to start. Each of them grabbed some sheets of paper and writing tools (this ranged from pens to crayons), then sat down around the book and began to work.

After hearing the possible dangers of a messed-up rune, they decided to start with something simple to avoid any problems. They choose a simple Light Rune, that when activated would start to glow like a lightbulb. After charged, it could be activated by clapping once, then the repeat of this action would turn it off.

They began the slow, meticulous process to draw the rune correctly, which in itself proved to be a challenge. Numerous times they had to restart the process because when they checked the illustration in the book they found some flaws. This was very frustrating.

But they kept trying and finally, they all made one that passed the examination. Then Twilight used her magic to charge them up. Finally, one by one they activated them and their eyes widened in wonder, seeing the runes glowing in a light magenta color. They then cheered upon their success.

After they calmed down and deactivated their runes, they decided to keep going and try out some other runes. Numerous papers were used to their projects, only to end up discarded for this or that mistake. Once they all felt ready they proceeded to try them out. However, Apple Bloom's rune did not activate, because some of the ink got smeared. And when it was Sweetie's turn, the rune sizzled and sparked a bit then the paper alighted and burned away.

Twilight's rune, which was also a light rune, that changed the color of its glow. It worked quite well, maybe a little dimmer, but still was good none the less.

Then as they turned towards Scootaloo their eyes almost popped out, because Scootaloo was on her scooter, doing some tricks and while it was not too strange, the fact that said scooter was floating at least two hooves from the ground left them speechless. Once they regained their bearings Scootaloo explained to them that she made some runes that would levitate the object on which it was and she glued some of them on the underside of her scooter. It also could be activated and deactivated with a light stomp of one of her hinder hooves. Seeing their bewildered expressions she asked: "What is it?"

"Nothing! Just the way you told us how you did it makes it looks so easy. That's all." Said Sweetie still a bit threw off balance.

"Well, as I looked at all the lines join together to form the rune, it kind of reminded me to the different parts of my scooter, that put together made the scooter and if something isn't at the right place then it won't work or just fall apart. Many times, when one of my stunts failed I had to repair it and with time I just learned where a part's place was and how it was connected to the others." Explained she with a shrug.

The others congratulated her (while Twilight totally WASN'T jealous of her skill with runes). While she was a bit annoyed that she didn't get her cutie mark she was happy that she tried it.

After they cleaned up they returned their attention to the chest, curious what else had it in store for them.

After another round of gathering the necessary things, they once again were deeply focused on the task: making golems!

Of course, given their limited amount of clay, they had only enough material for each of them, that's just enough to make a filly sized golem.

Nevertheless, they began to work on their clay golem. For the sake of simplicity, they used themselves as a basis for the look of the golems. Twilight faired just fine, however, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo only got partial results, as at some places their hooves left imprints, while other parts were still wet and fell off. But they had a decent enough resemblance, so they booked it away as a success.

At the same, they all were impressed by Sweetie's golem. It was well detailed and aesthetical, even the curls in its mane and tail matched perfectly.

Once every golem was dried Twilight began to cast the animating spell. As her magic washed over them and their eyes started to glow with purple light. They slowly started to move and stepped before their creators, while the four fillies watched them in awe.

"I weaved the spell in a way, so they will only obey to the pony who made them." Explained Twilight with fascination. Then they started to give commands to their respective clay copies, telling them to march in place, to bow, to break-dancing, and all kinds of silly things. However things escalated a bit when Apple Bloom's golem accidentally bumped into Scootaloo's, then the orange-colored filly ordered her golem to push away the earth pony filly's golem. Then one thing followed another and it all ended up with an all-out brawl. Soon their golems were reduced into rubble. But then they felt ashamed for their actions and apologized to each other. Soon they all sat down with the other two golems and just sat, enjoying each other's company and while they still didn't obtain their marks, they had a lot of fun. Of course, it didn't mean that they were finished. There was still a lot of things to try out.

And the day was still young...

Chapter 3

Filly Twilight's merry and crazy adventure Chapter 3

The four fillies were about to try out something else when they heard somepony approaching. To keep Twilight's current condition a secret they hurriedly told her to hide in the nearby bushes.

Moments later two fillies have appeared, a grey and a pink coated earth pony. They were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the meanest of mean bullies in town. Once they saw the CMC, cruel smirks were formed on their faces.

"Oh, look Silver Spoon! The Cutie Faileur Crusaders!" Said Diamond in an arrogant and condescending tone, then she continued: "What lame idea did you come up today to get your Cutie Marks? Not that it would matter, since you didn't get any yet again!" Laughed she cruelly with her cohort in tow.

While the trio did their best to ignore their nasty remarks, Twilight in the bushes heard everything and with every passing second, she felt angrier and angrier.

"Those two are laughing at the misery of my friends! I can not and will not let it continue! But how should I do it?" Mused she with frustration, then as she looked around she noticed something. "It shall do just fine." Thought she, as slowly a wicked smile crept onto her muzzle.

As the Crusaders and the bullies squared off they suddenly heard a voice shout: "Leave them alone!" Then somewhere behind the two mean fillies, they noticed a purplish flash of light. Confusedly, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon slowly turned around, only to come face-to-face with a spider, one nearly as big as THEM.

The two bullies reacted as any sane person would when seeing a huge spider so close to oneself. They screamed at the top of their lungs.

In reply, the oversized arachnid hissed, prompting the duo to scream again and run away in fright. After they were out of sight, the trio cautiously returned their attention to the spider, but now it was suspended in a magical field. Then Twilight came out from the bushes, her horn lit, with a small smirk.

"Sorry girls, but seeing how those bullies treated you, I felt I had to do something." Admitted she sheepishly.

"What is with the spider?" Asked Apple Bloom a bit worriedly. The others looked at the purple filly, the same question running through their heads.

"I just used a size-modification spell. This spell is a type of transformation spell." Explained she calmly, then continued: "I felt that since they seemed so fond of intimidating others that they should get a lesson at how it feels. They weren't so smug, weren't they?" Asked she a bit mischievously. The others looked at each other, a little unsure, but then they remembered their cruel words. Suddenly they didn't felt so bad for them. After Scootaloo recited how scared they were the four shared a few laughs, then set out to continue their misadventures.

They completely forgot about the spider, that slowly crawled away towards the town.

Sometime later, the four fillies restocked and set out to try out more things from the books. Some went better, some worse, and while they had a lot of fun, their Cutie Marks still have not appeared.

"Sorry girls, that it haven't worked." Said Twilight apologetically. She hasn't wanted to let her friends down.

"Don't worry Twilight. Even if we don't get our marks, still it was the best crusading we had yet! Right, girls!?" Asked Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom nodded in agreement. When Scootaloo didn't answer, they turned to her and saw that she was intently reading some of the books, while silently mumbling to herself. Then, before anypony could've asked, her eyes lit up and looked at the other fillies with barely contained excitement. "Girls, I think I've got an idea." Said she with enthusiasm. The others came closer, curious of what did their stunt-pony friend had in mind.

She leaned closer to them and excitedly began to explain her plan. As they listened, their eyes kept widening and when the orange-colored filly finished, they stood there, frozen in shock. It lasted until three whole seconds, then just as eagerly like her, they shouted in stereo: "THIS PLAN IS SO AWESOME!" Then they giggled sheepishly from being so loud and in a less deafening volume Apple Bloom continued: "Well, ah reckon we all agree to Scoot's plans, right?" The fillies nodded, their smirks never leaving. After that, they set out to get all the necessary materials for their "special project".

After two hours of work, the crusaders and co stood in awe and joy, looking upon the results of their efforts: Another golem. However, it was different than any of the others, because they made it together, all of them adding something to help out.

Twilight helped to organize and oversee the working process, also helped to gather the necessary resources for them. Then the crusaders used their newfound skills to create something truly great. Apple Bloom made some potions, that she mixed with the clay, then Sweetie started to work with the enhanced clay, skillfully manipulating it to give form to the golem.

It looked like an alicorn, it could match Princess Luna in size, it's body had a grey color, while its mane and tail had a light brown tone. The wings alone were masterpieces, the feathers blend in smoothly, yet each of them was distinguishable, while the construct's horn was long and pointy. The mane was long and straight with a few curling locks here and there, reaching the golem's back, framing swan-like neck and face, that had a calm and completely neutral expression, not unlike one would find on Pinkie Pie's sister's, Maud Pie's face.

Once most of the features were finished, Scootaloo began to carve various rune patterns onto it, while Sweetie helped out to ensure that her friend's work does not ruin the appearance of the golem. The golem's Cutie Mark was a rune circle that surrounded the symbol of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Also if the onlooker would watch enough carefully, they could see a small six-pointed star, blending into the circle of runes so smoothly, that a superficial glance could miss it. But it was there.

Now, it was time for the final touch, to charge it up. It stood in a rune circle, the four fillies facing towards it, as the Crusaders each stood on a rune pattern. Twilight started to focus, magic forming on her horn, then small beams of magic did shot towards the runes beneath the trio. The runes lit up and began to draw on their magic, then the different steams of magical energies were combined into an orb of multicolored lights. Then it was launched towards the golem and upon impact, instead of blowing it into bits, the magic was absorbed into it.

For a few moments, the four waited anxiously, to see if it worked. For a second they feared that it hasn't worked, but then the golem's eyes started to glow in a silverish-white color. The construct turned towards them with wings spread then closed to its sides, it stood there waiting for the orders of its masters (or rather mistresses).

Scootaloo was the first to regain her bearings and with a triumphant smile she shouted: "We did it!" It broke the stupor on the other three, who quickly found themselves smirking as well, simply enjoying the moment.

Once Apple Bloom was able to calm down from her hype, she turned to the others and asked: "So what can this fella do?" This caught the others' attention and Twilight, as she picked up a piece of parchment began to explain: "Let's see, it act mostly like any other golem, following only our orders, but we should avoid giving orders that contradict with one from the rest. However, it can defend itself if threatened, unless we tell it otherwise. What isspecial about it is for one, that thanks to how we made it and the charge up it can use the skills of all three pony tribes, just like a real alicorn could, even if it is not that powerful like a real one is." Said she matter of factly.

After taking a breath she continued: "It has the physical strength of an earth pony, plus the fact that its body was made from a more durable material. With its pegasus magic, it can fly, walk on clouds and control the weather. It also can use unicorn magic, however, it can use only simple spells, because lacking the intelligence for more the complicated spellwork."

"Besides those, it can be recharged if we touch it and command to start to absorb our magic and then tell it to stop once finished. It also can repair itself if damaged. Finally, it can turn invisible if commanded and if we tell the chant "Golem, golem, come to me!", it will teleport to us." She finished as the golem disappeared and then reappeared right next to them. She rubbed her neck sheepishly, realizing that she accidentally just said the chant out loud.

The trio watched their creation in awe, then Apple Bloom spoke up: "Girls, even if we will not get our Cutie Marks for it, I still think, that this was our best crusading!" Said she happily.

"Yeah! Today was very awesome and even if I don't get a Cutie Mark for it, I would like to keep working with runes, they are just so much fun." Exclaimed Scootaloo excitedly. "Also I think you too should do so with your potion and golem-making skills, you are very good at them."

Then Sweetie added her own two bits, with a smile on her face: "I agree and without Twilight's help, we could've never got this far." Upon her words Twilight blushed and smiled, unable to say a thing. Sweetie then turned towards her two fellow Crusader and continued: "And I would like to do this with you girls. It is always much more fun to do something together, and look at what we have accomplished with our combined skills. It would be so good to keep doing all these things with my best friends!" Finished she, pointing towards the still motionless golem.

At that the three fillies, still feeling the rush of their accomplishment put their hooves together, then suddenly a white light enveloped them. Twilight watched them with wide eyes, as the trio slowly descended. They rubbed their heads as the phenomena passed, noticing that Twilight still looking at them, her eyes filled with amazement. As they followed her line of sight their own eyes too widened. Why? Because their flanks were not blank anymore!

All of them had the same magenta-colored shield, with a different symbol on it: Apple Bloom's had a crystal vial, shaped like an apple. Sweetie's had a stylized, very detailed unicorn golem. At last but not least on her shield, Scootaloo had a single rune. But as they looked at it, they could've sworn that whenever they glanced at it again, it seemed JUST a little bit different.

For minutes they just stood there, inwardly a little afraid that it was only a wonderful, yet cruel dream that at any moment could end. But as the seconds passed, they slowly realized that it was real. THEY FINALLY GOT THEIR CUTIE MARKS! Then they erupted in near earth-shaking cheers. They soon pulled a still slightly dumbfounded Twilight closer and they started to laugh in pure joy and happiness. It appeared to be contagious, because she soon joined them, glad that her friends were so happy.

Once they were done celebrating (at least momentarily) they were curious what more they could learn. Twilight was going through the books, while the Crusaders kept glancing at their marks and fantasizing about the cool things that they could do. Soon she looked up from the books with a small frown, then she began: "Okay girls! I have good news and bad news. Which one I should begin with?"

"Let's start with the good news!" Said Scootaloo enthusiastically. The others after a moment nodded in agreement.

"Okay, the good news is that there is a good deal of information in these books about your unique talents, so you will have help to keep expanding your skillsets. Moreover, your Cutie Marks suggest that your special talents are mixable, a path that wasn't much, if at all explored, meaning that you can open up new possibilities and make things never seen before!" Said she excitedly. This made the trio start to cheer again.

However, her next words soon put an end to it: "But! I am afraid you won't be able to use most of the things from these texts because you don't have enough magic to use them." Said she morosely.

"What! Why?!" Demanded Scootaloo and Apple Bloom at the same time, while Sweetie Belle was saddened. The purple unicorn quickly continued: "Because I will not be always around here to provide the power to it.

Sweetie still has to grow and train to increase her reserves if you want to work with the more advanced stuff. Not to mention that for the two of you, the matter of materials is an issue, since some of the potions and runes may require very specific reagents. Ones that from what I could discern is you either would need a LOT of bits to get them, otherwise, your only choice is to go and gather them for yourselves. It means that you should go on very long journeys and spend a good deal of time to find them, not to mention the possible danger on those journeys. I highly doubt that you would be allowed to go on your own, neither would you have somepony to accompany you.

The trio nodded since all of that was right. It didn't mean that they had to like it. Apple Bloom brought up that maybe Zecora could help them, but given their past experiences with potions, it was unlikely that she would be comfortable with them experimenting with uncommon and quite possibly dangerous magical stuff.

But soon Twilight's face appeared from behind a book, her excited smile from before returning: "Girls! I think I have found something!"

Upon hearing that, the three turned towards her. She quickly started to explain: "One of the books seems to be about the Everfree Forest and according to it the forest is an incredibly vast site of many rare materials, that could be used!" The Crusaders cringed at that, being well aware of how dangerous that forest is, but before they could voice their concerns she continued: "I know that it looks bad, but the book says that with a simple potion we could keep away most of the hostile things in there."

Once they heard that the fillies cheered, then rushed to begin the preparations.

The four were cautiously making their way through the forest, the potion that hid their scent worked well, on their journey only twice did some creature appeared, intending to turn the fillies into its next meal. Luckily, as extra caution, they made some potions, that smelled horribly and helped to chase away the furious predators. And where that failed, their powerful golem made sure that the beasts understand, that the four will not become food anytime soon.

During their trek, the Crusaders gathered a great amount from various plants and some minerals to work with. When they felt they did enough gathering, they decided to go to the Ruins of the Royal Pony Sisters and began to have fun with their newfound special talents. The excitement caused them to forget about Fluttershy or what their sisters would think about them going into the forest. They had way too much fun and don't want it to end.

As they were having fun, Twilight curiously picked up a new book. It was black, adorned with symbols on its cover that had a faint dark purple glow. It also had no title. Unable to resist her increasing curiosity she opened it and started to read it. After a few minutes, a big smile made its way onto her face and quickly went to show her friends her latest finding.

"Hey, Twilight! Did you found something interesting?" Asked Sweetie Belle, she was surrounded by several small statues and some smaller golems. The others too looked up from their works and approached the purple unicorn.

"Definitely, from the looks of it, this is a journal that contains a lot of magical knowledge!"

Seeing their surprise at the journal part she elaborated: "While there are many spellbooks, they are usually either are collections of spells or are guides in a specific branch of magic. While both are great sources of knowledge, journals like this are rare and precious." After taking a breath she continued: "It is because these books are unique, made by the author. It may contain the personal notes of the author in regards to the subject, maybe giving an entirely new perspective or some minor trick, that the one who wrote it developed to give a personal touch to the spell. They also tend to contain knowledge about many different themes, some tomes like this with a special spell could contain entire libraries' worth of information. And from what I was able to discern, some of the stuff in this book is incredibly powerful, yet most of it I can understand and I am pretty confident that we will be able to do them!" Finished she, with barely contained excitement.

The Crusaders for a moment looked at each other a bit hesitantly, but their confidence from the success of the day, and lead by their own rapidly growing curiosity they finally decided to give it a try. After all, what's the worst that could happen?

Sometime later the fillies watched with mixed feelings the four vials of dark purple liquid.

"Are you sure that this is safe?" Asked Sweetie Belle worriedly.

"Don't worry Sweetie, we looked through the recipe to the letter." Said Apple Bloom reassuringly, then continued: "And I am sure that Twi cast that spell on the potion correctly, right Twilight?"

Twilight nodded as she did a final check to the potions and the steps. Said spell Twilight did cast in a separate room, while the others waited outside, in the case the spell is dangerous or doesn't turn out as it was supposed to. She also absentmindedly pondered why did the spell require her to think angry thoughts while casting, it felt strange but the potion looked exactly as it's supposed to be according to the book. So it was possibly nothing important. To get angry she thought to the times when she found in a library, that somepony returned a book with some kind of damage. Such a thing was unforgivable!

Then with some hesitation, the four took a deep breath and sent down the strange concoctions in one go. As they suspected it felt terrible, but after a few seconds, they started to feel as warmth spread through them.

As they slowly regained their bearings, Scootaloo decided to try and see if it worked as they hoped. She started to flutter her wings and her eyes widened as she slowly rose from the floor and hovered in the air. Soon a huge grin appeared on her face and she started to laugh: "It works! It really works!" Exclaimed she excitedly.

The potions were meant to increase the physical abilities of the ponies, but more importantly, it also empowered the ponies' natural magic. In Scootaloo's case, it empowered her pegasus magic and it reached the point where she could fly easier and faster than anypony at her age.

The three watched as Scootaloo started to get the hang of it, as she made a strong thrust with her wings to launch herself forward, feeling ready to awe her friends with some tricks... and proceeded to collide headfirst with the opposite wall.

The potion gave power behind the magic of the ponies, not actual skill in how to use said magic. There was a reason why everypony had to learn how to use their natural gifts as they grew up.

The others rushed to see if their friend was alright. Scootaloo slowly stood up while groaning, a hoof pressed against her forehead.

"Oh my, what the hay did hit me." Said she, rubbing her head in an attempt to lessen the pain.

"It was that sneaky wall there." Said Apple Bloom cheekily and the three burst out in giggles, to the great annoyance of Scootaloo. But soon they stopped and set out to test their newfound strength, this time with some caution. Once they felt, that they could control their power without breaking something, the fillies began to work with the more advanced stuff.

While they had a lot of fun and made good progress with their practice, they soon found themselves low on materials. It was time to put their new strength to a real test.

The Crusaders and Twilight were walking through the forest, looking around for the various reagents which they needed. Shortly after they left the ruins they had run into some trouble with some wild animals, but together they were able to scare them away rather easily.

However, they soon noticed a faint sound, that after some listening recognized as a whimper, or something close to that. The fillies' curiosity got the best of them and cautiously moved towards the source of the sound. After a little trekking, they arrived at a clearing, and what they saw greatly surprised them.

It was a timber wolf, a ferocious predator completely made of wood... and it was at the size of a puppy. The young timberwolf was sniffling around frightfully, indicated by its trembling and how it glanced around every so often. But before they could've even fully registered what was going on, one of them made a step backward and stepped on a twig.

The four froze and with fear looked at the small timber wolf, which first tensed and cowered from the sudden noise, then following its instincts started to growl towards the bushes. The fillies exchanged a few glances, then slowly stepped forth, their eyes trained on the small canine. Once noticing their greater numbers it slowly began to backing until its rear bumped into a tree. The timberwolf tried to appear intimidating, but even the fillies too could see, that the pup was scared.

Apple Bloom slowly started to walk towards the wolf, her every move was followed by the pup's suspicious gaze. Scootaloo was about to step after her friend, unclear if to follow or stop her, but a sideways glance from Apple Bloom told all the three to stay back and leave it to her. The fillies complied but were still worried for their friend's safety.

Apple Bloom then turned back her full attention to the wolf and softly spoke: "Don't worry, I will not hurt you." The wolf's glare clearly showed it's distrust regarding her words.

Apple Bloom very slowly reached into her saddlebag, stopping for a second, when the wolf's growl got louder, but then resumed her search and soon pulled out a doggy-treat, cautiously showing it to the pup. For seconds none of them moved, their eyes locked in a staring contest, then the wolf glanced at the treat. When it saw that the filly hasn't moved, the pup made a few hesitant steps and slowly sniffed the offering.

After another short staring contest, the young timberwolf cautiously took the treat and ate it. It stood motionlessly as if awaiting some poison taking effect, but it never came. Then Apple Bloom fished out another treat and held it out as well, this time it was eaten faster.

Finally, the pup took a more relaxed posture, now examining the filly curiously. Apple Bloom then stepped forward and with great care reached out and began to pet the small wolf. It tensed for a moment, then relaxed and let her continue.

It continued like this for minutes, until the pup was fully calmed and not growled, even when the others came closer.

"How did you knew that it would work?" Asked Sweetie quietly.

"I recalled a few times when Winona was scared and acted similarly, so I knew what to do to calm it down." Explained Apple Bloom.

"I think you did a good job with him." Said Twilight, impressed by her friend's bravery and skill.

"Him?" Asked Scootaloo with confusion.

"Yes, he is a male timber wolf pup." Said she calmly. After looking back at the pup, the others too started to notice his distinctive features (I don't have to go into further detail, do I?).

"But what did a timber wolf pup was doing here alone?" Asked Sweetie Belle, then worriedly looked around, expecting a pack of angry timberwolves to appear from the bushes. The others too looked around, but nothing has happened.

The Crusaders looked at Twilight who seemed to be pondering.

"If I recall correctly, amongst wolves if the food is low members of the pack may disperse to find another place with less competition, maybe the same is true with the timberwolves and this one had to leave." Theorized the purple filly.

The fillies looked sadly at the pup, who seemingly understood what she said because he looked to the ground distraughtly. As she watched, Apple Bloom's eyes suddenly grew determined and spoke: "Girls, I can't leave him here alone! I will bring him back with me!" Declared she with a serious look.

"But Apple Bloom, that's very dangerous!" Exclaimed Sweetie with shock.

"And with how territorial dogs can be, it may take some time until Winona will grow comfortable to his presence." Added Twilight.

"Besides Winona, what will you do with your sister! She won't be too fond of the idea of a timberwolf pup staying at your farm!" yelled Scootaloo.

"I know it girls, but the poor thing is all alone, I must do something!" Declared she firmly. The others looked at the sad little wolf and couldn't help but give an "Oohhh..." and then Scootaloo spoke up: "Okay, I see what you mean." Said she, then "And you can count on me if you need some help!" Stated she with a smirk. The others nodded, ready to support their friend.

As this was happening Twilight began to think and she smiled as she got an idea: "Girls, I think there is something that could help." Said she. The Crusaders looked at her and she began to explain: "I think there was in one of the books a spell that can make things simpler."

"What kind of spell and how will it help?" Asked Apple Bloom a little unsure.

Seeing her doubts Twilight quickly started to explain: "It is called the "Familiar Spell", it can strengthen a bond between a pony and an animal or a being that is not sentient. It will create a mental link between the pony and the familiar, so you can better understand each other and work together."

She gave them a few moments to process what she said and then continued: "And don't worry, this spell doesn't affect your wills. It can only be done if both sides agree and wish it to work. It's also completely safe, I promise." Finished she, doing her best to reassure Apple Bloom.

The said filly looked at the small timberwolf, their gaze locked and she knew the answer. "Okay, let's do this!"

Soon Twilight was reading the book regarding the spell. All preparations were made, Apple Bloom and the timberwolf, who she named Root, since the spell required a name, sat together, Apple Bloom doing her best to keep him calm. Then Twilight began casting, a magical glow surrounding the two. Then the glow surrounding them began to reach towards each other and connecting them.

As it was happening, Apple Bloom felt her mind open up and a warm feeling spreading through her being. She barely noticed as the glow slowly faded out, as the two looked into each other's eyes, both feeling a deep understanding towards each other. It was a little strange, but also nice, knowing that they would be there for one another, a warmth felt when surrounded by friends and family.

Apple Bloom began to pet her new familiar, while he licked her face vigorously, simply enjoying the moment.

Soon they resumed their trek, the fillies, and timberwolf braving through the forest. Suddenly roars and the sounds of fighting came from ahead of them. They paused for a moment, but after an exchange of glances, they continued, confident that they could defend themselves if needed.

It didn't take them for too long to find the source of the noises, they saw a huge snake fighting a manticore of all things, the reptilian wrapped itself around the feline, it's wings and scorpion-like tail tightly pressed against its body. The manticore did best to bite at or shake off the snake, but the beast's hold didn't budge and with a lightning-fast strike sunk its poisonous fangs into the neck of the manticore.

The manticore still tried to fight off the snake, but its poison took effect quickly, and soon the feline beast's trashing ceased, it lay on the ground with spasms rocking its body until even that too ceased, signifying the manticore's death.

Once its prey stopped moving the snake slithered off the corpse and, to the surprise of the fillies, it turned its eyes away, towards the form of a smaller manticore, which appeared to have been injured, looking at the snake with fear.

The fillies watched with horror the transpiring events, but as the snake moved towards the vulnerable little manticore, Scootaloo felt that she can't stand idle any longer and jumped into the clearing with a shout, gaining the attention of the two animals. The other fillies jumped after their friend as Sweetie cried out: "Scootaloo! What are you doing!?"

The pegasus filly didn't take off her eyes from the snake, which watched them angrily, not about to let them take its meal while answering: "I will not allow that snake to kill that manticore too!" Said she with finality. The snake hissed angrily and sprung forward, intent to devour the annoying filly with one bite.

Luckily Twilight quickly formed a bubble shield around them, that easily held back the predator, then with a grunt, she expanded the shield to push back the snake. The small manticore watched curiously as the fillies fought with the beast, unsure why were ponies trying to protect it.

When the shield was lowered the snake lunged for another strike, but Scootaloo already took out from her saddlebags a piece of rock with glowing symbols on it and with as much strength as she could muster swiftly threw it straight into the open maw of the beast, surprising it and causing it to halt its attack for a moment.

Scootaloo looked coldly at the beast and quietly uttered one single word, which would seal the snake's fate: "Boom!"

The effect was near-instantaneous, the snake's eyes widened as its body seemed to inflate, then was torn apart by the explosion from the inside. Everyone else watched with shock and a little fear the demise of the snake.

Slowly Scootaloo's expression turned from cold to compassionate and looked at the manticore, seeing it tense from the attention being directed at it, as she softly spoke: "Don't worry, I don't want to hurt you."

As she cautiously began walking towards it, the manticore first looked at her with suspicion, but looking into the filly's eyes it could see that she meant her words and it calmed down a little. Scootaloo reached the manticore and when it didn't attack when she put a hoof on its back, the others too came closer and started helping their friend attending the injuries of the manticore.

When they were done and all made a step backward, the manticore was surprised as the potions that they used healed its wounds and looked at them gratefully, especially at Scootaloo.

The fillies turned towards her and Twilight asked: "Okay, what will we do now?"

Scootaloo looked at the small feline then back at her friends and spoke determinedly: "I can't leave it here. Could you use the same spell that you used with Apple Bloom and Root, on us?" Twilight was a little surprised and when they wanted to object, they followed their friend's gaze towards the dead adult manticore. Seeing her point Twilight nodded and soon she once again used the Familiar Spell on Scootaloo and the newly named Windclaw. For a few minutes, Scootaloo was petting and playing a little with her new companion. The timber wolf and manticore first looked at each other suspiciously, but upon their soul-partners' encouragement soon they began to play together. Once they all felt comfortable they resumed their walking with their new friend.

After their eventful trip, the fillies were on their way back to the ruins, when the sound of laughter reached their ears. They paused for a moment, but after everything that they encountered and overcame in the forest, they were confident that if it turned out to be dangerous, they could defend themselves, so began to stealthily make their way towards the source of the laughter.

Soon they peeked through some bushes, watching with bewilderment the group of dragons, who were grinning and were gathered around a red and orange dragon, who was much taller than Spike and appeared to be the leader, holding something in his claws. They decided to listen to their discussion.

"That was a close one, but we actually did it!" Said one of the dragons with a feral smirk.

"Yeah! Glad that Spike is not here with his pony friends to mess it up for us again!" Said another dragon.

"Huh, I don't even want to hear his name again!" Growled the leader known a Garble, then continued: "But now we have our prize and nothing can change that! Ha ha ha!" Laughed he cruelly as he held up a red and yellow egg.

The Crusaders were shocked by their words, heard from Rarity about their run-in with these dragons. As they looked at the scene Twilight silently spoke: "I think that's a phoenix egg!" Said she worriedly. Sweetie glared angrily at the unfolding events and she knew that she will not let those dragons get away with that egg. A quick glance at the others showed that the others felt the same way.

Sweetie jumped forward with a battle cry, the others right behind her, gaining the attention of the dragons. First, the dragons were shocked by their sudden appearance, but Garble quickly shook it off and growled out: "Ponies again?! If I never see a pony again, it still would be too soon!"

"We will not let you harm that egg."Said Sweetie Belle with an angry scowl. "So you can put it down and leave... or else!" Threatened she with an edge in her tone.

The dragons for two whole seconds just stood there blinking, then burst into laughter. One of the dragons managed to say between the bouts of laughter: "Oh, she will hurt us! What should we do?!" The others fell into another fit of laughter from the mockery. The fillies only glared annoyedly, but not dignified the insult with an answer.

When one of the dragons got some hold on his mirth looked at the fillies a little more thoroughly and spoke to his cohorts: "Hey! I think that purple pony reminds me of one of those adult ponies who helped that miserable Spike to escape from us!" Exclaimed he. One of the others looked at what he meant and nodded in agreement.

"Ponies look all the same! Who cares?!" Said Garble to his buddies angrily, then turned towards the ponies with a mocking smirk: "You say that you will take this egg from us by force?! Hah, you and what army?!" Shouted he arrogantly.

Upon hearing his words, a definitely wicked smile made its way onto her face and calmly began: "Well, I don't bring an army" as she talked, her horn started to glow, her smirk growing wider as she continued: "but I think THIS will be more than enough." Finished she with a calm and cold voice, as in a magical flash the alicorn golem appeared and after Sweetie gave the command, it flew towards the dragon gang, while the light in it's eye-sockets glowed brightly in fury.

After shaking off their shock, the dragons tried to fight against the golem, but their fire proved ineffective against it, while their claws had no better luck. With some magical blasts and magic enhanced kicks, the alicorn construct made quick work with the dragons and Garble found himself laying on his back, being hit by one of the magic blasts, one of his clawed hands still held the egg. That was swiftly changed when Sweetie's magical aura surrounded the egg and with a gentle, but firm move pulled it out from his claws and levitated it to herself. After a quick check of it, she sighed then turned her attention back to the beaten dragons.

As the dragons slowly stood up, Garble wanted to start ranting, but when Sweetie's horn started to glow again and the golem made a threatening step towards them, the dragons decided to cut their losses and made a tactical retreat (aka running away in fear while screaming).

Once the fillies were sure that they weren't coming back, Scootaloo stepped up to Sweetie and with a huge grin exclaimed: "Sweetie! That was AWESOME!"

"You sure showed them, Sweetie!" Added Apple Bloom, while sporting a smirk of her own. Twilight nodded in agreement.

Sweetie blushed from all the praise and stammered: "I was just so angry with what they planned to do and badmouthing Spike and the ponies in general, that I had to do something." The others gave her nods of understanding.

Then the fillies turned their attention to the rescued egg, contemplating what to do with it when it started to shake and fracture. After a few seconds, the egg hatched and the newly born baby-phoenix looked up at the white unicorn filly. Soon the little phoenix began to rub its small head against Sweetie's fur.

For a few minutes, the fillies and their companions simply watched in awe, then looked up and saw Sweetie Belle looking at them pleadingly, with big puppy eyes (especially towards Twilight). It was clear to everyone what she wanted and soon they gave in and one spell later Sweetie had her own familiar.

She thanked to Twilight, then began to nuzzle the small phoenix, bearing the name Dawnfeather, or just Dawn for short. Once they were done they made their way back to the ruined castle, to some rest before looking into the chest for the next part of their adventure.

As the fillies were once again going through the books for something fun to do when Scootaloo suddenly called out: "What the hay is that?" The others began to approach their pegasus friend, curious about what she has found. The four looked at the book together in confusion, on its page was the depiction of a curved and pointy horn, besides it were some instructions of what Twilight figured out was a complex ritual, but the book was vague about the purpose of the ritual.

"What do you think Twilight?" Asked Sweetie nervously. The other crusaders also looked at her, if she could figure out what this spell was about. After some further pondering the purple filly looked at her friends and spoke: "Hm, some of the formulas resemble the ones used at summoning, however from what I can make out of it, it doesn't have any parts that would deal with time or space manipulation. It's strange." Said she while thinking of this mystery.

"Time and space what? I think I can't follow it" Admitted Apple Bloom. Potions were one thing, but this kind of stuff was way beyond her grasp.

"The most common spell that deals with time-space manipulation is Teleportation, picking something or somepony from somewhere in the world and by bending the space, and sometimes time too, moving the subject to a different location without it having to pass the distance between the two points instantaneously. Summoning is dealing with reaching through the fabric of time and space to bring something to our location, maybe even from a completely different dimension. Since this ritual has nothing to do with this kind of thing, this spell clearly is not a summoning spell." Finished she.

The others nodded and Sweetie asked: "But then what does it do? Isn't it dangerous?" Asked she, unsure. Scootaloo decided to add her opinion: "Well I think if we want to know it, we have to do it." Said she, then seeing her friend's distress moved closer and put her hoof reassuringly onto her shoulder: "Don't worry, if something nasty decides to attack us, we will defeat it, together!" Said she. Her words comforted the white unicorn, the others nodding in agreement (because what could go wrong by casting a spell with an unknown purpose?).

Soon enough, they gathered the necessary materials and drew the circle and the necessary symbols, as the book instructed. When all was done, they stood around the circle, the book with the illustration in the middle of it.

To help with the spell, the Crusaders offered their help at powering the spell, with some magic channeling runes for the non-unicorns. It was something that Twilight was grateful for because this ritual required a lot of energy to work, which would've drained even her rather great magical reserves.

The Crusaders closed their eyes in concentration, as Twilight began to cast the spell, letting the magical energy flow through the four of them, their familiars sitting back and watching curiously. Also because their eyes were closed, they didn't see the dark magical aura, that Twilight conjured up and channeled through all of them, the four shuddering a little in discomfort, but kept calm and stayed focused. Then they directed their combined power towards the circle, more precisely to the book.

Suddenly a pulse washed over the fillies, causing them to stumble backward and open their eyes, at which point the effects of using dark magic were gone. Shaking off their disorientation, they turned towards the circle.

Above the book, a red curved horn floated, held up by dark purple magic. They watched, as the shadows in the room started to move on their own, drawn towards the horn and gathering into a quickly expanding shadowy mass. As it began to twist, slowly taking the vague shape of a pony, a new phenomenaon started to manifest in the form of a dark blue cloud, mixed with patches of shadow and what looked like glimmering diamond dust. Soon this second amorph mass too coalesced into a pony-like form.

The fillies and their companions, who jumped to their sides watched as slowly the form of the two shades became more distinct and detailed, a few more seconds later the transformations were finished. Within the circle sat two ponies, seemingly trying to regain their bearings.

The Crusaders watched with shock and a bit of fear, as they recognized the two before them, while Twilight was curious and a little confused. One of the newly appeared ponies was a male unicorn with a grey coat and pitch-black mane and tail, the red horn from before sat on his forehead. He was no other but King Sombra, the tyrant of the Crystal Empire and master of dark magic. The other was an alicorn mare, her fur black as the starless night, her ethereal mane and tail dark blue, with glimmering lights. She was Nightmare Moon, the dark alicorn of the night.

The two soon noticed each other and both gave signs to their surprise: "What is this? It wasn't supposed to be like this!" Shouted Sombra in disbelief while looking at the alicorn. "Where are we! What has happened to us!" Exclaimed Nightmare Moon, seeing the dark unicorn. The CMC also couldn't believe their eyes, not just because two of the villains, who Twilight and her friends defeated were here... But they seemed to be at their age.

The two dark ponies soon noticed the other fillies' presence, especially the purple one with the star cutie mark, "I remember you! What have you done to us?! What do you planning, Twilight Sparkle?!" Demanded Nightmare Moon, eyeing said unicorn with suspicion.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Shouted she in surprise. She recalled what she heard about her adventures in Ponyville and recognized the dark alicorn before her, but still was just as flabbergasted as the others.

But soon a voice drew their attention: "Interesting. I did not expect anything like this." Said Sombra calmly, who until now silently observed the fillies' interactions. "Who amongst you did the ritual?" Asked he with curiosity.

After sharing a quick glance with her friends Twilight slowly began: "Well, I have begun casting the spell to start it, but we all added our magic to it." Explained she awkwardly. Hearing it, Nightmare turned towards Sombra angrily and demanded: "Sombra, how is this possible!" She stood ready to defend herself if the unicorn decides to try something.

"Eh, mister Sombra?" Began Sweetie hesitantly, also feeling awkward calling somepony so young looking mister. "How is it that you're alive? From what I heard you were blown up to pieces." Finished she unsurely. Sombra looked at her for a moment, then "I will explain it, but first I would like to hear about how you ended up acquiring that chest." Responded he, while gesturing towards the chest. Then he turned his attention towards Nightmare Moon, "I also would like to hear your story. I can feel in you Princess Luna's magic, yet you are clearly not her."

After some hesitation, the CMC and Twilight explained how they ended up in the ruins and even about Twilight's condition, while Nightmare reluctantly told her own story. Once they were done they looked at him and Nightmare spoke: "Now that we are done, it is time for you to speak!" Said she threateningly. Sombra simply nodded.

Sombra took a breath and began to explain: "You see, one thousand years ago, before my battle with Celestia and Luna, I made a security measure, in the case, they succeed in taking me down and my curse on the Empire don't work. It was not easy, but with my dark magic, I was able to protect my horn from being destroyed." Seeing their bewildered expression he elaborated: "It was admittedly not a pleasant thing, but all things considered, it paid off."

Then he resumed his explanation: "Then, before my death, I channeled what magic I still had, and bound my essence to it and then the spell I beforehoof placed within my journal, I sealed my horn into it, so not even the power of that damned Crystal Heart could reach it. I left in the book instructions, so if I would fall, somepony could be able to bring me back, using magical energy and shadows to reform my body. I even placed on the page a little spell, that compels the one who is reading it to cast it.

"Then how did it brought us back? And why are our bodies so young and small?" Asked Nightmare confusedly. The four also were curious about that.

"At first I too was confused about that," Said Sombra, "but after I learned of your defeat here and some thinking, I am confident, that I found the answer." Nightmare snorted, annoyed that he brought up her defeat.

"I think, when the Elements hit you, they purified Princess Luna of all her dark powers, removing it from her. However, this dark energy was not erased, but separated from her and was left here, unnoticed by anypony. When our little friends here began the ritual, which was meant to reform my body, the spell somehow sensed the residual negative energies and started to channel some of the spell's energies into the residual essence of Nightmare Moon, bringing you to life, as an entity completely separate from Princess Luna. And since I designed the spell to only bring me back, the divide of energy caused that the spell was not been able to fully restore my body, neither yours's." Explained the dark unicorn.

After that, everypony was silent, until: "Then what's now?" Asked Scootaloo, looking at the two former villains (she wasn't sure if they still counted as one).

After some thinking, Sombra finally spoke: "In my current form, my power is greatly limited by my colt aged body and any attempts to change that are out of my reach for quite some time. So for the time being I will have to live as a simple unicorn colt, even if a little stronger than average." Nightmare looked with wide eyes at him, silently asking "are you crazy!". The look from the others told that they had similar thoughts. "Do you have any better idea, shall I remind you that your powers are just as diminished as my own, miss dark alicorn filly?" Shot back Sombra dryly.

She really wanted to come up with a witty retort, but she had to realize that he was right about their situation. She had no choice but to hang her head in admission.

"Ehm, don't want to intrude, but how do you plan to live in Equestria, while you wait to regain your powers and restart your villainous schemes when you stuck out as a banana tree in Sweet Apple Acres? Not to mention that we can just tell it to anypony before you could try something nefarious?" Asked Apple Bloom cautiously. The others nodded in agreement, ready if the two dark ponies may try something, their timberwolf and manticore companions standing beside them.

Sombra kept his calm demeanor as he spoke: "I am sure you would, but then you should explain how we returned in the first place. If you try to tell your sisters about us, you have to explain that you messed around with dangerous dark magic. I am sure, that it would be a really interesting conversation." Said he, with a smirk on his face.

The four had to admit that he was right, but they weren't too happy about it: "Okay, we don't tell it to anypony." Said Sweetie demurely, but Scootaloo quickly picked up: "But we will watching you and if you try something, we will stop you!" Declared she with narrowed eyes.

Under different circumstances, the two villains would've laughed at such an attempt to intimidate them, but with their powers diminished, it would be a bad idea to start a fight with them. The young manticore besides the pegasus, which growled at them also doesn't help their situation (not to mention the golem), so Nightmare spoke: "Noted." Said she, while keeping her eyes on the feline.

After a few minutes of silence, Twilight finally spoke: "I think we should go back to Ponyville. If they truly want to live a normal life, they will have to find a place to stay and this place is not the safest place, with your magic being weakened and all." Explained she, still unsure about the whole situation.

The two had to admit that she was right, so after packing away everything, the group began their trek back into town, unaware, that their adventure was still far from being over.

After a while, the group reached the edge of the forest without any problem. However, as they got closer to Ponyville, Twilight noticed that Apple Bloom slowed down and had a sad expression, while kept looking towards what appeared to be the local graveyard.

"Apple Bloom, are you okay?" Asked she, as the filly in question looked at her.

She tried to give a forced smile, but it was clear that her act wouldn't fool anypony and soon the others too were looking at her with either worry (from her friends) or curiosity (from the former villains). In the end, Apple Bloom gave a tired sigh and began to speak: "It's just... This is the graveyard where my Ma and Pa were buried and... never got to know them so well. I was still very young when they passed and when I am so close to this place I can't help, but think of them or at least what little I can recall, but it's not too much." Finished she, at this point trying to fight back tears.

She was quickly engulfed in a group hug by her friends and after a few seconds of hesitation, the two former villains too were pulled in (they liked it or not). At first, they weren't sure why they were doing this. For a thousand years, their hearths held nothing, but hatred and bitterness, intent to have their revenge, regardless of who they have to destroy to achieve it. So why? Why were they suddenly feeling sympathy for this filly, who they have just met? It probably had something to do with their new forms, but regardless of the reason, they felt sympathy (and were not too happy about it).

After a few minutes, Apple Bloom was able to regain some composure, looking at her friends gratefully. While this was happening, Twilight was deep in thought, trying to come up with something to cheer up her friend. Suddenly, she remembered one of the spells that she had read, bewildered when she first examined its purpose (now that she knew who owned the books before, it was more understandable). As she was pondering on it, weighing the pros and cons, all of a sudden two dangerous-looking ponies appeared and began to approach the little group, while sporting cruel smirks.

"Sorry if we disturb your little hugfest, " Began condescendingly the one on the right wearing dark robes, while the smell of blood could be smelled even from where the group stood, "But I am afraid you will have to come with us."

"You will help us with a little "project" of ours, " Took over the other, who (for the sake of convenience and simplicity) looked mostly like the other, wearing similar dark robes, "It's so hard to find proper guineapigs these days. But don't worry, we will have plenty much "fun"." Finished the pony with a disturbing smirk, one that was quickly mirrored by the other pony.

The Crusaders did their best to not show their fear, but some of it showed through, while their familiars growled towards the dubious duo. The two former villains felt a mix of disgust and anger, having some ideas of what those two planned for them. Nothing good, that's for sure! During all this, Twilight watched the would-be ponynappers with a calculating gaze.

After a few seconds of pondering, Twilight smiled at the two shady ponies and spoke in a cheery tone: "I think we can come to an agreement." Her friends were shocked by her words, looking at her with wide eyes, while the sinister ponies sported smug smirks, amused by her apparent belief that they had a say in this matter. However, before anypony could've said something about her words she continued in the same, cheery tone: "And don't worry, your help will be most appreciated!" The two were confused by her words but had no chance to answer, because her magic suddenly surrounded their heads and bashed them together, knocking them out cold.

Once Twilight was sure that the two were unconscious, she turned towards her friends. "Well, it was over rather quickly." Commented Nightmare, impressed how easily the two were incapacitated by the purple unicorn. The others nodded in agreement, can't deny the truth in her words. Twilight then turned towards Sombra, who upon noticing it asked: "May can I help you with something?"

"Yes! While I know that these two are clearly evil, but there is any way to find out just how much evil they actually are?" Asked she a little hesitantly. Sombra could feel that she was planning something, so instead of saying that it should be obvious, he actually thought about her question, then after some pondering his horn glowed with dark magic, directed at the would-be foalnappers. As he kept doing this, his expression turned into a slight scowl until he stopped his spellwork and looked at Twilight with a serious expression, while the others looked at him curiously: "I used a spell that allows me to scan a pony's soul, to see if they did something nefarious, since such actions tend to leave marks on one's soul." Explained he, then after taking a breath he continued: "From what I saw, they are some of the most cruel and evil ponies who I've met, and that includes myself, and that says something!" Finished he, his words deeply shocked the others.

"That's great!" Exclaimed Twilight, getting incredulous looks from the others. "It means that we can go along with my plan without having to feel too bad about it!" Said she, then immediately began to drag the two unconscious ponies towards the graveyard. The others then moved to catch up to her and Scootaloo asked: "What do you mean Twilight? What plan?" The others were silently listening, just as curious as the orange pegasus.

"After what Apple Bloom said about her parents, I remembered that in one of the books I have read about a spell that can help us out!" explained she excitedly, while Apple Bloom looked at her with a mixture of doubt and hope. "What kind of spell and how could it help with something like THAT?" Seeing her friend's distress, Twilight quickly elaborated: "It is called the "Resurrection Spell", it can bring back the spirit of dead ponies, reuniting their souls with their bodies." Seeing their shock and their soon coming objections she quickly continued: "I know it sounds evil and dangerous, but it says that if it is done correctly, then there won't be any problems and what happened with Apple Bloom's parents was a mistake and intend to fix it." Said she, determined to help her friend feel better.

"But even if it would work, wouldn't they become zombies with rotting bodies and stuff? Not to mention that it would go against the laws of nature?" Asked Sweetie Belle, having doubts about her friend's plans, even if she too wanted to cheer up her friend. Twilight already expected these questions, so she answered while kept dragging the two unconscious ponies: "If it shouldn't be possible, then why was somepony able to create a spell with this purpose. Also, you don't have to worry, I have read that once the ritual is finished, they will be alive, their bodies healed to the point, where they look like when they passed, any illness or other thing health-problem they possibly had also will be removed." Explained she, as they reached the entrance of the graveyard.

While the CMC was processing what was told to them, Nightmare Moon was surprised that Twilight would come up with something like this and that she was ready to carry out the deed. However, she had no intention to stop them, since those two were evil, even by her own standards, so she felt no pity for them. In fact, she thought that Equestria will be better off without them. She still was curious why (unlike the Twilight she fought) was she so calm and undisturbed by all this. "Probably it's just the side effect of her recent usage of dark magic affecting her and making her more comfortable with using it. Yes, that's probably the case!" Concluded she.

"But why do we need these two?" Asked Scootaloo, pointing at the mature evil duo. Hearing the question, Sombra decided to answer this one (while pondering the same thing as Nightmare): "Because one of the most crucial parts of the resurrection ritual is the proper sacrifice. To bring back two ponies to live, two others must be given in return. Life for life. It's that simple and given how complex the ritual is, offering a simple animal wouldn't be enough, so a pony is needed for the sacrifice, or in this case two." Finished he calmly.

When the Crusaders looked at her with shock and horror, Twilight swiftly began: "I know that it sounds bad, but this is for a good cause and these ponies wanted to do very bad things to us and probably did to others as well. In the end, every good pony wins!" Said she, hoping that she could convince them. "Look, I will not do this if you don't want it. I promise!" Added she, meaning every word. After many seconds of exchanged glances and thinking, finally, Apple Bloom looked at Twilight with determination: "I agree." While she was still shaking, she made up her mind and nothing would change it, while Root gently nuzzled to her, trying to show his support. The other two-thirds of the CMC was surprised, but quickly shook it off and agreed, sticking with their friends, no matter what.

The group soon reached the two graves, where Apple Bloom took a breath to steel her nerves, then they set out to dig up the graves and begin the preparations. When the two hog-tied ponies regained their senses, first were confused about what happened, then they recalled the purple filly's words. They also became aware that they were bound, in a graveyard, right before two freshly unearthed graves, surrounding them, circles and various symbols were drawn. Then they looked up and saw the younglings were done with the preparations.

"Hey! What's going on! Let us go at once!" Demanded the two soon-to-be sacrifices, unsure of what was going on, but knew that something was going on and not in their favor. Seeing that their captives were awake, Twilight turned towards them with her smile from before returned: "Sorry, but I am afraid we can't do that. It would be more complicated to do the ritual if you were allowed to move and try to leave before we could be finished." Said she cheerily. "Also, you can stop trying to use your magic in an attempt to escape, as we made sure that you can't use it." Added she, more as an afterthought. This prompted the two to look at each other and saw that black crystals were protruding from their horns. To their growing horror, they realized that she was telling the truth when they tried and failed to use their magic.

Seeing the growing fear on their faces, Twilight quickly added: "Don't worry, I can assure you that your sacrifice will be for a good cause, more than what you planned to do with us!" Finished she, at the end with an audible edge in her voice. The two tried to further protest, but their attempts were stopped, when Twilight stuffed some rags into their mouths with her magic. After that, she turned away from them and rejoined her friends and they slowly began the ritual.

Twilight and the others in the group with horns began to build up a great amount of magic, that slowly began to change color from the various colors of their respective magic's, to the familiar black, green, and purple of dark magic. Then the dark energy washed over the hornless members of the group, their own magic being added to the ever-growing mass of dark magical energy. More and more power was gathered, then Sombra and Twilight began to weave the energy, as the symbols around them started to glow. The two shady ponies struggled in vain to free themselves, their attempts growing more desperate, as they finally realized how dangerous these fillies and one colt were. But it was too late already. Slowly, the dark magic crept on them, draining their life energy and transferring it towards the two pony corpses. Soon, there was nothing left of the two evil unicorns, but bones and their robes. On the contrary, the corpses of Apple Bloom's parents were laying on the ground unconsciously, their bodies restored perfectly, slowly breathing.

Tears of happiness fell from Apple Bloom's eyes, as she watched the sleeping forms of her parents. As the group stood there silently, just enjoying the moment Scootaloo suddenly asked: "Why did they not yet wake up?"

"Because the connection between their bodies and souls is still fresh and it requires some more time to complete the merger. They are sleeping it through since experiencing such a process while conscious would be excruciatingly painful. But don't worry, a few hours and they will wake up without any issue, maybe a little hungry but nothing too bad." Explained Sombra calmly, getting nods of understanding from the others (well, most understood).

However, Sombra and Nightmare Moon soon noticed that the CMC were covered in a dark aura, while their eyes started to glow, the happiness on their faces slowly giving place to wicked glee. As the two former villains began to get nervous, they heard a voice speak up: "And this is just the beginning, I have so many fun ideas of what to do next!" Turning towards the voice, they saw it was Twilight who spoke, the same signs of dark magical corruption apparent on her, even more than with the CMC. She sported an evil smirk, her horn already glowing, ready to cast more dark spell. Sombra and Nightmare slowly started to back away from the four corrupted fillies, with the feeling of foreboding growing by the second.

On the other side of Ponyville, a familiar blue-coated unicorn mare with a magician's hat and cape was approaching the town, plans of confronting Twilight Sparkle to once and for all prove her greatness and powerfulness running through her head, unaware of the danger ahead.

Chapter 4

Filly Twilight's merry and crazy adventure Chapter 4

Meanwhile, in Canterlot the Mane Six (minus two) and Spike finally were admitted into the throne room of the palace. During their trip, they were repeatedly delayed. First, their train had to stop, because the tracks were in a serious state of disrepair, then there was a recent cave-in at the tunnel that leads through the mountain to the city, blocking the train's path. After that, when they reached the station before they could've got off, everypony was thoroughly (and slowly) questioned and checked, apparently not that long ago a thief started pickpocketing the travelers, which caused that everypony had to be checked, before entering the capital properly.

Once they were done, they slowly but surely made their way towards the castle, through the bustling streets. Upon reaching the palace, they thought that from there it would be easy, but there were a lot of petitioners who sought an audience with the Princesses and since there was no sign of a world-ending event (yet), they had to wait.

Even now, they only got in because they bumped into Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, who decided to pay a visit to the Princesses to discuss a few things and when they saw Spike and Twilight's friends, they decided to help them out and get a private meeting (to the great annoyance of the other ponies, including Prince Blueblood).

But, at long last, they were in and the group from Ponyville hoped that the Princesses could help their friend. As they approached the thrones, then bowing in respect before the rulers of Equestria, Celestia spoke up, in her usual gentle tone: "Please, rise my little ponies."When the four Element Bearers and Spike did so, Celestia continued: "Now, what is it that brought you here so suddenly?" Asked she, then noticing the absence of two Bearers: "And why is that Fluttershy and Twilight are not with you? Are they alright?" Finished she, concerned for their wellbeing. She knew that if Twilight felt that something important came up, then she too would've been here to inform her personally. She also would've sent a message through Spike beforehoof about their coming. She could feel that something was wrong and a sense of worry started to creep its way into her heart but kept it in check.

The ponies and the dragon exchanged a few glances, then they all stepped forward and began to explain how Twilight became a filly again and why she didn't come with them, and their hope that the Princesses may know how to turn her back. Once they finished their explanation, Princess Luna looked to be deep in thought, then looked up and began: "We sympathize with you, but do not fear, we shall do everything in our power to help turn back Twilight Sparkle! Right, sister?" Asked she confidently, but her sister did not respond. Princess Celestia currently had a fearful expression on her face, she also looked unusually pale (given that her coat was white, to begin with, it was NOT a good sign). The five friends and Princess Luna then noticed that Shining Armor and Cadance had the same reaction as the solar princess.

Still, fearfully Celestia asked, she noticeably had to work hard to not stutter: "You said that Twilight was also acting like a filly, forgot most of her life, but her magic didn't diminish with her age and size?" Forced she out, obviously, she hoped that one of them would say that it's just a joke, but their expressions told her everything, her nervousness now even more visible. Meanwhile, the others could see that the silent confirmation made Shining Armor start to tremble, while Cadance was sweating and sporting a worried expression.

"Sister! Cadance! Why has the news caused to you three such a fright?" Asked Luna with concern, the others voicing their own concerns as well. For a few seconds Princess Celestia sat silently, contemplating how to answer, until she took a deep breath to calm down and spoke, turning to the dragon in the room: "Spike, how much do you remember of Twilight from before her mid-teen years?" Asked she.

"Not much, just that she studied a lot and stuff like that, but Twilight is always doing that." Said Spike, having a hard time to remember.

"Not surprising, you were still very young back then." Said Celestia, then looked at the entire group and began to explain: "You see, even as a young filly, Twilight was very curious and her love for study and learning new things was astounding. And like other fillies at her age, she ended up getting into trouble and causing a mess despite her good intentions." She explained, then after she got a series of nods, she continued: "However, as her entrance exam proved, her raw magical potential was greater than most adult unicorns, because of that the accidents she unintentionally caused were also bigger.

"Like at the "Lesson Zero" incident?" Asked Rarity.

"Yes." Said Shining, who heard about that event. "Once, when she was learning about bugs, she tried to make an ant grow bigger, so she could inspect them better. But the spell not only hit one ant but instead an entire anthill, growing all of them to the size of medium-sized dogs. Then another time when she was reading a Daring Do book, she accidentally summoned a beast from it. There was also that one, when a spell of her made almost every inanimate object in the palace come alive. I still can't pass a candle without getting nervous." Said he, then visibly shuddered, which earned him confused and weird looks from the others. "Let's just say that candles are quite pyromaniacal, I've got burns at very sensitive places and leave it at that." Said he while blushing.

"And those were the lesser ones. There was so much property damage, that we had to make a fund specifically to fix the things that got damaged in Twilight's accidents" Added Princess Celestia with a serious expression. Then Cadance gave her own two bits: "I liked her since the first time when we met and it never changed. But still one of the reasons why I became Twilight's foalsitter was because nopony else could keep up with her. She never meant bad and every time whenever these things happened, she felt terribly bad and for days she apologized for the smallest of things when she did or thought she did something wrong. At times she was not even aware that she was casting, just had a nightmare or got scared from something and her magic unconsciously reacted. Or just her hyperactivity combined with too many sugary treats that made her rash." Explained she gently, getting surprised looks, "It is quite common amongst unicorn colts and fillies with unusually big magical reserves."

"But aside from that one time, why didn't we ever saw her acting like that?" Asked Applejack curiously.

"Twilight pretty much grew out from those habits during her mid-teenage years. At that point, she focused nearly all of her energy on studying, while being very careful with her magic." Said Cadance, getting nods from them.

"I am sure you remember when that Ursa Minor attacked Ponyville." Spoke Celestia suddenly, addressing the group, who shuddered at the memory of the huge beast. Taking that as a yes, she continued: "That was a good example of just how powerful Twilight truly is. The reason why you don't see it that often is because, for one, she is modest, but more importantly because she is consciously suppressing her magic, even when casting, out of worry that she may accidentally hurt somepony or damage something. I think her habit to repeatedly check out a plan and always doing her best to follow the rules to the letter, come from there." Finished Celestia with a sigh.

As the group digested what they have learned about their friend, suddenly Rarity spoke up with dread in her voice: "And we left her there with the CMC, with only Fluttershy to watch over them!" Exclaimed she, causing the others to pale as well. They already knew what the Crusaders were capable of, now with this new knowledge, they could understand much better Celestia's worries.

Rainbow Dash, doing her best to look unconcerned began to speak: "Oh, come on girls! We are talking about Twilight! What's the worst that could've happened?" Asked she with a strained smile, hovering before one of the windows.

At that moment, there was a huge explosion, shaking the entire room. Looking out the windows, they all could see a big column of fire from the direction of Ponyville, as dark storm clouds began to form and spread out in all directions. Everyone glared at Rainbow Dash, who looked sheepish.

Soon, the group from Ponyville and the Princesses set out towards Ponyville via sky chariots, having no time for the train. After giving some orders to the guards, Shining shortly caught up to them, and now they were landing, just at the edge of the town. They could only watch in fear of what happened to the place. The sky was dark with storm-clouds, monstrous bird-like creatures further darkened the sky, looking for prey. The houses were trashed, some burning, creating an ominous glow in the gloom. Huge spiders and other monsters were running all around, causing mayhem and causing the ponies of Ponyville to run around screaming. There were also dark crystals and thorny vines, adding to the dreadful atmosphere even more.

Shaking off their stupor, the heroes boldly made their way into the town, the scenery becoming more ominous with every step.

"I still can't believe that Twilight could do something like this!" Said Rarity with worry, the others nodding in agreement.

"It is worse than anything else before." Said Cadance, shaking as she looked around. Soon, they reached an area with numerous cages, filled with scared ponies. As they began to free the captive ponies, they came across one very special. They could only gawk at the miniature Nightmare Moon and Sombra, who soon noticed the new arrivals.

"It seems we meet again." Said Sombra with a scowl, while Nightmare Moon and Luna were watching each other suspiciously.

"Aw, look at them! They are so much cuter when they are smaller and don't try to kill us all!" Exclaimed Pinkie gleefully, pointing at the two young villains and cooing. Sombra watched her antics for a few seconds before he facehooved and audibly muttered: "It's not enough that I am trapped in this form and this cage while waiting for our impending doom, but I have to live with the knowledge that I have been defeated by idiots." Finished he with a sigh.

Hearing his words, Rainbow flew up agitatedly to the cage. "Oh, it's on! I don't know what you're up to, but you will not get away with it!" Declared she, the others having similar thoughts.

"You think we did all of this?" Shouted Nightmare incredulously, her eyes wide with disbelief as she continued: "It was that purple devil and those other three, why else would we sit here?! She is completely crazy!" Exclaimed she with a mixture of anger and fear. The others were taken aback by her outburst, then Celestia stepped forward and asked: "What have exactly happened here? And how is it that you're alive? Not to mention her." Finished she, pointing at the filly Nightmare, who was looking at her with a scowl and rather childishly blew a raspberry at her. Celestia decided to ignore that and focused her attention on the unicorn colt. He sighed and then began to explain: "Some of the books from my personal library somehow ended up in her possession. One of them was holding a spell with the purpose to resurrect me in the event of my defeat." Said he, as he looked with a scowl at the ponies (and specifically that dragon and pink princess who delivered the means of his defeat) who he recognized from that day, then with a sigh he continued: "But as you can see, not everything went according to the plan. When they have casted the spell, they accidentally brought her back too and now we are both stuck like this." Explained he, then pausing to see if they were getting what he told them.

After getting some nods, he resumed his talking: "In regards of what's going on around, the dark magic, that they used all day overwhelmed them, and before we could've escaped, they trapped us here before running off to do who knows what." Said he, eyeing the street leading towards the center of the town warily. The heroes were unsure if they could trust their words, but before they could've voiced their doubts, Sombra suddenly spoke: "We don't have too much time before THEY come back! Let us out from here!" Exclaimed he, his calm demeanor from before gone, looking back at the group fearfully. Slowly, the group moved to open up the cage, then watched carefully, as the two jumped out and slowly approached them.

However, there was no time to talk, because suddenly they heard snickers coming from above. Looking for the source of it, they soon noticed a dark cloud, hovering above them. On said cloud was the CMC, looking down at them with wicked smirks. But now they looked completely different: Their coats got a darker hue, Scootaloo now had bat-like wings, Sweetie's horn was pointier, their new cutie marks clearly visible to the assembled group, and last but not least they all had sharp fangs in their mouths, their eyes were slitted and had an eerie red glow, shadow-like wisps flowing from the corner of their eyes. The group could only look in fear and horror at the corrupted fillies.

"Great Celestia, Sweetie Belle! What happened to you?!" Exclaimed Rarity, looking as their evil smirks widened, before Sweetie spoke: "Oh, we just got our Cutie Marks." Purred she, as the trio showed their marks. Then Scootaloo continued: "However, we can't let you try to stop us. We have far too much fun!" Finished she, then the fillies laughed evilly again.

"Apple Bloom! You and your friends will stop this nonsense in this instant!" Shouted Applejack angrily, Rarity and Rainbow voicing their agreement, while completely missed the increasing fear on the two small villains' faces. Soon the group saw why, as the fillies playfulness gave place to bristling anger, then Apple Bloom angrily shouted: "You can't order us around anymore! It's time to show what we are capable of!" Exclaimed she to her fellow Crusaders, who nodded and flashed a cruel smirk towards the group, then their eyes narrowed and the three moved into action.

Sweetie's horn glowed with dark power and suddenly an army of golems in various sizes appeared, now their rock-like bodies were burning with green fire, slowly marching towards the enemies of their mistress. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom with impressive speed concocted a potion, which she then threw at the ground, where moments later huge plant monsters grew rapidly from the earth, their thorny vines flailing wildly, their heads resembled venus flytraps, their green glowing eyes watching the group hungrily. During that, Scootaloo took flight and began to pull clouds together, then shaping the cloudmass into a big, floating rune, which soon began to emanate a red glow. She then gave to it a big buck, which with a loud boom began to rain fireballs towards the group.

Needless to say, the heroes began to run for their lives, trying to escape from the assault of the evil fillies. While Shining and Cadance did their best to shield the group from the deadly rain from above, the others tried to fight off their pursuers, but for every golem they struck down, two more seemed to appear. Seeing the vines getting closer to their group, Spike breathed a burst of fire at the insidious plants, and for a second it seemed to work, as the vines recoiled in apparent pain, however before he could've enjoyed his success, Spike heard that the plant monster let loose a blood-chilling screech, when he turned Spike saw that the monster was glaring at him furiously, which caused him to smile sheepishly before he started to run again while screaming in fear.

"Do something already or we will die!" Demanded Nightmare fearfully towards the other alicorns, while they kept running.

"I don't see you offering up anything helpful!" Shouted back Luna, just as scared as the rest of them.

"We have to cleanse the three from the dark magic's corruption! Without their reinforcement, we can finish off the rest of these things... I think." Said Celestia, hesitant at the end. Sombra, who was clinging to her back spoke up: "I think I've got a plan! But do you trust me enough to give it a chance?" Asked he seriously. After a moment of hesitation and barely avoiding a vial that exploded not far from her, she responded: "We don't exactly have a choice. What is your plan?" Asked she, then Sombra began to explain to them his plan.

The CMC watched the chase from their cloud seat, from where they kept up their firing, the cloud was pushed by two bat-winged pegasus golems. But suddenly Rainbow flew up to the cloud's level, using her unmatched speed and skill to dodge the various attacks and once she was high enough she blew a raspberry at the devious trio, then she proceeded to throw taunts at them and shaking her behind. The fillies didn't take it kindly and commanded the golems to move faster, while they focused their attacks on Rainbow.

"I don't like this plan!" Exclaimed she scaredly, doing everything she can to stay alive. The first step of the plan required somepony to make the Crusaders angry then baiting them to the point where the next step will be prepared, Rainbow was chosen for her skills in flight and annoying others. Now she was regretting that she has agreed.

The chase has continued for a few more seconds before a magical blast from Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon destroyed the cloud beneath the fillies, who then began to fall. As it was happening the others too sprung into action. Shining, using all of his power conjured up a shield that pushed back the golems and the plant monster, then focused on keeping it up when they tried to break through the shield. As they were falling (and screaming), Sweetie regained her wits first and began to gather rocks with her dark magic and melding them into a platform, but before they could've done anything else, a lasso came and caught the three of them and proceeded to pull them downwards. Once they landed on a mattress that Pinkie brought from somewhere, the fillies quickly found themselves bound by rope, thread, and party streamers. They struggled to break free, but before they could've made any progress Princess Celestia and Cadance teleported before them while lighting their horns, and the trio was engulfed in a blinding flash of light, earning a scared scream from them.

Once the light faded the reassembled group looked at the CMC, cleansed from the corruption, lying unconsciously on the ground. After a few tense seconds, the fillies stirred and began to sit up while groaning: "Uh, my head. What has happened?" Asked Apple Bloom, while she held her head in her hooves before she was engulfed in a bone-crushing hug from Applejack, her two friends soon found themselves in the same situation. Once everyone calmed down, the heroes explained to the confused fillies what have happened. After the explanation, the fillies were shocked and horrified by their actions and apologized to everyone for what they did.

"I'm so sorry big sis, while we do not always get along well I love you and... and... " Sweetie hiccupped, tears trailing down on her cheeks.

"Don't worry Sweetie Belle, you weren't yourself back then. Now everything will be just fine." Whispered Rarity gently, hugging her sister closely. A little bit away, a similar touching moment went down between Apple Bloom and Applejack. Scootaloo sat beside Rainbow, trying to say something, but couldn't so she just looked at the ground sadly. At least until Rainbow pulled her into a hug with her wing, surprising the filly.

"Don't worry Scoots, it was just that crazy dark magic that made you do those things. So it's okay, we are cool!" Said she to a hopeful Scootaloo with a reassuring smirk.

"Thank you Rainbow Dash! You're the best!" Exclaimed she gratefully.

"Besides, " Continued her idol, "I must admit, you three looked kind of cool and badass." Said she matter of factly.

This first confused the filly, but when she registered the "compliment" from her idol her eyes widened and she asked excitedly: "Really?!" At which she nodded, ignoring the glares from others, who did not agree with her point of view. Then Scootaloo began to explain to Rainbow about their Cutie Marks and the cool things they did (before things went downhill). Meanwhile, the others freed the rest of the imprisoned ponies, including a particular yellow pegasus.

"I'm so sorry. If I would've been more watchful, it would've not happened." Said Fluttershy timidly, feeling responsible for all that has happened, but the others were quick to reassure her that they didn't blame her and the Crusaders stepped forward and apologized for putting her into the cage and for everything else. There was also a blue-coated unicorn in a witch hat.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is grateful for being saved from that dreadful cage!" Exclaimed she in her usual, dramatic way.

"Wait, how exactly did you end up here, to begin with?" Asked Spike suspiciously, eyeing the unicorn who started to sweat as she tried to come up with an answer.

"Trixie merely was at the wrong place at the wrong time!" Said she, trying to sound confident, then she quickly went to change the subject: "But there are more important things! Now that the Princesses are here, no doubt soon they will put an end to this catastrophe, so there is nothing to fear!" Exclaimed she, looking at the Princesses.

"Yes, we must act before more ponies get hurt, or worse." Declared the Solar Princess, still worried as she looked at the rampaging demon hordes not too far away. Sombra stepped forward and spoke: "True. Our only chance is to confront Twilight Sparkle and stop her before we get overwhelmed. But it won't be easy, she is incredibly powerful and the dark magic only makes it worse. We will need every possible help if we hope to succeed." Finished he seriously.

"Okay, let's go fight with the dark magic empowered crazy Twilight with unimaginable power and her demon armies with minimal chance for us to survive! Who is with us?!" Exclaimed then questioned Pinkie Pie the freed ponies excitedly.

"Everypony for themselves!" Screamed a scared Trixie who threw down a smoke bomb, then began to trot out of town as fast as possible. The other freed ponies were quickly followed her example, leaving only the original group only with Fluttershy, the villain duo and the CMC, the yellow pegasus herself looked like she too wanted to join the other ponies seeking a hiding place.

"Good work Pinkie. That was really encouraging." Said Rainbow sarcastically to the hyperactive pony, who grinned sheepishly, while Sombra just facehooved, while muttering: "It seems we have to do this on our own. Great. just great." Said he with a sigh.

"We will help in any way we can!" Declared Apple Bloom with her friends stepping forward, determined, when the other ponies wanted to protest, she raised a hoof and spoke: "We know that it will be dangerous, but you will need every bit of help. Besides, it's partially our fault too, so we have to fix it!" Finished she resolutely, her friends nodding in agreement. The others wanted to protest, but in the end, they had to admit that the fillies provenly could stand their ground and it wasn't like they could send them home with the entire town wrecked, they reluctantly relented. The fillies cheered, glad that they could help as the group turned towards the direction of the Golden Oaks Library, but when they saw the terrifying demons ahead, they felt that maybe they haven't thought this through. But at this point, there was no turning back.

The ponies and a single dragon made their way towards the library, using any cover they could find to avoid the confrontation with the demons. Sombra pointed out that a fight would quickly attract the other demons' attention and they would be overrun within moments. So they moved as stealthily as they could, luckily the demons were enough distracted by trashing the town to miss them. There were a few close calls, but with their combined skills they quickly and silently knocked them out.

As they finally reached their destination, the heroes froze from the sight. As the storm kept brewing above, a fiery portal in the shape of a rift was visible, the various demons came in a seemingly endless stream. The tree library was even bigger than before, it's trunk turned black, while amongst the leaves they could see as the branches formed a throne. On the throne sat Twilight, her coat a darker shade of purple, eyes burning with dark magic, while her mane became fire. Meanwhile, books with bat-like wings were surrounding her, while she was reading one, around her more demons could be seen, looking out for any possible threat to the filly who brought them here.

After taking a breath to steel her nerves, Celestia stepped forward, the others following closely as she called out: "Twilight Sparkle!" While Sombra cringed at her revealing their position, but she ignored it and as the filly looked up from the book at them, Celestia continued: "You must stop this madness, please!" Shouted she, hoping against hope that her words would reach her and snap her out from it.

The demons readied themselves to engage with the intruders, but Twilight motioned them to stand down, then she looked at the group with a devious smirk, showing her small fangs, and spoke: "Stop it? I am afraid I can't do so, not until my plans are fulfilled!" Said she, her voice enhanced by the Royal Canterlot Voice.

"And what are you planning?!" Asked now Princess Luna.

"Princess Celestia always encouraged me to make some friends! Now with the help of my friends here (pointing at the demons around her), I will be able to gather all the books of the world and read them! It will be so great!" Exclaimed she in excitement, then let out a burst of evil laughter.

Seeing that they won't be able to convince her with words, after looking at the gathered ponies, Celestia looked back at the corrupted filly with a serious expression and spoke: "Then you leave us no other choice, we have to stop you!" Then the group rushed forward. However, the demons also weren't slouching and quickly moved to engage with them. The Princesses and Shining have lead the charge, blasting away the hordes of demons while using magic shields to protect themselves and the others. Pinkie was hopping all around, staying out of reach from her pursuers, sometimes causing them to crash into each other. Rainbow and Applejack were close to each other, seemingly competing in who could take down more of the attacking monsters. Rarity stayed close to Fluttershy, doing her best to keep the attackers at bay, until one of them was able to push her to the ground, however, before the demons could've grabbed her Fluttershy came forth with her Stare at full force, chastising them for acting like bullies, picking on those smaller than them, who flew away as fast as they could. Meanwhile, the CMC and the former villain duo teamed up, doing their best to help the others.

Cadance made an attempt to fly up to Twilight and use her love magic to cleanse the effects of the dark magic, but more enemies appeared forcing her to retreat, while Shining stopped their assault with a shield, then used it to push them back. As the fight was raging on, Twilight resumed her reading, seemingly uninterested in the fight, while some demons brought her books, scrolls, and other sources of knowledge. However, when she was about to shift her focus on a new book, it was hit by a stray magic blast, turning it into ash, causing her eyes to widen in shock and horror.

Seeing this, the demons who until now were attacking the group without fear or hesitation, now began to backing away nervously. The heroes felt a chill run down their spines, when Twilight's shocked expression became enraged, her form burst into flames, directing her furious glare at the ponies below.

"You ruined my book." Stated she with a normal, almost calm voice. Then,: "You ruined my book!!!" Exclaimed she with unimaginable fury, as her horn lit up with great intensity. Everyone in the group felt that their hearts skip a beat, as large fissures opened on the ground, spewing up lava, while meteors began to fall from the sky. A cyclone began to form, the heroes doing their best to not be blown away by it. The demonic gateway rapidly began to expand, until suddenly the humongous rift in the sky began to expand, at its edges spiderweb-like cracks started to spread, as more of the sky fell apart in the wake of the ever-growing portal. As a seemingly endless army of demons started to come through, the heroes suddenly found that they started to rise up from the ground, struggling against the decreasing gravity.

As they tried to regain their footing, a sound drew the group's attention. When they looked up, they screamed in terror. Ahead of them, Twilight was floating with her back turned towards them, however, suddenly her head turned unnaturally towards them, while her body beneath her neck stayed in place. Her entire form was emanating an aura of dark magical fire. Then the rest of her body turned as well and the maddened filly with a demonic screech began to unleash a barrage of destructive magical attacks, forcing her opponents to run for their lives while screaming (or at least tried, it's hard to run when your legs can't touch the ground).

As they did their best to escape the hailstorm of deadly magic, Rarity screamed: "I am too beautiful to die like this!" "Me too!" Added Cadance, her eyes wide with panic.

"If we survive I give up on my Eternal Night plan!" "If we survive I give up on the Crystal Empire!" Screamed the villainous duo in fright, when the others gave them strange looks Nightmare explained: "There is no way that we will get out of this alive, so why not?!" Suddenly, the group found themselves cornered, monstrous creatures all around while Twilight's menacing form came ever closer.

"Rarity, if we die I want you to know that I have always... " Began Spike, but he couldn't finish as Twilight began to gather her power to obliterate the heroes, causing them to scream while huddled together waiting for the end.

However, before the end would've came a new voice shouted: "Twilight Twinkling Sparkle!" Everypony turned their heads towards where the shout has come from, as Twilight (still burning with dark power) asked in surprise and anxiety: "Mom?! Dad?!"(?) They were indeed her parents. Twilight Velvet and Night Light, seemingly ignored all the chaos around them and began to march towards their daughter as Velvet began: "When I first heard that you were causing trouble I didn't want to believe it, and now we found you here unleash the apocalypse!" Exclaimed she sternly, as Twilight slowly lowered to the ground, while her father added: "We are very disappointed in you Twilight! I thought better of you!" Said he in a calm, but stern voice.

"But... " Began Twilight, but Velvet interrupted: "No buts missy! You're in big trouble!" Shouted she, as the group watched the scene in disbelief. One of the demons stepped forward and spoke: "Miss, I think... " However he couldn't finish, as Night Light fixed him with a hard glare and said: "You should stay quiet otherwise demon or not, I will spank you so hard that you won't be able to sit down for a week." Stated he calmly, but with steel in his voice. It made the demon back away looking nervous. Meanwhile, Velvet continued her lecture: "Now you will clean up this mess in this instant!"

"Yes, Mom." Said she dejectedly, then with a flash of light from her horn everything turned back to normal, she included. Then she turned towards the demons and began: "Sorry guys, but you have to go." Said she apologetically.

The demons looked dejected but did not argue and all of them began to go through the portal. As one was about to pass it looked back at Twilight and smiled at her: "It was nice to see you Twilight! See you again at the next apocalypse!" Said he, then he too went through as Twilight waved to the retreating demons. Once the last too left, the portal shrunk until it disappeared completely. Turning towards the still flabbergasted ponies (and one dragon) she began: "I'm so sorry everypony." Began she sadly, tears forming at the corner of her eyes while her ears flattened against her head.

The group slowly nodded, still trying to process what just have happened, but could see that she truly felt bad about what happened. Velvet spoke softly: "I know that you didn't mean this to happen, but you have to face the consequences of your actions." Then hugged her, the white mare's gaze softened as she whispered soothingly: "Shh, it's going to be all right. Just make sure that it won't happen again." To which Twilight could only nod, returning the hug.

"What has just happened?" Asked Sombra in disbelief, he was sure it would be their doom, only to suddenly all be resolved as if nothing would've happened. The others too felt confused, while Sombra and Nightmare groaned when they remembered their vows about giving up on villainy, knowing that trying to go back on their words would be like tempting fate. It would be a bad idea. Meanwhile, the Princesses were thankful for Shining Armor's idea to notify his parents about the situation. Also, while everyone was slowly coming to terms with what has happened (and their near-death experience), Night Light slowly walked up to them and began: "Sorry for all of this. I have no idea what may lead my daughter to do this."

"I am sure that she didn't mean to do this." Said Fluttershy, unable to stay angry at the purple filly.

"Fluttershy is right! It was no doubt that awful dark magic that made her do it." Added Rarity.

"Yeah! It can really mess up one's mind!" Joined in Scootaloo, remembering how it felt while being under its influence, the other Crusaders supporting their pegasus friend's words. Night Light smiled gratefully at those words, then spoke in confusion: "I mean, we did everything to raise her well." Said he, as he pulled out a photo album and opened it up so the others could see it, as he continued his explanation while pointing at the pictures:

"We made sure that our foals get the best of what we could afford." Said he, the picture showing the family in a shop, which was barely lit, the shelves filled with dark and sinister objects and books, a jar of eyeballs in one corner, while tomes of dark magic laid in heaps in another. The front of the counter had an upside-down red pentagram, while on it were pony skulls of various sizes, as well as shrunken heads and voodoo dolls hanging from the ceiling. The owner of the shop was a brown unicorn stallion, whose left eye was bigger than the other, had a hump, and lost most of his tooth, making what appeared to be an inviting smile rather creepy. Little Twilight on the picture mostly ignored the atmosphere of the room in favor of reading one of the books (which seemed to have been bound in pony skin) to notice it, while a young Shining could be seen looking at a sleeping bat curiously.

Then Night Light pointed at another picture: "We encouraged her to expand her horizons and try out different things." Explained he, as the group saw young Twilight in her room, lit by some candles, as she leaned over what looked like a rat skeleton, its bones held together by Twilight's magic. In the picture Twilight at the moment held a piece of bone in her telekinesis, brows furrowed in concentration while trying to figure out where did the bone belonged on the little corpse, like a morbid puzzle. Besides the little unicorn was a book, its title saying "Necromancy 101".

"We even took her to my class reunion, so she could meet new ponies." Told he with a fond smile, the picture showing a big room decorated in a gothic style, some candles providing minor lighting in the gloom. The room was filled with numerous ponies wearing dark hooded robes, on a long table were cookies in the shape of bats, spaghetti resembling spiderweb, and a bowl of red liquid (which the onlookers inwardly hoped was only punch). Night Light and Twilight Velvet (wearing the same robes), were introducing some of the robed ponies to young Twilight and Shining, who also wore fitting robes, looking around seemingly more curious than scared.

The entire group (sans Shining) had a look of bewilderment on their faces, which the stallion didn't seem to notice. The alicorns turned to Shining and Princess Celestia asked/demanded: "Why didn't you mentioned it to me?!"

The stallion looked confused for a moment before he spoke: "About dad's class reunion? Just our parents and their acquaintances exchanging stories, eating, and drinking some punch. It was quite plain and normal all things considered." Said he with a shrug, completely missing their point. Then he noticed another set of photos and spoke with an excited smile: "Oh! I remember these. When I was still learning at the Royal Guard Academy, one of the yearly training camps were canceled because most of the other recruits (and many in the staff) got ill. So at mom and dad's suggestion, I went to a different camp."

With a nostalgic smile, he pointed at a series of pictures. One showed Shining mingling with a bunch of demons, monsters, and some other ponies (other attendants) in a camp setting, but the buildings were carved from stone, the ground had small areas of dead grass, the sky was orange, skulls, bones, and dark fires served as decorations all around, and there was a dock made of volcanic rock... right at the shore of a lake of MOLTEN LAVA!. Another showed him at a table with several demons crafting mugs and sewing small tablecloths. There was one in which Shining was in a kayak with a pony shaped demon, who had bat-like wings, two devil-horns and fangs, and a yeti with eyeglasses, braving the lava lake with a daring look on his face. The next showed him and the other campers around a big campfire, roasting marshmallows and big chunks of burned flesh, the stallion seemingly oblivious of his fellow campers' choice of food and more concerned about eating his marshmallow before it could fall off the stick. There was a group photo, with all the campers together, all of them smiling, with a tall gargoyle, who had rocky skin and wore a scout-master uniform, with the fiery lake behind them.

At one picture he spoke up: "The "Blowing things up", was one of my favorite camp activities! Ah, Camp Tartarus, good times!" Said he fondly, showing a picture where he with some others launching arrows, rocks, and destructive spells at set up targets (or random rock formations, and others stuff with target marks painted on them). Everyone could only watch with disbelief and bewilderment until Cadance suddenly spoke up with a thoughtful expression: "This would explain the dark ritualistic setting, the bed looking like an alter with red glowing symbols and the strange tattooed tribal ponies chanting on a demonic language on the first night of our honeymoons." Said she, then after getting incredulous looks from the others (minus Shining and his family), especially from the Princesses she quickly explained: "I thought it was just some kinky foreplay!" Defended herself the Princess of Love. The others (again minus the Sparkle family) sweatdropped and collectively facehooved.

Two weeks have passed since the incident in Ponyville and after Twilight was turned back, things seemed to be back to normal, or rather to the normal level of craziness (it's still Ponyville we are talking about). Twilight felt very bad and was willing to take any punishment for her actions, however, the others have forgiven her and decided that she would only have to do some community service. Some of the nobles felt that she deserved more punishment, but the Princesses had none of it, and after some time the nobles relented(since none of them dared to try to actually do something to the purple unicorn, being too afraid of her and what she could to them if they tried).

Sombra and Nightmare Moon were staying in Canterlot, under the watchful eyes of Princess Luna, who after some thinking took it upon herself to help the two former villains to be reformed and use their abilities for good (using Discord as a possible example). They weren't too happy about it, but after Luna said that she could arrange a little get together for the two with Twilight and the Crusaders, making the two (who after witnessing what Twilight was capable of felt it was in their best interest to stay away from her) more cooperative.

Shining and Cadance returned to the Crystal Empire. Cadance was a little bit worried after she has learned the "uniquity" of the Sparkle family, but some explanation from Shining (and some private "demo(n)stration) helped to ease her fears (and gave her some "ideas" to try out in the bedroom).

The CMC also were forgiven, after some community work (and being grounded for two weeks), which the fillies took without much complaint. Or it was almost everypony who forgiven them, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon tried to bully them, but since they have finally acquired their Cutie Marks ( "At least something good has come from that mess!" noted Scootaloo) the Cutie Mark Crusaders were able to mostly just ignore the two snobs and their petty insults, and the two were too afraid to try anything else (having a big, intimidating alicorn golem can be quite convincing).

Now, the Mane Six (minus Twilight) and the CMC were on their way to the library, idly chatting about random topics. But once they entered the library, they could only gawk at the scene within: Various demons and monstrous-looking ponies were sitting and chatting, Spike sitting on a chair and eating gems, sometimes glancing at the other occupants nervously, but mostly was calm and enjoyed his treats.

"Were you girls messing with dark magic again?" Asked Rainbow curiously, looking sideways at the trio curiously.

"No! We are clean, we swear!" Stated Scootaloo, her friends nodding in agreement, the trio was just as shocked by this as the others. Before anything else could've been said, Twilight came from the kitchen, in her levitation carrying some refreshments.

"Hey girls, I am glad that you were able to make it!" Said she cheerily, walking to her friends and ushering them inside.

"Twilight? What is going on here?!" Asked Rarity, as they sat down, glancing nervously at the assortment of creatures who looked at them curiously, but not aggressively.

"Well, you see, after things calmed down I had time to think. In my younger years, I have got to know many of them." Said she, gesturing at the demons, then she continued: "But as you know, I was so focused on my studies, that I didn't care too much about friendship. But since I have met you and learned about the magic of friendship, my life became so much fuller. The event two weeks ago helped me to remember them and the times we spent together and wanted to get to know them better, as friends." Explained she, looking softly at both groups.

"Aw, thanks Twi. It's really good to see you again. Living and working in a library, it's so you!" Laughed the succubus pony, who had two horns, a thin tail, and bat-like wings, but had the form of a very attractive mare. Twilight's friends looked at each other, unsure what to do, but soon Spike spoke up: "I know it's strange, believe me, but when they don't try to destroy the world, these guys aren't that bad. And they gave me these tasty, orange and black stones, what's are they called again?" Asked he one of the big demons.

"Inferno Stone, they can be found in the depths of Tartarus, the heat it radiates makes it hard for some beings to touch it without getting burned." Explained he, as Rainbow curiously tried to take one of them, only to pull back her hoof with a yelp.

The five mares and three fillies looked at each other before Scootaloo spoke up: "Eh, we could give it a try. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing that happened to us." Said she with a shrug. The others slowly nodded, seeing (and couldn't really deny) her point. So the ponies sat down and began to get to know Twilight's guests.

"I must say, your clothing looks very good on you. Hmm, also I don't think I recognize the material used to it. What is it made of?" asked Rarity from the incubus stallion, who wore a red and black jacket.

"Oh, it was made from NightWeb Spider silk, they are hard to find and even harder to survive the encounter with them. Some of the adults can be bigger than a grown-up pony." Explained he, while Rarity shuddered at the mental image of humongous spiders, but he quickly continued: "But, while acquiring the silk is admittedly a dangerous quest, if one can succeed and survive the encounter, it would be worth it. This silk is incredibly soft to the touch and yet it is very strong and once treated properly it can withstand nearly anything without damage. Or spots." Added he, while extending one of his forelegs, so Rarity could get a feeling of the jacket, said fashionista soon finding herself marveling at the properties of the silk.

At the table, somehow the talking between Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and some of the demonic guests turned into an arm/hoof wrestling competition. Said mares kept up rather well against their opponents, much to their shock.

At the side, Fluttershy was talking with a big figure, he seemingly had grey bark instead of skin, his hair and beard were made of leaves, his eyes glowing with a green light. Also, he had spikes standing out from his back, his hands and legs ended in sharp claws.

"Our cousins, the ents mostly just tend forests and let time to go by, while we are more active and can be more territorial. I mostly spend my time in the Darkwood Wilds, where I have built a shelter to take the various injured creatures to help them recover. Admittedly, it isn't always simple, when I was tending a Flamehide Salamander I had to make sure that nothing caught fire, but it was worth it to see the little girl so happy!" Explained he, showing a picture of said firey reptilian, causing the shy pegasus to gush in adoration.

"And this is my pet spider, Shelob." Added he, showing another picture, this one showing a huge, hairy spider next to Lumberbeard, causing the pegasus to pale at the sight, but after a few seconds, her love of fauna overcame her fear and listened curiously to the tree-like being.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was eating snacks, until she noticed one of the demons eating a glowing cupcake.

"Wow, what are you eating?" Asked she, eyeing the dessert curiously.

"Oh, this is a little sample of demon cuisine. It was baked in hellfire, flavored by the sweet blood of the Sugar Toads, and was sprinkled with the Soulshards of the Forever Damned." Explained he, as he took a bite from one of these cupcakes.

"That sounds awful and very evil!" Exclaimed she, looking at the cupcake with shock.

"Hey! Don't judge until you haven't tried!" Told the demon with a shrug, looking at the pink pony lazily. She glanced at one of the treats with hesitation, but in the end, her curiosity won and slowly she took a bite from it with a reluctant face. It quickly disappeared, replaced with a huge grin before she quickly devoured the rest of it and turned to the demon excitedly: "Could you share with me the recipe and how to obtain the ingredients?!" Asked she with puppy eyes. Said demon laughed at her change of hearth and eagerness, as he began to explain more about demonic cooking.

"This is so strange. I mean, a little while ago we fought against each other and now we are all sitting here, having a tea party of all things!" Voiced her thoughts Applebloom, sitting with the other Crusaders, looking at the demonic figures awkwardly, unsure how to feel about it after they helped to nearly bring the end of the world.

"Eh, no hard feelings! It wasn't personal, just business." Said one of the demons, who waved off the matter with a clawed hand, then seeing their confused faces he elaborated: "Bringing chaos and destruction to wherever we go is done mostly to maintain our image of evil and terrifying beings who should be feared, to discourage others from summoning us, mostly so we would be left alone." He explained.

"Why is it?" Asked sweetie Belle curiously.

"Because usually those who have the guts to summon us are jerks, who use magic to enslave us and forcing us to do their bidding. I am sure that none of you would like to suddenly find yourselves at some unknown place and a weird cultist or someone like that demanding to obey them and aren't hesitant to tormenting us with painful spells, feeling that since we aren't one of their kind, it is okay to do whatever they please." He told them angrily.

"That's horrible! Those ponies sound like Diamond Tiara. If I would be forced to obey her orders, I too would like to unleash the apocalypse!" Said Scootaloo with agitation.

"And not only we are forced to obey those bastards, but sometimes the tasks could be so annoying or humiliating. Many times we are summoned to destroy our summoner's enemies, help dethroning rulers or just simply cause mayhem and random destruction, or other fun and exciting tasks, which isn't that bad. But some summon our kind to clean up their home or bring them a book or something. One of my friends once had to clean a series of toilets which weren't cleaned probably since it was made! I mean seriously!" Exclaimed he incredulously, waving with his arms comically. The fillies ( and some of the others who heard the discussion) looked at him in shock and disgust.

After the group shook off their shock, they resumed their friendly conversations and having fun.

Just another crazy day in Ponyville... (and probably not the last...)

The End

Author's Note

And done!
Sorry for taking so long with the last chapter.
Thanks for reading and have a nice Day/Night!