A purple-skinned boy with green hair looked though a front door's peephole. On the front step, a pale-skinned, statuesque amazon held one end of a leash. The boy couldn't see the rope's other end.
But whoever this woman was, she was very, very beautiful.
Spike had been told to be careful about strangers when he was home alone, but...he couldn't help himself. He opened the door.
The woman thrust her end of the leash towards him. "I found your dog," she said coldly.
Spike glanced at the little purple pooch on the other end. Then he stared. "Sparky?"
"Sure. Whatever. Here, TAKE her."
"But...we lost her years ago. We love her, but what in Tartarus HAPPENED? Where has she BEEN?"
(Yes, what happened?)
***
Within a pale blue tent decorated with stars and moons, a unicorn wearing a turban waved her forehooves around a crystal ball. "Trixie the Magnificent sees all, knows all! Trixie can see your future, and tell you what card you will pick before you even touch it!"
Across the table, a large white alicorn sighed. "That's nice. But I don't need a party entertainer. What I need is--"
"Trixie sees a tall, dark pony!"
Princess Celestia's mouth sagged open. "Tell me more."
"Trixie sees a pony who has been away for a while, coming back into your life."
Celestia blinked, and nodded.
"Trixie sees you and this tall dark pony together, under the moonlight. She sees...love, with problems and challenges. But with the right attitude, you can work through these problems."
"Yes!" Celestia cried. "But WHO...WHO is the Chosen One? WHO can help solve these problems?"
"Eh?" Trixie had been giving vague generic romantic fortune #3. But what was this about a chosen one? Trixie tried to scratch her mane, but the turban was in the way.
Trixie decided to switch to generic fortune #5. "I see...a long journey. A long journey and you meet someone really wonderful!"
"How long a journey?"
"Um...the farthest journey you could possibly take? Long enough to give Trixie a good headstart on her own urgent journey to get out of town?"
"'The farthest journey possible.'" Celestia thought for a moment. "Could it be? Could it really be? Could THAT be the answer to my dilemma?"
"Um...maybe?"
"Thank you!" Celestia reached out with one forehoof and shook Trixie's nearest foreleg. "But I need more details! More details!"
At a loss for ideas, Trixie levitated a deck of cards onto the table, and flipped over the top one. The card showed a small dog, barking at a full moon.
"Yes!" Celestia said. "Of course! THAT'S what will help us all! She seems small and weak, but in the end her courage will prove more powerful than mere brute strength. I will go find her immediately! Anything else?
Trixie blinked, afraid to say any more.
"Thank you so much!" Celestia shouted as she ran away. "I'd stay longer, but the portal closes very soon and I want to make sure I don't miss the chance!"
Trixie admitted to herself, "I have no idea what just happened."
***
In Canterlot Palace, a mirror's surface rippled, as a large, pale alicorn stepped inside.
On the other side, in a humanlike form, she stumbled and flopped onto a paved walkway. She struggled to her feet, and tried to learn how to walk on two legs.
Fifteen minutes later, she strolled through a residential neighborhood, looking for the Chosen One.
In a tiny little wooden house sitting on the front lawn of a regular size house, she found a candidate. "Hello!" the princess said. "Are you the Chosen One?"
The little purple dog barked happily.
"How do you feel about the moon?"
More barking.
"Close enough. The portal closes in about half an hour, and I don't want to risk getting stuck here for three years." Celestia fiddled with a leash. "Let's go for a walk!"
Celestia's new friend wagged her tail.
***
Princess Celestia stepped gracefully out of the mirror, like a princess born and bred. She turned her head to look back.
Behind the princess, something very large and scaly emerged, and emerged some more, and then even more. When the room filled with scaly creature, and overfilled...the walls came down, and the ceiling broke into pieces overhead.
It was fortunate Celestia was not only immortal, but also able to move very quickly when she needed to. Celestia flew upwards through the space where the ceiling and roof had been, and circled the enormous purple dragon that a few minutes ago had been a dog.
The purple dragon smiled. "Wow! I'm so big! And I can talk!" She looked down at the broken palace and nearby trees, which she had seriously damaged through her sudden arrival. "I'm not in trouble, am I? I didn't mean to break anything." Sorrowful tears pooled in her eyes, as she whined softly, dog style.
Celestia patted the dragon on the head. "It wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have had a palace in your way, when you came out of the Mirror Portal." Celestia smiled, calculation in her eyes. "Yes, I can work with this. Good girl." She hovered in front of the dragon's face. "My name is Princess Celestia, and I am ruler of this land."
The dragon panted softly. "My name is Sparky! And I'm a...dog? Or I WAS a dog, at least. Until very recently."
***
Celestia paced back and forth in Headmaster Neighsay's office. "Neighsay...you simply MUST accept this new student. My plans depend on it."
Neighsay reached up with one forehoof, fiddling with his tie. "I'm afraid I simply haven't room."
"For ONE more student?"
"She's larger than a house."
"Fine," Celestia nodded. "Your sudden resignation is accepted." She looked out the doorway. "Gingersnap? Newly promoted Headmistress Gingersnap? I must speak with you."
***
Sparky used her clawtips to hold a pair of tweezers, and a magnifying glass to see what she was doing. With the tweezers, she poured a beaker of liquid into a larger beaker. Orange smoke puffed up.
"I think it's supposed to do that," she said. "Sorry, but until I enrolled at the School for Gifted Unicorns, my education was...somewhat neglected. I didn't really have the opportunities."
Beside the enormous dragon, a normal size pink alicorn nodded. "I know what that's like. I grew up in a little fishing village, and I think among us the whole village had maybe eighteen or nineteen books. Not counting a dictionary that had the back half missing."
The dragon sighed. "This school is wonderful. A whole library! Now that I'm here in Equestria, I'm so happy that I finally get a taste of books anytime I want. To digest their contents. I mean, I get to read them."
The little alicorn leaned up against Sparky. "You and I seemed so different at first...but it turns out we have so much in common." She nuzzled the dragon's flank affectionately, adding a little nip.
Feeling the nip, Sparky's shoulders jumped upwards. "Aren't you dating some unicorn named Shining Armor?"
"Who cares about him?" the pink alicorn said. "Compared to you, he's kind of a dork. And he's not NEARLY as good with his tongue."
***
Inside a small town's main meeting hall, hundreds of ponies had gathered, waiting for the Summer Sun festival.
Outside, a pale alicorn spoke to a house sized dragon. "I'm sorry," the alicorn said. "I couldn't find any town near the Everfree Forest with a meeting hall big enough to fit a dragon. So I'm afraid you'll have to miss the inside part of the festival."
"It's ok," Sparky said, trying to really mean it. "Sometimes I get left out of things because of my size. But I don't get left out as much as I used to, back when I was a dog. Among the humans, I wasn't allowed to take ANY classes at all. And none of them seemed to understand my barking! It was SO FRUSTRATING!" She stomped her foot in emphasis.
(Squelch.)
"What was that sound?" Sparky stood on one leg, lifting her other. "What's this on the bottom of my foot? Oh, heavens...it looks like I stepped on somepony. I am SO SORRY."
Celestia leaped into the air, and hovered next to Sparky's lifted foot. "She's dead, all right. You killed her. You killed my sister, you inconsiderate, clumsy clod. The sister who I love best of all ponies in this world!"
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"Not HALF as sorry as you SHALL be." Celestia snorted. "Sparky, HEEL! You and I are going for a LONG WALKIES. A LONG WALKIES RIGHT NOW!"
***
On the floor of the house where Spike and his parents lived, Sparky finished her seven crayon color illustrated manuscript. "So that's where I was for three years!" her mouthwritten words concluded.
"Wow!" Spike said. "That's amazing. It was worth staying up all night for you to tell...well, for you to write me the story, and for me to read all about it." He looked up at a clock. "But now I'm almost late for school. And I forgot to do my homework, because I was so excited that you came back." He thought for a moment. "Just...please let me borrow this."
***
Inside a classroom, a teacher leaned over the purple-skinned boy. "So, Spike...do you have another excuse? Did the dog eat your homework?"
Spike grinned. "Nope! Not this time!" He slid a pile of papers across the desk. "This story's really good."
The teacher scowled. "For the sake of your creative writing grade...I certainly hope so."
