After a small trampling under small hooves and a clear misunderstanding, Shining Armor found himself escorting a group of fillies out of the dangerous Everfree and back toward Ponyville. On his back was Spike, who was incredibly happy to see him.

“I can’t believe he ended up here! You’re sure a filly named Twilight didn’t come by?” Shining Armor said, nuzzling the hatchling who grabbed his horn as he giggled. Applejack nodded her head.

“Eeyup. Just Spike n’ Sparklin’ Cider ‘ere.” She said, nodding her head toward Twilight who was still sniffling a little and was still a blue color. Fluttershy had shown some support in walking beside her and pressing into her side.

“Oh mare how did you find him?” Shining Armor asked the blue filly, who snapped to attention and turned yellow, startled. Twilight looked down at the dirt path they walked as she tried to come up with an answer.

“I-I was lost too when I found him in the everfree.” Twilight muttered out. Shining looked worried at this answer, and hummed to himself about what it implied. Meanwhile Spike hung from the stallion’s horn laughing with glee.

“Darlings!”

Everyone snapped to attention at the sound of Rarity’s voice coming to meet them. The white unicorn filly panted as she came to a stop before swiftly pulling out a bottle of water from somewhere. After a pant of relief she spoke.

“I had heard from Big Mac that Sparkling Cider had disappeared again and that everypony was headed toward the everfree for her!” She took a moment to take a breath. She then zipped over to Twilight who was beginning to fade to her natural colors after calming down only to shoot a bright yellow from the filly suddenly invading her space.

“My goodness darling are you okay? You have sticks caught in your mane and- is this dirt?!” Rarity’s voice cried dramatically as she pulled back her hoof to observe the dirt now on it. Twilight’s confusion was represented by the color orange. Which Applejack noted she liked the color of on the filly.

“Honestly I think there’s something more important than ALL of this! Asidefromyoursisterbeingmissingofcoursebut, I get to throw you AND Carl’s Welcome To Ponyville party!” Pinkie Pie borderline shouted, filled with anticipation. She quickly grabbed Twilight’s hoof and snatched Spike from Shining’s magic with a swiftness as she carried them off.

“C’mon! We’ve gotta hurry and set this party up!”

The group watched as Twilight and Spike were carried off to Sugarcube Corner by Pinkie at an incredible speed.

“Yeesh, someone should feed that filly less sugar.” Shining commented passively.

Cadance brushed off her hooves as she put a pie in the oven.

“Thank ya’ kindly fer’ all yer’ help Carl, Ah’ know Applejack an’ Sparklin’ will be hungry once they git’ back here!”

There was a swift set of knocks at the door. That alarmed the two ponies for a moment before they settled down and decided to answer it. However there was no one there but a flyer. Cadance picked it up for the old green mare, but she quickly noticed the mouth writing.

“Oh! Guess we’ll have ta’ put this away fer’ later then! Pinkie’s aboutta have a party!” Granny Smith said jovially, rushing back into the kitchen to clean up and then store away the apple pies for later. Meanwhile Cadance just stood there looking at the letters on the card. The writing was a bit messy, but it was a familiar kind of mouth writing nonetheless.

“Twily…” the mustached princess muttered to herself.

“Ah’ tell ya, that filly can be a little much at times but she knows how ta’ throw a good party Carl! Now c’mon, let’s get Big Mac and head on over to the library.” Granny said, walking out of the kitchen. Cadance nodded and kept the invitation with her.

“-and then there was the time she threw that anniversary party for the first time I knocked my own tooth out, and she even made a party for something like THAT awesome! So yeah, safe to say, Pinkie knows how to party.” Rainbow Dash said confidently, crossing her forelegs as she floated in front of Shining Armor as they walked.

“Man, I wish I knew about her before! She would’ve been great for helping Twily to make new friends!” Shining Armor replied, outstanded by just how much expertise a filly had already for celebrations.

“Well look on the bright side darling, I’m sure your sister will never want to be alone again after you find her.”

“Well I hope so! Because I’m not taking my eyes off her for a LOOOOONG time when I find her.” Shining Armor said as they crossed town and got closer to the library. His attention was dragged to another pink pony, though this one was taller and was currently under the clever disguise of Carl. His face lit up and he ran over to Cadance giving her a hug. Cadance brought Shining Armor aside, allowing the fillies to meet up with Big Mac and Granny Smith who had Apple Bloom in a foal carrier. Meanwhile, Shining was given the flyer with Twilight’s mouthwriting.

”Then why did she leave Spike?” He questioned absently.

”She what?” Cadance interjected in concern.

”Oh yeah, some filly found him in the woods.”

”I feel like we should focus on that a bit.”

”Hey, you guys coming? Library’s just over here!” Rainbow Dash said, hovering over the two ponies.

A loud welcome later, and Twilight found herself paranoid and pale yellow. She carefully watched Shining Armor as he enjoyed some snacks and talked with the locals of Ponyville, and his new companion, a very familiar looking “Carl”, played some games Pinkie made. Of course she was also checking in on Spike who was happily playing with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom while Granny and a few other ponies watched over them. There was also a fourth, orange filly playing with them.

”H-Hi Sparkling”

Twilight’s ears stood on point as she turned to look behind her. She almost didn’t hear Fluttershy say anything. The butter yellow filly shrunk back a little before she scrounged up the few scraps of confidence available.

“I-I-I just wanted t-to check up on you, i-if it’s okay of course.” She said, hoofing at the wooden floors. Twilight just nodded and sat back down.

”I-I’m fine, just a little shaken by what happened.” Technically it wasn't a lie. She was still jumpy from the manticore attack. She then flickered and was mushed against the wall behind her. She was also still blinking, just not as often. Fluttershy was a bit startled and rushed to help her up.

”Oh dear! I almost forgot to mention that you may have a magic leak! You should avoid using any spells for the time being.” She smiled with concern. Twilight of course already knew but couldn’t help but smile back at her kindness.

”Thanks, I’ll try my best. I just hope the flickering doesn’t count.” Fluttershy seemed to contemplate something as Twilight spoke.

”I-I-If you want, y-you and Spike can come by my cottage to relax! I take care of some smaller animals right now, and they’re just the cuddliest little things and I think it you two would enjoy just spending the day around some cute critters!” Fluttershy managed to get out at a barely normal volume. Twilight had to lean in to hear but, over all it sounded really nice! Maybe if she asked she could spend the night!

”Darlings! There you are, Pinkie has been looking for you to try this game with us all!” Rarity said, getting behind Twilight and Fluttershy and started pushing them over to a group of fillies all over a white mat with multicolored spots.

”Oh, that’s okay Rarity! You can tell her we didn’t-”

”Nonesense! After you all had to be in the ghastly everfree, you should do everything you can to unwind! Though I’d prefer to do it using a good spa, games can work too!” Rarity insisted as they reached. Twilight and Fluttershy just glanced at each other and sighed.

”All right everypony, I call this twister!”

The party went on until midnight. If there was something Pinkie knew how to do, it was how to start, continue, and end a party. Though Twilight had taken Spike with her as Fluttershy had left since they left early. She had taken the offer to come by and had imposed the question of spending the night on the way, and thankfully the Pegasus said yes!

But now she just woke up on the belly of a bear that was lovingly cuddling her. She took in a deep breath and let it out carefully. There was no reason to panic. Fluttershy said the animals were friendly, and she trusted her. Plus, she survived a manticore! Thanks to the help of Shining and her own haywire magic but still. She looked around, hoping to see Fluttershy so she could get some help, but just found the adorable sight of Spike being cuddled by a fluffle of rabbits in the little bed Fluttershy made for him. Man she wished she could afford a camera.

Twilight silently laid atop the bear, just waiting for Fluttershy to come down to help her.

It was an anxiety filled hour.

Now Twilight had found herself walking herself down to Sweet Apple Acres, intent on helping out for the day WITHOUT an incident! She flickered into the air about three feet and face planted back down. At least with as little incident as she could. She had decided to entrust Spike to Fluttershy for the day through a combined fear of Twilight’s on random blinking and Fluttershy weakly pleading to take care of him.

Twilight didn’t know much about the Pegasus, but from what she had seen of how content the animals were with Fluttershy, Spike should be in good hands. By the time she reached the farmland she had realized her coat had settled down to her natural colors, though they turned a vibrant yellow with her surprise before she calmed herself. She spotted Big Mac already on the fields tending to them and walked up against the fence.

”Hi Big Mac!” She said climbing under the fence.

”Mornin’ Sparklin’ .” He nodded to her, giving her a little pat on the head.

”Here ta’ help?”

”Mhm.”

”Not gonna disappear again?”

”Uh-uh.”

”Alrighty, Applejack’s workin’ the north orchard.”

”Thank you!” Twilight said, turning orange.

”Oh, one more thing. We’re all gonna see Shinin’ an’ Carl off later this afternoon if ya’ wanna come.” Big Mac witnessed Twilight turn white and freeze up, and then rigidly nod while continuing on her way to where Applejack was.

”Ah’m startin’ ta’ think she has a problem sayin’ no.”

Author's Note

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