Twilight groaned softly as she joined the waking world. The sound of birds chirping filling the quiet morning air as the Princess of Friendship unceremoniously plopped out of bed.

The school holidays had started a few days ago and Twilight was behind schedule with marking her student’s papers. The school had seen a massive influx of students after the defeat of Tirek, Chrysallis and Cozy Glow a few months back and even with Starlight’s help the workload was still suffocating her.

Twilight made her way to a small crystal mirror she had fitted to the wall next to her bed. The close proximity of the mirror had allowed her to save twelve seconds every morning that she would otherwise lose if she walked to her bathroom to brush her mane and back.

With barely any thought Twilight enveloped her mane brush in her magic and got to work straightening the knots out of her hair. Making sure to be quick yet methodical she brushed her unkept mane into its usual appearance when a quiet knock broke through the morning air.

“Twilight are you up yet?” Came the muffled voice of Spike from behind the door.

“Be there in a second,” Twilight replied groggily as she finished straightening her hair before trotting over to the door to greet her number one assistant.

“Good morning, Spike,” Twilight groaned as she looked down at the little drake before her.

“Geez Twi, you look rough. What time did you go to bed last night,” Spike replied, a shocked expression adorning his face.

“Uhhh….”

“Look Twilight I know you’ve got a lot of tests to get through and all that, but it’s the school break for pony’s sake! Take the day off, go meet the girls for lunch or something,” Spike demanded authoritatively giving Twilight a harsh glare in the process.

“Spike you know I can’t just shrug my duties for the day,” Twilight rebutted trying her best to suppress a yawn in the process.

“No! You need a break. I can manage a few papers if it’s such a big deal, after all you specifically made those memos for each paper so that Starlight could help you when she had a free moment between counselling,” Spike shot back flying up, so he was eyelevel with her.

“But I-“

“No”

“Can’t I just-“

“No”

“I have to-“

“NO!” Spike bellowed shocking Twilight into silence.

The purple alicorn stared at the small dragon flying up in her face. A determined expression on her face that she had seen whenever he wanted to do something for Rarity. She knew that this was not something she could argue with.

“*sigh* Okay Spike. I’ll take the day off BUT tomorrow I’ll have to work if I want to be ready before the start of the next semester. Got it,” Twilight responded firmly.

Spike smiled triumphantly at his victory and got out of Twilight’s face to allow her to get out of her room. Twilight slowly trotted past him before stopping to turn and face him.

“Uhh… Spike do we have any coffee left,” Twilight muttered quietly as her ears folded against her head and her head drooped.

Spike smirked, “Already way ahead of you Twi,” He proclaimed before shooting off down the hall ahead of Twilight towards the kitchen.

Twilight groaned loudly as the scope of what she just agreed upon struck her. “How could I have allowed myself to be coaxed into taking the day off! There are still hundreds of papers to mark, and Starlight and I have barely been holding it together! Now Starlight will have to keep going while I take a break leaving her more exhausted and less productive while I go running about! Then she will be mad that I took time off while she had to work, and she will think I’m a terrible friend and that I’m selfish and inconsiderate and-“

“Good morning, Twilight!”

The cheery voice of Starlight interrupted Twilight’s brooding yanking her back into the waking world. Twilight deflated further at the sound of one of her close friends and personal student greeting her in such a jovial manner while Twilight was just about to ditch her to go relax.

“Wow, Twilight are you alright? You look like someone just lost a borrowed book or something,” Starlight asked with concern seeing that Twilight was a mess.

“Oh… Starlight! I didn’t see you there!” Twilight replied a little too loudly forcing a grin onto her face that was just too wide to be natural. Starlight winced as she saw Twilight’s face.

“Uhh…” Starlight stuttered completely at a loss to what do to in this situation. She had dealt with Twilight’s ‘episodes’ before yet she was still not entirely sure on the best way to relieve the situation. The one time she got it wrong she spent the next two months finding quills impaled all over her room.

“Hey, Twi I got the coffee you… asked… for…“

Spike stopped just short of the small standdown occurring in front of him before clearing his throat loudly to get both mares’ attention.

“Twilight, I already told Starlight that you would be taking the day off and she agreed to it,” Spike deadpanned as he realised the problem.

“B-b-but s-she-“ Twilight stammered still not convinced of Spike’s decision.

“Twilight it’s okay,” Starlight said, placing a hoof comfortingly on Twilight’s shoulder.

Twilight looked back and forth between her two housemates trying to find any way to convince them to let her help them with the day’s work. She couldn’t just leave all the work to them to just do what she wanted, yet as she looked into their eyes and saw the determination behind them, she knew it was a lost cause.

“*sigh*” Twilight sighed drooping her head in defeat. “Okay, one day.”

Even though Twilight couldn’t see, both Spike and Starlight beamed.

“Right let’s go get some breakfast then!” Spike said breaking the silence that hanged after Twilight yielded.

“Sounds like a great idea, Spike I’m starving,” Starlight seconded as she trotted over to Spike’s side.

“Twilight, are you coming?” Starlight asked over her shoulder.

“Huh… Oh,” Twilight stammered once she realised that the duo was waiting for her and trotted over.

“I heard that the girls had decided to have a quick breakfast at that new griffon café down the road,” Spike started conversationally. “I thought maybe the three of us could go join them for a quick breakfast before Starlight and I got to work.”

“I like that idea,” Starlight responded before looking over to Twilight, “What do you think Twilight?”

Having regained some of her composure Twilight looked up at Starlight with a genuine smile, “I think that’s a great idea.”

With smiles all around the trio trotted through the crystal halls with the sound of clopping hooves echoing throughout the castle.

A few minutes later

The warmth of Celestia’s Sun engulfed the citizens of Ponyville like a warm blanket as ponies moved about the town. Twilight and co were walking through the town market, waving occasional at the various sellers and buyers as they walked by.

“Hey Twilight!” A raspy voice called out over the chatter of the crowd.

Twilight, Spike and Starlight turned towards the voice spotting Rainbow Dash hovering just over the roof of a small hut-like building wedged in between two houses. The small café had a small seating area outside with Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy waving at their friends. The group quickly made their way over to the others greeting them with various hugs and nuzzles of affection. As the group settled down and got all their orders in, the group dissolved into friendly conversation.

“-Oh, you would not believe it darlings, but I got invited to create ensembles for the Hoofington Fashion Fair this year!” Rarity announced excitedly, “Apparently the new yak dresses and coats I made have gathered quite the attention and the investors wanted me to come star as their main attraction this year!”

“Oh, wow Rarity that’s wonderful,” Fluttershy praised quietly.

“Ya you go Rarity,” Rainbow and Pinkie yelled in sync.

“Ah gotta say Rares that’s mighty good news,” Applejack drawled.

“Oh ho ho you are all too kind, but enough about me how have things been going with all of you? Between all the work with the school and the boutique I feel as if I rarely manage to even speak to you all,” Rarity responded.

“Oh! Oh! Oh! You guys you will never guess who is coming to help out at Sugarcube Corner!” Pinkie squealed vibrating in her chair in excitement, “CHEESE SANDWIDCH!!!”

“Oh awesome! I haven’t heard from him in ages!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“I know right! He said he wanted to move closer to Ponyville, but didn’t have enough bits on hand so I was like: ‘Oh, if you need bits you can come work at Sugarcube Corner,’ and he was like: ‘Are you sure Pinkie? I don’t want to be a burden,’ and I was like: ‘Oh you silly you would be more than welcome!’ and he was like-“

“Okay Pinkie, we get it,” Twilight deadpanned while trying to suppress a chuckle at her friend’s antics.

The mares and dragon all shared a laugh at the display when a unicorn stallion wearing a green apron walked over carrying a tray with an assortment of drinks.

“Here are your drinks,” the stallion announced while floating everyone’s drink toward their respective owner.

A collective round of thanks echoed from the table as everyone started drinking their drinks. The table was mostly silent for a moment as everyone enjoyed their drinks, just enjoying everyone’s company.

“So Fluttershy how is the animal sanctuary goi-“ Twilight started before she felt a strange tingling in her horn. It felt as if an invisible force was pulling at her magic.

Looking around she could see Rarity and Starlight with confused expressions on their faces. They were probably feeling the same sensation.

“Twilight is everything okay?” Spike asked looking at her a hint of worry in his voice.

“Oh, don’t worry about it Spike I’m sure its noth-“

A loud crack reverberated throughout the town square causing ponies all around to either bolt or shout in panic. Everyone at the table was drawn to the source of the noise and immediately spotted a faint amount of distortion in the air a few hooves ahead of them.

“Twi what in tarnation is-“ Applejack began before another loud crack shot out.

The two unicorns and alicorn at the table yelped in pain as they grasped the base of their horns.

“TWILIGHT!!” Spike shouted rushing to her aid just as a crack similar to a lightning bolt shimmered into existence within the distorted air.

Ponies all around started to panic and run about wildly while all the unicorns groaned in agony on the ground. The mares that weren’t incapacitated leaped into action trying to calm down the panicked residents of Ponyville. Twilight could only watch in pain as her friends ran about trying to keep everyone calm and help the unicorns that were either flailing about or had passed out.

Twilight then looked to the strange floating light just ahead of her. Whatever it was it was unlike anything she had ever seen and she could also feel it feeding off her magic reserves. Twilight’s eyes widen as it clicked in her mind that the anomaly was feeding off the magic around it.

“G-g-girls,” Twilight groaned as the throbbing in her head dulled her ability to think straight.

“G-g-get a-away.”

The strange light suddenly started to flash brighter before seemingly bending downwards to the ground. A loud cracking sound and a bright flash exploded outward from the centre of town engulfing ponies all around it before flowing over Twilight.

And then everything went dark.

Author's Note

Do please let me know if you feel someone is out of character I am going to try my best to keep everyone as in character as possible