Twilight's Best Friendby BlueshiftChapters1 - Strangers in the Night2 - The Sincerest Form of Flattery3 - Dewdrop Dazzle Must Die!4 - Ponies Don't Fear The ReaperAuthor's Notes1 - Strangers in the NightPart One: Strangers in the Night Twilight Sparkle buried her head in her book as she tried to concentrate, shutting out the crashing of the torrential rain and the wailing of the wind outside her house. Try as she might however, she couldn't shut out the wailing that was going on inside. "But Twilight!" Spike moaned, tugging at her shoulder. "You said you'd read me a bedtime ghost story! That was an hour ago!" Twilight rolled her eyes and slammed shut the archaeology textbook she'd been studying. "Fine Spike, fine!" she huffed, trotting over to the pesky dragon and opening the tattered book he had been clutching in his paws. "But if you get scared again, I'm not staying up all night making it better!" Spike frowned. "But Twilight, that WAS a scary story! I mean, it was a VERY hungry caterpillar! The book even had HOLES in it!" He trembled again, eyes darting round the room as if a caterpillar would lurch out of the shadows at him. Twilight gave a long, protracted sigh and shook her head. "That wasn't even supposed to be a scary st-" She trailed off in defeat. "Nevermind. Let's get this over with." She scanned the page, and began: "It was a dark and stormy night. The wind howled like a banshee, and lightning forked in the sky." At that moment, a huge boom of thunder rolled across the sky, and the night was lit up by a crackling of lightning that momentarily illuminated the windswept town of Ponyville outside. Twilight continued unabated: "All the citizens of Trotsdale had barricaded their homes, for there was a MAD MURDERER PONY on the loose." Spike yelped and hid under a table, wide-eyed and shaking. Twilight tutted. "Come on Spike, it's only a story, there's no such thing as 'murder'. You need to learn the difference between make believe and reality." She cleared her throat. "The town library was especially quiet, as Booky McReaderson - ugh, who thinks of these names - tended to her books. Booky hadn't barricaded the library in case a pony wanted a late night book. 'Still, who would be out in this weather', she thought. 'Only a totally crazy pony'. Suddenly there was a knocking at the door!" There was a sharp knocking at the door. Twilight growled as she was interrupted mid-flow. "Spike, quit it with the sound effects!" Spike meanwhile, was still hiding under a table, shaking. Twilight continued, ignoring her friend. "The knocking continued. Booky knew that only a mad mare would be out in the storm, but the code of the librarian forced her to let in any pony who wanted a book! Slowly she walked to the door, and -" There was a sharper knocking at the door. Twilight snapped the book shut. "If you're going to mess about Spike, you're not getting your story!" Spike however, was not messing about. He was tucked in the shadow of the table, pointing to the door. "I-it's not me Twilight. There's... there's someone there!" Twilight frowned, and cautiously walked to the door. "Don't be ridiculous. Who would be out in this sort of weather. Only a - " She was cut off as the sharp thumping on the door continued, and so gathering up her resolve she threw the door open. Standing on the doorstep was a bright blue pony, drenched from head to hoof and caked in mud, her pink mane completely sodden and drooping over her face, a battered yellow suitcase by her feet. "Hello" she said. "I'm Dewdrop Dazzle. Can I come in?" *** Once Twilight had regained her composure and checked that the new arrival wasn't carrying any sharp implements, she invited the poor soaked unicorn in out of the rain. Dewdrop told her how she had been travelling cross country when she found herself stranded in Ponyville in the middle of a torrential storm. Of course, Twilight invited her to stay for the night and had instructed Spike (once she had scraped him out from beneath the table) to show Dewdrop to the spare room and the shower. Twilight settled back down with her book, breathing in happily at the peace and quiet that now reigned, the howling of the storm outside soothing rather than scaring. The only thing out of place was the muddy hoofprints Dewdrop had trampled across the floor. "Spike's going to be busy tomorrow!" Twilight tittered to herself as she returned to the important business of late night studying. This plan was foiled as a clattering commotion echoed from down the stairs. Twilight was just about to admonish Spike for being noisy when the perpetrator came into view. It was Dewdrop Dazzle, now clean and free of mud, her hair carefully dried and hanging in curls about her face. "Hi Twilight!" she smiled as she trotted into the room, looking about carefully as if seeing it for the first time. "Thanks again for letting me stay!" Twilight smiled. "It's no problem, I'd have thought you'd be asleep already though after a day's travelling. And..." She paused, suddenly frowning. "Hey, I didn't tell you my name did I?" Dewdrop smiled brightly. "Oh come on, you're Twilight Sparkle! You're famous! I've heard all about your adventures; that's all the papers in Canterlot are talking about!" Twilight blushed, turning her head and grinning to herself. "Well..." she coughed. "I hardly think I'm much to write about." "Are you KIDDING?" Dewdrop had suddenly become rather more animated and was excitedly dancing about. "You defeated Nightmare Moon! And an Ursa Minor! And a hydra! You've got to tell me all about it!" Twilight slowly closed her book, trying not to feel herself getting too big headed about this attention. "Well, since you're here, I guess a few tales of my adventures before bedtime couldn't hurt..." *** "And what colour were its eyes?" Dewdrop pressed, wide-eyed and riveted to the spot, as she had been for the past four hours. The clock struck 3am. Twilight drooped wearily, propped up against a stool. "I... I really don't know Dewdrop. Does it matter?" At first she had been happy to talk about herself for once; just knowing that she was looked up to in Canterlot had made her burn with pride. As the hours ticked by however, Dewdrop had pressed her for more and more information about even the most banal of incidents until it felt like an interrogation. Dewdrop swivelled the lampshade to shine into Twilight's eyes. "I noticed you were getting sleepy, is this better?" she asked with concern. "So how many feathers did the Cockatrice have?" Twilight blinked once at the flash of light and fell over, her four hooves pointing straight upwards. "Uh, no offense Dewdrop but I think its way past our bedtimes! We can talk again in the morning." "Okay!" Dewdrop smiled cheerfully as she hopped up the stairs after Twilight. Twilight shook her head blearily. At least it was only one night, and she was doing a good deed. She waved goodnight to Dewdrop on the landing and wearily trotted into her room. There was a strange echo. Twilight turned around to switch off the light, to be met face to face with Dewdrop's smiling visage. "Hi!" Dewdrop uttered happily. Twilight blinked. "I'm uh, going to bed Dewdrop, I'll tell you more stories in the morning, I promise." Dewdrop nodded. "I'm going to bed too!" Twilight narrowed her eyes. "This... this is my room. Didn't Spike show you the spare room?" "Oh!" Dewdrop gave a little gasp. "Yes he showed it to me and I thought was very nice. Oh, did you want me to sleep in there? I can move my stuff out of your room if you like!" She motioned to Twilight's bed, which had the contents of Dewdrop's suitcase sprawled out over it as if the suitcase had exploded. "Yes" Twilight intoned through gritted teeth. "Yes, if you would; that would be lovely." Once Dewdrop had removed herself, and her worryingly large array of possessions, Twilight settled down on her bed and finally drifted off to sleep. *** The sun shone down on Ponyville the next morning, the storm of the last night all but forgotten. Twilight was getting none of the benefits of the crisp morning air however, as she sat in her living room, blearily pushing her breakfast around her plate. Bags hung under her eyes from lack of sleep; her plans for a morning lie-in had been thwarted by the incessant sounds of Dewdrop Dazzle clattering around downstairs, and she had resolved to be up and awake to ensure the strange blue unicorn wasn't trying to burn down her house. Dewdrop meanwhile, was surprisingly lively, as if permanently energised. She bounced around the room, clearing up stray books much to Twilight's protestations. "So, you'll be leaving bright and early I take it?" Twilight hinted heavily, eager to get back to sleep. "No no, I'm good!" Dewdrop trilled back as she tried to helpfully push an old, expensive and fragile tome into a space in which it couldn't possibly fit. Twilight's right eye twitched. "Well, I'm sure you've got a long journey ahead of you to... wherever it was you were heading to..." "Yeah yeah!" Dewdrop said, a bit too quickly. "It can wait, Ponyville's great after all! And I get to spend time with you, Twilight! My hero!" "Good" Twilight slowly retorted as she tried to bury her head in her book and pretend the blue unicorn didn't exist. She had a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that perhaps Dewdrop hadn't been heading anywhere else; that perhaps Twilight's house had been her ultimate destination. But perhaps that was paranoia. Perhaps - "What're we reading?" Twilight nearly jumped into the air in fright as Dewdrop's head scooted into view right next to her own, staring intently at the book. Twilight twitched again. "I am reading a technical book on ancient Equestrian archaeology, you wouldn't find it interesting." Dewdrop clapped her front hooves together in joy. "Oh no, I love studying!" With that, she settled down next to Twilight, peering over her shoulder intently at the pages. Twilight's brow creased, unsettled at this new development. "You know..." she said after an awkward silence. "I might leave you with that and read a different book." She stood up to leave Dewdrop to her reading, and trotted over to the nearest shelf. She turned around. Dewdrop was standing behind her, smiling innocently. "What're we reading next?" Dewdrop chirped happily. Twilight attempted to glare Dewdrop into submission, but the pink and blue unicorn just stood there vacantly, eagerly awaiting whatever book Twilight was about to pull out. "Look Dewdrop..." Twilight started. "If you want to help me, we need some more eggs. Could you fetch some from the shops?" 'Before I do something I'll regret' she added to herself mentally. Dewdrop leaped into the air in glee at being given a mission by Twilight. "Of course Twilight, I won't fail you! Don't worry, I have a map of Ponyville that I made!" In a hyperactive rush, Dewdrop raced upstairs, and then galloped outside, a crumpled, hoof-drawn map of Ponyville in tow. Twilight sighed heavily as peace and quiet returned. "She's got... a map..." she mumbled to herself darkly, trying to shake the thoughts from her head as she settled back with her book once more. Now she could forget about Dewdrop and get back to studying. "Dewdrop Dazzle is GREAT!" Spike sauntered into the room cheerfully. "She's cleaned the whole kitchen; that was my morning chore! Now it's SPIKE TIME!" "That's lovely Spike" Twilight snapped back. "Now go clean the kitchen again." As the little dragon's head fell and he trooped into the kitchen, Twilight let out an exasperated gasp as she was once more left in peace, turned the page of her book, and began to read. *** "Ugh" Twilight slowly lifted her head and peeled her mouth off the page of the book where her drool had formed a sticky barrier. Obviously the late night had taken more of a toll than she had realised. The warm glow of the sun was filtering through the windows, a cursory check of the position of the sun indicated that it was midday; she hadn't slept too long. More importantly, Dewdrop Dazzle was nowhere to be seen. Twilight rose shakily to her hooves. "Spike, I'm awake!" she called, blearily shaking her face to get the last vestiges of sleep from her head. She patted down her hair and rubbed her eyes, trotting to a full length mirror to make sure she was presentable. As Twilight's sleep addled mind tried to adjust, she stared at herself in the mirror. Her reflection stared back at her. Thoughts congealed in her head as her brain struggled to return to 'wakefulness' mode. Something was wrong. Suddenly it hit her. She didn't own a full-length mirror. And her 'reflection' was blue and pink. "Hello!" said Dewdrop Dazzle, unblinkingly, a look of happiness on her face. "I went into town and got my hair cut so now it looks like yours, isn't that great!" She clapped her hooves together in excitement. "You... what..." Twilight stared at Dewdrop. The unicorn's hair was not only in an unerringly similar style to Twilight's, but there was a yellow stripe now dyed in it, in imitation of Twilight's own stripe. Dewdrop was now an accurate if garishly coloured copy of Twilight. "It's a shame you couldn't dye yourself purple" Twilight retorted, half joking, still reeling from the shock of Dewdrop's haircut. Dewdrop however, wasn't joking. "I know!" she said sadly. "They had run out of purple dye. But don't worry, I ordered some!" She happily bounced about the room, circling Twilight. "So best buddy, what are we doing today? Are we going on an adventure?" Twilight paused, staring at Dewdrop, mentally restraining herself from doing something unspeakably terrible to the annoying interloper. "You can go on an adventure, I'm going to bed. I'm feeling quite ill" she lied, her horn sparking into life to make her book levitate after her, turning to ascend the stairs. Dewdrop's face fell into one of honest worry. "Oh no Twilight, are you okay? Do you need anything? Shall I nurse you back to health?" "No. No. NO!" Twilight almost shouted back. "Don't worry about me, I need to be left alone to get better. You go off and have as many adventures as you like. I'll be fine." Dewdrop trotted about in a circle, slightly worried and confused as she stared after the retreating Twilight. "Okay!" she called. "Please be okay Twilight; if you need anything, just call!" After a while, she slowly sat down and began leafing through a book that Twilight had discarded earlier in the day. There was a knock at the door. Dewdrop looked about, and seeing that she was the only pony about, trotted to the door and opened it. A bundle of pink rolled into the house. "Hi Twilight!" Pinkie Pie chirped happily from beneath a bob of tangled pink hair. "I like your new look!" Dewdrop blushed. "I'm not Twilight, Pinkie, I'm Dewdrop Dazzle! I'm Twilight Sparkle's best friend, and she's letting me live her with her!" Pinkie Pie leapt to her feet. "That's great! New friends are always great, we should have a party for you!" Pinkie's expression suddenly changed and she leaned into Dewdrop's face, staring at her. "Wait a minute, I didn't tell you my name. Are you psychic?" Dewdrop giggled and shook her head. "No no, I've read all about Twilight's adventures, the stories always talk about her friends! I feel like I know you all already!" Pinkie gave a sigh of relief. "Whew! It's good you're not psychic or I'd have to be thinking of a brick wall all day!" She hopped into the front room, peering around. "Is Twilight about? There's a yeti on the loose which needs dealing with! Everyone else is waiting for her!" Dewdrop perked up even more than she was, which was quite a feat. "An adventure?" she gasped. Her face fell. "Twilight said she's feeling ill. But she said it was okay if I went on adventures; I can take her place!" Pinkie skipped happily towards the door. "Great! There's no time to lose, don't dawdle then!" And with that, the two were off. *** Twilight sighed in contentment. The moment she had heard the front door slam, she had cautiously made her way downstairs, calling out to a confused Spike to make sure that the coast was clear. She had then spent a rather relaxing afternoon catching up on her important reading. "This is so much better!" she sighed to Spike. "Peace and quiet." The front door crashed open. She had spoken too soon. In trotted not just Dewdrop Dazzle, but Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and all her other friends. All laughing and joking and cheering as if they'd known Dewdrop for years. "Twilight, Twilight!" Dewdrop hopped happily over to her purple friend. "We had an adventure! It was amazing!" Twilight stared at her friends, putting down her book. "You... you had an adventure without me?" she stuttered. Pinkie Pie tilted her head. "Of course, you were ill, silly! But don't worry, we had Dewdrop Dazzle! She is just as good as you!" "She was amazing!" Rainbow Dash shot into the air, almost hitting the ceiling. "She used her magic on the yeti, and then we were in a tricky situation and she got the answer from a book, and then she sung a song!" The other ponies nodded their appreciation. Dewdrop Dazzle just beamed proudly. "That's wonderful" Twilight retorted coldly. "I'm so glad you didn't need me at all, now that you have my double." Any sarcasm was lost as Dewdrop hopped happily about the room. "Thanks Twilight, that means so much coming from you! We have the same interests, isn't it great that we have the same friends now too!" Pinkie Pie scooted up to Twilight. "I think this calls for a party!"she cheered. Balloons floated up from behind her, as if by magic. And as if by magic, the balloons popped one by one, Twilight's horn glowing sneakily. "Oops" Twilight deadpanned back. "I guess that means the party's off. Early nights for all!" "Hey, digging the new look Dewdrop!" Spike had wandered into the room, seeing Dewdrop's haircut for the first time. Dewdrop beamed with happiness at this statement. "Thanks Spike, my little dragon friend!" she replied. "My little dragon friend" Twilight hissed under her breath. She glanced about at her friends; none of them seemed to think anything was amiss. In fact, it seemed as if they'd forgotten she existed. Twilight rose to her feet and slammed her book shut. When no-one noticed, she opened it, and slammed it shut again. "I'm suddenly relapsing, I think I need an early night." Dewdrop blinked as Twilight departed, and looked over at her new friends. "We can still have a party, right?" she asked hopefully. "I've read all about Pinkie Parties, they sound the best!" That night, Twilight tossed and turned, unable to sleep as her house vibrated to the noise of a boisterous party in full swing. She covered her head with her pillow to block out the noise. At least Dewdrop wouldn't stay for long, she reasoned. She'd soon get bored and find some other pony to latch onto... 2 - The Sincerest Form of Flattery2 - The Sincerest Form of Flattery Part Two: The Sincerest Form of Flattery Much to Twilight's chagrin, Dewdrop Dazzle was not gone the next day. Nor the next. Not even the next. The new arrival had divided her time between constantly following Twilight about with a constant barrage of questions; and vanishing off into Ponyville without a word. Despite the peace and quiet, Twilight had found Dewdrop's absences to be even more worrying than when she was hanging about the house. This was one such moment. Dewdrop had skipped out of the house at the earliest possible moment, not that Twilight had complained. However, the thought of what the strange blue pony could be up to had been gnawing away at Twilight's mind, and so she eventually decided to venture into the town to track down her 'guest'. The sky was still littered with grey clouds, but patches of blue was breaking through, and the air was fresh and crisp as Twilight wandered through Ponyville. Dewdrop was nowhere to be found. Perhaps she - "Howdy Twilight!" Twilight gave a smile as she saw one of her actual friends. "Applejack, hey!" She galloped happily up to the orange pony. "How are you? Don't worry, I've not forgotten I was going to help you with the apple bucking this week! It's just been busy busy back at mine!" "Ah..." Applejack pulled a face and glanced away. "Don't worry Twilight, it's all done now. There's always next time though!" "Oh." Twilight's face drooped. Though apple bucking was hard work, she did always enjoy helping out her friends. "I suppose Rainbow Dash dropped in to do it? I did mean to I promise..." She trailed off, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as Applejack replied. "No, your friend Dewdrop Dazzle popped by yesterday. She was great, managed to pick way more apples than I could'a managed! Hope you don't mind!" "Of course I don't mind!" lied Twilight. "Why would I mind, it's your orchard, it's all in a good cause! Besides, it's for the best, I've got a lot on this week! I promised Cheerilee I'd teach a class on magic at the schoolhouse some time!" "Well that's mighty odd!" Applejack retorted. "Apple Bloom said they'd had a class on magic just the other day. I guess they're really pushing that curriculum, eh?" Twilight's eyes narrowed into slits, glaring at Applejack as if this was her fault. "I don't suppose a certain pink and blue unicorn was teaching it?" she hissed. Applejack seemed to miss any malice in Twilight's voice, and just nodded brightly. "Yup! Your friend is certainly turning out to be quite helpful about town! She's a goon 'un!" Twilight stomped the ground with a hoof, feeling the twitching in her eye returning. "But... but that was MY class!" she hissed. "I was supposed to do that, she's copying me!" Applejack gave a look of concern as Twilight became more and more agitated. "Now sugarcube, don't be getting' all jealous an' all, it's good to have friends with similar interests!" But it was no use. Twilight had already turned to gallop off. She had to find out what else Dewdrop Dazzle had been getting up to. *** "But Spike, I'm me! I've put a lot of work into being me!" Twilight sat angrily glowering in her front room, staring at her little friend who didn't seem to realise the gravity of the situation. She had spent the remainder of the day racing around Ponyville, to discover that Dewdrop Dazzle had somehow already completed every single task she was about to carry out. "She took my place helping out Rarity with her dress making, she'd already helped Fluttershy to feed all the rabbits before I arrived, and she's been reading you bedtime stories!" This last sentence was said with a slight hiss at Spike, as if 'bedtime stories' rhymed with 'traitor'. Spike sighed heavily. "You're being ridiculous Twilight. She's just being friendly. Besides, you hate reading me stories!" Twilight huffed. "That's beside the point Spike, it's still what I do! She's trying to take over, why can't anyone see it but me? It's not right!" Paranoid thoughts started to swirl in her mind. "And how does she know what I'm planning? She's got to be spying on me! How else could she know?" Spike shook his head admonishingly. "You could just talk to her you know, rather than being all passive-aggressive about it. Perhaps she doesn't realise what she's doing?" "Oh, she knows!" Twilight hissed. "And I'm not being passive-aggressive! Now help me with this!" Twilight motioned to the front door, which was covered in planks of wood which were haphazardly nailed across it. With a few knocks of her hammer, she fixed the final bar in place. "Let's see DewDRIP DRIZZLE get in now!" Twilight rubbed her hooves together, a wicked grin on her face. "Hello Twilight!" said Dewdrop Dazzle, clambering in through the window, smiling happily as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "Hello Dewdrop," Twilight growled darkly, "wonderful to see you." Dewdrop simply nodded brightly. "Thanks! I've had a wonderful day with all my Ponyville friends, and I'm just off to see Zecora to get some tea! Did you want anything?" Twilight looked as if she was about to leap at Dewdrop. Luckily Spike had grabbed her hooves to restrain the tetchy unicorn. "No, I'm good thanks" she snapped, struggling in Spike's grip. "Good luck, be careful of the Everfree forest, it's very dang-." She paused. "No, wait, scratch that." "Twilight!" Spike gave a disappointed cry at his friend, before calling after Dewdrop. "Look after yourself Dewdrop!" But Dewdrop had already scrambled out of the window. Twilight was already inspecting the window. "We could bar the window, and... no; she'd find a way through. She could tunnel in! Spike, fetch me some concrete!" Spike shook his head. "No!" he said in the most rebellious tone he could muster. "Twilight, you're getting carried away again. She just wants to be your friend; besides, ponies are allowed to have friends that aren't you!" "Yes, yes, you're right!" Twilight had stopped trying to work out ways to barricade the house, and was now pacing up and down. "It's just... it feels like she's trying to take over! I like being me, I don't want someone else to be me! And I'm spending so much time worrying about it that I'm falling behind on my work, I've not even sent a friendship report to Princess Celestia in over a week! I hope I won't get in trouble." "Eh-heh." Spike coughed at this, scratching the back of his neck, eyes darting about the room, trying to look anywhere but at Twilight. Twilight stared at Spike. "Spike? What's the matter?" "Nothing!" Spike blurted out. "Nothing's the matter, it's all fine!" At that very moment, fate took an inopportune hand in events, and Spike found himself belching out a plume of green magical flame. A scroll with the royal seal appeared from the ether, but before Spike's little hands could grab it, Twilight used her magic to snatch it away. She looked at the scroll in concern. "It's from the Princess!" she gasped, opening it. "I bet she's wondering why my report is delayed! I'll have to get working right away..." She trailed off as she began to read, a horrible, cold sinking feeling in her belly. My faithful student, I must admit that I feared you had been neglecting your studies; that your latest reports had lacked the insight and depth to which I had become accustomed to. I was worried you would not reach the heights of your potential. I must apologise profusely for these thoughts. The report you sent last night was so rich and deep in its insight about the nature of friendship that I was taken aback. It is truly gratifying that your studies have at last borne fruit, and I look forward to hearing more in the coming weeks. Your devoted teacher, Princess Celestia Twilight stared at the letter for what seemed to be an eternity. She rolled around the words in her head. "Last night..." she muttered, and then her gaze snapped up at Spike, who was cowering in the corner, arms splayed in front of his face as if to protect himself. "Spike..." she growled, steam starting to rise from her ears. "Spike... would you care to explain?" Spike coughed. "It's like this Twilight..." He trailed off as he ran as fast as he could for the door. Unfortunately the door was still nailed shut, and he slammed into it, falling back in a giddy heap. He started to fidget wildly and then blurted out breathlessly: "Uh, I mentioned to Dewdrop you'd been having trouble thinking of a new report to send to the Princess, so she wrote one, it was really good and I didn't think you'd mind, and I'll go stand in the kitchen now!" Spike hung his head and trooped to the kitchen to stare at the sink for another hour, leaving Twilight alone and fuming. Twilight just stood there, before sending a bolt of magic to combust the letter. "No! No! NO! That's MY job!" she shouted to the skies. "I'M the Princess's student, not her!" Eventually, she settled down to spend the evening in a sulk, her thoughts full of a certain blue pony, and the ways in which she could get rid of her. Eventually, an idea surfaced. *** Twilight stood in the bathroom brushing her teeth and staring at her reflection in the mirror. It was definitely her own reflection this time, she had checked. The rumble of thunder echoed throughout the house as Ponyville was once more lashed by a ferocious storm. Dewdrop hadn't returned from her trip to the Everfree Forest that evening; there was a part of Twilight that hoped she had run into some of the dangerous wildlife that lived there. It was a cruel thought, and Twilight buried it deep within her mind with a shudder. Twilight's eyes darted about the bathroom. She hadn't noticed earlier, but there didn't seem to be any toiletries belonging to Dewdrop there. Perhaps the annoying blue unicorn had decided to leave already, perhaps... "Hi Twilight!" Dewdrop chirped happily as her head bobbed round the corner. "Hey, you finished with that?" Her horn glowed, and Twilight's toothbrush was levitated out of her grasp and towards Dewdrop, who started to merrily brush her teeth. Twilight's cheeks bulged as she suddenly felt rather sick. Tomorrow she would burn that toothbrush. Right now though, she had to put her gambit into play. She grinned at Dewdrop, who had finished brushing her teeth, and was happily combing her hair with Twilight's comb, whistling happily. "So Dewdrop..." Twilight began with what she hoped was a friendly grin on her face. "You're planning on staying in Ponyville for a while, right?" Dewdrop turned round, wide-eyed. "Oh! That's a great idea, I think I will!" she grinned merrily. "Thanks Twilight!" "I... no, no..." Twilight trailed off in slight confusion. She shook her head and continued. "I mean, you can't stay here forever, can you." Dewdrop stared blankly back, and Twilight pressed the matter. "You need to get your own place." Dewdrop shrugged her shoulders. "I'm okay here thanks" she replied. Twilight stopped to think for a moment. This wasn't going as planned. "But Dewdrop..." she eventually stated. "If you don't have your own place... how could I come round and visit you?" Dewdrop's mouth dropped into an 'o' shape, and she started hopping excitedly about the small bathroom. "Oooh yes, you're right! I need my own place so you can come over and we can have parties together and hang out." Twilight gave Dewdrop a 'friendly' hoof-punch in the shoulder. "Yeah! And you should get a job too, so you can... help out Ponyville more." And, of course, Twilight noted to herself, keep Dewdrop busy and out of her way. Dewdrop seemed very excited by these ideas, and so Twilight left the blue unicorn hopping about in a happy tizzy; returning to her bedroom and making sure to lock the door security. Twilight hadn't needed to use any locks before, but she had bought one especially. Actually, she had bought half a dozen, which were all fixed securely to her door frame to ensure her privacy. She turned around. Someone was in her bed. "Oh. Of course. The window" she glowered, glaring at Dewdrop. Dewdrop peeked out from under the bedcovers, having somehow made it from the bathroom to her room without her seeing, an impressive feat under any other circumstances. Dewdrop nodded to the window. Outside the rain was pouring down, and lightning blazed through the sky. "Storms scare me!" she whispered hoarsely. "Do you mind if I sleep in here." "Fine" Twilight stared back, unbolted the room, and walked out of the door. "Twilight, where're you going?" Dewdrop called back after her a worried tone in her voice. "It's a surprise, Dewdrop. A surprise." Twilight trotted slowly down the stairs. "Don't worry, I'll be back!" Twilight spent the rest of the night lodged in the kitchen cupboard, with a saucepan for a pillow. It was the once place she was sure Dewdrop wouldn't think of looking. *** Twilight rose happily the next morning. Sleeping in the cupboard was probably the best night's sleep she'd had all week, apart from the horrible crick in her neck. Dewdrop was once more nowhere to be seen; according to Spike she'd gone out at the crack of dawn to carry out the mission Twilight had given her. Twilight had promptly sent Spike upstairs to disinfect her room; she still hadn't forgotten about the little dragon's betrayal. Twilight sighed in contentment as she sat down in her favourite chair to read her favourite book. If Dewdrop managed to find a job and a place to live, then she could easily avoid her. Life could get back to normal and she'd never have to see Dewdrop again, barring a few chance meetings in the town square. As if on cue, Dewdrop bounded back into the house, a look of giddy excitement on her face, beaming with pride. "Twilight, Twilight, guess what!" she called out joyfully. "I got myself a job here in Ponyville and a place to stay!" Twilight's reply was for once, genuine. "Dewdrop, I'm so happy for you." A tear of joy fell down Twilight's cheek. "I can get Spike to pack your stuff up for you right now; it's no problem at all. I insist!" She was already starting to push Dewdrop out the door, as Dewdrop continued to speak. "So I thought, how could I get a job that would help Twilight? See back in Canterlot, tales of your love of books had inspired me to take my library exam so I became a fully qualified librarian even though there weren't any library jobs going there, but I talked to Ponyville's Mayor and she said since you weren't a qualified librarian, I could run the town library as long as I was happy for you to live here too, and that's FINE because you're my best friend!" Dewdrop blurted this out breathlessly, and Twilight stopped pushing her, a look of horror and confusion on her face. "What the... what?" Twilight gibbered, twitching, a cold sinking feeling deep within the pit of her stomach. Dewdrop didn't seem to notice anything was wrong, cheerfully revealing a scroll with the official town seal, using her magic to float it over to Twilight and proudly display it. "Now we can work and live together and we'll have such fun!" She clapped her hooves happily. "Maybe we can have a party with all our friends to celebrate!" Twilight's face started to turn red as barely restrained anger steadily built up. "Y-you're letting me live in my own house?" she stammered out. Dewdrop nodded, as if completely missing the tension in Twilight's voice. "Yup! Of course! You're my bestest friend in the entire world!" Twilight's hair had taken on a dishevelled look, her eyes bulged wildly, steam escaped from her ears with the sound of a kettle, and her face flushed bright red with rage as if it was about to pop. "W-wait right there!" she uttered, before racing into the kitchen and slamming the door. There were smashing and crashing and screaming noises for a solid ten minutes. *** That night, Twilight tossed and turned restlessly. Events were spiralling out of control and there was no telling where Dewdrop would stop. Would she be happy with just having Twilight's job and house and friends? Would she want to take over her life completely? Did she - Her thoughts were interrupted by a scraping noise. Twilight looked up to see Dewdrop Dazzle pushing her bed across the landing into Twilight's room, cutting a gouge in the wooden floor as she did so. "I thought I could put my bed in here so we could be roommates!" Dewdrop brightly remarked in the darkness. "I hope you don't mind!" "Sure" Twilight bitterly retorted. "Go ahead. It's your house after all." She pulled the covers over her head and began to plot. Something had to be done to sort out Dewdrop Dazzle, and fast. 3 - Dewdrop Dazzle Must Die!Part Three: Dewdrop Dazzle Must Die! Twilight had woken early the next morning just as the sun was rising. She had managed to sneak out of the house without Dewdrop waking up, or so she had hoped. Ponyville looked beautiful as the sun reflected off the glistening water left from last night's storm, but Twilight had no time to appreciate it. She was on a mission. Carefully making sure she wasn't followed, Twilight had trekked to the far outskirts of Ponyville, to a mountainous, treacherous region just outside of the Whitetail Woods known locally as the 'Rocky Mountains' despite technically being a collection of rocky hills. Ponies generally never ventured this far out - there was nothing interesting for miles save for craggy rocky spires and stony mounds where nothing would grow. It was here that she lifted the spade she had brought and began digging. The ground was hard, and even though Twilight was using her magic to lift the spade, it still took a good few hours until she had dug a decently sized hole. It was deep enough that a unicorn wouldn't be able to use teleportation magic to escape, but not deep enough that they would hurt themselves falling in. Twilight had been feeling slightly guilty as she worked on the hole, and so had tested this last hypothesis out by flinging herself into the hole several times to check that it wasn't too dangerous. The battered purple pony had then hauled herself out using a rope ladder she had brought, and when satisfied at the hole's effectiveness, had used her magic to carefully position twigs and leaves over the top, and then as a finishing touch placing a small paperweight she had taken from home in the very middle. The trap was complete. The construction of the hole had taken nearly all day, it was tiring work and Twilight had half expected Dewdrop Dazzle to pop up behind her at any moment and ask what she was up to. Thankfully this hadn't been the case. The hole was now perfectly disguised, just another part of the rocky landscape. Twilight smiled to herself, and then went home. At least, it would be her home again soon. *** "Hi Twilight!" Dewdrop looked up brightly from her book as Twilight entered the house. Spike was sitting next to Dewdrop, listening to the blue pony intently. "I was just reading Spike a story; do you want to listen too?" Twilight simply continued walking across the room. "No Dewdrop, and I need to talk to Spike. Spike, kitchen, NOW!" she snapped, marching into the kitchen. Spike hung his head with a whine of protest and followed her in, sure that more washing-up related punishment would follow shortly. As Spike entered, Twilight slammed the door shut and rounded on the little dragon. "So Spike!" she said, a bit too loudly. "It turns out that an evil cursed idol is causing all the storms!" Spike stared back, confused. "B-but I thought it was the Pegasus Weather Patrol, Rainbow Dash said they were supposed to-" Twilight continued over Spike, talking very loudly and clearly, just in case anyone was listening in on the other side of the door. "No Spike, it is an EVIL CURSED IDOL doing it. It is just outside the WHITETAIL WOODS, near the ROCKY MOUNTAINS." Spike blinked, looking around in panic. "But that's awful Twilight, we should go and sort it out right now!" Twilight shook her head. "No Spike, I'll do it TOMORROW. TOMORROW I will have an adventure and defeat the idol and be a HERO to all of Ponyville. Not tonight, TOMORROW." Spike was very flustered by this turn of events. Twilight turned to go, opening the door. Dewdrop Dazzle was standing on the other side, a bit too close for comfort. Twilight closed the door quickly and opened it again, and Dewdrop was suddenly back on the other side of the room as if nothing had happened. "Night Dewdrop!" she smiled sweetly. "Are you coming to bed, roomie?" Dewdrop looked up from her book and blinked, shaking her head. "No no Twilight, I thought I'd stay up for a bit." "Good." Twilight gave a grin and climbed the stairs. Outside, the rain was starting to fall again. Another storm was brewing. *** Twilight hadn't gone to sleep of course. She had sat upstairs until she heard the front door slam, and could see Dewdrop Dazzle making her way through the wind and the rain outside, towards Whitetail Woods. There was a part of her that didn't believe she would fall for the bait, but at last things were going her way. She picked up her book and began to read. She'd give it an hour before following to make sure the next part of the plan was successful. *** The wind and rain had really picked up by the time Twilight had decided to venture out after Dewdrop. It had been a struggle to make it through the town of Ponyville, let alone further into the dark, muddy area of the woods. Caked in mud, wet and exhausted, Twilight finally made it to the Rocky Mountains. In the dark, the landscape looked even more oppressive. Tall piles of stone reflected the flash of the lightning bolts as they arced through the sky, the wind howled like a banshee, and the rain pelted down, making the ground slick and slippery. From a distance, Twilight could see that her trap had worked - Dewdrop had obviously been convinced the paperweight was a cursed idol, and tumbled into the hole it was concealing. The covering of leaves and twigs had fallen away; she only hoped that it wasn't a stray animal or curious pony who'd fallen for it first. Gathering up her courage, Twilight moved closer to the hole to peek in. She recoiled in shock. Dewdrop Dazzle's face was a metre from hers, wide-eyed and terrified, soaked through as she hung by her hooves for dear life onto a root that had protruded near the top of the hole. "Twilight!" Dewdrop called up in a panic, a shake in her voice. "The ground just gave way, I-I've been hanging here for ages! I knew you'd save me. Twilight...?" Dewdrop trailed off, quivering slightly as Twilight stood above her motionless, silhouetted in the gloom. A flash of lightning broke across the sky, to reveal Twilight's face for a split second, set in a mask of contempt. "Why Dewdrop" Twilight smiled sweetly with a rictus grin, lowering her head to be closer to the pony struggling in the pit. "So nice of you to hang around for me. I'd help you, but..." she paused, shrugging her shoulders "if you're me, and I'm up here, then you're fine. Nothing to worry about." "B-b-but..." tears started to well in Dewdrop's rain-streaked face as she looked up at Twilight, trembling and struggling for dear life to hold onto the root. "This is tough love, Dewdrop" Twilight snapped down. "You brought this on yourself! I'll come back for you in the morning when you've learnt your lesson. Don't hang around." Twilight's horn glowed, and the root Dewdrop was so desperately hanging on to shrivelled in her grasp. The last Twilight saw was Dewdrop screaming as she vanished into the inky blackness of the pit. Twilight stood there for several moments with just the roar of the storm for company before turning wordlessly and leaving for home. *** Twilight trudged back into her house silently. The initial elation at getting one over on Dewdrop had quickly faded, leaving only a sickly, guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach. There was a voice whispering in her head that she'd gone too far, that Dewdrop hadn't deserved that, but she buried such thoughts. "Hey Twilight!" Spike called happily, a chef's hat on his little head. "Taking a stroll? I thought you were in bed!" He waved a wooden spoon in Twilight's face. "Have you seen Dewdrop, she said she'd bake some cookies with me!" "Dewdrop's popped out Spike." Twilight stared back. "Go to bed." Spike's face fell. "But I was hungry, and she said she'd-" "Spike, go to bed." Twilight was not in a confrontational mood, and she certainly didn't want Spike to make her feel worse than she did already. She'd done the right thing, she knew it. Dewdrop wouldn't take the hint; she had to be taught a lesson. It would all be better in the morning. That night, sleep came harder to Twilight than ever before. Every crash of thunder, every flash of lighting, reminded her of the little blue pony who had looked so confused and hurt, alone in the bottom of that dark hole. That little blue pony who had spent last night whimpering about the storm, even tucked up in the safety of her house. That little blue pony who she last saw vanishing in terror into the black clutches of a pit. "Tough love" she whispered to herself, in her very empty room. "Tough love." *** Twilight rose even earlier the next morning, racing out across the glistening landscape as it recovered from the storm, the rays of the sun breaking over the horizon. Try as she might, she couldn't escape the heavy, gnawing feeling of guilt that had been eating away at her, even though she knew what she had done to Dewdrop was a fraction of what the interloper had done to her. She would haul Dewdrop out of the hole, Dewdrop would be upset but realise how much she'd hurt Twilight, and either leave or tone it down. Everything would go back to normal. Twilight laughed to herself; there was always a chance Dewdrop had somehow escaped from the hole and would be sitting at home cutting out photos of herself to stick in Twilight's photo album or whatever weird stuff she did in her spare time. This thought abuptly died in Twilight's mind as she cleared the wooded area and reached the Rocky Mountains. A sickly feeling bubbled in her stomach and twisted as she surveyed the scene: where rocky hills had once risen like craggy fingers reaching for the sky, there was now nothing. The entire landscape had been blasted flat by the storm; a smooth level plain of rocks was all that remained, stretching as far as the eye could see. Twilight galloped onto the new plain, scrambling about in an attempt to get her bearings. She couldn't even work out where her hole had been, and didn't even want to think about Dewdrop at the bottom when it had all caved in. "Dewdrop!" she cried out wildly. "Dewdrop! Can you hear me?" "Hey Twilight!" Twilight leapt out of her skin, but the initial sense of relief was quickly washed away when she realised it wasn't Dewdrop who had responded, but a blue Pegasus pony, hanging casually upside-down in the air, a hard-hat covering her rainbow mane. "R-rainbow Dash" Twilight gasped to her friend. "What's going on?" Rainbow Dash simply grinned. "Did you see that storm last night? Boom! Crash! Pow! We really went for it this time! Now the Princess gave us that renovation grant, we can get a proper mountain built here, not that rubbish little thing we had!" Twilight's mouth hung open. "R-renovation? But Dewdrop was here last night!" Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous, no pony would be out here, its way too dangerous. Besides, I was telling Dewdrop about our lightning demolitions the other day. She'd have to be crazy to come here." 'But she is crazy!' Twilight's inner voice wailed. But then crazy or not, Dewdrop DID have a good reason for going into danger; she thought she would be saving Ponyville from a terrible, if fake, idol. The colour drained from Twilight's face as she resisted the strong urge to dry heave. She leapt at Rainbow Dash, shaking the Pegasus until her hat fell off. "Dewdrop DID come out here last night, and it's all my fault!" she cried, shaking. "Y-you've got to get help, we have to find her while there's still time!" Rainbow Dash just stared back wide-eyed a she took in what Twilight was saying. "O-okay" she croaked, and in a flash took to the skies to summon aid. Twilight stood there alone, looking out across the wide, lonely plain. And then she did the only thing she could. She started to dig. *** Twilight looked up into the sky as another wave of Pegasus ponies roared overhead. The search and rescue team had been out all morning. In fact, nearly all of Ponyville had turned out to look for Dewdrop but there was just too much ground to search and Twilight had been reluctant to divulge any more information, especially the fact that Dewdrop had been trapped in a hole of Twilight's own devising. Twilight had attempted to retrace her steps, but this had proved impossible given how thoroughly the storm had flattened the land, so she had been left to methodically dig holes at regular intervals in an attempt to get lucky. She was currently at the bottom of her fifth such hole, and was having no luck. "This is impossible!" she sighed as she continued to pick at the rocky earth, her head throbbing and whirling with guilt and self-loathing. She had tried to assure herself with the idea that Dewdrop would be waiting for her at home; that she would look up and Dewdrop would be staring down from the top of the hole Twilight was currently standing in; that everything would work itself out in an hilarious series of misunderstandings and comic pratfalls which they could all laugh about later. Wasn't that how things usually transpired? Such ideas swiftly left with a sickly certainty as Twilight's spade hit something soft amongst the rocks. It was a little blue hoof, battered and bruised. Twilight immediately scrambled into action, digging and pulling and tugging in a desperate attempt to unearth Dewdrop. "HELP!" she called up out of the hole. "SPIKE! RAINBOW! ANYONE! HELP!" But there was no reply forthcoming. With a heave, Twilight pushed a worryingly heavy boulder out of the way, to reveal Dewdrop Dazzle, lying there filthy and tattered, her mane a mess of hair, and her body covered in scratches. There was none of the usual impossible energy about her, she simply lay there a floppy mess, looking up at Twilight. "I knew you'd come!" she croaked out weakly, her little chest struggling to rise and fall. "I knew you'd save me." Twilight panted out, guilt and relief flooding her veins at the sight. "Don't worry Dewdrop!" she fussed, clearing away more rubble. "Everything's going to be okay." As Dewdrop's head lolled to one side and she gave a rasping croak, Twilight froze in panic. Everything wasn't going to be okay. Dewdrop's eyes had closed, she had stopped breathing, and a check of her hoof revealed no pulse. Dewdrop Dazzle was dead. 4 - Ponies Don't Fear The ReaperPart Four: Ponies Don't Fear The Reaper Twilight sat at the bottom of that dark pit cradling Dewdrop's body for what seemed like an eternity, though it couldn't have been longer than a few seconds. She shook constantly, sobbing into Dewdrop's matted, dusty hair. "You stupid, silly pony" she whispered hoarsely to Dewdrop as she held her in her hooves, though she wasn't sure if she'd aimed that at Dewdrop or herself. Her head was awash with angry, guilty thoughts, her stomach was a boiling maelstrom and she wanted to be sick. "There's no such thing as 'evil'" Princess Luna had once told her. "No pony gets up one morning and decides that they're going to go out and do bad things. They do bad things thinking that they're the most reasonable and logical reactions to a situation." Was it true? Had Twilight really gone too far? Was it more than just a terrible accident? Not even Princess Luna in her darkest of hours had ever killed another pony. It was unheard of. Inconceivable. And yet there she was, Princess Celestia's star pupil, the best and brightest of Equestria, holding the body of a pony whose death she had caused. The only sound in that cold, lonely hole was Twilight's ragged sobbing. No pony had seen her; no pony knew she had sent Dewdrop to her death. Twilight could always leave her for somepony else to find. She rolled the thought around in her mind, knowing that there was an alternative. That she could escape this situation, run and hide in her own guilt. "No!" She straightened up, her face set in determination as she laid Dewdrop onto the cold ground. The little pony looked so small and pathetic sprawled out on the ground, her eyes closed, body getting colder by the second. "No!" Twilight shouted again. "This isn't how it's supposed to be! I won't let it!" She leaned over Dewdrop, pressing her hooves against the pony's chest, and pushed hard. Again. "Come on Dewdrop! Don't you dare do this to me!" she hissed as she put all her weight on the pony's ribcage, rhythmically compressing it. Her knowledge of Equestrian first aid was fuzzy at best; she remembered vaguely that a pony could last for up to three and a half minutes without a flow of oxygen. There was still time. There had to be. Dewdrop hadn't moved. She was still cold and unbreathing. Twilight used her hooves to clamp shut Dewdrop's nose and hesitantly pressed her lips against Dewdrop's, breathing in one full breath, before starting compressions again. "Come on! Come on!" she wailed, her face a mixture of despair and resolve. She knew there were medical unicorns in Canterlot who could use magic to restart a pony's heart, but she'd never even thought of taking her studies in that direction. She'd never even passed her basic first aid training. The theory was simple enough, but in practise you were supposed to push down hard on the chest - really hard, and Twilight was uncomfortable enough doing that on the dummies provided, let alone the kiss of life. But there was no-one else, and no matter what she'd done, Dewdrop didn't deserve this. "Hi Twilight, have you - oh, awkward!" Spike's head had popped over the edge of the hole and retreated almost as quickly as soon as he'd seen Twilight giving Dewdrop mouth to mouth. "Spike!" Twilight's head jerked up, her eyes red, her cheeks stained from tears. "Spike, I-I think she's dead. Get help!" Spike froze and scampered off. Twilight was alone again. She crumpled next to Dewdrop, defeated. It was no good, Dewdrop was still lying there lifeless, and it was all her fault. In despair, she pressed her hooves together and, looking up, prayed to the heavens. "Oh Princess Celestia!" she wailed, "I didn't mean for this to happen, please believe me! Please let Dewdrop be okay! I promise to be good to her; I won't get annoyed at her ever again, she can stay as long as she likes, forever!" Twilight sighed and broke off. It was useless. Silence reigned in the pit. Suddenly there was a sharp intake of air and Twilight leapt back, terrified out of her wits. Dewdrop Dazzle sat bolt upright, her hair frazzled in all directions, staring wildly ahead. "WAS SOMEPONY KISSING ME?" she blurted out. Twilight coughed and stared up at the sky. "Uh... backsies?" she offered. *** Twilight Sparkle was a hero. She wasn't a hero of course. All the other ponies were treating her like one, as she hauled Dewdrop out of the hole having saved her life. They didn't know she'd been the one to put it in danger in the first place, and Dewdrop hadn't said a word. She had fallen into a deep sleep as soon as the rescue team arrived. Apparently Pinkie Pie was holding a celebratory party but Twilight had declined to attend. She'd made excuses about needing to make sure Dewdrop was all right, and that was true, but mostly she couldn't face being congratulated for having nearly killed the one pony who trusted and idolised her above all else. Twilight sat next to Dewdrop, who was now sleeping soundly in her bed. Twilight had found a crudely sewn little cuddly toy of Twilight which she'd placed in Dewdrop's hooves as she slept. Normally such a discovery would have crept Twilight out, but right now she was just glad that the little pony was still alive. Nurse Mercy had been round to check on her but she still hadn't woken from her slumber. The house was very quiet. Twilight had a lot of time to think about things. "Twilight?" Dewdrop's eyes were open, and she weakly stared up at Twilight from the bed. "I did it!" she whispered. "I didn't want you to be in danger so I went out and I found that idol and destroyed it, but then I fell into this deep hole!" Her eyes misted over slightly and she choked. "A-and I'm sorry. I was hanging there for ages and I think I started seeing things because I thought you were there pushing me in, but that couldn't be true because you're the nicest, most wonderful pony ever, and I feel awful for thinking that about you even for a second!" Dewdrop looked up at Twilight wide-eyed, and Twilight gave a nervous gulp. "Dewdrop, listen" she softly replied. Dewdrop pressed her head into the warmth of the pillow and continued, now staring up at the ceiling. "It was awful in Canterlot, you know" she spoke out, and Twilight wasn't sure if she was talking to her, or just to herself. "They say it's the place of opportunities, but that isn't always true. I worked copying manuscripts in one of the palace outbuildings. There were hundreds of us, at desks all day every day, just writing down word after word. Then I'd go home and I'd eat and sleep, and then I'd go to work again, then eat and sleep. The same thing, day after day, a grey life in a grey building." Dewdrop let her head flop back towards Twilight, and she could see tears in her eyes. "And one day I read about you. About your life and your friends and your magical adventures. You showed me a different way of living, a better way, and I never said thank you." Twilight just sat in silence, taking this in. It was impossible for her to feel more awful than she did already, but her mind was doing its level best to achieve that. "Dewdrop..." she finally said, simply. "It's good that I inspired you, but you can't live your life trying to be somepony you're not. No pony is perfect." She paused. "Apart from Princess Celestia. But I'm certainly not. I'm insecure, I do stupid things, and I find confrontation hard." Dewdrop looked as if she was about to deny all this, but Twilight continued. "It was me, Dewdrop. I set a trap and made you fall into that hole because it was easier than just confronting you about how uncomfortable you were making me. It was stupid and cowardly of me. You shouldn't be looking up to me, you're a braver and better pony by far, you just need to be yourself." Dewdrop shrunk into the bed, pulling the covers up as she looked at Twilight wide-eyed in shock, her faith shattered at the revelation. "B-but... you're Twilight Sparkle!" she whispered. Twilight hung her head. "Yeah" she said bitterly. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. Just another silly pony. And I let things spiral out of control because I couldn't pluck up the courage just to talk to you. I think I know what my next report to the Princess will be about." She looked over at Dewdrop, who hadn't moved. "And you, Dewdrop?" Dewdrop nodded in a disheartened manner, her eyes cast down. "Yeah Twilight" she replied sadly. "I've learnt a lesson too." Twilight gave Dewdrop a friendly if awkward punch on the shoulder. "Look Dewdrop, I'm really sorry about everything that's happened. If you want to go, I'd understand, but I'd like to get to know the real you too." Dewdrop simply nodded, and turned over to go to sleep. The next day, Dewdrop was gone. All that remained to show that she had even existed was a scruffy, much loved cuddly toy shaped like Twilight Sparkle, tucked up neatly in bed. *** The storm raged over Hoofington, but to the Great and Powerful Trixie who was safe at home practising her magic tricks, the rumble of the thunder sounded like the applause of a grateful crowd. "Yes, yes, I am rather wonderful!" she purred into the mirror, as she levitated a spoon. The thunder tapped in appreciation. Only it wasn't the thunder. Trixie turned in annoyance as the tapping turned into banging, coming from her front door. She threw her mane in disgust. "The Great and Powerful Trixie does not appreciate being disturbed in the middle of her rehearsals!" she announced loudly, even though the room was empty. Angrily, she threw open the door. A streak of lightning arced through the sky, illuminating the form of a blue and pink unicorn, caked in mud and utterly drenched. She was clutching a battered yellow suitcase. "Hello!" chirped Dewdrop Dazzle, already pushing her suitcase past a confused Trixie and into the house. "I'm Dewdrop Dazzle. Can I come in?" Author's NotesI thought I might as well order my author's notes and place them in the stories they refer to, this seems the best way of doing it until Knighty instigates a proper "author's notes" function, hop to it Knighty! Rather terrifyingly it's almost a year since I first wrote this story though it still feels like yesterday, I'm not sure where all the time has gone! The main inspiration of course is the Hasbro Dewdrop Dazzle toy which had just been announced when I wrote it. For some reason, despite literally having all the colour schemes of all the background characters on the show, Hasbro decided that they wanted to realise original toys (thus with zero advertising behind them) and crudely recoloured some of the show artwork for the packaging. Dewdrop was a horrendous teal, yellow and pink Twilight recolour, and was just so bafflingly awful that I felt I had to do something. Anyone who's read any of my Transformer comics know I like to concentrate on the 'underdog' characters because sometimes they can be the most interesting. The story is also very loosely inspired by the Father Ted episode 'Entertaining Father Stone'. Father Ted is an excellent surreal 90's Irish comedy about three priests living on a remote island, and well worth checking out if you've not seen it. In this episode, Father Ted's 'friend' Father Stone turns up to stay. Father Stone is the most boring priest in the world and sucks all the fun out of every room. He sits on the sofa not saying a word for months and months, until Ted prays to God and Father Stone is hit by lightning, causing lots of guilt. In the Father Ted episode though, Father Stone ends up staying with Ted forever (and ever and ever and ever). As you can tell by the description, the link is only very tenuous, but it's there, and there's a little Father Ted reference as a wink at the start, see if you can spot it! Dewdrop Dazzle turns up and immediately Twilight's life starts to fall apart as slowly but surely Dewdrop turns up the crazy meter until she is cutting her hair to match Twilight's, using her toothbrush and taking over the library from under her hooves. All for the best of intentions of course! One thing that annoys me in fiction is when the antagonist doesn't really have any motivations apart from being a jerk. No-one really wakes up and decides to be evil (which is a theme mentioned in this story), people do bad things for good reasons. Dewdrop honestly thinks Twilight is amazing (don't we all) and wants to do everything in her power to emulate her hero. Twilight meanwhile feels threatened by Dewdrop literally taking over her life but rather than being able to come out and say it in a confrontational manner, acts ever more passive-aggressively until tragedy strikes. We all shake our heads, but we've all been there. Dewdrop starts out as very much the antagonist, the 'villain' of the piece. I enjoyed writing her a lot, and found that while I had intended on making fun of her for her 'Hasbro recolour status' I actually ended up liking her. Poor, silly little Dewdrop. At some point in our lives, we've all been Dewdrop - we've got too into something or someone and been completely carried away; we've built someone up to be wonderful and amazing and perfect and then got our hearts crushed when it turns out they're just as fallible as us. Is Dewdrop the villain or the victim of the story? The part which I feel works really well is that the reader is complicit in Twilight's actions. We see the entire story from her point of view: Dewdrop comes into her life, and it is a constant escalation of crazy with only one possible solution! What really interested me was that as I was uploading chapters, on 1 and 2, the comments from people were all full of vitrol for Dewdrop and begging Twilight to 'sort her out' or kill her! When chapter 3 rolled around, the very same people who were really pushing for a sticky end to Dewdrop suddenly found themselves wanting her to be okay. It was like the readers had egged Twilight on until she had gone too far and what happened to Dewdrop was thusly their fault. Originally there was a few days before chapter 3 and 4. While I like the cliff-hanger on 3 (even though it's a bit cheating!) it did lose me a few readers - one person commented on Equestria Daily that they were so mortified at what had happened to Dewdrop that they'd never read another chapter! I wonder if it was all in one chunk they'd have been happier, or does the pause offered by the end of the chapter help what happened to sink in? All I ask of my readers is to trust me as a writer that things will wrap themselves up satisfyingly in the end! What was the lesson in the end? On the surface the lesson is Dewdrop's to learn, even if she doesn't really. She seems to learn the lesson 'don't try to copy Twilight Sparkle' instead of 'don't try to copy everyone else'. Is the lesson Twilight's, as she finds that being non-confrontational actually made things a heck of a lot worse (though by the way she lectures Dewdrop, has she really learnt anything?) Or is the lesson ours, as we (myself included in the experience) learn to not judge a character by their providence, but by what lies deeper. Someone mentioned to me that I 'have created a new subgenre of stories where Twilight gets her life nearly ruined by a possibly evil Mary-Sue'. That's only half true, but if you enjoyed this story, you'll definitely enjoy The Star In Yellow ( http://www.fimfiction.net/story/5713/The-Star-In-Yellow ) So what did you think? Did you enjoy the story, did you think it worked? If you've not commented yet I'd love to hear what you thought, even if it's just a resounding 'meh'. After all, every scrap of feedback helps me improve! In the meantime, here's some art of this story by some fantastic artists! "Twilight's Victory" by Don_Komandorr http://don-komandorr.deviantart.com/art/Twilight-s-victory-207023696 "Twilight's Doppelganger" by Slagmalsklubben http://slagmalsklubben.deviantart.com/art/Twilight-s-Doppelganger-209458227
1 - Strangers in the NightPart One: Strangers in the Night Twilight Sparkle buried her head in her book as she tried to concentrate, shutting out the crashing of the torrential rain and the wailing of the wind outside her house. Try as she might however, she couldn't shut out the wailing that was going on inside. "But Twilight!" Spike moaned, tugging at her shoulder. "You said you'd read me a bedtime ghost story! That was an hour ago!" Twilight rolled her eyes and slammed shut the archaeology textbook she'd been studying. "Fine Spike, fine!" she huffed, trotting over to the pesky dragon and opening the tattered book he had been clutching in his paws. "But if you get scared again, I'm not staying up all night making it better!" Spike frowned. "But Twilight, that WAS a scary story! I mean, it was a VERY hungry caterpillar! The book even had HOLES in it!" He trembled again, eyes darting round the room as if a caterpillar would lurch out of the shadows at him. Twilight gave a long, protracted sigh and shook her head. "That wasn't even supposed to be a scary st-" She trailed off in defeat. "Nevermind. Let's get this over with." She scanned the page, and began: "It was a dark and stormy night. The wind howled like a banshee, and lightning forked in the sky." At that moment, a huge boom of thunder rolled across the sky, and the night was lit up by a crackling of lightning that momentarily illuminated the windswept town of Ponyville outside. Twilight continued unabated: "All the citizens of Trotsdale had barricaded their homes, for there was a MAD MURDERER PONY on the loose." Spike yelped and hid under a table, wide-eyed and shaking. Twilight tutted. "Come on Spike, it's only a story, there's no such thing as 'murder'. You need to learn the difference between make believe and reality." She cleared her throat. "The town library was especially quiet, as Booky McReaderson - ugh, who thinks of these names - tended to her books. Booky hadn't barricaded the library in case a pony wanted a late night book. 'Still, who would be out in this weather', she thought. 'Only a totally crazy pony'. Suddenly there was a knocking at the door!" There was a sharp knocking at the door. Twilight growled as she was interrupted mid-flow. "Spike, quit it with the sound effects!" Spike meanwhile, was still hiding under a table, shaking. Twilight continued, ignoring her friend. "The knocking continued. Booky knew that only a mad mare would be out in the storm, but the code of the librarian forced her to let in any pony who wanted a book! Slowly she walked to the door, and -" There was a sharper knocking at the door. Twilight snapped the book shut. "If you're going to mess about Spike, you're not getting your story!" Spike however, was not messing about. He was tucked in the shadow of the table, pointing to the door. "I-it's not me Twilight. There's... there's someone there!" Twilight frowned, and cautiously walked to the door. "Don't be ridiculous. Who would be out in this sort of weather. Only a - " She was cut off as the sharp thumping on the door continued, and so gathering up her resolve she threw the door open. Standing on the doorstep was a bright blue pony, drenched from head to hoof and caked in mud, her pink mane completely sodden and drooping over her face, a battered yellow suitcase by her feet. "Hello" she said. "I'm Dewdrop Dazzle. Can I come in?" *** Once Twilight had regained her composure and checked that the new arrival wasn't carrying any sharp implements, she invited the poor soaked unicorn in out of the rain. Dewdrop told her how she had been travelling cross country when she found herself stranded in Ponyville in the middle of a torrential storm. Of course, Twilight invited her to stay for the night and had instructed Spike (once she had scraped him out from beneath the table) to show Dewdrop to the spare room and the shower. Twilight settled back down with her book, breathing in happily at the peace and quiet that now reigned, the howling of the storm outside soothing rather than scaring. The only thing out of place was the muddy hoofprints Dewdrop had trampled across the floor. "Spike's going to be busy tomorrow!" Twilight tittered to herself as she returned to the important business of late night studying. This plan was foiled as a clattering commotion echoed from down the stairs. Twilight was just about to admonish Spike for being noisy when the perpetrator came into view. It was Dewdrop Dazzle, now clean and free of mud, her hair carefully dried and hanging in curls about her face. "Hi Twilight!" she smiled as she trotted into the room, looking about carefully as if seeing it for the first time. "Thanks again for letting me stay!" Twilight smiled. "It's no problem, I'd have thought you'd be asleep already though after a day's travelling. And..." She paused, suddenly frowning. "Hey, I didn't tell you my name did I?" Dewdrop smiled brightly. "Oh come on, you're Twilight Sparkle! You're famous! I've heard all about your adventures; that's all the papers in Canterlot are talking about!" Twilight blushed, turning her head and grinning to herself. "Well..." she coughed. "I hardly think I'm much to write about." "Are you KIDDING?" Dewdrop had suddenly become rather more animated and was excitedly dancing about. "You defeated Nightmare Moon! And an Ursa Minor! And a hydra! You've got to tell me all about it!" Twilight slowly closed her book, trying not to feel herself getting too big headed about this attention. "Well, since you're here, I guess a few tales of my adventures before bedtime couldn't hurt..." *** "And what colour were its eyes?" Dewdrop pressed, wide-eyed and riveted to the spot, as she had been for the past four hours. The clock struck 3am. Twilight drooped wearily, propped up against a stool. "I... I really don't know Dewdrop. Does it matter?" At first she had been happy to talk about herself for once; just knowing that she was looked up to in Canterlot had made her burn with pride. As the hours ticked by however, Dewdrop had pressed her for more and more information about even the most banal of incidents until it felt like an interrogation. Dewdrop swivelled the lampshade to shine into Twilight's eyes. "I noticed you were getting sleepy, is this better?" she asked with concern. "So how many feathers did the Cockatrice have?" Twilight blinked once at the flash of light and fell over, her four hooves pointing straight upwards. "Uh, no offense Dewdrop but I think its way past our bedtimes! We can talk again in the morning." "Okay!" Dewdrop smiled cheerfully as she hopped up the stairs after Twilight. Twilight shook her head blearily. At least it was only one night, and she was doing a good deed. She waved goodnight to Dewdrop on the landing and wearily trotted into her room. There was a strange echo. Twilight turned around to switch off the light, to be met face to face with Dewdrop's smiling visage. "Hi!" Dewdrop uttered happily. Twilight blinked. "I'm uh, going to bed Dewdrop, I'll tell you more stories in the morning, I promise." Dewdrop nodded. "I'm going to bed too!" Twilight narrowed her eyes. "This... this is my room. Didn't Spike show you the spare room?" "Oh!" Dewdrop gave a little gasp. "Yes he showed it to me and I thought was very nice. Oh, did you want me to sleep in there? I can move my stuff out of your room if you like!" She motioned to Twilight's bed, which had the contents of Dewdrop's suitcase sprawled out over it as if the suitcase had exploded. "Yes" Twilight intoned through gritted teeth. "Yes, if you would; that would be lovely." Once Dewdrop had removed herself, and her worryingly large array of possessions, Twilight settled down on her bed and finally drifted off to sleep. *** The sun shone down on Ponyville the next morning, the storm of the last night all but forgotten. Twilight was getting none of the benefits of the crisp morning air however, as she sat in her living room, blearily pushing her breakfast around her plate. Bags hung under her eyes from lack of sleep; her plans for a morning lie-in had been thwarted by the incessant sounds of Dewdrop Dazzle clattering around downstairs, and she had resolved to be up and awake to ensure the strange blue unicorn wasn't trying to burn down her house. Dewdrop meanwhile, was surprisingly lively, as if permanently energised. She bounced around the room, clearing up stray books much to Twilight's protestations. "So, you'll be leaving bright and early I take it?" Twilight hinted heavily, eager to get back to sleep. "No no, I'm good!" Dewdrop trilled back as she tried to helpfully push an old, expensive and fragile tome into a space in which it couldn't possibly fit. Twilight's right eye twitched. "Well, I'm sure you've got a long journey ahead of you to... wherever it was you were heading to..." "Yeah yeah!" Dewdrop said, a bit too quickly. "It can wait, Ponyville's great after all! And I get to spend time with you, Twilight! My hero!" "Good" Twilight slowly retorted as she tried to bury her head in her book and pretend the blue unicorn didn't exist. She had a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that perhaps Dewdrop hadn't been heading anywhere else; that perhaps Twilight's house had been her ultimate destination. But perhaps that was paranoia. Perhaps - "What're we reading?" Twilight nearly jumped into the air in fright as Dewdrop's head scooted into view right next to her own, staring intently at the book. Twilight twitched again. "I am reading a technical book on ancient Equestrian archaeology, you wouldn't find it interesting." Dewdrop clapped her front hooves together in joy. "Oh no, I love studying!" With that, she settled down next to Twilight, peering over her shoulder intently at the pages. Twilight's brow creased, unsettled at this new development. "You know..." she said after an awkward silence. "I might leave you with that and read a different book." She stood up to leave Dewdrop to her reading, and trotted over to the nearest shelf. She turned around. Dewdrop was standing behind her, smiling innocently. "What're we reading next?" Dewdrop chirped happily. Twilight attempted to glare Dewdrop into submission, but the pink and blue unicorn just stood there vacantly, eagerly awaiting whatever book Twilight was about to pull out. "Look Dewdrop..." Twilight started. "If you want to help me, we need some more eggs. Could you fetch some from the shops?" 'Before I do something I'll regret' she added to herself mentally. Dewdrop leaped into the air in glee at being given a mission by Twilight. "Of course Twilight, I won't fail you! Don't worry, I have a map of Ponyville that I made!" In a hyperactive rush, Dewdrop raced upstairs, and then galloped outside, a crumpled, hoof-drawn map of Ponyville in tow. Twilight sighed heavily as peace and quiet returned. "She's got... a map..." she mumbled to herself darkly, trying to shake the thoughts from her head as she settled back with her book once more. Now she could forget about Dewdrop and get back to studying. "Dewdrop Dazzle is GREAT!" Spike sauntered into the room cheerfully. "She's cleaned the whole kitchen; that was my morning chore! Now it's SPIKE TIME!" "That's lovely Spike" Twilight snapped back. "Now go clean the kitchen again." As the little dragon's head fell and he trooped into the kitchen, Twilight let out an exasperated gasp as she was once more left in peace, turned the page of her book, and began to read. *** "Ugh" Twilight slowly lifted her head and peeled her mouth off the page of the book where her drool had formed a sticky barrier. Obviously the late night had taken more of a toll than she had realised. The warm glow of the sun was filtering through the windows, a cursory check of the position of the sun indicated that it was midday; she hadn't slept too long. More importantly, Dewdrop Dazzle was nowhere to be seen. Twilight rose shakily to her hooves. "Spike, I'm awake!" she called, blearily shaking her face to get the last vestiges of sleep from her head. She patted down her hair and rubbed her eyes, trotting to a full length mirror to make sure she was presentable. As Twilight's sleep addled mind tried to adjust, she stared at herself in the mirror. Her reflection stared back at her. Thoughts congealed in her head as her brain struggled to return to 'wakefulness' mode. Something was wrong. Suddenly it hit her. She didn't own a full-length mirror. And her 'reflection' was blue and pink. "Hello!" said Dewdrop Dazzle, unblinkingly, a look of happiness on her face. "I went into town and got my hair cut so now it looks like yours, isn't that great!" She clapped her hooves together in excitement. "You... what..." Twilight stared at Dewdrop. The unicorn's hair was not only in an unerringly similar style to Twilight's, but there was a yellow stripe now dyed in it, in imitation of Twilight's own stripe. Dewdrop was now an accurate if garishly coloured copy of Twilight. "It's a shame you couldn't dye yourself purple" Twilight retorted, half joking, still reeling from the shock of Dewdrop's haircut. Dewdrop however, wasn't joking. "I know!" she said sadly. "They had run out of purple dye. But don't worry, I ordered some!" She happily bounced about the room, circling Twilight. "So best buddy, what are we doing today? Are we going on an adventure?" Twilight paused, staring at Dewdrop, mentally restraining herself from doing something unspeakably terrible to the annoying interloper. "You can go on an adventure, I'm going to bed. I'm feeling quite ill" she lied, her horn sparking into life to make her book levitate after her, turning to ascend the stairs. Dewdrop's face fell into one of honest worry. "Oh no Twilight, are you okay? Do you need anything? Shall I nurse you back to health?" "No. No. NO!" Twilight almost shouted back. "Don't worry about me, I need to be left alone to get better. You go off and have as many adventures as you like. I'll be fine." Dewdrop trotted about in a circle, slightly worried and confused as she stared after the retreating Twilight. "Okay!" she called. "Please be okay Twilight; if you need anything, just call!" After a while, she slowly sat down and began leafing through a book that Twilight had discarded earlier in the day. There was a knock at the door. Dewdrop looked about, and seeing that she was the only pony about, trotted to the door and opened it. A bundle of pink rolled into the house. "Hi Twilight!" Pinkie Pie chirped happily from beneath a bob of tangled pink hair. "I like your new look!" Dewdrop blushed. "I'm not Twilight, Pinkie, I'm Dewdrop Dazzle! I'm Twilight Sparkle's best friend, and she's letting me live her with her!" Pinkie Pie leapt to her feet. "That's great! New friends are always great, we should have a party for you!" Pinkie's expression suddenly changed and she leaned into Dewdrop's face, staring at her. "Wait a minute, I didn't tell you my name. Are you psychic?" Dewdrop giggled and shook her head. "No no, I've read all about Twilight's adventures, the stories always talk about her friends! I feel like I know you all already!" Pinkie gave a sigh of relief. "Whew! It's good you're not psychic or I'd have to be thinking of a brick wall all day!" She hopped into the front room, peering around. "Is Twilight about? There's a yeti on the loose which needs dealing with! Everyone else is waiting for her!" Dewdrop perked up even more than she was, which was quite a feat. "An adventure?" she gasped. Her face fell. "Twilight said she's feeling ill. But she said it was okay if I went on adventures; I can take her place!" Pinkie skipped happily towards the door. "Great! There's no time to lose, don't dawdle then!" And with that, the two were off. *** Twilight sighed in contentment. The moment she had heard the front door slam, she had cautiously made her way downstairs, calling out to a confused Spike to make sure that the coast was clear. She had then spent a rather relaxing afternoon catching up on her important reading. "This is so much better!" she sighed to Spike. "Peace and quiet." The front door crashed open. She had spoken too soon. In trotted not just Dewdrop Dazzle, but Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and all her other friends. All laughing and joking and cheering as if they'd known Dewdrop for years. "Twilight, Twilight!" Dewdrop hopped happily over to her purple friend. "We had an adventure! It was amazing!" Twilight stared at her friends, putting down her book. "You... you had an adventure without me?" she stuttered. Pinkie Pie tilted her head. "Of course, you were ill, silly! But don't worry, we had Dewdrop Dazzle! She is just as good as you!" "She was amazing!" Rainbow Dash shot into the air, almost hitting the ceiling. "She used her magic on the yeti, and then we were in a tricky situation and she got the answer from a book, and then she sung a song!" The other ponies nodded their appreciation. Dewdrop Dazzle just beamed proudly. "That's wonderful" Twilight retorted coldly. "I'm so glad you didn't need me at all, now that you have my double." Any sarcasm was lost as Dewdrop hopped happily about the room. "Thanks Twilight, that means so much coming from you! We have the same interests, isn't it great that we have the same friends now too!" Pinkie Pie scooted up to Twilight. "I think this calls for a party!"she cheered. Balloons floated up from behind her, as if by magic. And as if by magic, the balloons popped one by one, Twilight's horn glowing sneakily. "Oops" Twilight deadpanned back. "I guess that means the party's off. Early nights for all!" "Hey, digging the new look Dewdrop!" Spike had wandered into the room, seeing Dewdrop's haircut for the first time. Dewdrop beamed with happiness at this statement. "Thanks Spike, my little dragon friend!" she replied. "My little dragon friend" Twilight hissed under her breath. She glanced about at her friends; none of them seemed to think anything was amiss. In fact, it seemed as if they'd forgotten she existed. Twilight rose to her feet and slammed her book shut. When no-one noticed, she opened it, and slammed it shut again. "I'm suddenly relapsing, I think I need an early night." Dewdrop blinked as Twilight departed, and looked over at her new friends. "We can still have a party, right?" she asked hopefully. "I've read all about Pinkie Parties, they sound the best!" That night, Twilight tossed and turned, unable to sleep as her house vibrated to the noise of a boisterous party in full swing. She covered her head with her pillow to block out the noise. At least Dewdrop wouldn't stay for long, she reasoned. She'd soon get bored and find some other pony to latch onto...
2 - The Sincerest Form of Flattery2 - The Sincerest Form of Flattery Part Two: The Sincerest Form of Flattery Much to Twilight's chagrin, Dewdrop Dazzle was not gone the next day. Nor the next. Not even the next. The new arrival had divided her time between constantly following Twilight about with a constant barrage of questions; and vanishing off into Ponyville without a word. Despite the peace and quiet, Twilight had found Dewdrop's absences to be even more worrying than when she was hanging about the house. This was one such moment. Dewdrop had skipped out of the house at the earliest possible moment, not that Twilight had complained. However, the thought of what the strange blue pony could be up to had been gnawing away at Twilight's mind, and so she eventually decided to venture into the town to track down her 'guest'. The sky was still littered with grey clouds, but patches of blue was breaking through, and the air was fresh and crisp as Twilight wandered through Ponyville. Dewdrop was nowhere to be found. Perhaps she - "Howdy Twilight!" Twilight gave a smile as she saw one of her actual friends. "Applejack, hey!" She galloped happily up to the orange pony. "How are you? Don't worry, I've not forgotten I was going to help you with the apple bucking this week! It's just been busy busy back at mine!" "Ah..." Applejack pulled a face and glanced away. "Don't worry Twilight, it's all done now. There's always next time though!" "Oh." Twilight's face drooped. Though apple bucking was hard work, she did always enjoy helping out her friends. "I suppose Rainbow Dash dropped in to do it? I did mean to I promise..." She trailed off, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as Applejack replied. "No, your friend Dewdrop Dazzle popped by yesterday. She was great, managed to pick way more apples than I could'a managed! Hope you don't mind!" "Of course I don't mind!" lied Twilight. "Why would I mind, it's your orchard, it's all in a good cause! Besides, it's for the best, I've got a lot on this week! I promised Cheerilee I'd teach a class on magic at the schoolhouse some time!" "Well that's mighty odd!" Applejack retorted. "Apple Bloom said they'd had a class on magic just the other day. I guess they're really pushing that curriculum, eh?" Twilight's eyes narrowed into slits, glaring at Applejack as if this was her fault. "I don't suppose a certain pink and blue unicorn was teaching it?" she hissed. Applejack seemed to miss any malice in Twilight's voice, and just nodded brightly. "Yup! Your friend is certainly turning out to be quite helpful about town! She's a goon 'un!" Twilight stomped the ground with a hoof, feeling the twitching in her eye returning. "But... but that was MY class!" she hissed. "I was supposed to do that, she's copying me!" Applejack gave a look of concern as Twilight became more and more agitated. "Now sugarcube, don't be getting' all jealous an' all, it's good to have friends with similar interests!" But it was no use. Twilight had already turned to gallop off. She had to find out what else Dewdrop Dazzle had been getting up to. *** "But Spike, I'm me! I've put a lot of work into being me!" Twilight sat angrily glowering in her front room, staring at her little friend who didn't seem to realise the gravity of the situation. She had spent the remainder of the day racing around Ponyville, to discover that Dewdrop Dazzle had somehow already completed every single task she was about to carry out. "She took my place helping out Rarity with her dress making, she'd already helped Fluttershy to feed all the rabbits before I arrived, and she's been reading you bedtime stories!" This last sentence was said with a slight hiss at Spike, as if 'bedtime stories' rhymed with 'traitor'. Spike sighed heavily. "You're being ridiculous Twilight. She's just being friendly. Besides, you hate reading me stories!" Twilight huffed. "That's beside the point Spike, it's still what I do! She's trying to take over, why can't anyone see it but me? It's not right!" Paranoid thoughts started to swirl in her mind. "And how does she know what I'm planning? She's got to be spying on me! How else could she know?" Spike shook his head admonishingly. "You could just talk to her you know, rather than being all passive-aggressive about it. Perhaps she doesn't realise what she's doing?" "Oh, she knows!" Twilight hissed. "And I'm not being passive-aggressive! Now help me with this!" Twilight motioned to the front door, which was covered in planks of wood which were haphazardly nailed across it. With a few knocks of her hammer, she fixed the final bar in place. "Let's see DewDRIP DRIZZLE get in now!" Twilight rubbed her hooves together, a wicked grin on her face. "Hello Twilight!" said Dewdrop Dazzle, clambering in through the window, smiling happily as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "Hello Dewdrop," Twilight growled darkly, "wonderful to see you." Dewdrop simply nodded brightly. "Thanks! I've had a wonderful day with all my Ponyville friends, and I'm just off to see Zecora to get some tea! Did you want anything?" Twilight looked as if she was about to leap at Dewdrop. Luckily Spike had grabbed her hooves to restrain the tetchy unicorn. "No, I'm good thanks" she snapped, struggling in Spike's grip. "Good luck, be careful of the Everfree forest, it's very dang-." She paused. "No, wait, scratch that." "Twilight!" Spike gave a disappointed cry at his friend, before calling after Dewdrop. "Look after yourself Dewdrop!" But Dewdrop had already scrambled out of the window. Twilight was already inspecting the window. "We could bar the window, and... no; she'd find a way through. She could tunnel in! Spike, fetch me some concrete!" Spike shook his head. "No!" he said in the most rebellious tone he could muster. "Twilight, you're getting carried away again. She just wants to be your friend; besides, ponies are allowed to have friends that aren't you!" "Yes, yes, you're right!" Twilight had stopped trying to work out ways to barricade the house, and was now pacing up and down. "It's just... it feels like she's trying to take over! I like being me, I don't want someone else to be me! And I'm spending so much time worrying about it that I'm falling behind on my work, I've not even sent a friendship report to Princess Celestia in over a week! I hope I won't get in trouble." "Eh-heh." Spike coughed at this, scratching the back of his neck, eyes darting about the room, trying to look anywhere but at Twilight. Twilight stared at Spike. "Spike? What's the matter?" "Nothing!" Spike blurted out. "Nothing's the matter, it's all fine!" At that very moment, fate took an inopportune hand in events, and Spike found himself belching out a plume of green magical flame. A scroll with the royal seal appeared from the ether, but before Spike's little hands could grab it, Twilight used her magic to snatch it away. She looked at the scroll in concern. "It's from the Princess!" she gasped, opening it. "I bet she's wondering why my report is delayed! I'll have to get working right away..." She trailed off as she began to read, a horrible, cold sinking feeling in her belly. My faithful student, I must admit that I feared you had been neglecting your studies; that your latest reports had lacked the insight and depth to which I had become accustomed to. I was worried you would not reach the heights of your potential. I must apologise profusely for these thoughts. The report you sent last night was so rich and deep in its insight about the nature of friendship that I was taken aback. It is truly gratifying that your studies have at last borne fruit, and I look forward to hearing more in the coming weeks. Your devoted teacher, Princess Celestia Twilight stared at the letter for what seemed to be an eternity. She rolled around the words in her head. "Last night..." she muttered, and then her gaze snapped up at Spike, who was cowering in the corner, arms splayed in front of his face as if to protect himself. "Spike..." she growled, steam starting to rise from her ears. "Spike... would you care to explain?" Spike coughed. "It's like this Twilight..." He trailed off as he ran as fast as he could for the door. Unfortunately the door was still nailed shut, and he slammed into it, falling back in a giddy heap. He started to fidget wildly and then blurted out breathlessly: "Uh, I mentioned to Dewdrop you'd been having trouble thinking of a new report to send to the Princess, so she wrote one, it was really good and I didn't think you'd mind, and I'll go stand in the kitchen now!" Spike hung his head and trooped to the kitchen to stare at the sink for another hour, leaving Twilight alone and fuming. Twilight just stood there, before sending a bolt of magic to combust the letter. "No! No! NO! That's MY job!" she shouted to the skies. "I'M the Princess's student, not her!" Eventually, she settled down to spend the evening in a sulk, her thoughts full of a certain blue pony, and the ways in which she could get rid of her. Eventually, an idea surfaced. *** Twilight stood in the bathroom brushing her teeth and staring at her reflection in the mirror. It was definitely her own reflection this time, she had checked. The rumble of thunder echoed throughout the house as Ponyville was once more lashed by a ferocious storm. Dewdrop hadn't returned from her trip to the Everfree Forest that evening; there was a part of Twilight that hoped she had run into some of the dangerous wildlife that lived there. It was a cruel thought, and Twilight buried it deep within her mind with a shudder. Twilight's eyes darted about the bathroom. She hadn't noticed earlier, but there didn't seem to be any toiletries belonging to Dewdrop there. Perhaps the annoying blue unicorn had decided to leave already, perhaps... "Hi Twilight!" Dewdrop chirped happily as her head bobbed round the corner. "Hey, you finished with that?" Her horn glowed, and Twilight's toothbrush was levitated out of her grasp and towards Dewdrop, who started to merrily brush her teeth. Twilight's cheeks bulged as she suddenly felt rather sick. Tomorrow she would burn that toothbrush. Right now though, she had to put her gambit into play. She grinned at Dewdrop, who had finished brushing her teeth, and was happily combing her hair with Twilight's comb, whistling happily. "So Dewdrop..." Twilight began with what she hoped was a friendly grin on her face. "You're planning on staying in Ponyville for a while, right?" Dewdrop turned round, wide-eyed. "Oh! That's a great idea, I think I will!" she grinned merrily. "Thanks Twilight!" "I... no, no..." Twilight trailed off in slight confusion. She shook her head and continued. "I mean, you can't stay here forever, can you." Dewdrop stared blankly back, and Twilight pressed the matter. "You need to get your own place." Dewdrop shrugged her shoulders. "I'm okay here thanks" she replied. Twilight stopped to think for a moment. This wasn't going as planned. "But Dewdrop..." she eventually stated. "If you don't have your own place... how could I come round and visit you?" Dewdrop's mouth dropped into an 'o' shape, and she started hopping excitedly about the small bathroom. "Oooh yes, you're right! I need my own place so you can come over and we can have parties together and hang out." Twilight gave Dewdrop a 'friendly' hoof-punch in the shoulder. "Yeah! And you should get a job too, so you can... help out Ponyville more." And, of course, Twilight noted to herself, keep Dewdrop busy and out of her way. Dewdrop seemed very excited by these ideas, and so Twilight left the blue unicorn hopping about in a happy tizzy; returning to her bedroom and making sure to lock the door security. Twilight hadn't needed to use any locks before, but she had bought one especially. Actually, she had bought half a dozen, which were all fixed securely to her door frame to ensure her privacy. She turned around. Someone was in her bed. "Oh. Of course. The window" she glowered, glaring at Dewdrop. Dewdrop peeked out from under the bedcovers, having somehow made it from the bathroom to her room without her seeing, an impressive feat under any other circumstances. Dewdrop nodded to the window. Outside the rain was pouring down, and lightning blazed through the sky. "Storms scare me!" she whispered hoarsely. "Do you mind if I sleep in here." "Fine" Twilight stared back, unbolted the room, and walked out of the door. "Twilight, where're you going?" Dewdrop called back after her a worried tone in her voice. "It's a surprise, Dewdrop. A surprise." Twilight trotted slowly down the stairs. "Don't worry, I'll be back!" Twilight spent the rest of the night lodged in the kitchen cupboard, with a saucepan for a pillow. It was the once place she was sure Dewdrop wouldn't think of looking. *** Twilight rose happily the next morning. Sleeping in the cupboard was probably the best night's sleep she'd had all week, apart from the horrible crick in her neck. Dewdrop was once more nowhere to be seen; according to Spike she'd gone out at the crack of dawn to carry out the mission Twilight had given her. Twilight had promptly sent Spike upstairs to disinfect her room; she still hadn't forgotten about the little dragon's betrayal. Twilight sighed in contentment as she sat down in her favourite chair to read her favourite book. If Dewdrop managed to find a job and a place to live, then she could easily avoid her. Life could get back to normal and she'd never have to see Dewdrop again, barring a few chance meetings in the town square. As if on cue, Dewdrop bounded back into the house, a look of giddy excitement on her face, beaming with pride. "Twilight, Twilight, guess what!" she called out joyfully. "I got myself a job here in Ponyville and a place to stay!" Twilight's reply was for once, genuine. "Dewdrop, I'm so happy for you." A tear of joy fell down Twilight's cheek. "I can get Spike to pack your stuff up for you right now; it's no problem at all. I insist!" She was already starting to push Dewdrop out the door, as Dewdrop continued to speak. "So I thought, how could I get a job that would help Twilight? See back in Canterlot, tales of your love of books had inspired me to take my library exam so I became a fully qualified librarian even though there weren't any library jobs going there, but I talked to Ponyville's Mayor and she said since you weren't a qualified librarian, I could run the town library as long as I was happy for you to live here too, and that's FINE because you're my best friend!" Dewdrop blurted this out breathlessly, and Twilight stopped pushing her, a look of horror and confusion on her face. "What the... what?" Twilight gibbered, twitching, a cold sinking feeling deep within the pit of her stomach. Dewdrop didn't seem to notice anything was wrong, cheerfully revealing a scroll with the official town seal, using her magic to float it over to Twilight and proudly display it. "Now we can work and live together and we'll have such fun!" She clapped her hooves happily. "Maybe we can have a party with all our friends to celebrate!" Twilight's face started to turn red as barely restrained anger steadily built up. "Y-you're letting me live in my own house?" she stammered out. Dewdrop nodded, as if completely missing the tension in Twilight's voice. "Yup! Of course! You're my bestest friend in the entire world!" Twilight's hair had taken on a dishevelled look, her eyes bulged wildly, steam escaped from her ears with the sound of a kettle, and her face flushed bright red with rage as if it was about to pop. "W-wait right there!" she uttered, before racing into the kitchen and slamming the door. There were smashing and crashing and screaming noises for a solid ten minutes. *** That night, Twilight tossed and turned restlessly. Events were spiralling out of control and there was no telling where Dewdrop would stop. Would she be happy with just having Twilight's job and house and friends? Would she want to take over her life completely? Did she - Her thoughts were interrupted by a scraping noise. Twilight looked up to see Dewdrop Dazzle pushing her bed across the landing into Twilight's room, cutting a gouge in the wooden floor as she did so. "I thought I could put my bed in here so we could be roommates!" Dewdrop brightly remarked in the darkness. "I hope you don't mind!" "Sure" Twilight bitterly retorted. "Go ahead. It's your house after all." She pulled the covers over her head and began to plot. Something had to be done to sort out Dewdrop Dazzle, and fast.
3 - Dewdrop Dazzle Must Die!Part Three: Dewdrop Dazzle Must Die! Twilight had woken early the next morning just as the sun was rising. She had managed to sneak out of the house without Dewdrop waking up, or so she had hoped. Ponyville looked beautiful as the sun reflected off the glistening water left from last night's storm, but Twilight had no time to appreciate it. She was on a mission. Carefully making sure she wasn't followed, Twilight had trekked to the far outskirts of Ponyville, to a mountainous, treacherous region just outside of the Whitetail Woods known locally as the 'Rocky Mountains' despite technically being a collection of rocky hills. Ponies generally never ventured this far out - there was nothing interesting for miles save for craggy rocky spires and stony mounds where nothing would grow. It was here that she lifted the spade she had brought and began digging. The ground was hard, and even though Twilight was using her magic to lift the spade, it still took a good few hours until she had dug a decently sized hole. It was deep enough that a unicorn wouldn't be able to use teleportation magic to escape, but not deep enough that they would hurt themselves falling in. Twilight had been feeling slightly guilty as she worked on the hole, and so had tested this last hypothesis out by flinging herself into the hole several times to check that it wasn't too dangerous. The battered purple pony had then hauled herself out using a rope ladder she had brought, and when satisfied at the hole's effectiveness, had used her magic to carefully position twigs and leaves over the top, and then as a finishing touch placing a small paperweight she had taken from home in the very middle. The trap was complete. The construction of the hole had taken nearly all day, it was tiring work and Twilight had half expected Dewdrop Dazzle to pop up behind her at any moment and ask what she was up to. Thankfully this hadn't been the case. The hole was now perfectly disguised, just another part of the rocky landscape. Twilight smiled to herself, and then went home. At least, it would be her home again soon. *** "Hi Twilight!" Dewdrop looked up brightly from her book as Twilight entered the house. Spike was sitting next to Dewdrop, listening to the blue pony intently. "I was just reading Spike a story; do you want to listen too?" Twilight simply continued walking across the room. "No Dewdrop, and I need to talk to Spike. Spike, kitchen, NOW!" she snapped, marching into the kitchen. Spike hung his head with a whine of protest and followed her in, sure that more washing-up related punishment would follow shortly. As Spike entered, Twilight slammed the door shut and rounded on the little dragon. "So Spike!" she said, a bit too loudly. "It turns out that an evil cursed idol is causing all the storms!" Spike stared back, confused. "B-but I thought it was the Pegasus Weather Patrol, Rainbow Dash said they were supposed to-" Twilight continued over Spike, talking very loudly and clearly, just in case anyone was listening in on the other side of the door. "No Spike, it is an EVIL CURSED IDOL doing it. It is just outside the WHITETAIL WOODS, near the ROCKY MOUNTAINS." Spike blinked, looking around in panic. "But that's awful Twilight, we should go and sort it out right now!" Twilight shook her head. "No Spike, I'll do it TOMORROW. TOMORROW I will have an adventure and defeat the idol and be a HERO to all of Ponyville. Not tonight, TOMORROW." Spike was very flustered by this turn of events. Twilight turned to go, opening the door. Dewdrop Dazzle was standing on the other side, a bit too close for comfort. Twilight closed the door quickly and opened it again, and Dewdrop was suddenly back on the other side of the room as if nothing had happened. "Night Dewdrop!" she smiled sweetly. "Are you coming to bed, roomie?" Dewdrop looked up from her book and blinked, shaking her head. "No no Twilight, I thought I'd stay up for a bit." "Good." Twilight gave a grin and climbed the stairs. Outside, the rain was starting to fall again. Another storm was brewing. *** Twilight hadn't gone to sleep of course. She had sat upstairs until she heard the front door slam, and could see Dewdrop Dazzle making her way through the wind and the rain outside, towards Whitetail Woods. There was a part of her that didn't believe she would fall for the bait, but at last things were going her way. She picked up her book and began to read. She'd give it an hour before following to make sure the next part of the plan was successful. *** The wind and rain had really picked up by the time Twilight had decided to venture out after Dewdrop. It had been a struggle to make it through the town of Ponyville, let alone further into the dark, muddy area of the woods. Caked in mud, wet and exhausted, Twilight finally made it to the Rocky Mountains. In the dark, the landscape looked even more oppressive. Tall piles of stone reflected the flash of the lightning bolts as they arced through the sky, the wind howled like a banshee, and the rain pelted down, making the ground slick and slippery. From a distance, Twilight could see that her trap had worked - Dewdrop had obviously been convinced the paperweight was a cursed idol, and tumbled into the hole it was concealing. The covering of leaves and twigs had fallen away; she only hoped that it wasn't a stray animal or curious pony who'd fallen for it first. Gathering up her courage, Twilight moved closer to the hole to peek in. She recoiled in shock. Dewdrop Dazzle's face was a metre from hers, wide-eyed and terrified, soaked through as she hung by her hooves for dear life onto a root that had protruded near the top of the hole. "Twilight!" Dewdrop called up in a panic, a shake in her voice. "The ground just gave way, I-I've been hanging here for ages! I knew you'd save me. Twilight...?" Dewdrop trailed off, quivering slightly as Twilight stood above her motionless, silhouetted in the gloom. A flash of lightning broke across the sky, to reveal Twilight's face for a split second, set in a mask of contempt. "Why Dewdrop" Twilight smiled sweetly with a rictus grin, lowering her head to be closer to the pony struggling in the pit. "So nice of you to hang around for me. I'd help you, but..." she paused, shrugging her shoulders "if you're me, and I'm up here, then you're fine. Nothing to worry about." "B-b-but..." tears started to well in Dewdrop's rain-streaked face as she looked up at Twilight, trembling and struggling for dear life to hold onto the root. "This is tough love, Dewdrop" Twilight snapped down. "You brought this on yourself! I'll come back for you in the morning when you've learnt your lesson. Don't hang around." Twilight's horn glowed, and the root Dewdrop was so desperately hanging on to shrivelled in her grasp. The last Twilight saw was Dewdrop screaming as she vanished into the inky blackness of the pit. Twilight stood there for several moments with just the roar of the storm for company before turning wordlessly and leaving for home. *** Twilight trudged back into her house silently. The initial elation at getting one over on Dewdrop had quickly faded, leaving only a sickly, guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach. There was a voice whispering in her head that she'd gone too far, that Dewdrop hadn't deserved that, but she buried such thoughts. "Hey Twilight!" Spike called happily, a chef's hat on his little head. "Taking a stroll? I thought you were in bed!" He waved a wooden spoon in Twilight's face. "Have you seen Dewdrop, she said she'd bake some cookies with me!" "Dewdrop's popped out Spike." Twilight stared back. "Go to bed." Spike's face fell. "But I was hungry, and she said she'd-" "Spike, go to bed." Twilight was not in a confrontational mood, and she certainly didn't want Spike to make her feel worse than she did already. She'd done the right thing, she knew it. Dewdrop wouldn't take the hint; she had to be taught a lesson. It would all be better in the morning. That night, sleep came harder to Twilight than ever before. Every crash of thunder, every flash of lighting, reminded her of the little blue pony who had looked so confused and hurt, alone in the bottom of that dark hole. That little blue pony who had spent last night whimpering about the storm, even tucked up in the safety of her house. That little blue pony who she last saw vanishing in terror into the black clutches of a pit. "Tough love" she whispered to herself, in her very empty room. "Tough love." *** Twilight rose even earlier the next morning, racing out across the glistening landscape as it recovered from the storm, the rays of the sun breaking over the horizon. Try as she might, she couldn't escape the heavy, gnawing feeling of guilt that had been eating away at her, even though she knew what she had done to Dewdrop was a fraction of what the interloper had done to her. She would haul Dewdrop out of the hole, Dewdrop would be upset but realise how much she'd hurt Twilight, and either leave or tone it down. Everything would go back to normal. Twilight laughed to herself; there was always a chance Dewdrop had somehow escaped from the hole and would be sitting at home cutting out photos of herself to stick in Twilight's photo album or whatever weird stuff she did in her spare time. This thought abuptly died in Twilight's mind as she cleared the wooded area and reached the Rocky Mountains. A sickly feeling bubbled in her stomach and twisted as she surveyed the scene: where rocky hills had once risen like craggy fingers reaching for the sky, there was now nothing. The entire landscape had been blasted flat by the storm; a smooth level plain of rocks was all that remained, stretching as far as the eye could see. Twilight galloped onto the new plain, scrambling about in an attempt to get her bearings. She couldn't even work out where her hole had been, and didn't even want to think about Dewdrop at the bottom when it had all caved in. "Dewdrop!" she cried out wildly. "Dewdrop! Can you hear me?" "Hey Twilight!" Twilight leapt out of her skin, but the initial sense of relief was quickly washed away when she realised it wasn't Dewdrop who had responded, but a blue Pegasus pony, hanging casually upside-down in the air, a hard-hat covering her rainbow mane. "R-rainbow Dash" Twilight gasped to her friend. "What's going on?" Rainbow Dash simply grinned. "Did you see that storm last night? Boom! Crash! Pow! We really went for it this time! Now the Princess gave us that renovation grant, we can get a proper mountain built here, not that rubbish little thing we had!" Twilight's mouth hung open. "R-renovation? But Dewdrop was here last night!" Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous, no pony would be out here, its way too dangerous. Besides, I was telling Dewdrop about our lightning demolitions the other day. She'd have to be crazy to come here." 'But she is crazy!' Twilight's inner voice wailed. But then crazy or not, Dewdrop DID have a good reason for going into danger; she thought she would be saving Ponyville from a terrible, if fake, idol. The colour drained from Twilight's face as she resisted the strong urge to dry heave. She leapt at Rainbow Dash, shaking the Pegasus until her hat fell off. "Dewdrop DID come out here last night, and it's all my fault!" she cried, shaking. "Y-you've got to get help, we have to find her while there's still time!" Rainbow Dash just stared back wide-eyed a she took in what Twilight was saying. "O-okay" she croaked, and in a flash took to the skies to summon aid. Twilight stood there alone, looking out across the wide, lonely plain. And then she did the only thing she could. She started to dig. *** Twilight looked up into the sky as another wave of Pegasus ponies roared overhead. The search and rescue team had been out all morning. In fact, nearly all of Ponyville had turned out to look for Dewdrop but there was just too much ground to search and Twilight had been reluctant to divulge any more information, especially the fact that Dewdrop had been trapped in a hole of Twilight's own devising. Twilight had attempted to retrace her steps, but this had proved impossible given how thoroughly the storm had flattened the land, so she had been left to methodically dig holes at regular intervals in an attempt to get lucky. She was currently at the bottom of her fifth such hole, and was having no luck. "This is impossible!" she sighed as she continued to pick at the rocky earth, her head throbbing and whirling with guilt and self-loathing. She had tried to assure herself with the idea that Dewdrop would be waiting for her at home; that she would look up and Dewdrop would be staring down from the top of the hole Twilight was currently standing in; that everything would work itself out in an hilarious series of misunderstandings and comic pratfalls which they could all laugh about later. Wasn't that how things usually transpired? Such ideas swiftly left with a sickly certainty as Twilight's spade hit something soft amongst the rocks. It was a little blue hoof, battered and bruised. Twilight immediately scrambled into action, digging and pulling and tugging in a desperate attempt to unearth Dewdrop. "HELP!" she called up out of the hole. "SPIKE! RAINBOW! ANYONE! HELP!" But there was no reply forthcoming. With a heave, Twilight pushed a worryingly heavy boulder out of the way, to reveal Dewdrop Dazzle, lying there filthy and tattered, her mane a mess of hair, and her body covered in scratches. There was none of the usual impossible energy about her, she simply lay there a floppy mess, looking up at Twilight. "I knew you'd come!" she croaked out weakly, her little chest struggling to rise and fall. "I knew you'd save me." Twilight panted out, guilt and relief flooding her veins at the sight. "Don't worry Dewdrop!" she fussed, clearing away more rubble. "Everything's going to be okay." As Dewdrop's head lolled to one side and she gave a rasping croak, Twilight froze in panic. Everything wasn't going to be okay. Dewdrop's eyes had closed, she had stopped breathing, and a check of her hoof revealed no pulse. Dewdrop Dazzle was dead.
4 - Ponies Don't Fear The ReaperPart Four: Ponies Don't Fear The Reaper Twilight sat at the bottom of that dark pit cradling Dewdrop's body for what seemed like an eternity, though it couldn't have been longer than a few seconds. She shook constantly, sobbing into Dewdrop's matted, dusty hair. "You stupid, silly pony" she whispered hoarsely to Dewdrop as she held her in her hooves, though she wasn't sure if she'd aimed that at Dewdrop or herself. Her head was awash with angry, guilty thoughts, her stomach was a boiling maelstrom and she wanted to be sick. "There's no such thing as 'evil'" Princess Luna had once told her. "No pony gets up one morning and decides that they're going to go out and do bad things. They do bad things thinking that they're the most reasonable and logical reactions to a situation." Was it true? Had Twilight really gone too far? Was it more than just a terrible accident? Not even Princess Luna in her darkest of hours had ever killed another pony. It was unheard of. Inconceivable. And yet there she was, Princess Celestia's star pupil, the best and brightest of Equestria, holding the body of a pony whose death she had caused. The only sound in that cold, lonely hole was Twilight's ragged sobbing. No pony had seen her; no pony knew she had sent Dewdrop to her death. Twilight could always leave her for somepony else to find. She rolled the thought around in her mind, knowing that there was an alternative. That she could escape this situation, run and hide in her own guilt. "No!" She straightened up, her face set in determination as she laid Dewdrop onto the cold ground. The little pony looked so small and pathetic sprawled out on the ground, her eyes closed, body getting colder by the second. "No!" Twilight shouted again. "This isn't how it's supposed to be! I won't let it!" She leaned over Dewdrop, pressing her hooves against the pony's chest, and pushed hard. Again. "Come on Dewdrop! Don't you dare do this to me!" she hissed as she put all her weight on the pony's ribcage, rhythmically compressing it. Her knowledge of Equestrian first aid was fuzzy at best; she remembered vaguely that a pony could last for up to three and a half minutes without a flow of oxygen. There was still time. There had to be. Dewdrop hadn't moved. She was still cold and unbreathing. Twilight used her hooves to clamp shut Dewdrop's nose and hesitantly pressed her lips against Dewdrop's, breathing in one full breath, before starting compressions again. "Come on! Come on!" she wailed, her face a mixture of despair and resolve. She knew there were medical unicorns in Canterlot who could use magic to restart a pony's heart, but she'd never even thought of taking her studies in that direction. She'd never even passed her basic first aid training. The theory was simple enough, but in practise you were supposed to push down hard on the chest - really hard, and Twilight was uncomfortable enough doing that on the dummies provided, let alone the kiss of life. But there was no-one else, and no matter what she'd done, Dewdrop didn't deserve this. "Hi Twilight, have you - oh, awkward!" Spike's head had popped over the edge of the hole and retreated almost as quickly as soon as he'd seen Twilight giving Dewdrop mouth to mouth. "Spike!" Twilight's head jerked up, her eyes red, her cheeks stained from tears. "Spike, I-I think she's dead. Get help!" Spike froze and scampered off. Twilight was alone again. She crumpled next to Dewdrop, defeated. It was no good, Dewdrop was still lying there lifeless, and it was all her fault. In despair, she pressed her hooves together and, looking up, prayed to the heavens. "Oh Princess Celestia!" she wailed, "I didn't mean for this to happen, please believe me! Please let Dewdrop be okay! I promise to be good to her; I won't get annoyed at her ever again, she can stay as long as she likes, forever!" Twilight sighed and broke off. It was useless. Silence reigned in the pit. Suddenly there was a sharp intake of air and Twilight leapt back, terrified out of her wits. Dewdrop Dazzle sat bolt upright, her hair frazzled in all directions, staring wildly ahead. "WAS SOMEPONY KISSING ME?" she blurted out. Twilight coughed and stared up at the sky. "Uh... backsies?" she offered. *** Twilight Sparkle was a hero. She wasn't a hero of course. All the other ponies were treating her like one, as she hauled Dewdrop out of the hole having saved her life. They didn't know she'd been the one to put it in danger in the first place, and Dewdrop hadn't said a word. She had fallen into a deep sleep as soon as the rescue team arrived. Apparently Pinkie Pie was holding a celebratory party but Twilight had declined to attend. She'd made excuses about needing to make sure Dewdrop was all right, and that was true, but mostly she couldn't face being congratulated for having nearly killed the one pony who trusted and idolised her above all else. Twilight sat next to Dewdrop, who was now sleeping soundly in her bed. Twilight had found a crudely sewn little cuddly toy of Twilight which she'd placed in Dewdrop's hooves as she slept. Normally such a discovery would have crept Twilight out, but right now she was just glad that the little pony was still alive. Nurse Mercy had been round to check on her but she still hadn't woken from her slumber. The house was very quiet. Twilight had a lot of time to think about things. "Twilight?" Dewdrop's eyes were open, and she weakly stared up at Twilight from the bed. "I did it!" she whispered. "I didn't want you to be in danger so I went out and I found that idol and destroyed it, but then I fell into this deep hole!" Her eyes misted over slightly and she choked. "A-and I'm sorry. I was hanging there for ages and I think I started seeing things because I thought you were there pushing me in, but that couldn't be true because you're the nicest, most wonderful pony ever, and I feel awful for thinking that about you even for a second!" Dewdrop looked up at Twilight wide-eyed, and Twilight gave a nervous gulp. "Dewdrop, listen" she softly replied. Dewdrop pressed her head into the warmth of the pillow and continued, now staring up at the ceiling. "It was awful in Canterlot, you know" she spoke out, and Twilight wasn't sure if she was talking to her, or just to herself. "They say it's the place of opportunities, but that isn't always true. I worked copying manuscripts in one of the palace outbuildings. There were hundreds of us, at desks all day every day, just writing down word after word. Then I'd go home and I'd eat and sleep, and then I'd go to work again, then eat and sleep. The same thing, day after day, a grey life in a grey building." Dewdrop let her head flop back towards Twilight, and she could see tears in her eyes. "And one day I read about you. About your life and your friends and your magical adventures. You showed me a different way of living, a better way, and I never said thank you." Twilight just sat in silence, taking this in. It was impossible for her to feel more awful than she did already, but her mind was doing its level best to achieve that. "Dewdrop..." she finally said, simply. "It's good that I inspired you, but you can't live your life trying to be somepony you're not. No pony is perfect." She paused. "Apart from Princess Celestia. But I'm certainly not. I'm insecure, I do stupid things, and I find confrontation hard." Dewdrop looked as if she was about to deny all this, but Twilight continued. "It was me, Dewdrop. I set a trap and made you fall into that hole because it was easier than just confronting you about how uncomfortable you were making me. It was stupid and cowardly of me. You shouldn't be looking up to me, you're a braver and better pony by far, you just need to be yourself." Dewdrop shrunk into the bed, pulling the covers up as she looked at Twilight wide-eyed in shock, her faith shattered at the revelation. "B-but... you're Twilight Sparkle!" she whispered. Twilight hung her head. "Yeah" she said bitterly. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. Just another silly pony. And I let things spiral out of control because I couldn't pluck up the courage just to talk to you. I think I know what my next report to the Princess will be about." She looked over at Dewdrop, who hadn't moved. "And you, Dewdrop?" Dewdrop nodded in a disheartened manner, her eyes cast down. "Yeah Twilight" she replied sadly. "I've learnt a lesson too." Twilight gave Dewdrop a friendly if awkward punch on the shoulder. "Look Dewdrop, I'm really sorry about everything that's happened. If you want to go, I'd understand, but I'd like to get to know the real you too." Dewdrop simply nodded, and turned over to go to sleep. The next day, Dewdrop was gone. All that remained to show that she had even existed was a scruffy, much loved cuddly toy shaped like Twilight Sparkle, tucked up neatly in bed. *** The storm raged over Hoofington, but to the Great and Powerful Trixie who was safe at home practising her magic tricks, the rumble of the thunder sounded like the applause of a grateful crowd. "Yes, yes, I am rather wonderful!" she purred into the mirror, as she levitated a spoon. The thunder tapped in appreciation. Only it wasn't the thunder. Trixie turned in annoyance as the tapping turned into banging, coming from her front door. She threw her mane in disgust. "The Great and Powerful Trixie does not appreciate being disturbed in the middle of her rehearsals!" she announced loudly, even though the room was empty. Angrily, she threw open the door. A streak of lightning arced through the sky, illuminating the form of a blue and pink unicorn, caked in mud and utterly drenched. She was clutching a battered yellow suitcase. "Hello!" chirped Dewdrop Dazzle, already pushing her suitcase past a confused Trixie and into the house. "I'm Dewdrop Dazzle. Can I come in?"
Author's NotesI thought I might as well order my author's notes and place them in the stories they refer to, this seems the best way of doing it until Knighty instigates a proper "author's notes" function, hop to it Knighty! Rather terrifyingly it's almost a year since I first wrote this story though it still feels like yesterday, I'm not sure where all the time has gone! The main inspiration of course is the Hasbro Dewdrop Dazzle toy which had just been announced when I wrote it. For some reason, despite literally having all the colour schemes of all the background characters on the show, Hasbro decided that they wanted to realise original toys (thus with zero advertising behind them) and crudely recoloured some of the show artwork for the packaging. Dewdrop was a horrendous teal, yellow and pink Twilight recolour, and was just so bafflingly awful that I felt I had to do something. Anyone who's read any of my Transformer comics know I like to concentrate on the 'underdog' characters because sometimes they can be the most interesting. The story is also very loosely inspired by the Father Ted episode 'Entertaining Father Stone'. Father Ted is an excellent surreal 90's Irish comedy about three priests living on a remote island, and well worth checking out if you've not seen it. In this episode, Father Ted's 'friend' Father Stone turns up to stay. Father Stone is the most boring priest in the world and sucks all the fun out of every room. He sits on the sofa not saying a word for months and months, until Ted prays to God and Father Stone is hit by lightning, causing lots of guilt. In the Father Ted episode though, Father Stone ends up staying with Ted forever (and ever and ever and ever). As you can tell by the description, the link is only very tenuous, but it's there, and there's a little Father Ted reference as a wink at the start, see if you can spot it! Dewdrop Dazzle turns up and immediately Twilight's life starts to fall apart as slowly but surely Dewdrop turns up the crazy meter until she is cutting her hair to match Twilight's, using her toothbrush and taking over the library from under her hooves. All for the best of intentions of course! One thing that annoys me in fiction is when the antagonist doesn't really have any motivations apart from being a jerk. No-one really wakes up and decides to be evil (which is a theme mentioned in this story), people do bad things for good reasons. Dewdrop honestly thinks Twilight is amazing (don't we all) and wants to do everything in her power to emulate her hero. Twilight meanwhile feels threatened by Dewdrop literally taking over her life but rather than being able to come out and say it in a confrontational manner, acts ever more passive-aggressively until tragedy strikes. We all shake our heads, but we've all been there. Dewdrop starts out as very much the antagonist, the 'villain' of the piece. I enjoyed writing her a lot, and found that while I had intended on making fun of her for her 'Hasbro recolour status' I actually ended up liking her. Poor, silly little Dewdrop. At some point in our lives, we've all been Dewdrop - we've got too into something or someone and been completely carried away; we've built someone up to be wonderful and amazing and perfect and then got our hearts crushed when it turns out they're just as fallible as us. Is Dewdrop the villain or the victim of the story? The part which I feel works really well is that the reader is complicit in Twilight's actions. We see the entire story from her point of view: Dewdrop comes into her life, and it is a constant escalation of crazy with only one possible solution! What really interested me was that as I was uploading chapters, on 1 and 2, the comments from people were all full of vitrol for Dewdrop and begging Twilight to 'sort her out' or kill her! When chapter 3 rolled around, the very same people who were really pushing for a sticky end to Dewdrop suddenly found themselves wanting her to be okay. It was like the readers had egged Twilight on until she had gone too far and what happened to Dewdrop was thusly their fault. Originally there was a few days before chapter 3 and 4. While I like the cliff-hanger on 3 (even though it's a bit cheating!) it did lose me a few readers - one person commented on Equestria Daily that they were so mortified at what had happened to Dewdrop that they'd never read another chapter! I wonder if it was all in one chunk they'd have been happier, or does the pause offered by the end of the chapter help what happened to sink in? All I ask of my readers is to trust me as a writer that things will wrap themselves up satisfyingly in the end! What was the lesson in the end? On the surface the lesson is Dewdrop's to learn, even if she doesn't really. She seems to learn the lesson 'don't try to copy Twilight Sparkle' instead of 'don't try to copy everyone else'. Is the lesson Twilight's, as she finds that being non-confrontational actually made things a heck of a lot worse (though by the way she lectures Dewdrop, has she really learnt anything?) Or is the lesson ours, as we (myself included in the experience) learn to not judge a character by their providence, but by what lies deeper. Someone mentioned to me that I 'have created a new subgenre of stories where Twilight gets her life nearly ruined by a possibly evil Mary-Sue'. That's only half true, but if you enjoyed this story, you'll definitely enjoy The Star In Yellow ( http://www.fimfiction.net/story/5713/The-Star-In-Yellow ) So what did you think? Did you enjoy the story, did you think it worked? If you've not commented yet I'd love to hear what you thought, even if it's just a resounding 'meh'. After all, every scrap of feedback helps me improve! In the meantime, here's some art of this story by some fantastic artists! "Twilight's Victory" by Don_Komandorr http://don-komandorr.deviantart.com/art/Twilight-s-victory-207023696 "Twilight's Doppelganger" by Slagmalsklubben http://slagmalsklubben.deviantart.com/art/Twilight-s-Doppelganger-209458227
