Twilight Vs. Chocolate

"We're sorry for the inconvenience everypony. Feel free to stay in your rooms or explore the area as you please. Everypony make sure you don't wander off too far." An attendant of the train tried her best to halt a sea of complaints that the passengers. She tried her best to answer each question that the disgruntled customers asked.

Twilight felt sorry for the mare. She knew it wasn't her fault but it seemed that they focused their collective anger on her. She fought the urge to go up and defend the pony, but it looked like she was handling it pretty well. Twilight turned away from the crowd and looked at the landscape with disinterest.

The train happened to be moving on the edge of the forest and a green plain grassland. She looked at the shaded forest and was compelled to get out of the sun's light.

"How long is it going to be until we can continue?" a stallion from the back yelled.

"Our repair team should get here by dusk and by morning we should be on our way." After she spoke the crowd of ponies groaned in dissatisfaction.

"Twilight! It's the adventure we've been hoping for." Pinkie Pie yelled, using her hooves as leverage to push her friend.

"The adventure you wanted." Twilight corrected.

"You said you would adventure with me."

"No, I agreed to accompany you."

"And you could accompany me to the forest." Pinkie said. The pink mare pouted and Twilight knew she would be going back on her word if she didn't follow Pinkie Pie around.

"Fine," she agreed through grit teeth, "but no longer than an hour."

"That's all I'll need!" Pinkie Pie ran out for the dense forest on the left side of the train.

"Just one hour of your time, and I'll have an undocumented weekend with all the chocolate I'll ever want." Twilight said to herself. She admitted to herself that it was wrong to use her friend as a gateway to her unhealthy habit of chocolate. She knew that she'd have to cut down at some point, and now she was planning to binge before she gave it up.

"Twilight! Come on!" Pinkie shouted from inside the forest. Twilight galloped fast enough to catch up to the pink mare. The unicorn found herself in a small clearing, but the party pony was nowhere to be found. Twilight sighed to herself and knew it was another of Pinkie's games.

"Pinkie! Where are you?" she looked around in circles finding no clues that could help her find the pony. "I'm not in the mood for any of this!" Twilight looked towards the trees and expected the baker to be in a branch somewhere. "Okay fine, I guess I'll sit here and wait for you to come out. I mean it's your time you're wasting." Twilight had a smug look on her face; she knew Pinkie would show.

Twilight waited, she grew bored after five minutes, and she fiddled with her magic. She juggled rocks with her magic and kept herself busy. Twilight grew worried and she stood up from her area.

"Pinkie. It's not funny anymore! Please come out!" She said growing worried for her friend.

"TWILIGHT RUUUUUUN!"

Twilight was spun around by a pink blur. Twilight followed the flash as she was instructed.

"Pinkie! What's wrong?" Twilight asked as she galloped next to the earth pony.

"The Seaponies! They're coming!" Pinkie explained. The purple mare noticed that Pinkie had a jar on her back.

"Seaponies?"

"They want their Seajelly back!" Pinkie shouted. The bubbly pony began running on her hind legs; she carried the jar of sea green jelly in her fore hooves. Pinkie dipped her hoof in and sucked the jelly on it, her face changed into a relaxed expression.

"Pinkie! We don't have time for that!" Twilight scolded. She levitated the jar beside her so Pinkie wouldn't be distracted.

"Quickly, to the edge of the plains!" Pinkie advised.

"Which way is the plains?"

"Umm, this way!" Pinkie said, she bolted towards the left, and Twilight followed behind. The two dodged trees, jumped over rocks, and cleared large gaps as an attempt to get away from the "seaponies" that Pinkie saw. The two ran for what seemed like minutes, and the two found themselves at another clearing. The only difference was that there was a large pond in the middle.

"Where are we?"

"Just watch my back! I need to make another go at this!" Pinkie ordered.

"What?! I thought we were running away from them, not going to their homes!" Twilight screamed.

"Just cover me, and tell me if they're coming." Pinkie said.

Twilight watched the earth pony jump into the pond. The water was murky enough to make Pinkie vanish on contact.

Again, Twilight played the waiting game again. She looked around and saw nothing, so she messed with her magic again.

squelch!

"What was that?" Twilight looked around for the source of the sound.

squelch!

"Pinkie? Is that you?"

squelch!

"It's not funny!" Twilight yelled. She stood up and held her horn up the source of the noise.

There was no reason for Twilight not to be astonished on what she saw. There was a pony that stuck its head out of the water. It looked back at her with a frightened expression. Twilight showed a weak smile to establish that she meant no harm. The seapony's expression changed from a scared to a curious expression. The seapony rose out the water, revealing a pair of gills on its neck. The seapony looked up at Twilight and opened its mouth wide,

"squelch!"

"So it was you." Twilight said, satisfied that she found an answer. The seapony smiled and did a small flip in the pond and flashed its fins. Twilight giggled and the seapony splashed a moderate amount of water at her.

"I can't believe seaponies are actually real!" Twilight said to the water bound pony. Twilight's spirits rose as the playful seapony did its thing in the pond. The unicorn had way too much fun to notice bubbles rising on the surface.

Pinkie rose up on the surface with another two pairs of seajelly and said,

"Twilight I got the seajelly! And none of them know." As soon as she finished the sentence, the seapony turned towards Pinkie. The water-born horse's face changed. Its eyes changed from its normal white eyeballs to pitch black. Its pupils midlife from blue to red. The seapony screeched a high pitched tone that rang through the two's ears.

"Uh-oh." Was all Pinkie could say as she ran out of the pond. "I told you to warn me when they're coming!"

"I thought they were harmless!" Twilight shot back.

"They're not when you steal their seajellies!" Pinkie explained. Twilight realized they were back in the same predicament they were in before. Twilight took the jars of seajelly and sent it to another location to keep from slowing them down.

"Wait why are we running if they can't leave water?" Twilight asked, slowing down.

"You don't know anything about seaponies do you!?"

"I didn't even know they were real!" Twilight stopped moving and Pinkie stopped along with her. The unicorn and the earth pony were quiet; both hoping they outran the creatures. Twilight faintly heard the same squelching sound, she waited for a minute and heard the sound repeated.

The sound repeated itself at a much faster rate, and they knew that there were a lot of them. They ran into a large cave while avoiding extremely ticked-off seaponies. The further in they went, the darker it got, and Twilight eventually had to resort to using her magic to illuminate the area. They heard the slimy sound echo through the cave, and the light from the magic shut off. The sound disappeared and the two let out a large sigh.

Drip!

Twilight used her magic to light up the room. They were surrounded by a large amount of the seaponies. They all seemed to have sprouted aqua colored legs that matched their coats. They inched closer to the terrified mares. Each step they took caused another one of their squelching sounds. The lavender unicorn flared her horn with magic; turning around in circles to ward off the attacking sea creatures.

"Stay back! I'm warning you!" Twilight threatened.

"They don't understand Equestrian." Pinkie whispered. Twilight now knew that there was no getting through with them. The unicorn fired a bolt of magic at a seapony, and she watched it disintegrate into a puddle of water.

"What the?" Twilight said; she shot another one at an unsuspecting ocean pony. Once again it vaporized into water.

"They're made of water!"

"Duh, that's why they're called seaponies!" Pinkie's shouting caused the seaponies to circle in closer. Pinkie Pie grabbed Twilight's neck and aimed it at the attackers. "Back up! I have a unicorn and I'm not afraid to use it!" The party pony pointed Twilight's horn at a large group that covered the exit. She forced Twilight to fire by yanking her neck and yelling "Fire!" every seapony in the way was a puddle after Pinkie forced another shot.

"Come on Twilight! They won't be like that for long," said the baker as she dropped Twilight and booked it to the train. Twilight followed behind, obviously not wanting to deal with their wrath.

"How do we know that they're not going to follow us to the train?" Twilight asked her friend.

"Seaponies don't want to be discovered by regular ponies. It's in their nursery rhyme."

"The ponies from sea,

A sight to behold,"

"Not now Pinkie!" Twilight scolded while jumping over a giant root in her way.

"Fine, I'll finish it later." Pinkie Pie said; she lead the way to the train. After about a few minutes of running, they reached the train tracks without any more scares from the seaponies.

"I think.. We're safe now." Twilight said as she was regaining her breath.

"Twilight, look." Pinkie said. The two looked out back into the dense forest. There were bright turquoise eyes that stared at them. There were high pitched squeals and rustling in the bushes. There was a large collective hiss before dripping sounds signaled their departure. A stewardess of the train came out of the side with an annoyed expression on her face.

"I specifically told everyone not to wander off too far." She scolded.

"Well I guess I wasn't paying attention." She said, slightly ashamed.

"And I didn't care!" Pinkie said hyper actively.

"At least you girls came back." She said, "actually, I think nopony else noticed." The attendant left the two ponies alone and went back into a train car.

"Well! I'm going back to my room." Twilight said, trotting away from the Pink pony.

"Wait! You have my-" She was interrupted as the train door shut in front of her. Twilight was already inside the train, and presumably already in her room.

"Seajelly..."

~~

As Twilight napped she remembered the gift that Celestia kept secret. It was a decently-sized book of complicated spells that should have understood by ponies five years older than her. She was slightly embarrassed to admit to herself that she enjoyed the chocolate cake better. The book of spells kept her occupied in her down time, but it seemed a bit anticlimactic after the extravagant cake.

At first she was able to avoid chocolate for at least a week and a half. Though during the short time span she would often think about buying some on her own. She thought back to her parent's and remembered that they had an almost forced smile when they allowed her to eat the cake. She felt bad because she figured her parents worked so hard to keep her from eating unhealthy.

The student unicorn was off on her own for the afternoon. She walked down the streets of her hometown of Canterlot. She had seen some of the candy stores nearby and she felt tempted to buy a small bag of chocolates. She looked into the window and looked at the items on sale: Chocolate dipped strawberries, apples, oranges and rare fruits that she's never even heard of. It was the price that changed her mind into coming in.

"Seven bits for one strawberry!" Twilight complained, she admitted that Canterlot was a city with many tourists from around the world. Logically the city's prosperous economy seemed to make the prices of each store jump up higher than any other town in Equestria. She looked for anypony that might have worked there. But a small out for lunch sign made her turn away.

"I'll just go somewhere else." Twilight sighed to herself.

"Oh no you don't little madam!" An obvious fake French accent came from behind her.

"Aah! Who are you?" Twilight asked, The tall, slim stallion gave her a suave smile.

"I'm the proprietor of this fine establishment." He said, opening the door to the store.

"Oh okay." Twilight said awkwardly, I have never actually came here.

"Wait a minute, you've lived in Canterlot for how long, and you never came to The Three Chocolatiers?"

"Three Chocolatiers?"

"Clever right? Came up with it myself. Let's go inside and sell you some chocolate."

"I don't have much money." Twilight said a bit nervous, the stallion wasn't bothered at all.

"I don't necessarily care. I just need somepony to talk to." He said with a hint of despair.

"I never caught your name." Twilight said.

"My name is Choco-Jaque." He said, causing the filly to giggle at the strange name.

"Of course it is," she said after her giggling fit.

"What's so funny?" He asked, frowning slightly.

"Oh nothing, so you were saying you were alone?"

"Oh yes, I'm afraid I'm a lone chocolatier. My other two amicos-"

"That's not French."

"What? Of course it is."

"No it's Italian, and it has nothing to do with your accent."

"Now how's a filly like you going to tell me I don't know French?" Jacque asked with arrogance.

"I've studied a lot of languages in my spare time." Twilight said modestly, but the stallion seemed to be getting annoyed.

"Anyway my other two thirds of the Three Chocolatiers decided to go out to a very secret only known by true chocolate makers convention without me!" He said outraged, "I guess somepony had to hold down the fort this time."

"When I get my hooves on Coco Puff, and Dark Chocolate I'll... Well let's not worry about that just yet. Exacting revenge isn't exactly my forte," Jacque said, adding an extra syllable at the end. Twilight grimaced at the mispronunciation. "What?"

"It's pronounced fort not 'fortay' "Twilight said annoyed a bit herself.

"It can be pronounced either way."

"Well that's because nopony could pronounce it right." Twilight bantered.

"It doesn't matter it's Italian!" Jacque raised his voice at his customer.

"Actually it's French." Twilight chimed, causing the stallion to groan indignantly.

"You know what? You could just leave."

"What?" Twilight asked angrily, the stallion opened the entrance door and signaled the unicorn to exit.

"Auf Wiedersehen mein mademoiselle." Jacque said as he forced the unicorn outside.

"So close!" Twilight shouted. In a matter of seconds Twilight was back on the streets of Canterlot.

"Well that was a great waste of time"

~One Day Later~

The teenage unicorn had another short break from her studies, and this time she planned to actually to have some chocolate before her break was over. She wasn't going to be distracted by the glamorous lure of expensive candy stores, or be sidetracked by snobbish ponies. She walked down a different street to the east of the Princess' castle. She walked around and eventually stumbled upon a shabby doughnut shop.

"I guess I'll walk in then," she said to herself. She opened the door, and she felt warmer than before. She nervously walked towards the display case in the other side of the shop. There was a large stallion behind the counter; his attention turned towards the donuts in the fryer. He had a cream colored coat and a messy brown mane, he had a large pink doughnut with sprinkles as his cutie mark. Twilight trotted over to the register and anxiously rang the bell.

The doughnut maker turned around and gave Twilight a large friendly grin.

"I haven't seen you around here. What's your name miss?" He asked nicely.

"Twilight Sparkle," she said uneasily. The stallion picked up on this and he gave her space. Twilight felt that the burly unicorn did not present himself as charmingly as Choco-Jacque, but she wasn't going to let it affect her.

"My name's Joe, but everypony calls me Donut Joe. How can I help you?"

"Uh, I'd like... One chocolate doughnut please." Twilight said, the stallion gave her an odd look.

"Anything else?" He asked,

"No." Twilight answered quietly.

"Would you like sprinkles?" Joe asked.

"No thanks." Twilight answered,

"That'll be one bit." Joe said, Twilight paid him quickly and he bent over to the case with donuts. The baker levitated two donuts and put them in the bag. She looked up at him and

"Excuse me, I asked for one." Twilight spoke up to get his attention.

"The price is one bit for two doughnuts."

"Well okay, I think." Twilight went over to an empty seat in the corner of the shop. She opened the bag up and reached for one of the recently fried doughnuts. She leaned forward and took a small bite; the taste wasn't as great as the cake she had over a week ago. Though she savored the first doughnut and enjoyed her baked treat with her inexperienced taste buds.

She finished the first of the two and felt a bit strange; the unhealthy, fried snack definitely didn't agree with her. Her stomach groaned in discontent. The snack wasn't that filling and she wasn't willing to find out the calorie intake of just one of the circular treats. She looked at the second chocolate frosted doughnut, and she was tempted to eat the second one, but she closed the bag up.

"I guess Spike could enjoy one of these." Twilight said, thinking about the infant dragon that lived with her. Ever since Twilight hatched the baby dragon, Spike was attached to her. Twilight theorized that it must have mistaken her as his mother, similar to what most birds and other egg-born creatures did by instinct. Twilight treated Spike as a younger brother more than an assistant in his earlier years.

Whenever Twilight studied, the purple dragon would try his best to help out by bringing her the books she needed, or the occasional snack. Even at a young age Spike proved himself useful to the unicorn. She decided that her assistant deserved a reward for his seemingly thankless efforts.

Twilight was caught up in her thought that she failed to notice somepony in front of her. On impact she dropped her bag, scrambling for it almost immediately.

"Oh sorry about that Miss." Twilight said.

"It's okay Twilight," a familiar voice said. The filly instantly recognized it as her mother's teasing voice.

"Sorry mom, I didn't know it was you." Twilight said, embarrassed by the fact she didn't even notice he own mother. Star Sparkle laughed it off and Twilight joined awkwardly.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Star asked.

"I'm off for at least half an hour." Twilight explained. Her mother gave the teenager an understanding smile.

"Twilight dear," her mother asked worriedly, "What's in the bag?"

"Just a snack for Spike," she said quietly.

"Another gemstone? I'm starting to think Spike's diet is too expensive." Twilight's mother added.

"Actually I decided to go cheaper," she said a bit triumphantly. She opened the bag and showed her mom the chocolate doughnut.

"Are you sure he's going to like that? I mean it's pony food and all." Star Sparkle asked, looking at the fried food in the bag.

"He liked the cake I brought him last week." Twilight said. Twilight's mother stared at her daughter with a transfixed expression. She wasn't paying attention and Twilight noticed after a brief rambling session. "Is something wrong mother?"

"Nothing, you just have something in your teeth." Star explained, pointing towards the section with the remains of the doughnut.

"At least I know where I got my perfectionist side." Twilight thought, trying to remove the evidence.

"Twilight, honey."

"Yeah mom?" Twilight asked her mother.

"You don't have to lie to me." Star Sparkle said, " I don't mind at all that you like chocolate. It's only natural."

"I wasn't lying. I didn't like the doughnut that much anyway." Twilight explained.

"When I was pregnant with you, I had the overwhelming craving for some chocolate ice cream every other day."

"Mom, stop." Twilight said, her face turning as red an apple. Twilight's mother smiled and stroked Twilight's mane.

"I remember your father bringing me chocolate cake at three in the morning, or chocolate chip cookies for breakfast."

"Mother, please you're embarrassing me." Twilight begged.

"Your dad always joked that you would be born with chocolate all over your muzzle." Star Sparkle continued, making sure Twilight wouldn't forget her story. Twilight's face showed how much she was embarrassed.

"Stop don't do this in public." Twilight said, hoping her mom would stop.

"What I'm trying to say is, don't go overboard. Eventually you'll start gaining more than you could lose. And if I wanted a fat little filly, I would've gotten one." Star Sparkle said, causing Twilight to chuckle.

"Okay mom, I won't." Twilight agreed, hoping her mother would go away.

"And don't even get me started on the acne!"

"Okay I get it. I have to go back now." Twilight interrupted, slowly backing away from her over dramatic mother.

~~

"Twilight get up!" The bubbly voice rang in her year. Twilight groaned, being woken up rudely again wasn't expected.

"Unless our train was stolen this time, I'm not getting up." Twilight complained.

"Well the repair ponies came by and their working on the tracks right now."

"Yay," Twilight cheered sarcastically, "Can I go to sleep now?"

"Nope! We're making s'mores!" Pinkie Pie yelled with glee. Twilight pondered whether or not to go out in the coldness of the night just for a few s'mores. The baker looked to Twilight with a pleading expression.

"Okay, if it'll make you happy." Twilight said, giving in to her friend's wishes again.

Twilight had a habit of making terrible judgments when it came to something seemingly harmless. She was freezing to say the least. She clutched the blanket to her body, trying to conserve her warmth. Twilight watched Pinkie fumble over the fire pit. Even though it was close to freezing temperature, Pinkie Pie showed no hint to being cold at all.

"The colt said all it takes is a good strike." Pinkie said, holding a match in her hooves. Twilight quickly lost patience and cast a fire spell at the pile of wood, not even caring that Pinkie might have been caught on fire.

The fire pit erupted into a giant ball of orange and yellow. The warm flickering light easing Twilight to take off the blanket and bask in the warmth of the fire. Pinkie stared warming her hooves against the fire. The sight of the inviting fire caused ponies to leave the train. After a few minutes there was a large circle with families, couples, and lone travelers. They spent their time telling stories and singing songs. After a few hours of a cliche campfire scene, the passengers decided to go back into the train; leaving Twilight, Pinkie Pie and the almost nonexistent flame.

"I think I'm going to bed." Twilight said, getting up from her position next to the fire.

"We haven't even made the s'mores!" Pinkie intervened, blocking the unicorn's path.

"But nopony else is out." Twilight whined.

"More for us then!"

Twilight sat down on the ground and cast a spell that caused the fire to rise up brighter than it was earlier.

"Twilight, bring out the seajellies!" Pinkie Pie shouted, signaling her friend to bring out the jars she stashed away. Twilight complied and pulled out one of the three jars they managed to snag from the seaponies. Pinkie took out the rest of the materials. Twilight prepared the s'mores with her magic, and she noticed the lack of chocolate.

"Where's the chocolate?" Twilight asked, "You can't have s'mores without chocolate."

"Says the pony who just tried them last year." Pinkie added. Pinkie brought out a few chocolate bars and tossed them at Twilight. The unicorn happily added them to the rest of the treats. Twilight was ready to set the snacks up to the fire.

"Wait don't!"

"Why?"

"Add the seajelly!" Pinkie instructed, opening the jar and gave it to the unicorn. Twilight added the sea green jelly on the campfire snacks. She had no idea how it might have tasted. She decided to sample the seajelly. At first she tasted seawater, and she decided she wouldn't try it again. She swallowed the seajelly and it gave her an overall warmness, making her retract her decision. She tried it again and the taste of saltwater disappeared; it was instead replaced by an almost honey type of flavor. She felt the warmness wash over her again; like a child wrapped up in blankets, sipping hot chocolate in front of a fire place.

"Like it?" Pinkie Pie asked, Twilight nodded before shoving another hooffull in her mouth. "Just don't eat it all."

"I won't," she defended, using a spoon this time to eat the jelly slowly.

"The first of many," the earth pony said while taking a bite of the s'more.

"Tons," the unicorn added.

Twilight and Pinkie Pie ate the s'mores talking about random subjects. While they talked, Twilight was absentmindedly eating the jar full of jelly. After a while Twilight felt numb; the seajelly's side effects causing her to lull into sleep.

~~

Twilight drowsily awoke to the sounds of a train's engine getting ready to leave. The unicorn felt numbness all over her body and she didn't care. Twilight was in a state of euphoria, and payed no attention; but she felt a dragging sensation pull on her. Twilight wasn't able to feel the jagged rocks and sharp twigs she happened to by scrape as she was pulled.

"Twilight! Wake up, we have to go now!" Pinkies panicked voice yelled.

"Hmm? No I'm fine here." Twilight mumbled.

"Trust me, we have to go now!" Pinkie continued, "The trains leaving! Twi' let's go!" Pinkie continued, forcing the unicorn through the dirt and muck of the ground.

"Just a few more minutes..." She droned, before she fell back asleep.

"You just had to eat the whole jar! After I told you not to!" Pinkie Pie scolded, wishing to herself that she was unicorn.

Pinkie's heart nearly stopped when she heard the creak of the breaks and the release of steam.