Wind of Change

The land was covered in a tranquil glow from the pale light of the sun that was just about to make its appearance in the eastern sky of Ponyville. A cool breeze caused some of the leaves that had begun changing color to lose their grips on the trees they called home and float gently down to the dewy grass. The town was as quite and as peaceful as Twilight had ever seen it. This was a welcomed change in her eyes, it almost made it worth the hours of sleep she had lost. If only she wasn't so worried, then she could actually enjoy the beauty and solitude. At least Spike's in good hooves, she thought to herself.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She had been woken up sometime around 4 o'clock that morning by the sound of loud groans that could only be coming from a creature in a great deal of pain. What in all of Equestria could that be? It took her a moment to fully awaken and realize just who was making the sound. Within seconds of that realization she was at Spike's side.

"Spike! What happened to you?" she asked in a bit of a panic. Her small purple friend was curled up in a ball, his faced scrunched up in agony and his front claws holding his abdomen. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Twilight.

"I... don't know... what happened..." Spike spoke between heavy breaths, "I just.. woke up... and-" Spike stopped mid sentence and tightened his grip on his abdomen. He let out a loud groan and closed his eyes tightly.

"Don't worry, Spike. I'll take you to Fluttershy. I'm sure she'll know what to do." She spoke with a confidence that did not show the worry and uncertainty she felt. He was just fine when he came back from helping Pinkie Pie with some baking at Sugarcube Corner last night, though he had headed to bed almost as soon as he got home. What could have possibly caused this? she wondered. There was no time for speculation though, she had to get him help. Twilight quickly lifted Spike onto her back with her magic and headed for Fluttershy's cottage.

~

After what seemed like ages to her, they had made it to the small cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville. Twilight raised a hoof to knock on Fluttershy's door but hesitated a moment, realizing it was still dark outside. Surely she's still sleeping. I hate to wake her... She rapidly shook her head. Fluttershy would understand when she saw the condition Spike was in. She tapped the door with her front hoof three times. Spike let out a more subdued groan. Twilight looked back at him with concern before turning to knock on the door again. Before she could knock though, the door began to slowly swing open.

"H-Hello...?" Fluttershy spoke as she cautiously poked her head out of the door.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight exclaimed, startling the pink-maned mare. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. Spike needs your help."

Twilight explained what happened while Fluttershy took the ill dragon to the couch and began examining him. After a few minutes of looking him over, a very slight smile formed on Fluttershy's face.

"You don't seem to have a fever." she informed the young dragon. "Your breathing and heartbeat are just fine too. In fact, you seem completely healthy. Other than your stomach ache, of course." She then turned to Twilight and said in her normal hushed tone, "I-I think that, maybe, he ate something that he shouldn't have. O-or ate too much. But that's just what I think, I could be wrong."

"I may have had... just a bit more... uugh! ...cake... then I should have..." Spike admitted. Twilight shot him a look that seemed to say 'you had me all worried just because of some cake?!'. Spike awkwardly grinned before cringing from another cake-related stomach pain.

"I have some herbs I could give him, if that's okay" murmured Fluttershy. "I think, if you want to, he should stay here. Just until he's feeling better."

"That would be great, Fluttershy. Are you sure you'll be okay though? It's still very early and I'm sure I woke you up." Twilight rubbed the back of her head with her hoof. "Sorry about that."

"It's quite alright. Don't worry about me, I'm just glad to be able to help." The yellow pegasus smiled warmly. She really did enjoy helping her animal friends.

"Thank you so much. I should probably get going now, I don't think I would be of much help here. I won't be able to get back to sleep either but I would like to use this extra time to get some studying in if you're alright here. Spike?"

He looked over to Twilight, seeming more alert then he was before.

"Are you okay staying here with Fluttershy for a while?"

The little purple dragon nodded in response. "I'll be fine."

"Alright," she said, going over to quickly nuzzle him. "Feel better soon." Twilight then turned to Fluttershy. "Thank you again, I owe you one. I'll be back later today to see how he's doing." The pegasus smiled and nodded and with that Twilight turned to the door and began her walk back home.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It's certainly been an eventful morning she told herself. Just then, she caught a flash of bright pink in the corner of her eye. She turned her head in the direction of the blur to see Pinkie Pie bolt from the side of a building and hide with her back to the trunk of a tree. What could she be up to at this time of day? It seemed as though the party pony heard her very thoughts, as she peeked from behind the tree to look directly at Twilight.

"Twilight!" she yelled, much louder than was necessary considering the dead silence surrounding them. Does she want to wake the whole town up!? Pinkie Pie motioned with her hoof for the unicorn to come over to her. She couldn't imagine what could be so important. Maybe she wants to tell me something about Spike. Could she have seen me take him to Fluttershy's? She trotted over to her, now very curious. "Hello Pinkie. What are you doing up so early?"

"I woke up with this funny feeling that something exciting is going to happen this morning! You must have had the same feeling! I mean, why would anypony be up so early otherwise? I guess if it was the opening of Cider Season since you have to get in line REALLY early so you can get some super-delicious cider before it's all gone! But I can't see any reason other than those two. So, I obviously just HAD to come out and see what's going to happen. It'd be super sad if I missed it because I was sleeping in like a silly-filly!"

"Of course." Twilight said in a rather sarcastic manner. "Why, pray tell, are you sneaking around?"

"Oh! I'm not sneaking around! It might look like that but that's not what I'm doing, not at all. When I left the house this morning, my tail started a-twitchin' and you know what that means!" Answered Pinkie Pie.

"Again with the Pinkie Sense of yours? Well twitchy tail or not, I need to get home and do some studying," Twilight said as she began trotting away. "Bye Pinkie."

"Just keep and eye on the sky! Ooo I made a rhyme! Bye Twi! Hey, that rhymes too! I'm a poet and I didn't even know it! Gasp! Another one! Well isn't this fun!" The pink mare began giggling and continued on like this as Twilight kept walking towards the library.

As much as she didn't like to admit it, Pinkie's Pinkie Sense was always right in her experience. Besides a few clouds scattered throughout the sky she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, however. Celestia's sun was just peeking out over the horizon when Twilight got a strange feeling.

Twilight instinctively glanced up. She saw a gray object extremely high up falling right above her. She quickly backed away, her eyes still on this strange thing, trying to determine what it was as it crashed right through some fluffy clouds high overhead, causing them to instantly evaporate. She let out a loud gasp when she was able to make out the shape of a pony. Oh no! I have to help them! The pony was quickly coming closer and would hit the ground in just a matter of seconds.

"Help! Anypony!" She yelled, though she knew there was no one around to hear. Even if they had heard her, nopony would be able to get there in time. Twilight planted her hooves firmly on the ground. I have to help them she told herself as she began to cast a spell. Her horn emitted a pink aura and almost instantly the falling pony was engulfed in a mist of pink. Twilight put all her effort into stopping its decent. It's no good! They're going too fast! She could see her magic was slowing them down but not enough to stop them from hitting the ground. She concentrated as hard as she could.

A purple glow began to mix with Twilight's pink one surrounding the falling pony. Twilight glanced over to see Rarity standing at her side. They both put all their magical skills into a silent effort to save this pony's life. The pony was only a few meters off the ground now and quickly coming to a stop. Both unicorns put in all the energy they could muster. The unknown pony landed with a thud in front of them. They both winced at the sound of it and it took a moment before they dared to open their eyes. Twilight was the first to do so and stared just a moment while Rarity opened one eye ever so slightly to get a glimpse of the sight before her. The purple unicorn took a step forward and Rarity opened her other eye, taking in the full scene. They rushed over to the pony, which could now be identified as a pegasus. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief seeing that the gray mare was still in one piece and appeared not to have sustained any injuries. She seemed awfully still however.

"Thank you, Rarity. You came just in the nick of time" Twilight spoke to the white unicorn beside her. I don't know what you were doing here but for this pony's sake, I sure am glad you were here. Twilight finally turned her gaze back to the pegasus whose life they had just saved. She had dirt from her impact with the ground on what had looked to be a previously perfectly groomed coat. Not too shiny but certainly in great condition. This was a pony she had never seen before. She had a cutie mark of a gust of wind in front of a crescent moon on her flank. She was surely around Twilight's age, maybe even a little younger. Twilight slowly bent down to the mysterious pegasus. She gently moved the pony's beautiful, pale blond mane out of her face. She then checked the mare for a pulse. "It's very faint but I can feel a pulse" Twilight stated.

"Oh, what a relief" Rarity said, releasing the breath she was holding. "We really should get the poor dear to the hospital."

"You're right. Can you help lift her onto my back?"

"Of course, dearie" Rarity carefully assisted Twilight, using her muzzle since her previous efforts had used just about all of her magic. It took a little while but they finally were able to hoist the gray pony on to Twilight's back. The purple mare nearly lost her balance with the additional weight but was caught by Rarity who was close at her side. The pair began slowly making their way to the hospital, being careful to keep the injured mare steady. They were silent for a few minutes. That was fine for Twilight, who was lost in thought. What could have caused a pegasus to fall from the skies? What is she doing in Ponyville? We don't normally get too many visitors. I'm just glad we were able to catch her. Hold on just a second...

"Rarity, what were you doing out so early?" Twilight questioned. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you were there but it's just an odd time for most ponies to be up."

"That, my dear, would be Pinkie Pie's doing. She came to my boutique a half hour ago, perhaps, knocking as loudly as she could. I thought there may have been a fire or something of the sort to get somepony to come knocking on my door like that before the sun had even risen. Though it was just Pinkie being Pinkie. I asked what in Princess Celestia's name could possibly be so important and she just went on and on about some 'great big event' I absolutely had to be up for. I don't even think the dearie knew what it was. I tried to ask but she just disappeared on me, saying there was some place she had to go. I tried to get some more beauty rest but just couldn't seem to do so, so decided to go out for an early morning stroll. Good thing I did, too" she finished, glancing at the unconscious mare on Twilight's back.

"That Pinkie Pie sure is something."

"Indeed."

~

The two unicorns soon found themselves at the hospital's main doors when Twilight felt the pony on her back start to stir. Rarity stepped to the side to look at the awakening mare.

"Wh-" The pegasus began as she slowly opened her eyes and looked around, still in a bit of a daze. Her eyes, which were an absolute match for the pale blue with a slight tint of gray that the sky was just at twilight, focused on Rarity. "Where am I?"

"You're in Ponyville, dearie." She explained in a comforting tone. "You were falling straight out of the sky but Twilight here saved your life" Rarity continued, motioning to the now blushing purple mare still holding up the confused pony. Rarity couldn't help but to add, "I helped out a little too."

The pale-maned mare looked at her wide-eyed for a moment, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She then glanced around, taking in her surroundings and quickly noticed she was on somepony's back. With that realization she struggled and fluttered her wings in an attempt to free herself. She succeeded in knocking Twilight to the ground and finally was on her own four hooves. Twilight looked up at the pegasus in surprise. The rather tall, lean pony standing before her was glaring with an unexpected furry, her exceptionally large wings, which had beautiful silver feathers interlaced with the gray ones matching her fur color, flared out in anger before the pony finally spoke.

"I didn't ask for anypony's help."